Re: Buhari’s speech at UNGA
All the titles in the stable of the Daily Trust are known for incisive, insightful and thoughtprovoking editorials reminiscent of the “New Nigerian” of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
In the light of the foregoing, the page 3 comment of the Daily Trust Sunday which assessed Buhari’s speech at the United Nations was sub-par and lacked balance. Daily Trust contended that “the speech did not live to expectation”. On the contrary, a number of commentators believe otherwise.
According to Prof. Nguru, writing on pg 44 of Daily Trust of 26 September 2017 on Buhari’s speech at the UN, stated that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the CNN lauded the speech. In fact, CNN asserted that Buhari speech was “President of Africa Speech”.
Furthermore, notable columnists of the Daily Trust also showered encomiums on the speech. For example, Elnathan John (Daily Trust pg 23, Sunday 9 September 2017) said it was an “amazing speech” at the UN General Assembly. Also, Issa Aremu (Daily Trust pg 49, Monday 25 September 2017) showered platitudes on Buhari for “redeeming the image of Africa” and “discernable great speech”.
Daily Trust, as a corporate citizen, has a right to its opinion. However, it smacks of indiscretion for the newspaper to argue that a delegation of Africans, Arabs and Indians cannot create any impression on the North Korean President to rein in on his nuclear programme. Most Africans, Arabs and Indians will take exception to this aspect of your Editorial.
In paragraph 3 of the Editorial, the paper disagreed with President Buhari that these are “extraordinary troubled and dangerous times”. It is good style that the paper quoted Mr President verbatim in one vein. But, in the next sentence the Daily Trust misrepresented him by saying that Africa has “fewer ongoing wars” now. For the avoidance of doubt, troubled and dangerous times (according to Buhari) are not exactly the same thing with wars as observed by Daily Trust. The Editorial writers of Daily Trust as a paper with wide circulation know this; it is good to put this in proper context.
Again, in paragraph 5, the paper stated that President Buhari’s “message was not sharp enough” and that he put some issues “too mildly”. I think the President’s speech writers and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were smart. They are conscious of Nigeria’s status as a developing country without an overwhelming global military and political might. It would be impolitic to bark among world leaders when they know you cannot bite. Probably, in the West African subregion, where Nigeria is a hegemonic power, our heads of government could be more forceful in their speeches.
In the final analysis, the verdict by a majority of observers is that President Buhari’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly was superb: he spoke as an African statesman. Warts and all, Daily Trust is an excellent newspaper: I always look forward to read my online copies at night and the hard copies the following morning. Bravo to you Daily Trust! Khalifa Musa Muhammad, Kaduna.