Date: 2014-05-12

Before I begin at all, I think a caveat is necessary to put records straight. First, I am no fan of Sen. Gbemisola Saraki. If for anything, I do not subscribe to this idea that she is in a different camp from his brother's, thereby leaving the once boisterous, strong Saraki Political Dynasty in disarray. No matter the impasse between the two Saraki siblings, I believe they should have respected the memory of their dad to mend fences. And to yours sincerely, I believe, albeit rightly or wrongly, that the buck stops with Gbemi, being the woman, the mother, with the attendant compassion and forgiving spirit. So, she has a bigger blame for the lingering crisis!

Second, I am not particularly fond of the Kwara247.com online platform or any other for that matter, for I believe they are all increasingly becoming partisan and petty. So, rather than belabor myself with the pettiness of these mushroom platforms, I stick strictly with the traditional and the apolitical Ilorin.info, even with all its conservatism, and that's all!

However, I had my attention called to a highly offensive post on the Kwara247 news website a couple of weeks ago, and I believe it is worth dissecting. But apart from a proper clinical dissection of the highly libelous post, I will also make a passionate appeal to Sen. Gbemisola Saraki, even if I am a lone voice in the wilderness.

The report, captioned; Gbemi Saraki, Asewo tofe di Governor (interpreted roughly to mean: Gbemisola Saraki: the whore that aspires to be Governor), is no doubt a new low in online journalism. It consciously dragged online journalism to the gutter, and brought out the danger of over-reliance on gossips, wicked innuendoes and outright lies, for which some of the Ilorin based online news mediums, are now notorious.

Although, there have been muted musings about the identity of the brain behind the website, especially the Banks Omisore (Personal Assistant (PA) to Sen. Bukola Saraki on Social Media) angle, but I have my doubts. The Banks I knew back in Lagos is too refined to go that banal against political opponents. Throughout his stint with Chief Dele Momodu, I could not remember a single occasion where he deployed such gutter languages against real or perceived opponents of his boss. Fast tracked to this period, I will be damn if politics and blind loyalty to a self acclaimed leader had taken the better part of his humanity and has allowed him to be metamorphosed into the very monster behind the keyboard that day that penned that trash for public consumption and against no less a person than the blood sister of his own boss! No matter the political differences between the duo of Bukola and Gbemi Saraki, I do not subscribe to such banality by Mr. Saraki's handlers against one of their own. The fact that there is even no shred of evidence linking Gbemi Saraki to promiscuity makes it even worse. Her 'offence' seems to me to be that she is a woman politician, as such, she is as guilty has charged.

But all said and done, the decision to strike back lies ultimately with Sen. Gbemi Saraki. She alone, and no one else, can put a stop to her continued stigmatization. If she failed to act fast and stem the tide of blackmail oozing dangerously around her neck, God helps her! This is because her traducers have surreptitiously provided her with the hammer to hit them. She is better advised to hit it hard, so that the baggage she is being loaded with could be offloaded once and for all!

Clearly, she enjoys a higher moral ground here and it is in her best interest to make a good use of it. Once and for all, I beseech her to try and go after the masquerades behind the Kwara247.com platform, and all other blackmail platforms for that matter, including the National Pilot newspaper. This will be by way of a sustained crusade to keep that issue on the national front burner until specific culprits are identified and punished to the full extent of the law. The ill-educated yobs who have been all over our national airwaves writing all sort of jargons should attract only one reaction from us all: contempt.

In the first place, why is it taking Gbemi's handlers this long to move against such a fraudulent, devious, and vindictive character who was spewing libellous materials on the net because he felt he enjoys some anonymity? Is there any difference between trying to assassinate their master, Gbemi, and alleging that the mother of two is a whore? Why would a victim of such unspeakable wickedness not lift a finger against somebody who has practically damnified her? Besides, does it not stand to reason that anybody who successfully sues any of the fraudulent characters behind the online platforms and hurls the ass of such an offender to jail would have performed an invaluable service to the innocent Ilorin readers who believe their lies hook line and sinker?

It will be so sad if Gbemi's strategists allow this 'golden opportunity' to elude them without making an example out of a so-called social media aide in a competent court of law. If nothing, they should start assembling evidence against Omisore and his lackeys, with a view to suing and prosecuting them all. This will be sending a clear message to their paymaster, Sen. Bukola Saraki, that every opportunity to 'play even' shall be seized and exploited to the full by her this time around. She should make a strong statement, at this early stage of the titanic battle ahead, that no one has a monopoly of online violence and brigandage.

Gambari Taofiq