There is a saying that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. So maybe we should just accept President Muhammadu Buhari as he is--warts and all—and keep cutting him more slack because he would never change who he has become at 76 years of age.
However, to do so would mean abdicating our individual responsibilities as gatekeepers who should continue to hold government officials and elected leaders to account, irrespective of our partisan leanings.
I am yet to read an explanation from Buhari’s aides on why the nation’s number one citizen left the Eagle Square venue of his inauguration without leaving us with a speech.
What then is the whole point of getting sworn-in in the first place in public, if you are going to say absolutely nothing? He could well have been sworn-in secretly in some shrine and without the nation having to cough out millions of Naira to television networks for a live coverage of the event.
Inauguration ceremonies are a big deal because they present the leader with an opportunity to speak to the people directly, to rehash some of his campaign promises, to rally the base, to inspire, to stir up hope and to assure.
People want to hear their newly sworn-in presidents speak to them on the day they take the oath of office. They want to listen to him assure them that he can safely navigate the ship to pastures new. Words are powerful and that's why speeches delivered well, have so much impact and can influence how people behave.
Buhari is glum and uninspiring. He was probably born that way and trying to change him now would amount to an exercise in futility. But he can at least talk or say a few words at least on big occasions. He can pretend that he cares. He can show that he is not as arrogant as people say he is. He can deliver a speech on big occasions because he is taciturn and doesn’t speak to anyone most of the time. He shuns the local press and only speaks to the foreign media when he embarks on one of his numerous junkets.
There is a reason why communication is an essential instrument in the toolkit of any leader. Buhari often comes across as though no one else matters but himself. As though he wouldn’t be bothered. But when you are elected for a second term in office, you at least owe the people who elected you a few words on your big day. You've got to be freaking bothered.
As I put this piece together, I was informed that President Buhari is on his way to Saudi Arabia for a meeting! Classic!!! Just classic. To jet out of your country a day after your inauguration for a second term in office, just makes plenty sense, doesn’t it? Who are this man’s advisers? Anyone?? Could anyone else have made the journey to Saudi Arabia for the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) discourse in Buhari's stead? No? No one?
Scorn and contempt best qualify President Buhari’s decision not to deliver a speech to the people he leads on May 29, 2019. Unfortunately, we’ve seen enough disdain from the nation’s number one citizen that we have become inured to it all. But we shouldn’t.
That’s the point. We really shouldn’t anymore.