When former President Goodluck Jonathan made the infamous statement that stealing is not corruption, the whole nation went agog. The then opposition party (APC) had a free day and they tactically used it as one of the vital determinants to tarnish his image which was part of what led to his defeat at the polls.
Technically, stealing is not corruption and Jonathan knew what he was trying to say but the wrong choice of words ruined it for the ex President. When you take someone’s property without permission and with no intention of returning it, that is STEALING. But according to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and the ICPC Act, the first item that falls under corrupt practices is bribery in public and private offices. This can be further authenticated in Articles 15 and 16 of UNCAC and sections 8, 9 and 10 of the ICPC Act. Also in Article 19 of UNCAC and Section 19 of the ICPC Act, corruption is said to be an act of illicit enrichment, trading in influence etc. These further shows that stealing is not corruption but Jonathan wrong diction ruined it.
Now comes the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity who was given a simple task of explaining to Nigerians why the number one citizen will be working from home, and out of all excuses in the world, Garba Shehu settled for rodents. Haba Garba !!! How can rats invade and chase Mr President from his office for 3 months? Can rats dare chase Aliko Dangote away from his office for 3 months? not to talk of the number one citizen of a country as big as Nigeria. That was “Diction Gone Wrong” by the Senior Special Assistant.
Alternatively he could have just said that “In furtherance of President Buhari’s recovery, he will be working from his Official Residential Office for the next 3 months”. That would have saved the day for him and avoid all the needless attacks he subjected himself to.
Another disturbing scenario was when Alhaji Lai Mohammed the Information Minister gave reasons for not having FEC (Federal Executive Council) meeting recently. The Minister said the two-day public holidays declared for the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations left little or no time to prepare for the weekly meeting. Like they say in local parlance, the Minister “fall our hand”. There are better choice of words that could be used to give reasons for such cancellation. The FEC meeting is an important cabinet gathering where important national policies are made and at a critical point like this in our Nation, the last thing Nigerians wants to hear are flimsy excuses for things not being done. This is a case of limited vocabulary dexterity, another typical example of “Diction Gone Wrong”.
Its a pity Nigeria has not had a good orator in the class of Bill Clinton, Barrack Obama and the likes as a President hence it beckons on those saddled with representing the President to know what to say and when to say it. Applying the right words to make a bad situation looks palatable is the job of media aides and this should be taken seriously. They are the damage controllers to their principal, they should be well fortified with varieties of words and never be caught unawares anytime duty beckons.
The kind of politics we play in this part of the world is extremely dirty and this present administration got into power as a result of needless and constant attack of the previous administration. It should only be expected that the current opposition will want to get back at them by doing same. So all Media aides to President Buhari should be ready to defend the policies of this administration using convincing words at all times, but sadly that is not the case. We have a Femi Adesina who has being combative in nature, a Laurreta Onochie that is very insultive, a Garba Shehu that’s very good at throwing blames especially to the last administration and of course Lai Mohammed who a lot of people believe tell a lot of lies.
Please dont get me wrong, three of these four have had a blissful career in the journalism world and one should expect that they should be able to handle this job easily but research has found out that being a media aide is a different ball game entirely. It takes a lot of temperament, perfect understanding of the product (In this case policies of the government) you’re trying to sell and most importantly the application of the right words at the right time with respect to the yearnings and expectation of the citizenry.
To be candid, it is a tough job and you have to feel for them but the honest truth is that the job must be done and it must be done by somebody. In recent times, these four media aides to President Buhari have come under severe criticism and when you take a good look at what went wrong, you will realize that it was just a case of “Diction Gone Wrong” because better choice of words could have saved the day.
Even Rueben Abati (A former media aide to an ex President) testify to this fact when he wrote in one of his article titled “The spiritual side of Aso Rock”. He wrote and I quote “When you issue a well- crafted statement, the public accepts it wrongly. When the President makes a speech and he truly means well, the speech is interpreted wrongly by the public. When a policy is introduced, somehow, something just goes wrong”. As much as I respect Rueben Abati, I’m sorry I have to disagree with him on this. Rueben believes a well-crafted statement is all the public need to win them over, but he fails to realize that no matter how sophisticated a speech is, the ability of the speech or statement as the case may be to be able to appeal directly to the conscience of the populace is what matters. Abati blamed some demons dwelling in Aso-Rock for the constant misconception whereas it was a case of wrong policies understanding by the public and you only need convincing words to win the trust of the people for them to be able to key into the policies of the government. Dear sir, please permit me to say the challenge you had then was a problem of “trust” and you need the right choice of words to gain that hence it wasn’t a case of demons rather it was just a case of “Diction Gone Wrong”.
Nigerians have lost trust and confidence in our political class. This is as a result of the continued deceit they have subjected the masses to, and that makes it suicidal for any politician to employ a media aide with limited vocabulary dexterity to speak for him. A man with the right words can win over the heart of a lady even when she knows he is a casanova, that is exactly how important the right diction is to an average Nigeria politician.
Channels Television recognizes this and that was why they set up an academy, and the very set of students they had were media aides to some governors and top politicians. They were taught basically how to relate with the populace, how to win over the confidence of the people by first understanding the policy direction of their principal and using the right diction to explain to the citizenry in a way they will understand in other to win their trust.
A strong heart can easily be melted by the right words. As an office holder, knowing what to say to persuade an aggrieved citizen might be the magic needed to sell yourself and policies to the entire nation. Media aides across the nation should get their acts together and justify the heavy pay they receive, they should stop creating more problems for their bosses. For any administration to be termed successful, their media team needs to be top notch and in tune with modern vocabulary techniques to assist their principal in translating his/her genuine intentions to the people.
Erinosho Rotimi is an Economics and he wrote from Lagos.
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