By Prince Ejeh Josh
Like people being stared with the doom of imminent defeat at the March 11, 2023 governorship election, they contrived, out of their hollow imagination, fake news, misinformation and tissues of lies, and conspired with some of the bad eggs in the media profession to circulate such fairy tale. However, like the Indian foremost nationalist, Mahatma Gandhi, rightly submitted; “An error (in this context, fake news, lies, fabrication, propaganda, etc) does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, or does truth become error because nobody sees it”.
In recent times, out of desperation, the members of the opposition parties have deviated from all canon of civility, and descended to the ebb of media barbarism, ditching out falsehood and unrestrained distortions against people of goodwill. The only weapon at their disposal in this election period is, fake news and how to run down their opponents by firing propaganda from all cylinders. Sadly for them, they had neither unveiled their manifestos nor had they been able to tell the state and people they want to represent what they’d to offer if elected. Why is it that Dr. Mbah has dwelt on issue-based campaigns—fundamental roadmap to achieving good governance, while other candidates are dwelling on manufacturing fake news about him instead of telling the electorate their mission and vision?
For the umpteenth time, I want to restate, unambiguously, audaciously, confidently, and with certainty, that Dr. Peter Mbah, governorship candidate of the PDP in Enugu State has never been convicted of any offence or crime, and has never entered into any plea bargain in any court; whether in Nigeria or abroad, and I am ready to be challenged by any contrary evidence or proof. I am poised for any public debate based on the above. Dr. Mbah, though, soft-spoken and unassuming, has been given a clean bill of public and private records. The question is; why are the opposition parties desperate to run down his image because of politics?
Let me categorically reiterate here, too, that against the smear campaigns and falsehood being peddled maliciously by the Labour Party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) against the PDP and its gubernatorial flagbearer, Dr. Mbah’s discharge certificate from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is intact and legally verified. At no time did Dr. Mbah lose sleep over the shallow propaganda in circulation, him being a legal practitioner of international repute who knows and understands the laws of the land. A man who has never lost sleep over malicious concoction will have no issue slumping.
When the fake news of Dr. Mbah slumping at the NYSC office first got to us, even with the governorship hopeful reading it, we did shrug in dismissive of the madness coming from the despairing and suicidal opposition members, and someone there retorted: “The last kick of a dying horse trembling convulsively and are in need of urgent help. Perhaps, some team of psychiatrists to look into these unstable drug addicts”. We all laughed over it, fully convinced that the game was already over for them. Their fates had already been decided by the electorate who had sworn not to give them a single vote. What next is expected of a drowning man holding unto a straw? Opposition parties in Enugu State have been drowned by their unpopularity and they gravely looking for who to be dragged with them.
To reassure the good people of the state and, indeed, all Nigerians of good conscience; the news that Dr. Mbah paraded forged NYSC certificate and that he slumped was only but fake from unstable drug abusers. The platforms that were bought over to propagate the fake news are known for such hatchet jobs and are notorious for social media savagery. Check out their antecedents. Check out the defamation suits against them at the court. Ask the public about them. They’ve plummeted over the years and have lost all credibility of the media profession.
To briefly interrogate the kettle of lie ditched by the opposition parties and being celebrated by their gullible social media miscreants; some of them, indeed, shamefully infamous for the infantile acts, the news alleged that Dr. Mbah “fainted inside the NYSC headquarters, Abuja, on Tuesday where he had gone to find out if the corps indeed issued a letter flaunted by an (sic) Non-Governmental Organisation regarding his NYSC discharge certificate. According to the source, Mbah upon hearing that the letter was authentic, slumped and was rushed to the office of the DG where he later came around”.
The above quoted paragraph attributed to the fifth columnists, from even the faintest simple human thought, defeated logic and turned sound reasoning upside down that, if the test of an ordinary man on the street, according to the legendary English jurist, Lord Denning, MR, is applied, should be dismissed outrightly and trashed into the dustbin for such lazy contrivance and treated as dead on arrival. One will be tempted to ask; how would someone who was alleged to have forged a certificate still gather the effrontery to visit the NYSC office to confirm the authenticity of the letter allegedly issued by the corps. If the NYSC certificate was forged as alleged, did one expect that Dr. Mbah would walk with confidence, audacity and majesty to the NYSC office to challenge the purported letter?
Even an untrained citizen who is not learned in Law, as in the case of an ordinary man on the street, knows that forgery is a criminal offence, and anyone caught will be severely dealt with according to the provisions of the criminal and penal codes. The rationale of Dr. Mbah visiting the NYSC office, if he even did in the first place, was backed by the time-worn dictum that “A clear conscience fears no accusation.” Nigerians, except the very few gullible and naïve blind opposition supporters, have grown past the era of people peddling fake news and assimilating it without interrogation.
One thing that cannot be wished away, no matter how many tons of fake news and junk the traducers and serially failed featherweight political simpletons concoct and fabricate out of the figment of their imagination, Dr. Mbah is winning, in fact, with intimidating figures from all known and verified opinion polls. The electorate are with him because of his unblemished antecedent and the excellent programmes that will change the story of the state. We’ll all be happy to be part of the success story of Enugu State. Come March 11, Dr. Mbah will be addressed as “His Excellency, the Governor-Elect, Enugu State”.
Stand up! Dust up your permanent voter’s card! Be counted and be part of the making of a new Enugu State!
