By Dr Ugoji Egbujo

Tales were only once told only by moonlight. The sun gave way to the moon and people gathered to wind down. They shared tales , fables , lullabies and all.

Those tales were useful because they were not to be believed. Children were told scary fairy tales so they wouldn’t wander from home. No one actually wanted to deceive another. Now men gather children and fellow adults and with constipated faces tell them political fairy tales in broad daylight. Politicians and the clergy now concoct tales and tell them without songs. And force lumps of rough tales down throats as they would force medicine down the throat of sick children.

The scary thing is no one really knows if these modern day tale bearers know their stories are imaginary. And if those who hear them know where to keep them. Now adults are told political fairy tales. They nod like frightened children. And hold on to them like scriptures. About a year ago many said Buhari had died in London. Fayose was certain he was in the mortuary. He said he had the pictures.

Many of those who celebrated Buhari’s death went dumb when he returned. Fayose gave up the ownership of secret intelligence channels around the president that once made him the favorite of gossip magazines. He never talked about the mortuary pictures we once knew he had under his pillow.

But Nnamdi Kanu, the owner of the late dog named Jack didn’t take Buhari’s recovery and return calmly. He looked closely at the recuperated man and shook his head. He declared that the returnee was an impostor of the Buhari that died in London. He said his men of the Biafra Secret Service had reliable intelligence that a certain Jibrin from Sudan had been co opted to fill in for the dead Buhari.

Ordinarily, with a little song, that would have made a good African fairy tale. But without a song, and without the somnolence of moonlight, Nnamdi Kanu’s tale raised eyebrows. Many amongst his apostles who had longed to kiss the feet of the Director of Radio Biafra couldn’t help but doubt their god. But their unbelief sparked anger in the supreme freedom fighter. He labeled those who couldn’t see Jibrin de Sudan in Buhari as morons.

They knew if they persisted in their unbelief they would become rebels, saboteurs. So they started to believe. Some could only go half the way. So they deemed their supreme leader’s Jibrin theory a useful exaggeration. So Jibrin became, in their hearts, an apt metaphor of a disappointing president. So they too, these intellectuals, could say the healthy Buhari is Jibrin. Cynics hissed. They had always doubted the firmness of Nnamdi Kanu’s grasp of reality.

After he expounded Jibrin, they included hallucinations in the long list that must be overcome during any royal rehabilitation for the supreme leader. After Jibrin instructed a python dance and the Biafra secret service smuggled Nnamdi Kanu into a hole outside the country we all thought the Idea of Jibrin had been buried. But Jibrin of Sudan has lived on.

A certain pastor mounted the pulpit a few days ago and spoke about Jibrin. He said it took him a while but he has seen that the Buhari in Aso Rock isn’t the Buhari that went to London for medical treatment. The pastor spoke with priestly earnestness. He must have acquired the special spirit of discernment as the IPOB leader.

The problem with fake news is that it is potentially a weapon of mass destruction. It is true that corruption can kill Nigeria. But perhaps corruption is a slow virus. The plague that took apart Rwanda in a few months in 1994 was not corruption. It was hatred spawned by fake news.

It was the fake news about the existence of weapon off mass destruction that brought Iraq to precipitate ruins. If a picture of Buhari surfaces and his nose appears a little flatter than the beak of a woodpecker murmurs about Jibrin will fill the air. Corruption is ruthless. But it is fake news that has the stubbornness and ruthlessness of a Californian wild fire. The elections are here. Tempers are volatile. Idle poorly educated young men are the combustible dry wood . They abound. Ethnicity and religion are the high velocity winds. They are here. Fake news is the fire. Its factories are sprouting everywhere. Firefighters could be useless.

Nigeria is therefore particularly vulnerable. It has many pyromaniacs in positions of influence. Jibrin, fortunately, is not the sort of news that can set the country instantaneously ablaze. But the sheer stupidity of the story and its baffling tenacity must trouble the lovers of peace. If the most outlandish of political fairy tales can survive for so long and manage to intrigue minds that claim sophistication then the country is exceptionally vulnerable . Fayose may have dropped off the bus. But he and his colleagues set it on that ruinous path. If he hadn’t declared that he had mortuary pictures perhaps the demons wouldn’t have found tilled grounds on which to sow their ‘Jibrinous’ hallucinations . What Jibrin does by its sheer ridiculousness is to prepare the ground for a future mass hypnosis.

Fake news , like weeds , must abound. But if allowed to flourish only in beer parlors and motor parks then the society may not be harmed. Real damage is risked when fake news takes residence in government houses and houses of God. And when it occupies radio and television stations. Ordinary people took part in the holocaust and roasted ordinary people. Deliberate insistent misinformation was all that was needed.


https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/11/jibrin-of-sudan-and-the-audacity-of-fake-news/

Its okay, we are watching

fortune5351:
Its okay, we are watching

Read, don’t watch

Jubril is buhari shikena

too long... I no fit read am

FreshBoss007:
too long... I no fit read am

What is wrong with our reading culture?

This is why most Nigerians are gullible

Modify zombies please let my mention be abeg. I don't post comment for a leaving, so please don't mention me again..ode aṣiwère

That man is not buhari, the buhari we know is sick and prior to 2015, buhari is always on medical tourist. How come this man have not gone for medical tourist since he came back from London hospital.

And what did Amosun and okoroawusa wanna say??
Alot of questions are still begging for answer.

All in all, both jubril and buhari is Leaving that sit.
EOD#

Op lemme whisper something in your ear...


"His name is jubrin, and he's from Sudan"

Such a beautifully written article, I almost wished it would never end!

At first, I thought the Jubrin story was just one of the many things Buhari was being taunted with knowing that Nigerians have a penchant for insults but like the author writes, the sheer tenacity of the story is mind-boggling especially considering that it's also being peddled by clearly lettered people.

It's disturbing. Fake news could be disastrous. I recall that there was a time the military engaged in medical outreach in the southeast only for IPOB to announce that the government was planning to infect their kids with diseases. The allegation on its own is ludicrous but the saddest part was that majority of those who heard this ran to the schools of their children and wards to withdraw their kids and effectively sabotage a wonderful inititiative because of a news that was being spread on whatsapp. Why?! Why can't we abstain from hateful politics? There's nothing as effective in combatting ineptitude as truth.

Please, my people, truth is always a better option than dangerous, divisive lies. If you must tell lies, do endeavour to avoid those that'd make you look irredeemably daft by sane folks.

F

BRING the real news if its fake prove them wrong na. but why are you guys rattled by this news? they have evidence and are proving the story with points why not provide your own. pls before you quote me to attack kanu/ipob let me remind you that this news was first broken by eric joyce former british mp. he said it over three good times so pls take your frustrations to him and the british gov. we were all here when all the northern and western moslems were rejoicing that kanu is dead. cos they expected him dead after the python dance we kept patient today they are all shouting fowl. this same people who went out to celebrate when a christian of kaduna state governor died in a crash? now they can't entertain a simple and unfounded rumour?

Believe it or not, anyhing is possible...

too long had to skip after first line

Who is this pseudo-intellectual?

anambraeyes:


What is wrong with our reading culture?

This is why most Nigerians are gullible

He can't read because that's trash, and the trash is long.
Have a blessed day

There are 4 categories of Nigerians in all of this bullshit.


Category 1: Those who think that everything about Jibrin is senseless and unimaginable and wonder how any reasonable adults could bask in such stupidity.

Category 2: Those who think that it is completely false but are using it for political gains to deliberately cast doubts on the minds of the supporters of the President.

Category 3. Those who think that it is false but were very elated when Fayose and FFK told them that Buhari was dead. This group of people is more than happy to substitute the news of Buhari's death with the news about Jibrin's existence.

Category 4. Those who actually believe the Jibrin story with all of their bodies and souls. This group comprises majorly ignorant and uneducated people.


Where do you belong?

Nice write up

But Nnamdi Kanu, the owner of the late dog named Jack didn’t take Buhari’s recovery and return calmly. He looked closely at the recuperated man and shook his head. He declared that the returnee was an impostor of the Buhari that died in London. He said his men of the Biafra Secret Service had reliable intelligence that a certain Jibrin from Sudan had been co opted to fill in for the dead Buhari.



Propaganda everywhere....

I am actually waiting to see their prove... Jibrin of South Sudan.

Keep on hiding in Israel n be deceiving your moronic Ipobians.

Sad Mood... Rip Yusuf Onivehu Anavere.

I don't blame illiterates that believe this nonsense, that's why they are illiterates, neither do I blame those who originated and spread the story after all that's what scammers and propagandists do.

However I have problems with anyone who went through I higher institution of learning yet can't use critical thinking ability, combined with facts and figures to conclude that this whole thing is a propoganda.

The one big negative effect it would have on those who believes this nonsense just because Kanu said it is because in due time he would lose all his credibility. But whether the so called educated people would enroll in a information literacy class, only time would tell.

wonder hw this got to first page

From the few lines I read, I see the writer in great writing skills. But, why use such a great skill in rubbish is what I can't stop to wonder.
Anyways, Buhari or Jubril we the great people of Nigeria are Atikulated. Lifeless bodies shall no longer handle affairs of our nation

this thing weak me o!


its either kanu is right or wrong, for kanu to say that he has prove of buhari's death and burial leaves more to be desired.

Swargu:

He can't read because that's trash, and the trash is long.
Have a blessed day

How is it so?

No one should dispute the words of Nnamdi kanu. Apc are so desperate that no one can throw away such allegation. Nigerians should wait to see the concluding part of the story. Anything goes in Nigeria, especially with all these desperados holding the country to Ransom.

somebody should read and tell me what this one is saying...

It has been revealed that Ike Ekweremadu was actually killed when group of assassin stormed his house recently
Ike Ekweremadu we are seeing now is an impostor from Cameron named eponojukwu.
Check the 2 pictures closely you will agree with me











Nobody has monopoly of madness

Let's keep watching.
God blesss Nigeria

What I still don't understand is how Igbos believe Nnamdi Kanu. Igbo's use to be smarter than this.
It's true that Nigeria is messed up big time but every reasonable person knows that Biafra is not the solution. You can't build a whole new world on a pile of lies and deception. This Biafra cancer has eaten to deep.

Only gullible dupes and mumus believe the Jubrin crap.