Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to President Mohammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, disclosed that President Buhari expressed some bitter-truth, which were reflective and ponderous at the National Day broadcast, on the occasion of Nigeria’s Diamond Jubilee.
Adesina said that the President, ‘fired on all cylinders. He said he was feisty and direct, without pulling punches or twisting his tongue. Adesina described it as a moment of truth and an hour of reckoning.
In his analysis of the President’s speech, he said that the president reflected on the past and made valid comments on the president. For him, the President went down memory lane revealing the kind of country the founding fathers anticipated, their hopes, aspirations, visions and expectations.
Quoting the President, he said, ‘Our founding fathers understood the imperative of structuring a National identity using the power of the state, and worked towards the unification of Nigerians in a politically stable and viable entity.’
Adesina noted ‘Where did we do the right things? Are we on course? If not, where did we stray and how can we remedy and retrace our steps?’ He envisaged that the country was threading the path of growth before it was stunted by a destructive civil war, which lasted for about 30 months.
He said that President Buhari traced the history of Nigeria down to the current time, highlighting the country’s struggles with diverse challenges, varying from population growth, which has skyrocketed from 45 million in 1960 to about 200 million as of present, and the implications for National security, unity, economy, and many more.
For him, The President laid emphasis on the fact that some of our problems are actually self-inflicted and man-made. In the words of the President, ‘Most of the problems we face have underlying cause in harping on artificially contrived fault lines that we’ve harboured and allowed to fester.’
He said, it is quite unusual to know that, those who idolise a Nigeria that had always needed continuous unification are the very ones that cause the greatest problems today. They claim our diversity has not been well managed, while they are the very ones coming up divisive tendencies and narratives.
The President affirmed that, ‘We need to begin sincere process of national healing, eliminate old and outworn perceptions that are always put to test in the lie they are.’
‘Together, we can do much more for ourselves, and for our country.’ Adesina rehashed President Buhari’s speech.
Adesina opposed the falsehood being peddled against the current President’s administration, he assured the people that a solid foundation being laid for the future, which ‘can only be sustained by the collective commitment of Nigerians.’
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He proceeded, by describing the President as a civil man. He said, ‘when some people launch bilious attacks against him and the government he leads, simply because they got ejected from their perch as permanent landlords of the country, the President orders you not to respond, and when he finally gives the permission, he says, do it in the most civil manner possible.’
Adesina said that but in the case of the National Day broadcast, the President laid many lingering insults to rest because he said, ‘Those who in 1999-2015 presided on near destruction of the country have now the impudence to attempt to criticize.’
He expressed gladness at the President’s position on the unity of Nigeria, he said that the President concluded the broadcast on a hopeful note. ‘As a country, we are greater together than being smaller units of nationalities.’ The President said.
Adenike Omosanya