The morale in the message of Mahdi’s mischief-Bala Ibrahim

Yesterday Friday, 19/03/21, was a day that had earned Nigeria an additional position on the list of countries endowed with people of bizarre behaviour, because of their insensibility to disgrace, or the show of shamelessness.

From yesterday’s episode of Mahdi Shehu in court, and later at the detention centre, one can say without any fear of contradiction, that when it comes to dramatic performances, Nigeria is now ripe enough to beat its chest as a qualifier for Oscar, which is regarded worldwide as the most famous and prestigious artistic and technical merit award in the entertainment industry.

Through two clearly contracting theatrics, under the guise of fighting corruption, the clips of which are viral on social media, Mahdi Shehu had shown deliberate, unreasonable and pervasively unacceptable behaviour, that made him stand out as the champion of contrariness and the master of misbehaviour.

The simple summary of Mahdi’s mess is the allegation he made against the Katsina state governor, Aminu Bello Masari, that, in collaboration with some government officials, amongst who is the Secretary to the government of the state, Mal. Mustapha Inuwa took away or diverted N24 billion as a security vote from the state’s Escrow Account between 2015 and 2018.

Read Also:Mahdi Shehu and the menace of mediocrity- Bala Ibrahim

Mahdi further alleged that over N40 billion was diverted in shoddy circumstances during the same period, with the bulk of the money allegedly used to buy phones for members of the cabinet. As a vocal activist, he heavily hyped the accusations, under the pretext of whistleblowing, through every medium, local and international.

Disturbed and distressed by the gravity of the allegations, the defamed rushed to court in search of redress for the assassination of character.

Rather than rising to the occasion in court, by confidently showing and shaming Masari and co, Mahdi simply chickened out, through the staging of all manner of cowardly and caricature comedies, with the intent of deceiving the gullible, and denying or delaying justice to the smeared.

Read Also:Mahdi Shehu: The sham and shame of a witless whistle blower- Bala Ibrahim

Using crutches and cervical or neck collar, along with the support of some mischievous makeshift massagers, rented to act as physical therapists for the treatment of faked traumatic injuries, supposedly suffered in the hands of the police during investigations, Mahdi collapsed and turned the courts into a theatre, where daily, he was coming with different doses of false and excessively expressed emotions to woo the sentiments of the gullible, including the frequent recitation of the Islamic Takbir, Allāhu Akbar, or God is great.

But alas, through a sting operation, using hidden cameras in the place of his detention, Mahdi’s pretence was not only unveiled yesterday but the facts in the farce exposed him as a criminal craft of charade. He was captured on video hale and hearty, in fact robustly in good health enough to lead the remaining ‘co artists’ in prayers. Here lies the message of lying.

It was Abdulazeez Henry Musa, the Nigerian born author that said, Decency is judged by our actions, not by our words. So if we paraphrase Abdulazeez’s adage alongside Mahdi Shehu’s sham, we shall arrive at a similar African proverb that says, “It may take a lot of time to fabricate a lie but the truth only takes seconds to elevate.”

Read Also:FACT-CHECK: Did Katsina State Government squander N52.6 billion on security?

Some, including close friends, have accused me of being extremely unkind to Mahdi in my write-ups regarding his plight. I didn’t take offense, because as Human beings, we have perspectives, or the ability to see things differently and even reason differently. My only consolation is that I don’t easily endorse fiction.

Lo and behold, after yesterday’s embarrassing episode, one of those people with reservations about my Mahdi articles sent a message to me, thus, “To be honest with you,  when I saw your write up on this joker earlier, I was shocked. I said, how did Bala get so carried away? But look at this .

Its a shame that Mahdi has reduced himself to a fool. His own acting is way ahead of the others. I actually felt so bad for him, when I saw the 1st 2 videos. The man has joined the drama group of all those past govt officials that were arraigned at a court. Now, compare this last video with the 1st 2.”

If we juxtapose Mahdi’s comedies in the name of fighting corruption, with the amount of money spent by the country to respond to such frivolities, the cost would come colossal.

Only yesterday, the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr Abdurasheed Bawa, was quoted expressing concern about the activities of supposed whistle-blowers, who mislead the agency through false information.

He said despite due diligence by the EFCC, scarce investigative resources have been wasted by the agency in following up false leads that frequently come to a dead end. He added that the activities of false whistleblowers, detract from the noble intendment of the Whistleblower policy of the Federal Government, which seeks to incentivize information leading to the recovery of stolen wealth.

Although Bawa has not given the name of Mahdi but methinks others would be deterred if we go beyond the reproach of looking at his offense as a simple misdemeanour. The message is more of mischief against the moral principles of a people. And those involved in mischief should know that there are consequences to every atrocity.

Ibrahim, a media advisor writes from Abuja