FROM THE OBSERVATION TOWER : Tinubu’s unholy Trinity  By Femi Idowu 

By Femi Idowu

What I consider the most exciting aspect, thus far, of Tinubu’s presidency is the fanfare with which announcement of appointments is made.

At some points it’s actually treated as breaking news. I believe many members of the public also actually anxiously await the announcements.

This is unfortunate but in a way understandable. In a country where people have been seriously pauperised, in a country where hitherto thriving businesses continue to crumble due to rapidly degenerating economic conditions, in a country where having a Federal government appointment is perhaps the surest guarantee of regular monthly salary, that has to be the case unfortunately. To top all this up, is the expected job for the boys by a new administration.

I still make myself comfortable by thinking about BAT’s government as a new administration. After all they keep asking for more time to settle down for us to see the effect of their policies.

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For those who strenuously defend the administration, I’d like to ask them if they have forgotten that the life span for any administration in Nigeria is 4 years. There’s usually the possibility of a second term of an additional 4 years, all things being equal. That however gives an administration a maximum of 8 years. If an administration however takes more than half of the first term to settle down, to me, it’s an indication of certain fundamental issues not being properly addressed.

I am not sure how this administration is really doing with the lopsided nature of their appointments. I saw a very comprehensive list of Tinubu’s appointments recently, and the picture that came to my mind, straight away, was that of a Yoruba kingdom and I am not happy with that, and I am a Yoruba man.

What exactly is Tinubu trying to say with this Yoruba dominated appointments.

To me it’s like he is saying vengeance is mine…It’s like he’s saying what the Northern leaders did over time, as perceived by many southerners, has to be redressed overnight.

One of the major principles many of us were taught quite early in life though, is that two wrongs won’t make a right.

President Tinubu is not likely to be able to confirm with facts and figures that the vacancies have been filled by the most appropriate Nigerians.

Many Nigerians believe that party and possibly most importantly, ethnic considerations have been dominant in the appointments.

Not putting the right people in areas that require real expertise will always work against any system.

And that takes me to my point for emphasis in this piece.

Somehow President Tinubu hasn’t been able to pick a versatile, appropriate spokesperson.

The latest attempt is a triune arrangement, a kind of tripartite order, a sort of earthly trinity by which 3 people will be speaking for Tinubu and his government at the same time.

As a Christian, I have a clear idea of the Trinity- God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Three persons of the Godhead. They are coequal, always in total agreement- and so things work perfectly in that arrangement all the time.

I am not sure if Tinubu was thinking about the concept of the Christian Trinity when he made this new arrangement for effective communication for his administration. I have also been thinking about the possibility of his wife, a Christian, making the suggestion of 3 people, for balance, to handle this extremely sensitive aspect of governance. Or could it be the dominant Yoruba thought process in this administration that has led to the conceptualisation of the new information management/dissemination arrangement.

Could it have been arrived at via Ifa divination?

People of the Yoruba  extraction believe in the Adiro (Aaro) meta principle. Aaro meta are the three heaps (mounds) that constitute the structure of what at best I can call the traditional Yoruba stove- that’s their cooking arrangement that provides stability for the pot, on fire, while cooking.

Yoruba numerology has a lot of significance placed on number three as well.

Stability is of essence in the sensitive information dissemination arrangement of the Tinubu presidency.

We still don’t have the full story of why Anjuri Ngelale had to go, but we can talk about that at another time.

Tinubu’s trinity,in his desperate move to get his house in order is made up of

Sunday Dare- one time Buhari minister , is now special adviser, Media and Public Communications.

Daniel Bwala, a former spokesperson for the Presidential Campaign Council of the Presidential Candidate for the PDP in the 2023 elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is now President Tinubu’s Special Adviser, Policy Communication, and Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy.

A government statement notes that ‘all the three Special Advisers will collectively serve as spokespersons for government’.

The statement further notes  “This approach aims to ensure effective and consistent communication of government policies, decisions, and engagements.”

While I am sure that detailed job descriptions would have been given to each of them, as a Communications Consultant myself, I can see straight away that these guys are set up to fail.

There’s the likelihood of a lot of overlap in the actual day to day running of the Media and Communications apparatus of the office of the President.

Running that kind of office is never going to be a situation of 1+1=2

The announcement also does not indicate any form of hierarchical order among the three officers. They are all Special Advisers.

I am not sure if they will be reporting directly to the President or will have to go through the Chief of Staff.

Whichever way it goes I can see that Onanuga will have an advantage over the other two as he has been in the Tinubu camp for a longer period, although Dare too is not a stranger but they have 2 different paths. I am not sure how easy it will be for both Dare and Onanuga to bond with a former adversary, Daniel Bwala, who has  now warmed his way into Tinubu’s heart.

I am not too sure of how much of the real internal dynamics of the APC, Bwala is acquainted with. I am not too sure if he will not be very soon surrounded by lions…political lions.

That he is named Daniel will not help.

In a Communications setting, chemistry is usually of essence. As interesting as the job can be, it will be a high tension environment all the time, and that’s apart from the political complexities.

Looking at the 3 gentlemen and having read up at least to some extent on them, gelling is most likely to be a major issue. I am a little hesitant to say they could end up as strange bed fellows.

Since Tinubu restructured his Media and Communications outfit, one has really not heard much from the  ‘three musketeers’ in any meaningful way.

Onanuga continues to send tweets on presidential events, and in between, on a few other government activities. I really don’t consider that a job for an officer at that level… All he is doing is…the president said, he traveled, he returned. A fairly experienced reporter would do that conveniently.

I have listened to both Dare and Bwala being grilled by Seun Okinbaloye. All I saw them do was to justify their appointments and praise Tinubu to high heavens.

I have not seen anything I consider as as an assignment by a Presidential Spokesperson performed by any of them. Maybe they wish to be given more time to settle into their new roles.

Or is there actually more confusion in Tinubu’s Communications Camp?

Femi Idowu is a London based freelance Journalist.

He was one time Bureau Chief, NTA News, Ibadan Bureau.