Page 10 of The Tide newspaper of Monday, November 4, 2019, carried some vital news items of which two will form the focus of this article. \u201cPresidency Lists Gains of Buhari\u2019s Foreign Trips\u2019\u2019, and \u201cMiyetti Allah Not Above The Law\u2026\u201d Those who know the style and strategies of news management would give the President\u2019s spokesman, Garba Shehu credit as being an astute PR guru and perhaps, a spin doctor.
\nThat President Muhammadu Buhari departed Mecca for United Kingdom after successful performance of the lesser Hajj, makes a straight news, from a professional journalist. But the import of the fact, \u201cBuhari would be in London for a private visit and will return to Nigeria on November 17\u201d, was drowned in \u201cGains of Buhari\u2019s Foreign Trips\u201d. Rather than the financial and other implications of such private visit to the United Kingdom for a country spending over $1billion to service debts, the \u201ctake away from the President\u2019s foreign trips\u201d makes cheering news.
\nIssue about the purpose of the private visit, its costs to the Nigerian economy and the tax payers as well as the health status of the President, are not meant for public consumption. Rather, Nigerians should rejoice because the world\u2019s largest oil operating company, ARAMCO and its chairman, Yassir Al-Rumayyan, asked Buhari, \u201cwhat can we do for you?\u201d Buhari\u2019s response was to invite ARAMCO to visit Nigeria and carry out a diagnostic assessment of NNPC refineries, pipelines and other infrastructures.
\nBusiness prospects and gains are bound to arise when a President participates in the Future Investment Initiative (FII) and \u201cDavos in the Desert, to talk about \u201cWhat\u2019s Next For Africa\u201d. How will investment and trade transform the African continent into the next Great Economic Success Story? The answer lies in foreign trips and talks.
\nAny intelligent analyst looking at what transpired in in the Saudi Kingdom during President Buhari\u2019s visit would conclude that Yassir Al-Rumayyan and his ARAMCO are making an in-road into Nigeria\u2019s oil and gas market. Especially with the status of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill and interested parties waiting to invest, it would not be difficult to know why Al-Rumayyan asked: what can we do for you?\u201d
\nWhat is of vital importance in Garba Shehu\u2019s listing of the gains of President Buhari\u2019s foreign trips, apart from the London private visit, is the possible coming of ARAMCO into Nigeria\u2019s oil and gas industry. The strategy was to present this \u201ctake away \u201c or gain from the Saudi Kingdom, but divert attention away from the cost implications of the London private visit.
\nWhen an old class mate at the School of Oriental and African Studies called a few days ago and talked about my country \u201cmoving towards the Arab World\u201d, the call carried more significant message than what was voiced. Apart from the \u2018take away\u201d that we expect from ARAMCO, Nigeria is a celebrated member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). So, my country moving towards the Arab world and Islamic Brotherhood does not make an exciting news. We already have the Western World as old friends, which accounts for why our leaders often go to London on private visits.
\nThe other news item about Miyetti Allah not being above the law also contained serious implications. The National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore (MAKH), Alhaji Abdulahi Bodejo was said to have made utterances that were inciting and direct invitation to anarchy in the country. He was quoted as saying: \u201cyou are a governor and you want to enjoy peace in your state, you do not need any long meeting, just create a particular area for the Fulani and equip them with modern amenities\u201d.
\nAlhaji Bodejo was referring to Governor Ortom of Benue State, with regards to the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law. Bodejo asked Governor Ortom to \u201capologise to Fulani in Nigeria for killing them, for destroying their businesses and damaging our names\u2026\u201d He went on to say that \u201cwe are in court because we can\u2019t allow that law to work\u201d.
\nWith regards to the news items about \u201cgains of Buhari\u2019s foreign trips\u201d and Miyetti Allah not being above the law, there is a need for the managers of the affairs of Nigeria to admit that there are issues of serious national concern. We must not wait until we get involved and engulfed in crises situations before realistic actions are taken.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Bright Amirize<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Page 10 of The Tide newspaper of Monday, November 4, 2019, carried some vital news items of which two will form the focus of this article. \u201cPresidency Lists Gains of Buhari\u2019s Foreign Trips\u2019\u2019, and \u201cMiyetti Allah Not Above The Law\u2026\u201d Those who know the style and strategies of news management would give the President\u2019s spokesman, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":188968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,26],"tags":[688],"class_list":["post-220239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-front-pix","tag-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=220239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/188968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=220239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=220239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=220239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}