President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, has offered some explaination 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.”

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, the birds refused to fly on January 15th 2021 after president Buhari released them from the cage. 

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.