History was made in the Villa on Monday when President Muhammadu Buhari hosted State House correspondents to a lunch to mark his one year in office. He had earlier met separately with editors of selected newspapers and members of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria.
That gesture was a rare one. Outsiders often believe that reporters enjoy the affluence that they suspect pervades the seat of power, but the opposite is the situation. Most Presidency officials treat journalists with disdain and suspicion for reasons best known to them. When events such as dinner or lunch are held, chairs and tables would be marked and reserved for different categories of people, except journalists.
Things got to the peak in the recent past when a former top government official said it openly that since journalists attend such events to get stories, they should not enjoy the luxury of sitting down. “Even if it means they should stand on the roof, the important thing is for them to get the stories,” he had said brazenly.
Coming from this background, many of us were pleasantly surprised that Buhari decided to not only meet with us, but also have lunch with us. We saw it as a case of the rejected stone that suddenly turned to the corner stone. The venue of the lunch was the Presidential Banquet Hall where we had been standing or leaning on the walls to cover events. The N2.2bn edifice was built by the last administration without a provision for press gallery. The space that looked like a gallery has since been turned to a stand for members of the Guards Brigade who always provide music during state functions.
This time however, we sat conveniently. The President walked in at exactly 12noon with some of his aides. With the preliminary formalities over, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, announced that, “the food is ready, that is why we are here.”
There were enough to eat and drink. Shehu also did special recognition for two people in the hall. First was an octogenarian photojournalist, Alhaji Abubakar Ladan, who has been covering the Villa since the days of yore. He is arguably the oldest among the over 100 journalists accredited to cover the President’s activities.
The second person so recognised was a director in the Presidency’s Media and Publicity Unit, Mr. Justin Abuah. He has been responsible for churning out most of the press statements emanating from the Presidency. He has also been doing that for years. The President joined in applauding the two men.
Then came the time for the President to talk to us. He touched many issues that were reported during the week. But one aspect that interested me most and which has not been reported much was when he encouraged us to be grilling his guests after meeting with him. He advised us to always do researches on his guests with a view to asking them critical questions. In doing that, Buhari said his guests too would be forced to do their homework well before coming to face us.
With the President’s remarks over, he proceeded to the entrance of the venue where he shook hands with all of us one after the other. As he shook my hand, the President said, “thank you for coming” as if I had a choice or I did him any favour for attending. But I also gave myself a sense of importance when I replied, “the pleasure is mine, Your Excellency.”
Buhari, Tinubu and APC leadership
Later in the evening of that same Monday, the President also hosted members of the two chambers of the National Assembly to a dinner inside the colourfully-decorated old Banquet Hall of the Villa. It was still in commemoration of Buhari’s one year in office.
Apart from the federal lawmakers and top government officials, national officers and leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress also joined the President. They included the former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; and a national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Apart from the wining and dining, there were some high-points of the night. These included when the embattled President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, was invited to give his welcome address. Senators loyal to Saraki clapped loudly for too long to the extent of causing murmuring among other persons present. Saraki caused a loud laughter when he said he expected that the food and drink would be sumptuous because the 2016 Budget had been passed and signed into law.
The joke that caused the loudest murmuring for the night was the one cracked by Buhari himself. He was going through the protocol list preparatory to delivering his remarks when he suddenly had difficulty in giving Tinubu a proper designation. He apparently did not want to address him as the national leader, so the President said, “Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, we are contesting the leadership of this party, so he is one of the leaders of the party.”
Some attendees again laughed while some others read between the lines. When you juxtapose this statement with the argument between the Presidency and the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, when he was still the spokesperson for the APC on who is the leader of the party between Tinubu and Buhari, you will understand the context of the speech.
Despite the elaborate preparation made for the dinner, many lawmakers did not turn up therefore leaving many chairs reserved for them vacant. Prominent faces that I did not see that night included those of the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu; Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio; and a former Kano State Governor, Senator Ibrahim Kwankwaso among others.
When Senator Ben Murray-Bruce arrived the venue, he walked towards the back and read the inscription on the big banner they used as backdrop on the stage. He retorted, “what did we come to do here?”
He later went on Twitter to allege that a security operative stopped him from exchanging pleasantries with the President. The man popularly known as “the common sense senator” must have been pained because the first time Buhari hosted senators to a dinner inside the new Banquet Hall, he was one of those who had a good time exchanging pleasantries with the President. At that first event, he ensured that he shook hands with all those on the high table.
Some of his colleagues in the Senate have explained the circumstances at which he was stopped from greeting the President. For me, that incident was not new. It also happened during the last administration at the same venue.
It was at the peak of the crisis that had led to the polarisation of the Nigeria Governors Forum. The then Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, had attempted to greet former President Goodluck Jonathan but was stopped by security operatives. When the incident became public knowledge, Jonathan’s ex-aide, Ahmed Gulak, justified it by saying that Amaechi arrived the venue after the President was already seated contrary to protocol.
Murray-Bruce’s case only confirmed the saying that there is no longer anything new under the sun! Enjoy your weekend.
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