The government of Niger State under the criminal watch of Mr. Babangida Aliyu is desperately trying to paint Mr. Fejiro Oliver in black colours just to smuggle themselves out of the mess they have found themselves in. It is unfortunate that the Nigerian secret service; the SSS have made itself available to be used as thugs to intimidate and victimize an innocent Nigerian youth whose interest is to clean up Nigeria through his ink.
Agreed, Fejiro Oliver is a pen name; pseudonyms are allowed in any form of writing and there is absolutely nothing wrong if a writer decides to use pseudonyms to push his or her message across. Oghenedoro Pedro Tega is the real given name of Mr. Fejiro Oliver, and he is actually a staff of the NTA ( Nigerian Television Authority ), Asaba. The last time I spoke with him, he told me the reasons why he chose to go with a pseudonym. He told me that as a civil servant, he is sure to be easily persecuted and victimized owning to the very sensitive information he pushes to the public domain. He was not also ready to stop exposing the evils that have eaten up the Nigerian society. He was not afraid, but he needed to play safe.
The lie that Fejiro demanded the sum of 50 million Naira from the Niger State government is ridiculous. The text message exchanges which he had with the Secretary to the Niger State Government do not buttress that allegation in anyway. Fejiro accepted to visit Minna, and there is nothing wrong with a journalist accepting to visit an official whom he has damaging information against. The visit was necessary to ensure that he balances his story.
The government of Niger State, the State Security Services in Niger State must tread with caution in this case. They should understand that there is no amount of threat or intimidation that will cover the truth. There is little doubt that the dirty information which Fejiro has against the Niger State government is real, hence, the desperation by the officials of Niger State government to kill the story and possibly kill the reporter. God of truth has saved Fejiro, and now the security agencies and other anti-graft bodies must move into action and bring all those involved in that grim corruption to book. There is no amount of threat that will kill this story. Governor Babangida Aliyu and the thieves under him must answer to the law for playing with public funds.
I can assure them that the fight just began.
