Public speaking is an art. Public speaking is a skill, but when the supposed Chief Publicist lacks this skill, it is no wonder that inspiration fritters away.

For many years, Nigerians have decried the unbecoming silence of the president in addressing the myriad of problems bedevilling this country. But he has spoken before and he recently spoke again. And it was a disaster as usual. Recently, we’ve been treated to a barrage of insensitive comments from the president’s media handlers – Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, with the latter especially vitriolic in airing his ill-thought and ill-expressed views to the consternation of sensible Nigerians. Many have wondered if the views expressed by the duo, usually on behalf of the PRESIDENCY, actually reflect the opinion of the president himself, with the most recent retort by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu a good example.

The governor had decried Garba Shehu’s statement on the rights of herdsmen to all land pieces in Nigeria, a conviction that could be linked to the destruction of crops and human lives that Fulani herdsmen have left in their trail. But he had sought at the same time to insulate Buhari from the exchange by claiming that Shehu’s views were his and that of vested interests only, BUT NOT of the president. Tell me, who are the vested interests?

The PRESIDENCY has done this... The PRESIDENCY has done that...and the likes of Malami, Pantmi, El-Rufai, Garba Shehu, Femi Adesina, Lai Mohammed and Co. have constantly attacked our collective sensibilities. It is no wonder that Nigerians clamour for the President to speak, hoping he will provide some HOPE and INSPIRATION thereby. The Vice-President, though better, is usually caught between expressing his honest views and defending the status quo. This has made the pastor-lawyer sound like a liar [/i]so often.

Finally, the President spoke, and as has been his wont (though Nigerians quickly forget) [i]ALL TABLES SCATTERED.

In no particular order, the President repeated the highly odoriferous lie that his administration met things worse than they currently are. Who feeds him these lies? Is he unaware that the current NYSC corps receiving 33k aren’t as comfortable as those who earned 18.9k before 2015? Is he aware that a trip between Lagos and Benin that was lesser than 2k now exceeds 6k? This oft repeated lie, which smirks of irredeemable delusion only further frustrates hardworking Nigerians. Yes, he spoke! He spoke about the terrible security situation that have snowballed from Boko Haram to ISWAP and Armed Bandits, onto Unknown Gunmen, rabid kidnapping, etc. And he failed to provide any inspiration as usual.

Continues shortly...

Yes, the herdsmen who now rustle humans in their scores are foreign invaders, but there’s a strategy (was there none before?) to checkmate them. What strategy? A hidden strategy, the results of which we will SOON start seeing. How SOON? Probably when they start rustling whole villages. Operation Crocodile smiles and tears, Python singing and dancing and others weren’t secret; why must this be? Clueless!

On the flagrant lopsidedness of his administration’s appointments, he claimed they were on merit and experience. Uncle, you sabi lie o! The Director General of Nigeria Customs, Col Hameed Ali must have combined the army job with customs duty to gain the experience while customs officials with vast experience were sidelined abi? Where did Hadiza Usman acquire her NPA experience from, Oga Bubu? Probably while bringing back our girls. Ngige must have been a Labour leader to lead the Ministry of Labour! Such lies are too barefaced for comfort, sir.

And like he has always shown. This man has a problem with the leaders of tomorrow. He has a problem with Nigerian Youths! He couldn’t resist the opportunity to take on them again. We haven’t forgotten how he went to faraway London to describe them as LAZY. This was the same man whom vibrant youths awaited inspiration from during the ENDSARS protest. He finally spoke...and it was a disaster as usual! Now to justify the deliberatedness of governments messy handling of the situation, he claimed that the youths wanted to remove him from power. With their fists? DELUSION at its peak!

He couldn’t stop himself anymore: he went on to blame LAZY NIGERIAN YOUTHS for his perpetual cluelessness, badluck and knee-jerk policies that have destroyed the once biggest economy in Africa handed over to him in 2015. He asked them to behave themselves or foreign investors won’t come in to create jobs. What works in this man’s brain before he talks?

Obviously, the virtue of thinking before one talks is lost on him. And it would be better if he remained silent henceforth. Many have described him as a mannequin. I think he should reflect that henceforth.

If the Boko Haram terror, the ISWAP killings, Fulani Herdsmen, Armed Bandits, Unknown Gunmen and his ill-conceived reactions and policies, like the recent banning of Twitter, haven’t and aren’t still driving away foreign investors, is it the youths protesting bad governance that are? Some presidents speak and listeners are inspired to patriotism, but Buhari speaks and his listeners wonder what happened to the little inspiration they thought they previously had.

Hnmm

A very long read, but I was patient till the end. Very busy now; I might comment later.