The Propaganda Merchant Who Tried To Manufacture Bandits Out Of ADC Supporters!
Akin Samuel Kayode.
There is a particularly embarrassing breed of political sycophancy in which individuals surrender their independent reasoning, abandon intellectual honesty and turn themselves into permanent propaganda machines for their political benefactors. They do not interrogate facts, they do not question questionable narratives, and they certainly do not care how ridiculous they look in public, provided their political masters are sufficiently pleased. Lere Olayinka, Nyesom Wike’s ever-eager political attack dog, has once again provided a disturbing illustration of this political disease through the alleged attempt to associate young Nigerians who attended the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential campaign flag-off in Sokoto State with banditry.
What an embarrassing descent into political absurdity!
Apparently, in the imagination of Wike’s political errand boy, young Nigerians who gather to express support for an opposition presidential candidate can conveniently be dressed in the clothes of criminality. When political arguments become unavailable, propaganda becomes the weapon of choice. When facts become inconvenient, sensationalism takes over. And when the sight of an opposition gathering becomes uncomfortable, the next desperate assignment is apparently to manufacture a sinister narrative around it.
Unfortunately for Lere Olayinka, Nigerians are not intellectually helpless. The photographs in question were taken at the ADC presidential campaign flag-off in Sokoto State. They depicted participants at a political gathering, not a verified gathering of bandits. The attempt to associate those photographs with banditry therefore deserves the strongest condemnation.
Let us ask Lere Olayinka some elementary questions. Were those young Nigerians attending a political rally or conducting criminal operations? Were they exercising their democratic rights or participating in terrorist activities? Where is the evidence that the people in those photographs are bandits? Which security agency identified them as members of a criminal organisation? Who established their alleged involvement in banditry? Or has this political attack dog now appointed himself Inspector-General of Police, Director-General of the Department of State Services and presiding judge, all rolled into one, with the extraordinary authority to manufacture criminal identities through social media publications?
Lere Olayinka, you cannot manufacture bandits out of ADC supporters just because you cannot stomach their political choices!
This is what happens when political loyalty becomes an incurable addiction. A person becomes so desperate to please his political principal that even elementary intellectual discipline is sacrificed. Rather than engage in meaningful political discourse, he resorts to sensationalism, character assassination and the deliberate manipulation of public perception. The unfortunate spectacle is that the person attempting to embarrass the opposition ends up exposing the poverty of his own argument.
Lere Olayinka is entitled to defend Wike. He is entitled to criticise Atiku Abubakar, ridicule the ADC and campaign for the APC. Nobody is contesting those rights. But political loyalty does not grant him ownership of reality. He cannot convert political frustration into a security allegation and expect Nigerians to applaud him for it. If his argument against the ADC is so weak that he must resort to associating its supporters with banditry, perhaps the problem is not the ADC. Perhaps the problem is the intellectual bankruptcy of the argument he is desperately trying to sell.
And now, let us turn to the political principal behind this embarrassing culture of sycophancy.
Nyesom Wike has cultivated a public political identity characterised by confrontation, combative rhetoric, political brinkmanship and an apparent intolerance for political opposition. His public conduct and approach to political disagreements have repeatedly invited scrutiny over the kind of political culture he represents. One would expect that a minister occupying such an important national position would appreciate the responsibility of promoting democratic tolerance and respect for opposing political opinions. Instead, his political camp continues to provide Nigerians with reasons to question whether political disagreement is regarded as an ordinary feature of democracy or an unforgivable offence.
Wike must be reminded that occupying the office of Minister of the Federal Capital Territory does not make him the owner of Nigerian democracy. His political influence does not give him ownership of Sokoto State. His confrontational political style does not confer criminal status on his opponents. And his political associates have no constitutional authority to determine which Nigerians deserve to exercise their democratic rights.
Wike does not own Nigeria. He does not own the North-West. He does not own Sokoto. And he certainly does not own the political conscience of Nigerian youths.
What exactly is the attraction of this politics of intimidation and misrepresentation? If the ADC is irrelevant, why the anxiety over its mobilisation? If Atiku is politically inconsequential, why the apparent discomfort with people gathering to support him? If the APC is so confident of its achievements, why should the sight of opposition supporters provoke such desperate attempts at ridicule?
A confident political movement presents its achievements and persuades voters. An insecure political camp spends its energy demonising opponents. A serious political operative challenges policies, interrogates records and debates ideas. A desperate propagandist reaches for sensationalism and criminal labels. The difference should not be difficult to understand.
What makes this episode even more disgusting is the casual abuse of a word that represents one of Nigeria’s most devastating security challenges. Banditry is not a political nickname. It is a serious criminal phenomenon that has destroyed communities, displaced families, claimed innocent lives and subjected thousands of Nigerians to unimaginable suffering.
People have lost their relatives, homes, businesses and livelihoods to actual bandits. Communities have been forced to abandon their ancestral homes. Families have endured the trauma of kidnapping and ransom payments. Yet, someone thinks it is acceptable to throw the word bandit around in a partisan argument involving young Nigerians attending a political rally.
What an insult to the victims of banditry! What an insult to families whose loved ones have been kidnapped or killed! What an insult to communities that have spent years struggling under the terror of genuine criminal gangs!
If Lere Olayinka possesses verifiable evidence against any identifiable individual in those photographs, let him produce it. Let him identify the individuals and submit the evidence to the appropriate security authorities. But he should stop behaving as though a social media caption is a criminal investigation and his personal political opinion is a judicial verdict.
A photograph does not become evidence of banditry because a political attack dog attaches a sensational caption to it. A crowd does not become a criminal organisation because its members support Atiku. And an opposition rally does not become a terrorist gathering because its existence is inconvenient to Wike’s political camp.
Let us also expose the nauseating double standard at the heart of this political behaviour. When APC supporters gather, they are exercising democracy. When opposition supporters gather, suddenly some partisan commentators begin searching for sinister interpretations. When the ruling party mobilises young people, it is political participation. When the ADC does the same, some people apparently find it convenient to suggest criminality.
Is democracy now reserved for those who support Tinubu? Must Nigerians obtain permission from Wike’s political camp before expressing support for Atiku? Are young Nigerians only entitled to political freedom when their choices are convenient to the APC?
This is the height of political hypocrisy.
Lere Olayinka should stop confusing social media aggression with intellectual capacity. Making noise does not make an argument convincing. Repeating an allegation does not make it factual. And having a politically influential principal does not automatically make one’s public statements credible. If he wishes to be taken seriously, he should learn to engage the opposition through facts, evidence and reasoned arguments rather than this cheap business of manufacturing damaging impressions.
And Wike should understand that the political culture he promotes and the confrontational disposition he displays are legitimate subjects of public scrutiny. He cannot expect his political associates to enjoy the freedom to attack opponents while those opponents are denied the same democratic space to express themselves. Democracy is not a private estate where the most aggressive politician determines who speaks, who gathers and who deserves to be heard.
The young people in Sokoto have the right to decide which political party they belong to. They have the right to attend campaign rallies, display party insignia, cheer their preferred candidates and participate in the democratic process. They do not owe Lere Olayinka an explanation for their political choices. They do not owe Wike an apology for supporting the opposition. And they certainly do not deserve to have criminal identities manufactured for them simply because they refuse to join the APC political congregation.
Let nobody mistake this position for an endorsement of every political decision of the ADC or Atiku Abubakar. Political parties and candidates must be scrutinised. Their records must be examined, their promises interrogated and their policies challenged. But criticism must be grounded in facts. Political opposition must never be confused with criminality.
Here is the problem Lere Olayinka must confront: he can be Wike’s loyalist without becoming a prisoner of Wike’s political interests. He can defend his principal without abandoning independent thought. He can oppose Atiku without insulting the intelligence of Nigerians. He can criticise the ADC without manufacturing criminal allegations against its supporters.
But if his only contribution to political discourse is to attach criminal labels to opposition supporters, then he has demonstrated the poverty of his argument, not the criminality of his political opponents.
And to every political propagandist who believes Nigerians can be frightened out of supporting the opposition, let this be understood: the ADC will organise its rallies, Atiku’s supporters will express their convictions, and Nigerian youths will exercise their democratic rights. No political loyalist has the authority to rewrite those rights out of existence.
You cannot manufacture bandits out of ADC supporters! You cannot turn Atiku supporters into terrorists with a social media caption! You cannot criminalise young Nigerians because they refuse to subscribe to your political choice!
Lere Olayinka should take his propaganda elsewhere. Nigeria has enough genuine security problems without political attack dogs manufacturing imaginary bandits from opposition campaign photographs.
Political sycophancy is not patriotism. Propaganda is not intelligence. Political aggression is not political achievement. And a lie does not become the truth because a political errand boy repeats it loudly enough to please his principal.
Wike does not own Nigeria. Lere Olayinka does not own the truth. The APC does not own democracy. And no political party has the right to criminalise Nigerians for supporting its opponents.
Let the opposition campaign. Let the ruling party campaign. Let Nigerians exercise their constitutional rights. Let the political arguments be tested before the electorate. That is democracy, not the ridiculous political theatre of manufacturing bandits out of people attending an opposition rally.
The ballot box is where political opponents should be defeated, not through propaganda, false labels and the reckless abuse of national security concerns.
Nigerians are not bandits because they support ADC. They are not criminals because they support Atiku. And they will not surrender their democratic rights to satisfy the political ego of any man or his social media errand boys!
Akin Samuel KAYODE.
Member, The Narrative Force.
