“I am very disappointed in the Nigerian press. They did not give this government the credit of the “Go back to the land” programme. We have cut down the importation of rice by at least 90 per cent.”
President Muhammadu Buhari reverted to first base recently when he picked on the press as responsible for the disbelief people hold about the various claims of his administration. He did so with one more whopper that the Federal Government of Nigeria under him has tried in vain to sell to the country. It is unfortunate that in trying to discredit the press, the president reverted to a falsehood for which his Minister of Agriculture earned so much opprobrium only a few months back.
Dislike of the media is a principal characteristic of the Buhari DNA. There is nothing new, therefore, in his latest rant. PMB as GMB enacted Decree 4 of 1984 that made truth-telling a criminal offence.
Buhari’s latest lamentation and battle cry evoke only déjà vu. It is incredible how in Buhari Nigerian history has been a series of repeated scenes in a long-running drama.
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Following the coup of December 31, 1983, by middle-ranking officers, they appointed General Muhammadu Buhari as Head of State. The press hailed General Buhari on his assumption of office as some in the medialacking sense of history did 30 years later in May 2015. The press, however, was in for a shocker with Buhari. In one of his first interviews, the new Head of State declared his intention to tamper with the freedom of the press.
Later he would state, “Yes, I told (slain editor of Newswatch) Dele Giwa that I wouldtamper with the press freedom and I fulfilled my promise, didn’t I?”He acted quickly.
The Buhari military government (junta in Soyinka’s disparagement) enacted Decree 4, the Public Officers Protection Against False Accusation Decree 1984. Decree 4 claimed its first and only victims in Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor of The Guardian newspapers. Their offence was revealing plans by the Government to implement changes in diplomatic postings, a story that was accurate. It only misplaced some names and postings.
The background to Decree 4 in Buhari’s words was his “disappointment” with the press. He claimed: “I was disappointed with the press. I was disappointed because some things are not supposed to be published. For example, if some illiterate brought toyou something very sensational and unbelievable, you must have the integrity to resist it if it is against national interest. If we were going to do any meaningful work, the situation of things in Nigeria in 1984 demanded that the press be dealt with”.
Now we are back again to a Buhari who is “disappointed” with the press. The basis of his beef this time is similar. He thinks the media have reported matters that he holds dear in a manner that displeases him.
An examination of the various claims of the federal government on this rice matter is very instructive. Buhari claims that under his leadership the Federal Government has so performed on the agriculture sector that rice imports are now down up to 90 percent.
The evidence of our eyes says otherwise. The rice stalls in our markets point to the dominance of imported rice by the same 90 percent that Mr President cites. The data also says otherwise. In making this claim, PMB cites Agriculture Minister AuduOgbeh. One can imagine the minister’s embarrassment. Earlier this year, Minister Ogbeh claimed that rice imports had so declined because of this so-called back-to-the-land scheme that rice mills in Thailand were closing. He even cited the ambassador of that country.
It was a big fat lie, as records would show. The Thais rebutted to show that no rice mill in their country closed down. Other records showed increased export of Thai rice to our neighbours Benin Republic and Cameroun. The Thais and their Nigerian importers were using the encirclement strategy to get the rice to Nigeria.
More importantly, the North is supposed to be the place where this agricultural revolution has happened the most. On March 24, 2018, a meeting of 16 Northern political groups put the lie to this claim. In their communique, they stated, “Agriculture shows limited glimpses of recovery, but almost entirely through efforts of peasants and antiquated processes. The North is completelyde-industrialised, while the rest of the nation moves towards sustainable growth and development. There is no evidence of bold thinking, strong political will and/orserious concern by any leadership at any level to reverse the alarming decline of the Northern economy.” In other words, the government had not done anything to move agriculture forward one jot.
The media should pay particular attention to the expressed disappointment of President Buhari. It follows a familiar pattern. In this age when an American President preaches hate for the media, leaders of other nations with a tendency to dictatorship and thus inherent dislike of the media for questioning them feel a sense of entitlement in speaking and acting against the press. Watch President Buhari closely. The leopard spot remains.
Chido Nwakanma
