On June 30, 2013, all major national newspapers published a syndicated false report against the person of the Minister of State for Education, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike (CON). It was a grand calculated attempt to embarrass the Minister and mislead members of the public about the political situation in Rivers State at the time.
On that occasion, the reporters who were nowhere near the Port Harcourt International airport when President Goodluck Jonathan was received by Barrister Wike and the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi published a report that the minister was shunned by the President. They went ahead to publish a photograph to buttress their false syndicated report.
On July 1, 2013, I released a statement accompanied with photographs to fault the report. Only two out of the newspapers that published the false syndicated report were brave enough to publish the statement and the photographs pointing out the syndicated falsehood targeted at the Minister of State for Education. Even these two national newspapers buried the report/photograph deep in the inside pages. The syndicated false reports/pictures were published and celebrated on their front-pages. Of course, no apologies were made, neither did the editors retract this false syndicated report.
Fast forward to October 10, 2014. The same scenario has played out very regrettably. The same newspapers, the same theme, but different location. This time it was the Thursday October 9, 2014 reconciliation meeting of the South-South Integration Committee of the PDP at the Legacy House. The meeting of that day focused on members of the PDP in Rivers State.
All major stakeholders of the PDP in Rivers State attended the meeting and the party officials from the national headquarters of the PDP duly interacted with them. The meeting was held behind closed doors with policemen providing adequate security to ensure that the national officials interacted with party stakeholders in a peaceful atmosphere. The policemen and other security details deployed by the party ensured that only invited and accredited delegates gained entry into the hall.
Like every political gathering, some uninvited youths hung around the venue with placards supporting their respective aspirants and casting aspersions on opposition aspirants. These youths were not allowed to enter the venue. They waited opposite Legacy House after they failed to gain entry.
At the end of the closed door meeting, all the stakeholders one after the other left the venue. The very next day, October 10, 2014, the syndicated reports emerged. All of them screamed that ‘thugs’ imported by Barrister Wike beat up opposing politicians. A few of them even claimed that Barrister Wike had altercation with a politician in the meeting. Mind you, the meeting was held behind closed doors. Journalists and youths were not present.
Even though the reporters did not attend the reconciliation meeting held behind closed doors, they were comfortable enough to propagate the unsubstantiated view of two stakeholders out of the close to one hundred stakeholders and Rivers PDP officials who attended the meeting. They felt comfortable enough to re-write a concocted report that emanated from just one source.
A content analysis of all the reports indicates that they were merely re-written versions of one report. The captions all attempted to achieve just one goal –to embarrass Barrister Wike as the leader of Rivers State PDP and the candidate to beat. The same reporters had the previous day, done same to the Akwa Ibom Governor, Chief Godwsill Akpabio.
No single reporter attempted to interview the PDP officials who held the meeting with PDP Stakeholders because they were not at the venue. They did not concern themselves with informing the public about what transpired at the meeting, other than to achieve a specified goal. Several leading Rivers PDP Stakeholders, a former governor, serving and former Federal lawmakers, top serving government functionaries and notable politicians attended the meeting. Not even one of them was qualified to be interviewed by the reporters at the venue of the meeting. The reason is simple. These reporters were not at the venue. They only helped a politician not recognized by the party to disparage the party.
At the end of the entire exercise, the Chairman of the South-South Reconciliation committee, Iya Abubakar, disagreed with the position of some members of the party from Rivers State that they were prevented from appearing before the committee. This put paid to all the lies that the two stakeholders circulated through their media megaphones.
As we head towards the peak of the electioneering period, politicians without structures and followership will run to political reporters to gain presence in the media and attempt to gain media relevance. These politicians who have no stake in the success of the PDP in Rivers State or anywhere for that matter will continue to serve as moles for their paymaster.
Their paymaster is known. He was in Abuja on the day the same false reporters were planted. This is a c lear case of an unknown politician dancing the music being played by their known paymaster.
The politician who misled the political reporters is an unknown quantity. He had to be introduced by all the reporters and he boasted in all the reports that he would destroy the party in Rivers State. If his paymaster failed, there is no chance that he would succeed. The party structure in Rivers State is solid and expanding very fast because of the purposeful and people-oriented leadership of Barrister Wike. Sponsored syndicated reports promoting falsehood will only serve as the required tonic to move the party to greater heights. They can never weaken the party.
The desperation to deceive Nigerians on the political developments in Rivers State has been in place over the last two years. The next one month Nigerians should expect this desperation to engage in political deception to reach its crescendo. Unpopular politicians with no political relevance will continue to shout at the rooftops with their megaphones in the media.
On the field and in the hearts of the people of Rivers State, Barrister Wike will continue to gain ground and his popularity will continue to rise. There is nothing anyone can do about this fact. Holding nocturnal meeting, cooking up false reports and syndicating reports against the performing Minister of State for Education has served no purpose. It will not achieve anything going forward, other than to serve as comic relief.
Barrister Wike has touched the lives of the people of Rivers State in several positive ways. He is a leading light of the people and a committed pro-people politician. He will submit himself to the governorship primary of the PDP in Rivers State and go a step further to seek the mandate of the people of the state. Those who are jittery of his popularity should have a rethink and join the new vision train. These tricks will take them nowhere. Barrister Wike cannot be intimidated by cooked up tales. The Rivers people have asked for Barrister Wike and Barrister Wike they will get.
Simeon Nwakaudu is the Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of State for Education.
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