Our national anthem talks of the labours of our heroes past but as I watched Glory Emeh on Focus Nigeria today I felt real pity for him.
He laboured like he had never done, tried as much as possible to get out a message anchored on lies and cheap propaganda, and fell flat on his face.
Somehow, Gbenga known for his irresistible and probing questions was merciless. And if Glory Emeh expected a smooth sail, he was deadly wrong.
Sitting in my quiet corner as I watched the show, I saw a man under pressure, and a man who tried to play Raymond Dokpesi against his best anchor by alluding unnecessarily to the takeaway of his job.
We saw a man masquerading as a democrat, but a man who hates free expression and the right of others like himself to express themselves.
I watched Glory’s hands fiddle around his laps as his legs wobbled and the questions kept coming.
I cannot explain what brought Glory to the national stage to make a mess of himself. Even as I write and try to make sense of all he said, I still cannot imagine that we have just watched the famous (or is it infamous) ” Uncle Geee” in action.
Could it be that Glory’s appearance on Focus Nigeria was an attempt to unveil the new face of information management in Rivers State? If this is so, and I am Wike, Glory just lost the chance.
Could it be that the aim was truly to sell the image of the Wike administration in two years? Then Glory ended up as one of the worst salesmen ever.
I agree with Glory Emeh that he may be a good strategist. That’s his opinion and he expressed it. But his inglorious outing proves one thing. The fact that Glory Emeh is not a before-the-camera person as we say in broadcasting.
He talked about the-goid-morning-nature of staff of AIT to the amusement of Gbenga and millions of Nigerians who were watching.
He laboured and laboured as the spittle in his mouth dealt a cruel blow on his pronunciation of certain words.
I watched the show of shame, saw as lies failed to make coherent sense and wondered what my brother from Emohua was doing on the tube.
As a local propagandist, given to telling cheap lies, Glory has done well. He has been known to tell lies that are not usually cogent and verifiable. He has benefitted from the flip flops of those he has served. Believed in the power of money to do all things, including buying airtime and advert spaces for the propagation of blasphemous falsehood.
But in Gbenga, Glory met his match. In Gbenga, Glory came face to face with the fact that journalists are not boys. Can you even imagine Glory describing the Works Commissioner as a boy?
The world is changing and people like Glory should change with the times. One musician once sang, “I can see clearly now that the rain is gone”
I hope that Glory Emeh would see that the rest of us are no fools. It is possible that through his encounter with Gbenga, Glory would have come to know that anyone who writes a line or two and who wields a pen is not a journalist.
Never in his life time has Glory come face to face with humiliation. I still can see Gbenga chuckle and break into controlled laughter.
In the end, Glory disgraced himself, disgraced the Wike administration through his uncoordinated responses to carefully posed questions, and so disgraced Rivers State.
Even as I feel pity for Glory and his inglorious outing, I took away the growing feeling that Wike has become increasingly difficult to sell, going by the constraints which befell the propagandist of our time
The labour of our heroes past should not be in vain and in dragging the emerge of Dr Peter Odili into his uncoordinated charade, Glory did him more harm than good.
If Wike’s reckless remarks, Wike’s shameless reactions in public and Wike’s irritating mannerism are proof of what he truly learnt at the foot of the great Odili, then Wike probably read the wrong books.
