Open Letter to the Acting APC National Publicity Secretary: Seriel Rants of a Bad Spokesperson -By Umar Sa’ad Hassan

Comrade Timi Frank

Dear Comrade Timi Frank,

First, I would like you to know I understand how hard it is for someone like you to hold your present position in the APC hierarchy.I would rather your party had made you deputy youth leader or youth leader than shrink you into an office that demands you speak more for the party than yourself-the activist; Comrade Timi Frank.In almost all cases,’Poster boys’ share a lot of similarities with showbiz stars.

While the stars have to worry about what they say or do in public so they don’t hurt the marketability of their brand, you also watch what you do before us because you are acting on behalf of an entire party.Not just a party in some obscure place but the ruling party in the most populous black nation on earth.

I have had cause to share a joke or two about Alhaji Lai Mohammed wearing a bow tie to a press conference in broad day and when you assumed his position albeit in an interim capacity, I laughed over just how literally not picture-perfect for the job you were.A more well-fed man in agbada or suit would appear more cut-out for what they had in mind.You looked more a student union leader than an (Acting) National Publicity Secretary of the APC.

Perhaps i wasn’t entirely wrong.I have come to doubt your competence over time.My main reason for writing you this letter is to draw your attention to some recent utterances of yours and just how unbecoming they are of someone of your calibre and who you represent.

I was very disappointed in the manner in which you reacted to your party chairman’s comments about an impending congress to nominate a spokesperson for the APC.In paying tribute to your former superior turned Minister of Information,Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party chairman described him as a man whose shoes would be hard to fill and that it was only a matter of getting someone capable of coming close.It was giving honour to a man who had served the party well. But you took offence with that and claimed it was meant to discredit your person and other capable hands in the party.Hard as I tried, I couldn’t decipher any such message in his comments.You didn’t stop there.You went on to label his comments baseless, reckless and unwarranted while staking a claim as the rightful National Publicity Secretary of the APC in waiting.

You neglected to tell us whether or not the constitution of your party stipulates automatic transition to the substantive role.However, what is not in doubt is the fact that Comrade Timi Frank gave imported meanings to a message we clearly understood and even tried to incite other party members by saying they were ‘discredited’ as well.You remember what I said about spokespersons being like showbiz stars?.It is one thing for the face of the party to vilify the party chairman and it is another to manufacture sub-standard interpretations in so doing.That is suicide.

You not only hurt your reputation but that of the party as well.I don’t know what may be happening behind the scenes but from the little I see and hear, you owe that man and other chieftains a whole lot of gratitude for not plotting your downfall after you publicly renounced your membership of Timipre Sylva’s campaign organisation in the run-up to the Bayelsa gubernatorial elections.One would have expected you to do so quietly considering your standing in the party and not gone ahead to raise unnecessary dust.This was not too long after you had called for the Party Chairman’s resignation; a move you still can’t defend till date.Your best try was-“Well, it is politics”.

Radicals don’t always make good spokespersons.They tend to speak for what they believe in when they should be doing so for the people they represent.And in your case, you upgraded to fighting them right before us.
Just when I ruled out any more drama from your end at least till the ‘congress’ was held, you made arguably your most preposterous comments ever.You berated the leadership of your party for not speaking out against the trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki by the Code of conduct tribunal (CCT).You said Saraki was a good man who went to immense lengths to help kick out the Jonathan administration among other things and that he was being paid back with evil.Mr Frank, if you hadn’t gone as far as citing laws and how the CCT acted on them in similar cases, I would have thought you didn’t know what he was being accused of.He is being arraigned on a 13 count charge of false declaration of assets.Assets he was scared of disclosing to us because it would be obvious he had been stealing from us and there were also ones he listed as his even before he had bought them.And you blame your party leaders for ‘keeping quiet in the face of evil?’.What would you ordinarily have them do?.Beg President Buhari to legitimize his criminality or pat Saraki on the back for a job well done?.
Just so I remind you, the change you claim to have fought for alongside Saraki isn’t one that doesn’t regard stealing as corruption.The anti-corruption card was very instrumental to your party’s victory at the polls and an acting spokesperson of the APC publicly urging its leadership to kick against the prosecution of the Senate President because he worked hard for the party is despicable and unacceptable.Even if it is true the President declared war on him in retaliation for how the NASS elections went down, it doesn’t in any way mean he was framed.

I voted for a government that promised to fight corruption to a stand still and not one that would overlook a man’s sins because he helped put it in place.Need I remind you that a lot of people still feel the Senate President and his fellow decampees from the PDP rushed into the APC out of frustration and not for a genuine love for what it represents?.If they had been granted their wish of having a northern flagbearer from their midst, they probably wouldn’t have joined the APC till maybe it had won the elections.

Comrade, I don’t envy you one bit.You once said anybody who knows you knows you always speak your mind and that is a good trait.We have that in common but unlike you I am not a spokesperson for the ruling party.I don’t have to worry about its image while exercising my freedom of speech.As it is, you most likely won’t get the job on a permanent basis because like my people would say: ‘You don shit plenty for shrine’.Making you the substantive spokesperson person would be kissing a hot stove.Someone told me you were the Director of Outreach in an anti-corruption NGO and of course,I wouldn’t be surprised if you still retain the office despite the Saraki outburst.In a different setting, you would thrive and not have standards as burdensome as ones that accompany your National Publicity Secretary role.Some of your statements would win you a lot of supporters if you were an activist still in school.I don’t see you getting ‘That Timi guy no dey hear word’ compliments anywhere else for your comments.

For someone who can’t help saying it as he sees it, I would advice you to resign even if you are made the substantive spokesperson.Your job demands you speak first for the APC and consider its best interests when doing so for yourself.
Be the best you can possibly be.I hope you move on to a more conducive terrain and if you don’t, then like your party’s famous mantra, I hope you ‘change’. Best Regards.

Umar Sa’ad Hassan is a lawyer based in Kano.
Email:uhassan077@gmail.com
Twitter:@alaye26