Garba Shehu, see real banana republic?

With Sam Nwaoko

IN 2012, Mallam Garba Shehu wrote an article titled: ‘Mango people in banana republic’. Mallam Shehu wrote the Today column in the legendary Nigerian Tribune newspaper. His ‘Mango People in Banana Republic’ appeared on Monday, November 12, 2012 at the Nigerian Tribune. It was both a lament and a celebration. Yes, it is the same Mallam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari. He also once wrote weekly articles celebrating the country and also assessing the performance of governments. He wasn’t in government and he didn’t usually write good things about the government at the time. He was one of those described as “watchdogs” that the federal government, led by Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and his PDP, made fun of.

In the article, Garba Shehu opened with vivid images of a recognizable Don Quixote: “Have you seen a man negotiate the price of a garden hose while his house is on fire? That is the Federal Republic of Nigeria for you!” In the article, he described a situation where a man would waste all the attention his burning house needs and run after rats. The Yoruba will describe such jest mildly, saying that such a man allowed the leprosy to fester while he labored to kill the ringworm. Well, that was what Mallam Shehu said in “Mango People in the Banana Republic” when he claimed that while there were reports of “mind-boggling corruption in the country’s oil sector, our officials didn’t seem to care, but instead focused to interpersonal and ego wars and academic debates about whether oil should be projected at this or that price.

While keeping those images in mind, let’s take a look at another picture painted by the same Garba Shehu on Wednesday, November 21, 2012. Mallam Shehu gave us the second photo through his Today column in the Nigerian Tribune, published on the back page of the legendary newspaper. The title of that work leaves us with all we need to know and ponder: “A president’s detachment from reality.” But for a better understanding, he put us in a favorable position to take a closer look at his thoughts on the federal government of the time.

Except for those wet behind the ears, Nigerians know that Jonathan’s cries at the time for not dealing with the thugs in the oil sector and for his lethargy in fighting corruption are all academic shows. Nigerians should decide which of the two presidents has made any significant difference in the areas that our dear Mallam Shehu has pointed out in our national life. He is also in a better position to train us now that he has led and spoken for the Buhari administration for a total of eight years. He also once asked “whether the forces of corruption are not stronger than the state” and today’s Nigeria offers federal government spokespersons a chance to educate us about what is really going on at the seat of power.

What does banana republic mean? Or, what does Garba Shehu mean by “banana republic”? An online dictionary said that “banana republic” is “a small nation, especially in Central America, dependent on only one crop or inflow of foreign capital.” However, the online dictionary pointed out that the definition is derogatory. Another dictionary, Webster’s New Encyclopedic Dictionary, defines ‘banana republic’ as “a small dependent country, usually in the tropics; one in particular walks despotically. These images were brought to us by the presidential spokesman when he was not yet in government. It’s reality time and Mallam Garba Shehu is now on the other side of the canyon. He can no longer speak of a president’s detachment from reality, nor can he now see the mango people in a banana republic.

Before we descended into this present vale of tears, we had some clues to this gritty place early in the life of the Buhari government. At the time, Nigerians expected a government to take off. But when the government hit the ground running and got stuck, they were disappointed. A government that they had expected to act swiftly in dismantling the many castles of corruption and ineptitude they believed Goodluck Jonathan had built was rather ultra-sluggish, barely moving a limb. There were these muffled cries and odd wails at what pretended to be a lazy, slow and arrogant government as it rolled over 100 days. But Mallam Garba Shehu reminded us that Buhari made no specific promises and denied the promises in the booklets titled “One Hundred Things Buhari Will Do In 100 Days” and “My Covenant With Nigerians”. He also said that Buhari himself rejected the idea of ​​100 days because he could do something about the very high expectations in 100 days. Shehu also said that the APC was campaigning with so many public communication centers, some of which were on the loose. We were warned.

One of the people who also gave Nigerians the short end of the stick – and actually gave it to the population – was Mr. Okoi Obono-Obla. Maybe you forgot him. He was a member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council and a vociferous champion of the good that was the APC. Indeed, Obono-Obla was a hyperactive trumpeter of the pre-2015 APC and that time immediately after the Buhari government was formed. Responding to the Nigerians’ unease that the government was not showing the first signs of a functioning government, he chided the Nigerians for expecting too much too soon, and blamed the Nigerians’ desire on “the forces of corruption ‘. Obono-Obla reinforced Buhari’s denial of some of the promises that had driven him to the Aso Rock Villa. As Obono-Obla put it: “We know nothing about the document. I was on the APC Presidential Campaign Council and there was no document that came from the Presidential Campaign Council stating that the President will turn Nigeria into a country of milk and honey.”

Like Garba Shehu, Mr. Obono-Obla came up with similar verbal theories to prove that Buhari was not making those promises to Nigerians. In the same vein, Shehu has been at the forefront of the legion that believes Nigerians are not yet frustrated with the government. He knows that at worst, by the time the anger bursts at the seams, it would be May 29 and they would have packed their “garbage bags and barrels” and left the presidential mansion. By the way, where is Okoi Obono-Obla now?

Gabrba Shehu’s ‘Mango People in Banana Republic’ is now child’s play compared to the chaos the Buhari government has thrown into the country in nearly eight years. The ordinary Nigerian can now no longer listen unquestioningly to the sermons of the Buhari government. Nigerians now take the government’s views with a grain of salt. They know the difference between cash in hand and cash in the bank. Nigerians now know the difference between gas station and gasoline in gas station. Nigerians to whom Garba Shehu explains the reports of the stoning of the president’s convoy in Kano know how they feel. He said nothing about the earlier reports of stoning in Katsina.

It is fate that has caused the stoning incident in Northern Nigeria to happen. If this had happened somewhere in the South, it would have been easier to spin the story to read that it was either an angry, desperate Bola Ahmed Tinubu or an IPOB-supporting Peter Obi who led innocent Buhari devotees to riot. come against their god. That nothing like this has happened in the south could be because Buhari has not come south since the current shadow of confusion enveloped the country.

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