Giving the President a befitting welcome

When children in a household hear daddy is calling them, imagine the picture that plays out in their mind, as they argue about what he wants to give, commend or reprimand them for.

This was the case last week at the Aso Rock when Baba asked to see his children. As expected, they all came with different expectations that would later be cut short.

At about 1:30pm on Wednesday, I noticed buses filled with people driving through the gate of the State House. When they disembarked they numbered over a hundred or maybe two. They were staff from the twelve different units in the State House.

Most had no idea why they had been summoned, all they knew was that it was their turn to finally meet with the President. They were excited.

Some confided that a circular had been issued that morning directing them to attend an “emergency meeting” with President Muhammadu Buhari.

They were thrilled.

The only time they gathered like this during the last dispensation was at the twilight, they already knew the meeting was to curry for their votes. Thankfully, this was not an election year.
Many of them turned up for the meeting hoping it would be a heart-to-heart talk, where they would have the opportunity to discuss welfare issues and other matters with the President. For some, it was the excitement of seeing him closely for the first time since he resumed.

Well, there were some pessimists who were so sure he was going to give them a history lecture that they had listened to over the news one time too many. They were not wrong.
They stood in smaller groups talking under the scorching sun. I listened. A lady tried to make light of the situation, she said to her friends ‘be calm, we will receive a lecture of how he met the Nigerian treasury empty, how the past administration milked the country dry and how we must be patient’. It was almost a case of taking a bet while they waited for the President to finish from the mosque and address them. As is the tradition with him, the President showed up right on time, 2pm. First, he expressed displeasure about the whole arrangement of
the gathering, leaving staff out under the sun.

This excited the crowd, some chanted ‘sai baba’, others ‘you are really a father’.

Some of the staff were shocked when the President’s spokesman who compeered the meeting, said the staff had come to give him a befitting welcome from his vacation. The State House Permanent Secretary, Jalal Arabi, who led the delegation also concurred that they had come to formally welcome the President from his vacation and reassure him of their commitment to integrity, accountability and most importantly the fear of God.

Then the President proceeded with a speech that was to address Nigerians and not just this particular group of people, who had paid him a courtesy call.

The resounding cheers and claps that filled the air when the President showed up quickly subsided like pockets of rainfall here and there.

People were sweating profusely and some were dizzy from both standing for long while fasting.

I silently wondered why they couldn’t hold the meeting at the old banquet hall which would have provided enough space to sit and shade too, though it may not take them all in a sitting position or better still meet them in two batches. I reminded myself they had come to welcome the President and not vice versa.

Ok, so the President went on and on about how he met the coffers empty and how because of the high price of oil then Nigeria lived above her means and could not save. He read the riot act too. “If you behave well, you will not be embarrassed, if you want to do otherwise, take a cue from those being prosecuted.

“To have integrity or some peace of mind as a civil servant, you must not have houses in Abuja or in Europe, you must also not try to shortchange government.

“If you don’t have houses in Abuja and the whole of Europe, you will sleep soundly. You and your family will earn respect. But if you shortchange the treasury, you will be caught and I pity your family because people will be abusing them.

“People will be calling you big thieves that how did you raise money to build all the houses in Abuja and Europe with your meagre salary,” the President said.

A great admonition for civil servants. “Those who behave themselves will never regret, but those who don’t behave themselves, na their
problem”.

The President thanked them for coming to welcome him from his “health break” and said they could be the judge of whether he looked better before or after his trip, adding “you are the judges, perhaps I look healthier than I left or I came back worse, it depends on your personal opinion”.

After his speech. The meeting ended. No questions, no opportunity for any other business as some preferred to call it. Some of them even shouted out, no photo opportunity? Others wondered aloud if that was all. They left expressing all sorts of views as to why they had been brought for this kind of sycophancy in the first place.

Well, I too left there wondering why the whole staff numbering hundreds would be brought out, shutting down most units to welcome the President who had returned from his vacation since Sunday. They should have gone to give him a rousing welcome at the airport if that was the case.

Why welcome him from this particular vacation, which his handlers have constantly drummed for us to hear that it was not a medical vacation?

This is his second vacation in the last one year. Maybe, this is the kind of welcome he would get every time he returns from a trip. His
children will gather together to give their father a befitting welcome.

Just before we put this matter to rest, the President himself said it again that he returned from a “health break”. Please stop telling us the President was not sick, rest the matter and let’s move on.