Tinubu And The Conspiracy Of Silence By The Nigerian Media

Make no mistake, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu attended primary and secondary schools. The only reason he would rather lie that he never attended any than submit his certificates to INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) Nigeria is because those documents contain personal information about who HE REALLY IS, his real name, his age, his ancestry etc. 

This is the shadowy figure some of you are supporting to come and preside over the destiny of over 200 million people after 8 whole years of the human tragedy called Muhammadu Buhari? And you call this Politics and the Right to make choice? How more heartless can you be? Just because of money that won’t even last you a couple of months??

And why is it that Omoyele Sowore and Sahara Reporters never ever beamed their torchlight on Tinubu and his crooked past EVEN FOR ONCE? Why does Tinubu always escape Sowore and Sahara Reporters’ scrutiny???

When will the indefatigable trio of the irrepressible Rufai, the elegant and brainy Tundu Abiola and the very erudite Reuben Abati of Arise News invite Tinubu or his handlers to their popular morning show and INSIST on extracting SATISFACTORY ANSWERS to the many questions surrounding the man who is contesting to manage the destiny of Nigerians???

When will Premium Times and Simon Kolawole ‘s TheCable media platform write an investigative piece on Tinubu??? Where is AIT Online? Let’s forget The Nation Newspaper and TVC for obvious reasons. Where are the so-called FACT-CHECKERS?? Or does your Fact-Checking skill only work on Peter Obi?

Is the job of the media no longer to serve as Watch Dog? Is the media no longer the 4th estate of the realm saddled with the responsibility of entertaining, educating and informing the public?? When will the Nigerian media fulfil their obligations to the Nigerian people on Tinubu??

It is such a curious thing, is it not, that almost all the Nigerian media platforms have dwelt EXTENSIVELY on the candidate they all claim stands no chance of winning the election, Mr Peter Obi to the point of thoroughly dissecting how much profit or loss the investment he made as governor has recorded (and this is completely okay), but why is none of these media platform dedicating even the littlest per cent of that time in analysing the one they all believe stands a reasonable chance of winning the election??

Why is no one asking real questions about Tinubu’s health?? 

Why the conspiracy of silence on Tinubu’s drug charge in the US even when the document is in the public space? The last time the ever courageous Rufai of Arise Morning Show asked a Tinubu’s aide how his principal made his money, it almost turned to Russia versus Ukraine. Why is it that only independent journalists, writers and activists like Professor Farooq Kperogi, David Hundeyin, Adeyanju Deji and co are asking real questions expected of the media? Even Channels Television and its anchors like Seun Okinbaloye are conveniently silent

Why?

Are we all waiting for CNN CNN International Al Jazeera English BBC News Africa BBC World Service to do this for us?

How can we pretend to be okay with the prospect of having a man we know absolutely nothing about, preside over our country???

Are we all under some kind of spell or something???

•Charles Ogbu writes in from Lagos.