According to the President (I)

That’s the title of the book, with a rider, “Lessons from A Presidential Spokesman’s Experience”, written by Garba Shehu. Though the book was released at a grand launch in July last year, I did not have the opportunity to read it until now, that I have a break, away from the routine to read, digest, […]

That’s the title of the book, with a rider, “Lessons from A Presidential Spokesman’s Experience”, written by Garba Shehu. Though the book was released at a grand launch in July last year, I did not have the opportunity to read it until now, that I have a break, away from the routine to read, digest, and comment on books that have come my way recently. Garba Shehu, we might recall, was a media aide to Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s President from 2015 to 2023, and he had served for a brief period in a similar capacity to Atiku Abubakar, who was vice-president to President Olusegun Obasanjo, 1999-2007.

Garba Shehu has written a riveting account of the contrasting two periods he served. They were periods of great upheavals. When he served with Atiku Abubakar, he did so in an adversarial role, fighting off the media aligned with President Obasanjo, who was bent on obliterating his deputy from the political scene. On the other hand, when Garba later worked with Buhari, he was in a defensive position as they were the ones being challenged by opposition media. In both roles, Garba Shehu shone remarkably, exhibiting the highest form of professionalism and earning the respect of even his adversaries.

Though he declines to call the book a memoir, I find strands that make it an interesting account of his life. Though from humble beginnings – his father was a driver – Garba Shehu had the privilege of attending the best schools available and making the best use of them. He related an interesting encounter he had at Dutse Primary School with Ado Bayero, the Emir of Kano, who came on a visit. The episode would assume a surreal dimension. While going around the school, the emir stopped by Garba’s class one.

The emir asked the class a question, and only Garba raised his hand to answer correctly. The emir was impressed. Garba wrote: ‘Ado Bayero took several majestic steps to my seat, put his hand on my head the way elders bless younger ones, and said words to the effect that ‘you are the special one, greatness awaits you.’ For that, he became a household name in Dutse. Those royal words became a great inspiration to Garba and motivated him to greater attainments.

Garba went on to attend the elitist Barewa College, Zaria, from where he transited to Bayero University, Kano, to read for a bachelor’s degree in Hausa. He graduated with a 2nd Class Upper and also collected the Aminu Kano Prize for the Best Graduating Student in Hausa. He then set about pursuing his journalistic dreams. From television, where he started at NTA Sokoto, he landed at the Triumph Newspaper Kano, where he spent many years rising to edit the daily. Triumph titles were doing very well in the 1980s and 90s.

Even though the Kano State Government owned them, they had an orientation that was a little to the left and, at most times, could be relied upon to be on the side of the underdog. Their reportage sometimes rankled state governments. Some of that reportage hit us hard in Borno State. In 1987, I was the Permsec Political and a close aide to the military governor. Whenever such negative reports came up in the Triumph titles, I had to fly from Maiduguri to Kano to engage the editors and give our side of the story to straighten matters out.

That was my first acquaintance with Garba and a host of brilliant journalists, including Kabiru Yusuf, Garba Ahmed and Bilkisu Yusuf, who led the Triumph titles. Garba, always the consummate media practitioner, then moved to the other side of information projection and management – working as a public relations practitioner for corporate organisations. After 11 years in the Triumph, he left in 1997 to head the public relations department of the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) in Ikot Abasi. This was a large federal government parastatal incorporated in 1989 to harness our vast gas resources for aluminium production.

It was from there, in 2003, that he joined the communication team in the Presidency, as Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity. It was a job Garba was well-prepared for. As editor of Daily Triumph, he had engaged with journalists and editors of Nigerian newspapers nationwide. He was active in the Nigerian Guild of Editors, serving as deputy national president and eventually as president. He had built up a vast network that came in handy in the heavy task of projecting the Vice President’s persona to the public.

For me, it was the second time our paths would cross. I was, then, a director in the Office of the Vice President when Garba joined in 2003. It was a testy time to work in that office. The relationship between President Obasanjo and his deputy has gone awry and would degenerate into open warfare in the years that followed. For Garba, the road to projecting the Vice President’s image was strewn with all sorts of difficulties. The atmosphere was toxic.

How did Garba Shehu fare in those circumstances? We will continue the discussion next week.