By: Sam. Onwuemeodo.
Read with me; ” A man of Ethiopia, an Eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariots, reading Esaias the Prophet. And Philip ran thither to him and said, UNDERSTADEST THOU what thou readest?. And he said, HOW can l, except some one should guide me. And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him”(Acts 8: 27-31, KJV ).
An Ethiopian Eunuch, with great authority, under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, sitting in his Chariots, told Philip, how could l understand, except someone should guide me. This is the story. The crux of the matter. In other words, you can’t know it all. And you do not act or operate to create the impression that, you know it all.
That’s the mentality of the media aides of His Excellency, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu. Former this, former that, in the media industry and they have allowed such feats to be their greatest albatross, and the reason, they have continued to default. They have continued to gaffe. Faux Pas. Everything to GOD in prayer. If you continue to depend on your rich experience or on your fat resume, you would continue to misfire.
What came from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Distinguished Senator George Akume, on the visit of the Catholic Bishops to President Tinubu, at the Villa, was a direct disclaimer or indictment of the President’s media Advisers, especially, Daniel Bwala and Temitope Ajayi.
Bwala and Ajayi turned a very beautiful meeting of the President with the Catholic Bishops, into an indictment tool or a bitter pill, against the president and his government.
I also take your leave to say this; The problem with appointing or having many media assistants or advisers is that, each of them would want to “out-shine” the others. It becomes more disturbing, when each of them feels that he or she, is on his or her own. Or, he or she Knows the job better than the rest. And no control “tower”. Nobody seems to be in charge. It’s a problem.
In case, you’ve not known, what President Tinubu’s administration has not suffered since its inception in 2023, it has suffered in the past ninety Six hours, with the poor manners and ways, some of his media aides handled his meeting with the Catholic Bishops.
The visit of the Catholic Bishops was not like any other visit. It’s very distinct from other similar visits. They command respect and wide audience, within and outside the shore. Having this picture at the back of their minds, the media handlers of the president should have held pre-visit conference, with their principal, on the coming of the Bishops.
To discuss the likely issues the Bishops could raise, looking at the developments in the country, to avoid being taken unawares and to advise the President accordingly, bearing in mind that, obviously, they were not coming to massage the president or his ego. The media Advisers needed to orient the president on the coming of the august visitors. That’s one of the reasons of being media advisers. If they had done all that, the whole story would have been different, about the visit that has now become historic.
Even at that, if the press statement on the visit of the Bishops, from the office of the SGF, signed by a very thorough Journalist, who grew from the ranks, Yomi Adenuga, his Special Adviser on Media, had come first, had come before those of Bwala and Ajayi, the circumstance would have remained clement. The attendant attacks would have been nipped in the bud. The whole situation would have remained friendly or convivial. Unlike the war situation created by the duo of Bwala and Ajayi.
Yomi Adenuga was briefly in Port Harcourt, as the Bureau Chief of the Punch Newspapers. He didn’t stay long. He was moved to Abuja and replaced by Sam Akpe, another crack journalist. I was there for Vanguard Newspapers. When l saw his release on the Bishops’ visit, as the Media Adviser to the SGF, l knew that he had seen what some of us had seen. The mishandling of the visit of such great men of GOD, by Bwala and Ajayi.
Adenuga said, “Tinubu administration, willing to forge stronger partnership with Catholic Bishops and other stakeholders, to continue to deal with the issues they had raised during their visit”. And so on. That’s all. That’s the “goodwill message”.
Bwala and Ajayi had begun to fight non-existent war. Undeclared war. War that was neither here nor there. Abusing the Bishops and calling them names. And by so doing, destroyed the gains or the benefits of their visit to the President and his government, before Akume came on rescue mission or on damage control trip.
The duo equally began to chase what the Bishop Emeritus , John Onaiyekan, said in his post-visit interview. And they ended up bringing what Onaiyekan had said, to the door steps of those who didn’t watch the man on tele or who didn’t even know that the man had an interview. They completed the job for the Bishop emeritus. That was not good of them.
Again, no one would have expected any serious president to begin to laugh or crack jokes in the presence of such outstanding delegation and with the serious issues they had raised in the circumstance. So, the President did well or had acted well by putting on a ” stone face”, like Bishop Onaiyekan had observed. By not pretending about the situation.
The Catholic Bishops were not Baba Ajasco or Zeburudaya Okoroigwe Nwogbo, alia 4.30, who would have made the President to laugh. No!!!. We’re talking about Catholic Bishops of Nigeria. Do you now understand?. So, the President had acted according to the demand of the circumstance or the situation he had found himself, with the kind of personalities on the visit and the issues they had raised. Bwala and Ajayi left what they were expected to do with that and took to needless insults.
Even after the Villa meeting, the media handlers of the President would have met immediately to decide on how best to handle the visit and the issues raised by the Bishops, before communicating the general public. Call it emergency post-visit conference. That, they never did. The competition began. On who would do better. And Bwala or Ajayi, threw caution to the wind and resorted to blackmail against the Bishops.
Perhaps, they must have mistaken the Bishops’ visit to be another visit by the opposition group. Or, by Atiku or Obi disciples. And to the Glory of GOD, Onaiyekan pis not lgbo. If he was to be lgbo, alarm would have blown. Bwala and Ajayi would have termed the Bishops, the Clergy arm of IPOB.
All in all, the Bishops have said, no more comments. Because , they have known that, tremendous damage had been done on the side of the government, with Bwala and Ajayi’s approach, and there is no point, “shooting” again.
For days now, nobody has spoken or is talking about what the president told the Bishops in his response or in reply or reaction to their address, while on the courtesy call. It has remained one-sided story in favour of the Bishops, caused by two overzelous media aides, called Bawa and Ajayi.
BBC, VOA, etc, had relayed the stories as told by the Catholic Bishops or according to the Bishops, without what the President told them in response. German radio, called them, Bishops of Nigeria, and not Catholic Bishops again.. This is one damage that would be very difficult to deal with, for a very long time and it was self-inflicted. And out of the shortsightedness of the two mugus, called media aides. It’s a big lesson. The Bishops said, no more comments because they had known that, the “battle” had been fought and won. No other argument. Kai, Bwala. Kai, Ajayi.
All over the World, people tend to listen to the opposition or dissenting voices than that of the government on seat. So, media aides should always have this in mind, while reacting to issues or developments, and before coming out or coming up with government’s position or view or decision on any issue. And the essence is to avoid, had l known or had we known. Which is not a good expression. And it’s avoidable. All the same, we shall continue to cLap for JESUS.
