Vanguard newspaper seems to get it right with its reports on the various killings in the North when the suspect is not the usual “Fulani Herdsmen”, as it reported the recent perpetrators of Zamfara attack as “Cattle thieves”.
In the Media report titled “At least, 27 killed in gang violence in Zamfara”, Vanguard reported that suspected cattle thieves launched reprisal attack on two villages known as Kabaro and Danmami, which resulted in the death of 27 people.
It also reported that the thieves had retaliated after villagers had mobbed one of their members.
Carefully picking its words with every sense of responsibility, it identified the suspects that carried out the attack as cattle thieves, while also reiterating that the killings “were the latest in spate of deadly attacks by cattle thieves on herding and farming communities in the State.”
Vanguard was fair in its reportage, as it did not attach ethnicity or tribe to the suspected killers, something it has consistently done in the past.
An easy target
On the same day Vanguard published the report involving Cattle Rustlers, it published another story titled “Herdsmen kill farmer in Delta” but its first paragraph quickly sneaked in “suspected” before the Herdsmen. The verdict of this screaming headline all came from a sentence made by “a family relative”.
In November 2016, Vanguard did a story titled: “Suspected cattle rustlers kill 36 miners in Zamfara”, reporting how 36 miners were killed in Bindin Village, Zamfara by cattle rustlers.
It even reported the statement of one of the resident, Lawwali Usmanu, who said “We have no doubt that the cattle thieves that have been terrorising us were behind the attack.”
It then played an ethnic and religious bigotry card by linking the attack to the clashes that have been going on between the farmers and herders in the State. The reports read:
“Attacks by nomadic Fulani herdsmen on farmers have been a persistent headache for Nigeria this year, adding to security woes in a country already grappling with the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency.
“The mainly Muslim Fulani herders and largely Christian farmers have clashed for decades over increasingly scarce land and resources, particularly in Nigeria’s religiously mixed central States.”
In August of the same year, it titled a report “Again, Fulani herdsmen invade Enugu community, kill Catholic Seminarian”. It was a story on how some suspected herders invaded and attacked Ndiagu, Attakwu, Akegbe-Ugwu in Nkanu-West Local Government Area of Enugu State, killing a Catholic Seminarian in the process.
These reports show how the Media unnecessarily tagged the suspected herdsmen “Fulani” with neither proper investigation nor revelation of the names of the perpetrators.
A check on the key phrase “Fulani Herdsmen” by ETN24 on Vanguard online website revealed more than 80% of the stories that were reported between farmers and herders clashes, described the herdsmen as “Fulani herdsmen”.
While Zamfara State has been overrun with the herdsmen menace and cattle rustlers crisis, Vanguard reports have placed the herdsmen at the receiving end, making it look like they (herdsmen) are the ones who have been attacking and killing residents unnecessarily, instead of balancing the reporting.
The latest carnage of the cattle rustlers attack was reported in early April when 54 persons were reportedly killed by the suspected rustlers in Bawar Daji District, Anka Local Government Area of the State.
The reports also stated that 30 houses were burnt and 70 persons were receiving treatment for various injuries.
Vanguard reports shows that when the attack is launched by suspected herdsmen, it would name them as Fulani herdsmen and when it is the reverse, it keeps silent regarding the tribe of the perpetrators and reports it as just cattle rustlers or cattle thieves.
