Deconstructing Mr. President’s speech – by Frank Ofili

No doubt majority of Nigerians are over-joyed that President Muhammadu Buhari is back home, hale and hearty, from his over-three-months medical sojourn in the UK. Whatever the naysayers may say to the contrary, the truth is that Mr. President is back home strong and eager to resume his job. I join millions of Nigerians in felicitation that our dear President beat the odds. I also pray that such national embarrassment never afflict our country again.

As the euphoria of Mr. President’s return goes on, I must, in line with a promise I made to myself when I signed on to his support, torchlight a few areas I do not feel comfortable about. The first is that it baffles me that for the 103 days Mr. President spent in the UK, his host, the British Prime Minister, Madam Theresa May, did not deem it necessary to check on him at Abuja House, London, where he was receiving medical attention. This says a lot about the disposition of the UK government towards Black World’s most populous country. One must also note that Theresa May’s predecessor, David Cameron, had also uttered some unkindly words against the country when he described Nigeria as “fantastically corrupt”. Such undiplomatic faux pas!

From all indications, Theresa May, by her discretion or indiscretion, may have restated the obvious – that though Nigeria is a prominent member of the British Commonwealth, the UK government does not, in reality, give a damn about her. Things seem to have changed a great deal between the UK and Nigeria. Nigeria used to be a key ally of the UK. In those days, it would have been unheard-off for the President of Nigeria to be on UK soil even for one day without the British Prime Minister spending time with him.

But that was then and now is now. Maybe the UK government has not forgiven Buhari over the Umar Dikko affair during his first sojourn as military head of State. If that is so, then I offer no apologies for President Buhari. The UK should not be a receiver of looted funds from Nigeria and still hold grudges against her. Or maybe Theresa May’s stay-away was her way of telling Nigeria to fix her healthcare system. On this, I support her. Wholeheartedly.

Now to the main reason for this piece. President Buhari’s address to the nation earlier today has elicited mixed reactions. While some have expressed their misgivings with the speech – with quite a few even likening it to a coup, having not met their expectations – a great many others are applauding it for its succinctness . On my part, I must confess that I am a bit unimpressed with the speech. The speech appears one-sided and lacking in depth. If by the President’s own admission, he had been monitoring events back home from his sick bed in the UK, then one expected that he had a firm grasp of issues, and so his speech should have been more robust.

To start with, I think the opener, “Dear Citizens” was inappropriate. What happened to the traditional “Fellow Nigerians”? Or did Mr. President refrain from using it because Nigerians have gotten used to the term ushering in military rule? We may never know.

Secondly, I expected the President to, as a matter of courtesy, extend his appreciation to the National Assembly (NASS), the state governors, members of his cabinet and Nigerians at large for their cooperation with the Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, while he was away. That would have been politically correct – never mind that the leadership of the NASS does not deserve the courtesy.

I also expected the President to give a sort of mid-term report on the state of the polity, highlighting how far we have fared from 29th May 2015, our achievements and failures so far, and key focus areas in the remaining half of his tenure. Specifically, I expected Mr. President to touch on the war on corruption, especially the position with the Ikoyi dollars. This, to me, would have gone a long way to pacify Nigerians who are increasingly getting disenchanted with the direction of the war. Though Acting President Professor Yemi Osinbajo had, more or less, done the same thing, a restatement by Mr. President would have gone a long way to reassure Nigerians that despite some recent setbacks, the government will not leave any stone unturned in the war on corruption.

Finally, even though the President is not obliged to be specific about the nature of his ailment, I nonetheless expected his speech to be moving, inspiring and memorable, punctuated with appropriate quotes and phrases that would elicit public emotions. I expected a speech tailor-made for the moment; a speech that would be quoted for years to come by students and scholars of political history.

But it is not all a disappointing speech. The President was at least direct and firm with regards to the security challenges facing the country, specifically, Boko Haram, kidnappings, separatist agitation by some few elements and herdsmen menace. He promised that the government will rededicate itself to tacking them. For those who have been accusing the President of shielding herdsmen, this should give them assurance of some sort.

Mr. President also restated that the unity of Nigeria under his watch is not negotiable vis-a-viz the central role of the National Assembly and the National Council of States as legitimate organs for national discourse on any issue. This, to me, is an oblique advice to proponents of restructuring to forget the issue or confer with their National Assembly representatives and their state governors on any area of grievance as the Federal Government will not operate outside legitimately constituted organs. The President fell short of telling proponents of a revised federal structure that he as President will not entertain any such talk having sworn on oath to defend her present form and formation.

All things considered, I personally wish the speech had been much more detailed and insightful. A Nigerian President is not just a president for Nigeria. He is by extension the president of the Black World. When he speaks, his speech should target the world, not just Nigerians alone. This is as I see it.