Who Bells the Cat?

“Let no one deludes you that social media is a fluke and would have no effect on election campaigns, it’s not true! The media which is now in common use liberalizes and makes information assessable to all who can afford a simple android phone handy. There, and then, the damage or fixing the odds begins from one’s closets, if not properly checked, may turn a nice song into wailing.”

“It’s inescapably necessary and incumbent on us as a state and people, to have one with an outstanding ability now than ever before, who has demonstrated his writing skills incredibly well and doggedly capable of matching any of the regular; characteristics we now find in areas of information dissemination, and that of distortion or confrontation among all the main political party’s Media Teams where only a few of our people from the South-South are represented to protect the zones interest and that number none is from the Cross River which seems to have silenced our ability to join issues nationally.
This is preposterous as if we do not have fearless, doggedly disposed persons from our midst whether we love them or not, would’ve served as a pride to the state of someone they too can boastfully vent their minds or feel so during National conversations in a representative capacity from an individual with a potential to deliver.”

Because of pettiness and jealousy, my state of Cross River like most States in both the South-South and Southeast regions except for Governor Nyesom Wike of River State, has become barren with no voices whether in a group form or at a personal level, that can truly threaten the status, quo from an independent point of view owing to the absence of an activist whose disposition and reaction as one of their own who unabashedly is admitted as one coming from the state with such display of courage, vivacity, and skill to confront the probable wrong in the system.

It looks ridiculous that the states still do not have an outstanding person within its political class who exhibits intelligence enough capable of dabbling into areas that are of concern to society and seen as a complementary activity to those who are actually in power, that could be put on display other than that seen in the exhibition by those in authority to do so. In the cross river for instance they have been such a display of exceptional qualities coming from the few governors we’ve had in the past.

Their Excellencies Chief Clement David Ebri, Mr Donald Duke, and Senator Liyel Imoke in that order, were exceptionally bright in their articulation of issues in a broad-minded way that was notable, with goals that were palpable and reliable.

They were straightforward individuals especially Clement Ebri, an economist, in addition to his journalistic background with a character that was been reckoned with by their peers in the entire country during their reign.

None of these people was said to be dolls or not meet the challenge of leadership placed on them. But that was where it ended. They neither speak on behalf of the state, show concern about what is happening to our people differently nor encourage in any way those who are ready and fearlessly willing to question the authority’s excesses.

It’s inescapably necessary and incumbent on us as a state and people, to have one with an outstanding ability now than ever before, who has demonstrated his writing skills incredibly well and doggedly capable of matching any of the regular; characteristics we now find in areas of information dissemination, that of distortion or confrontation among all the main political party’s Media Teams where only a few of our people from the South-South are represented to protect the zones interest and that number none is from the cross river which seems to have silenced our ability to join issues nationally where one arise.

This is where the strength of true politicking lies when it comes to the areas of bargaining. It is in information gathering, propagation and dissemination be it of truth or falsehood where things get cracking.

That game changer in political victories truly lies in the volume of information given out to the people and their ability to replay it in sequences that turn extreme falsehoods into truth when it is well articulated and dished out fresh from tables of committed professionals saddled with such responsibility.

This is so because political rallies may be held every day but what happens within the period where rallies seize to hold or when there is a break, what next?

How do you determine the minds of those you had inundated during the rally with what you considered good enough to earn you victory when the very people you spoke to have had a sudden change of mind totally from that which they were told earlier due to what they seem to have read or gossiped to by those who read the stuff intriguing enough that may have to warrant them to have a change of mind, just days after, which became the cutting razor.

This kind of displacement and distortion of the truth can also occur even in the night leading to the election, all as the result of false information gotten from social media stunts, meant to mislead the electorate. We must get our priorities right in all areas and endeavour to get the right people where they can be of ultimate help.

Pushing incompetent people to notable positions out of favouritism is the bane of our backwardness especially in Cross River, except for our weeping which is the most denigrating thing to do for a chief executive of a state showing signs of frustration and melancholy just to attract public sympathy.”

It does appear that lots of persons including my humble self may not be too keen on the national elections in the face of all these encumbrances and wrangling rather I would be concerned about the Governorship of my state of the cross river.

They are too many falsehoods going on that need to be corrected either through persuasion or outright confrontation of the characters involved, using facts that may have been hidden but are necessary to alert the citizenry of what to expect in case they insist on voting for the wrong person to lead us over the first four years of the tenure.

And I am determined to join the fight to finish, using the arsenal at my disposal in achieving that. I have spent thirty-nine (39) of my active years as a news reporter. And I know when news is good and when it is bad news.

And I know how to correct it to make a difference. Our people need news that is revealing enough to cause a stir about who’s the culprit, it’s going to be an interesting period. And I look forward to it.

Those who do not have a background in news reporting, unfortunately, feel that the most effective way of propagation of events or selling one’s principle is to engage in direct and unguarded insult to the opponent, which is not correct.

It’s an offence that can attract legal penalties. And it is often displayed by those with no journalistic background or skills in communication that appeals to the public in a consummated expression. They call themselves attack dogs. Dogs indeed. What a horrible nomenclature that is.

In news reporting, which I have been exposed to by my surgeon while in the Radio, Television, and Print media outfits many years ago, where I had worked briefly, there are restrictions and areas which are prohibitive where one could run faulty libel.

I learned that during my days as a proofreader at a time, and a cub reporter with the state Ministry of information, field publicity unit, Calabar, and the training we had on the job by veterans like chief Moses Ekpo, one-time Director-General, National Copyright Commission, the present Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Late Alaga Bassey, and chief Eyo Nse Ebong amongst others all of who were my bosses, at different times in the ministry, until I became an editor myself, of two National Newspapers here in the country where I maintained a column I write regularly and also as a freelance contributing writer for Christian Science Monitor Magazine, Boston, United States of America. Though not a full-time practitioner but the job is still in me.

So a good reporter is mindful of those bridges or hitches which are aberrations to observed naturally, whenever he or she embarks on writing reports or a story. A good and clear story, I mean, with the power of logic and facts in a deep pro to change the minds of the audience from being fixated on reminiscences.

To bring that effect into the campaign, for purposes of winning people over you have to put a bit of propaganda laced with facts that are hidden truths, not outright lies, to spice things up depending on when and where to have an effect.

This is where social media becomes handy because it gives the reader the latitude to read or write whatever it is that is desirous not necessarily what is acceptable provided the objective is achieved.

For instance, the opponents may convince themselves during a campaign outing, that they’ve won the minds of the people or that of certain groups of the electorate in an area where they had finished the campaign. Only for the people to change their minds the next day, owing to what they read on social media soon after that event. Or what someone said or told the fellows contrary to what they may have enunciated on the campaign ground, over that which the tell-bearer had just read, equally, on social media and being emphatic about.

Those are usually the risk of not having a good Media team of professionals or one headed by a core professional not a cocaine sniffer or a marine-induced fellow, to present such cases to put the candidate in good standing not necessarily by creating tension through incitement just to show that you are working, absorb that of the opponent and respond adequately or give back in the same measures, those falsehoods or scandals from adversaries to enable one to nip In the board the stratagem applied by one’s opponents towards victory.”

By and large, the most effective way to get your stories across is the buildup of a large readership whether by a newspaper or an individual, of those who access your work or what you publish out there on regular bases. And you don’t get these overnight. You must work for it through the quality of what you put out which has to be an interesting read that carries facts-injected messages and stories to attract a large range of readership. This also applies to those who make video calls or have a platform to vocalize their messages for commercial purposes are ripe.

A sizable number of people must know you well enough especially the elite to build up confidence in your method of presentation, and good control of language and vocabulary, be it in the balancing of facts or the exhibition of the truth in its frigid form prompting the anxiety in wanting to read what you sent out there which invariably may stimulate them to change their minds about what they held previously as the conclusion of the matter.

Your acceptance however is based on how much you’ve endeared yourself to the reading audience with your previous write-ups, otherwise, say what you have today about your candidate; a million times, nobody of substance except your party members or associates would ever have the time or care to pick the piece of what you’ve put out there to read, however, the caption and knowing they have a lot of links and those who listen to them including talebearer, why?

IS not in doubt that I appear to have the largest audience of ardent readers (singular) of my articles from my state and of those who appreciate the efforts I put into educating the general public weekly, on different platforms, on my beliefs on issues and about persons especially those in politics. And intend to use that effectively in influencing things during this election period in defence of my preferred candidate.

Unfortunately, they’re very few so-called elites, or prominent persons in politics today, in my state whose background I do not incline nor have full details of their antecedent or their ascendancy from whence they joined politics and thenceforth.

I Have been in politics far longer than most of these so-called gurus today, the only difference is that I had always limited my politics to areas of professional competence where I function better and do not deceive people with a series of lies or seek unnecessary attention by having snapshots with those who visit or those I visit to show how well accepted I am or to resort to the Thesaurus for the vocabulary of different words of insult to show my prowess to be included as campaign Director on media only to popularize idiocy.

IT is my fervent acknowledgement that those of us in the South-South and Southeast are supposed to be game changers in anything the country wants to embark on. Nevertheless, the gregarious show of consensus of endorsement and support for those who are endowed is lacking due to the numerous factors I have enumerated above. If those areas are addressed promptly and adequately, we’ll be fine and our glories return.

End Time Message!

GOD WITH US……..

StreetReporters.ng