THE leadership of the Nigeria Christian Graduate fellowship on Thursday has countered the response of Femi Adesina, spokesperson to the president, saying such ‘fine prose will pass any public relations (PR) examination as a good PR stunt”.
Their reactions followed the response of the spokesperson to President Muhammadu Buhari, Adesina who had criticised the statement of the Christain Association of Nigeria (CAN) as that mixing up biases and pointing fingers in the wrong direction.
CAN in a press briefing, following the execution of its top official in Adamawa Boko Haram, demanded an overhaul of the service chiefs who have shown their incapacity of securing the lives of the citizenry.
While CAN had accused the government of conniving with the Boko Haram set to ‘exterminate’ Christians, Adesina said its leadership should rather, ‘give credit where due’ over the state of security in the nation.
Adesina said the current administration has done a lot in fighting terrorism, though insurgency remains high the Buhari administration deserves some credit for making it better than what it was before he came into power.
However, the Christian group alleged his response exalted the president, rather than review the complains and demands of CAN and, the nation’s security management policy with the view to changing his team in order to rejig the system.
“What is special about his service chiefs that he cannot disengage them if not that they are serving his selfish interest?
“It is unfortunate that the president’s spokesmen do not understand the power of public opinion, but are well-schooled in the opposite which is propaganda.
In a statement issued by the group’s president, Charles Adisa, Adesina’s response to CAN was worrisome owing to his Christian faith and his knowledge of the truth.
“Herein lies the dilemma of the public relations practitioner. He is cut in the dilemma of saying and doing what he does not believe is right.
“It is the dilemma of the Adesinas that make some people wary of taking up image-making as a job not minding how juicy.
“Those that read Femi Adesina in his heydays as a journalist can attest to the fact that he is not the same person known to speak truth to power.
“What an unfortunate price to pay for accepting to package and maintain a product that is not only bacterial, fungal as well as virulent, but irredeemably putrefied,” he said.
The group accused the Buhari administration as a “government of condolences” who would rather be prepared on condolence messages to the bereaved than take a step to rescue victims of kidnaps.
The group enjoined the need to uphold the tenets of truth by custodians of information, and that “government image-makers” be trained on the best advice to curb the menace of insecurity in the country.
The group dismissed claims by Adesina that bomb blasts and killings in the Buhari administration are declining. He said the number of Nigerians killed by Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen between 2018-2019 is far higher than 2009-2014.
The group reiterated the need for prayers by Christians for a total decline in the menace of insecurity in Nigeria.