By Mohammed Apata
In the last few days, one Abdulwaheed Adelodun, a Personal Assistant to the PDP candidate for the Kwara Central Senatorial District, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, and his cohorts have been caught sharing unprintable contents and offensive social media commentaries with the sole aim of damaging the hard-earned reputation of the APC candidate in Kwara Central and the Turaki of the Ilorin Emirate, Mallam Saliu Mustapha.
First, they started with a ridiculous story of an alleged burglar standing trial for stealing a ram at the residence of the Turaki. The story, which will pass for a comic, is not just ridiculous but untrue. Then, yesterday, they shared a video content, wherein a thug had claimed that he was assaulted by the security men on the Turaki’s entourage at Gambari area.
Today, the said Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi’s protege, Adelodun shared a press statement issued by a faceless group of elders of the opposition PDP in Ojuekun/Sarumi ward of Ilorin West Local Government Area. The fake statement contained contents too unprintable to reshare.
However, from what I have observed so far, and by information at my disposal, I understand that the renewed media onslaught from the camp of Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi and the PDP which started earlier in the week, is a campaign pattern that will only swell in the days ahead.
It is obvious that the opposition camp is unable to withstand the unprecedented popularity and acceptance of the Turaki by the electorates in the Kwara Central Senatorial District, hence the resort to all manner of debased tactics, including blackmails and misinformation, believing that that is the only way they could dim the shining light of Mallam Saliu Mustapha.
I have a piece of advice for Saliu Mustapha on this.
In situations as presented above, Saliu Mustapha’s first attitude towards unwarranted and unfounded personal attacks in the media like the ones emanating from his opponent’s camp is to ignore and overlook. This is because no matter how they try, their negativities have consistently been overwhelmed by the sterling and impressive public profile of Mustapha in the minds of the people.
By the virtue of his social standing as a cherished and prominent title holder in the Ilorin Emirate, I will prefer that Mustapha take the moral high ground, while leaving his opponents in the gutters. So, at all times, as his opponents go low, he and his team should choose to go high.
At the commencement of his campaign as a Senatorial candidate under the platform of the APC, the Turaki has promised the people of the Kwara Central a decent, peaceful, issue-based and impact-based campaigns. No matter the amount of provocations to do otherwise, the Saliu Mustapha team should remain irredeemably committed to these avowed ideals.
Yes, going low as they are doing may seem all too easy to the Bolaji Abdullahi’s camp – it may be easy to be divisive, deceptive, to degrade and denigrate, but these tactics would only succeed in drowning out the real issues of governance and legislative agenda setting that the candidates, as potential representatives of the people, should all be discussing as the campaigns commence.
Turaki should face his front, and refuse the temptations to be distracted from the real issues that matter.
I wish him well!
Mohammed Apata is a Ph.D student with the University of Ilorin. He can be reached on 08071222663
