I saw a headline yesterday Nnamdi Kanu Shocks The World, Releases Shocking Bloody Evidence Against Bola Tinubu. It is probably the the depth to which journalism can sink to in the new quest for traffic.
In the piece, the Nnamdi Kanu accused Tinubu of championing the case for a sovereign national conference and then abandoning the conference after they (APC) got into power because he lacks honour. Dear readers this is a democracy, everyone is entitled to hold an opinion but not their own facts. We must share the facts. If we cannot get, state and verify facts, what is the proof of our civility and education?
In Obama's voice, now let me clear, I'm not holding brief for Tinubu or anyone in the APC for that matter. The ruling party is a disgrace to democracy. This piece is about stating the facts and the facts are the basis for an informed opinion. Where one has skewed facts or deliberately distorts them, he is guilty of weaponizing the facts and that is unacceptable.
Tinubu refused to support the conference before it started. He advertised his opinion in the dailies at the time. His case was that Jonathan's government did not have the will to fully implement the conference report because it had not implemented other reports at the time. He insisted then, that the conference was a "Greek gift" to the Nigerian people. He questioned Jonathan's sincerity and timing of the conference and openly refused to support it.
I argued against his position at the time. My rebuttal was that we cannot insist that every call made is a false call if we must get it right. If we all continue to suspect and doubt every call, then we would settle for keeping things the way they are.
Today, Kanu attempts to rewrite history by weaponizing facts which anyone with an internet connection can obviously find to be false. While Kanu is playing a terrible hand with that accusation, it is on record that Kanu also did not support the conference. He and IPOB rejected it on the grounds that they were not permitted to attend. And then in an interview with Sahara TV, he took duplicitous position on the conference arguing that he would support whatever means it took to bring Nigeria's disintegration.
A few days earlier, Kanu also spoke at an interview condeming former president Jonathan as a weak leader and accused him of abandoning the south east during his tenure. That is nothing other than a case of misinformed and distortioned presentation of facts with full intent to mislead and fool the people. Let it be clear, Tinubu refused to participate in the 2014 conference and Kanu also refused to partake. Neither today can claim sainthood on the conference.
I witnessed an argument some years ago. Two men in their 50s debated the number of states in America. They argued back and forth shouting and insulting themselves. I eventually proved from a google search to them that America had 50 states and no more. They were both wrong with one insisting the US had 62 and the other 52. The next day, they returned and began another clumsy one. Nigeria is larger than America and no it is not. Eventually, they called me out and google to the rescue once more. My uncle began a praise of google and advised both men to get their own googles. A week later, one of the men returned and made boast of his personal android device which had his "own google". He joked to the other man: "tell me any lie today and I will prove you wrong with my own google."
One day, both men began another argument which I did not witness. My uncle then advised them to check their googles but they refused. One eventually claimed his own google had given him the facts to which the other replied in disagreement. They would not even check, they continued to bicker each insisting on his private facts as superior. I returned to meet them saying: your google is old and mine is new.
Today, all manner of journalistic thrash and false facts are on the internet. It is becoming increasingly difficult to determine the difference between fact and fiction. Something has to give. At elections and periods of heightened agitations like we have in Nigeria today, all sorts of falsehoods are thrown around freely. This is a dangerous phenomenon. Yet we must not handcuff free speech. We must consciously and diligently insist that we will not be part of them spreading lies or distorting the facts.
The present Biafra agitation is laden with more lies than the devil can church out. All the Biafran dailies are nothing but lies in print. Just as one may get deformed through malnutrition, so also one may get mentally and emotionally deformed through consumption of falsehood.
While we retain our rights to disagree on varying opinions, we must not for reasons other than joking at home share or participate in lies on issues of national/international concerns. Private opinions on any issue is permissible in private but there is no such thing as private facts especially on public issues. No one has a right to influence public opinion on private facts.
Nnamdi Kanu and his supporters cannot call Tinubu out on this issue. It is deliberate and calculated by Nnamdi Kanu to further heat up the polity and spread more hate in the process. Anybody who is right thinking should reject these sort of distortions.
I'm a strong believer in the Nigerian project. Nnamdi Kanu is in vehement opposition to it. In fact, I can argue he hates Nigeria more than he loves Biafra. He has made more case for Nigeria's disintegration than any case for Biafra's secession. Rather than build up support for his case, he prefers to spew hate against other ethnic groups and Christianity.
In another piece, I will provide the case for a united Nigeria. For now, I urge everyone to remain calm and insist on Nigeria's restructuring. Thank you for reading. Insist on the facts, verify from multiple sources that are credible and let what you share build up. God bless you and God bless Nigeria.
In the piece, the Nnamdi Kanu accused Tinubu of championing the case for a sovereign national conference and then abandoning the conference after they (APC) got into power because he lacks honour. Dear readers this is a democracy, everyone is entitled to hold an opinion but not their own facts. We must share the facts. If we cannot get, state and verify facts, what is the proof of our civility and education?
In Obama's voice, now let me clear, I'm not holding brief for Tinubu or anyone in the APC for that matter. The ruling party is a disgrace to democracy. This piece is about stating the facts and the facts are the basis for an informed opinion. Where one has skewed facts or deliberately distorts them, he is guilty of weaponizing the facts and that is unacceptable.
Tinubu refused to support the conference before it started. He advertised his opinion in the dailies at the time. His case was that Jonathan's government did not have the will to fully implement the conference report because it had not implemented other reports at the time. He insisted then, that the conference was a "Greek gift" to the Nigerian people. He questioned Jonathan's sincerity and timing of the conference and openly refused to support it.
I argued against his position at the time. My rebuttal was that we cannot insist that every call made is a false call if we must get it right. If we all continue to suspect and doubt every call, then we would settle for keeping things the way they are.
Today, Kanu attempts to rewrite history by weaponizing facts which anyone with an internet connection can obviously find to be false. While Kanu is playing a terrible hand with that accusation, it is on record that Kanu also did not support the conference. He and IPOB rejected it on the grounds that they were not permitted to attend. And then in an interview with Sahara TV, he took duplicitous position on the conference arguing that he would support whatever means it took to bring Nigeria's disintegration.
A few days earlier, Kanu also spoke at an interview condeming former president Jonathan as a weak leader and accused him of abandoning the south east during his tenure. That is nothing other than a case of misinformed and distortioned presentation of facts with full intent to mislead and fool the people. Let it be clear, Tinubu refused to participate in the 2014 conference and Kanu also refused to partake. Neither today can claim sainthood on the conference.
I witnessed an argument some years ago. Two men in their 50s debated the number of states in America. They argued back and forth shouting and insulting themselves. I eventually proved from a google search to them that America had 50 states and no more. They were both wrong with one insisting the US had 62 and the other 52. The next day, they returned and began another clumsy one. Nigeria is larger than America and no it is not. Eventually, they called me out and google to the rescue once more. My uncle began a praise of google and advised both men to get their own googles. A week later, one of the men returned and made boast of his personal android device which had his "own google". He joked to the other man: "tell me any lie today and I will prove you wrong with my own google."
One day, both men began another argument which I did not witness. My uncle then advised them to check their googles but they refused. One eventually claimed his own google had given him the facts to which the other replied in disagreement. They would not even check, they continued to bicker each insisting on his private facts as superior. I returned to meet them saying: your google is old and mine is new.
Today, all manner of journalistic thrash and false facts are on the internet. It is becoming increasingly difficult to determine the difference between fact and fiction. Something has to give. At elections and periods of heightened agitations like we have in Nigeria today, all sorts of falsehoods are thrown around freely. This is a dangerous phenomenon. Yet we must not handcuff free speech. We must consciously and diligently insist that we will not be part of them spreading lies or distorting the facts.
The present Biafra agitation is laden with more lies than the devil can church out. All the Biafran dailies are nothing but lies in print. Just as one may get deformed through malnutrition, so also one may get mentally and emotionally deformed through consumption of falsehood.
While we retain our rights to disagree on varying opinions, we must not for reasons other than joking at home share or participate in lies on issues of national/international concerns. Private opinions on any issue is permissible in private but there is no such thing as private facts especially on public issues. No one has a right to influence public opinion on private facts.
Nnamdi Kanu and his supporters cannot call Tinubu out on this issue. It is deliberate and calculated by Nnamdi Kanu to further heat up the polity and spread more hate in the process. Anybody who is right thinking should reject these sort of distortions.
I'm a strong believer in the Nigerian project. Nnamdi Kanu is in vehement opposition to it. In fact, I can argue he hates Nigeria more than he loves Biafra. He has made more case for Nigeria's disintegration than any case for Biafra's secession. Rather than build up support for his case, he prefers to spew hate against other ethnic groups and Christianity.
In another piece, I will provide the case for a united Nigeria. For now, I urge everyone to remain calm and insist on Nigeria's restructuring. Thank you for reading. Insist on the facts, verify from multiple sources that are credible and let what you share build up. God bless you and God bless Nigeria.
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