Amidst mounting speculation, it can be confirmed exclusively that an unemployed 49 year old cult leader is not returning to the place he very frequently describes as ‘my town’ and from which he has milked millions of pounds from a succession of failed charity and free school ventures.
Raja Miah, a long term resident of Mossley, Tameside divulged this, and a number of other key revelations, to a whistleblower who was formerly at the heart of his small, but noisy, core support group, whom self-style as ‘The Rabble’ (or ‘Raja’s Rabble’).
“I live in a smart apartment in a sought after area, close to where my young daughter lives. Why would I want to move out of here and go back to Oldham, a place I couldn’t wait to leave as soon as I could afford it?”.
A near neighbour in Mossley told Neil Wilby Media that Miah has brought shame to the village with his arrogance, self-interest and the hateful, divisive narrative he promotes on his ‘Recusant Nine’ social media platforms.
“The police turning up in numbers at his house for a dawn raid last year was the last straw for many (read more here). We wish he would just go back to where he claims he is from, because when he is constantly saying ‘we must take back our town’ and ‘my town’, people think he is referring to Mossley. I read on the internet that Mr Miah is actually from Bradford, not Oldham”.
The Rabble whistleblower, who became increasingly disenchanted over the past few months, says s/he became more and more concerned about the number of outrageous lies that his/her former hero tells – and his obsession with constantly squeezing money from elderly and vulnerable followers.
“No-one is allowed to question Raja, even when it is so obvious he is not telling the truth. Otherwise, the rest of The Rabble turn on you. A good example is the car-jacking and attempted murder by armed robbers in Greenfield. He claims both him and his daughter to have been victims. It was a pack of lies and done to smear his opponents and to boost his coffers. I think that is when he was given the nickname, ‘The Malicious Beggar’. At the time I was furious that Raja Miah, whom I used to admire so much, could be called such a name. But, now I’ve seen through him, it fits like a glove”.
Asked about the constant falling out with political allies, the whistleblower revealed that s/he is a supporter of the independent party formerly known as Proud of Oldham and Saddleworth (POOS or POAS) and was sad to see it fall by the wayside after a spectacular and very public fallout with Miah.
“Raja is a control freak. As soon as Paul Errock [the Leader of POAS] wouldn’t dance to his tune he was livid and started insulting his former friend and one of his closest and most loyal supporters. Paul had also put a lot of money into POAS and the alliance with Raja. But, in the end, even he knew that Raja was a liar and publicly called him out over it.
“Then came the falling out with the Failsworth Independent Party. Raja called them all “thick as pigshit” because they wouldn’t do his bidding. But FIP seem to have forgiven him for that and everything seems to be back on track with their Group Leader on the Council, Brian Hobin, still backing Raja’s ‘Oldham Labour covered up child sex abuse for Asian block votes’ narrative. It is now hard to see who is using who in that set-up, but I think FIP will dump Raja when they have got what they want from him”.
The latest, and very recent, falling out between Raja Miah and the Oldham Conservatives is not something to which the whistleblower is adjacent. Earlier this week, Miah claimed that the Tories’ Annual General Meeting was corruptly run, voting rigged and fellow Bangladeshis were treated unfairly before and during that assembly.
“I can’t shed any light on that, apart from former POAS leading light Gary Tarbuck betrayed Paul Errock to become the unofficial leader of The Rabble. Gary is obviously close to the Oldham Tories these days, so what will happen now will be interesting to follow”.
Miah also made an astonishing claim that the Oldham Tories have lied about sending a letter to their own Home Secretary, demanding a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation failings in the town. Their previously cosy relationship has now turned very bitter indeed, with Raja asserting, and on this occasion not without a grain of truth, that the Tory councillors have jumped on the CSE bandwagon for their own personal gain.
It is unarguable that two of those Tories, Cllrs Robert Barnes and Lewis Quigg, owe their current places on Oldham Council almost entirely to Miah and his relentless smearing of their Labour opponents (read more here). Cllr Quigg was particularly close to the Mossley man and had been for quite some time. It now appears that, having finally been elected to represent the Royton North ward, after many previous failed local election attempts, Cllr Quigg has unceremoniously dumped his former friend.
The whistleblower concluded: “If any remaining members of The Rabble believe Raja about that latest spiteful accusation then they are genuinely beyond help”.
The four Oldham Conservative councillors, Cllr Barnes and Quigg plus Cllr Dave Arnott and Cllr Bethany Sharp, have been afforded right of reply.
UPDATE: Since this article was published earlier today, another well-placed source says that Raja Miah had planned to move to Saddleworth and stand for election to Oldham Council against Cllr Pam Byrne in the Saddleworth North ward. He abandoned that plan when he realised that his chances of removing one of the most popular councillors to have ever served in the town was almost non-existent.
None of the four Conservative councillors, noisy in almost every other aspect, either acknowledged the press request or provided a substantive response.
Page last updated Thursday 11th August, 2022 at 0955hrs
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