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By: Inuwa Bwala
This piece is a preamble to the main piece. It will not attempt to address the main question, rsth3r it will touch on how the media is becoming a tool for championing the agenda of the aggressors against Government.
When the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, alleged sabotage by smugglers and some unpatriotic Nigerians in the food crisis bevelling Nigeria, some people tried to puncture his argument, but none could deny the fact that, there are indeed people trying to undermine Government efforts.
Most people who discussed the matter stopped at calling on the government to reveal the identities of the culprits.
For the Vice President to give graphic details of the routes being used to smuggle food out of the country, relying on figures, tells more about the information available to him.
Shettima might not have mentioned names, given the audience and the occasion, but it was not lost on most people, that he knew more than he mentioned.
And when the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, alleged that some of the protests that rocked some cities across Nigeria were actually sponsored, some people cried blue murder, accusing him of being insensitive to the plights of Nigerians.
A more curious look at trends in the unfolding national malady makes the conclusion reached by both the Vice President and the Senate President, as not unfounded after all.
I know as a matter of fact, that, both the Vice President and the Senate President have superior intelligence at their disposals, and trying to decontruct their arguments, may tend to take away the minds of Nigerians from the real issues.
Already, a narrative has been started to the effect that the government is responsible for all the problems, and the media is being effectively deployed to orchestrate it.
The setting does not seem to allow anybody to hold a contrary view, different from what is trending.
Watching the Arise TV breakfast programme on Wednessday morning, anchored by my respected professional colleague Ruben Abati: my position was further strengthened to the effect that, the media has become an attractive tool in the hands of politucal hirelings, in undoing Government.
This is how the chorus interventions by Rufai Oseni: who tries to force his opinions down the throats of his guests and viewers alike, rubbished that days edition.
I do not know his professional background, but I dare say, that, Rufai Oseni’s approach is a negation of what we were taught in elementary journalism: not to force our opinions on others.
To pretend not to know, that, there is suffering in the land may sound uncharitable, but to deny that Nigeria is deliberately being sabotaged is to gloat over the facts.
Rufai Oseni wallows in the unmerited advantage of access to the airwaves and talks to colleagues in the studio, guests on television, and viewers, as if he is the only authority on every subject matter.
There is an old saying amongst the Ibos of Nigeria, that, when the owl toos at night, and a child dies by the morning, it is assumed that the owl is responsible for the child’s death.
It is an open secret, that, certain sections of the country, particulally the north west, have not been too comfortable with the policies and programmes of the Tinubu Government, long before some of the problems in the country started unfolding.
I feel some
remarks credited to notable elders, especially from the region, which had threatening tones to the government, symbolises the owl’s cry, and the attendant eruptions are the child’s death.
Again, I particularly noticed a common trend around the protests that took place in Abuja, Kano,Minna, Oshogbo, and Ibadan to the effect that none of them was spontaneous, rather rather, they seem pre-arranged.
While one may not necessarily say they were sponsored, it was obvious that they were instigated, to further portray the Government as unpopular and losing legitimacy.
Given the perception in certain quaters, and our own perception in the North Eastern part, the Presudency should barrow its manhunt for sabnotage from the region that has demonstrated discomfort with her policies.
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