Re: Jonathan receives Bafarawa in half-empty square
The caption exposes a bad faith done to achieve a predetermined end of pleasing the sponsors of the mischievous story. We are indeed aware that Bafarawa’s political opponents in the APC had sleepless nights following the mammoth crowd of supporters that thronged the Shehu Kangiwa square for the grand ceremony.It is a well known fact […]
The caption exposes a bad faith done to achieve a predetermined end of pleasing the sponsors of the mischievous story. We are indeed aware that Bafarawa’s political opponents in the APC had sleepless nights following the mammoth crowd of supporters that thronged the Shehu Kangiwa square for the grand ceremony.
It is a well known fact that the grand reception was well attended by not only a mammoth crowd but the president, vice president, senate president, governors and top politicians across the country. Contrary to the story, the reception, unprecedented in scale in the history of the state, was an indication of Bafarawa’s political clout and influence in the country.
Moreover, despite efforts by the APC-led government and agents to deter PDP supporters in rural communities from attending the event by mounting roadblocks, people still trekked for several kilometres to register their presence.
In fact, President Jonathan could not contain his joy and surprise at the huge turnout of people that included youths and women, when he remarked that if Nigeria was operating a parliamentary system of government, he would have called for election immediately. This was not a political gimmick or sloganeering but the confession of a president who witnessed what he thought was not feasible based on the misinformation being peddled by the APC that PDP was dead in Sokoto following Governor Aliyu Wamakko’s defection from PDP to the APC.
All rightful thinking persons who were there at the venue will attest that the Sunday Trust story is untrue, because it failed to adduce reasons for the ‘empty square’ it claimed.
The president spared time also to visit the burnt Sokoto Kara market to sympathize with hapless traders, who lost goods worth hundreds of millions of naira and donated N250 million to the victims, which the report failed to reflect.
The truth of the matter is that the APC ship is fast sinking in Sokoto and the people are deserting it in droves, having been pauperized by the Wamakko led administration while their living conditions worsened over the years.
We are not unmindful of the fact that the same Sunday Trust, in the January 19, 2014, issue published a piece captioned ‘Bafarawa’s men jump ship into Wamakko’s boat’. It was the same reporter who wrote the misleading report in order to rubbish Bafarawa and tarnish his reputation. Surely, repetition of lie never makes it true.
We therefore wonder what the malicious report is aimed to achieve by misleading Nigerians and peddling falsehood so as to achieve a sinister motive.
But we are indeed happy that our opponents have seen the clear handwriting on the wall and have become desperate. Thus, rather than going back to the masses to atone for their political sins, having pauperized them over the years, they are busy spending the scarce resources of the state by using hirelings in order to publish falsehood on the pages of newspapers to hoodwink members of the public.
Nevertheless, we are glad that the people of Sokoto have seen the light and have deserted darkness.
As for the publishers of the Sunday Trust, we should always remember former US president Richard Nixon’s advice that ‘the man of thought who will not act is ineffective; the man of action who will not think is dangerous’.
Dingyadi is Media Aide to Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa (Garkuwan Sokoto)
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