Police denials, military-aligned media and political operators now compete to revise what Nigerians witness with their own eyes
By Mary Kiara
(Jos) – In Nigeria’s Middle Belt, Islamist militants are no longer the only force battling for territory. Increasingly, state institutions are battling over who controls reality itself.
The duel of narratives began on May 6, armed men shouting “Allahu Akbar” fired on hundreds burying seven people killed the night before in Nding Sesut village, 20 miles south of Jos.
TruthNigeria reporter, Masara Kim, fled on foot, abandoning his vehicle and mourners dumped corpses in a shallow grave.
Masara Kim granted an interview to CBN News, where he described what went down during the funeral.
The Police issued a statement hours later: “At no time did the Plateau State Police Command record such an incident.”
Then came Zagazola Makama, trusted security specialist, who dismantled the TruthNigeria account as “emotional propaganda.” His evidence? “The reporter’s video was too steady, his British accent too calm and women in the background walked without panic.”
“If hundreds of armed Fulani jihadists attacked a crowded burial, how did nobody die?” Zagazola wrote.
‘Two Young People Were Shot Right Before Me’
Barrister Solomon Dalyop, a human rights lawyer who was at the burial, had an answer.
“I personally witnessed the military firing at our local guards and into the community,” Dalyop told TruthNigeria. “Two young people were shot right before me by the Nigerian military that came from the same direction as the attackers.”
Dalyop said a “soldier” assigned to a Special Task Force unit in Nding was “nowhere to be found before, during, or after the attack. His phone was called, but he did not answer.”
The soldier turned out to be a uniformed sailor named Kabiru Umar, who has since been arrested.
Zagazola claimed Umar was on “administrative assignment,” but Dalyop called it collaboration.
The Government’s Default System Is to Lie: American Lawyer
Emmanuel Ogebe, a Nigerian-born human rights lawyer who has tracked Nigeria’s security crisis for years, told TruthNigeria the pattern is unmistakable.
“The government’s default system is to lie to the public.”
“When you are in government not to serve the people but to loot the people, it’s not your priority to protect them. The lying is part of the framework, they lie about everything, but they particularly lie about terrorism because it reveals their weaknesses and failures.”
He recalled that in early April 2026, 240 Nigerians were killed in three separate attacks within 24 hours, from a military airstrike that hit civilians, a Boko Haram raid, and a Fulani militia attack.
“It was Chinua Achebe who said one whose house is on fire does not hunt rats. Nigeria is clearly afire, and the government is choosing to pass words denying Christian genocide when literally even the army is facing genocide by terrorists.”
From the Burial Ground to Pennsylvania Avenue
The attempt to control the narrative does not stop in Plateau, it extends to Washington D.C.
In December 2025, Nigeria contracted DCI Group, a lobbying firm hired for $9 million that uses Trump confidant Roger Stone as a consultant is proof of Abuja’s high concern.
The agreement authorizes strategic communications outreach to policymakers and media regarding Nigeria’s counterterrorism record and religious-freedom protections.
A separate contract with Valcour Consulting, valued at $120,000 per month, pursues parallel engagement to improve U.S.-Nigeria relations.
“You have a government that practices denial, a culture of denial, while hiring lobbying firms to downplay the crisis,” Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, said during a congressional hearing. “Nigeria is a killing field of defenseless Christians.”
At home, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has warned the media against airing “divisive” content ahead of the 2027 elections.
A Nigerian journalist who spoke to TruthNigeria anonymously described the new orthodoxy: “There is increasing pressure not to frame attacks as targeted anti-Christian violence. Editors are encouraged to use softer language like ‘clashes’ or ‘reprisals.’”
“The state doesn’t always need to suppress stories directly. It only needs to flood the information space with enough competing narratives that people stop believing anyone.”
Ogebe warned that the lies have a real strategic cost.
“As long as they keep denying attacks, people will be lulled into a false sense of security. One day, when the terrorists make a major grab for a major city, the city will collapse into their hands very quickly like the Taliban overran Afghanistan within days.”
The Politics of Gaslighting
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the Party under which president Bola Tinubu won the elections now controls 31 of 36 states – 86 percent, as the 2027 elections approach.
With electoral dominance nearly absolute, the government has turned to dominating perception.
A conflict reporter who spoke to TruthNigeria anonymously offered a chilling verdict: “Bola Ahmed Tinubu has mastered media control to the point that nothing, no matter how deadly, forces a public reaction. Cold, calculated, and indifferent – human suffering can wait.”
In Nding Sesut, the dead lie in a shallow grave. The soldier who vanished has been arrested, but no charges have been announced. The police say nothing happened, the blogger says the reporter was making a movie, and the lobbyists say Nigeria is misunderstood.
Mary Kiara reports on terrorism and religious freedom for TruthNigeria.
