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The change Lai Mohammed needs

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In from Olumide Olaoluwa . . .
Change is easier preached than embraced. This is what the Minister of Culture and Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, is finding out.
As spokesperson of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Lai, as he is fondly called, did a fantastic job to the admiration of all. Even his staunchest critic acknowledged he was a hard nut to crack.
When the legacy parties merged to form the All Progressives Congress (APC), he naturally fell into the seat of opposition spokesperson, and he gave the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hell.
Mohammed ensured the PDP knew no peace. He creatively faulted every move and policy direction of the PDP. A dogged fighter, the Kwara-born politician spared no efforts in degrading the PDP and proving to Nigerians the party was undeserving of ruling.
PDP chieftains cowered whenever Mohammed sneezed. His words pierced through Aso Rock, causing ripples not a few times. As an opposition spokesperson, Lai was a delight. Many envied him. He engaged the PDP thoughts for thoughts. Many believed he was the then ruling party’s nemesis.
Through his creative engagements, many Nigerians began to consider ditching the PDP. Voters were swayed over. They believed the ideas marshaled by Mohammed through his endless press statements and reactions. Newsmen warmed up to him. The former journalists, they confided, made their jobs easier. His statements were almost faultless and good-to-go.
When the general elections approached, the change mantra of the ruling APC started to resonate with Nigerians. Mohammed mounted an effective machinery to sell the programmes and policies of the party. He sounded convincing with each passing day. The rest, as they say, is history.
But it is one thing to be a good party spokesperson and another to be a good government mouthpiece. The early signals are that Mohammed has not embraced the change in his status. Many who have followed him closely opine that he still talks like a party agent. It is a terrain Mohammed has mastered to envious perfection.
They believe that Mohamed has not yet come to terms that he doesn’t speak for the APC again, but for the government of the day. Nigeria is now his immediate constituency. His office and audience have changed. He doesn’t speak of party’s ideologies again. Change has come. According to this school of thought, he has to convince Nigerians to give the new administration the benefit of the doubt.
One way to do this, analysts suggest, is to be more selective of his choice of words, and manner of approach to issues, since his job is no more of an attack dog approach to keep the opposition on its toes. His job right now according to them, is more of a supportive role to elucidate, and justify government policies, and get the citizens to throw their weight behind the government, by more or less cuddling them
One person who feels strongly that Mohammed is yet embrace his change of role, is the governor of Ondo state, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, who advised the former APC spokesperson to be more cautious, words-selective and fact-oriented before speaking for the presidency.

Read also: You lack credibility – Lai Mohammed tells NTA, NAN, FRCN

Mimiko, who himself is a former minister, noted that “there is an urgent need for me to assist in reorientation and exercise of Presidential familiarization for our Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed to know that he now works with the Presidency and should adapt to presidential breeze and ethics and learn how to address issues of public interest without unleashing terror and verbal war on personalities in oppositions like when he does as the Spokesperson to the APC”.
According to him, it was erroneous and insulting for a Minister of Information to be attacking people who criticised government policy.
Mohammed’s new assignment is an audacious one in a clime where there is constant unhealthy suspicion between the rulers and the ruled. Now, he has to convince the ever skeptical Nigerians that the new administration means well and is different. He has to win the confidence of Nigerians the same way he succeeded in convincing them to vote for change.
This is his mandate; an unfamiliar terrain for the minister. It is one he has not started to master. He needs to step up the game. He is now a government spokesperson and no more a party fighter. He has to fight less and convince more. He has to be less defensive. He is the hunter that will now be hunted by opposition spokespersons.
Every mistake, every misstep of the government will be directed at him. He has to respond with candour, not militantly, as obtained for years as a party chieftain. It is time to move up. Change is here and Lai Mohammed has to join the train.
Watchers believe the earlier he does this, the better for the new administration; the better for his political career too. If he falters, the government is gone. So, is his career as a rising star. Will Lai Mohammed embrace change? Or is he an apostle of change that cannot practise the mantra? Time will tell. But it is one commodity that is fast running out for the new Minister of Culture and Information.

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