Be a better liar

If you intend to tell lies to sway the next elections, just try to ensure that your lies can become true.


In the beginning, we told ourselves stories. Stories about how the earth was flat. Stories about how the world was created by a god who came down from heaven with a horn filled with sand in one hand and a chicken in the other that spread the sand to all corners of the earth. We heard stories about thunder being the wrath of a god called sango or amadioha. As little kids we heard stories about how masquerades were spirits from heaven and how the tortoise was the craftiest creature on earth. We were told that if you eat while standing at the doorway, you will never be satisfied. We were told these stories because they made life bearable and gave explanations for the aberrations of life. Our fathers and grandfathers told us this stories because they taught us morales in the absence of a written code and doctrine to guide our way of life.

These stories were effective in guiding and leading our community until a new breed of storytellers came along. These new storytellers didn't just tell us stories that made life bearable. They told us stories which gave us hope and which we desperately wanted to believe because we needed to believe. However, over time their stories constantly brought us to the brink of unbelief. Their stories never came through. Their stories became lies. You know these new breed of storytellers because you see them everyday. You know them because they live among us. You know them by another name. You call them politicians.

If the stories they tell can not possibly be true, then politicians are a special breed of liars.
 
And the sories they tell are the same age old stories. They promise electric power supply, water and jobs. They promise good roads and free education for all. They promise all this and then...
 
We ask the question- "how?"
 
How sir, will you do all these?
 
...and he stares with a blank face
 
please tell a better lie. The old ones insult our intelligence