Vigilance in the age of deception, by Folabi Ogunleye

Two days after he was appointed by the Tinubu Administration as chairman of the Bank of Agriculture, unverified claims emerged that Muhammad Babangida had written to reject the appointment.

The claims came in the form of a well-worded letter, allegedly written by Mr. Babangida to the Nigeria presidency, declining to serve as the agency’s chairman.

A supposed copy of the letter-headed comminication is currently doing the rounds on social media, exciting the gullible who are in the habit of notoriously celebrating negativities and inanities about Nigeria.

Of course the claims about Mr. Babangida declining his appointment are false, proven by his decision to publish a letter today in which he thankfully accepted the appointment.

It is reminiscent of the case, last March, concerning the late President Buhari’s decision to publish a statement stating that he remained a grateful member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in order to thwart mischievous insituations to the contrary.

A coterie of political losers, who then were in the process of forming an opposition ‘coalition,’ had visited the late president at his Kaduna residence, where he warmly recieved them. Upon their departure, news of the president’s support for their cause filtered out.

“I am an APC member and I like to be addressed as such,” the late president frankly stated in his press release, where he further said that he had “nothing but gratitude for the support that the party gave me before and during my tenure as president.”

In the age of online and sundry deceptions, a simple internet search, along with a whole load of common sense, go a long way in revealing the truth.

It also makes sense to simply wait for the truth to make its final emergence before going to town with ignorant chants of ‘Eureka!’

Only willfully gullible persons, alongside others who are desperate for a particular kind of news that favor their biases or prejudices, fall victim to these disingenuously crafty attempts at misinformation.

A little patience for truth, and a honorable fidelity to caution, is useful to avoid getting unequally yolked with dangerous gaslighters and itinerant purveyors of falsehood.