It was amusing to me
to hear armchair critics blaming the media office of the President for the
leakage. Ignorance. Why pontificate about what you don’t know? They were on
radio and television stations the next morning, magisterially shooting breeze.
It was Dr Reuben Abati, immediate past media adviser to a President, who gave
some proper perspectives on how a presidential broadcast is originated and
produced, and how it was improbable that the leakage came from the Presidency.
You have possibly
watched the 1998 action-thriller film with the above title, starring Will
Smith. It was the box office hit story about a group of people plotting to kill
an American Congressman, and the tape of the plot was discovered.
Well, an Enemy of
the State struck in Nigeria on Monday, but this time, it was no fiction. It was
real life act of sabotage from somebody who does not wish his own country well
at all, and who derived a sinister kind of pleasure from undermining the
system.
President Muhammadu
Buhari was to broadcast to the country by 8:00pm, to give an update on the
battle against COVID-19, and what becomes of the lockdown that had lasted four
weeks, particularly in the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun states.
Kano was also a point of heavy interest, with the strange deaths ravaging the
state. Was it COVID-19 or not?
As the country
waited for the President with great expectations, a purported copy of the
broadcast began to circulate on social media from about 4:00pm. Whodunnit?
I took a look at the
circulating document, and within one minute, I knew that it was a rogue copy.
What immediately gave it away was the paragraphing. It was completely different
from the one I had been part of producing, and which had been recorded for
broadcast by the President.
Another tell-tale to
the dubiousness of the document was the date it gave. It said the lockdown in
the affected states and the FCT would be eased from May 2, while the authentic
copy bore May 4. There were some other discrepancies. Paragraphs that had been
excised from the final copy were still intact, and the document was riddled
with spelling and grammatical errors, which you would rarely find in a
presidential broadcast, which would have passed through a number of select and
trusted hands.
I made a few phone
calls to those of us involved with the script, right from origination, which
was from outside the Presidency, to final editing, which I did, and the
conclusion was easy to reach. Somebody had spirited out the original draft,
which had gone through many stages of fine-tuning in terms of content and
language, and thinking that it was a world exclusive in terms of artifice and
underhand action, he fed it into the social media.
Who would do such a
thing, except an Enemy of the State, someone who wants to ridicule the
government, cause utmost confusion in the polity, and smirk his lips in
malevolent pleasure, as the government, and possibly the media handlers of the
President were flagellated, and taken to the cleaners.
Yoruba people talk
of ‘ba ase je’. Somebody who spoils the feast. Everybody is rejoicing and
making merry, and he comes to pollute their joy. He could bring extremely bad
news that sends everyone scurrying home, or looking for cover. He could even
urinate in the big pot of soup in the full glare of the merrymakers. Or he
could pour sand in the big pot of rice on the fire. Ba ase je (spoiler of the
feast) can strike in many ways. That was the same thing the Enemy of the State
did.
Igbo people speak of
the proverbial lizard that ruined his own mother’s funeral. That was what the
hidden hostile hand did. But he forgot that in these days of technology, almost
everything leaves a trail. Before the end of that evening, computer evidences
had narrowed down the suspect, and he was already answering for his evil
action.
There is the house
mouse called ‘oofon‘ in Yoruba. And there is a delicious soup made from beans
called ‘gbegiri’. Yes, do you remember the popular amala and gbegiri politics
as championed by Lamidi Adedibu in Oyo State in those days? That’s the soup I’m
talking about. What happens when the house mouse urinates inside the bowl of
gbegiri soup? Lassa fever! That’s why we have the Yoruba saying; oofon to si
gbegiri, ki eleko ko eko e dani. Translating this into English makes it lose
some originality, but let me try. The house mouse has urinated in the pot of
gbegiri soup, let all merrymakers find their ways home. That was what the evil
mind attempted to do by leaking the presidential broadcast hours before it
came. But he fired blank, having laid hands on a wrong copy.
However, if that
person had got the final, authentic copy, that is the same way he would have
leaked it. To what end, to what purpose? Sinister. Sneaky. Hateful.
Some people hate
their own country, and ironically would be the first to complain that things
were not going well. Every act of the government (any government) they would
undermine. If they can stick a knife into the soft underbelly of government in
any way, they do it with relish, and would be the first to grumble that things
were not going right. Enemies of the State.
If the person that
leaked the unedited draft of the broadcast had access to more sensitive
national documents, he would do the same thing. If he cottons on information
that could sell Nigeria to the enemy, he would gladly do it. Thou art in the
midst of foes, watch and pray.
I am surprised that
a large number of people, including newspaper houses, fell for the gambit. They
took their information from the wrong source, and ended up publishing
falsehood. That was what the Enemy of the State wanted. Cause maximum
confusion. And he succeeded to some extent.
There is a way we
release information from the media office of the President. And the media knows
it. If a presidential speech was to be given ahead, there would be an embargo
on it for a particular time. The circulating copy bore no embargo, yet they
fell for it. And got embarrassed by publishing inaccurate information. Serves
them right, do you say? The final copy was released by 8:06pm, good enough time
for a newspaper to still produce and get early to market for the next day.
The social media is
being used for every purpose: good and bad. It is the bastion of fake news,
hate news, concoctions and all sorts of conjurations. Will the users and
consumers be more discerning? It is said that the person that stole a keg of
palm oil from the rafter is not the only thief. The person that collected the
keg from him is also a rogue. Those who began to share an obvious leak,
rebroadcasting it, are also not guiltless. Be quick to hear, and slow to speak.
It was amusing to me
to hear armchair critics blaming the media office of the President for the
leakage. Ignorance. Why pontificate about what you don’t know? They were on
radio and television stations the next morning, magisterially shooting breeze.
It was Dr Reuben Abati, immediate past media adviser to a President, who gave
some proper perspectives on how a presidential broadcast is originated and produced,
and how it was improbable that the leakage came from the Presidency. The
lesson? Seek information, get your facts right, before arriving at a
conclusion, lest you look foolish and uninformed.
Some people are not
interested in the well- being of their own country. Sad, very sad. Such would
sell their mothers, and their country for thirty pieces of silver. Thou art in
the midst of foes, watch and pray.
Adesina is Special
Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Buhari
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