praise for Michael Ibekwe, the journalist who exposed T.B.
Joshua’s bribe-gift to the press men covering the collapse of the
SCOAN building.
Charly Boy felt Ibekwe deserved a National Honor for his
integrity, and offered a prize of N300,000 to any journalist who
showed similar integrity.
Read his full piece below;
“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate
those that speak it” – George Owells.
How hard service must be in a decadent society like ours where
words like credibility, honesty, honor, truthfulness,
professionalism and integrity are fast becoming extinct and
rapidly being replaced by corruption, greed sharpness, evil,
materialistic lust, the list is endless! That’s how deep the rot is.
However my story today no bedat yarn.
National awards were given a few days ago to deserving and
not so deserving Nigerians. Honorary awards are meant to be
given in recognition for exceptional achievements, integrity and
distinction. So therefore, I hereby confer my own nationalist
award of Officer of the Order of the Niger, OON to Mr. Nicholas
Ibekwe.
I’m sure so many of you are wondering who that is and yes until
a few days ago, I didn’t even know who he was.
He is a young journalist who was bold enough to choose a path
of integrity, honestly and professionalism against all odds of
being a minority and chose to speak for the truth.
Our minds have become so beclouded with the truth as being
shaded that when we come in contact with it, we have a
repelling approach to it and may even begin to see those who
dare to be bold and speak out as over ‘sabis’ or ITK’s (I too
know).but really, should that come as a surprise to anybody In
a society where morals are eroding, and people have succeeded
in convincing themselves that the truth is no longer important.
Our minds are so closed because when we see the truth we can’t
even trust it based on the fact that for so long, lies have been
exchanged for the truth and now we are caught in-between
what is really true and what are lies and thus, the confusion of
what is right and what is wrong begins.
Mr. Nicholas Ibekwe chose to speak about the alleged bribe
money that was given to them to write a ‘good’ story about the
collapse of the synagogue building. There were 15 journalists
there and 750,000 naira was shared. Only one person chose to
cry foul! One person chose to standout, one person chose to
speak the truth.
For a very long time now, the stone have been left unturned
concerning what really goes on in this country. The rich and
privileged do whatever they like and as it is the norm nothing
happens, because we all have been corrupted by weakness and
fear. You hear of the issue for a while and like the wind, it
simply blows away. For instance, till now, we are all confused
about who’s responsible for the money smuggled into South-
Africa, CAN President Oritsejafor Ayo or the Federal
Government, we are yet to hear the truth. Like joke, the fight for
#bringbackourgirls is gradually quieting. We never know what
is really going on. Till date, the allegation against Major General
Abubakar Mohammed has not been clarified but the soldiers
involved have been sentenced to death, no digging, no probing.
If they did, we never heard. When it becomes a crime to report
freely criminal activities, then it becomes obvious that
leadership is made up of criminals. QED.
What injustice! It takes a little mistake from a less privileged
man and his life would be no good from thence forth. I would
ask, was the law made only for the poor?
I would say it clearly that what journalist Nicholas Ibekwe did is
something I haven’t seen in a million years just to exaggerate a
bit. I have been silent about it but have been following the news
surrounding the alleged bribe given by T.B Joshua to Journalists
to shade the truth. Hummmmmmm
To me it came as a surprise that in this rot, there are a few who
are still bold enough to do the right thing. Yeah, people are
saying he is an opportunist but I would ask is it not better to be
an opportunist with the right thing than an opportunist with the
wrong thing? All the journalists who went there allegedly
received the bribe were opportunist, as they chose 50,000 over
the truth. Others are saying Nicholas Ibekwe declared self-
righteousness, but I would say he declared the truth, is it
because he was the first who thought of the right thing to do and
came out with it?
As a celebrity and a journalist myself, I know how hard it is out
there, we are all facing this thing, although everybody own get
em level. I understand, just like I understand with my okada
boys dem and poor people who need assistance, I do the same
thing for the journalists like I do for them. I call mine ‘white
envelops’, not given to them as a bribe but as a fact that being in
the game I understand the hustle. I don’t care what people say
about me in the media so long as whatever you are saying is not
based on assumptions but facts.
We’ve been kept in the dark for too long; this should come as a
breath of fresh air. We need people who can tell us the true
position of things as it is, not sugar coating and shading the truth
from the populace.
If not for this my ‘brokage’ thing going on with me right now I
would want to do more however the CharlyBoy foundation is
pledging 300,000 naira for any journalist who shows
remarkable integrity in the discharge of his duties and can
write and speak the truth no matter the odds.
I hope Nicholas Ibekwe is reading this, I want to meet you, I
want to congratulate you, I would love to reward you for your
boldness. You have not only been professional as a journalist,
you have also be courageous. Your boldness must never go
unnoticed or unrewarded. There is God.
If we make it a habit of not rewarding people who make an
attempt to do good, then evil will reign supreme in this country
and we all will hate ourselves.
The reality is that a small subset of the population have been
working, conspiring, for years against the rest of us in an effort
to completely own and control Nigeria and everyone in it. The
shitty system and the country we have today is a direct result of
this, the ultimate conspiracy. That’s why there are a lot of
riffraff’s in power, that and the fact that the majority of my
people are ignorant of this conspiracy against them.
Hummmmm there is Godooooo.
We should all learn to stand for the truth and the right thing
even when everyone would be against us for doing the right
thing. We are already down as a people and as a nation, what
else do we have to lose, we should stand for the truth and
protect the right thing at all times…at least from now on.
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