OPINION; JONATHAN, AIT AND MERCHANT OF FALSEHOOD

Jonathan, AIT and Merchant Of Falsehood

By Erasmus Ikhide


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!



Erasmus Ikhide, a public affairs analyst writes in from Lagos, Nigeria.