BISHOP JOSEPH IGHALO EDORO, Edo State-born cleric and public affairs analyst in this piece for Sunday Independent, writes on the recent verbal attacks by President Bola Tinu’s media team against former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which he describes as unnecessary, even as indicates that the Presidency has a lot to learn from the Elder Statesman......Read The Full Article>>.....Read The Full Article>>
Permit me to say that spokespersons in the Presidency or state governments should know that PR practice has become more refined and scientific in its practice and therefore should move with pace of dynamism and contemporary dynamics of the trade. If you must sell your principal, it must be persuasive and not coercive. You will be doing your principal or organ of government to engage in confrontation and calumnies, rather than persuasion. People want to see your views about what actions were taken or said about your principal and to see how you respond to it and convince them. This confrontational theory of rejoinder is a clue to clueless spokespersons. Take a cue from Police spokespersons. They are highly polite and persuasive.
Anyway, having said that, let me come to the main issue. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is a three-time president (first as a military Head of State and two-term elected president), elder statesman, theologian and more. Highly respected all over the world, that he made a submission and it is eliciting so much brouhaha from a calibrated section amazes me.
Obasanjo is not small and should not be treated as such over his position. We have a right of reply and not a right of insult. No, on this one, I disagree. Not with a man of such status.
Now, let us look at what angered a few. At the presentation at YALE University during a lecture in commemoration of the works and times of our own late literary legend, Professor Chinua Achebe, Obasanjo had presented and posited that Nigeria was experiencing what an organ of the UN and Transparency International calls STATE CAPTURE, the bedrock of which is corruption.
For the interest of those who missed the original story, this is how Sunday Independent captured what the former President said on Sunday November 17, 2024: “Obasanjo Decries State Capture Under President Tinubu
…Says Nigeria’s Failed Status Now Glaring
Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has no kind words for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as he slams him over the socio-economic crisis in the country under his watch.
The former president became acerbic on Saturday in faraway USA when he insisted that what is happening in Nigeria today is state capture in the administra¬tion of President Tinubu whom he describes as “Baba-go-slow and Emi lo kan.”
Obasanjo dropped the bombshell, according to a statement by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, while delivering a keynote address at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA, on Saturday (November 16, 2024).
According to the statement, “The more the immorality and corruption of a nation, the more the nation sinks into chaos, insecurity, conflict, discord, division, disunity, depression, youth restiveness, confusion, violence, and underdevelopment.
“Nigeria situation: As we can see and understand, Nigeria’s situation is bad. The more the immorality and corruption of a nation, the more the nation sinks into chaos, insecurity, conflict, discord, division, disunity, depression, youth restiveness, confusion, violence, and under-development. That’s the situation mostly in Nigeria in the reign of ‘Baba-go-slow’ and ‘Emi lo kan’.
“The failing state status of Nigeria is confirmed and glaringly indicated and manifested for every honest person to see through the consequences of the level of our pervasive corruption, mediocrity, immorality, misconduct, mismanagement, perversion, injustice, incompetence and all other forms of iniquity. But yes, there is hope.”
While quoting from Chinua Achebe’s The Trouble with Nigeria published in 1983, it said: “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character.
“There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which is the hallmark of true leadership.”
He continued: “In hindsight, this 41-year-old prescriptive analysis on the root causes of Nigeria’s leadership crisis is quite moderate and appropriate.
“It is at least not as desolate as the diagnosis provided by Robert Rotberg and John Campbell, two prominent US intellectuals – the latter a former United States Ambassador to Nigeria to boot: ‘Nigeria has long teetered on the precipice of failure,’ they argue. ‘Unable to keep its citizens safe and secure, Nigeria has become a fully failed state of critical geo-political concern.
“Its failure matters because the peace and prosperity of Africa and preventing the spread of disorder and militancy around the globe depend on a stronger Nigeria.”
He described state capture “as one of the most pervasive forms of corruption, a situation where powerful individuals, institutions, companies, or groups within or outside a country use corruption to shape a nation’s policies, legal environment, and economy, to benefit their own private interests.”
He added: “State capture is not always overt and obvious. It can also arise from the more subtle close alignment of interests between specific business and political elites through family ties, friendships, and the intertwined ownership of economic assets.
“What is happening in Nigeria – right before our eyes – is state capture: The purchase of national assets by political elites – and their family members – at bargain prices, the allocation of national resources – minerals, land, and even human resources – to local, regional, and interna¬tional actors. It must be prohibited and prevented through local and international laws.
“Public institutions such as the legislature, the executive, the judiciary, and regulatory agencies both at the federal and local levels are subject to capture.
“As such, state capture can broadly be understood as the disproportionate and unregulated influence of interest groups or decision-making processes, where special interest groups manage to bend state laws, policies, and regulations.
“They do so through practices such as illicit contributions paid by private interests to political parties, and for election campaigns, vote buying, buying of presidential decrees or court decisions, as well as through illegitimate lobbying and revolving door appointments.
“The main risk of state capture is that decisions no longer take into consideration the pub¬lic interest, but instead favour a specific special interest group or individual.
“Laws, policies, and regulations are designed to benefit a specific interest group, oftentimes to the detriment of smaller firms and groups and society in general. State capture can seriously affect economic development, regulatory quality, the provision of public services, quality of education and health services, infrastructure decisions, and even the environment and public health.”
Now, this I guess is the bone of disagreement between a selected few. There is a right to everyone’s opinion. I have read the entire speech and find it helpful if we can also take a cue from the solutions proffered.
These trajectories should not lead us to another media conundrum. For Obasanjo, we have experienced so far leadership failures and corruption and it would need a revisiting of our constitution, our political integrity, ballot defence, foreign election interference, avoiding electoral violence and more, compromised judiciary and then quoted the definition of State Capture. That’s fine. That is his view. He cannot absolve his tenure though he may try. But, these views must not be shut down or repressed by a hollow media team. I strongly disagree. Government must learn to welcome criticism. This is the beauty of governance and democracy. It should not be a fight all the time. And the modus of these media teams is worrisome. Who told them that they must issue forth confrontational rejoinders always? There is a culture and it is that you must look at the status of the person you are issuing a rejoinder against and mind your language. No matter what you are talking about an ex-president, these media boys are too infinitesimal to do a rejoinder on such a figure.
What I am saying is that looking at the paper report, I see a lot this government can learn from it and institute good from. Overall speaking, can Obasanjo exonerate himself? Was he trying to exonerate his tenure and can he? These are left for us the public to evaluate.
There is exigency in relation to the contingencies of contemporary Nigeria. The days are turning to darkness faster than expected. All must come on board and avoid bickering and jaw-jaw that do no good. The government will not be seen as weak, but stronger when it calls for help and support from Nigerians. This is what we need now. The issues we face today are not today’s issues, yet we must galvanise help from all to solve our problems. It’s not a time to blame the government, nor is it a time for the government to be confrontational to its people and critics. Corruption in Nigeria did not start in the Tinubu administration. It may be thriving, so he is empowering the EFCC more. If the President does not know that corruption must be fought, I am sure he would have disbanded the EFCC.
My take is: Government agencies and its agents should allow Nigerians the freedom to suggest ways to improve on what this government is doing. Funny enough, these ideas can only come from criticism which gives birth to better solutions.
My point is this, that this is a just presentation by President Olusegun Obasanjo and should be given accolades and attention. We should not be perfunctory about it. It is a clarion call. It is not one to confront, but proffer, if we must follow through with the Renewed Hope Agenda which encapsulates all sectors of our daily life. This present administration has originated more germane policies since inception, more than any administration and these policies meet with global standards. They may have hiccups, yet they stand well. The deduction is that it is a willing-to-learn government and very globally compliant.
Lastly, I will advise that the media team of BAYO ONANUGA, SUNDAY DARE and DANIEL BWALLA to be more contemporary in their PR duties and sell their Principal and his beautiful ideas for the people, rather than been confrontational, inflammatory and lack lustre.
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