Nigerians shouldn’t need to infer the president’s actions; Buhari’s PR team should keep us informed!

I recently came across an audio recording with one uncle acting as a one-man army of Buhari’s PR team; explaining the exploits the Nigerian president has done in his 21 months in office. It’s 15 minutes long, and usually I don’t spare the time of day for these things, but on this occasion I listened to the audio clip in its entirety, and I’m glad I did.

While I agree and approve everything in this message, it just irks that it’s the citizens that have to use their “church mind” to infer what the presidency is doing. There is no doubt that IMF bailouts and the price of crude oil propped us up for the longest time. Christine Lagarde “kiri-ing” her high-interest wares past our “doormot” every other weekend; we processed nothing; created nothing; manufactured nothing. The only thing that we manage to create freely – melanin, Nigerian girls have done their utmost to eradicate that too (shout out to Tura and Shirley; Toke Makinwa and tinz).

I know for a fact that the president’s media team know how to use the media to garner support or quash rumours. We know it because we saw them use it during the electoral campaign.

After securing the role of president, the level of support for Buhari was high. Nigerians would have gone without food or water for 3 days if he’d but asked it. People would take the current situation as a small price to pay for future financial stability and prosperity if the PR team explained all of this to us.

Obama was thwarted on every side by the Republicans but approval ratings continued to sky rocket because he did the PR – not just to become president, but even while “presidenting.” Even after being voted in for the second term; with nothing left to gain/lose, he continued to speak on mass shootings, kiss babies on the head, visit smaller, unknown US towns, and hold press briefings. Obama answered questions and let the people know that his regime was working.

If Buhari really is working for our good, why can’t he say so? If there is a good reason why kerosene now costs N500/gallon, why can’t Lie Mohammed inform us? And if indeed, Buhari has managed to start shoring up the national reserves once again, then why am I hearing it from some random Igbo man? If Southern Kaduna is starting to enjoy some modicum of peace and the perpetrators of evil have been rounded up, then why is it not on every national daily?

Transparency, feedback and being answerable to the people who voted you in would not kill the Buhari regime.