LAI MOHAMMED: Savvy Communicator Gets His Reward

IT was Karl Marx, who once espoused the notion of the role of the individual in history. In essence, Marx’s postulation implied that while a greater number of people would be needed to bring about changes in history, the lot falls on certain individuals to define and espouse the ideas on which historic change would run. In a revolutionary context therefore, the individual carrying the burden of history would have to eat, drink and sleep the revolution. In the end, the man or woman entrusted with history burden has to invariably become an embodiment of change he seeks.

This notion of the historic role of the individual can be applied to the Nigerian context, especially with regards to the outcome of the 2015 Presidential election. As the jury continues to contemplate the reality of the earth shaking results of the March 28, 2015, it would have to give a substantial amount of space to the role of those men and women who insisted that Nigeria needed an alternative to the rudderless reign of the old guard.

The place of these individuals would for a long time engage the attention of scholars, pundits and even the voyeurs from outside Nigeria who predicted a tempestuous end after the polls. And their roll call will definitely include President Muhammadu Buhari, whose austere and Spartan disposition provided a stark contrast to the hedonism that characterized the defeated ruling party. There is also Bola Tinubu, who invested heavily in the change project, by mobilizing resources, electoral and otherwise to make the victory possible. The roll call of other bigwigs would include; Chief Bisi Akande, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, the APC governors, and their five colleagues who defected from the then ruling party, among hundreds of others.

However, there is the man who took charge of the realm of communicating what the change proposed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) stood for. He is Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC who would surely go down in history as the competent explainer-in-chief. It was Lai Mohammed’s lot to define the then ruling party to the Nigerian voter in ways that would make its rejection a forgone conclusion. Lai Mohammed went about this job with the kind of fiery passion that sometimes got him bogged down in the murky waters of partisan debates. The then ruling party was quick to play on the sound of his first name to give the impression that he was full of lies against a “performing” government. He was also taken to task when he attempted to create a different narrative at the time the government was making progress in its onslaught against terrorists in the North East. Mohammed’s critics insist that on national security, especially where the lives of Nigerians were involved, the then opposition spokesman should have been a little more restrained.

The knocks notwithstanding, Mohammed acquitted himself as a vibrant and effective opposition spokesman. In a challenging environment like Nigeria and considering the clout of the government in power, the role of the opposition is made much more difficult. But Lai Mohammed understood his environment. He leveraged on the power of constant messaging to shape perceptions. He gave the government sleepless nights by outplaying them in all departments. His strategy was to make any discussion a referendum on the performance of the government. Doing so meant that the contradictions within his own camp were not well scrutinized. Considering issue based attacks as the best form of defence, Mohammed was constantly on the offensive against the Presidency of Goodluck Jonathan. It is to the credit of Lai Mohammed that the tag of cluelessness became one of the albatross that Jonathan as President struggled to shake off. In the realm of strategy too, Lai Mohammed was light years ahead of the then ruling party and even the Presidency’s communications team.

While some would argue that as opposition spokesman, he was free from the responsibility of communicating in a nuanced and balanced way, the reality is that the APC spokesman understood that to have the upper hand, he had to pin the ruling party to the ropes all the time. And he did so brilliantly, so much that the Jonathan Presidency with all the resources at the disposal of its communications team was constantly on the back foot reeling from the hammer blows delivered by Mohammed. On the frontlines of the media war, things became so pathetic for the Jonathan Presidency that it could no longer speak with the confidence and authority of the government in power. Hurried responses to allegations lobbed at it by the opposition became the government’s sole response as it huffed and puffed, but failed to find a lasting answer to Mohammed’s strident onslaughts.

One glaring example of the tardiness of the Jonathan Presidency and by extension its communications apparatus came to light after the abduction of the Chibok girls. It was only when the opposition escalated the debate in the international media that a National Information Centre was opened. Incidents like those gave fillip to the opposition, while portraying the ruling party as not fit for governance. Lai Mohammed’s campaign against the ruling party was so clinical that when it was apparent that the newly formed opposition was on the front foot, the then ruling party decided to bring in a more assertive voice. The PDP and the Jonathan campaign ironically found this voice in Femi Fani Kayode, who in a streak of virulent attacks had earlier denounced Jonathan’s government. It was akin to self-immolation to make a man who not so long ago agreed with the opposition that the Presidency was directionless, the spokesman of the Jonathan Presidential campaign. Fani Kayode soon eclipsed all the other voices speaking for the Jonathan Presidency and its campaign. His was not a friendly voice; it was angry and dyspeptic. Fani Kayode constantly fulminated, riling at anyone who dared to point out the apparent flaws of the Presidency. With the entry of Fani Kayode, Lai Mohammed did not panic. He continued to lob allegations upon allegations, which were not convincingly refuted.

Still on the media front, there are scholars of communication who would be interested in studying the strategies deployed by the then opposition spokesman to ensure that his messaging resonated with the media. In fact, many news reporters would confess that Lai Mohammed makes their work easier by penning elegant prose requiring modest retouching to make the news. It is no wonder that when it was the APC taking the pot shot, the narrative tended to resonate more in the media. On the other hand, the releases and statements of the PDP struggled to catch up on this front. The hangover of this deficiency is glaring as PDP settles into its role as the opposition. Its communication of the fundamental national questions thus far, has been bereft of imagination, poise and craft that was seen from the former opposition spokesman.

So when Lai Mohammed appeared before the Senate last week to be screened as Minister of the Federal Republic, there was a certain touch of triumph to the appearance. He did not have to be drilled because many of the senators of the ruling party understood that this was the man that went before them to pave the way, using the power of information. He was asked to bow and go, and as he did, there was no doubt that he would be playing a key role in communicating the programmes and policies of government to the Nigerian people.

It is sufficiently clear that the former opposition spokesman would now have to creatively navigate from speaking for the opposition to speaking for the government in power. In place of the condemnatory tone that underlies opposition communication, as chief spokesman of the Federal Government, he would have to now learn to strike a conciliatory and national tone. Instead of the riling voice needed for opposition communication, as government’s chief communicator, he must now be measured and nuanced. Already, Mohammed seems to be priming himself for the task at hand. At the Senate screening, he recalled how harsh the defeated ruling party was to the opposition, but promised that the current governing party would give the opposition space to breathe.

As Lai Mohammed leaves big shoes for his party to fill in the publicity department, the new opposition PDP would be very glad to see his back. However, if not for the element of mischief in the idea, the PDP could give a thought or two to Mohammed’s offer of a free crash course on how to be a vibrant opposition. With Lai Mohammed speaking for the government, Nigerians would be eager for a vibrant and switched on opposition spokesman or woman to provide alternative views on governance. So far, the PDP has been sleep- walking. And the result is that the pulsating kind of discourse that is required for a contest of ideas in a democracy is missing. PDP needs its own version of Lai Mohammed; the earlier it recruits a fresh and competent face to play that role, the better for democracy and good governance.