Mr. Femi Adesina, a spokesperson to President Muhammadu Buhari
Presidential
spokesman, Femi Adesina, could not hide his joy as he announced with
unrivalled glee the phone call of Mr President to him all the way from
London. Certainly, this is not the first time President Buhari and Femi
Adesina would be discussing over the phone since the two tenants of Aso
Rock moved to the seat of power in 2015.
However, this particular phone conversation elicited an excitement,
the type usually associated with primary school pupils who have found
the last of a set of bottle crowns needed to claim some insignificant
prizes in a soft drink promo.
The presidential spokesperson went ahead
to give vivid details of the conversation including how the president
had asked after his family and thanked him (Femi) for “holding out
against mischief makers”.
For a man who had been mischievous about
the true state of health of Mr President, one would have thought that
his excitement about the phone conversation which he needlessly shared
with Nigerians would be that Mr President asked after Nigeria and
Nigerians and how they are coping in his absence beyond just asking
after Adesina’s family. In the absence of this, publicizing of the
conversation is an exercise in mischief. That was at best a private
conversation that should have been left private except that Femi is
happy to show to Nigerians how lowly his boss holds his countrymen by
referring to them as mischief makers.
However, Adesina’s excitement is
understandable considering the fact that Nigerians have seen the drama
playing out in Aso Rock over the president’s health as the chief of
mischief. He probably thinks those who have been asking after the
president’s health status are mischievous but did not know how to say it
until Mr President came to his rescue.
If Femi Adesina wanted to be fair to
himself, his boss and Nigerians, he would have reminded the president
that the citizens are not the ones who are mischief makers for asking
after him, but that the mischief makers are those who are churning out
confusing stories about the president’s London vacation.
For while some government officials have
told Nigerians that the president is “hale and healthy”, others have
told us that we should “pray for him”. Some others have told us that
“there is no cause for alarm” while at the same time some have told us
that the reason the president would not be returning as earlier
scheduled was because he needed to run some more tests concerning his
health, with others saying he merely needs to “rest”.
These contradictions are typical of our
presidency whose record of Buhari’s recent telephone conversation with
Mr Trump is reported to be at distant variance with what was released by
the White House. That is an issue for another day.
The cacophonous of excuses for the
president’s unexpected elongated stay in London would naturally get
citizens worried, hence, the agitation to know his correct health
status. This is why the mischief makers are those government officials
who have kept spinning stories around the president’s health for their
own selfish reasons.
The simple thing Nigerians have asked
all these days that the president has been in London is for him to speak
to them. They just want to hear his voice and probably get excited just
like the presidential spokesman did.
But like a man holding irreconcilable
malice against his own citizens, he would rather speak with Osinbajo,
Saraki, Dogara, Tinubu, Ganduje, Femi and even Donald Trump of the US to
the exclusion of his employers the citizens. For a president who had
once described Nigerians as criminals and corrupt people from foreign
lands, calling them mischief makers, also from a foreign land, is
actually nothing new. It is only a proof that his London experience has
had little or no learning impact on him.
The fact of the matter is that
Adeshina’s juvenile reaction at hearing the president’s voice is a
confirmation that, just like many Nigerians, he himself was not sure of
the president’s health status; that he was so full of apprehension until
that call came across.
It is therefore most unfortunate that
the same people the presidency has been asking to pray for the president
are the same people the president called mischief makers, a ridiculous
term Femi Adeshina ill-advisedly celebrated on his Facebook page. Even
if they pray for Buhari as they are being urged to do on a daily basis,
how will God answer the prayers of mischief makers especially when the
one they are praying for is the one who has said to God’s hearing that
those praying for him are mischief makers?
In conclusion, Mr President can continue
to rest in London for as long as he wants. We do not mind paying his
entitlements continuously even while he rests. We are very happy to do
that. What Femi Adeshina forgot to tell him is that Nigeria is actually
getting better without him. That is another mischief from Femi!
It is the height of another mischief for
anyone to think that Buhari’s call to Femi and the gang would improve
the abysmal performance of the naira, put food on citizens’ tables, stop
the oppression of citizens by government and the continued deliberate
defiance of court orders, and other undemocratic and unconstitutional
actions of this administration. The lack of answers, expertise and
capacity to improve the rapidly dwindling fortunes of Nigeria under
Buhari is the reason the president would not speak to Nigerians but
would only speak with his Mischief-Makers-in-Chief who would tell him
only what his ears are itching to hear.
With what has been happening in the
country, the whole world certainly knows who our mischief makers are.
They are definitely not the citizens; they are those who live and work
in Aso Villa!
Jude Ndukwe is a political analyst
who lives and works in Abuja, Nigeria. He is a member of The Trent’s
Elite Columnists. His column is published every Friday. He tweets from @stjudendukwe.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
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