By Dan Agbese
The late premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna Sokoto, was once quoted to have said that it was his duty to blow his own trumpet because other people were busy blowing theirs and would not bother to blow his own for him. There appears to be some unquestionable wisdom in that. President Muhammadu Buhari appears to have missed it. He has relied on his appointees to blow his trumpet, but they have failed him.
On
his working visit to Imo State this week, the president opened up on his
frustration with the men and women in his administration for failing to trumpet
his achievements in the past seven years as president. He has done titanic
things worthy of being loudly trumpeted within and beyond our shores. Still,
the trumpet is silent. He has waited this long and these many years for the
president’s men and women to loudly blow his trumpet. All he keeps hearing is
the rich sound of silence. He said: “Those who should be speaking about my government
are not doing so.”
That is criminal. Why will the trumpeters padlock their lips as if they were mere observers in the administration whose achievements rub off on its appointees? One could offer one of two possible reasons for this. It is either that (a) his appointees are busy blowing their own trumpets they forget that blowing their principal’s trumpet is a duty incumbent on them or (b) they see nothing worth trumpeting in the sterling performances of the administration. If the president knows what he has achieved and his aides do not, there is a serious problem, I tell you.
