By Femi Aribisala
\nAre death sentences now to be passed on people who don\u2019t support the
\npolitical views and ambitions of Bola Tinubu?<\/p>\n
On 24th June, 2014, I wrote an article in my Vanguard newspaper column
\nentitled: \u201cA Muslim\/Muslim Presidential Disaster for the APC.\u201d This was
\nfollowed on 1st June, 2014 with another article entitled: \u201cThe Beginning
\nof the End of the Bola Tinubu Dynasty.\u201d These articles have
\nunderstandably elicited responses from the Tinubu brigade.<\/p>\n
Vanguard Special Reports<\/p>\n
On 2nd July, Sunday Dare, Special Assistant Media to Bola Tinubu, wrote a
\nrejoinder in Vanguard to the first article entitled \u201cRe: A Muslim\/Muslim
\nPresidential Disaster for the APC by Femi Aribisala.\u201d On 3rd July, he
\nwrote another rejoinder to the second article. Both articles were
\npresented as Vanguard Special Reports; including an old article written by
\nProfessor Sam Oyovbaire entitled: \u201cThe Government and the Media: Partners
\nin Progress.\u201d This was followed on 5th July by yet another article in
\nVanguard by Gbenga Olorunpomi entitled: \u201cHistory Will Be on Tinubu\u2019s
\nSide.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dare is so confident I would not be allowed to respond to his broadsides,
\nhe titled his second rejoinder: \u201cThe Beginning of the End of Aribisala\u2019s
\nFiction.\u201d However, he is greatly mistaken. I reserve the right to
\ncontinue expressing my views. Nevertheless, I understand the basis of
\nDare\u2019s confidence. My views are now unlikely to continue to find true and
\nfrank expression in Vanguard. Therefore, I have decided to resign my
\nappointment with Vanguard in order to protect my independence and
\nintegrity.<\/p>\n
Dare celebrates his paymaster, Bola Tinubu, as a great democrat. Indeed,
\nOlorunpomi says: \u201cNobody has contributed more to the sustenance of
\ndemocracy than him.\u201d But a democrat, who is also the leader of the
\nopposition in Nigeria, does not try to stifle opposition to his own
\npositions. He does not muscle the press into carrying only those views
\nand perspectives that promote his interests. As for me, I will not be
\nintimidated or silenced. Nigeria does not only belong to the rich and the
\npowerful.<\/p>\n
Death sentence<\/p>\n
Dare starts his rejoinder with a quotation saying: \u201cFemi Aribisala sounds
\nlike Nigeria\u2019s Salman Rushdie.\u201d This, in itself, is the height of
\nmischief. Salman Rushdie denigrated the Muslim faith and a fatwa or
\ndeath-sentence was passed on him ensuring that, till date, he lives in
\nhiding.<\/p>\n
I have never denigrated the Muslim faith. Indeed, my beloved grandmother
\nwas a Muslim. All I have written is that a Muslim\/Muslim presidential
\nticket is inappropriate in Nigeria, in this season of rampant Boko Haram
\nkillings of Christians and the bombing of churches in the North. For this
\nreason, a paid hack of Bola Tinubu is implying that a death-sentence
\nshould be passed on me. And yet, this same man insists his boss is a
\ndemocrat.<\/p>\n
Are death sentences now to be passed on people who don\u2019t support the
\npolitical views and ambitions of Bola Tinubu? Is this the progressive
\npolitics that is being touted by the APC? There is nothing progressive
\nabout this. It is the same old-time politics of threats and blackmail
\nthat has been the bane of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
This is getting devious. The stakes here are apparently very high for
\nDare and his gang. The 2015 election sounds like a matter of life and
\ndeath to them. But I have no interest whatsoever in dying over who will
\nbe the next Muslim vice-president of Nigeria. My kingdom is not Nigeria.
\nMy kingdom is the kingdom of God. The righteousness of God does not come
\nthrough political elections. Jesus has no interest in changing Nigeria
\nfor the better. He is only interested in changing Nigerians.<\/p>\n
Tissue of lies<\/p>\n
Dare made a number of insinuations in his vituperation and diatribe
\nagainst me. He is mistaken in presuming that my motives are the same as
\nhis. I am not in the pay of Goodluck Jonathan or the PDP. But Dare is in
\nthe pay of Bola Tinubu and the APC. I would never work for any politician
\nor government. But Dare is a \u201cgofer\u201d for Bola Tinubu. The organization I
\nwas working for was Vanguard. In any case, I only worked for Vanguard
\npart-time. Having now left Vanguard, I am not looking for a job: I
\nalready have a job. I have been essentially self-employed for the past
\nseventeen years.<\/p>\n
In order to defend his pied piper, Dare littered his rejoinders with
\noutright lies. He says I started my piece with a purported quotation from
\nTinubu that never occurred. That is a lie. This is the quote and I
\nrepeat it. Tinubu said: \u201cNobody, no one under the sun, under the United
\nNations Human Rights Charter, can stop Bola Tinubu\u2019s ambition.\u201d If this
\nis a false quote, Dare should advise his boss to sue me for libel.<\/p>\n
Dare is a liar. He is the one that attributes to me things I never said.
\nHe says: \u201cAribisala claims Asiwaju wants to be another Awolowo.\u201d That is
\na lie. I never said so. He says: \u201cAribisala accuses (Tinubu) of trying
\nto supplant Awolowo.\u201d That is another lie. I said nothing of the sort.
\nHe says I failed to acknowledge the \u201cenormous contribution\u201d Tinubu made in
\nensuring that the PDP did not hijack all the South-West states \u201cby any
\nmeans necessary.\u201d That is also a lie. I acknowledged this in my writing.<\/p>\n
Hack writer<\/p>\n
He says: \u201cThis hack writer asserts that Tinubu seeks a dynasty. He cannot
\nbe more incorrect.\u201d Sorry, Dare, I cannot be more correct. Placing
\nsingle-handed your yes-men, friends and relations in key positions in the
\nSouth-West is tantamount to trying to establish a dynasty. There is no
\npoint in lying against the truth. Everybody knows Tinubu has never been
\ncommitted to true democracy. He is committed to what he calls
\n\u201cgod-fatherism.\u201d Unfortunately for him, that is a term usually applied to
\nthe Mafia.<\/p>\n
Dare says: \u201cAribisala wishes he were Tinubu. Instead, Aribisala is
\nrelegated to being the Asiwaju of his own imagination.\u201d That is
\nbalderdash. The last thing I would aspire to be is the highfalutin leader
\nof a bogus political party or, indeed, the Special Assistant Media of Bola
\nTinubu. Tinubu is a politician and I despise politicians. They are the
\nproblem with Nigeria. Politicians are bought and sold. But, by the grace
\nof God, I cannot be bought.<\/p>\n
Dare should be more fastidious by first doing a little homework before
\nrushing to make false allegations. In a recent interview with Jide
\nAkintunde of Financial Nigeria magazine, I put this on public record: \u201cI
\nam a student of politics. However, I hate politics. It is ungodly, it is
\nfalse, and it is practiced with deceit. You cannot be a successful
\npolitician and, at the same time, be committed to the truth. Therefore,
\nmy interest in politics does not go beyond the academic. I write about
\npolitics primarily to expose the deceit of politicians. I could never be
\na politician. Neither can I ever be interested in accepting a political
\nappointment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Selfish politics<\/p>\n
Dare says: \u201cUntil Nigerians stop thinking of politics as an avenue for
\nself-aggrandizement instead of selfless service to the state we would not
\nmake meaningful progress.\u201d This is strange coming from him to me. I am
\nnot and will never be a politician and I am a man of very modest means.
\nBut Bola Tinubu is a politician who is now rolling in wealth. In the
\ninterest of transparency, he owes the Nigerian public an explanation for
\nhis sudden stupendous wealth. For example, it is reported that Tinubu has
\nrecently bought a mint Global Express aircraft costing upward of $30
\nmillion. There are also reports that he has taken over the former
\nSecretariat of Ikoyi Local Government in Lagos, where he is said to be
\nputting up a spanking 14-storey building.<\/p>\n
I live in Lagos and have done so for over thirty years. So I know what
\nLagosians think of the privatization of their economy. I know what they
\nthink about the mortgaging of their tax-collection to Alpha Beta. I know
\nhow disgusted they are with the rip-off of the Lekki\/Ajah Express-way and
\nthe Tollgate. Dare is wasting his time if he really thinks he can pull
\nthe wool over our eyes simply because he has to earn his keep as Tinubu\u2019s
\nbulldog.<\/p>\n
I hold no brief for Tom Ikimi. But I am amused that, now that he has
\nfallen out with Tinubu, Dare refers to him as \u201can unprincipled politician
\n(who) pitches his tent wherever he feels the grass is greener.\u201d The
\nhypocrisy here is incredible. Tinubu it was who led a delegation of APC
\nbigwigs to Obasanjo\u2019s Otta home begging the former president to be an
\nunprincipled politician by moving over to pitch his tent with APC as their
\n\u201cnavigator.\u201d That shows how unscrupulous he is. What then are we to call
\nthe other PDP turncoats that now populate APC, from Rabiu Kwankwaso to
\nMurtala Nyako to Atiku Abubakar? It would appear that, as long as they
\ndon\u2019t fall out with Dare\u2019s oga-at-the-top, they are principled.<\/p>\n
Dare\u2019s messiah<\/p>\n
Olorunpomi went as far as present Tinubu in the same bracket as Jesus and
\nMohammed. Dare describes Tinubu as a man with a \u201cmessianic mission.\u201d
\nNevertheless, Tinubu\u2019s ACN was beaten to third place in the 2012
\ngubernatorial election in Ondo. James Ngige, a very popular former
\ngovernor of Anambra State, came a distant third in the 2013 gubernatorial
\nelection in the state because he was foolish enough to run on Tinubu\u2019s APC
\nplatform. Kayode Fayemi, Tinubu\u2019s APC governor in Ekiti, was recently
\ndefeated by a landslide by PDP\u2019s Ayo Fayose. It would appear that the
\ntrain of this so-called messiah is fast running out of petrol and
\nspare-parts.<\/p>\n
I know what really irks these praise-singers is my blowing the whistle on
\nTinubu\u2019s vice-presidential ambitions. Dare writes about his oga: \u201cThat he
\nis from the South-West or a Muslim should not matter, should it? Of course
\nnot!\u201d Okay, my brother! Go right ahead. Let the APC field Tinubu in a
\nMuslim\/Muslim presidential ticket. Then they will really see the
\npolitical disaster that awaits them. One thing is certain. In the full
\nwake of that disaster, Dare is likely to lose his job as a highfalutin
\nSpecial Media Assistant for not being worthy of his handsome paycheck.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Femi Aribisala Are death sentences now to be passed on people who don\u2019t support the political views and ambitions of Bola Tinubu? On 24th June, 2014, I wrote an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n