By Sonny Ogulewe, PhD
The job of a spokesperson for a non-performing President could be a very difficult task. On several occasions the inevitable constraints of the job make the spokesperson to act against his innermost convictions and good conscience. In Nigeria particularly, the job demands that you throw ethics, morality and even good conscience to the dogs in desperation to keep the job and most importantly, the perks of the office. Of course, this “putrid essence” can only take place in our clime where jobs are scarce and lucre of office amazingly tempting.
The scenarios in Nigeria are diametrically opposed to what obtains in the advanced democracies. In the United States, for instance, just less than two years into his administration, Donald Trump has lost about seven spokespersons. Hope Hicks who was Trump’s first Director of Communications lasted on the job for only 405 days. She resigned because some of the dictates of her duties were incongruous with her conscience. She drove this reality home while indicating her tendency to quit: “Occasionally I told white lies on Trump’s behalf”, she retorted.
Amarosa Manigault-Newman who succeeded Hope Hicks as Director of Communications had 366-day stint in the office and had to go because she “had a very straightforward discussion of concerns and issues” as she could not continue to pretend. Her successor, Anthony Scaramacci’s turn was far more dramatic as he lasted for only 6 days in office. His reason to leave according to him was because the team he saw would need help to manage Mr. Trump well enough and therefore excused himself stating that he “felt it was best to give John Kelly a clean slate and ability to build his own team”.
Similarly, Sean Spicer was White House Press Secretary for 183 days and “felt relieved” leaving Mr. Trump’s White House. Also on the list of Trump’s image makers who dumped the office was Mike Dubke. He lasted for only 74 days and left because he could not understand the trends of lies in the White House. The same applied to Josh Raffel, Deputy Director of Communication and Michael Short, Senior Press Assistant.
Ironically these people who served as Trump’s publicists at various times were not sacked, but resigned because they could not in good conscience reconcile their personal convictions and the character of their principal. For those who flaunt “integrity” as a batch of honour, the actions of these great Americans at best provide insight into integrity. Sally Yates, a former Acting Attorney General of the United States, is indeed another personification of integrity. She looked Mr. Trump in the face and told him that “for as long as I am the acting Attorney General, the Department of Justice will not present arguments in defense of the Executive Orders unless and until I become convinced that it is appropriate to do so”. Yates was less concerned about the perks of office or the visibility of the office but was particularly concerned about her place in history.
On the contrary, the image makers of the administration of President Buhari have evidently failed to live above board on integrity score chart. In as much as I pity Femi Adesina, a supposedly renowned Pastor of the Foursquare Gospel Church, I do in all honesty and modesty have reservations for Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Buhari’s Minister of Information, Culture and National Orientation because of his antecedents on wrong approach to information management and penchant for propaganda as a tool for image laundering . However, I also think that the duo could still retrieve what is left of their honour if they could summon the courage to manage the image of Mr. President decorously anchored on integrity and sincerity
The above observation and advice became imperative because of their utterances and posturing which to say the least are most unfortunate and unhelpful to Mr. President. The result is their failure to assist the government to objectively gauge the sentiments of the Nigerian people. They have consequently continued to make Mr. President swim in “illusive grandeur” of infallibility and to fantasize in the realm of the saints contrary to the prevailing sentiments and realities of hunger and poverty that pervade the Nigerian state and the perceptions of the international community. This is evidenced in the manner the country was scored abysmally low in Human Development Index (HDI) and the way our neighbours make mockery of the much taunted anti-corruption policy of the present administration.
To put it mildly, the present administration has created a fear society and the consequences is the bourgeoning mass of double thinkers. At the inception of the administration, the APC administration made it clear that it was out to destroy anyone associated with the previous regime. They came in with such a bile that innocent people were framed and media tried, fictitious amounts of money were purported to have been recovered from houses turned into emergency safe and bank accounts of several individuals associated with the previous administration. Judges, who the regime considered uncooperative to its much taunted anti-corruption drive were maligned, their houses dishonestly invaded in the dark hours. Also, investors associated with the previous regime faced the same fate and were blacklisted. The anti-corruption agencies and other security agencies suddenly and curiously became “alive” to their responsibilities and began to outdo one another, in eye service basically to impress the regime of Buhari over its malevolent tendencies of clamping down on perceive political enemies to the extent that the agencies clashed at several occasions. An atmosphere of fear was created. People became genuinely afraid for their lives, their families and hard earned resources.
The result is the emergence of a band of dubious loyalists which the regime has wrongly interpreted as genuine swelling support base. It was expedient therefore for the mass of the political class to join the All Peoples Congress (APC). But then, Natan Sharansky had warned that “we must keep in mind that the public statements of those who live in fear societies are motivated by fear. If we fail to recognize this, we will only be deceiving ourselves… simply conforming with the prevailing ideology in order to survive.” This is a note of warning to Mr. President’s handlers. The double thinkers in Nigeria have reason to join in chorusing Mr. President’s perceived “lofty achievements” why not, after all when the list of the supposed looters was released they gladly celebrated that their names had been dropped resulting from their wise decision to migrate to APC even with pending corruption cases in court.
In a celebrated case of self-deceit recently, the EFCC in Orji Uzor Kalu’s corruption case treated Nigerians to laughable excuse that the case had suffered a setback because the principal witness had disappeared. Segun Adeniyi recently captured this Nollywood episode succinctly where he noted that “with Chief Orji Uzor Kalu whose corruption charges have been given one of those famous All Progressives Congress (APC) deodorant treatments – gallivanting all over the country on a Presidential campaign of which he is not a candidate”, and oddly enough, almost all former Governors in the last administration have joined the APC and their cases have been suspended and did not make the “shame list” after all neither did Babachir or the Executive Director NHIS make the list. Why would they make the shame list “when they have been deodorized?”
What is however so worrisome is that the administration has not noticed the trend. My convictions are that either there are no intellectuals in the administration to critically analyze the trends or they are simply part of the army of double thinkers. Government can only make progress when men and women of integrity speak truth to power. Sadly, in a fear society such adventure is too expensive and unthinkable.
Without mincing words, what is clear is that the Buhari administration is deceived by the mass of double thinkers. To find out the truth about the actual support base across the strata of the Nigerian masses is not a difficult task. The first step is to make the anti-corruption agencies to be independent and frankly alive to their responsibilities. Another crucial step is to stop blackmailing and intimidating the judiciary and to institutionalize the rule of law. Besides, media trails of perceived political enemies should be discontinued, and the government should enthrone high level of objectivity and neutrality in executing the anti-corruption campaign
Moreover, government should institute an enabling environment for independent and free press to thrive reinforced by strict compliance with the FOI Act and relevant provisions of the constitution as amended. This is because the press would only be able to hold government accountable to the people when it is free, independent and responsible thereby serving as a threshold of genuine democracy and national development
It is incontrovertible that democracy is not all about periodic elections but the ability to recruit the right leaders towards efficient management of government business, entrenchment of the rule of law and the strengthening of the institutions of government for enhanced service delivery. It is worrisome that in a seeming democratic arrangement there are also despots as Nigerian experience demonstrates. The basic character of a despot is located in the fact that “to stay in power despotic leaders create fear societies, what is important to them is not the improvement in the material conditions of their people but concerned with fueling the mechanics of controlling them.” This scenario, to me is the unfortunate reality this country seems to be sliding to under the current government
My candid advice to Femi Adesina and Lai Mohammed is that they should de-emphasize propagandist tactics of image management and be bold enough to tell Mr. President the bitter truth about the increasing level of pains, poverty and sufferings that have enveloped the masses under his watch. The President should also be told that the people are living in a state of fear and almost gravitating towards Hobbes’ state of nature where life is “short, brutish and nasty”. Mr. President should also be informed to disregard the army of double and fraudulent thinkers that surround him and therefore act fast to save Nigeria from total collapse such that he would be able to leave behind at least a legacy.
Ogulewe, a public affairs analyst, wrote in from Abuja.