The Yoruba saying goes that: acrimony turns a love ballad into a war song. What is the actual meaning of “Gbewudani”?
My Yoruba is horrible, but I will try to explain. It means that someone is holding your alcoholic drink while you dance at an occasion. It means that you are just there to mark a number. Not there for the purpose. That is what ARISE News anchor, Rufai Oseni was trying to explain to viewers that got him into trouble with us. It’s the reason we want to get him off the air; why a lot of intelligent people are desperately trying to justify why he is rude and crude, and not fit for public television.
Now he has become “viewers’ discretion”, a disturbing sight on television; in a damn country where Big Brother Nigeria is celebrated.
The only voice of the people on that show is that of Rufai. The only one that looks out for you and I on that show is Rufai. The same Rufai that we now want to judge by ethical standards that we are creating by the minute; the ethical standards that did not apply to the crooks that come on air to lie after destroying our lives.
No one has looked into the criminal life of Lere Olayinka, or the bombastic utterances of his principal, Nyesom Wike, the same Wike that once said he would have shot to kill Seun Okinbaloye while he was on television saying something he was opposed to.
The outcry was not for a sitting minister to resign for that incendiary language. Many government officials have gone on the same ARISE News platform to deliberately attack Rufai and make him look bad because they know deep down that he stands for you. They know he stands for me. That is why they hate him.
Rufai is letting them know that this is not the Oprah Winfrey show. This is not a place to come where we will celebrate your crimes. Talk about it, and the hosts get government contracts after the show.
I agree he doesn’t behave like a journalist. I agree that he can be brash and in your face. But take a look at the charlatans he is dealing with. Look at the crooks willing to come on air and lie, telling us that it is normal for a President to have a university degree without a primary and secondary school education. A country where the best journalists is scared to ask the million dollar question from the sitting president: Were you oncea drug dealer? The people want you to explain your past life. If Rufai should ask that, we the people that he is asking on their behalf will be calling for his head on a platter.
In Rufai Oseni we hate!
