I recently came across Joseph de Maistre’s quote that says “False opinions are like false money, struck first of all by guilty men and thereafter circulated by honest people who perpetuate the crime without knowing what they are doing.” As I ruminated on these words – Hushpuppi, Tinubu, Osinbajo and many of my Facebook friends came to mind. It was amazing how this quote written centuries ago succinctly captures what is happening in Nigeria today. Many Nigerians who are critical of Hushpupi were once envious of his flamboyance and ready to trade places with him even when they knew his lifestyle and sources of income do not add up. Many Yorubas worship Tinubu even though they have a good idea of how the sweat of Lagosians continues to fill his accounts from his well-oiled money-making infrastructure that will make Abacha a learner. The irony is that Nigerians from all works of life spend their internet data and time in promoting and defending these men who do not know they exist. They insult and quarrel with family and friends who call them out and try to reason with them. They even use the images of these men as their profile picture. It is no wonder we continue to retrogress as a nation and people when nations of the world are in a race to conquer planet Mars.

Tinubu’s lieutenant #1 – Babatunde Fashola, famously declared that any serious government will be able to fix power supply in 6 months. In a short while, the APC controlled executive and legislature will clock 6 years in office with the achievement of making power supply worse, as Nigeria presently generates less power before he became the power minister. Fashola also incredulously said last week that many countries begged Nigeria for food during the lockdown. Lieutenant #2 – Lai Mohammed is so good with misinformation that Muslim faithful wonder why he is still allowed to use his last name. He recently ordered the arrest of his kinsman who wrote a critical poem about him and has gone ahead to influence his continual detention by a judge. Lieutenant #3 – Yemi Osinbajo is a certified law professor who has continued to be economical with the truth, something he vowed to uphold during his ordination as Pastor. He has contributed greatly to the increasingly common belief that Pastors are untrustworthy. Osinbajo’s loquaciousness about corruption under Goodluck Jonathan and silence about corruption under Buhari and the killings of Christians in northern Nigeria is what you might expect from fearful hungry men and not from an accomplished technocrat who married Obafemi Awolowo’s granddaughter. Three things are common among these Tinubu lieutenants – misinformation, incompetence, and wasted education because they all hold law degrees from the most respected universities in Nigeria.
 

They lie with recklessness in this age where fact-checking is a few clicks away. They lie in ways atheists would find abhorrent. They lie as if Nigerians are all illiterate. Yes, that is their perception of us. And this perception is reinforced by their praise singers who see Tinubu as god and see Fashola, Lai, and Osinbajo as archangels. This is the sorry state we find some of the most educated and experienced men in our midst. This is another reason why it is hopeless for Nigeria in our present configuration. We need a miracle and I believe in miracles. But I also know that faith without work according to the Holy Bible is death. Part of our work as citizens of Nigeria is to denounce these evil and unreasonable men in power. These men include local government chairmen like the Chairman of Afikpo North Local Government Area, Ebonyi State, who ordered the lynching and humiliation of a Pastor that criticized him. They also include imams, general overseers as well as leaders from all works of life who are aiding and abetting this administration.

Ata Ukuta,  Editor – www.towncryyers.com