{"id":8520,"date":"2018-04-04T17:44:50","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T17:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=8520"},"modified":"2018-04-04T17:44:50","modified_gmt":"2018-04-04T17:44:50","slug":"herdsmen-killings-ty-danjumas-remarks-a-bitter-pill-not-easy-to-swallow-rev-para-mallam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=8520","title":{"rendered":"Herdsmen killings: TY Danjuma\u2019s remarks a bitter pill not easy to swallow \u2013 Rev. Para-Mallam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: www.dailypost.com<\/strong>
\nMore reactions have continued to trail the call by General Theophilus Y. Danjuma (retd.) for Nigerians should rise up and defend themselves from killer herdsmen ravaging communities across the country.
\nThis was as a prominent Christian leader, Rev. Gideon Para-Mallam, said the former Defence minister spoke the truth, stressing that, \u201cDanjuma represents forceful truth and it is a bitter pill which is not easy to swallow.
\nThe staff of International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), in an exclusive interview with DAILY POST, stated that because of poor leadership, \u201cNigeria is sub-standard and almost a visionless country\u201d.
\n\u201cTY Danjuma spoke the truth but some people are trying to dig out his past and rub dirt on him. Some going as far as suggesting that he is part of the problem with Nigeria. Who isn\u2019t? he asked.
\n\u201cSome of us have each contributed our part in bringing Nigeria to where she is today, a sub-standard almost visionless country due to poor leadership.
\n\u201cI listened to his speech in the video clip and in summary, TY Danjuma spoke of self-defense in the context of, defend your country, territory, your State, God bless our country. What\u2019s wrong with that?
\n

\"\"
Rev. Gideon Para-Mallam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n\u201cThe counter-attacks on what TY Danjuma said comes as no surprise to some of us, in fact I expected it, more will come! It\u2019s called divide and rule manipulation tactics. It\u2019s subjective psychological intimidation.
\n\u201cI am glad that objective responsible voices from the north and Nigeria are coming out to say hey, listen or investigate what TY Danjuma said, not attack or try to discredit him. Is the government conscious that they stand discredited in the eyes of many Nigerians today?
\n 
\n\u201cCorrecting what TY Danjuma and in fact many others have observed is the most sensible thing the Federal government needs to do.
\n\u201cTruth from a truthful person is very bitter. Truth from a dishonest source is usually taken with a pinch of salt. Danjuma represents forceful truth and it is a bitter pill which is not easy to swallow.\u201d
\nPara-Mallam, quoting to a former US president, Theodore Roosevelt, said, \u201cPatriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official, save [except] exactly to the degree in which he himself or she [herself] stand by the country.
\n\u201cIt is patriotic to support him [her] in so far as he [or she] efficiently serves the country. It is [in fact] unpatriotic not to oppose him [or her] to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his [or her] duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the President or anyone else.\u201d
\nPara-Mallam maintained that, \u201cI will say to Nigerians and especially those in the Middlebelt and lovers of truth in the north, let\u2019s stand resolute with the truth. Don\u2019t be intimidated with the current attacks on TY Danjuma, it\u2019s not just him they are attacking; you and I, are their main targets. The goal? Scare the hell out of us. It\u2019s a psychological warfare which could go physical. Will we run or stay our ground?
\n\u201cFact is, should you choose to run, where to? My take? Let\u2019s stand our ground, this land, God gave us, No running, we won\u2019t Cede.
\n\u201cSome even went as far as being uncharitable; as to say TY Danjuma ate fat on Nigeria and now he wants to end up as a tribalist by instigating his tribesmen and women against the Nigerian nation.
\n\u201cWho isn\u2019t a tribalist among those voices coming out against TY Danjuma? Both from the North and other voices?\u201d he asked.
\nThe cleric continued, \u201cI am not supporting tribalism. I actually hate it. The point I want to make is this: the self-centeredness of some core northern leaders and their religious bigoty is legendary.
\n\u201cThey unite to attack with the aim of scattering the non-conforming voices. Nigeria owns the North and not the North owning Nigeria. This time they will miss-fire. It\u2019s not about TY Danjuma, it is about all of us in the Middlebelt and other parts of Nigeria who have been cheated many times over.
\n\u201cNigeria belongs to us all and when some northerners speak, it is as if Nigeria belongs only to them and they determine who should live, enjoy what facilities and so forth. This is a false supremacy mentality that has no place in 21st century forward looking thinking.
\n\u201cOne write-up even suggested that they were on their way in 1804 to conquer all of Nigeria but the British Colonialist stopped them. Pack of lies and distortion of history. Well, it\u2019s simple: 2018 is not 1804. The world has since moved on and so also our capabilities, intellectual capacities and religious orientation.\u201d
\nAccording to the clegyman, \u201cTo evoke the spirit of 1804, is a selfish non-tenable simplistic argument from unsophisticated minds. In the life of every nation a time of reckoning comes and this might be it for Nigeria.
\n\u201cOBJ spoke, IBB, spoke, TY Danjuma is speaking now and some people are crying foul.
\n\u201cSome of us are speaking, truth to power. Should everybody keep quiet and allow the rot and killings to continue? NO.
\n\u201cWhen Christian leaders speak, they are labelled \u2018religious fanatics.\u2019 It is good that these national leaders and former military Generals who fought for the unity of this country, though retired, are speaking out.
\n\u201cI will suggest that we all go beyond speaking to acting to save this country. Changing the direction of Nigeria needs our collective effort including core progressive and pragmatic thinking leaders even from the core North. Senator Shehu Sani is one such voice.
\n\u201cWhen OBJ, IBB, TY Danjuma and others cry out, the core North, needs to listen. President Buhari, Vice President Osibanjo and more progressive minds in APC like Chief Tinubu, need to take stock.
\n\u201cThose speaking are not raising baseless false alarms. It is in the interest of the Military also to do an introspective soul search on what TY Danjuma said beyond issuing rebuttal public statements.
\n\u201cThe testimony of people on the ground confirms what TY Danjuma said. This crisis is affecting the economic growth of the Middlebelt, the North and Nigeria.
\n\u201cThe World Bank figures are there for all to see, our economic growth rate today is at a much slower pace than it was 3 years back, agreed that the present government is doing a good job at diversifying the economy.\u201d
\nPara-Mallam however lamented that, \u201cTransparency International in February 2018, came out with the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2017 and Nigeria is doing badly.
\n\u201cThe need for this government to correct the imbalance in their fight against corruption cannot be overemphasized.
\n\u201cNigeria\u2019s current position of 148 in Transparency International rankings of perceived corruption index says a lot. In fact, I did a background search into the past and found this: Nigeria\u2019s Corruption Perception Index from 1996-2017 shows: Current position 148 out of 175 countries. 136 in 2015 out of 168 countries and 135 in 2016, with an average of 119.14 between 1996-2016.
\n\u201cNigeria\u2019s all-time high in the rankings was 152 in 2005 under Obasanjo and a record low of 52 (favorable) in 1997 \u2013 surprisingly under Abacha. So, coming back to 2018, we are progressively getting worse in the CPI rankings. Yet APC used the C- factor to campaign and won elections in 2015.
\n\u201cWhat will they say in terms of report back to the electorate in 2019 on the C-factor? He asked.
\n\u201cThe government likes talking to us rather than listening to the groaning of the people which speaks louder than their brain wash.
\n\u201cThe point I am also making is that this crisis is affecting our economic growth and in some ways fueling corruption but this could be a subject of detailed conversations another day.
\n\u201cSome corrupt elements in society are eating fat on the blood of our innocent citizens through these senseless killings. Dig deeper!
\n\u201cShould we all keep quiet because a Buhari from the north is in power? Para-Mallam further asked.
\n\u201cWhen Jonathan from the South was there did the North keep quiet and kept clapping for him? No!
\n\u201cThey were shouting, so why should others keep quite now? Don\u2019t forget 2019 is around the corner and this present APC government under the Buhari Presidency must render account to Nigerians. If you had the courage to seek political office, you must also have the courage to render account truthfully and what you say should be empirically examined with facts on the ground.
\n\u201cOur President\u2019s supporters who try to shot down the likes of OBJ, IBB and TY Danjuma, should be told the truth to their faces.
\n\u201cThese same trio supported Buhari\u2019s emergence as President in 2015. The idea of speaking truth to power is to correct power and get power to do what is right for the good of all. So, President Buhari should count himself lucky to be told the truth by respectable men who are from his \u2018constituency\u2019: the military\u201d.
\n\u201cThis nation deserves the best \u2013 which we are not getting. To me, the change candidate needs change himself, if he is to be relevant for Nigeria.
\n\u201cPresident Buhari has the remaining months of 2018 to redeem himself as a credible leader. His fanatical followers won\u2019t intimidate and scare the vast majority of Nigerians,\u201d he warned.
\nPara-Mallam further stated, \u201cWe are battle ready with our voter\u2019s cards; pure and simple. If his sympathizes are serious, let them advise him to listen to these voices and stop throwing bats at those who speak for the good of the nation.
\n\u201cI gave Buhari the candidate and President the benefit of doubt in 2015 and urged people to support him and give his government a chance on an on. Now, 3 years on, I am personally very disappointed.
\n\u201cThe killings in the Middlebelt States and the direction the whole country is going is something we all should not ignore\u201d, he warned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: www.dailypost.com More reactions have continued to trail the call by General Theophilus Y. Danjuma (retd.) for Nigerians should rise up and defend themselves from killer herdsmen ravaging communities across the country. This was as a prominent Christian leader, Rev. Gideon Para-Mallam, said the former Defence minister spoke the truth, stressing that, \u201cDanjuma represents forceful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5777],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8520\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}