By Erasmus Ikhide
How does the line adjustment in presidential inauguration douse the relentless killings by Boko Haram and Fulani marauding terrorists across the country? Did the position adjustment burnish APC’s damaged image as political party? Your guess is as good as mine. You could blame Adams Oshiomhole if he had intentionally stepped into a designated space or line clearly written or meant for another higher personality than himself. He could be blamed if he had sat on a chair with protocol’s insignia clearly stating position other than his. It’s naivety to put the blame of poorly educated and inefficient protocol officials who failed in their duties on another man who seems to have worked into a booby trap.
I was constrained to ask a top brass of the nation’s security architecture who first shared the video of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s relocation on the line in order of hierarchy at the venue of President Muhammadu Buhari’s swearing in ceremony on Wednesday thus: “what is Nigerian security man’s day?”
He retorted mean-mindedly, “I just wanted you to be abreast of what’s happening at the Eagles’ Square.” My question, without a doubt, rattled him and those he might have convinced that it was a bad outing for the APC’s henchman. Strictly speaking, it is the other way round.
These pertinent questions can help diagnose how and where the nation falls into the dismal outing. First is, where were the protocol officials before the National Chairman of the APC strolled into the space supposedly meant for another individual?
Another question is what tangential democratic dividend does the position adjustment serve for the poor jobless youths on the street or the government itself that fulfils all its electoral promise to the people in the breach?
How does the line adjustment in presidential inauguration douse the relentless killings by Boko Haram and Fulani marauding terrorists across the country? Did the position adjustment burnish APC’s damaged image as political party? Your guess is as good as mine.
You could blame Adams Oshiomhole if he had intentionally stepped into a designated space or line clearly written or meant for another higher personality than himself. He could be blamed if he had sat on a chair with protocol’s insignia clearly stating position other than his.
It’s naivety to put the blame of poorly educated and inefficient protocol officials who failed in their duties on another man who seems to have worked into a booby trap.
Taking time out to convince and educate my man in uniform that it’s rather a sad day for the nation and the security organs in charge of what position on the line a state actor like the National Chairman of the ruling party should fall into on such auspicious occasion was heartwarming.
The social scale disruption on the presidential inauguration, if anything, speaks to the physical and psychological rupturing of the inner workings of the state architecture that orders orderliness, due diligence and regularity in state affairs.
Besides, why making Oshiomhole the fall guy? Worldwide, leaders on many occasions have fallen below expectations in areas of protocol, especially in unfamiliar spaces where they are strangers to the roles of the game.
A case in point is that of the US President, Donald Trump who suffered similar fate in his meeting with England’s Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. It also happened with the Yemen’s Foreign Minister Khaled Alyemany who fell victim of a protocol error in his sitting position during a Warsaw session on security in the Middle East a few months ago.
Nigerian leadership and the military apparatus should be concerned about insecurity plaguing the country and engaged in profitable business and economic growth that will elevate the human spirit than this diversionary tactics and perpetual battles of supremacy.
Making Oshiomhole or those who could probably fall victim of similar state failure is begging the question.
Erasmus Ikhide writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Email: ikhideerasmus@gmail.com Follow me on Twitter @ikhide_erasmus
