Apparently reacting to a recent flood of questionable opinions that ran on such new media platforms such as BlackBerry messenger (Bbm), Twitter, Facebook, blogs and their likes, on his purported attack by stroke, former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in an interview with CheckOut Magazine in London, had praises for the advent of new media but suggested that caution should temper their use. He was of the opinion that new media platforms are vital for deepening the practice of democracy and that they deserve to be protected from mischief-makers and evil doers
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Sounding firm on the question of new media use like President Obama was in his recent admonition of scholars of Hampton University on the same subject, the ACN leader was emphatic about his support for free speech and technological innovations that are capable of facilitating transparency in the public sector. According to him, public sector transparency requires accountability from public officers and is, on the strength of accountability, inclined to being a major life-line for the survival and growth of democracy, as well as for improving the living standards of members of the under-classes.
Speaking about the widespread rumour of his capitulation to a strange illness, Tinubu said that such a falsehood may have been triggered by malevolence and other reasons best known to its peddlers. ‘The wicked news was just a misery to me. At no time have I been ill. God has blessed me with very good health … I do look after my health routinely because I know when I am in perfect shape, there will still be a lot to offer the masses of Nigeria based on my continuing actions towards achieving a better Nigeria … I wonder where the rumour came from. They said I was afflicted with stroke and that I was wheel-chair-bound … all were lies.’
The ex-Governor said he will never support the promotion of negativity on any platform developed for positive causes. ‘Right from my pre-active political life through the period I served as a Senator and Governor of Lagos state, I’ve always operated an open-door policy in service to the needs of the people around me and in my constituents as swiftly as possible. Though I understand that it may sometimes be difficult to reach me, just like it is with every individual that runs tight schedules like I do, my busy nature has never been a harbinger of any incapacitating ailment to my person’.
The ACN front-liner decried the reduction of social-media-use to a ‘ridiculous state’, particularly in connection to the dissemination of falsehood against his state of health. He said he was shocked that use of social media in Nigeria could be brought to such a low. He acknowledged the democratic effects that they have had on the country’s development process and advised that a great deal of caution should be exercised on their use in the area of news and information dissemination.
On the charitable statement he made about the Nigerian judiciary after his acquittal by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) tribunal on charges of corruption brought against him, he said, in his words: ‘… I made a kind comment on the judicial panel of the Code of Conduct Bureau after it quashed the spurious allegations levelled against me by prosecutors. That statement does not mean that I am according the Nigerian judiciary a honour of perfection. Far from it! Not until the judiciary frees itself completely from partisanship and take to operating independent of government influence can every citizen of Nigeria say he or she is we well-protected by the law. It is only when we arrive at such a level that we can all enjoy fair-hearing and justice, regardless of the person’s status or position in the country’.
His interview with CheckOut magazine wound-up with a question bordering on his opinion on the state of interaction between Nigeria and her Diaspora population.
‘Having been part of the Diaspora public at different times in my life, I am inevitably aware of the enormous talent that reside in many Nigerians living abroad. When I got elected as Governor of Lagos state, I used the term of my service to convert the phenomenon of brain- drain to brain-gain by bringing some of Nigeria’s best brains abroad back home to contribute to the development process of our nation. I inspired pragmatic leadership and professional commitment in Lagos state among home-grown and diasporic Nigerian talents working together in the State’.
Asiwaju Tinubu opined that many of the problems that underpin Nigeria’s depressed state would be part of history if the Federal Government of Nigeria and the various State Governments in the country can develop a veritable and sustainable strategy of engaging credible and competent Nigerians based within and outside the country in her growth process.
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