PLANE CRASH AND THE CONSPIRACY STORIES. Death is a much a part of our existence as the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. That death is inevitable is an open secret for we are all going to return to our maker one day whether or not we like it. What we can only pray for is that we will die at a ripe old age and having fulfilled purpose and that we make the heavenly roll call. When that day comes, people either sadly rejoice at a life well spent or they mourn all day long for a destiny cut short.When former Ondo state governor Olusegun Agagu died two weeks ago difficult to blieve because his text woke me up the day he died,not so many eyebrows were raised for by all worldly standard, he had achieved some measure of success.It was a celebration of a ‘life well spent’ albeit sad. The nation mourned, Ondo State mourned. I was reminded of the fact that what we leave behind is important but not as important as our ‘after death destination’. However, that is not the point of this piece but the manner at which we develop conspiracy theories after certain events. We love sensational stories and events in Nigeria – Immediately reports of the crash of the aircraft carrying the body of the late Governor and reportedly members of his family came out, the conspiracies began. Before the conspiracy surfaced, there was the ‘everybody’ national newspaper where every Tom, Dick and Harry claimed to have the authentic information of the events as it happened. One person even tweeted the location of the crash confirming that she was there looking at the crashed plane, eventually, we learnt the plane crashed somewhere else. Another claimed that Chief Obasanjo’s son was aboard the plane and that he had died, reports later confirmed this to be untrue. Why are we so quick to report events just to be noticed? Nothing is worth tarnishing your name over. A good name, we learnt from scriptures is better than silver and gold. Let’s say only what we know. Allow the real media people do their work; twitter has become a perfect breeding ground for all forms of ‘jungle’ journalism. This we need to curtail. “He was Aviation Minister, he was a Politician, he ‘robbed’ Nigeria and his state while he was Governor, he died, he was to be buried, he was put on a plane bound for his home state capital where he is to be given a state burial, the plane crashed, it is ‘good’ for him.” That captures what some people have been saying on social media and while admitting that it is practically difficult to not think in that line, we will be wrong to make such assertions. We must be careful of what utterances we make. If we cannot challenge a man in his lifetime, why suddenly dishonour him when he is dead. Agagu has been dead for two weeks, we didn’t remember that he was aviation minister. Suddenly, because of a plane crash, we all remember that he was aviation minister for one year and we link that together and conclude that nemesis has caught up with him. Oh for the sake of Pete! Someone puts the conspiracy theory perfectly with this tweet: “He was once Aviation Minister, embezzling funds, collecting bribes to ignore aircraft inspection, I say he laid his bed.” Like the owner of this handle, several others have tweeted in this same line and I cannot blame them really. The picture our politicians leave in our mind and the bad taste they leave in our mouths is the reason for this. However, none of the assertions above are proven to be correct. With the little knowledge of law I have, no one should make this kind of categorical assertion with no proof whatsoever to back it up. This is enough to amount to a libel/slander suit in which the maker of the statement will be made to pay for damages and issue an apology. Am I saying that Agagu as aviation minister did not embezzle or collect bribes? No. But I am saying that I have absolutely no proof or evidence to show that he was corrupt while he was minister and thus I should not accuse him of such. At this period in time, we should simply remember that he that has not sinned should cast the first stone. Oh so he embezzled? Oh so he collected bribe? But now he is dead and did any of those things acquired follow him? No. And that’s what we should all remember. And that is even assuming that he embezzled in the first place (which we cannot prove). What if on the contrary, he did the best he could do to improve our aviation sector, what if his best could not really help root out the generational rot in the sector? What if? And remember, he was only in charge of the ministry for about a year. What about all the things that his successors since 2001 must have done or failed to do, should we also blame him for that? Let me also remind us that he was the first aviation minister in a democratically elected government since 1983 and we all know the decay the military junta left behind. So should we blame him for the rot created sixteen years before him and twelve years (2001-2013) after he left office?
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 19:53:53 +0000
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