“If you tell a lie that’s big enough, and you tell it often enough, people will believe you are telling the truth, even when what you are saying is total crap.” – Richard Belzer in his book UFOs, JFK, and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don’t Have To Be Crazy To Believe
From time immemorial, dishonourable men have thrived in politics by peddling fabricated and concocted lies and half-truths. And while truth and sound principles will eventually outshine falsehood and opportunism, those who deal in such stock record some successes, albeit temporarily, at the expense of the people striving to bring some difference to politics. Sir Winston Churchill was therefore right when he observed that “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on”.
These charlatans and opportunists are champions of the Big Lie theory endorsed and popularized by Adolf Hitler and his chief propagandist, Joseph Goebbels and simplified in Richard Belzer’s book referenced above. This is the strategy now adopted by the PDP apparatchik in their futile attempt to politically lynch Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Their grand plan which is not new is to discredit him and other honourable men in the progressive fold in the belief that if the same big lies are repeated over and over again, people will begin to believe them and their targets will become discredited thereby truncating efforts to wrest power from the clueless and inept PDP politicians.
They adopted this strategy in Ekiti State. They deployed it in Osun State and are now employing it fully as the national elections approach. A manifestation of their desperation is the recent churning out of unsubstantiated allegations both on television and in the social media against Tinubu, Buhari and a host of APC leaders. Of note is that they seem to have gone into overdrive in their circulation of outlandish accusations of inordinate wealth and property acquisition Bola Tinubu. These politicians turned blackmailers who are clearly of the PDP brand are identifiable. They must not be left to roam free and get away with libel and their criminal activities in character assassination. Tinubu and the APC must approach the courts of the land and, with the decorum and formalities afforded by the rules of courts, put them to the strictest proof of these allegations. Because of their cowardice, they work as faceless persons.
However, they have now been uncovered. The Fayoses. Fani Kayodes. Mimikos, Olisa Metu of this world. They have also recruited many into their ranks using slush monies. They go by phony names and acronyms shielding their cowardly sponsors.
In the past, these characters made allegations against Tinubu and went ahead to orchestrate his arraignment before the Code of Conduct Tribunal. It is a matter of record that all the charges against Bola Tinubu were quashed by that tribunal. Several other allegations against him remain in the realm of speculative rumour, with no evidence to back them up. In the latest round of falsehood being circulated in some sections of the media, a list of “purported choice properties said to belong to a Chieftain of APC is being peddled. Those behind this list do this without regard to whether the properties in the list in fact exist.
Their story admittedly describes them as ‘purported choice properties’, and raise doubts of ownership by stating ‘said to belong’!!! How irresponsible and how manifestly mischievous!
For the records and for the avoidance of doubt, it is clear that these allegations are totally false and baseless and this attempt to play on our people’s collective ignorance and emotion is sad. The ‘Big Lie’ strategy of the propagators of these lies is about to come to an end. Because he who alleges must proof, these attackers must face the law and provide incontrovertible proof.
The Tinubu inspired 25-year development plan of Lagos helped lay the foundation for the infrastructural renewal, revenue breakthrough and related reforms in Lagos. No elected governor, past or present today in Nigeria equals the vision, vigor and vitality Bola Tinubu brought to governance. Today, Lagos is a national and global model of good governance thanks to Tinubu and his party.
Indeed, the falsity of the accusations against Tinubu and Fashola by the faceless would be apparent to independent and fair minded citizens if, in the absence of the opportunity for formal proof and denial otherwise afforded in responding to identifiable accusers, and with the benefit of seeing through the Big Lie Strategy, they consider:
– Whether accusations of secrecy bordering on the Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension) Law of 2007 are valid and reasonable when: (a) the law is available for public scrutiny in the Lagos State of Nigeria Official Gazette Extraordinary No. 37 Vol. 40 of May 18, 2007; (b) the law, in fact, documents the benefits payable to retired public officers instead of arbitrary pay-outs; and (c) the approach agrees with internationally acceptable practices including the model in the United States under the Former Presidents Act, Presidential Transition Act and Former Presidents Protection Act.
– Whether there is, in fact, a property on Oyinkan Abayomi that has served as Guest House to the Lagos State Government since 1979?
– Whether the outlandish value of the properties listed in the publication are not arbitrary, unsubstantiated and indicative of the mischievous actions of desperate political operatives.
– Whether reputable publicly traded organizations with internationally sanctioned codes of corporate governance such as Oando Plc and UACN Plc would engage, without obvious consequences, in such shady deals as described in the publication.
– Whether the fact that I share a common surname with the CEO of Oando Plc is not being used as a
fodder to feed damaging conspiracy theories and score cheap political points at the expense of the truth.
– Whether the relocation of the Ikosi Road Campus of the Lagos State Polytechnic to its permanent site at Ikorodu was not in fulfilment of the Master Plan for the institution.
– Whether it is not lazy and outlandish to suggest that every major property developer in Lagos State is fronting for me. Are most of these developments not funded by facilities from the banks?
– Whether the matters relating to Federal Government properties in Lagos State are not presently before the Supreme Court of Nigeria and whether there is any shred of documented evidence substantiating the accusations concerning the old Federal Secretariat.
– Whether sharing a surname with a doctor working at the Critical Care Unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital is sufficient to reasonably conclude that I personally own the unit. Is that not laughable in itself?
The truth of the matter is that the detractors do not understand Tinubu and the progressives with their style and innovative approach to governance. Not because they are incapable of doing so, but because the years of waste and charlatanism presided over by these same detractors have become conditioned to their tired, regressive and destructive approach to governance, wealth management and infrastructure development. Tinubu is a trail blazer and represents that new progressive and aggressive generation of managers who, having won the confidence of their people to occupy political offices, have embarked on new methods of financing projects. This group has fully tapped and developed the potentials of Public Private Partnership initiatives. By so doing, being able to complete and embark on projects that only decades of reliance on federal allocations would achieve. Yes, private sector people benefited but the benefits were legitimate and the people got value. And, what is more, it accords with international best practices.
The APC approach to governance in Lagos has empowered the private sector players. It has led to the creation of jobs and opportunities for ordinary citizens. Citizens have gotten value and are positioned to continue to get long term value. This approach has in fact, reduced corruption and waste in governance.
Do the PDP detractors know these? Yes, they do. Why, then, are they falsifying the records and creating and spreading malicious innuendos? Because they want to play on the people’s readiness and tendency (justifiable by years of disappointing governance) to believe that ALL politicians are corrupt and that any new agenda is an avenue to siphon funds. It is evil, devilish, criminal and morally reprehensible for our detractors to attempt to take advantage of our people in this way.
I have no doubt whatsoever that the objectives of the publishers of this otherwise defamatory articles are to malign the person of Tinubu and attack the viability of the APC platform, to manipulate the people and impede the progress of the Progressives. It is an act of desperation and politically motivated character assassination carried to its highest and nauseating level against Tinubu. Like it failed in the past, this attempt again will kiss the dust.
Omolewa writes from Ibadan
