By Achilleus-Chud Uchegbu
Attack dogs come in different forms. Dog breeders know which are best for defensive attacks. I am not a dog breeder and so may not know exactly which breed is best for defensive attacks. The little knowledge I have of dogs comes from observing an old man’s bingo in my village. So, excuse my ignorance of the behavioural patterns of Rottweilers, Labradors, Bull Mastiff, Bulldogs, Alsatians, Caucasians, German Sheppard’s etc. I know a lot of Nigerians love dogs and breed them. So, they may tell us which is best for defence.
In making comparisons about the defensive behaviours of these fantastic animals, the most friendly to man, I tend to see some level of dedication in them. Dogs have been proven to be very dedicated to their owners. Sometimes, they glean from the body reflexes of their owners what is next. Dogs are very loyal. They are called man’s best friend and I have no doubt that they are. My neighbour’s Caucasian, named Hitler, behaves quite like a Hitler, sparring no intruders with his barks, and wagging his tail in welcome acceptance once his master or any of the co-tenants come back. Hitler is friendly to those he knows. But he can be a heck when he is angered. So, we are careful playing with him. I am told that Caucasians behave as same.
I have heard it said several times that Doyin Okupe, who has offered a better view of the works of the presidency, when compared to Reuben Abati, is an attack dog. When put against the storms and darts that President Jonathan had been exposed to, I think that tagging Okupe an attack dog is somewhat belittling. If you call him a lion trained in the art of defensive attacks; that will be it for me. Note, I am not profiling Okupe here. I am only seeing him properly as an attack lion. Dogs and lions are not classified in the same animal family, and it takes some level of genius to tame a lion. Very few people have succeeded in doing that. I once knew a Kenyan family that tamed and lived with lions but they had to do so taking the cubs away from their parents and giving them another sense of living outside the wild. I think, that’s probably the most effective way to tame a lion. So, if you haven’t tamed an Okupe to see things your way, don’t blame him for being an attack lion.
Fact is, Okupe has a job to do and he is doing it. He was hired to do the same sort of job that Lai Mohammed does for ACN and APC. It is also the same job that Rotimi Fasakin does for CPC. But the interesting thing about it is that PDP, whose government this is, seem so unorganised and confused to know what to do. This is what has made Okupe the voice of this administration. Okupe has caused people heartaches with his responses to criticisms against his boss, Jonathan. He does not hide his love for his job. He also does not fear to defensively attack those who prey into his territory. But what he does is the same thing others have done and are doing.
Personally, I think something is wrong with our perception of the reality where Lai Mohammed and his party, or Rotimi Fasakin of CPC make vicious attacks on the President and we all applaud only to frown when Okupe comes putting the records straight in a defensive way. I want to know if indeed it makes sense to expect a President not to have a media defence team. I will also want to know which president in the world has operated without a media team which work is to market his programmes? Somehow, we seem to think, and act, in manners that suggest that a President, or governor, ought not to sustain a media team which focus would be to engage the public in defence of his programmes.
The need for this arises because democracy had made free press inevitable. But given our peculiarities, and understanding that negative news sells fast, we depend more on the negatives than we would on the positives. This is normal. After all, government does not fund the media and so, there is no gain expecting the media, which is privately owned, to sound government performance trumpet. So, government must not leave its flanks open. But the feeling is that our governments toy a lot with their media. Media funding for federal and state governments is very poor in Nigeria. I imagine what the media units of the US government of those of the governments of France, UK, and Germany etc look like.
Image management is big business. This is so because negative perception sticks. Once the negatives are perceived, it becomes difficult, and maybe expensive, to change them. So, to make sure that such negative perceptions don’t stick around, a leader must have a more than a handful of aides who will engage the public with information about developments in the administration. Leaving the space to opponents could be disastrous.
My headache here is that some Nigerians, especially commentators and analysts on public issues, see Okupe as an attack dog but beatify Lai and Rotimi. Does it make sense to believe that the opposition is always right while the government is always wrong? Or is it a case of who is hated most? We see Okupe as an attack dog or attack lion, but not Lai and Rotimi. If either of Lai or Rotimi, somehow, finds himself in Okupe’s shoes, would he also wear the toga of attack dog or attack lion? For me, it is simply an issue of who is hated most. That, however, does not remove from the strong pressure that Okupe has brought to bear on the opposition by being adept at his job. Somehow, Okupe takes the attack back to Lai and Rotimi. And that is what the job is all about. You don’t expect an Okupe to play the Abati game and keep quiet while his boss is torn apart by his traducers. I bet, any of all those who tag Okupe an attack dog or attack lion, will do as much, if not more, if called upon to take over Okupe’s job.
So, attack dogs come in different forms. Some in PDP’s cage. Some in ACN/APC cage. Some also in CPC’s garage while some are in a President’s backyard. All are doing their jobs.