Good governance is not from rocket science in where it exists. Nigeria as the country we belong and belongs to us is finding it difficult if not impossible to navigate to safe coast under the Tinubu brand of governance for its hatred to objective opinions to change its unacceptable, unpalatable and frustrating policies even from senior citizens and critical stakeholders in the Nigeria Project.
Bauchi State Governor, Bala Muhammed falls within the bracket of patriots that serve with passion and confront challenges as they unfold for the good of Nigerians not minding the aftermath bull shit.
Prior to his suggestions for a way forward out of the quandary enveloping Nigeria to President Tinubu, particularly on the Tax Reform Bill, other state governors had spoken negatively against some policies of the Tinubu led -federal government including that of the tax reform. But ironically, there were no responses or attacks against them from Tinubu’s media handlers and propagandists simply because they are paddling in the same APC sinking political canoe with the president.
Penultimate week, when Governor Bala Muhammed voiced out the feelings of the majority, he was a subject of attack for being patriotic and courageous enough to have advised President Tinubu to change his style of leadership and policies, engage accomplished technocrats to add value to governance for the good of his administration.
Bala, was neither offensive, rude nor political but polite and respectful in his submission to Mr. President, that wasn’t pleasant to stationed idling attack dogs and sycophants the likes of Maitama Tugga in the foreign affairs ministry who ignored the sense in Bala’s submission and opted for spurious attacks.
Instead of commending the governor for waking the snoring president to act against those problems bedeviling good governance, they hurriedly attached political color to the issue for an escape route from their cluelessness.
They traded insults, challenges, abuses and shenanigans on the courageous personality for standing with the people in times of need.
What Bala meant by his advice if translated to reality, was simply saying as the groaning in the land is worsening by the day and the time is ripe for a reversal of some harsh economic policies and retooling of the paradigm in favor of the people. That’s instead of the economy being skewed to satisfy the growing greed of the avarice political class the likes of Maitama Tugga.
Tinubu should have the political will to diversify the country’s economic base, inject acceptable policies and pave way for economic growth not the introduction of an obnoxious tax reform targeted at pauperizing a section of the country.
Bala is of the opinion that certain critical areas of the economy must be improved to net dividends such as agriculture, tourism and mining including support to small and medium scale enterprises to flourish and reduce unemployment, poverty and insecurity.
Detractors of Bala should not forget that he passed through the election cycle of 2019 and 2023 with flying colors which shaped up as one of the most vicious in the recent history of Nigeria. The mud flew fast and thick targeted at dwarfing his rising profile as a leader by his opponents and detractors.
Today, hate speech is masquerading as public discourse. Bullying is par the course on social media if you hold a contrary view to that of Governor Bala’s detractors for sounding an alarm to wake the sheriff from slumber for a better Nigeria. In certain parts, such was the terror at venturing opinions that many clammed up.
But nothing captures the ugliness of the season more than the reckless resort to releasing unsubstantiated stories as news by partisans and hangers-on targeted at the purposeful and performing government of Bala Muhammed. That was to be expected given that deployment of ignorance and lies by the weak to achieve political ends has become a global phenomenon and Bala cannot be an exception.
That pattern was already evident some few days ago leading to several wishy-washy literature, voice notes and videos on the media space. For instance, in one of his published writings, a renowned columnist of several years standing, Festus Eriye wrote: ‘Life in the time of Fake News’. In that master-piece, Eriye exposed several sentiments which are even more relevant today in the case of Governor Bala Muhammed Versus an Impoverished Nigeria under Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The lifespan of ignorance and lie can be quite elastic depending on how intricately it is woven. Some can be buried for years, but in the age of social media it can be brutally short.
That is why one is often confused as to the motivations of purveyors of fake news who know they can be found out in a matter of minutes or hours at worst. While the creators have their dubious agenda, those who spread ignorance and lies—especially online—probably do so with advantage in mind.
I recently came across a certain interesting posting on a platform, supposedly an image laundering effort from one of those lapdogs in need of proper mental medication that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu means well for Nigeria particularly the northern part with his obnoxious Tax Reform Bill.
Although, there was no reason accompanying the media blitz, I believe, as others believe Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the least qualified in 2023 for any elective office based on his past antecedents. My reason is simple! In his eight years in power as Lagos State Governor (1999-2007), he only perfected revenue collection as most of the local government areas were underdeveloped despite the huge revenue extorted and the massive votes cast for his victory in 1999 and repeated in 2003, but without any positive impact of his administration. Who is today mischievously and hypocritically struggling to convince the electorates of northern states to support their undertaker now in the presidency courtesy of the Supreme Court? As a state governor, he relegated the entire state to the back bench of development. Is it as a president he will attend to the needs of the larger Nigeria? Only a fellow undertaker can risk trusting Tinubu for positive achievement based on his leadership style.
Honestly, politics apart, if not for the commendable efforts of Governor Bala Muhammed in projects execution scattered across the state and commendable workable policies, Bauchi could have today passed for a rural settlement by any standard or a deserted captured territory.
Tinubu had wisely planned ahead of the 2023 elections to rely on the political goodwill enjoyed by some respected northerners and the power of incumbency despite his poor service delivery to the entire Lagos State landscape. His plan netted dividends through his reliable ally in the presidency and cohorts.
Now, back to the discourse, desperate bloggers and website owners who want to attract traffic to their sites would push out the most sensational of stories without subjecting same to the most basic journalistic tests. The more excitable amongst us who get their thrills from spreading the latest tales, are only too glad to share same with the gullible hordes on social media. So, what on the surface, looks like a manifestation of extreme insanity, clearly has method to it.
These days the internet has become a sea of ignorance and lies: headlines lie, photos and videos tell even bigger unrefined lies. The wicked and mischievous can lift a photo of five years ago and use it to drive a story in a similar context today. The reader may even swear to have seen the pictures with his own eyes when narrating the story until a rebuttal knocks him back to reality. This is where Sunday Dare and Maitama Tugga found themselves in desperation to trade ignorance and lies against the performance of Governor Bala Muhammed than drawing the attention of their paymaster to the reality.
Beginning with the sincere statements from Governor Bala Muhammed towards unchaining the people from hunger, poverty and insecurity, fake news purveyors took over the stage jacking their trade to a multimillion-dollar global industry in the hands of clowns, jokers, sadists and hangers-on relentlessly deployed for political ends which Governor Bala Muhammed has nothing to do with.
Nigerians, quick to pick up on global trends no matter how diabolical—have not been slow to jump on the bandwagon to extort from Tinubu and his parasites that are misleading him to the political gutter.
With the benefit of hindsight many now credit the cynical use of fake news as a critical factor in the sincere and honest statement of Governor Bala Muhammed who spoke the minds of the majority with caution and respect.
As the world came to terms with the new era of extreme polarization of politics and brazen acceptance of alternative facts, so also people are becoming more adept at fighting the menace with rapid response fact-checking. That has limited but not eliminated, and the damage that can be done to a country’s democracy by the embrace of half truths, twisted and murdered facts and outright lies.
I suspect that desperate politicians in the APC and their sycophants understand the devastating impact that faking can have at the coming elections given the level at it despite knowing that sooner, rather than later, they would be flushed out.
However, a potential saving grace that could stunt the effect of fake news on the process is emerging voter inflexibility. Nigerians are usually passionate about everything—whether football, religion or politics. They don’t wait for an official flag off before staking out their positions. Many have made up their minds on who to vote for in 2027 and Bala Muhammed is a top contender. Indeed, anyone who hasn’t taken such a position by now isn’t really interested in politics or is prepared to accept any laggard loaded.
That is why no amount of dirt or false revelation is going to sway the typical Sen. Bala Muhammed supporter from voting him in any election because his base is locked in and it is Kaura till kingdom come. You can make the same argument about those who may decide to vote other masquerades jostling for the number one seat in Nigeria.
That leaves an indeterminate number of undecided voters in play. But what do we know about them? Very little indeed! We don’t know if they are students or young first time voters. We don’t know if they are fair minded, just waiting to appraise what each candidate promises to do before making their voting decision. We don’t know whether this demography is sufficiently large to sway things in one direction or the other in a close election.
What we do know is that some parties would do everything necessary to grab votes even if it means descending into the sewer just to block the election path of Sen. Bala Muhammed out of hate and envy but surely not from poor performance and quality.
The hope of fake news promoters is that the electorate would be turned away from their rivals by the reek of hate speech and bundle of lies. But sometimes the reverse is achieved when their targets attract sympathy as lies are quickly exposed, neutralized and vamoosed.
This election cycle, the PDP’s Bala Abdulkadir Muhammed has been the focus of the most vicious attacks of recent by attack dogs, not because he has negatives but because he is the stumbling block of Nigeria’s undertakers. For every stone his opponents hurl at him, there is always enough ammunition to reply in kind. But it is understandable why he is pushed to the receiving end by desperate opponents.
It’s a long established tradition that front runners are always recipients of such attacks by rivals and detractors who want to rein them in and stop them from breaking away from the chasing pack. They only way to do so is by going negative and sponsoring hangers-on and miscreants to throw challenges.
Even worse, attacking an incumbent performing governor relentlessly doesn’t necessarily make your own principal more attractive, marketable and acceptable to the electorate. All it does in most times is putting them permanently on display in the limelight but not to be trusted with leadership.
A maximum says: “The Devil you know is better than the Angel you don’t know”. How can a sane and responsible person key into fiction than reality? Governor Bala Abdulkadir Muhammed is a reality as a serving governor he has displayed his prowess and sincerity in providing what Bauchi State and Nigeria need. How can a political novice without patriotic political education such as Maitama Tugga convince a stable mind even in Gamawa locality to shun away from reality to the ditch of hate? From Bauchi Government House it will be a smooth ride without bumps to the Aso Presidential Villa in 2027 In Sha Allah. Mark My Words!
Muhammad is a commentator on national issues.
