By Ruth Ochogwu
The proclivity of some Nigerians to abuse noble concepts is alarming and appalling. Elsewhere, activism is a dignified enterprise and those who engage in it are translucently selfless, cerebral, purposeful and focused. But the concept of activism has been terribly bruised and abused in Nigeria.
It is common to hear about branded versions of activism in Nigeria. The categories are many and varied. Often, one hears of “emergency activists,” “hired activists,” “street activists” and lots more. And because of the extremely unstructured pattern of life in the country, it is difficult to even differentiate activists from critics. Anyone who has a personal grudge or is disgruntled with government for selfish reasons wears the badge of “rights activist” and begins to prance about making hallucinatory noise.
Genuine activists crusade popular causes, which are unambiguously beneficial to the people. The actions tilt to pro-masses agenda. They do not personalize the struggle or hide under the veil of activism to champion self-centered interests in disguise. But Nigeria is unfortunate to have many of such fake and pseudo activists.
The co-convener, #BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) group, and self-styled and accidental rights activist, Aisha Yesufu holds the latest flag of those who defame and traduce activism in Nigeria. Her conscription into BBOG under the pretext of campaigning for the release of abducted Chibok schoolgirls was to find a convenient platform to promote a personal agenda.
Aisha Yesufu has goofed terribly and the frustration is making her endlessly restless. She erroneously thought she had struck gold by her membership of BBOG group, which she could manipulate to ascend to power. But President Muhammadu Buhari did not meet her expectations. The President disappointed her.
The consequence is Aisha Yesufu’s nurtured and bubbling pathological hatred for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, his appointees and all who serve in the government at different capacities. She posits herself as the author of knowledge in Nigeria and so, faults everything done by government, but has no worthwhile clue on a better alternative.
She spreads criticisms on the present government like Coronavirus. And some gullible people erroneously term her watery and fluid criticisms as activism. Aisha Yesufu wakes up everyday, looking for even the most irrelevant issues or insignificant matters to parrot. She parrots on everything under the sun, even on issues she is barren of knowledge. And listening to her most times, it gives the impression that her upbringing was poor.
Aisha Yesufu feigns the posture of pro-masses activist. But her greatest burden is identifying the distinction between activism and criticism. But it is not controvertible that Aisha is a messenger of falsehood and her only motivation is the masked pursuit of a personal agenda, evident in acting the script of external forces against her country. She is a curse upon herself and nation. Her grudge against Nigeria is that she suffered a deprived childhood and perceives the whole of society as her greatest enemy. She is out to extract vengeance by force.
She is out on a revenge mission, but lacks the wisdom to prosecute it decently. She only manifests in perpetually faulting everything done by the leaders of Nigeria. Aisha Yesufu has mastered the antics of blackmailing and arm-twisting the government for patronage in appointment or other ways to compensate for her deprived childhood. It is a faulty approach.
She hypocritically feigns fighting for the poor or projects herself as the voice of the voiceless. But it is outright falsehood. The undeniable truth is that Aisha Yesufu is a reprobate and fake personality. A pseudo activist, her hypocrisy and capitalist quest clothed with the garments of a do-gooder are polluting any vestige of personality in her very fast and disgracefully.
President Buhari’s government happens to be a victim of her unrestrained anger and frustration. So, she seeks every day to lower the esteem of the President and his administration in the eyes of Nigerians, but anchored on very feeble arguments and criticisms.
She hates PMB to a fault and therefore blind to reason. Her permutations using the plank of the BBOG forum was to strategically position herself to be noticed and consequently sneak her way into the administration of Buhari as Minister or head of a federal agency. But she was ignored and its spurred indignation. The fallout is that she finds it difficult to forgive the administration for failing to name her a minister in the same manner, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili is also mad at Mr. President.
The irony in Nigeria is that people who obviously pursue personal agenda and vendetta posture as pro-masses crusaders to attract public sympathy. Aisha Yesufu’s case is more shameful because she is unconscionable, uses crude tactics and lacks tact in playing the game.
Therefore, even if Mr. President coughs, she criticizes the manner of coughing. Where it pains more is that she mouths on issues, it is apparent that she is less knowledgeable and speaks like a demented soul.
For instance, when President Buhari addressed the nation in the aftermath of the outbreak of the Coronavirus in Nigeria and announced certain measures to curb the spread of the virus, Aisha Yesufu was in the news saying that she is not pleased with the advice given by the President. She created the impression of someone who is an expert in pandemic management; whilst she has no idea. Is Aisha advocating that President Buhari administer Nigeria based solely on the template defined by her?
And when the Hate Speech Bill was introduced in the Senate, Aisha Yesufu pushed it back to President Buhari. She failed to recognize that the executive and legislature are separate arms of government and so, Mr. President cannot interfare with the conduct of their affairs.
In any case, in her excitement to be noticed or to blackmail the Presidency, Aisha Yesufu rushed to brand President Buhari as the number one hate speech purveyor, ludicrously citing the President’s description of Nigerian youths as lazy as constituting hate speech. What wisdom equates the utterance “laziness” to hate speech?
And if it is not the display of barefaced insanity, what rationale should compel someone to question the decision of Mr. President directing the CBN to stop issuing forex for the importation of food? Nigeria has achieved a significant level of food sufficiency and has no reason to keep enriching foreign nations through food importation.
But in Aisha Yesufu’s wisdom, hence forex is banned on food importation, it must also apply on importation of petroleum products. In juxtaposition, can a normal person claim Nigeria has achieved self-sufficiency on refining of crude oil to service its domestic consumption?
Not long ago, Aisha Yesufu almost had a fisticuff with the Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi over the fake claims that the latter and passengers escaped kidnap by hoodlums at the Rigasa train station. She was not present at the scene of the incident; relied on secondary sources of information, but vouched for the concocted information as if she experienced it herself. It is the extent desperation has drenched Aisha Yesufu into a fake news monger for the simple reason of ridiculing the administration.
It is easy to see the over-bloated ego in Aisha. It has become a serious burden to the management of her image and reputation. Fooling the people has become her habit and she is finding it difficult to discard. What she has failed to realize is that Nigerians now know that behind the veil-wearing woman is a notorious and lavish liar, an opportunist and a woman whose insatiable quest for money cannot be quantified.
But Aisha nailed herself. Her suspicious handling of the proceeds of the BBOG campaigns is reason the Buhari administration has maintained a safe distance from her and quarantined her from public funds. She hardly resists the temptation of money and those who know her perfectly claims she is a pilferer of naira not minding the source.
So, the reality of her neglect has injected an endemic hatred into her against President Buhari and all that relates to him. Its only the President that she sees in her dreams. If she is not criticizing the military in the morning, she is criticizing Mrs. Buhari the next morning or the president’s ministers.
No one should be fooled by Aisha Yesufu’s antics. Her criticisms are not for altruistic reasons. Charity begins at home, but Aisha has never ever spoken about her downtrodden and impoverished people of Auchi in Edo state.
Worse still, she has extended her hate for Nigeria and Nigerians by enlisting into the Boko Haram terrorist group as both a cyberspace terrorist and a tormentor of innocent Nigerians that support the administration’s battle against terrorism. She is unaware that Nigerians already knows her person. Her fake garments and hypocrisy are now open secrets.
Ochogwu is a concerned citizen and wrote this piece from Wuye, Abuja.
