By Abdulqadir Abdulkabir
I have just read an article by one Kayode Thomas, who identified himself as a journalist, but, by the content of his writing, has no credentials to lay claim to being a journalist. His hack writing explains the attacks that journalism and journalists unfairly get from people who feel maligned and mistake his likes as the archetypes of what journalism is. A simple rule in journalism is that one should check again in the event of any doubt. He failed the simple test all through the gibberish. That is by the way.
Given the pattern of its distribution across social media platforms, it is clear that Sarakites are the ones behind the jejune write-up. It does appear, therefore, that Saraki has no regard for his mother whose death he appears to be playing politics with.
First, it was false that Governor Abdulrazaq did not issue a condolence message to commiserate with Saraki when his mother died. The Governor was apparently the first most prominent politician to condole with the Sarakis, including mentioning Bukola Saraki. The Governor’s statement was issued on the morning of June 18.
Over the past few days, Saraki’s acolytes have been questioning why the Governor has not lined up the entire state to the Lagos home of Saraki to go greet him. Kayode’s writing was the first bold attempt to formalize such a comment. It is a funny thing.
If Kayode was so careless to miss the Governor’s statement and then made a fool himself in making it an issue, it may be too much to ask him to check the cheeky statement that Saraki issued on July 26, 2020 when the father of the Governor, AGF Abdulrazaq SAN, died a few years ago. He did not mention the Governor in his statement despite being the sitting Governor.
This is the same person who is bellyaching that the Governor did not visit him. Again, Saraki never visited the Governor or his family when the incident happened. Why was he expecting from the Governor a courtesy he never extended to him? Perhaps the Governor could have also omitted him in his statement.
The Governor may or may not visit Saraki. He commits no sin. His statement was decent enough, especially for a Bukola Saraki who hardly exhibits such gestures to others not in tune with him.
Thomas said a lot of other nonsense, including a claim that the government has not put the land that the government reclaimed to any use. This is another lie because the government has already started building a multi-storey hospital on the land in its extension of the civil service clinic. Kayode should leave his Lagos hideouts to see what has happened in Kwara.
Kayode also regurgitated a long -discredited claim about local government fund, which the former Commissioner Aishah Ahman Patigi had disproved at different times. Interestingly, it was the same Aishah who allegedly made the comment. She had turned 360 on the said claim. More tellingly, a panel of inquiry headed by a retired judge known for his integrity, Mathew Adewara, also dismissed the claim to be totally false. Reports on the panel findings can be found online. But Kayode, in his hatchet job, wanted us to believe it happened. That is what hired guns do.
All in all, Saraki should go bury his darling mother. He has made enough political capital from the death of the poor woman. Enough of his sense of entitlement, which only goes to show him on a bad light in the estimation of people who think through things. Mbok!
Abdulkabir writes from Ganiki, Sango, Ilorin
