THE GATHERER

For many, signpost erected at interment site of seventy-three persons killed on New Year’s Day in Benue state, Nigeria, came like a sudden splash of chilled water to their face, shocking their sensitivities. And it’s got them talking, in resistance.  The green metal planted on the sandy site, indicates dates of attack and burial, and further states the ‘massacre’, in both Guma and Logo local government areas of the state, were by ‘Fulani herdsmen.’  It’s the latter that’s caused online comments like “fanning embers of hate”; “incitement against the Fulanis”. Admittedly, this reaction mirrors mine at gauche ‘Islamic terrorists’ in a 9/11 memorial at Owego, New York. But, for Benue, it would seem inelegant language has had a benefit.  Before kidnapping of Chibok girls, and global empathy this elicited when celebrities and world leaders amplified hashtag #bringbackourgirls, no other atrocity in recent times Nigeria had lasted a 72-hours news cycle. Even as grave