Some issues should be noted in the unsigned “press release” on a purported Federal Government media policy. First, no government policy can be released in an open or blank framework. A policy as contained in the release should have been released by an agency such as the Federal Ministry of Information or National Communication Commission or some other statutory agency with link to communication activity. The release inserted a statement which acknowledged this fact by way of pre-information on a statement to be issued by the Police later. A statement by the Police should be necessary because of the open threat in the release which makes what it regards as anti-government comment an illegality.
Second, the release amounts to a threat on the entire Nigerian people to shut up and bear the pain they experience at present.
Ogba people say no one has the right to flog a child and deny the child an opportunity to cry. Who can deny the soothing effect of tears on a tortured soul? The term catharsis in drama represents the need to purge or release tension if a script expects to be regarded as complete and professional.
Third, the undisguised attempt to gag speech in a democracy must be highlighted and condemned. Nothing personifies the democratic form of government like free speech. Let the people have their say while the rulers have their way. Given hindsight, the freedom of speech in Buhari’s second tenure as Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer must have baffled several people. As a person I cannot recall arrests based on transgression of perceived hurt to official sensibilities as a result of uncomplimentary posts. Nigerians were deep into the effort to secure food, medicines, accommodation, school fees, and other things which should be standard and normal in the 21st century to have bothered about fiery speeches and posts. EndSARS arose from the mass disaffection with Police brutality rather than articles or posts or public speeches by activists.
Based on personal experience, critiques or outright criticism are the best things the holder of a high office requires. In homes, when a wife absorbs all knocks things just worsen. While women must avoid the tendency to nag, to keep quiet to excessive length and explode one day distorts a marriage. When Tunisians led the Arab Spring from 17th December 2010 it arose from long term pain to the majority, rising food prices, unemployment among youths, wide gap between the rich and the poor, authoritarian and insensitive governments, human rights violations (the type the press release in question canvasses), sectarianism, and widespread corruption among other reasons. When the cock popped off the bottle, the contents spread everywhere and wasted while strongmen in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen lost their jobs.
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People should be allowed to express their worries more so lieutenants often cover leaders, sieve information, and give the leaders access to the good (information which are of interest to the leaders and the lieutenants) to the exclusion of the bad and the ugly. Who has failed to notice how Ministries of Works repair or paint roads when Presidents and Governors schedule trips to particular locations? If a government does well, who bothers to comment and if naysayers must speak, who cares to listen and who carries placards against a good government?
Fourth, a public statement which expects to be taken with any measure of seriousness must be signed. The writer or writers of the release in question should at least have shown they know the right thing. If they were smart they should at least have used a fake name to conclude the so-called release.
At the end of the day the purported Federal Government release must have been the work of anti-Tinubu vanguard who are desperate to evoke sufficient emotion for uprising. If the writer or writers are the President’s men, they want to fly a kite to gauge public opinion on a devious plan they have. In either case the writers have done incalculable harm on the image of the President which already requires being laundered. When they tried to smother the “era of fuel subsidy is gone” they experienced a woeful failure. The President, as quoted, said he made the statement off-script. On-script or off-script represent one side of the same coin in this matter.
And how can anyone explain how a media mogul expects his huge investment to flow if the tap of information gets locked? In the world’s number one democracy Fox News ensures a Republican President looks spotless and the most efficient while all Democratic Presidents can only do unacceptable things. But Fox News and such biased media know their limits. “The Nation” should be more effective if it receives enough news and if once a while, allows contrary opinion at least from columnists and contributors. How would it sound if columnists in “The Nation” are arrested and prosecuted for an offence which may conflict with extant press laws and of marked importance, Chapter 4 Section 39 of the Federal Constitution? The Section allows people to hold opinion, express, and impart the same without interference.
About time President Tinubu’s media managers wake from sleep. In my first post after the swearing in I did note the incredible goof of the new President’s speechwriter. A chicken which will be a cock shows itself the moment it hatches. To announce end of subsidy in an Inaugural Address to a country where people expected succour required the speechwriters to be flogged. The President’s men and women on the media beat require serious orientation and training. They have so far assisted the big sticks to fall on the President’s battered image.
And please, apologists of the President should be careful with statistics because some of them insult the sensibilities of people. Why should anyone say the Nigerian economy grew in 2023 when N1,000 bought 12 cups of garri on May 28, 2023 but fetches six cups today? Does the increase in price of gasoline from N190/liter to N700/liter show economic growth? The way gasoline and garri prices go, so goes the economy to Ordinary Citizens of Nigeria.
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