Punch and Counter-Punch !

On 11th December 2019 the Punch Newspaper published an editorial which has been making waves and rightfully so. The Press is the fourth estate of the realm and although it gives room for personal opinions (such as the one being expressed here), newspaper editorials are a different matter altogether. They arise from a consensus of opinion.

The Punch editorial was a notice to the public that the newspaper would from henceforth refer to President Buhari by his military title of Major-General (rtd) and that they would refer to his government as a “regime”. It was perhaps not such a wise decision for two main reasons. Firstly Muhammadu Buhari is, and will remain, President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria until the expiration of his tenure in 2023.

Secondly, the decision to refer to him by his military title removed focus from the real substance of the editorial which was the issue of alleged repressive tendencies and disrespect for the rule of law by the Federal Government. The editorial was an example of clear deductive logic and their decision to change Buhari’s nomenclature was the conclusion of their argument, not the premises. However this conclusion provided the opportunity for their editorial to be reduced to the mundane issue of whether or not Major-General Buhari (rtd) has a right to be addressed as respectfully as “President”. That should not be in dispute because unlike his first sojourn this time around he was actually voted into office.

In the United States of America whose system of governance Nigeria claims to be following, their current President Donald Trump is increasingly unpopular and in the process of being impeached. He has been referred to openly as a racist President, and incompetent President, a fraudulent President, and a tyrannical President who is guilty of the abuse of power. Not once has it been suggested that he should not be referred to as President. Punch’s allegations of disregard for the rule of law, is a far more serious matter than how the President should be addressed. That President Buhari exhibits some signs of his military past should surprise no one. He cannot wish away his past record of overturning a democratically elected government. The grounds on which he was promoted as a “born again” democrat were never rigorously inspected. Human beings do change, but in his case there is little evidence of any change. To be fair he made it clear from the start that he would discriminate in favour of those who gave him 95% votes to the detriment of those who gave him 5%.

He also made it clear that in his opinion human rights take second place to “national security interests” as determined by himself. He has also in the past vigorously defended Sharia Law. There should therefore be no surprise that this is exactly what has happened, and that as far as his supporters are concerned President Buhari is doing the job exactly as expected. A large part of this administration’s problems comes from suspicions of the motives behind certain actions and the way and manner in which Presidential spokespersons address issues. They never admit to any error or wrongdoing, and never attempt to convince the public through superior argument or flawless logic.

Their stock in trade is to resort to insults and the threat of force. There must be a rational explanation for the reason why in spite of the unimpressive and suspect anticorruption war and the poor performance in the anti-insurgency operation in which videos of Nigerian soldiers lamenting their fate are replete on the internet, the Chief of Army staff, Chief of Naval Staff, and the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who all hail from a particular region of the country and whose tenures have expired are still in office. Yet despite his successes the former head of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) who hailed form a different region was replaced immediately by a person from the favoured region.

The problem is that rather than offer sensible explanations, citizens are told that there is nothing they can do about it, thereby giving room for those with ulterior motives to give their own reasons. So the mutual suspicion continues. ThisDay Newspaper editorial of 12th December gave an example of such suspicion when they queried the criteria for establishing public universities. The editorial pointed out that the current Army Chief of Staff, current Chief of Air force and current President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are using public funds to build government universities in their home towns. As disparaging as both the Punch and ThisDay editorials were, both were based upon verifiable facts. When President Buhari decided to enter the democratic space he should have expected vibrant opposition and even insults.

As President Kagame of Rwanda so eloquently pointed out when he was being asked about those opposed to his government, there is no democratic leader in the world no matter how successful who does not have critics and receive insults, it comes with the territory. In a recent interview the Former President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi-Okojie claimed that Nigeria’s leaders are far from the led and what is needed is leaders who are not blind to the suffering of the people nor deaf to their cries, who listen to the people, have the courage to be humble, and who are ready to admit that they are wrong when the occasion demands.

The Punch Editorial violated no law and the measured response by Femi Adesina was a breath of fresh air, but predictably Sheu Garba reverted to type worsening matters with a response which was both illogical and confrontational to the Punch Newspaper and the Nigerian public. He called the editorial hate speech. It is trite that the truth sounds like hate speech to those who hate the truth. President Buhari would be well advised to instruct his spokespersons that whenever his government is punched by criticisms, in order to enhance the democratic environment their counterpunch should be less abrasive, more considerate, more compassionate, less emotional and more logical.