daftandbarmy
Army.ca Dinosaur
- Reaction score
- 31,756
- Points
- 1,160
Be very very skeptical of such claims coming from the Nigerian military. More often than not, it is for local or regional PR purposes or to regain lost trust by the local governments/civilians?
Remember those 250 school girls that were allegedly kidnapped from school at gunpoint, by Baka Harem fighters? The international community raced to offer whatever help they could - even Transport Canada offered to deploy its high-tech wizard plane to assist.
Yet, not much of that help ever materialized…
The media portrayed it as yet another example of empty promises from the west. A racist world system in which Africa is neglected and forgotten, and western powers are all talk with no walk.
Turns out, after some very aggressive intelligence gathering by several affiliated agencies/countries, there were substantial doubts as to whether or not that had even happened at all. Doubts shared even by the locals.
And in the 24hr news cycle, and some dumb nonsense they need to waste people’s time with… that story faded into the ether…
Or when another Nigerian general said they had completely defeated Boko Harem. Completely. All gone. Done. Dead or fled!! Turns out…naaahhhhh…not really….
This news? Hope it is true, genuinely. But best to see how it turns out a week or two from now.
0.02
An interesting example of how to play the international media for your own purposes, leading to (false as it turned out) claims that there were no kidnappings at all:
Viewpoint: Global media's Nigeria abductions coverage 'wrong'
Some international security experts suggested that while direct Boko Haram involvement seems to have been discounted, Boko Haram training, help and encouragement were involved.
Many Nigerians believe that Boko Haram took interest only after the international media covered the story. The government insisted no ransom was paid to the kidnappers, who it continued to describe as "bandits".
Media coverage of such heinous acts is important: governments need to be encouraged to act, victims need to be remembered and memorialised and the public needs to be warned.
But all this can be done without inspiring more criminals and without providing them tutorials.