It is clear that a syndicate that specialises in defamatory writings has converged on Anambra. It has come together to vilify the government of Anambra State with so much hate. Its malignant pieces are fast metastasizing, and if unchecked, with equal rage, may debilitate its target.
This piece, in a sense, is not a rebuttal as there is really nothing worth refuting in all of the claims of the fifth columnist against the Anambra government. The record of the government so far is without reproach.
As I read some of the deleterious pieces like Obiano being ill-prepared to be governor, or his wife, Ebelechukwu, slapping the wife of the Deputy Governor, Oby Okeke, at a church service – and more recently, an alleged crisis that has hit the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), tearing Obiano and APGA National Chairman,Victor Umeh, apart, among others – I couldn’t but shudder at the type of scheme which can stir the mind.
The bulk of the defamatory essays find greater expression on the internet possibly because, unlike the print media, this medium exacts no responsibility on offending bloggers. It also allows for mediocre writing which hardly survives the rigours of the print media.
More than that, the vast profusion of the stories in the blogs comes from the same stable with slight alterations to give the impression of varied authorship. Unknown to many, a serial liar writes the pieces without a byline, while a discourteous publisher brazens out the odious publications.
It does not matter to these men the level of odium they have brought upon themselves. With mindless relish, they distort facts and publish them as news just to score cheap political points.
Even when it is obvious they have run out of ideas (which is often the case) they still upload lies on the internet just to slake a primitive desire for lucre. Nothing can be more brazen.
Take the alleged altercation between Ebelechukwu Obiano and Oby Okeke. This story came on the heels of many other rehashed lies told by the syndicate without compunction. But for the rebuttal from the Anglican Bishop of Awka, Rt. Rev. Alexander Ibezim, in whose church the alleged slapping took place, most readers might believe the concoction.
Appalled by the development, and not wishing to accord it any iota of credibility, by remaining silent when rebuttal should suffice, Ibezim made the following statement: “I was with the wife of the Anambra State Governor, Ebelechukwu Obiano, who also represented her husband. We were together with the Deputy Governor, Nkem Okeke, and his wife, Oby, and no such thing happened until I escorted them when they were going. It is all lies.
“You can imagine my surprise when people were calling my wife and I over something we knew nothing about, or any person at the event, that such happened at the dedication service for our son, Joshua.
“I can’t imagine the shock and revulsion felt by the wife of the governor and the deputy governor over such fabrication. My advice to them is that they should see it as one of those things that come with being in public office and ignore that and move on”. I quoted copiously from the cleric to buttress the ridiculousness of the blogger and his story. Determined to walk on the highway of perdition, he failed to realise he was almost bringing the institution of the church to disrepute. I blush at this queer obsession to distort every story and present same as credible.
It beats me as to how a decent mind can tell lies with the ease with which a defecating child breaks wind. What could be responsible? Perhaps lucre, perhaps vengeance, or both? Even the story on APGA crisis and the parting of ways between Obiano and Umeh was not told any better.
Preliminary elections by parties to the selection of candidates for elective offices often bring about disagreement. It is not peculiar to APGA. Reporting same to mean that a crisis has sundered the party, pitting Obiano against Umeh, is vintage stories from the syndicated bloggers.
The story must be tailored to sully the image of the government of the state. Any other reporter would have told the story with a measure of disinterestedness but not the underground writers. They have since disobliged the good people of Anambra State by abandoning news dissemination for lies on the internet.
Lest the reader misconstrues this piece to mean that Obiano’s government is beyond reproach. Not in the least. No government is without shortcomings. None ever will be. I admit of no such government, but opposition must be seen to be constructive otherwise it becomes a bit imbecilic, and history will be most unkind.
“No government”, wrote Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister in the mid-Victorian period of anti-imperialism, “can be long secure without formidable opposition.”
So far, all the attempts made by the syndicated bloggers to bring downthe government, rather than achieve the objective, have advanced it. The target audience – the people of Anambra – is not rash. They can easily tell a capital B from a bull’s leg.
There is still time for the syndicate to change course or risk losing readership, because nobody wants to be on the net just to read trash.
• Anyaduba wrote in from Abatete, Anambra State.
