By Abdul Jelil Adebayo
Politics is plain but the players, most often Nigerians, play it dirty.
With the advent of social media, destructive politics reared its ugly head and has become the order of the day.
People sit in their godforsaken room and churn out lies in such a way that the victims are left flabbergasted wondering whether such people have the fear of God in them.
They conjure fallacy, paint it in blurry paint and propagate their skewed lies are nothing but the truth.
And the gullible public, especially those who read hook line and sinker, help to spread the jaundiced fallacies as truthfully true.
There are many stories that have been trending that are false.
The most recent is the story that the immediate past Minister of State for FCT, Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, had refused to submit her official cars after the expiration of her tenure last month.
Those who know how government runs will easily read between the lines that those who are not comfortable with her modest achievements as Minister are out to get a pound of flesh.
This is just another work of those trying to dent her image, but they will and have failed.
For those who may not know, every official cars of Ministers are usually handed over to the director of protocol who takes inventory and service them preparatory for the incoming Ministers.
This is what happened and Ramatu’s cars have been received and parked in the official residence of FCT Minister in Life camp, Abuja.
The categories of the vehicles parked are STAFF CAR LAND CRUISER DEEP; BACK UP TOYOTA PRADO; TOYOTA LAND CRUISER FOR DSS DETAILS ATTACHED TO HER; ONE PEUGEOT 508 UTILITY VEHICLE ; and TWO TOYOTA HILUX PILOTS VEHICLE.
The total number of vehicles parked at the FCT ministers official residence in life camp are six and these can be verified.
Those who have gone to the house are testifying that both her cars and that of the senior Minister, Muhammad Bello are conspicuously parked at Life camp.
Ramatu is said not to be bothered much because similar lies were let loose on one of the retired service chiefs
It was alleged and which gained negative currency that the retired military officer refused to vacate office until he settled some contracts.
As if that wasn’t enough the never-wish-well for good things, went agog with spurious lies that the salaries of Mr President and his vice, including judicial officials have been increased by over 100%.
The presidency has to debunk the lies and that indeed the President has not given approval to such increment.
The dirty game is on, and the tarnishing brush are always directed at people that have performed creditably well while in office and the future looks bright for them. Or those that are performing.
Whatever the antics, most Nigerians are not that gullible that they will not read between the lines; that it is simply the work of mischief makers.
But the question on discerning Nigerians mind is, what is the gain and benefits of those engage in pull-him-down syndrome.
The answer is not farfetched. They are simply enemies of progress. They are people that don’t like good things neither do they want progress of achievers. But their antics cannot stop the meteoric rise of such persons.
Ramatu for those who may not know or pretend not to know, is a workaholic and prudent person.
As Minister her footprints are in every segments she held sway.
Within the period she held sway as a Minister, she slowly but steadily blazed a trail of remarkable achievements.
She is a workaholic and takes every assignment given to her head-on.
She brought innovation into ministry administration. And today, the Secretariats under her are setting the pace in FCTA.
It wasn’t easy as many fought her and still fighting her for her resolute in ensuring success in whatever she does.
For her resilience and doggedness, former President Buhari felt she deserved to be appreciated and listed her among the national honours awards beneficiaries and yet her political enemies are not satisfied and neither are they comfortable.
In spite of the enemies around, tirelessly, she soldiered on, initiated reforms and fortifying capacity, building measures that have yielded fruits.
To underscore her commitment to serving the public good, she has weathered the political waters and has remained in good standing.
She has done her best believing that history will be kind to her at the end of the day.
Indeed, with a new dawn on the horizon beckoning, Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, not minding the antics of political enemies, has left an indelible footprint on the sand of time as an irrepressible Amazon of change and an astute administrator.
*Abdul can be reached via abduljelil2001@gmail.com