— Propaganda or honest mistake?
In a fact sheet released by Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information, Culture and National Orientation, on Monday, 5th March, the Nigerian Air Force had deployed 100 fighter jets in search of the 110 schoolgirls abducted from Dapchi in Yobe State on February 19, 2018.
National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Major General Babagana Monguno is also quoted to have said the same thing when he paid a courtesy call on Governor Ibrahim Geidam in Damaturu. But in fact, the NSA did not say what was widely reported has already been done. What he said was that 20 aircraft have flown 200 hours looking for the girls and 80 more WILL join.
The fact sheet also indicated that the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, had been relocated to Yobe State “to personally superintend the search for the girls”.
This information, or the lack of it, has sparked a lot of reactions from Nigerians with regards to the possibility of Nigerian Air Force deploying 100 aircraft with some opining that it is all just propaganda.
Mohammed has been referred to, by the Federal Government’s most vociferous critic, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, as “our mendacious Minister of Information, lying Lai Mohammed”, following the reports.
In an article titled “100 Aircraft or Witchcraft?” Written by Ochereome Nnanna and published by Vanguard Nigeria, Lai Mohammed was described as one who “actually preens with pride at the notion that he is an accomplished “propagandist”.”
The Nigerian Air Force Spokesman, AVM Olatokunbo Adesanyan, said in a statement on Wednesday that what the Air Force had authorized was sorties (flight missions) and not aircraft. He buttressed that the number of sorties deployed does not equal to the number of aircraft deployed.
“The attention of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has been drawn to a statement being circulated to the effect that 100 NAF aircraft had been deployed in search of the missing Dapchi girls.
“While paying a courtesy call on the Executive Governor of Yobe State, in company of the Chief of the Air Staff, on 27 February 2018, the National Security Adviser, Mohammed Monguno, indeed spoke about the number of sorties so far conducted by NAF aircraft in the course of searching for the missing girls within a stated period.
“Obviously, the number of sorties does not equate the number of aircraft deployed,”
Judging from the meaning of sorties (a military group with a specific mission), it is obvious that 20 sorties do not imply 20 individual aircraft. It implies that one aircraft could be deployed for more than one sortie. It also means 5 aircraft may be deployed for 20 sorties, which will put the number of aircraft at 100, only this still will not certainly mean 100 unique aircraft, as an aircraft may go for more than one sorties.
Propagating Propaganda or Honest Mistake?
In his article, Ochereome Nnanna said that
“the mental picture of 100 aircraft being mobilised to search for the girls was cleverly packaged to give a grandiloquent twist to the rescue effort in order to divert attention from pathetic bungling that led to the abductions in the first place.”
implying that the statements from Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Major General Babagana Monguno were intentional orchestrated propaganda to divert attention.
Also, many other Nigerians have reacted to the statements; some referring to it as an honest mistake while others call it an outright propaganda.
However, neither Alhaji Lai Mohammed nor Babagana Monguno has released any statements indicating that their initial claims were honest mistakes since the NAF cleared the air over the issue, leaving imaginations and assumptions to run wild.
It is, however, unclear why the government announces its air strength in a war situation. It is not uncommon for such figures to be exaggerated as a war strategy, in which case the aim is defeated.
