Whichever way one might look at it, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Monday morning broadcast to the nation after his return from medical vacation cannot be reduced to a ‘disappointment’ on the account that it failed to address certain issues. A lot happened since the President was away and there have been high expectations given the belief that he has the capacity to do more than has been recorded by his administration so far. But it would be unfair to expect that all the issues and expectations would be addressed in one broadcast even if the person has a track record of confronting the nation’s problems frontally as Nigeria’s president.
If one is to look at it another way, then it could be said that no speech can meet every expectation as no speech writer has the capacity to gauge the mood of every individual, groups, sectors and communities and address such in one fell swoop. If however, the correct reading of the current disappointment expressed is that it should have captured the major expectations from the citizenry, then one cannot hesitate to say that nothing could have been more apt than what the president off ered. Before delving into the nittygritty of the speech, it is worth mentioning here, that the content of the speech is only less than 50 percent of what Nigerians were looking out for from Buhari.
Nigerians wanted to see their president talking to them directly without interruption by middle men and the distraction of his aides. Th ey longed to see him live so that they could make their assessment of his mien themselves. During his absence, lots of things were thrown at Nigerians by the naysayers who claimed that the president was on life support, while others said he suff ers from serious memory loss while others still insist he has speech impairment. Even the visuals from the many visits by stakeholders to the Abuja House in London did not serve to assuage such negativism but had fuelled agitations for more interrogations to wit that the president was being teleguided and that he could not continue to stand and talk at stretch in a manner that will convince that he is hale and hearty. I fi nd it most appropriate that a notice was served that the president would make a national broadcast when it was announced that he was returning to the country.
Th is assured majority of Nigerians that they would get fi rsthand the answer to all the questions being asked about the president and his health. Th e time came on Monday morning and the moment President Buhari uttered his fi rst word to signify the commencement of the broadcast, there was a general sigh of relief, and hope was restored, doubts gave way to belief and faith in Nigeria was revived because as it turned out, the No 1. Citizen was not only hale and hearty but was also cheerful, witty and fully in control of himself and mental faculty. By the time he concluded the speech, it was obvious that Buhari, the tough talking, corruption intolerant and patriotic champion of one Nigeria was back in fl esh and blood. Getting to the substance of the speech, it could be said that the president addressed three main issues, the unity of the country, insecurity and need for lasting peace in the country. Th ese three issues sum up the drag in the polity while the president was away.
Th e terrorists terrorizing the Northeastern part of the country have resumed their campaigns fi rst of all with suicide attacks on soft targets and later attempts to reenact their old methods of attacks on towns and communities. Th ough the attempts have largely been unsuccessful, more citizens have raised concerns on why the terrorists who were said to have been degraded could relaunch their assault within such a short period of time. It was therefore apt for the president to have included the issue in his fi rst broadcast to the nation because the nation cannot aff ord a situation where the gains made in the last two years would be allowed to fritter away
Th e insurgents have to know that the commander-in-chief is back and that his illness has not changed him and that if anything, he cannot stand their ungodly and totally reprehensible campaigns. Secondly is the twin problem of crime and insecurity. In the last few months, the whole nation was aghast at the brazen attacks on citizens who were being taken away daily in the name of kidnapping in almost all parts of the country but especially in the South-south and South-eastern parts of the country as well as on the Abuja-Kaduna expressway. So when the President mentioned kidnapping in his speech and sounded a note of warning to those involved, it came as a soothing experience to those who have been exposed to the eff ect of such crimes fi rst hand.
For long, many people have been saying the President avoids talking about farmers’-herders ‘clash and have accused him of taking sides.Th is time, the president disappointed them by mentioning the issue as one those to be tackled. No doubt the unity of the country has also been threatened in the absence of Mr. President because it was within that period that the agitation for secession became so brazen that a paramilitary outfi t was launched by IPOB while some in the North issued a quit notice to Igbo living in Northern Nigeria. Th e reference to the meet with Ojukwu was also appropriate as the late former Biafran leader is still respected as the true leader of the Igbo and many Igbo needed to know or be reminded what his last thoughts on the Nigerian question were. Indeed many Nigerian leaders across geopolitical divides have emphasized the fact that the unity of the country is a settled issue and that all hands must be on deck to make it work.
It is totally in place to issue that reminder to a distraught citizenry at this time. Th ose who said they wanted to hear about cabinet reshuffl e in the president’s broadcast may not be out rightly considered as mischievous if there is the need to pep up the space but if one may ask, what percentage of the populace would have been assuaged by the removal of few ministers and what percentage would have been made happy by new appointments? Probably only a few. On the economy, we all know that the right atmosphere must be created for the economy to thrive so Buhari used the logic of the logs falling on top on one another to address the issue. Th is implies that the necessary atmosphere that would foster a healthy economic climate must be treated before getting to economic brass tacks. I hope we are ALL not disappointed. Nakande is a former Minister of State for Information and Communication
