{"id":17364,"date":"2019-04-30T11:25:55","date_gmt":"2019-04-30T11:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=17364"},"modified":"2019-04-30T11:25:55","modified_gmt":"2019-04-30T11:25:55","slug":"opinion-a-private-visit-to-her-majesty-the-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=17364","title":{"rendered":"(Opinion) A \u2018private visit\u2019 to Her Majesty the Queen"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reuben Abati<\/strong>
\n\u201cYou look dull. I hope you are good\u201d
\n\u201cWhat else can the son of man do, with all the problems on someone\u2019s head in this country?\u201d
\n\u201cWhat happened? Your team messed up in the Premier League? Is your problem David De Gea?\u201d
\n\u201cNo\u201d
\n\u201cMay be the Arsenal coach then, because that match Arsenal played against Leicester City, during the weekend, the entire team, from Manager to the reserve bench should be placed on transfer when the window for transfers open. I should ask sef, which one is your team?\u201d
\n\u201cMy problem is not football, please. I am not one of those who lose their heads over football in the UK, when they don\u2019t even know the name of a single football team in Nigeria. I just can\u2019t stand our people\u2019s obsession with everything European.\u00a0\u00a0It is a kind of colonial mentality. Neo-slavery.\u201d
\n\u201cPlease don\u2019t moralize. We live in a global village. People are free to make their own choices. If I buy a television set with my own money, I can watch whatever I like on it. So, what is your problem? What\u2019s on your mind?\u201d
\n\u201cI am actually thinking of going on a private visit abroad.\u201d
\n\u201cSo, what is stopping you? Go ahead.\u201d
\n\u201cYou know how it is. I don\u2019t want a situation where I will now travel and people like you will start carrying placards, complaining about how I travelled without telling close friends.\u201d
\n\u201cAh come on, my friend. Must you joke with everything? When last did I even see you? If you travel quietly and you come back, what can anybody do about that? Sometimes, it is even good to hide your movement. You know our people and their bad belle, envy and evil eye.\u201d
\n\u201cI think it is just sheer courtesy to let close friends know one\u2019s movement. It is our culture. Otherwise, you would think I am anti-social and that I am stingy. As I don tell you now, even if na small chocolate, I go buy bring for you, make you too taste something from the abroad\u201d.
\n\u201cWell, good for you. But as for me, I don\u2019t know about other people, every man with his own hustle. So where are you going?\u201d
\n\u201cJandon\u201d
\n\u201cJandon. What is that?\u201d
\n\u201cYou don\u2019t know Jandon? That is the slang name for London. I will just go for about a few days. I won\u2019t even tell them in my office. I will just steal a few days and call in sick. My boss likes to kill somebody with work. I cannot come and kill myself. I am telling you because you are my man.\u201d
\n\u201cThat is like cheating your company. The company must know where you are at any time.\u201d
\n\u201cYou are my person, that is why I am telling you.\u201d
\n\u201cYou are a manager in your company. You must set a good example. I am sure the terms of your contract do not allow you to go on secret trips.\u201d
\n\u201cAll of these because I have confided in you? Even the President of Nigeria goes on a private visit. He is in London right now, nobody actually knows where he is there, what he is doing, who he is talking to, who is visiting him. That is the President. I beg, company can rest. I want to do like the President. It is a private visit to London, please.\u201d
\n\u201cI would expect that the normal thing for you to do is to apply for leave. You can just write about three lines. I am sure your office will have a back up for your position who can cover up for you while you are away. Until you resign or leave the job, you have a duty of care to ensure that you don\u2019t disrupt your company\u2019s operations. You can\u2019t just take off and say it is a private visit. Even if you are going to see Her majesty the Queen, it is unacceptable. It is just simple, straightforward commonsense. You know I am your friend, just advising you.\u201d
\n\u201cSo that what will not happen? So that the company will not sack me?\u00a0\u00a0They will not try it. I am the soul of the company. I have paid my dues.\u00a0\u00a0They all know my integrity is intact.\u201d
\n\u201cYour integrity is not intact if you take the company for granted.\u201d
\n\u201cYou can\u2019t know my company better than me. I work there. I know my worth. But it is not your fault. I tell you something, you begin to offer advice. I am sure you are one of those people going about saying President Muhammadu Buhari cannot go on a private visit.\u201d
\n\u201cYes. I am.\u201d
\n\u201cI know. Of course. You are a PDP sympathizer. Must you people play politics with everything? Is the President not entitled to go away for some days after a hectic election, to just go and rest, take some time off from the madness of Nigeria, recuperate, rejuvenate and prepare himself for the beginning of a second term?\u201d
\n\u201cHe didn\u2019t follow due process. It is simple common sense.\u201d
\n\u201cCommon sense. Common sense. How many of your proverbial common man voted for common sense in the last general elections? The common man rejected common sense and I tell you nothing will happen.\u201d
\n\u201cThat is a different matter. What I am saying is that the President of Nigeria has a duty to respect the Constitution of Nigeria. Whenever he wants to travel, he must inform the National Assembly and hand over to the Vice President who will act on his behalf. The Constitution does not recognize \u201ca private visit.\u201d The President of Nigeria is a public official. The Nigerian taxpayer must know where he is, what he is doing at all times.\u201d
\n\u201cVery soon you people will alter the Constitution and ask for details of what the President does with his wife in the other room.\u00a0You people are busy quoting the Constitution as if it descended from Heaven.\u201d
\n\u201cWe are in a democracy. There are rules of engagement. We are under the rule of law, not the rule of men. We cannot have leaders who break the law. We must call them out.\u201d
\n\u201cI know you people\u2019s problem. You are not happy losing the election.\u201d
\n\u201cThat is not it. I am a Constitutional purist.\u00a0\u00a0A President can only be absent from duty within the purview of the law. The law is what the law giver says it is, just as company rules and terms of contract are sacrosanct.\u201d
\n\u201cSo what will you say, if you suddenly hear that indeed the President, before leaving for London already sent a letter to the National Assembly? After all, there is no vacuum. Last Wednesday, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo presided over the Federal Executive Council meeting. Under his watch, FEC approved N56 billion for the e-border initiative. Other contracts were awarded. He is in charge in the President\u2019s absence.\u201d
\n\u201cIs he doing that as Acting President or as co-ordinator of activities as he was once described when the President delegated authority to him?\u201d
\n\u201cSemantics. You people are the ones complaining.\u00a0What if a letter suddenly shows up on the floor of the Senate?\u201d
\n\u201cI won\u2019t put that past them. But we have been told anyway that the President can rule Nigeria from anywhere in the world. And we are saying we don\u2019t want a diaspora President. Every job has a contact address and the contact address for the Nigerian President is in Nigeria. We know about official visit, state visit and working visit.\u00a0\u00a0The Nigerian Constitution does not talk about private visit. It talks about vacation.\u201d
\n\u201cYou better don\u2019t give yourself hypertension. I think lawyers, politicians and journalists are just always looking for something to talk about. Keep talking, before you know it now, Buhari will be back in Nigeria.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat if he extends the visit? After all, he once disappeared for more than 100 days.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd what happened? I think this whole problem has been created by his spokespersons. I think they should just have told us that the President is going on a short leave. He is entitled to vacation. But I also guess they have called it private visit, because they don\u2019t want appointment seekers and contractors to disturb him. All those sycophants who are always seeking the eyes and ears of Presidents have been tactically told to keep off.\u00a0\u00a0You must always see things in context.\u201d
\n\u201cThat is not an excuse to disobey the Constitution. The president cannot embark on classified trips. He cannot go on secret missions.\u00a0\u00a0That is unknown to the Constitution.\u201d
\n\u201cWould you be satisfied if you suddenly see him going to Selfridges to shop, or having a meal at a restaurant? You want to see him. Fine. I just hope you people will not come again and say he is using Nigerian money to have fun\u201d
\n\u201cNo. He cannot go to Selfridges. He will have to explain the source of the money.\u201d
\n\u201cThere you go. Please can we talk about something else. Last, last, everybody will be okay in this country, because it looks like everybody is depressed. It is just the level that differs. People who have not seen N500 thousand in their lives will be shouting, our money, our money\u201d
\n\u201cYou are just a government apologist.\u201d
\nYes, I am. It is only government apologists that win elections in Nigeria. At least for now. And for your information, my long-term plan is to go and run for election in my state, Bayelsa state. That is why when you were talking about company rules and contract, I just dey look you. See in our state, the House of Assembly has just passed a bill that says every lawmaker in that state who ever served is entitled to a life-time pension. Next election in that state, I am there oh, my brother. N500k for life, every month. Even if I die sef, I will tell my family not to let anybody know, so they can keep paying the money into my account. I will just go on a private visit to heaven.\u201d
\n\u201cCountriman will not sign that bill into law. He must not do it.\u00a0\u00a0It is a vexatious piece of legislation.\u201d
\n\u201cWho is Countriman? And what is your own? Are you from our state?\u201d
\n\u201cSeriake Dickson, your Governor is the man we all call Countriman. Look, we must insist that politicians must have jobs that they do. The job of the legislature is to make laws for order, stability and good governance, not to make selfish laws that establish a rent-collection system for lawmakers. I have it on good authority, anyway that Governor Dickson has rejected that bill.\u201d
\n\u201cYou don\u2019t know what you are talking about. Your countryman must not try any such thing. The House of Assembly will override his veto. Leave matter. You see, in this country, everybody is looking out for himself. You are busy quoting Constitution. That is why you are still struggling. Listen to yourself. If you give yourself hypertension, you are on your own oh. All these people with whom you make noise, you\u2019d be surprised some of them are collecting rent somewhere. That is Nigeria for you. I am a pragmatist.\u201d
\n\u201cCertain things are just not right\u201d
\n\u201cAnd you are the one going to correct those things that are not right. Something that Tafawa Balewa could not do. Something that Gowon could not do. Something that Murtala Muhammad died for. Obasanjo and Buhari put head, more than twice. Na you and your noise-making go solve Nigerian problem? I beg.\u201d
\n\u201cI am a patriot.\u201d
\n\u201cVery good, congratulations. What you don\u2019t know is that every country has its own identity and culture. Look at New Zealand and Sri Lanka. On March 15 in Christchurch, New Zealand, two mosques were attacked, 50 persons were killed.\u00a0\u00a0The leadership of that country has used that tragedy to turn around their country, and reflect deeply. They changed gun permit laws. Prime Minister Jacinta Arden is leading a campaign for open, secure and safe internet, to check extremism and bigotry. On April 21, in Sri Lanka, terrorists struck again killing more than 300 persons. The President of Sri Lanka has fired the defence chief and the police chief.\u00a0\u00a0Here in Nigeria, people are killed daily, abducted, brutalized. Have you seen or heard that anybody has been fired? Get real, man. If you are a patriot, be real.\u201d
\n\u201cWe need a people\u2019s revolution in this country. We need to rescue young men like you from those who have captured your minds and the Nigerian state.\u201d
\n\u201cOh, sorry. I see you have been busy watching television. The people who talked about revolution in the last elections in Nigeria lost woefully.\u00a0\u00a0Wake up, man. You better don\u2019t go and talk revolution with Nigerian policemen when next they flag down your vehicle. Your revolution can earn you a bullet in the leg.\u201d
\n\u201cLeave me alone. Look at you. You keep talking about Nigeria as if you are from Guinea Bissau.\u201d
\n\u201cDon\u2019t worry hen. I will you buy something from London\u2026 Bye.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reuben Abati \u201cYou look dull. I hope you are good\u201d \u201cWhat else can the son of man do, with all the problems on someone\u2019s head in this country?\u201d \u201cWhat happened? Your team messed up in the Premier League? Is your problem David De Gea?\u201d \u201cNo\u201d \u201cMay be the Arsenal coach then, because that match […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":15803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5777],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}