Wike dares Jonathan (Growing wings?)

Posted by admin Latest Politics Tuesday, August 12th, 2014

Sebagen Henry Noboh

Monday, August 11, 201

Re: Wike dares Jonathan

“When public men indulge themselves in abuse, when they deny others a fair trial, when they resort to innuendo and insinuation, to libel, scandal, and suspicion, then our democratic society is outraged, and democracy is baffled.” – J. William Fulbright

As a professional processor of information, I read with angst and bewilderment a write-up by the ‘Patriotic Rivers Elders Forum’, published in The Sun Newspaper recently. The group, in the open letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, alleged that the Minister of State for Education, Barr. Nyesom Wike, dared the President and the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) leadership on his speculated gubernatorial ambition. It relied on statements credited to Wike in a media chat on 28 July, 2014.

As a journalist, I wondered if the allegations resonated with media reports of the occasion the group relied on for its assertion.

Contextomy, the act of misquoting someone, may not be intentional. Logical fallacy, sometimes, occurs when someone misinterprets another person’s statement by omitting something essential. So, even though contextomies are stereotypically intentional, there are few exceptions. There are instances, however, where false attributions are mendacious propaganda, with scandalous intent.

The event where Wike allegedly challenged his principal was first published in hard copy by Daily Trust Newspapers on July 31, 2014, and was followed by Tribune Newspapers on August 2, 2014 and other dailies. Although they all used different headlines as expected, they all published the same quotes of the minister. A juxtaposition of the newspapers’ accounts with the group’s claims left me vexed and dumfounded.

For starters, the group said: “Wike on Monday, 28 July 2014, during the Muslim holidays in a media chat, in Port Harcourt, boasted and DARED President Jonathan and the National Working Committee of the party, warning that ‘Nobody can stop me if I decide to run’, when he was asked if he has obtained a go-ahead from his boss, President Goodluck Jonathan.”

Meanwhile, here is a direct quote of Wike from the above-mentioned newspapers: “Assume I want to run, why would someone tell me not to run? What kind of politics is that? Why should somebody be afraid and say, don’t run? Why doesn’t such a person want to face me? All I hear in politics is, ‘please, tell him not to run’ and not ‘we will defeat him.’ I expect people to say, ‘run but we will defeat you.’ Of course, you know that nobody will defeat me if, at the end of the day, I decide to run.” This is in paragraph seven (7) of Daily Trust Newspapers of July 31, 2014, and appears in the same words in other papers.

Now, let’s compare. Did Wike use the direct quote credited to him by the group? Did the newspapers, the supposed source of the statement, quote Wike, as alleged by them, as saying: “Nobody can stop me if I decide to run”. Is that quote the same as, “Nobody will defeat me if, at the end of the day, I decide to run”, as the dailies reported?

Again, Wike said, in the Daily Trust report quoted above: “Assume I want to run, why would someone tell me not to run.” Was he referring to his boss, President Jonathan? To find out, let’s continue with the quote. “Why should somebody be afraid and say, don’t run? Why doesn’t such a person want to face me? All I hear in politics is, ‘please, tell him not to run’ and not ‘we will defeat him.’ I expect people to say, ‘run but we will defeat you.” Could he be referring to the President here? Is the President one of his prospective opponents at the race, who Wike now challenges to face him? This doesn’t just add up. So who was Wike challenging? Well, I don’t know the specific individuals, as I’m neither his spokesperson nor his associate. However, further quotes from the text will clarify this.

Wike said: “Most of them who say the governorship seat is zoned to them, can they win in their local government area? I can tell you that if I declare today that I want to run, none of all those claiming that it is their turn would win me in their various wards. So, if you cannot win me in your ward, whose vote are you going to use to win me in the election?” Obviously, the minister was referring to his adversaries in the PDP who desire Rivers’ power house.

Little wonder the first newspaper to publish the story, Student Africa, used the headline, on July 30, 2014, Nigeria: 2015 – Nobody Can Defeat Me If I Choose to Run, Says Wike. And its lead, the opening paragraph, read: “As speculations heighten about his intention to contest the gubernatorial elections in Rivers State, the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, has declared that no politician can defeat him if he decides to run.” This, in my professional judgement, represents what Wike said. The ‘elders’ said they were “custodians of our history, values and ethics”. Yet, they alleged: “Just a fortnight ago, we read about the story of over 900 PDP faithful decamping to APC in the South East Senatorial District. We should not allow this to continue.” Are they now PDP ‘elders’ and not Rivers ‘elders’? If APC, as they said, had “declared fasting and prayer” for the PDP to “make that irreparable mistake” of fielding Wike as its candidate, why are they worried? If APC, the ruling party in the state, had zoned the next governorship position to non-Ikwerre ethnicities, as the ‘elders’ and the rest of the state want, why not just wait for the election and vote for APC? Why are they agitated that the PDP may field Wike, an Ikwerre descendant?

That brings me to the question of the identities of these elders. What is their political pedigree? I am aghast when politicians, who are what the so-called elders truly are, abuse quotations for polemical purposes. As William Fulbright said, with this “resort to innuendo and insinuation, to libel, scandal, and suspicion,… our democratic society is outraged, and democracy is baffled”.

Noboh is an Abuja-based newspaper editor.

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