As a writer once rightly put it, one of the enduring controversies of ages is the conflict between good and evil, between truth and lie. To many minds, the origin of lies and the reason for their existence are source of great perplexity. In politics as in other areas of human endeavor, it is not uncommon to observe that exalted truths bring hatred and strife. The irrepressible conflict to uphold and defend one is to attack and overthrow the other. But truth and lie cannot harmonize.

This is exactly how I view the ragging controversy over the alarm raised by the Kwara State chapter of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) on what it described as the brazen dumping of destitute, beggars and homeless children on major towns in the state. Personally, I have been quite impressed about the uncommonly constructive style the CPC in the state adopts in its approach to issues. Since I have had the (mis)fortune of being part of the PDP government, and especially being one of its spin doctors, I have NEVER, I repeat, NEVER, been so enthralled by the resolve of an opposition party to constructively engage a government in power! If the CPC is not upbraiding the government for tactlessly throwing fiscal responsibility to the dogs, it is advising us to aggressively drive internal revenue for the benefit of the public, and not make it the exclusive reserve of a few political jobbers in the state at the expense of the toiling masses. And this time, it alerted the government to the social and security implications of the alarming rate at which destitute were being dumped on the state from neighboring states, with picture evidence! I mean, that's quite unprecedented in a state where what we had been used to were insults and illogicalities from opposition parties. And that's why I found the indignation of my friend and colleague, Mr. Tunji Morounfoye, to the seemingly good intention of the CPC as not only needless but also absolutely thoughtless!

First Tunji, I am disappointed that your much publicized intellect didn't reflect in that scathing commentary against the CPC. For instance, you could not demonstrate that you understand the principles of common logic, and that you could use it to make valid arguments. While trying to score a cheap point against a party that innocently called the attention of our boss to the security implications of going to sleep while destitute are being dumped on the state, you threw caution to the wind and resorted to sheer banality. If I were you, at that point, simple logic demanded that you told the public instances that confirm otherwise. Instead of resorting to banality and insults, some of us had expected that you would rise up to the occasion and reel out facts that convincingly point to the fact that destitute population is not swelling in Ilorin and environs. We expected that you and the ever arrogant Mashood Adebimpe would tell us that there are no hundred of beggars at Oja-Oba, Gambari, Ipata, Murtala, Sango, Post-Office and even Ahmadu Bello way, the seat of power in the state.

To me, the CPC was charitable enough not to have bluntly put it. You and I know that the "institutionalization" of begging that the CPC feared and alerted our boss to was a subtle indictment of us, the political elite in the state. It was our creation! Or have you forgotten so easily how "Baba Saraki" institutionalized the act of "fine bara" among the poor masses? How, in the name of generosity, he created what will forever hunt Ilorin metropolis and distort its social fabrics? Are we not already reaping it full now? I mean, don't they ambush you too on your way to the Ministry? Ask Keriya Babu, the Commissioner for Works and Water Resources, Alhaji Saka Onimago or even Mr. Olokooba, the SA Sports! They will tell you the humiliation they face daily in the hands of the Saraki destitute. Ever since Baba fell terminally ill, even before his eventual death, the home grown destitute phenomenon had sporadically sky-rocketed.

My friend, it used to be the case that the bulk of those who were into the trade of street begging were aliens; the almajiris of the far north. But today, the reverse is the case. Our "mothers", the Saraki destitute, have taken over! As I write this in my car, driving by the Government House, I noticed that they have flooded this place cap in hand, begging everyone in flashy cars for alms like they usually do daily. Even the Governor sees them too, but he dares not protest because his hands, like you and I know, are tied by the Saraki mafia. Or are you too blind to see them? Or, is it just the hatred of the growing popularity of the CPC in the state that is making you lose conscience?

So dear Tunji, that response you gave to the CPC's timely intervention made me pity and regret the day I joined the Fatai Ahmed-led government. He is certainly in trouble surrounded by pseudo intellectuals and public analysts like you. It is surprising that you left the quite pertinent issues you should have addressed to delve into the petty lane of Local Government elections. The recourse to casualness and politics when the occasion called for a measured and somber mien as the first step in demonstrating a ridiculed political elite's capacity for introspection and self-reflectivity is of course, unexpected. It was as disappointing as it was pathetically ridiculous.

To be honest with you sir, when you were announced as the Information Commissioner, I thought, albeit wrongly, that you would be bringing class and finesse to the office. I expected a departure from the usual lack of proper language from image launderers like us. I look forward to a departure from the era of clichés and barefaced lies. Judging by where you are coming from, I had expected a regime that will show forth outcomes of properly debated meetings. But what does the public have from you instead? Nauseating regurgitation of "shared prosperity" and "continuity", as if the words themselves would jump out of your mouth and fix the Ajase-Ipo-Ijagbo-Offa-Erinle distressed roads that we have deliberately left abandoned because of our hatred of especially the Offa people's insubordination and their 'senseless' romance with the ACN. Or, as if the words are enough to fix the crumbling education sector in the state, that is leading to a drift of the agile youth from the rural Lafiagi, Patigi to the state capital to take on Okada business. As if the words alone will put a lid to the chronic poverty of the majority that is fast enveloping the state.

And wait Mr. Tunji, did you wish to call the CPC's call propagandist? Really? Or did you just use it for lack of the right word? That pronouncement said more about us in the PDP spin business than them in the CPC. It captures all the years you and I spent doing what the CPC does now, as years spent in public deceit, years used in attracting attention to ourselves for the chance to be part of the state destruction. Like I told you last week, you have arrived "Dr" Moronfoye, you have surely arrived! Our many years of noisemaking have paid off. And just as I also hinted you when we had a brief chat, your insecurity manifested in every word you speak of the government. The message I got from your silent response was a clear one; that your plan is to cover up for an opaque regime and gag critics from commenting on the failure-prone administration that we have the misfortune of defending.

Sir, I must express my disappointment over your scornful response to the CPC genuine alarm. Is it because you are not from Ilorin? Is that what makes you less concern about the gloomy future of the Ilorin social fabrics? Is that why you would lie against a party that does us no harm other than advising us on proper governance? My dear friend, your reply to the CPC intervention on the issue of beggars is laden with generic statements that make reference to the government's invisible rehabilitation projects which are sharp contrast to what is easily noticeable. It is not enough to make allusions to something the public cannot see. Abi, where is the Rehabilitation Home that you claimed in your interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) the destitute are taken to? Was it not the CPC's alarm that gingered the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to barricade the Gari-Alimi's dilapidated Round-About that is now a den of beggars? Didn't you tell me that someone called you during the Midland FM radio interactive session and hinted you about the CPC allegations? Or did I not over hear you say that the CPC alarm jolted the Ministry of Culture and Tourism into picking hordes of beggars at strategic points in the metropolis? So, why should the same party that did us such huge favour now turn to be your whipping toy? Because it is an opposition party? And less I forget Tunji, your daily tonic of lies on the radio about the workings of the government and its functionaries are about as factual as the content of my grandmother's book of superstition.

Sir, while the CPC's call and proffered solution may not always be practical and as objective as they should be (we forgive them for it), and may reek of a standard opposition talk (that too is understandable) your outright dismissal of same as propagandist and crass criticism was sure a huge miss. Your effort was a well rehearsed display of sycophancy designed to market yourself into the heart of a governor that gives no damn about you. But beyond your dirty job description lays the real issues of hypocrisy and opportunism which has led to the death of the state intelligentsia. Local journalists like you and I, Dan Kazeem, Mashood Adepimpe, have since become seasoned hypocrites and opportunists who sent critical anti-government articles or broadcast from their stables on a regular basis only to end up jumping into the same at the slightest opportunity. Once in government, they become apologists of the same government they spent years vilifying. The opposite will have been unusual. That has always been our pastime in the state. But a state is in trouble when a clown like you gets to ask the public to believe him. A state is in trouble when a buffoon gets to frequently invade the public sphere with his odoriferous presence. But, eh, there is this thing called seniority, even though we started as friends. I must therefore defend your right to vigorously insult public intelligence and bet on their legendarily fugacious memory every time you rush out. But I must also remind you, Mr. Morounfoye, that our Yoruba forebears probably had you in mind when they claimed that "omo atiro to ra bata fun Baba e, oro lo fe gbo". Or don't you think that the child of a cripple who goes shopping and returns home with shoes for his crippled father is hungry for an earful? So, when you run to town asking that the public believe you over and above the opposition voice, I have been asked by the Ilorin people, who are directly affected by the "legacy" of destitute, poverty and graft that Baba Saraki left behind, to remind you ever so gently, that your sweet talks, after every act of executive recklessness or/ and negligence go for a kobo.

Abdullahi Gambari
Media Consultant,
A55, Ahmadu Bello Way, Ilorin