Date Published: 09/15/09
THE NEW "CUT & PASTE JOURNALISM" OF TODAY: GOV. PETER OBI AND HIIS FUTURE POLITICAL DESTINY IN ANAMBRA STATE By Benjamin Anosike
True, the Peter Obi praise singer Otimkpus who seem to dominate his nominal media campaign apparatus today, both in the newspapers and the Internet e-group forums (fora) and elsewhere, seem strongly to detest hearing anything that smacks of the TRUTH, and, hate even worse, an honest carrier or messenger of that truth who ever tries to dispense it, whether they like it or not. But, like it or not, the simple political TRUTH of the matter today is that there is currently really one political REALITY that defines Gov. Obi's political fortune in the current and immediate political equation in Anambra State. And that is this. That, ironically, whereas all you hear from so many among the horde of mindless Peter Obi praise singer Otimkpus now milling all over the place, is simply about how Gov. Obi has "executed" this wonderful "project" or the other all over Anambra State, the political fate of Gov. Obi at the polls, at the discriminating hands of the Anambra people come the February 2010 governorship elections, will be decided, NOT so much on the"project execution" prowess of the Obi administration, but on a totally different measure altogether!
Yet, to hear the purported present era "journalists" and pseudo-journalists who purport to write about or to portray the political currents in the current developing contest for the 2010 governorship election, particularly the fanatical group who are ostensibly on the Peter Obi camp of the political spectrum, the whole issue is just about one thing and one thing ONLY -- the vastly superior record, they claim, of Gov. Obi in the area of "project execution," and the fact, they say, that Obi's record is far and away above that of every other rival in the field, actual, potential or imagined!
A NEW BREED OF JOURNALISTS OR WRITERS?
But on what tangible, hard evidence, though, do these pundits and "journalists" base this frequently proclaimed gospel of guaranteed, almost automatic Obi victory in 2010 that's common among the Obi partisan loyalists and praise singers?
Almost NONE whatsoever, really! In deed, the hallmark of these hard line loyalists and this new breed of "journalists," noted more for their fanaticism and raw sentimentalism than for objective analysis, is their abhorrence of facts and evidence, their disdain for engaging in honest intellectual argument, their utter dislike of research or journalistic investigation for the facts or for issue-based discussions, or for logic and simple logical deductions. Rather, they have a marked love and preference, in stead, for the easy, short-cut kind of journalism, often preferring instantly to blackmail and demonize the political opponent, or any contrary opinion, and to engage in the distortion of the facts and turning the fact on its head, even outright inventions and fabrications.
THE RECENT OBIOGBOLU EXAMPLE OF NEW "CUT & PASTE JOURNALISM"
A very recent case in point involves a story written (presumably) by a Benjamin Akilika,
under a caption, "More Condemnation Trail Obiogbolu's Insistence that Computer is Evil." Billled as an accurate reporting of a presentation made on August 2th 2009 to members of the civil society in his “ Oganiru Anambra Project” speech by Dr. Alex Obiogbolu, a prominent current aspirant for the PDP candidacy for the Anambra governorship apparently perceived by some Obi loyalists as a major threat, ultimately, to the actual electability of Peter Obi as governor. For this undersigned writer, seeing the name Obiogbolu, had immediately sparked an intense curiosity in me, as Obiogbolu, an Onitsha practicing medical doctor, has been, in my own personal experience, one of those younger, up-and-coming rising stars that one can find anywhere in any political party in the whole Anambra political arena today with genuine credentials and true promise. I had gotten to know Dr. Obiogbolu from my work in Anambra State in the 2007 governorship elections when I led the ASA-USA Election Monitoring Team to the April 2007 elections, and from the interactions that my monitoring team members had had with Obiogbolu, we had generally come away with the enduring impression of him as one of the most credible, reliable, better schooled and more reasonable rising political stars of the times in Anambra politics. (For example, Obiogbolu, a full fledged PDP member at the time, had been one of the few courageous politicians to have broken with and confronted the brutal, all-powerful Andy Uba political machine at the time, and to have rejected his phantom "election" as governor, and even as he had endured beatings and arrests at the hands of the Andy Uba-manipulated police for this at the time, he still never wavered!). Hence, when I came across an article headlined, "More Condemnation" of Obiogbolu purportedly because he was maintaining "that Computer is Evil," I was naturally curious to dig my hands much deeper into this story, to say the least.
Most unfortunately, though, it soon turned out that Mr. Akilika's rendition of Obiogbolu's presentation, was not at all a true account or accurate reporting of anything that Obiogbolu actually stated in his long, elaborate presentation. But rather, a complete fallacy and pure invention, a worrisome specimen of the modern day practice of " cut and paste journalism" of the worse kind that is seen among many Obi-favored writers today, to say the least, particularly among those who dabble in the Internet e-group media reporting -- an intellectual affliction which, observers say, is really only supposed to predominate among the newer breed of purported "journalists" who are often distinguished by being ill-trained and more intellectually and educationally challenged.
For a piece probably remarkable merely for its excessive preoccupation with one remark in a presentation that dwelt on a host of at least four or more major issues of relevance to the state's economy and development, Benjamin Akilika's rendition of what Obiogbolu is supposed to have stated in that presentation, is most distinguished perhaps by the number of distortions and the depth of misrepresentations and misinformation with which the Akilika version is completely riddled. Mr. Akilika's rather obsessive preoccupation, seems to be just with that one tiny aspect of Obiogbolu's remarks that concerns the computers that are advertised as being provided by the Peter Obi administration to schools in the state. According to Mr. Akilika, a known partisan of the media believed by many to be a direct mouthpiece of Mr. Val Obienyem, the chief media handler of the Obi administration, using the personal opinions of one Mr. Anthony Oguejiofor as his sole authority for almost his (Akilika's) entire piece, a "statement [was] credited to Dr. Alex Obiogbolu that the provision of computers in the schools in Anambra State is not good," adding that the said Oguejiofor "said that it was anachronistic for somebody of Obiogbolu’s stand to condemn the use and supply of computers to schools in an age that could be described as computer age."
However, upon examining the said Obiogbolu presentation and his statements at the event, such a charge turns out to be completely a figment of the imagination and an utter fabrication and distortion. In point of fact, contrary to the Akilika rendition and his accusations, Obiogbolu's point seems rather simple and analytically based. Obigbolu simply contends, not that computers are "evil" or "not good," but simply that, from his analysis from his physical inspection tours of some of the schools to which the computers were provided, a "more pressing priority" and more prudent and immediate need for some of the schools receiving the computer hand outs, would have been for the state government to provide such schools certain other needs that might have been more immediate and more primary or fitting for those particular schools, than computers, considering their individual conditions and needs structure -- teachers, for example, in stead of computers, for schools which he had found from his data - based analysis, he says, suffers more from lack of teachers, or having the school roof fixed, in stead of provision of computer, for schools which he found suffers more from depilated roofs, and the like. And couple this, Obiogbolu argued, with the fact that, according to him, he had found that most computers that were provided to schools by the Obi administration, were not being used as there was physically no place to house them for they were only being stored in houses of some town unions and the offices of the principals.
But, if one were only to read Mr. Benjamin Akilika's account of what transpired at that event, the whole Obiogbolu statement bearing on school computers, was simply that computers are "evil" and "not good" for schools, and it was all about an "open condemnation of equipping schools in Anambra State with computers."
Never mind that Obiogbolu's presentation, using advanced, more sophisticated "power point" method of presentation for a more modern detailed analysis, and using hard data extracted from Anambra State government's annual account statements, was a remarkably issue -based, well-articulated, advanced presentation of an elaborate plan of development that dealt, as well, with a whole elaborate menu of issues confronting the state, ranging from the economic development of the state, to rapid job creation measures, using public expenditure to drive growth in different sectors as diverse as agriculture, industry, education, health, and information technology, to crime prevention and protection and power supply, etc., etc. Never mind all of that, but all that Mr. Akilika could get out of that whole multi-faceted presentation is that Obiogbolu was only "advising the people of the State to move backwards when the rest of the world was moving forward," and was only "condemning the noble things that the Governor is doing in the State because one does not like his face or [is] resentful for not securing appointment or because one thinks that the only way one can win elections is to demonize the Governor."
In deed, to Mr. Akilika, Obiogbolu's whole presentation on use of computers, had even more ominous implications -- state security, even "terrorist" implications for the nation and the Anambra citizens! As, according to Mr. Akilika, that seeming simple statement by Dr. Obiogbolu on school computers, dangerously "l inks the philosophy of Obiogbolu to that of Alhaji Muhammed Yusuf, the leader of Boko Haram, an organization that believes that Western education is evil," a perilous state of affairs that has the fearsome potential to "inflame the society as the country recently witnessed in Borno State."!
CURRENT PRACTICE OF "CUT & PASTE JOURNALISM" AT ITS WORST!!
Clearly, there could be no better specimen of the modern day practice of "cut and paste journalism" of the worse and most invidious kind than this, to say the least, a method deemed increasingly attractive to and employed by many Obi-favored media operatives and writers today, particularly those among them who dabble in the Internet e-group media -- an intellectual affliction which observers say is really only supposed to predominate among the newer breed of purported "journalists" who are often distinguished by being ill-trained and more intellectually and educationally challenged.
ON WHAT WILL PETER OBI BE JUDGED: PROJECT EXECUTION OR OTHER MATTERS?
A central point to make here, is that whether rightly or wrongly, there has been the growing but pervasive general feeling and impression created by Gov. Obi, and more particularly cultivated by the caliber of fiercely partisan operatives and political advisers and handlers with whom he has surrounded himself or who have claimed to speak for him or on his behalf, that the dominant public persona that defines the Peter Obi governorship and his administration today among the ordinary Anambra people, is that they have been engaged in a life of well orchestrated, surreptitious political double standard and deception, predominantly preoccupied with blackmailing and a near obsession with quite resort to vilification and demonization of political rivals or opponents as probably their only basic "strategy" for political campaigning. And that this persona is, perhaps, primarily caused, observers say, by an underlying crisis of confidence and an inward feeling of emptiness and want of any real lasting achievements in Anambra governance on Obi's part. It is my humble but well considered submission, that in the final analysis, largely for reasons of the foregoing, it is, perhaps most ironically, on what might be called the "personal manners and character" issues, rather the much more traditional measure of political performance in office, such as the execution of projects and provision of social and economic amenities, that the political re-electability of Peter Obi will largely be dependent in 2010, and will largely be based by the Anambra people!
It is ironic, and, I would say, quite ominously most instructive, that when Peter Obi's political rivals and opponents, in deed, even his secret sympathizers who might intrinsically wish him well and would want him to be a successful governor, any way, list their grievances or areas of disappointments with Gov. Obi, it is not necessarily with his power of execution of social amenities or infrastuctural projects that they have qualms about. Nor is it with Obi's skills of fiscal and financial management, or his ability to construct a sophisticated or elaborate economic or development model or master plan. But, rather, it is with what could be called his (Obi's) personal manners, his public relations with people (or lack, thereof), both with friends and with foes, and with his ability -- and that of his many aides and hangers-on who work with or for him -- to humanely relate and to cooperate with people, and to treat and respect the intimate needs, sensitivities and sensibilities of others.
Interviewed recently, Mr. Emeka Etiaba, one of Peter Obi's more vibrant political challengers for nomination in the APGA party for the Anambra governorship candidacy, squarely alluded to this pivotal element this way:
"I did call him (Gov. Obi) and told him ‘do you see this your boy [probably meaning Mr. Val Obienyem, the governor's chief press handler] whom you think is working in your favor, he is the one that will destroy your administration’ and that has happened today...because what they embark on is what I call blackmail."
THE CRUX OF OBI'S POLITICAL PROBLEM
Put very simply, Gov. Peter Obi's political quandary in the Anambra political election equation today, is that he is, in effect, out "chasing the shadows," as one highly informed analyst recently summed it up, while being either unable to, or, much more likely, stubbornly unwilling to, listen to or to confront hard, credible advice and questions about the real, fundamental issues and concerns with the Anambra people. Powered, perhaps primarily by the fact apparently of Mr. Obi's natural love, affinity and preference for living in the fantasy land, than hearing the hard but bitter truths of life, Obi's political problem is compounded by the fact that the governor is surrounded by a horde of 'yes men' and sycophantic bootlickers and incompetents who grossly serve him ill by feeding him only sweet but false bits of information about the facts of the Anambra politics. And lacking, rather woefully, any better arguments on issues or better strategy for political campaign, other than to simply "cut & paste" other peoples' articles and ideas, or to attack and malign political opponents or differing opinions as merely motivated by the desire to "lay their hands again on the Anambra treasury," the hard TRUTH of the matter, in the firm but honest and humble analysis of this writer, is that Obi's political fate in Anambra State, come February 2010, seems to hang providently in the balance right now. There is, as of now, no certainty, much less any "guarantee." Not with the current election "strategy" of the governor and his far less than competent handlers right now! It could go any and either way -- at least, as of now! ( Just my own HONEST, hard opinion, please; not the bootlickers' sweet talk about what one may want to hear!)
Thank you.
Benjamin Anosike, Ph.D.
The writer, who writes from New York, U.S.A., is the prolific author of some three dozen legal texts (and innumerable essays and articles) mostly on topics of American law, and an acclaimed legal expert, frequent writer and commentator on political, economic, social and legal issues.
