I hate being critical, but seriously, the Democracy Day celebration held on Wednesday, May 29 by government and aired live on Nigerian Television Authority was a complete downer for me in terms of the chicanery, shallowness and cheesiness that were on display.
My angst began with the NTA, a TV station that is as old as Nigeria and which has traversed the technological evolution of two centuries and has refused to imbibe the technology that gives clear high resolution video and excellent audio quality. The same blurry video and poor audio I grew up associating with the national TV station is still part and parcel of a station that claims to transmit internationally and wishes to compete with the likes of CNN, BBC, Aljazeera etc. I would shout Hallelujah the day the NTA gets to half the standard of even South Africa's CNBC.
Getting past the quality of transmission, I settled down to focus on the programme content with the hope that I would be sufficiently cheered by some good, funky Naija performance. Unfortunately, the concoction that was packaged raised mediocrity, crassness and shallowness to an all-time high. For a ceremony where the present administration planned to present its mid-report card, I doubt if any rehearsal or what is professionally dubbed a"’dry run" with the President and other government officials who were playing key roles participating was done. Such due diligence is a sine-qua-non for any public presentation, especially when dealing with a viewing public that is pessimistic, cynical and always expects the worst. By watching public outings of President Barack Obama and other leaders in developed societies, our government image handlers should understand that showmanship is a significant element of excellent public presentation. When done excellently, it has the propensity to captivate and assuage the audience and possibly persuade it to have a more positive and charitable disposition towards the government.
For some reasons, I was under the erroneous belief that government had been listening to all the criticisms about this administration and expected to be wowed. Alas, it wasn't to be! Instead seasoned technocrats led by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, products of world class organisations and who know what it means to aspire to be the best, were busy mouthing meaningless platitudes like "transformation agenda", without elaborating on what had been done, nay transformed. If politicians and government officials take time to study the dictionary meaning of "transformation", they would drop the word like hot potato as it has no place in this administration's agenda. I know it is good to coat one's ambitions and aspirations or for that matter deceit with a catch phrase, but this doesn't fit and as O.J. Simpson's razor-brained lawyer, Johnnie Cochran, of the blessed memory, infamously said during his closing arguments in the double slayings involving his client: …"the gloves don't fit…and they don't fit, you must acquit."
My irritation reached a crescendo as picture clips of President Goodluck Jonathan and wife, Patience, were shown in various moments of togetherness. At this moment, I was completely bewildered as I became unsure if we were celebrating Democracy Day or the couple's wedding anniversary. I tried hard to find a correlation and the only explanation I could find for that gaffe was our usual propensity to play sycophancy and employ clowning to fill the voids in serious governance matters. The ludicrous video ended with the sickening statement, "Where there is a lucky man, there is a woman". By this stage I had had enough of watching the burlesque packaged by the government to celebrate our democracy and flipped channels.
Seriously, this "good luck" thing has been taken to a ridiculous level and Mr. President must realise that this constant pun on "good luck” by his handlers is seriously denting his image and must cease forthwith. It is utterly devious and cruel on their part to continue projecting our President as a man who thrives solely on luck as if intellectuality, hard work, drive, passion to excel and charisma are alien to him. Do we realise how pitiful and lustreless it portrays the President, as if his life has been one long gamble with luck smiling on him at every occasion? Can we then assume that we have put the Nigerian Project into the hands of a gambler? So, when his luck shines, the country glows; when luck takes a flight, what then do we do? For somebody who has aspired to the position of Number One citizen in Nigeria and won, to attribute it to "luck" is certainly doing the President a great disservice and should be stopped forthwith. The "good luck" image boy has outlived its usefulness and has become a burden for Mr. President. For his sake and for the generality of Nigerians who want to view our President with pride, this should cease.
It is not wrong then to conclude that there is the urgent need to rebuild and transform, no pun intended here, the President's image. The First Lady should also be included as a collateral asset. Most of her reported gaffes go with a lot of collateral damage for the administration and for the nation; or she could elect to stay in the background and be silently supportive of her man. However, in the spirit of affirmative action for women, I would rather she be seen; however, this time around, as a genteel woman, whose every action is a reflection of sterling qualities from which fellow women can take a cue – a woman of taste, finesse, who shuns infamy and needless controversy.
All in all, the bit of the Democracy Day celebration aired live on NTA my system could stomach was all hogwash. No effort was made to celebrate democratic values we have been able to enthrone after 14 years of practice. Evidently, there was none. At least, the 35 governors showed us last week how undemocratic our democracy has been. Such a shame!
•Ms Okafor wrote in from Central Area, Abuja via dechins@yahoo.com
