Thread by @nwaoma007

Of Strategists And Advisers

1./ “This is a terrible idea Your Excellency. Involving the military at this time is the worst move we could make.” Hamid spoke in low urgent tones hoping he could convey his sense of alarm and the importance of restraint at this delicate time.

2./ His well-honed instincts warned him that the country was poised on the knife edge and that any wrong move would have too many unforeseen long term repercussions.

He was the youngest adviser on the team but he didn’t consider it a disadvantage.

3./ In fact, often he viewed it as a strength; particularly when he had to counter some of the advice given to His Excellency.

It frustrated Hamid that the older members of the president’s advisory team thought they could run a country like Nigeria,

4./ a country with a predominantly youthful population which was plugged in to current global trends as if it was still largely peopled by people his parents’ age. Why wasn’t the obvious as apparent to these people as it was to him?

5./ He couldn’t make up his mind as to whether they were dinosaurs, ostriches or a dangerous combination of both. But he knew that a lot of the ideas they proffered could only worsen the situation.

6./ He was thankful that his father’s long-standing relationship with His Excellency gave him the slight privilege of having the president’s ear thereby being able to counter the worst of what he often considered their self-serving advice.

7./ He was active on various social media platforms and that helped him keep his finger on the pulse of things. The downside of it was that he often received a lot of abuse because of his position in government. Nonetheless he remained active because his interactions online

8./ kept him close to the real heart of the expectations of the millennials and the GenZ Nigerian. Difficult though it was, he tried to divorce himself, Hamid, as a person from Hamid, the government official who his fellow Nigerians online often directed their abuse at.

9./ He felt some of their frustrations despite being insulated from the worst of it all, because of his position. Ya Allah. So often he wanted to quit this job and return to his quiet life in England. But family commitments held him back.

10./ He was a scion of the Jamare family of Bauchi State. His father was politically ambitious for him and even if his father’s dreams for him were divergent from his dreams for himself, when his father told him there was an opening for a strategic adviser allocated to him,

11./which he wanted his son to return to Nigeria to take up, his upbringing which had instilled a deep sense of duty which was difficult to shrug off, meant that he couldn’t refuse outright.

If ever he’d desired to rebel against the strictures his privilege of birth put on him,

12./ that was the time.

He had his dream job lecturing at Oxford albeit in a junior capacity, but he was on track to make tenure and his consulting work brought in more money than he needed. His needs were simple.

Having grown up surrounded by wealth,

13./ he had firsthand knowledge of the fact that, while money might make you comfortable, it didn’t buy happiness.

A voice cut harshly into his thoughts as the speaker countered his advice for a measured approach.

14./ “Excellency! You mustn’t allow our young professor to deter you from responding from a position of strength.”

Hamid looked up, forced out of his reverie by the guttural tones of Alhaji Mahmoud.

He noticed that the Senior Special Adviser avoided looking at him as he spoke.

15./ “Excellency Sir, your acquiescence to their demands to #EndSARS has emboldened them. Why do they insist on ‘seeing action’ before they back-down and leave the streets? If it’s action they want to see, let them face action. I recommend that we call in the military.”

16./ Mahmoud concluded in strident tones.

Hamid spoke up in his calm, measured manner. “Your Excellency Sir, strength is not always a show of force. What these people are asking for is not unreasonable. All they want is something concrete from the government.

17./ A show of commitment to back-up our words. It’s not too much to ask. The loss of trust in our government is at an all time high. If you were to make an example of some of the most notorious officers by firing them, and instituting legal action against them promptly,

18./ then perhaps reshuffle the top brass in the force, I’m certain that it will soothe the ruffled feathers and calm can be restored again. We are dealing with the increasing boldness of bandits and boko haram in the north. Surely, we mustn’t allow the south to boil as well?”

19./ His Excellency looked consideringly at Hamid. He seemed poised to be swayed along the lines of the suggestions made by the young man. Suddenly, the doors burst open. The security detail moved swiftly but silently to repel any attempt at endangering His Excellency.

20./ It was Rtd. General Danladi. A trusted friend of His Excellency. Hamid did not like the man and he did not trust him. But Danladi had a long-standing friendship with His Excellency as attested to by his confidence in bursting into this meeting,

21./ safe in the assurance they no one would stop him.

He spoke to His Excellency in the native dialect but Hamid understood it and was dismayed at what the General was saying. He was reminding His Excellency that the south was already bubbling with discontentment

22./ over several appointments they considered lopsided. He insisted that if his excellency did not move to quell the protests by a show of military might, the protesters might get carried away by their perceived power in “cowing” His Excellency.

23./ If that happened, who knew what else they might do next in their new-found boldness? He cleverly played on all His Excellency’s points of concern and niggling insecurities. At the conclusion of his spiel, the order was given to set the machinery of the military in motion,

24./ to quell the protests.

Hamid bowed his head in disappointment. He knew this was wrong. He knew it would yield disastrous results. The protesters were young and idealistic with complete confidence that nothing bad would happen if they stayed peaceful;

25./ yet he knew that this decision ensured that things would escalate and likely spiral out of control and there was nothing he could say or do anymore. It was beyond him.

At moments like this, he hated this job more than ever.

26./ He wished for nothing more than to be back in his small house in Jericho, preparing a halal dinner for himself and Hadiza his fiancée. She was doctor at John Radcliffe Hospital and one of the reasons he had been loathe to return home.

27./ He dragged his mind back to the present as they were dismissed from the meeting.

2 days after the intervention of the military to quell the protests, the rash of denials began to break along with news of the terrible carnage which followed the disastrous

28./& regrettably avoidable deaths it occasioned. As Hamid watched the news, he wondered how it was that in the midst of such a weakened economy and divided country, his fellow strategists and advisers refused to justify their sizeable remuneration packages

29./ by resisting the suggestion of military intervention.

Could they honestly say they didn’t realise it would result in this pushback and a breakdown in law and order?

For the second time in less than a year, major malls in Lagos had been looted to the ground.

30./ The long range effect on the economy didn’t bear thinking about. The deeper implications of greater mistrust of the current administration was an even greater and more unquantifiable loss.

31./ He rubbed his forehead wearily and began to type his resignation letter. He simply wasn’t cut out for this. Duty be damned.

The End