Week just ended, an august gathering on fake news, entertained and amused 200 million dejected Nigerians. The speakers and other actors at the event demonstrated a sickening display of arrogance and self deceit. They all, conveniently chose to forget the role they played exactly 4 years ago, when vicious mudslinging, brazen falsehood and repugnant propaganda, were elevated to national culture, as they battled against all decency to dethrone the previous President.
Reason, they fool themselves about “fake news “is:They probably assumes, nobody remembers how they established falsehood, as the only route to defeating an incumbent President 4 years ago.
The same folks, shamefacedly, drove the most violent campaign in the nation’s history,including stoning a sitting President. They conveniently established and introduced the most vicious online propaganda machinery chewing out 95% falsehood, just to CHANGE the government 4 years ago.
They shamelessly introduced fake news culture, celebrated fake news and established fake news as our national culture.
If only they knew, how the younger generation felt, while they chartered about the same fake news, they brought about in the first place. God help us.
The hypocrisy, they conveniently displayed, as they pretentiously complained about “fake news “,has seriously erroded whatever respects they commanded in the past.
Not their fault though. Ethnic divisions and religious differences continuously gives oxygen to an inept political class, suffering from the hangover of decades-long military rule, which threw up a peverted political culture enthroned by a corrupt military club of soldiers of fortune,and this leaves the ruthless political actors a large playground, to explore and exploit endlessly.
This jokers could afford to continually take us all for granted, simply because they succesfully exploit our differences to play us against each other.
It is up to us to decide how much longer they would continue to play their selfish game.
This brings us to the dance of shame exhibited by Igbo so called leaders penultimate week. It is also important to appeal to horrified onlookers, to forgive their carefully choreographed but embarrassing dance steps, deliberately designed to confuse the public.
These pseudo leaders are merely displaying their trademark character. They are incorrigible. They will never change. Nobody is suprised.
They publicly embraced a Presidential candidate in next month’s election a few weeks ago, in another breath, they scream, they have not endorsed any candidate.
They send their youth wing to the villa, next, they shout, they have not endorsed the villa. Again, they say, they will back a good candidate,next, they turn around to say they will not back any candidate. These cacophony of divergent positions, makes it impossible for the younger generation to trust them. The younger generation has moved ahead long ago.
All these confusing moves in a harvest season (electioneering period),which, actually confirms to the masses, the importance of pecuniary considerations in the struggle to lead ndigbo, is same reason the younger generation publicly distances itself from the so called Igbo leaders. Please forgive them. We are used to their games. Again, nobody is suprised.
Evang.Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko Founder: IYM Secretary:ECA Deputy Secretary:ILT
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