As some over-zealous followers of Bukola Saraki, former Kwara state governor, were rejoicing in the fake EFCC list exonerating some past governors, including Saraki, from its dragnets, the anti-graft agency, in a carefully worded statement on the controversial list, quickly cleared the air knocking the sense out of the bootlickers.
While the list was trending, a close friend quietly drew my attention, hoping for my thoughts. In my characteristics manner, I did a little fact-checking, which showed that the list wasn’t only fake but had been shared by a group of political jobbers: Kwara PDP, hoping to launder an already soiled name in the state. I would later tell my friend to discard the list.
What is inevitable as you’re reading this piece is that Kwara PDP are in their fake news kitchen cooking unrelated stories, all in the name of repairing the image of their leader, Bukola Saraki, a political orphan. Unfortunately for them, all their attempts to launder his image have not yielded fruits because they keep presenting him as a saint, and Kwarans are wiser and can’t be deceived.
It was in March they bought time with almost all the radio stations in the State to discuss a nonexistent Saraki that was caring, humble and respectful. That madness had never happened in the history of Kwara State, where some followers of a politician battling for survival would go on air to discuss how he had turned himself into a gateman to prove that he was humble.
How Kwara PDP thought Kwarans and the general public would believe that the fake list was from the EFCC baffles me. If Saraki’s followers had consulted him before they shared the list on social media, which has consequently been hurting him, maybe he would have asked them to drop it and go for another fake news that wouldn’t lead to the public digging into his horrible past. Yes, fake news!
The last general elections revealed what many people didn’t know about Saraki, especially his complicity in the fake news his followers spread against the Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq-led government. A video emerged on social media where he was seen encouraging his followers to add fake news to their political antics.
Dear Kwara PDP, read this particular paragraph carefully and attentively. Neither your leader, Saraki, nor his handpicked successor, Abdulfatah, has been exonerated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The duo are still being investigated by the anti-graft agency over the billions of naira mismanaged during their administrations.