I can't remember who now, but someone wrote in an article sometime ago that many Nigerians have lost their sense of "shockability". Many things happen and many things are said these days that Nigerians take for granted. However novel, absurd, incredulous, obscene, vain, ridiculous, ludicrous, rude, awkward, superfluous, fallacious, untrue....etc. a matter is, there are some Nigerians that would not bat an eyelid or even question its veracity. Truth has become endangered.
Nowhere else is this the case as in our politics. And in this Elections Season, there are lies aplenty. If it is in the media, especially social media, it most be true. A popular refrain these days is "focus on the message and not the messenger". I don't know how this became Received Wisdom. I grew up knowing that the credibility of a message depends on who the messenger is. Why would anyone believe what a known liar says?! And why do journalists refer to "usually credible sources" to give credence to a tale they know many would need more than a pinch of salt to believe?
It was the Facebook post of a Buharist that I first read the claim that the Federal Government had given N6,000,000,000 (Six billion Naira only) to some Nigerian Pastors to campaign against Mr. Muhammadu Buhari and project him as an Islamic fundamentalist who is out to Islamise Nigeria if he becomes the President. I even shared the post on my Facebook Timeline and said it was the latest fabrication from the propaganda machinery of the All Progressives Party (APC) which is unlikely to gain traction since it was not first published by Sahara "Reporters". That was the night of Tuesday, 3rd February, 2015. I was wrong.
The following morning, all the major newspapers carried it as a major news item: "FG BRIBED PASTORS WITH N6BILLION~ GOV. ROTIMI AMAECHI"!! Oh! So it is official then? The Governor of Rivers State and the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress' Presidential Campaign Committee, the Right Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi made the disclosure(?) at an APC Campaign Rally last Tuesday in Rivers State.
The Governor equally revealed(?) that the Pastors were mandated by the Federal Government to distribute some literature about Buhari's Islamisation Plan to Christians. The Governor, as a devout Catholic, exonerated Roman Catholic Priests from the conspiracy and made it clear that it was the Commercial, Mammon-loving Clergymen (and Clergywomen?) outside of his Church who were guilty of this un-Christ-like conduct. He dutifully appealed to the sinning Pastors (apparently of the Protestant fold) to repent and return our money to the National Treasury.
Hmmmm.....
Very impressive. Ehmm....but is this not a crime which His Excellency just uncovered? Should there be no consequences for this blatant case of stealing....and corruption? Since Gov. Amaechi is so highly placed, his uncovering of this illegality should not be sneered at. Surely, as a two-term Governor, he has the contacts and requisite connections to get at the root of the matter. He couldn't be saying this openly at a Campaign Rally if he didn't have his facts and figures.
I hope I am not being preemptive here; the Governor most certainly must have compiled the names of those wicked Pastors and obtained the details of how the monies were surreptitiously paid to them. It has never been easier to trace payments as it is today. N6Billion is unlikely to have been disbursed by cash. Or was it? Anyway, the Governor knows.
He probably already has his legal folks working on a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). This kind of whistle-blowing is easier for a Governor: he has immunity from prosecution by anyone who would attempt to detract Nigerians from the issue by filing a libel suit and he needs no Whistle-blower Protection, thanks to his new Governor-friendly State Police Commissioner.
I have no doubt that Gov. Rotimi Amaechi knows that he has a civic duty to assist our anti-corruption agencies with all relevant information to deal with this crime. Moreover, as the Campaigner-in-Chief of Mr. Muhammadu Buhari, the Corruption Burster, nothing less can be expected.
This Pastor-bribing episode now makes me suspicious of those Pastors who recently met with Pastor Prof. Yemi Osinbajo in Kaduna and Makurdi when the APC Presidential Campaign Team was in those cities. How much might they have also collected from the APC to campaign for Mr. Buhari? Since Mr. Buhari's Islamic fundamentalism is well known because of utterances he made himself about his commitment to entrenching Sharia nationwide and his urging Muslims to vote only for Muslims so as to protect the interest of Islam, it would appear more plausible that his Campaign Team may be more motivated to recruit and induce Pastors to sell his candidacy to Christians in Nigeria.
It would seem that Muslim clerics do not love money. Unlike their Protestant Christian peers, many Imams are happily and zealously promoting Mr. Buhari in their Mosques up north as Allah's Candidate gratuitously. But if that be not the case no one has a smoking gun such as Gov. Rotimi Amaechi has on the conniving Pastors.
Finally, here is our chance to make an example of all those thieving Pastors. Gov. Rotimi Amaechi, we are counting on you. Don't let us down, sir.
NIGERIA DI FURE!
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