Neo cabal: Buhari’s broadcast originated outside Presidency

The Presidency may be going through a process of distortions in information management of the activities of President Muhammadu Buhari in the State, Abuja. Information management in the Presidency appears to have been taken away from the Presidential Media Team to other section(s) of the federal government. The revelation that the broadcast of President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday originated outside the Presidency raises a lot of questions about the structure of the State House in the post-Abba Kyari’s era. Abba Kyari was the Chief of Staff to President Buhari; he died of coronavirus infection.

Protesting the leakage of the draft of the president’s broadcast speech before the final copy which was recorded for broadcast, the Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, revealed that speech originated outside the Presidency. The presidential Media aides were relegated to editing the speech.

Though, Adesina concentrated on shifting blames of inherent inadequacies in the draft which were rectified in the final copy to external interests; he further declared war on the media over the use of the leaked unedited draft in their publications. However, recent broadcasts by the president contain inherent inconsistencies that were unprofessional of a rational government. For instance, in the earlier broadcast the President announced the enforcement of lockdown in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun states, part of the palliative measures was the feeding of school children while all schools in the country have been closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The federal government was then taking up the responsibilities of parents to feed children in the direct custody of their mothers and fathers, or guardians, as the case may be. Certain post-coronavirus era adjustments, for instance payment of interests on Tradermoni, Marketmoni micro loans, were also announced by the president the palliatives during the lockdown. These were at a time government were providing palliatives to citizens for immediate survival.

The inconsistencies have been generating caustic criticisms over the processes of public policies articulation and implementation by the president.

Adesina complaining of the discrepancies in the leaked draft and the official speech broadcasted by President Buhari last week, declared: “I made a few phone calls to those of us involved with the script, right from origination, which was from outside the Presidency, to final editing, which I did, and the conclusion was easy to reach. “Somebody had spirited out the original draft, which had gone through many stages of fine-tuning in terms of content and language, and thinking that it was a world exclusive in terms of artifice and underhand action, he fed it into the social media.”

Adesina noted that the perpetrator “forgot that in these days of technology, almost everything leaves a trail. Before the end of that evening, computer evidence had narrowed down the suspect, and he was already answering for his evil act.”

The S.A Media further stated that if the person that leaked the unedited draft of the broadcast had access to more sensitive national documents, he would do the same thing.

The presidential Media team has the responsibility of interfacing with the President, take note of his decisions or policy options on national issues, then, compile speech that reflects the president’s actions or propositions.

There are fears that a neo cabal be emerging in the government or pre-existing one may be adjusting and consolidating.

There are noticeable ‘language’ shifts in the president’s current broadcasts from the past when aides were doing the job of writing.