A civil unrest engulfed Billiri, the headquarters of Billiri Local Government Area of Gombe State, northeast Nigeria, on 19th February, 2021 leading to destruction of properties and loss of lives. The violence followed a peaceful protest in connection with selection and non-announcement of the 16th Mai Tangle.
On Monday, 19th April 2021, Governor Yahaya set up a Commission of Inquiry with the following terms of reference;
- to find out the remote and immediate causes of the violent protests;
- to identify person or group of persons who sponsored, procured, instigated, or encouraged the violent protests and to recommend sanctions or remedial measures against such person or group of persons;
- to receive and investigate complaints from victims or the families of victims and members of the public over the violent protests;
- to make appropriate recommendations to Government on measures and means of preventing the future occurrence of violent protests and how to make perpetrators account for their acts; and
- to make such other or further recommendations as the Commission may deem fit within the ambit of the Law.
In his speech, while inaugurating the commission, Governor Inuwa Yahaya (full speech HERE) made a number of claims in relation to the crisis, which AFRICA PRIME NEWS sought to verify.
First Claim: The protest was organised by some unpatriotic elements
All media Publications on the protest seen by AFRICA PRIME NEWS showed that the peaceful protest was organised by Tangale women, who were showing their grievances over delay by the governor to announce winner of the ‘Mai Tangle’ election.
The women were acting on rumours that the governor was going to appoint Mallam Danladi Maishanu, who got 2 votes, as against the winner, Dr. Musa Idris Maiyamba, who got 5 votes.
Nigerian media reports by Punch newspapers, Tribune Online and Forefront, clearly reveal that the peaceful protests were carried out by Tangale women.
The Tangale Community Development Association (TCDA) and Tangale Community Overseas (TCO) also in their various statements on the protest affirmed that the peaceful protest was carried out by Tangale women.
VERDICT: FALSE, The protest was organised by Tangale women, not unknown ‘unpatriotic elements.’
Second Claim: There was a hashtag codenamed #LockDownBilliri, created for the protest
AFRICA PRIME NEWS went through available pictures of the protest on social and mainstream media, but did not see any harshtag #LockDownBilliri on any of the placards.
We also searched Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and all we got was No results for “#LockDownBilliri”. When we searched Google, all the results pointed to the speech of the governor while inaugurating the Commission of Inquiry.
VERDICT: FALSE, The hashtag #LockDownBilliri was created and coined by Governor Inuwa Yahaya, not protesters.
Third Claim: Gombe – Yola highway was blocked by protesters
Media reports (Vanguard, Forefront), and social media pictures of the protest evidently show that the Gombe Yola major highway was blocked by protesters.
VERDICT: TRUE, Gombe – Yola highway was blocked during the protest, as claimed by the Governor.
Fourth Claim: Some unscrupulous and criminal elements hijacked the protest and turned it to a violent one
Investigations by AFRICA PRIME NEWS showed that Tangale women protested peacefully for two straight days (Wednesday and Thursday) without violence. But on Friday, the protest turned into a violent one.
Media (Tribune Online) reports and statements by Tangale Community Development Association (TCDA) and Tangale Community Overseas (TCO) showed that the protest was hijacked from their women and turned into a violent one.
VERDICT: The claim is TRUE, the protest was hijacked from the women as claimed by the governor.
Sixth Claim: The protests resulted in the deaths of innocent persons, damage and destruction of valuable property including residential houses, business premises and mosques
Stories by mainstream media (vanguard, Tribune Online, The Cable), and videos on social media have shown that the violence has led to the destruction of properties, including 3 residential houses, a number of businesses, and some mosques.
Other documents obtained by AFRICA PRIME NEWS including the police FIR Report and statements of Tangale Community Development Association (TCDA) and Tangale Community Overseas (TCO), align with media reports on the destruction of lives and properties.
VERDICT: TRUE, properties were destroyed and lives were loss as claimed by the Governor
Seventh Claim: “On the face of it, some people may be tempted to conclude that the crisis emanated over the choice of a new Mai Tangle even though the protests erupted even before government took a decision on who to appoint.”
Checks by AFRICA PRIME NEWS show that the protest was a result of a delay in announcing the winner of the election (Dr. Musa Idris Maiyamba), and a rumour that the governor was going to announce Mal Danladi Sanusi as Mai Tangle.
These facts are also verifiable in published stories by Nigerian media (Vanguard, on reasons for the peaceful protest. Tangale Community Overseas (TOC) also made statements to that effect.
VERDICT: FALSE, The crisis was on the choice of a new Mai Tangle. The governor also acted as rumoured. He eventually appointed and announced Mal Danladi Sanusi as the new Mai Tangle (Leadership, Tribune Online, Nigerian News Direct), as against the winner, Dr. Musa Idris Maiyamba.
Eight Claim: Government recently distributed a considerable quantity of palliatives to the people directly and indirectly affected by the crisis
On Monday 12th April, Gombe State Government distributed some food items in Billiri stadium with inscriptions of COVID-19 on them. Both the victims and (interviewed) non-victims of the violence have benefited from the COVID-19 items distributed.
Images of the distributed items are widely seen on social media.
The Billiri distribution came barely two days after the governor flagged-off the phase II of the COVID-19 palliatives distribution in Dukku LGA on 10th April, 2021.
Investigations revealed that most media stories on ‘support to victims’ of the Billiri crisis were mainly press statements from the government public relations unit, not coverage.
VERDICT: It cannot be proven that palliatives were distributed [exclusively] to victims of the crisis.
