The matter of the moment in the last couple of days has been the rift between the Osun state government and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC. While Nigerians have continued to comment on the subject, a major gain of the nation is the people’s realization that if their president is careful and observant, he can easily become personally conscious of public opinion. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu passed that simple exam of the week by intervening in the EFCC-Osun rift. The strategic intervention has not only soaked the political tension in Osun; it has dramatically converted the tension into a debate for all comers sending political jobbers back to the drawing board to find new controversies to create.
Tinubu must take advantage of the gain by staying away from relying on only the version of a story told by allies, aides and supporters. For each controversy, a leader must seek to comprehend all the dimensions of the stories he is told. Before Tinubu, a few presidents relied on the one-sided story at the expense of their image. For example, President Jonathan should not have relied entirely on a supposed technical advice to change his plan to personally visit Chibok. If a president who is armed to the teeth is dissuaded by men of technical and security expertise from visiting a troubled spot, what does he expect the public to feel and into what use is he expected to put his gamut of security convoy? We submit that there is always a difference between technicality, law and politics.
