Propaganda is the systematic dissemination of information, including facts, half-truths, rumours, or lies, designed to influence public opinion, shape behaviours, or promote a specific political cause or agenda. It typically uses emotional appeal rather than logical evidence, often suppressing opposing viewpoints. The common technique of propagandists is the use of specific strategy to manipulate audiences, through name-calling and linking a person or idea to a negative symbol to encourage rejection without examining the evidence.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) is a party of propaganda. It came into power in 2015 by propaganda. President Goodluck Jonathan was the incumbent President of Nigeria from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015. He was booted out of office through name-calling. The public relations officer of Bola Tinubu, Lai Mohammed, was then at the head of this propaganda. Jonathan was called clueless, corrupt, insensitive, and incompetent. He was repudiated for his inability to curb security challenges in the North-East. He was pummelled for removing fuel subsidy. Eventually he couldn’t withstand the name-calling. Jonathan was so decent; he didn’t target the APC for elimination or his political opponents for victimisation. He rather submitted that “no politician’s ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian.” When he was declared to have lost the election, he peacefully left the office. He even conceded and congratulated his opponent, President Muhammadu Buhari, before the results were declared.
With APC in power, propaganda became its system of communication. Lai Mohammed emerged as the Minister of Information. For eight years, he created the impression that President Buhari was performing well in security and economy. He even asserted that Boko Haram and other terrorist groups were technically defeated. It turned out that the economy under Buhari depreciated so much that Lai blamed it on COVID-19. The insecurity came back so much that in Buhari’s state of Katsina, men voluntarily submitted their wives and daughters to bandits and terrorists for their sexual satisfaction in order to avoid them being killed by the outlaws. Yet Lai defended the regime till the end through propaganda. It was so bad that when Tinubu came into power, he described the inherited economy from Buhari as rotten and dead.
Tinubu ascended the presidency on 29 May 2023. He maintained and indeed exacerbated the deployment of propaganda to hoodwink unsuspecting and gullible citizens. He even elevated the propaganda to the point that his government will ask for commendation when it reduces the hardship on the people that he inflicted on them in the first place. Tinubu goofed from day one by removing fuel subsidy without the necessary bulwarks to cushion the impact of the inevitable high prices on the economy. The price of fuel rose from N195 per litre to about N1,300 per litre. Today, fuel is unaffordable. Yet his propagandists said the economy would have collapsed if he hadn’t punished Nigerians with high fuel prices. Does this add up?
He devalued naira so much that one dollar became equivalent to almost N2,000 before the same government which boasted that it wanted to float Nigeria spent almost $8b to salvage the naira. Tinubu inherited about N500 to a dollar but today, naira is about N1,400 per a dollar. The propagandists spun this gaffe to mean that Tinubu has stabilised the naira, whereas the naira has actually stagnated. No Nigerian, especially the producers of goods and services, will be happy to deal with naira at any price higher than N1,000 to a dollar. Even independent observers state that naira is undervalued.
In education, this government has failed even its own promise. Tinubu promised in 2022 that: “No child will pay for WAEC under our government; it is free for every child”, yet WAEC fees are gradually increasing from 2023. The scale of increase are: 2022: WAEC Fee, N18,000; 2023-2026: WAEC Fee, N27,000; 2027 onward: WAEC Fee, N50,000. This new increase generated massive public outcry, forcing the government of Tinubu to rescind it temporarily. Yet the propagandists are touting this regime as educationally friendly because it suspended fees which it increased in the first place. The government actually expected to be praised for aborting temporarily the increase in WAEC fees.
The propaganda machine under Tinubu is more obscene in the area of insecurity in Nigeria. The most recent being the abduction of a school principal, teachers, and about 46 others including students and pupils from Oriire in Oyo State. These captives were rescued after 57 days in the forest.
A grateful nation was indeed grateful to the men in uniform who fought bravely, even to the point of losing their lives, to rescue the captives. However, it was a sore point on a bewildered nation how Tinubu, through his spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, demanded commendation and praise for government from opposition leaders for the rescue of the captives by our gallant men in uniform.
Onanuga said: ”Almost 18 hours after the Oriire pupils and their teachers regained their freedom, Atiku Abubakar @atiku has not deemed it fit to rejoice with the Federal Government, the security agencies, and the traumatised victims. Previously, he weaponised the kidnap as a campaign issue several times since it happened 57 days ago. Now that the abductees are out, all is quiet on Atiku’s internet lane. No comment. No words of praise. Maybe the veteran presidential runner is waiting for some bad news to attack the Tinubu administration. Kudos to Peter Obi: at least he has spoken and called for thanksgiving without commending the Commander-in-Chief.”
The spokesperson to Tinubu used three words in his request for adulation for his government from opposition leaders. They are “rejoice”, “praise”, and “commending”. This is absurd. Apart from the news being a welcomed one, the nation should actually be in mourning for what happened since the day those captives were kidnapped. The captives languished for 57 days in forests under the harshest of atmospheric conditions – rain, sun, heat, and cold with animals. One teacher was beheaded. Another teacher was killed to pressure the government to heed to their demands. Eventually, three security operatives lost their lives while trying to rescue the captives. Their rescue was therefore greeted with mixed feelings. What is in these tragic events to rejoice about? Propaganda can be nauseating at times.
To drive home this level of insensitivity of rejoicing in the midst of Tinubu’s failure in security, another school principal and students seating for NECO exams were kidnapped in Kogi. Scores of people were massacred in Oturkpo in Benue State. A man lost his six children and nine close relations in a Plateau State terrorist attack, and the military men who were about two kilometres away couldn’t come to their aid because they couldn’t find fuel for their vehicle to drive them to the scene of the carnage. More than 176 Nigerians are still in captivity in Kwara State for months. About 40 students and pupils are in captivity in Borno State. Traditional rulers have been massacred in the South-West. Zamfara has been under attacks from daredevil terrorists. Do these events call for rejoicing, commendation, or praise? But these are demanded from the opposition leaders. How much low can we sink in this country?
If the Tinubu administration wants praise and commendation from the opposition leaders, what it should do is very clear. Sanitise his government from the most corrupt officers surrounding him. In his fight against corruption, let Tinubu ask his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Accountant General of the Federation, Budget officers, the Head of Service of the Federation, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Leaders of the National Assembly to step aside or be fired for making him to include a “fake” agency known as Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) in his budget. About N1.3b was budgeted for the agency. The Director General of the agency is in police net yet his alleged accomplices are in the Villa.
Tinubu’s government, to earn the praise and commendation from the opposition leaders, must return the naira to, at least, the price it met it at N500 to a dollar. Fuel price must return to N195 to a litre. Insecurity must be eliminated because it will amount to dancing on the graves of the citizens who are massacred daily to begin to pour praises on a government for rescuing one person when hundreds are still languishing in forests and are being buried everyday.
Tinubu’s government, if he gives Nigerians electric power for 24 hours daily before the 2027 elections as he promised, the opposition leaders will commend him. If he, on the other hand, fails to provide the power to the people, then the people must fulfil their own side of Tinubu’s social contract, which is that the people should not vote for him. The job of the opposition parties and leaders is to criticise the actions of the government, and not commend sycophantically its awful performance. While the opposition may welcome any improvement in the positive achievements of government, it is not under any duty to commend it. Propaganda can never make up for maladministration. Only good governance can.
(The Sun)