*Urges traditional chiefs echoing fake news to stand up for truth, justice
*Challenges claimants of his disrespect for Ilorin Emirate to prove
*Says mention of Berlin Wall refers to Saraki, not Emirate of Ilorin
*Adds: Nowhere I mentioned Ilorin Emirate in speech
*Insists by-election sign of what Saraki should expect in Kwara 2019
By BASHIR ADEFAKA
Observers are now asking questions why those traditional chiefs addressing the press conference as mark of belief they have in the misinformation purportedly about Mohammed’s comment could not hold back a little before taking position on what they heard until they have probed to its authenticity, “whereas they knew that neither the Minister, its party, the APC, nor even President Buhari believed when the Emir of Ilorin was recently projected like political enemy to them.”
As the new reality led by the Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed in Kwara State politics continues to hit hard on the existing order led by the Senate President Bukola Saraki’s control and relevance in the state, there have been several attempts to cause disaffection through the media between the minister and the Emirate of Ilorin, this online newspaper has learned.
Among these misinformation efforts going on in the state allegedly sponsored by Saraki in his “desperate” bid to retain his grip on the politics of Kwara was a statement credited to the Ilorin Emirate saying any vote against Saraki anywhere in the state was a vote against Fulani with yet another still credited to the Emirate that “Lai Mohammed was trying to take Ilorin from being Fulani state to a Yoruba state”.
The DEFENDER’s investigations found out that for quite sometimes since reality dawned on Saraki that the long hold of the political dynasty of his late father, which he inherited, was crumbling in his own time, there have been attempts to project the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, in the light of a partisan traditional ruler not only endorsing continued hold of Saraki, regardless of whatever negative contribution of his Senate to national development since the beginning of the Muhammadu Buhari Administration, but that the revered monarch has campaigned vigorously for the Senate President in Kwara.
During the on-the-spot verification visit to Kwara State, recently by The DEFENDER over the issues, the online newspaper’s investigations however uncovered that such effort was no more or less than a desperate attempt to cause confusion whereby the Federal Government would pick a fight against the Emirate of Ilorin, which the purveyors of the misinformation would now use as political tool to present the All Progressives Congress (APC) and his government as enemies of traditional institution in Nigeria.
But the effort failed, we learned further, because not only the APC and its government refused to disrespect the Ilorin Emirate based on the misinformation trying to make the Emir appear to them like enemy, both the Buhari-led government and his party continue to prove that, while the sponsors of the discordance would definitely crash politically in 2019, the ruling class respect for the Emir of Ilorin, His Royal Highness Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, and his traditional authorities that he wields is never in doubt.
Fresh uncovering
Lately, the “desperados” alleged to be ostensibly working for “the crashing Saraki”, our investigations revealed, have moved from causing embarrassment for the Emirate by making it look like an interest in support of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Saraki to now putting words in the mouth of the leader of the new order and Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who was claimed in a newspaper report to have derided the Ilorin Emirate in his speech, recently, in Oro, his Kwara State country home, while celebrating the APC victory at the last by-election, and that was taken serious by some traditional chiefs in the Emirate as clearly stated in their press conference speech.
Observers are now asking questions why those traditional chiefs addressing the press conference as mark of belief they have in the misinformation purportedly about Mohammed’s comment could not hold back a little before taking position on what they heard until they have probed to its authenticity, “whereas they knew that neither the Minister, its party, the APC, nor even President Buhari believed when the Emir of Ilorin was recently projected like political enemy to them.”
Lai Mohammed reacts
In a statement personally signed by him, the Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said there was nowhere in the statement he made at the victory of APC in the last by-election that he mentioned either the Emirate of Ilorin or anything about traditional institution in the state.
According to the statement, Mohammed started by saying that “My attention has been drawn to a press conference addressed by the Ilorin Emirate Magaji/Alangua Forum in Ilorin on Tuesday, 4 Dec. 2018, during which I was alleged to have said that the ‘Berlin Wall’ of the Ilorin Emirate had been broken by the outcome of the 17 Nov. 2018 by-election in the Ekiti/Irepodun/Isin/Oke-Ero Federal Constituency of
Kwara State.”
He continued, “Those who made the allegation referred to a news item published in The Nation newspaper of Monday, 19 Nov. 2018, entitled ”Kwara Berlin Wall Broken, Says Lai Mohammed”.
Clearing the air on the matter the Minister explained, “While it is indeed true that I mentioned the Berlin Wall in my speech at the victory rally in my country home in Oro on Sunday, 18 Nov. 2018, it was undoubtedly in reference to the stranglehold of the Saraki political dynasty on Kwara politics. Not once did I mention the Ilorin Emirate during that speech, and I challenge anyone who has any evidence to the contrary to release such. It is instructive that the news item that was referenced by those who made the allegation never mentioned Ilorin Emirate or made any reference to the traditional institution.
“It is safe to conclude, therefore, that those who tried to inject the Ilorin Emirate into the whole issue acted out of shameful desperation. This is not a surprise, considering that they are yet to recover from the devastating defeat that they suffered in the by-election.
“For the record, I hold the Ilorin Emirate, and indeed all our nation’s traditional institutions, in very high esteem, and will never do anything to bring them to disrepute. No candidate for any political office in Kwara State will downplay the importance of the Ilorin Emirate, which is a father to all. Those who are grappling at straws, having realized that their hegemonic hold on Kwara State is coming to an end, are the instigators of this lie from hell that the Berlin Wall of the Emirates has been broken.
“The traditional chiefs who echoed the fake news concocted by the fading political warlords of Kwara should be wary of doing anyone’s hatchet jobs. They should not allow themselves to be used to denigrate the revered Ilorin Emirate, which should be absolutely non-partisan.
“The traditional chiefs must realize that it is only by standing up for truth and justice that they can most effectively play their role of maintaining the ‘ever solid wall of peace, unity, progress and stability’ in the Emirate.
“The defeat suffered by the tormentors of Kwara on 17 Nov. 2018 is a sign of what they should expect in the forthcoming general elections in the state. No amount of lies or other acts of desperation will save them from imminent defeat. Power flows from the people, and it is clear that the people of Kwara have totally rejected those who have appropriated the state’s commonwealth to themselves to the detriment of the long suffering people of Kwara State.”
