By David Omoruyi
When Farooq writes his half-brained pieces on the person of none other than the Vice President of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, you will not off the mark to ask if he was denied an appointment as SSA Media & Public Affairs in this administration. His online posturing and bravado speak of a scorned lobbyist in diaspora, who has resorted to taking shots at one who does not recognize his existence.
In an online blog article titled “Osinbajo is sucking up to Buhari to save his job”, which was dated October 3, 2019 and also posted on his social media handles, he makes a feeble attempt to cast aspersions on the loyalty of the VP towards his boss. The same quality that is highly sought after by every employer or superior, as is greatly admired from far and near, is what he futilely tries to cast a shadow upon.
He sits in faraway US churning out so much senseless diatribes that make you want to call an Atlanta ambulance for him right away from here in Nigeria, be it via Skype or Internet call. When a supposed PhD holder chooses to remain misinformed in these days of free Google search engine, then it is a real cause for alarm. The damage he does to those who take him seriously at their own risk, remains unquantifiable. It amounts to a crime of sorts for you not to have an idea, and yet proudly remain clueless in this internet age.
When you are addressing a gathering of dignitaries with the phrase “all protocols observed” it covers a wide range of titles and salutations. His choice to pick on the VP’s Independence day speech continues to show his level of obsession and misplaced disenchantment. He needs to come out forthright and tell us if he has a crush on Osinbajo!
Jumping on the bandwagon of fake news propagators has to be a new low for this pseudo-journalist who has been known to block contrary views on his social media whenever he gets called out for his cooked up lies by confronting him with cold hard facts and figures.
The whole drama that was brewed in a teacup and served up on social media in the past few weeks must have so titillated Farooq that he went to town with his own spin of impeachment stories which cannot hold when subjected even to the most minimal test of scrutiny. Each day and every week we have seen reports of the VP going about his official and delegated duties; being accountable to the Nigerian people he took an oath to serve.
Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a leader of the Yorubas and even President Buhari accords him the utmost respect as a leader of the party. The fact that a Senator remains addressed by the title is enough to be addressed as “Your Excellency” if the person speaking chooses to. In Africa, we tend to defer to the older and wiser man in public and private. Farooq can go ahead to sue the VP for choosing to be a true son of the soil if he is so triggered by this deserved show of respect.
READ: Prof. Osinbajo: The Man, The Media Devourers, His Triumph
It is to the benefit of the peace and stability of the country when you have the president and vice president working in sync, as we have seen in the brotherly bond of trust with which Buhari and Osinbajo have operated, and continue to move forward with. The cat-and-mouse games of OBJ & Atiku remains fresh in our ‘selective amnesias’ as Nigerians, that assuredly is a scenario we cannot ever try to forget in a hurry as the country suffered untold setbacks in the fallout and collateral damage inflicted on national institutions while the contest lasted.
For someone who claims to have ties to “friends close to the cabal” you would expect that Farooq has more than the same allegations being bandied around by every copy-and-paste blogger with zero facts or evidence to substantiate any of their sensationally fabricated claims. Who knows, these friends of his may just be imaginary friends not far from the Snuffleupagus kind that Big Bird has on the children’s TV show Sesame Street. He would do his little reputation a whole lot of good by abstaining from spewing trash allegations so as not to run afoul of a libel suit.
Holding people accountable for false statements made is part of maintaining law and order. He lives in ‘saner climes’ so why does he turn around to claim Osinbajo is “intimidating and overawing soft, weak targets” when he made known that characters like Timi Frank will be held accountable for spurious and unsubstantiated allegations made in public media. The media house in question has since retracted the story in question, in good thinking as it lacks any shred of credibility.
Mr Kperogi would rather have the VP be at daggers drawn with his boss, but Osinbajo will continue to keep “FaCrook” permanently disappointed on that one. Form is temporary, Class is permanent, in the words of Bill Shankly, one of the Liverpool greats. Mr Kperogi will do himself a whole lot of good by concentrating on his studies before he loses his academic funding so he does not find himself homeless and jobless in America.
David Omoruyi writes from Abuja, Nigeria
