by Wilfred Okiche

Some of the individuals and groups on our list directly or indirectly caused the loss of Nigerian lives through their actions. Others just wouldn’t know when to quit. From a vicious terrorist, perverse in his lunacy to a shifty cyber terrorist, imprecise in his approach, a mega pastor who refuses to accept responsibility, to a faceless group spewing forth lies and propaganda, these are the bottom feeders of 2014.

10) Bamangar Tukur

The former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party made all the wrong moves during his tumultuous tenure. His high handedness, uncompromising affect and single mindedness almost took his party- the largest in Africa- to the brink, with mass defections becoming common place. After he was booted out, he went on a futile exercise at saving face by hounding the present occupant of his office but was rebuffed with punitive measures. Chill we say to the octogenarian.

9) Maheeda

The struggling singer and pseudo internet celebrity continued in her quest to blur the lines of decency in the mainstream by releasing torrents of nude photographs of herself. Her nudies may gather the hits and internet clicks but her relevancy is yet to be felt.

8) Doyin Okupe

The sins of Dr Doyin Okupe, senior special assistant to the president on public affairs were considerable already, but he reached the heights of true villainhood when he became associated with the offensive hashtag #BringBackGoodluckJonathan2015, appropriated from the viral #BringBackOurGirls campaign and began a campaign of calumny against proponents of the original #BBOG drive. No sir, in bad taste.

7) Ali Modu Sheriff

In more sensitive climes, the former governor of Borno state would be touched only with a 10 foot pole after the Australian negotiator, Stephen Davis fingered him as a major supporter of Boko Haram. But Modu Sherrif, cleared by the DSS, and the PDP’S choice to contest for his former senatorial seat come 2015, has been photographed audaciously with both presidents of Nigeria and Chad and has denied involvement in the Chad bound, arms laden plane that was detained in Kano

6) Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria

No other self-serving political group has been as audacious and disastrous in their bid to get president Goodluck Jonathan re-elected come 2015. The Ifeanyi Ubah led hustle may mean well for GEJ but its unforced errors are numerous; the cringe worthy adverts, the rented crowds, the bloated signature books, the illegal rallies that began long before campaign season kicked off. Enough already we say.

5) Mr Ayedee

Before he took on the country’s most influential blogger Linda Ikeji, Mr Ayedee was a faceless, little heard of techie looking for his next big hustle. He finally found it in Ms Ikeji’s incredible success and his attempts at taking down her blog fired up a lively conversation about plagiarism, content creation and intellectual rights in the age of the internet. But all of it went up in smoke when it became clear his actions were the machinations of a scorned obsessive. He would go on to find a new hustle attacking politicians like Bola Tinubu and Yemi Osinbajo but the rest of the internet had learnt not to take him seriously.

4) Ayo Fayose

Ayo Fayose won a hard fought battle to reclaim the governorship seat of Ekiti state, not by spouting any decent development policies or party ideals but by riding on the back of “stomach infrastructure” and his opponent’s weaknesses. Instead of taking the high road following his win, Fayose has proved quite the leopard, unable to change its spots, by descending on the state judiciary via his thugs and supporting a legislative illegality where a minority is attempting to rule over the majority. He takes the prize for most anti-democratic governor.

3) T.B Joshua

The founder of the Synagogue Church of Nations was in the news for the wrong reasons when a multi storey complex in his Ikotun headquarters collapsed leaving hundreds of people dead. Instead of accepting responsibility for the tragedy, Joshua went on a money-gifting, obstruction of investigations spree; crying foul and suggesting that the tragedy was of a supernatural cause. His bad behaviour continued with attempts to frustrate the inquest commission set up by the state government.

2) Abba Moro

It is perhaps only in GEJ’s Nigeria that a callous, incompetent fellow like Abba Moro would still be holding office as Minister for Interior after he supervised a disastrous nationwide interview exercise that resulted in the loss of almost 20 young lives. Unfit for public office, Moro attempted to cast the blame on the victims and then went ahead to lobby to save his job. Sickening stuff.

1) Abubakar Shekau

The Boko Haram sect leader continued to plunge the North Eastern region further into the abyss of terror via bombings, abductions and other random acts of warfare. The Nigerian military has been powerless to stop him and seems incapable of capturing him (he has been rumoured dead at least 3 times.) Shekau represents the worst of humanity; abducting school girls and murdering young boys seeking for an education. A strong system of social justice and equity must be entrenched in every society to prevent the emergence of his likes.

Here’s hoping he is finally captured in the new year.

 

– The writer tweets from @drwill20