As President Mohammed Buhari furthers a procrastination
to unveil his agenda as Nigeria’s new commander-in-chief, one cannot but
notice one man that in no small measures, has perfectly abetted this President
in reminding Nigerians of their division and fragmentation as an entity. That
man is Mr. Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and
Publicity.
A quick peep at the man Femi Adesina reveals that he was
the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of the Sun Newspaper before his
appointment; president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, who attends the Four
Square Gospel Church; writes a weekly column titled “ Before The
Cock Crows,” and last, popularly called a “ Buharist”.
I pondered on, as well as tried to reconcile the conflict
of interests in his position as President of the Nigeria Guild of Editors, and
a bizarre profile as a Buharist – which he no doubt enjoys. On second thought,
I quickly recollected that since Mallam El Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State
introduced the word “Jonathanian” into our national lexicon with so much vile,
it was now permissible for people to be labelled “Buharist” in order to look
the opposite of a spiteful portrait which El Rufai painted out of supporters of
the former president, Dr. Goodlock Jonathan.
Adesina had announced his presence on Tweeters,
July 1, 2015, where he referred to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
and all those who opposed the appointment of the acting Chairman of the
Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) Amina Bala Zakari for her alleged
closeness to President Buhari as Wailing Wailers. Since that faithful day, the
hashtag “wailing wailers” has become a taunt for any opposing voice of the
government of the day. A good majority of Nigerians have taken up that taunt
believing that it is better to be a wailing-wailer than a “lying-liar” or a sad
howler. The response to that tweet can be best imagined as Nigerians condemned
the most divisive tweet ever, coming from a presidential aide on media and
communication-related disciplines.
No doubt, Adesina is reverberating the body language of
his dictator-boss, President Mohammed Buhari, which in deeds and words runs
contrary to the oath of office he took, especially and most
significantly, the part that specified that “In all circumstances, I will
do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or
favour, affection or ill-will…”.
This vital part of the oath administered to the Buhari on
the May 29, 2015 has severally been breached and violated by this
president with his infamous declaration in Washington DC, that those who
gave him 97% votes cannot be treated in similar manner like those who gave him
5% votes. While updating Nigerians on his Facebook page on the United States
visit, Adesina referred to Nigerians who had come to see their President as
just APC members. Hear him; “The previous day, the party members had massed at
the gate of Blair House, bearing different placards hailing President Buhari”
Furthermore, Adesina in his ingenuity gave a different
meaning to the Biblical phrase “in the fullness of time”. He had told Nigerians
that Buhari will appoint a cabinet in the fullness of time against the
constitutional provision which makes it mandatory for a President to name a
cabinet. President Buhari on his own part, told the Americans that his fullness
of time according to the” Book of Adesina” is September 2015.
As if these were not enough, Adesina further told us that
the President’s proposed probing beyond the immediate past administration would
be a distraction. And I quickly asked myself, when did the fight against
corruption which was the fulcrum of the “Change” mantra become a distraction?
In sheer contradiction, President Buhari, in his visit, had urged the American
government to help trace and repatriate about N150 Billion Naira looted by
government officials over the last 10 years. How do we reconcile these
two songs of between a President and his Special Adviser?
Funny enough, Adesina has not made any statement on the
Halliburton bribe scandal which today is the American benchmark for measuring
the anti-corruption posture of President Buhari. If Buhari renegades on the
probe of the Halliburton scandal and the successful prosecution of indicted
past military heads of state including Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, he can be rest
assured that the Obama’s camp would never pick his phone calls going forward,
let alone welcome him again on the American soil.
These days, I tend to get my comic reliefs from Adesina’s
update on his facebook and twitter walls. While giving updates and relishing
the American visit on his facebook page – July 26, Adesina
wrote “To America we flew last Sunday, arriving after a voyage of
12 hrs.” I don’t know how a 12-hour flight turned into a Voyage.
However, the outcome of the visit has come out to be a voyage of propaganda and
photo-shooting festival. In another breath, on the same update, Adesina
got me so amused. Again, hear him; “We have heard of the work rate of former
army general and civilian president, Olusegun Obasanjo. Now we see another
retired army general, now civilian president, exhibiting the same horsepower
work ethics. Could it be true that they give them injections in the military,
which makes them go on and on?” Mr Adesina has said it all, those injections
they give them in the military makes them overtly ambitious as to militarize
the Nigerian conscience with total disdain for constitutionality.
We cannot exhaust Adesina in one piece, but it would be
injustice to him if I don’t acknowledge his perception of ex-President
Jonathan’s efforts in combating Boko Haram. Femi Adesina wrote; “The then
President Jonathan was thus forced to look towards South Africa for arms. He
loaded millions of Dollars in a private Jet as if going to Oyingbo Market and
got his fingers burnt in the process”. It appears to me that Adesina
doesn’t understand his new role as Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the
President – a country that has the largest concentration of black people in the
world. He has not taken his brand of Journalism beyond a usual “Oyingbo
Market” approach – a low level “brown-envelope” communication
engagement where professional ethics means nothing. Adesina needs to step up
and inject some measure of civility into his communication practice. While a
total disconnection with his boss remains a major concern, he needs to
prove to Nigerians that he is everything a media Aide should not be.
SHALOM!
Oshiokpekhai Utu-Orbih
Is an attorney,
broadcaster, and media consultant
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