Do Not Pity Mallam Mohammed Idris, Minister Of Information And National Orientation

Attention: Professor Abubakar Siddique, Centre for Democratic Development Research And Training, Zaria, Kaduna

I watched with pain in my heart on Arise TV, how the elderly gentleman Professor Abubakar Siddique frantically tried to convey, with no scintilla of evidence, what could at best be said to be a figment of his imagination, that the government has plans to set up foreign military bases in Nigeria.

Since I am not a spokesperson for the government, I will not hold brief for it. Moreover, the only, and the most, authentic and factual government spokesperson has said in a signed press statement that Nigeria has no such plans. I think that is enough to serve. It also put paid to whatever conspiracy theory anyone is plotting to weave around the issue.

Unlike an elder who should stick to and speak to hard facts, Professor Siddique veered a little off track by saying “I pity the Minister of Information”

Sorry Prof. Sir, seems you know too little about the man Mohammed Idris, Fnipr, Minster of Information and National Orientation.

Mallam Mohammed Idris is a patriotic, passionate, well-educated, industrious and highly experienced Nigerian.

In Hausa, I repeat, “Mallam Mohammed Idris Cikaken Dan Arewa ne, Mai Kishin Arewa da Nijeriya kuma ya karantu, kuma ya goge a fanin diflosiya, harkar Jarida da Kasuwanci, ba kanwan lasa bane”

Like the gentleman elder professor himself, Mallam Mohammed Idris was also a lecturer at the higher educational level, he is very conversant with international diplomacy and holds the highest rank equivalent to a professor in the field of Public Relations, FNIPR (Fellow Of The Nigeria Institute Of Public Relations).

So, to say you pity the Minister of Information is to make him look helpless, which is a wrong impression, certainly, a man of his qualities, with qualifications and several multi-billion Naira businesses employing hundreds of Nigerians, cannot be helpless.

As a professor, if the assertion was backed up by hard facts and not mere conjectures, maybe it would have carried some weight, but hearsay remains hearsay and will die hearsay.

Haba, Baba Prof!

The elder gentleman professor didn’t stop at pitying the minister, he went further to claim that they don’t know, “what happens behind closed doors”

Haba Dattijo, what other closed door would be more closed than the Federal Executive Council of which all ministers are members with voting powers?

I am sure, the gentleman professor thinks Nigeria is still in the 60s when anything goes. Nigeria is a democracy, with Legislative and Judicial arms that have all the powers to check the Executive.

Baba Prof! Haba mana!

Anyway, the following words from, President Bola Tinubu recently when Mallam Mohammed Idris marked his birthday might guide the elder professor in his next public interview.

“Alhaji Idris has been at the forefront of the media and public relations industry as the Founder, Chairman, and Publisher of Blueprint Newspapers, and as the Chairman of Bifocal Group, a public relations consultancy, and Kings Broadcasting Limited, which operates the Abuja-based WE 106.5 FM.

“His role as General Secretary of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN) prior to his appointment as Minister accents his commitment and contributions to the media landscape in Nigeria.” The President added.