SWITZERLAND, MAY 01 – At critical times in the history of a nation, the constant presence of its leader in face, body and voice provides motivation and inspiration.
History is replete with notable leaders like Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, Franklin Roosevelt of the United States and Nelson Mandela of South Africa, who rose up to the occasion at critical times with visionary leadership and rousing speeches that still inspire millions today.
As Nigeria grapples with an escalating COVID-19 pandemic, there are increasing calls for its top political leadership to be more visible. Both President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo are rarely seen in public while the country seems to be running on autopilot with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 reading the manual.
Today’s Echo gathers that the president has delivered a few recorded speeches since the outbreak began in Nigeria but that pales in comparison with the regular briefs from leaders of other countries, including African countries like Ghana and South Africa.
Indeed, the tepid, distant manner with which the president is ruling the country has given rise to the conspiracy theory that he is not the one in Aso rock but a double that was recruited to replace him after his death.
Many Nigerians have therefore, taken to the social media to demand for more visibility and action from the president and the vice president.
Responding to the embarrassing question on his boss’ whereabouts on the vice president’s spokesman, Laolu Akande on Saturday, said he has been attending to official matters on how to improve Nigeria’s economy.
According to Akande: “With my boss the Vice President last night in his office, reviewing some of the events of the week.
“By the way continue to ignore professional fake news conduits who share fictions about the whereabouts of the president and his Vice.
“The critical mass of our people see both the president and the VP regularly on TV, hear about them regularly on radio, read from them in the press and observe their activities regularly on the social media.
“For instance, on Thursday the VP held a videoconferencing meeting that included the governor of Kaduna, Power and Finance Ministers, the CBN governor and other government officials on how to expand electricity in the country.
“The work goes on, and Nigeria will surely prevail. We will do it together.”
Below are some of the tweets under the trending hashtag:
Leave a Reply
Today’s Echo is a versatile online newspaper based in Switzerland and committed to reporting the Nigerian experience across the world.
Feel free to send us your stories and requests. We can be reached through info@todaysecho.com
