Tag: President Jonathan

•President Jonathan should stick to written speeches at official functions

Right from the beginning of time when man began to set himself in groups and organisations, speech-making and addressing the public have remained the fulcrum of organising mankind. In the annals of man and his leaders, it has been recorded that those with the gift of public speaking had often ruled over the rest. The more dynamic and charismatic a leader is at the podium, the better he is regarded.

Man has over the years equated the gift of the gab – the ability to convert thought to fluent speech – to high intelligence. Though this may not be entirely correct, the world will always love a man imbued with flowing, dramatic speeches and grandiloquence.

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan is not so gifted with the wonderful art of the spoken word. This has been proven over and over again since Nigeria’s number one job was thrust upon him a few years ago. Once again last week, the president literally staged a verbal coup d’etat against himself, raising the hackles of his compatriots and listeners everywhere.

It was in Abuja at the Annual Interfaith Conference. Apparently addressing his audience off the cuff, and aptly commenting on the raging issue of the moment, the Ebola virus, the president went a little off the emotional handle as he spoke about the late Mr. Patrick Sawyer, the American/Liberian who introduced the virus into Nigeria.

“It is unfortunate that one mad man brought Ebola to us, but we have to contain it.” It is unfortunate that this was the president speaking at a function. But he wasn’t done; he drilled in the point when he advised his listeners about handling their dead. He said: “…This is why in my announcement; I‘ve been saying that people be careful about burials.

“Some people like burial ceremony. This is not the time for burial ceremony, somebody is dead, he is dead, leave him there. This is not the best time for those ceremonies. If he is dead, he is already dead, Sawyer that brought this Ebola to Nigeria; his sister died of Ebola, and he started acting somehow, his country asked him not to leave the country, let them observe him, but the crazy man decided to leave and found his way here.”

This manner of speech, in terms of its content, context and grammar is far below par, we dare say. Not any public figure or official is allowed the liberty of this level of drivel in a public function. What manner of an African man would describe a dead man in such terms as “mad” and “crazy”, especially when the deceased was an international personage and the circumstance has garnered some diplomatic tinge? Certainly not a great African president but there you have it in the glare of world media. We cannot conjecture what the president wanted to achieve by that plebian turn of phrase but let us say it was an honest error; the kind that has become our president.

After these years in the saddle, we must reconcile ourselves to the fact that Mr. President just does not have it, that he can’t possibly pull off his speeches from the cuff, thus he must quit trying. No leader would willfully choose to undermine and diminish his office if it can be avoided. We aver that the president and his handlers would do well to carefully write his speeches and rehearse them ahead of functions. Even the best public speakers still work very hard at their craft. The presidency is a nation’s symbol of pride and dignity; it must never be seen faltering and stumbling. Not in public.