By Dele Sobowale

“When all think alike, no one thinks very much.” Walter Lippmann, 1889-1974. (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p245).

“A journalist should be pursuing a fair rendition of truth without regard to popular moods; the journalist should not be swayed by public opinion, (underlining mine), only by the pursuit of truth, as close as he or she can get to it.” Malvin Kalb. (VBQ p 109).

PEACE COMMITTEE—President Muhammadu Buhari flanked by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the Sultan of Sokoto (5th R) while Chairman, National Peace Committee, Gen. Abdulasalami Abubakar (4th L); President, Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor (4th R); Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah (2nd L); the Catholic Bishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan (3rd R); former president, Nigerian Bar Association, Mrs. Priscila Kuye (3rd L); Primate of All Nigeria Anglican Communion, Bishop Nicholas Okoh (2nd R); Retired Justice Rose Ukeje (R) and Publisher of Vanguard, Mr. Sam Amuka (L) with others during an audience with President Buhari at the State House, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.

Very few issues in Nigeria had generated so much heat, and so little light, as the recent visit of the Peace Committee to President Buhari and the interview which Bishop Hassan Kukah granted afterwards. To me as a media practitioner, not a journalist, nothing has portrayed most of our journalists as pretenders and hypocrites more than this matter. Close to ninety-nine per cent of those who have written or spoken on the matter spoke out of total ignorance and they have heaped calumnies patriotic, decent and honest Nigerians, whose life-long contributions will suggest they don’t deserve the insults. One of the commentators, in our own VANGUARD wrote that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”. Apart from the fact that its part of the presumptions of our over-verbalised writers to assume they speak for “the people”. At any rate, he should have researched that quotation properly before adopting it, like most of them do. Here it is in full.

 “Nor should we listen to those who say ‘the voice of the people is the voice of God’, for the turbulence of the mob is always close to insanity.” Alcuin, 735-804. Henceforth, nobody should throw at us that half-digested stuff about “voice of the people”.

All the above is merely an introduction to the topic. Most of the commentators have been combative; they have been too self-righteous and they have been hypocritical. The only response to media terror is media terror. So they will have it.

Why am I getting involved in this explosive matter? Very simple. There is one member of the Peace Committee on who I can bet my life (this is the second time in two weeks I will say that) that he will never plead with Buhari not to probe looters. That person is Uncle Sam, the Publisher of this paper. He went with the rest to meet Buhari and I strongly believe that his presence alone on that delegation should have given most of our media practitioners a pause before reacting violently and rudely.

Let me make one confession before proceeding. Bishop Hassan Kukah, who is unknown personally to me, while briefing the State House Correspondents, went beyond the position of the rest of the Committee. I was busy with personal matters when the storm broke over what Kukah said. I was appalled by it. But, unlike others, I did what Malvin Kalb told us in the quotation above. I went to Uncle Sam to find out if they were properly represented. Let me render to our readers what Uncle Sam said. “The Committee told President Buhari that they were in total support of probing all alleged looters, but, due process should be followed.” I will return to that statement later.

Bishop Kukah, as the spokesman for the Committee, on his own added all the other observations – which he had repeated ever since. That was the cause of all the palaver. The uproar which followed Kukah’s report might not have occurred if the Bishop had granted two interviews – one to state the position of the Committee; the other to state his own position.

I can state categorically that the Peace Committee never begged Buhari not to probe looters. All those who have written or commented based on that assumption, if they are journalists, have simply demonstrated that they are lazy or incompetent journalists. They should have tried to reach other members of the Committee to verify what Kukah said.

Among the most nauseating comments was the one written by a Publicity Secretary of the ruling party. Titled “Away with Peace Committee”, he declared that the Committee should be disbanded because they support corrupt people. I was not surprised. About two years ago, I had written that the National Publicity Secretaries of the PDP and APC were the two most dangerous men in Nigeria. None allows truth to get in the way of propaganda. Since then, I have concluded that all Publicity Secretaries of all political parties in Nigeria are full of malarkey. That writer obviously does not know that in a democracy people are free to form committees and nobody can disband them unless they break the law. Even if the Peace Committee had canvassed for leniency, it is their view and there is nothing illegal about it. Even a respected national newspaper disgraced itself by writing an editorial saying the same thing without investigating further. Is this journalism or what?

Before any of the self-righteous hypocrites start throwing bombs, let me remind them that I alone wrote PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED and started circulating it during Obasanjo’s administration. It is still available. They should go and read Chapter 8 of that book and find out what one of their current “Saints” did when he served Obasanjo. If they do, they will not be too hasty to defame patriotic individuals like General Abubakar and Uncle Sam.

FUNNY FANI KAYODE.

“Since 1960 every single one of our potential deliverers have failed” Femi Fani-Kayode, in WHEN COMETH OUR DELIVERER? August 18, 2015.

Femi, the clown, served Obasanjo and supported the Third Term ambition; he served Jonathan and worked for the Second term quest. Now he calls them failures. It serves OBJ and GEJ right for appointing a jester to high office.