Opinion
Erasmus Ikhide: Jonathan, AIT And Merchant Of Falsehood
The falsity of President Goodluck Presidency acquires a frenzy dimension with the African Independent Television, AIT, and the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, reeling off untruth, incorrect, treachery and falsehood to demonise Gen. Buhari. The aim is to continue to swindle Nigerians of their votes and cement the PDP’s agenda to run the country for 100 years.
Tragically, the poorly harnessed and re-created Nigerian history turned out to be a dupe on the presidency itself. The purpose of the constantly aired documentary is for President Jonathan to lie his way out of embarrassment and difficulty, since his defeat at the poll is more vivid than ever before. But the people who the lies were targeted at persuading are now ready to flung the lies back at him at the polls. They know that the President is only asking them to come fishing with him now that the lake has gone dried.
Those who earlier believe in President Jonathan’s mythical Providence have since see the hollowness through his poor performance. His poor work gives the lies to his acclaimed and taunted experience. Instead of working to fulfil his electoral promises, he is busying himself dallying with corrupt forks whose only love for his government is the president’s inclination for corruption.
The documentary is perhaps, President Jonathan’s first major political drubbing since he realised that his tenancy in Aso Rock has come to a terminal end. In all that was contained in the documentary, there was nothing close to what was grafted to the nation’s history book. The documentary, as it stands, was a sheer inanity cobble together by a drowning administration that clutch at every available straw to stay afloat. The documentary was nothing but a lie at the moment of its airing.
Faintly, President Jonathan, AIT and their collaborating NTA tried to rekindled the vanished magic of 2011 when Gen. Buhari was described as “Blood and Iron” tyrant and an Islamist bigot who hates the rule of law and an agenda to islamised the nation. That argument now fell on its face. That safe haven, Nigeria-as-PDP-conquered-territory grandstanding has evaporated. Nigerians have come of age. They know the different between military regime and democratic government. They know that no democratically president can wish a law or promulgate any legislation into existence without the Senate and the House of Representatives passing it.
Mr President’s belated or stale propaganda slant has no practical consequence. He and his minders wilfully authored a downgraded populist documentary that suggests that their Big Lie has matured to epic proportion. Instead of showcasing what he has done with the whopping trillions of dollars, he is chasing Gen Buhari history to his political detriment. As a misguided figure, his government didn’t find it necessary to investigate former CBN Governor’s latest charge, Prof Chukwuma Soludo that N30 trillion was stolen from the time Okonjo-Iweala was appointed Minister of Finance and co-ordinating Minister of Economy.
In a desperate move, President Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have been smearing the image and personality of the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, General Muhammadu Buhari just to score cheap political points. Political deception and gimmickry, as we know it, in underdeveloped nation like ours, easily finds its root where poverty; both of the stomach and head prevails.
Such deception gives milage to corrupt, bankrupt, and wayward political leaders who exploit these weaknesses to their advantage at the expense to the governed. That there is no lie more subtle than the truth untold cannot be more apt. Better still, any lie concocted to misdirect, deceive or circumvent the people of their own volition in the governance of their country must be seen a crime against humanity.
President Jonathan and his behemoth of a political party have been caught flatfooted in an attempt to sell outright dummy to the Nigeria electorate. Instead of telling Nigerians his own story of achievements – how he gives Nigerians bad beaten or how he lifted their hope, created jobs, fought corruption, stamped out insecurity, stabilised the Naira, increased power generation, build the Second Niger Bridge he promised in the last six-year, the affable president veered off the course.
The documentary, to say the least, did violence to history by twisting and turning facts on its head. For the record, the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti NEVER mentioned Buhari in the $2.8 billion scandal. He mentioned former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The African Independent Television, AIT edited that part out of the documentary. Second,
Buhari never expelled Ghanians from Nigeria. Shagari of the defunct National Party of Nigerian, NPN, did. AIT made a false assertion on behalf of its pay master. Third, Gloria Okon did not disappear under Buhari. Gloria Okon’s disappearance happened under IBB military government.
In the same token, Fela’s mother, the GREAT Funmilayo Kuti, died after soldiers attacked Kalakuta Republic in 1978; while Buhari came to power in 1984. It is on record that all the politicians that were sentenced to prison by the 1984 Military Tribunal were found to have either enriched themselves with public funds or diverted public funds.
None was convicted by fiat. The documentary also alleged that Buhari had been losing election since 1999. This is a blatant falsehood.
General Buhari’s first shot at the presidency was in 2003. Chief Olu Falae of the defunct ANPP/AD alliance contested against Obasanjo in 1999. The documentary criminally criticised Buhari heading PTF’s Board, whereas PTF is till date the most successful parastatal ever in Nigeria, which also brought prominent trailblazers like the late Prof. Dora Akunyili to the limelight.
If we may ask, what has the documentary on the supposed President Jonathan’s achievements in six-year in office got to do with the family of General Buhari? Why should the President and his sidekicks stooped so low to bring Buhari’s daughters and his late wife into their stone walling politics?
President Jonathan’s moralising documentary is dubiously hypocritical. Several Newspapers houses have been heavily clamped down on and their newspapers confiscated since he became president. Many Nigerians died during the invasion of Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park, Ojota Lagos, during the Fuel Subsidy scam protest. President Jonathan is labouring to label himself as a pro-life president when he could not use his Omnipotent power to rescue the nearly 300 Chibok Girls and others who have been adducted under his watchful eyes. He could not name the Boko Haram sponsors whom he claimed infiltrated his government some three years ago.
As February 14th draws to a close, Nigerians want to watch another documentary from AIT and NTA on the auspices of Mr President. We would like to watch the documentary with our generating sets because the PDP-led government could not generate electricity in the last sixteen years in power. We want to watch Mr President highlighting all his achievements in the last six-year of his bruising, clipping and corruption reigns government. We want to watch how faithfully he has worked for the deep pockets and the money bags, while pretending to palliate the people’s plight. Time is running out!
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Erasmus Ikhide, a public affairs analyst writes in from Lagos, Nigeria.
Follow me on twitter @erasmus_ikhide
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