WHENEVER there is a street fair or some type of multi-stall outdoor event, if you can find a three-card betting stall, it is almost always buzzing with activity. It is one of the livelier sections of the event. Men moving cards around with stealthy sleight of hand daring you to follow their pattern and place a bet.
Nine times out of ten, the operator is an elaborate trickster that actually has an entire ensemble of pretenders. So, the dealer and his band of goons know exactly where the cards will be placed and walk up to the stall pretending to be ordinary patrons, win big and walk off with a pocket full of cash. The real patrons are enticed and tricked into placing a bet and get swindled in the process. Onlookers and would-be betters are taken in by the hype of the moment.
That is exactly what Azruddin’s political vocation is, Three Card Monte. He is leading an opposition void of any political sobriety, void of any policy prescriptions, void truth and basic honesty, void of organised activism, void of imagination. He is a politically lazy and mentally dwarfed wild man in charge of the opposition. Every opportunity he gets, he chooses the path of sensationalism, scandalous outburst, and false embellishment.
There is no attempt to do real opposition work, it is easy to use the megaphone provided by social media and just pop up in front of people’s properties and shout corruption. And like any good tree card monte, he has political con men enabling his misdirection and prestidigitation. As an example, his latest three card trick of running to Long Creek, filming a farm owned by President Ali for more than 10 years, then alleging that it was acquired within the last three years and use that misinformation to shout corruption, is another one of his latest sleights of hand. His enablers in APNU who themselves lack originality and are unable to clearly define and articulate their own mandate, simply jumped on the bandwagon.
The bandwagonists also include a long list of anti-government huskers of political snake oil. They are betting on a card, ostensibly, to demonstrate a winning bet in the hope of drawing in gullible citizens looking for real leadership. So, we hear of a call for forensic audit into the ownership of the President’s farm while the principal making the accusation himself has major concessions in mining, quarrying, and housing development together with international charges for money laundering and smuggling. Yet, there was never a call for investigation into those acquisitions. It is pitiful that APNU has allowed itself to be denominated into an appendage of Azruddin, satisfied to ferry his snake oil like a relay baton.
This piece is not an attempt to defend the President; the President is more than capable of doing that entirely on his own. This piece is intended to register my disgust with the level to which opposition activism has descended. I do not know the size of the President’s farm. I do not know what is on the farm, I do not know the size of his investment, funding, or the acquisition process. So, it may not be wise to defend that aspect. However, I believe that every citizen has a right to invest and benefit from their investment. I believe in our national institutions and the proper institution for this disclosure is the Integrity Commission. Anyone who has facts contrary to those fillings and contrary to the law must show some scintilla of evidence. Merely shouting “this is what corruption looks like” using sensationalised language, tailored photo angles and opaque timelines is not sufficient, it’s not right, it can’t be right. And any attempt to dignify that kind of political activism will plunge this country into a dark place.
Opposition work is hard and grinding, it requires deep forethought, a high level of organised activism, strategic and tactical political maneuvers that evoke better performance of the government and better service delivery of public goods.
Opposition work must inspire the population that there is a viable alternative to the sitting government. The opposition has to be seen as having machinery and personnel that can move in and replace the government at the drop of a hat. Instead, widely publicised wild accusation cannot be a viable substitute, it is a coward’s way of hoping to snare the gullible.
I want to end this column with the very words I ended my column of December 29, 2025, titled, ‘Bleating about Corruption.’
“I expect this reckless insanity to continue and sooner or later he will receive a lawsuit and instead of turning up to court with his evidence of corruption, Mr. Presumptive will cry victimization and censorship. I want to live in a country where unexplained property acquisition by those in power could be legitimately questioned. But I do not want to live in a country where wild men dodging criminal prosecution and failing to account for their part in international criminal rings, could just run around under the guise of doing political work and simply slap anyone they wish with the corruption label.”