The whistle blower
The whistle blower has been granted an elevated status in our society. He is to be rewarded for blowing the whistle on those who abuse public trust. This is the first official recognition of the whistle blower and his role in keeping public morality on the straight and narrow path. The idea is to encourage minions to rat on their thieving ogas at the top. It is an interesting development in our long-running anti-graft war. EFCC can now rely on whistle blowers to track thieves in high places to where they hide their loot. How truly interesting!
Should our editors and reporters be happy about this changed status of the whistle blower? The answer would be clear as we examine the whistle blowing phenomenon. But nothing is going to really change. The whistle blower would still remain anonymous and ply his trade in utter secrecy. The nature of his mission makes that both wise and necessary.
Whistle blowing is a high risk self-imposed mission. It often invites drastic and even murderous reprisals from those who fall into the gutter at the blast of the whistle. They do not look kindly on those who rubbish their well-cultivated, clean public image. They would do anything to protect it and keep it as it is. The whistle blower is, obviously, an enemy.
Whistle blowing is a citizen mission. The phenomenon must have arisen from the desire of citizens at the bottom of the ladder who abhorred the itchy fingers of their immediate bosses and took the risk of exposing them. Men and women are generally steeped in the missionary zeal to do well by their society.
The whistle blower is an important but anonymous personage in all societies. He has been with us since men and woman learnt to value the exchange of information outside official sources. We can see him either as a typical nosey poker who does not endear himself to men and women who value their secrets and prefer to keep them hidden even in unlikely places; or we can see him as a public do-gooder whose mission is to help society cleanse itself of some cleansable vermin. Officialdom traditionally treats him with contempt as a busybody - an Amebo.
Whatever officialdom may think of him, the whistle blower is an invaluable source of information for editors and reporters. They cultivate him because without him, investigative reporting would be impossible. He is the great unnamed authority clothed with such endearing and respectable labels as an informed source, a reliable source, a knowledgeable source, a dependable source, an authoritative source, etc.
He was the Deep Throat in the