Date: 2014-08-19

Why should you hate someone and invite others to do same? There is only one reason - when you think you can play god and shape the relationship others must have with the person you hate. So, this is what one Abdulraheem Salman, through his piece posted on Ilorin.Info and titled: Kwara PDP Should Get it Right, thought he was doing. He obviously thought by writing to tell us that Sherrif is arrogant and that his mother (Hajia Bola Shagaya) is bad, we would simply throw away our thinking cap and help him to spread his venom of hatred. Yet, it is said that smart people must not think others are stupid. We are not daft.

To address the fallacies in Salman's piece, I will use Budha's message to the Kalamas. The Budha was reported to have said: "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." Today, I would paraphrase the Budha and say Ilorin people have sense, and so would not believe Salman's story, because it doesn't agree with their own reason and common sense.

In the article in question, Salman had set out in good faith - to advise Kwara PDP not to rely too much on Federal might and to field credible candidates in the forthcoming 2015 elections in the State. Good advice, right? But just when I was about to give him kudos for his deep thought, Salman suddenly, like an epileptic patient, got consumed by the convulsions of hate. And so he digressed completely from the 'advice' he was giving and started his hate-speech against Alhaji Sherrif and his mother, the revered Hajia Bola Shagaya.

Should I respond to the disparaging remarks made by Salman? I should, because lies, if repeated often and well enough, become the truth. And since Salman also generously splashed his 'tales in the moonlight' on the internet, ignoring him would be tantamount to allowing a deranged person undress one in the market place. We must not allow lies to grow wings, especially on internet where people just share, or copy and paste without any verification. It is therefore important that I dissect the lies and hypocrisy of Abdulraheem Salman.

Salman begins:" Why must Mr. Sheriff be the candidate to represent the people of Ilorin-West/Asa in the federal house of representative in the next dispensation? Is it because his mother is rich or close to the Presidency or what?". Now, Salman himself must help to answer the questions he put forward. Why can't Mr. Sherrif represent the good people of Ilorin-West/Asa constituency in the House of Representatives? Constitutionally, he is very qualified. He is sane. He is educated to the level required of the person seeking election to the post he wants to contest. He is not found wanting by any law of the Federation. Therefore, if not cheap blackmailers like Salman, who will wake up and say that the only reason anyone will seek political office is because his mother is rich or known to the people in Aso Rock. So, even if Alhaji Sherrif's mother is rich, the only way to thank God for His blessings would now be to 'enter' politics in order to show people how wealthy they are. How illogical can people get?

Yes, having a mother who is rich and who 'knows' the President would assist the campaigns (whenever it starts Insha Allah) tremendously, but these are not the qualifications and perimeters by which Alhaji Sherrif Shagaya wishes to be measured as he files out to serve his people. If anything, Alhaji Sherrif would be bringing his youthful perspective into governance. He would also bring his non-aligned political heritage to represent the people of his constituency only, and not some demigods. And above all, the fear of Allah, which was embedded in him from cradle, will guide his feet as he steps forward to serve his people.

Salman continues in his tantrum "This is somebody(Sherrif Shagaya) that has never served in any public office in his life. This is somebody whose public relation to the people of Kwara state and even Shagaya family, is zero. Like mother, like son, Mr. Sheriff looks down on whoever comes his ways." We would take this one by one and see whether this are genuine indictments.

The first of the tripodal accusation was that Alhaji Sheriff Shagaya has never served in any public office before. Now, if Salman and his co-travellers have a shallow sense of history, even recent ones, we would endeavour to educate them.

In that beautiful country we often love to cite as example, the United States of America, there was a man called Ronald Wilson Reagan, a Hollywood actor. In 1964, he delivered a rousing speech in support of Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy, and in recognition of his versatile mind and eloquence, he was persuaded to seek the California governorship. He contested and won the election, and thus served as the 33rd Governor of California (1967-75) prior to his presidency in later years. Until he became governor of California, Reagan was but a simple Actor. He never held any office prior to that time.

In the same United States, Barrack Hussein Obama went straight to the Senate before becoming President. He was not known to hold any visible public office except as a US Senator and now President.

Back home in Kwara, Sen. Bukola Saraki did not hold any office in the State before becoming governor in 2003. He did serve as Special Adviser on Budget to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, but that was in far away Abuja and only for few months. He neither served as a Councillor in any Ward nor Chairman in any of the local Councils in Kwara State; yet he became governor in 2003. So why is Salman putting forward this arguments that do not add up? Moreover, when has being a Councillor become the best preparation for the House of Representatives? I stand to be corrected, but I think that sound intellect and analytical mind are the basic skills of a law maker, as against some puerile training as a councillor in one remote corner of Kwara State.

Still obsessed with his subject (Sherrif Shagaya), Salman continues: "This is somebody whose public relation to the people of Kwara state and even Shagaya family, is zero. Like mother, like son, Mr. Sheriff looks down on whoever comes his ways."

If by "public relations", Salman meant the relationship between Sherrif Shagaya and the extended Shagaya family; then that relationship is not only excellent but also 100 percent cordial. During the last Ramadan, Alhaji Sherrif was at the Shagaya family house and even observed his prayers at Bature mosque where Mallam Olosan prayed for him. Yet, his presence at Shagaya family house during the period in question cannot be regarded as a visit but a homecoming. This is because Alhaji Sherrif did not just grow up in that same Shagaya family house with many people that the hypocrites now claim have "zero" relationship with him, he was indeed raised in that same house by his grandmother alongside many of them. So where did Salman got the story of "zero" relationship from?

And finally, Salman invites us to join him in his hatred for one man whose only offence is the desire to serve and better the lot of his people through the instrumentalities of popular democracy. To Salman, your certificate to contest for higher office must be that you have served as a Councillor previously, otherwise "Kwarans must endeavour to do the needful by ensuring that Mr. Sheriff gets to no where. He should rather go and make adequate consultation and start from Councillorship..." .Bla bla bla.

Like I said previously, I didn't sit down to write this piece because Abdulraheem Salman deserves any attention for the gibberish he concocted; afterall I am well aware that those, like Salman, who always put down others are failures who don't matter. However, we have always clamour for the participation of younger and cerebral individuals in the politics of Kwara State. So now that people like Alhaji Sherrif Shagaya are making the efforts, all discerning and forward-thinking young men and women must offer our support and full backing.

Although I am aware that "when the wind of change blows (like it is about to do next year), some people will build walls while others build windmills", I call on fellow Kwara youths to join the procession of those, like Alhaji Sherrif, who will build walls that would shield our generations yet unborn from poverty and misery.

Abdullahi writes from Abuja