It is a pity that former Minister for Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili is getting sticks from the attack team of the Presidency.
After being labelled as a fraud and attention seeker by Dr Doyin Okupe, the #BringBackOurGirls campaign group now has to contend with the public relations blitz launched by Levick Strategic Communications, a PR firm hired by the Federal Government of Nigeria through News Agency of Nigeria.
I believe there is something inherently wicked about a government that hires a foreign PR firm to launder its image in respect of a cause it cast doubt on ab initio. If that is not a case of devilish double-standard, then nothing else is.
The latest onslaught against her and her campaign for the rescue of the kidnapped Chibok girls has put her on the same side with APC and Boko Haram, at least, that is what the FG believes.
What Oby Ezekwesili did not know is simple: this government will rather go to bed with sycophants, known brigands and celebrated liars, all who will close their eyes to the growing spate of impunity than to speak the truth to Aso Rock.
Oby Ezekwesili going against the warped norms established by the Presidency is thus an unpardonable abomination. How dare she campaign ceaselessly for the Chibok girls? Are they her daughters? Does she know them?
How then is it her business if they were kidnapped or not? Why can’t she, like Asari Dokubo and other rent-a-crowd agents of the FG say boldly that the Chibok girls’ kidnapping was an orchestrated attempt by the opposition to cast the Government in bad light?
Moreover, it is becoming increasingly evident that Oby Ezekwesili is attracting the kind of attention the Federal Government does not want. From helping to make #BringBackOurGirls a global phenomenal to conscientising young discerning Nigerians through social media on the tenets of good governance, she has unwittingly made herself an opposition figure.
The FG would rather have her in its corner doing the hatchet jobs Dr Doyin Okupe and Reno Omokri are doing.
Again, the questions are: how dare Ezekwesili draw attention to FG ineptitude? Who made her the advocate for good governance in the country? God?
Why would Ezekwesili consider herself big enough to stand up to Aso Rock’s nonchalance and blatant denial of facts? Why should government listen to her preachments for better governance? Who crowned her senior advocate of the masses? Didn’t she know that late Gani Fawehinmi suffered so much for taking similar stance in his lifetime? Why should she cry on twitter for being maligned by the Government’s calumny squad?
No! Oby is not Malala Yousafzai. She should not expect the President to kowtow to her demands to do right by the parents of the kidnapped girls.
She should not expect the president to meet the leaders of a community in dire need of succour, protection, comfort and love.
No! Oby is not a teenage Paskistani. She does not have fair complexion like Miss Yousafzai. And she is a daughter of the soil. She has to be respected not, her work with Transparency International and World Bank notwithstanding. She has lost the right to be respected the moment she raised her voice against injustice.
I am sure all will be rosy for her if she can go back to her vomit. She has to turn blind eye to what she considers symptomatic of irresponsible government.
At regular intervals, she has to write op-ed in print and online media about how fantastic and foresighted the government of GEJ has been since 2011. She has to be actively engaged in the smear campaign against real and perceived opposition of the government, and be at the ready to cast the President as the messiah the country needs come 2015.
But I am sure Dr Oby Ezekwesili will not put her integrity and good name on the line for such absurdities, hence, she should be, like the Boys Scout”Be prepared” for the fire next time.
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