When falsehood strikes, it leaves in its wake, a carpet of disrespect and ignominy. When falsehood is procured, both the buyer and the seller run at a loss.
When I read the screaming falsehood about the visit of the number one citizen of Kogi State to the National Assembly, I saw the need for the media, especially the online media to be regulated. If the media is to be believed, it must work on integrity and truth.
The reporter reached out to me and I explained to him how everything he was told was false. But because he felt there are no consequences for character assassination and defamation. He went ahead, because he had sold his conscience, to publish what was logically false and has no place in protocol management.
Someone at the National Assembly, who probably doesn’t like the rising profile of the Governor, sold a lie to Daily Post and probably paid for selling, a new normal in jaundiced journalism. And this is the season. 2027 is here. Desperation is rising, so is falsehood.
I wasn’t with the Governor when he visited the National Assembly to show solidarity with the newly appointed INEC Chairman. But I saw him in the Chambers. He wasn’t there for partisan reasons, he was there because a Kogite has been given a national assignment, the first of its kind, while he is the Governor of the State. He is not the Governor of APC, but the Governor of Kogi State, the number one citizen of the State.
He left the Chambers when he should and wasn’t “bounced” as imagined by the hired gun journalists of the Daily Post. Who would have bounced the number one citizen of a state? Only a few “special” people would believe such a story.
Yesterday, I was with the Governor. The new Chief of Army Staff is from Kogi State. And the Governor was there to support him during his screening at the National Assembly. He met with some Senators and other critical Stakeholders. And as he was there, it was time for him to submit the report of the Ekiti APC Governorship Primary. He was the Chairman of the Committee that successfully organized the primary.
He left straight for the National Secretariat where he submitted the report and he was commended for the great job.
So reading all the cooked lies on Daily Post later in the day wasn’t a surprise. Those smiling in the day and cooking evil at night are desperate to embarrass themselves with unintelligent lies. No institution in Nigeria would bounce the number one citizen of a state.
Our Protocol Department is top-notch. They need to know that the Governor doesn’t move without thorough protocol communication. Do they really understand the word “bounced”?
With the performance of the Governor in the state, political opponents are at a loss as to what to use to campaign against him. The high commendations for the Governor by the National Secretariat yesterday might have also sent shock waves down the nerves of ethnocentric political gladiators who have missed the road.
He wasn’t bounced. He wouldn’t have been bounced anyway. No one bounces a Governor. The Daily Post merely showed its lack of integrity through the shadowy falsehood of anonymity. They can never mention the name of the informant because falsehood and light can’t stand together. Let them get used to the fact that the Governor is the number one citizen of the State. He is the symbol of the State.
God bless Kogi State.
Kingsley Femi Fanwo
Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communications