By Emeka Okonji
It has taken the emergence of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as a presidential aspirant to reveal the real identity of one Farooq Kperoogi as privileged journalistic hack. Mr. Farooq Kperoogi who masquerades as a journalism teacher in some American university has been a master of disguise. He masquerades as a columnist and sometimes lashes out at the obvious pitfalls of people in government when it is convenient.
He has of late found a quarry in Vice President Osinbajo. His comments on the man have dripped with bile and vitriol. The note of personal hatred and personalized insults cannot pass the most elementary test of fair comment or journalistic license. These comments which lack both logic and reason have been relentless.
The main thrust of these adolescent high school attacks is the fact that Osinbajo is a Christian of the Redeemed Christian sect. For Mr. Kperoogi, to be a Christian is a crime. To belong to the RCCG sect is even more heinous. For the VP to be a pastor in that sect is an even more unforgivable offense in the reckoning of this certified jihadist hack. The principle of religious freedom means nothing to this intellectual misfit and challenged pretender.
Without proof, Mr. Kperoogi has insisted that Osinbajo is out on an evangelical mission to inundate government appointments and traditional institutions with RCCG members. More ridiculously, this jihadist foot soldier sees every editor, every media and corporate CEO in the southwest as an RCCG member. In his jaundiced view, Osinbajo is at the helm of an RCCG imperialist project directed by Pastor Adeboye . Osinbajo’s legitimate right to vie for the presidency is criminalized. Kperoogi is even more angered by the political consciousness of Christian churches that have lately activated political departments to challenge the rampaging Islamic fundamentalism that has become a national security nightmare. No one can recall how many columns Kperoogi devoted to fundamentalist terrorism, the kidnapping of clergymen or the bombing of churches by his militants.
It may not be known to the public that Kperoogi and his bosom friend a Minister in charge of a strategic data related ministry in this administration are in the payroll of a Middle Eastern country with a mission to advance the Islamization of Nigeria. To this end, they are actively collaborating with their pay master to collect every data about Nigerian citizens which is packaged and routinely shipped off to their fundamentalist patrons.
For Kperoogi, a politically organized RCCG is a bad sign for their fundamentalist agenda. They prefer disorganized and politically inert Christian congregations.
Because of his nefarious foreign linkages, it is safe for Kperoogi to remain ensconced in the safety of liberal America while feeding fat on both Iranian and Saudi intelligence grants and lavish handouts simultaneously . In return, he runs an elaborate disinformation machinery on aspects of Nigeria’s domestic politics that runs against their grand scheme.
Ordinarily, the faith that a high government official subscribes to should not disturb the peace. The right to belong to any faith is one of the most fundamental of rights guaranteed by our constitution. But for this journalistic hitman, Osinbajo is not entitled to this right because he dares aspire to be president. Mr. Kperoogi can sit comfortably in the US where the right of faith is the norm while lobbing missiles and grenades of religious hate and intolerance at his own country.
Perhaps Prof. Osinbajo’s presidential aspiration is serving the purpose of exposing the ideological jihadists in our midst. After his anti-Osinbajo campaign, perhaps Mr. Kperoogi will have no other hiding place. Those who propagate hate against fellow Nigerians are no less a danger to our national security than the bandits and terrorists bombing trains and attacking airports. Mr. Kperoogi is clearly in the front row of journalistic jihadism. Unfortunately for Kperoogi, the vast majority of honest Nigerians of all faiths are daily signing up to ensure that come May, 2023, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo is sworn in as the next president of the federal republic of Nigeria.
Emeka Okonji writes in from Asaba, Delta State
