By Usman Usman Birnin Kudu
It is a pity that some elements among the good people of Jigawa state who want nothing for the state are spreading falsehood in the state.
In their malicious propaganda, they said the All Progressives Congress supporters publicly displayed guns, cutlasses and other weapons of destruction in Jigawa state during the by-election into the Federal House of Representatives.
They claimed that the protesters were chanting the name of one of the candidates, Hon. Yusuf Galambi, as reported by Sahara Reporters. To convince gullible individuals in the story, they used a picture taken from somewhere, a remote place, which has no link with the Jigwa or the election in question.
The role of the media all over the world, is to inform the general public, both the learned and the unlearned, men and women, properly by way of balanced reportage where all sides to an incident are heard, but not to mislead the populace through subtle propaganda.
The recent campaign of blackmail and malicious falsehoods against Hon. Yusuf Shitu Galambi, who is aspiring to go to the National Assembly to represent his people and thus standing as a candidate for the House of Representatives by-election in the Gwaram federal constituency of Jigawa state, is an abuse of media ethics. It’s unethical for a publisher to use his medium for malicious political purposes.
The primary for the by-election in Gwaram Federal Constituency of Jigawa state, was duly conducted and won by Honourable Galambi. It was also duly supervised and observed by the Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials, the police and the State Security Service (SSS). To any political observer, Galambi’s victory was not surprising because he is a grassroots politician who has always identified himself with the needs and aspirations of the ordinary people. He is therefore, formidably popular among the Jigawa people and all Nigerians. So, his victory didn’t come as a surprise.
Unfortunately, in Nigeria, our politicians have no spirit of sportsmanship, so do not accept honest defeat.
Instead of embracing the winner who emerges from an election in which they have a stake, for the development of their communities, they go about hiring media attack dogs to discredit the winner. Sahara Reporters claimed that Galambi’s supporters carried arms and dangerous weapons during the by-election primaries. But the primaries were safeguarded by the police, so the use of the so-called arms was the figment of Sahara Reporters and their sponsors’ imagination. There was no iota of truth whatsoever, in the so-called arms story.
It’s in Sahara Reporters best interest to avoid being used by frustrated politicians that lack the courage to admit defeat, but always being the first to accept victory in an election they participate in.
The current campaign of calumny against Galambi will fail because the people of Jigawa state are solidly behind him. Biased outsiders and men of questionable character cannot decide for the people of Jigawa state who their candidates should be. No effort put up by political opponents and their media collaborators, no matter how huge, can succeed in bringing down Hon. Galambi, who is like a house built on rock.
The so-called protest was just imagined by some disgruntled elements who want to rubbish Hon. Galambi. But I doubt they can succeed because Galambi’s character has built a huge goodwill around the people, so much so that it will be a herculean task for anybody or group who want to pull him down. The people of Jigawa know better. They know who they love. They know who is in their heart. They know who they want to represent them in the National Assembly.
Similarly the governor of Jigawa state, Muhammad Abubakar Badaru, is man who is not given to electoral fraud. He is a personality who believes in transparency in whatever he does. Therefore, imposition of candidates on Jigawa people is not in his character. He always encourages Jigawa people to choose whoever they want to lead them at state or national level because he believes that respecting the will of the people is the beginning of wisdom.
Usman Usman Birnin Kudu is a political commentator based in Dutse
