The attention of the Brown Table Network (BTN), an affiliate of Coalition of Pro-democracy and Human Rights Groups in Nigeria, has been drawn to a mischievous narrative against Seyi Tinubu credited to Iyabosa Uwugiaren, a self-acclaimed Editor and Journalist without credibility in the Nigerian media environment, who is also surrounded with a lot of baggages.
It is with the keenest sense of patriotic fervour that we find it necessary to state that we are disappointed with the statement credited to Iyabosa Uwugiaren considering his self-acclaimed record as member of the Guild of Editors. Iyabosa Uwugiaren also wilfully dabbles into controversial issues, not worthy of a credible Journalist. But he does this for a mesh of porridge which enables him to sustain his life and those of his family.
This association usually ignores such blackmail stories like this one credited to Iyabosa Uwugiaren. But we have been compelled by our conscience to respond to this completely laughable, misplaced, baseless, reckless and a clear violation of Seyi’s democratic rights. However, for the avoidance of any doubt and to keep with the mandate of openness and democratic credentials with which Seyi Tinubu, the main subject of the mischievous attack story, has pursued his engagements in both public and private endeavours, we find it necessary and compulsory to reassure everyone and the teeming supporters of Seyi in Lagos State and beyond, to dismiss such dubious statements that emanate from individuals lacking in democratic credentials. These mischief makers have earned the status of political jobbers without any known credible employment record. They believe Journalism is still an all-comers trade. It is not by mistake that disgruntled politicians find it very easy to use these elements to cast aspersions on their perceived enemies. As someone who goes cap-in-hand begging politicians for briefs, how is Iyobosa Uwugiaren qualified to appear as an Analyst on television programmes and not to mention Arise TV.
It was preposterous for anybody to try to deny the liberty to exercise both God-given and constitutional rights to aspire for any position that he is competent to aspire, including the highest office in Lagos State. The United States, whose democracy we claim to model ours after, had former President George Bush and his son George W. Bush, also became a President of the same country. So, when has it become a crime for anyone to aspire to rule a state in Nigeria?
We must state without fear of contradiction that while Seyi has transcended the humdrum of ordinariness in his chosen endeavours, Iyobosa Uwugiaren, with all his acclaimed status in the print media, could not get elected in any position within the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). He only succeeded in hiding behind the Guild of Editors to project his relevance. He uses such platforms to harass, intimidate unsuspecting people that have refused to bow to his demonic yearnings. In fact, recently Iyobosa Uwugiaren failed woefully and shamelessly in his bid to impose his crony to get elected as Chairman of the NUJ FCT chapter. Till date, he is unable to respond to allegations levied against him by a former Chairman of NUJ FCT chapter.
Iyobosa should tell the world and people of Lagos State that Seyi has not intimidated anyone on his political ambition to contest for the position of Lagos Governorship in 2027 electoral calendar. To our knowledge and understanding, Seyi has never publicly disclosed that he is running for the seat of Governor of Lagos State. Again, the story dwells on fantasies and hallucinations. Iyabosa Uwugiaren should have known by now that Seyi is not only competent and qualified to join the 2027 Lagos Gubernatorial race. Only the registered accredited voters of Lagos State can determine his fate, so why the attack in the first place?
Again, if a little thought had gone into the commentary, Iyabosa Uwugiaren would have reasoned that in line with the efforts to build up our political system, what is found is that many competent individuals either professionals or with private sector background like Seyi shy away from coming forward to contribute in any meaningful way to the building up of our democratic system. Such professionals, instead prefer to keep a well-calculated distance in their comfort zones from where they release sermons on what is wrong with the process and what should be done one way or another. This is because politics in Nigeria is portrayed as a “dirty game.” But we need credible people to join politics to sanitize it, so that disgruntled people will never have a field day again.
This kind of irreparable mistake was committed by the same Iyabosa during the transition to democracy in 1998, midwifed by the General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s government. Our investigation has confirmed that someone like Iyabosa cannot win a Councillorship position in his native Edo State in a free and fair contest. This is judging from the fact that over the years, he has reduced himself to making utterly misplaced statements; acting as member of agent provocateurs, and above all a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-like town crier that claims to be a PDP entity than the party’s founding members. This is similar to one who claims to be more Catholic than the Pope!
Iyobosa Uwugiaren does not even have a good grasp of the eight parts of speech of the English Language which even Primary Five pupils have. This is because he mixes past and present tenses on his consistent Television appearances to the disappointment of his anchors. He is not articulate, neither coherent and cannot explicitly express himself on any issue and he dubiously claims to be holder of the prestigious Doctor of Philosophy (PHD).
We discovered, through our investigation that, Iyobosa Uwugiaren’s abode in Abuja is still suspect and his colleagues are murmuoring about how he fraudulently acquired it by using the Guild of Editors’ letterhead and known to be a persistent women-beater. Records have it that Iyobosa fought and beat Emeritus Executive officers of NUJ. Also, he was captured at Wuse Market like a professional boxer of the status of Mike Tyson or Anthony Joshua, even when he was fraudulently serving as the Secretary of NUJ FCT Council then.
The primary question is: Why is Iyobosa wilfully dragging the sacred name of the Guild of Editors into partisan politics why professionals turn their eyes and look the other way? Why will the Guild of Editors tolerate this obnoxious character as its Secretary? It is now a clarion call to remove Iyobosa Uwugiaren as he has become an attack dog used by politicians.We therefore declare him persona non grata and call for his immediate sack from office, so that the Guild of Editors will reclaim its good image that he has dragged into the mud. This will save the Guild from further embarrassment as Iyobosa has perpetually used the Guild for his personal political gains to further his nest.
We also have it on good authority that Iyobosa Uwugiaren was paid a large sum of money by a fifth columnist to smear the hard-earned image and name of Seyi Tinubu. However, Iyabosa Uwugiaren should be ashamed of himself as he speaks from both sides of his mouth and no credibility. Neither does he have credible friends or sound backing because of his character and attitude with low self-esteem.
We must note that managing democracy is difficult, heterogeneous society as ours is not exactly an easy task. In fact, the challenge is made more difficult by the extent and likes of Iyabosa whose antics revolve around shifting the goal post and rules when it is Seyi Tinubu. These obnoxious yardsticks being used by those who are nursing embedded hatred and bitterness against Seyi stem from the perceived sins of his father or those that are envious of his perceived aspirations. But funny enough, these are the very elements seeking to define the environment of politics and democratic values in their ugly image and anti-democratic rules.
Seyi Tinubu has the right to aspire to any office of his choice in Nigeria. It is his undeniable right if he so chooses. As for now, he has not even declared to run for that office, but some politicians are already scared because of his credibility. These politicians now spend sleepless nights in order to block him from contesting, because they are scared of their shadows and are certain that Seyi has all it takes to be Governor. Therefore, they want to do everything possible to smear his image and name.
Not unexpectedly, there have been orchestrated efforts by some political actors defeated at the polls in 2023 to undermine the on-going efforts to reform the system. Therefore, the acidic criticism of President Tinubu and his beloved son is an extension of the well-funded campaign to discredit and undermine the administration.
Our organization, the Brown Table Network is however, resolute in its determination not to steadily push Seyi to develop the ambition to contest for the Governorship of Lagos State come 2027, but if he chooses to contest, our Organization will solidly stand before him and even mobilize support to him to win the contest. We are aware that only the people of Lagos State can decide the outcome via the exercise of their democratic rights. We would; however like to advise Iyobosa and his cohorts to surrender, humble themselves and apologize to the good people of Lagos State. This is to further assure hatchet groups and sponsored critics of Seyi Tinubu that no amount of propaganda against the collective wishes of democratic loving citizens of Lagos to have Seyi in the Alausa Government House is going to triumph at the end of the day. But for now, Seyi Tinubu is focused on tackling issues confronting the youthful population and the womenfolk.
Comrade Wale Adegoke
