What Yar’Adua’s Image Makers Did Wrong
By Kazeem Akintunde
Monday, September 08, 2008
Some image makers of past Nigerian governments and leaders think President Yar’Adua’s media men did a bad job
Presidential aides responsible for information management have come under severe criticism for bungling President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia for medical attention. Those who spoke to Newswatch on this were those who had played roles of image-makers for past governments and former Nigerian leaders.
Tony Momoh who was a former information minister during the regime of former President Ibrahim Babangida, told Newswatch in a telephone interview that the way information about the president’s ill health was handled was not good enough. He said the president’s information managers gave Nigerians wrong information by saying that Yar’Adua went for lesser Hajj only for the media to discover and report that the president was in Saudi Arabia for medical treatment. "As the president of the country, Yar’Adua is technically the property of 140 million Nigerians and no longer the property of his family alone. Nigerians are, therefore entitled to know the state of his health. The truth is that the absence of credible information on his health will open a floodgate of speculations which is dangerous," Momoh said.
He advised information managers of the federal government to always be alive to their responsibilities by providing Nigerians with information about the president’s health in order not to create anxiety among the people. Momoh said even if those in authority who have the facts feel reluctant to release them, the president’s information managers must persuade them on the need to do so. "The image makers may have been told what to say and the way to say it, but it is necessary to tell Nigerians that the president is ill. Many Nigerians are prayer warriors and if they know their President is sick, they will pray for his speedy recovery," Momoh said.
Alex Akinyele who was information minister to former President Ibrahim Babangida, said even though he served a military regime, he never had reason to keep the nation in suspense on any matter. "This is a democratic regime and I don’t know why information on the president should be shrouded in secrecy. The way information on the health of the president was handled is totally wrong," Akinyele said.
The former minister said he expected John Odey, minister of information to tell the nation what was wrong with the president as the health of the number one citizen has nothing to do with national security. "The way he has handled the matter is unprofessional. There is no reason why information on him should be kept away from Nigerians. The president is the property of Nigerians and they should know what is happening to him at any time. If they know that he is sick, many will pray for him."
Akinyele said by hoarding information on the president’s health, the officials helped to create room for all sorts of speculation and rumour, which could be dangerous. "The way it is handled is wrong. In the presidency, issues are categorised into open, confidential, secret and top secret and the issue of the president’s health does not fall into any of these categories. It is a general matter," Akinyele said.
Wada Maida, who was chief press secretary to Muhammadu Buhari, former head of state also told Newswatch that the president’s information managers were a little bit sloppy in the way they managed the information about his health. This, he said, created room for speculations. "They should have from the beginning told the nation that the president was going for Umrah and from there, he would go for medical check up in Saudi Arabia,"
Wada, however, said that the president’s information managers alone should not be blamed for the shoddy manner by which information about his health was managed. This, he explained, is because sometimes they would be prevented from releasing such information by other superior officers in the presidency who think that the Nigerian public were not entitled to know the details about the president’s ill-health.
He advised that in future, the information managers should give full disclosure of the president’s state of health to the public so as to avoid rumour and anxiety.
Lai Muhammed, national publicity secretary of the Action Congress, AC, was at a loss why the Federal Executive Council, FEC, would deliberately spin a lie to the nation on the health status of the president. He demanded an unreserved apology from the council for misleading Nigerians on the true state of health of the president. He told Newswatch that government information managers failed the nation and showed that they were anything but professionals by their inability to manage the information concerning the president’s health. "How can the Federal Executive Council, FEC, feed the public with deliberate lies over the health of President Yar’Adua? The council should apologise to Nigerians for misleading them," he said.
He commended the country’s media for having unearthed the truth that President Yar’Adua was undergoing medical treatment in Saudi Arabia rather than going there for lesser Hajj as deceptively disseminated by the FEC. "What could have earned the President sympathy and prayers from his countrymen and women has become a matter for wild speculations, no thanks to an inept information machinery. The state of the president’s health is an important issue. It should neither be politicised nor trivialised," he said.
He called for a full disclosure of the president’s health, arguing that the president’s health should not be treated as a private affair because as a public official - and the foremost one at that - whatever happens to him is of interest to the citizenry and affects the entire country. "As the President, Yar’Adua is the father of the nation. The health of the father cannot be kept as a secret from his children. It is as simple as that. That is why we are very worried that the FEC could stoop so low as to engage in cheap lies over the President’s health," he said.
Muhammed also argued that the world has now become a global ‘glass’ village where nothing is hidden. "If the FEC’s statement was made out of ignorance or lack of information on the President’s health, it is bad enough. If it was made to deceive the public, it is even worse…and calls to question the sincerity of the council members," he said.
Femi Falana, human rights lawyer, also chided the president’s information managers for the manner in which they have handled information on the health of the president. Falana, who is the president of the West African Bar Association, said he was ashamed to see how people toyed with information on the president’s health. "I am ashamed to see how people have been toying with the president‘s health. They did it so badly as to deny him the sympathy of Nigerians. Initially, they said he went for only lesser hajj. But it has now been confirmed that he was admitted to a hospital in Saudi Arabia. And doctors had to be flown from Germany to attend to him. "I think it is a shame that those in charge of information in this country, who are spending public funds on such secret matter, are not honest. This should be the last time Nigerians will accept this shame."
He also argued that "those hoarding information on Yar’Adua’s health were violating the constitution. By virtue of Section 144, we have got to a situation whereby we have to initiate the setting up of a medical panel by the president of the Senate to examine the president and diagnose his ailment and find out whether he is capable to continue to govern us. The constitution has already envisaged that the president of the country may fall ill and he may not be able to take up the functions of his office. There should be no hide and seek or misinformation. Those who are mismanaging the information of his health are violating the constitution. They should be very careful not to jeopardise the security of the country," Falana said.
Yinka Odumakin, national publicity secretary of the Afenifere, told Newswatch that the mismanagement of information on Yar’Adua shows that "ours is not an open society. It also reflects the level of impunity of our officials that they would tell the cheap lies. If these people are truly elected, they should be more accountable. The health of the president of a country is a public concern and the right information should be given. How would people trust a government that tells them lies?" Odumakin queried.
Reported by Chris Ajaero
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