Why Buhari’s pigeons refused to fly – Presidency finally opens up

The Presidency has finally opened up the reason for pigeons used to symbolise peace refused to fly on the Armed Forces Remembrance day.

Newsflash gathered that since the end of Nigeria’s civil war, January 15th of every year is set aside to honour fallen servicemen of the Nigerian Armed Forces. During the ceremony, pigeons are released to symbolise the peace that was dearly purchased with the blood of military service men.

However, January 15, 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari had released some pigeons in celebration of the 2021 Armed Forces Remembrance Day.

The pigeons were released from a birdcage by Buhari with the expectation that they will fly away immediately.

The President had opened the birdcage at the National Arcade, picked up one of the doves, and thrown it into the air but the bird landed atop the cage and refused to fly.

Buhari, who was eager to let the white pigeons fly, opened the roof of the cage in a bid to send them all out but the birds remained adamant and decided to sit on top of the cage’s roof.

The President, who appeared tired of trying, soon left the birds and returned to his seat. Moments after the President had left, however, some of the birds flew.

The ritual of releasing doves is to commemorate the life of a departed loved one and is common at significant events like funerals or memorials. It also signifies peace.

Recall that, in 2014, the doves refused to fly when former President Goodluck Jonathan freed them. The Spiritual Director of the Adoration Ministry Enugu, Rev Fr. Ejike Mbaka, described the incident at the time as a sign that God had abandoned Jonathan.

But the presidency has reacted to the video, said ‘they have gotten used to the cage as lawful captives’.

The Special Adviser to President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has offered some explanation as to why the pigeons used to symbolise peace refused to fly on the Armed Forces Remembrance day.

Mr. Adesina who disclosed this on Thursday, in an article he titled ‘REFLECTIONS FROM A WREATH LAYING CEREMONY’ disclosed that the pigeons did not fly because they have gotten used to the cage as lawful captives.

The president’s aide said that the birds not flying was completely normal, being roaming animals that have been circumscribed for a period of time he is not aware of.

“The pigeons had been kept in a cage. For how long, I do not know. And when birds and some other roaming animals have been circumscribed for a while, they get accustomed to their new status as lawful captives. Therefore, when you offer them freedom, they first baulk, thinking it’s too good to be true. It is a natural phenomenon,” Mr. Adesina wrote.

Mr. Adesina also characteristically threw a jab at Nigerian social media commentators who described the refusal of the birds to fly as an omen that there is no peace in the country, describing majority of them as “idle and indolent.”

He wrote: “But not to the idle and indolent, most of who populate the social media. It was time to major in something minor, cavil and find fault unnecessarily.”

Many Nigerians criticized the Buhari administration for the bird’s refusal to fly. They suggest that the birds’ refusal to fly indicated that there is no peace in the country due to the rising spate of banditry, terrorism, killings and kidnapping.

Even though the army constantly claims to be doing its best and having little progress, the Nigerian people continue criticise the army’s leadership for its failure to curb terrorism.

The military is also being upbraided for human rights abuses as exemplified by the October 20, 2020 massacre of youths protesting decades of police brutality, waving the Nigerian flag and singing the national anthem at the Lekki Toll plaza.

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