GARBA SEHU, PMB AND THE UYO TRAGEDY

Since the letter of condolence that was purportedly written by one of Nigeria's finest, Mallam Garba Sheu on behalf of the President was brought to my attention, I have been in a state of flux.

No, not because of the unfortunate use of the word, congratulate, in a letter of condolence.

That was a grave mistake, but a mistake any human being, would make once in a while.

My grouse is that once again, this President has failed in a task as simple of reading over a letter that would carry his signature.

I have had the good fortune of working closely with people who trusted my judgement and abilities when it comes to drafting official documents. But I always insisted they go through the draft, and once in a while, one or two stuff I had overlooked, either punctuation or use of a particular word or phrase, would need adjustment.

In fact, one of them, now a Commissioner in a South West state, would rewrite the entire thing, correct it again and again, and then approve the original draft.

The message was clear: This document carries his signature, and its reception, good or bad, would reflect on him, not me.

When people commission me to write speeches or prep them for interviews, I always insist in using their own words. This is because the wrong emphasis on the wrong word, and the intended meaning goes out of the window.

Just like the plagiarism case, and many many other unmemorable speeches from this President, you have a feeling he reads them as written by the speechwriters.No attempt to go through, alter a phrase, replace a word, replace an entire paragraph.

It would also explain the obvious disconnect between government's policy positions and what the man says in public, especially when he is abroad.

It shows somebody who is neither a policy wonk, like Fashola, nor a Process enabler, like Amaechi. He is not inclined to the intellectual nuances of power, just its raw application, and therein lies the tragedy.

Don't get me wrong, not sweating the small stuff does not make you an ineffectual president, but it does create the perception that you could be led by the nose by those you trust, whether family or associates. Because they know you do not have the mental capacity to thoroughly vet whatever was put in front of you, once it has all the primer words, like integrity, anti corruption and Security.

Back to the letter, in the grand scheme of things, those labouring to use an unfortunate use of a word to hang the Mallam are just being naive.

Of course, people died. Just like they did in Adamawa and in Borno over just a couple of days ago.
But one of them ALMOST died!

Those other deaths are unfortunate, but that a sitting governor, a member of the Nigerian ruling class did NOT die was a source for congratulations.

So, it was not a mistake after all, just a Freudian slip!
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So leave the Mallam alone. His job is to write letters of condolence to governors if people died under their watch, but also to write a letter of congratulations if the governor escapes death by whiskers, only not on the same stationery!

May the souls of those who died in Uyo, and the earlier ones at the Synagogue, have eternal rest.
I would have written rest in peace in paradise, but they died in a church. That should be a given, right?

My Ten Kobo