Femi, shut up and let the President do his job – Hamilton Odunze

By Hamilton Odunze

As Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, it is obvious that Femi Adesina is a busy man. Whether it is the wanton destruction of lives and property by Fulani Herdsmen or the campaign for Buhari’s reelection, it is his duty to explain the President’s position to the media and by extension the general public.

In pursing these obligations, he has churned out a reasonable amount of defenses for his boss. In some instances; however, these defenses show an unbridled level of toadying.

I started following Mr. Adesina’s views in August 2017 when he wrote an article in the Vanguard newspaper suggesting “he has been to London to see the King.” In my opinion, the article was a cacophony of excuses about the President’s prerogative to choose his travel team. However, even with these justifications, I was more disturbed that he chose to refer to a duly elected President of a democratic country as the “King”.

Then, I assumed that he was a naïve surrogate who worked hard to earn his boss’s approval so that he could keep his paycheck coming. Additionally, it was only natural to cut him some slack because well-meaning Nigerians were focused on the President’s recovery.

Well the “King Buhari” is back from London and in relative good health. However, the youth unemployment rate in Nigeria is soaring at 35 percent due to crumbling infrastructures, from crime and terrorism to killings that are happening in every nook and cranny of Nigeria, and the country is spiraling into a failing nation.

What is the administration doing to ensure that Nigeria does not become a failed nation? In a recent article, Mr. Adesina wrote that the situation in Nigeria is “sad, mournful, and dolorous”.

He urged Nigerians to eschew prejudice, intolerance, insularity, and stand behind the President as he intends to do.

Obviously, he recognizes that Nigeria is going through a watershed moment.

Pleading with Nigerians to stand behind the President would have been a very rational admonition if he included an explanation of how the President intends to contend with the issues facing Nigeria in his write-up.

Even better, he needed to explain what the Buhari administration has done, so far, to ensure the safety and protection of Nigerian lives and property. However, he did not. Instead, he continued with an old pattern of rationalizations and appealing to the emotions of Nigerians. Meanwhile, the President has policy and security issues to deal with. It is to this end that I decided to take it upon myself to advise Mr. Adesina. Please; Femi shut up and let the President do his job.

For example, it is the constitutional duty of the President to protect Nigerians from foreign and domestic enemies. Many Nigerians feel as though the President is derelict in pursuing this most important aspect of his job.

It is also the job of the President to articulate economic policies that will not only safeguard Nigeria’s place in a global economy but also guarantee that Nigerians are not living in abject poverty as many currently do.

The problem with standing behind the President is that many Nigerians don’t even know what policies to support the President on. Yet, Mr. Adesina insinuates that Nigerians are irredentists.

By that, I mean people who are always advocating for the restoration of the territories formerly belonging to them, hence, the clamor for restructuring. When Buhari won the election in 2015, Nigerians were looking for a national figure to rally around, which is why he won.

The heightened clamor for the restructuring of Nigeria is because Nigerians are frustrated by the Buhari administration’s inability to articulate and explain economic and safety policies that will move the country forward.

Instead of a national figure, Nigerians perceive a parochial leader who is more interested in carrying out the Fulani agenda. Whether or not this is true remains a debate for another time.

But if I were Mr. Adesina, besides shutting up and letting the President do his job, I would advise the President to do whatever it takes to change the perception that Nigerians have of him as a Northern stooge who is hell-bent on achieving the Fulani agenda.

This not a time to make Nigerians feel guilty about their frustration, rather it is time for the President to do the job they have elected him to do.

Hamilton Odunze