IRONICALLY, the more evidence that the power of PR will not always work for power, the more the powerful seem to depend on it to work wonders. Interestingly, the testimony of a publicity specialist on January 28 during the trial of the beleaguered spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, gave further insight into how PR can be made powerless.
Metuh has questions to answer in court on alleged fraud concerning N400 million that he received from the Office of the National Security Adviser in November 2014; and on alleged money laundering involving $2 million.
The Managing Director of a Lagos-based public relations company – CMC Connect – Mr. Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, who was a prosecution witness, said he got a publicity job from Metuh. Badejo-Okusanya told the court that his firm was engaged to develop and execute a media campaign to promote ex-President Goodluck Jonathan who was at the time pursuing a second-term dream. The witness said he was paid N77.5 million through Metuh’s firm, Destra Investments Limited, in December 2014, and that he began work towards the end of the month.
”The first part of the work was to get Nigerians to appreciate the roles of the military in the fight against Boko Haram, in general, insurgency,” Badejo-Okusanya said. He continued: “This was leading up to the Armed Forces Remembrance Day and we had insertions in newspapers, such as This Day, The Guardian, Punch, Vanguard, Daily Trust, Leadership and Sun…Thereafter, this was leading up to the Christmas season, so we had a campaign on TV stations wishing Nigerians Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We had it on Channels, AIT, Silverbird and NTA.”
In addition, he said: “We also wrote materials, which we titled: ‘FACTS Speak’. The essence of this was to draw attention to some achievements of the PDP. We also did a series of other materials which ran into January, 2015.”
At the time these promotional activities were being carried out, many Nigerians wondered about the wonders they were supposed to achieve for an administration that was a wonderful failure.
How did Badejo-Okunsanya get this job? He attributed it to his expertise in “image positioning management” and his relationship with the PDP. He said: “The President asked me a couple of questions and I remember telling him that there was a disconnect between his government and the people. He seemed to take everything in good faith…” The question is: Did the communication consultant honestly think he could communicate success, and successfully contradict the demonstrable reality of failure?
When there is a cosmic disconnect between the people and the government of the day, how much success can PR achieve in connecting the disconnected? Of course, this is not necessarily the same thing as reconnection, especially when there was never any connection.
There is no doubt that the Jonathan presidency was out of touch with the public pulse and paid for it. The administration learned the hard way that image laundering is not the same thing as image management.
Badejo-Okusanya’s account in a way replayed the 2014 controversy about the Jonathan administration’s contract with an American communications firm to cosmeticise its performance. At the time, Levick Strategic Communications was hired to employ its public relations expertise to make the Jonathan government smell like roses. For the initial one-year deal, Levick was to be paid $100,000 monthly (almost N16 million at the time) as professional fees.
On the scale of absurdity, the public relations goal of earning public respect for the Jonathan administration was extremely ridiculous. For the avoidance of doubt, truth-based PR cannot deny actualities, or erase them; and the actuality of Jonathan’s governmental failure was undeniable and unerasable.
There is an elementary lesson provided by bestselling authors and PR strategists Al and Laura Ries in their insightful 2002 book, The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR, which is instructive in appreciating the fundamental flaw in Jonathan’s media campaigns. Central to successful PR, the experts argue, is the idea that “publicity possibilities” should be fully exploited. In Jonathan’s case, where were the “publicity possibilities” that the administration could effectively take advantage of?
Relevant to Jonathan’s image are two celebratory international awards given to him recently, when the recipient is not considered award-worthy at home. He was decorated as 2015 International Person of the Year by African Sun Times. After receiving the award, Jonathan said: “In 2015, despite challenges, we held violence-free elections that transferred power from one political party to another and from an incumbent to the opposition, without rancour, bitterness or strife.” Correction: But there was so much rancour, bitterness and strife; it was a huge relief to many that the country didn’t explode.
Jonathan continued: “In the process, we proved that nobody’s political ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian or any national of any country for that matter. That, to me, is a most worthy testimonial of the character of the Nigeria nation and the resilience of our people, which is why I dedicate the honour to them.” The majority of Nigerians would most probably dissociate themselves from Jonathan’s so-called honour simply because it is dishonourable.
Then Jonathan was adorned with the President’s Award by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an African-American civil rights organisation based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Interestingly, Jonathan was recognised for his leadership in human rights, social justice and the universal fight for freedom.
Jonathan’s response: “I thank Dr. Charles Steele Jr, President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, and the executive of the SCLC for honouring me…It was also a pleasure to meet Naomi King, the sister of the late American Civil Rights leader and founder of the SCLC, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who was kind enough to attend the event and identify with the goals and aspirations of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation. By this award, I am further inspired to continue to work for the advancement of democracy, peace and progress in Nigeria and Africa.”
Jonathan’s track record as president contradicts the suggestion that he worked for the advancement of democracy, peace and progress. It takes more than self-preservation projected as self-sacrifice to be worthy of such credit. So he cannot talk about continuance.
If considering Jonathan worthy of awards and giving him awards can be interpreted as a continuation of the image laundering project, the public should perhaps expect more of such stunts.
Now that the public has witnessed how poorly PR can work for a change-resistant government that didn’t work, President Muhammadu Buhari’s change-based administration will need to show how well PR can work when the government is working.
NATION
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