Knowledgeable people often make pronouncements which they, and those listening, take to be the gospel truth by virtue of the fact that they said it. In politics, criticism is like a charged electric-baton which is highly complementary to leadership quests for achieving best results.
Every leader with desire to succeed needs sustained criticism of his conduct and performance. Otherwise such a leader will continue to bask ominously in the scorched-earth euphoria of sycophants and lotus-eaters.
The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in his characteristic abusiveness, derisive and combativeness, has rained insults on not only Professor Ango Abdullahi but the entire members of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF). By extension all the people of Northern Nigeria have been targeted by this abuser called Femi Adesina. The Presidency was responding to a statement issued by NEF, flaying the president over insecurity and poverty in the country. Whatever may have prompted Presidency through Adesina to write that release, is a hollow submission and ranks in pari passu with high level idiocy. It is abhorrent to reason, empathy and sympathy.
Femi Adesina is very much aware that Katsina, the President’s home state, is today, one of the most unsafe places in Nigeria despite having paid so much money to bandits and grabbing a photo-op with some of them. Kaduna, the powerhouse of the North and home to many of Nigeria’s critical defence institutions; is also one of the most scary places in Nigeria where you can be kidnapped or killed especially in Birnin Gwari area. Borno, the home state of the Chief of Army Staff, and the National Security Adviser is the epicentre of the insurgency. Zamfara and Sokoto states where the President won his 2015 and 2019 elections on landslide are becoming bandits safe haven.
Let the truth be told, the statement Femi Adesina released is the true stand of the Presidency on the happenings in the North. By the statement “NEF is just Ango Abdullahi, and Ango Abdullahi is NEF. It is a quasi-organization that boasts of no credible membership, and its leader is akin to a General without troops” Femi has completely denigrated the psyche of the people of northern Nigeria. The troops Femi is asking are those people his principal fails to protect. And only wicked and ungodly people will continue to defend his principal’s leadership ineptitude amidst this serious bloodshed.
Logical reasoning and Politics will always be at variance and decent opinion will always be suppressed to promote hypocrisy. When Pa. Fasoranti ‘s daughter was killed, Femi issued a very consoling and reassuring press release indicating the government’s readiness to fish out the culprits. But at all times, Femi has always been abusive and disrespectful towards elders of the North on virtually everything concerning Buhari’s Presidency.
As an overzealous aide to President Buhari, Femi must use his brain instead of his feet to reason. We should not play politics beyond the need and desire to demand a solution. We need a solution now else Femi and cohorts may be consumed by the same crisis they are deprecating today.
Nura Usman (Kuwa Naka) is an Estate Surveyor and Valuer based in Kaduna State and can be reached via [email protected]
