Goodbye ”Arise O Compatriots”, Welcome “Nigeria We Hail Thee”, As Onanuga, Ngalele Test Power

By Ayodele Oni

President Bola Tinubu confirmed Nigeria, we hail thee as the country’s “latest national anthem” when he joined a joint sitting of the National Assembly to mark the Silver Jubilee Of Nigeria’s fourth Republic.

The President, joined the joint session of the national Assembly to celebrate 25 years of the new democratic dispensation in the country which began in 1999 after a very long stretch of Military Rule.

Accompanied by the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, top aides in the Presidency and Ministers, the President’s visit confirmed the earlier statement by one of, Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, that Presideny Tinubu would be part of the celebration at the National Assembly.

Another Aide, the presidential Spokesman, Ajuri Ngalele, had countered Onanuga’s statement in a terse release dismissing the content and even the author. Ajuri had written that “In view of public commentary concerning the President delivering a speech before a Joint Sitting of the National Assembly tomorrow, May 29, 2024, it is important to state that this information is false and unauthorized as the Office of the President was not involved in the planning of the event.”

The two contradicting statements   have shown that there is power play at the seat of power especially among the various aides of the President.

Ngalele was first to be appointed as Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity immediately after Dele Alake, current minister of solid minerals vacated the seat. He became the Presidential spokesman, that always speaks the mind of his principal.

Onanuga came on board thereafter with same office designation, almost, as Ngalele, also dishing out reports from the seat of power. Both of them have been coming out with statements on the activities of the president until Tuesday’s contradictory statements, which portrayed a perceived ongoing personality clash between the presidential spokesmen.

There is no doubt about the credentials and professional experience of Ngalele and Onanuga as the duo had paid their price in the profession.

From all indications, the offices of the two presidential aides are located right inside the presidential villa, the seat of power. The itinerary of the president, as the practice, after it is vetted by the Chief of Staff is expected to be circulated to all those aides that are directly working with the president, including the two spokesmen.

Onanuga’s statement was first to be released before  Ngalele’s  which dismissed the later as “false and unauthorized.”

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio had confirmed that

the joint sitting was primarily to launch the new National Anthem, explaining that the President would not be making a speech because he has to leave to launch the Abuja metro line.

Said an observer: “Let’s even admit that the statement by Onanuga was not authorized or approved before it was released to the public as claimed by Ngalele, the tone with which Ngalele dismissed the whole thing sparks a cold personality clash between the duo. There are two sides to a coin and in this business of journalism, every word, the moment it is released to the public has connotative and denotative meanings.

“There is no way the President’s activities will not suffer for as long as the two media aides are working at cross purposes. The reason for their appointments has become meaningless and useless for the office of the number one citizen. They should, while trying to please their godfathers, not allow the intrigues and dirty politics affect their assignments.”

As an endorsement of the “new” National Anthem, it was sang before the President left the National Assembly.