Tinubu, Opposition and Clemency!
By Olawale Olaleye
The one person who seems to have a grasp of the fitting opposition narrative is the ADC spokesperson, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi. You just must give him his flowers. You don’t necessarily have to like him or his current political leaning. He understands his brief very well and is doing just fine.
However, with the current state of play, the time has come for the opposition gladiators to synch their communications and stop making a joke with some of their clownish interventions. Clearly, things are still very rough for the opposition in terms of organisation, chief of which is capacity to get many things right.
But with a proper communications strategy, steeped in organised responses, even the government in power will understand that it cannot rest on its oars. Constructive logic dimensioned by sound reasoning is the strength of a promising opposition in a democracy.
What has prompted this “early dinner” is the reaction of some of the opposition personalities to President Bola Tinubu’s recent reversal of the pardon and clemency granted some convicts a few weeks ago.
When the news first broke, a majority of the people opposed the prerogative of clemency extended to some persons and understandably so. The presidency came out to say the list would be reviewed, suggesting that it’s a listening government, and sensitive to the mood of the nation.
Even if the opposition is not going to commend the government for not doubling down on its flaws but responding to the yearnings of the people, a smart chunk of the opposition can actually steal the glory, saying they forced the hand of the government, although a good development.
But to condemn it outright and dismiss the action as shameful is actually an uninformed stand by the opposition. Rivalry shouldn’t mean wishing each other dead or closing your eyes to the positives. It is bad opposition which reflects lack of capacity or the ability to embrace critical thinking.
The initiative might have been poorly put together ab initio, errors bluntly pointed out by the public but the government took it in its stride, promised to make amends and it did. Why can’t the opposition acknowledge that or better still, steal the show with smart communications?
The opposition cannot continue to project negatives about the government as though the information they’re working with is exclusive to them. They must always remember there’s an active, conscious and intelligent public with the capacity to equally see through veiled patriotism, otherwise the opposition will soon become a butt of its own jokes.
The public, definitely, expect more from the opposition and not just continue to pander to some pedestrian and petty trade-tackling that could ultimately boomerang. There’s nothing wrong with a leadership admitting to its mistakes and immediately correcting them. It is strength, not weakness; it is wisdom, not shame.
