Return of The Native Son

By Keem Abdul

He has insisted that his new role was not a ‘downgrade’, as being insinuated in some quarters, but a call to national duty. While there are those who might want to disagree, and point out the difference between the heights of a Cabinet Minister’s position, and the relatively lowly position of an ‘adviser’ (albeit a ‘Special’ one), others will describe the appointment of Dr. Sunday Dare, Nigeria’s immediate past Minister of Sports and Youth Development under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, as the Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Public Communication and Orientation as more of a return to familiar territory. It might also be said that Dare’s new role, to which he was assigned on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, underscores the President’s well-known inclination to use tried and tested hands in the areas at which they have excelled the most in the past, and made their greatest impact, in his quest to actualize his plans and objectives. While it may be said that Dare did a credible job as Sports Minister, his field of expertise and most extensive experience is however in media; he is widely-recognized as a thorough-bred and accomplished professional in the field of journalism and public communications.

The ‘downgrade’ perception that has been attached to his new role gained traction in the wake of allegations that he had ‘betrayed’ President Tinubu in accepting the ministerial appointment from the Buhari administration; the insinuation being that he had ‘stabbed Tinubu in the back’ by doing so – an allegation Dare has debunked on several occasions, most recently on Thursday, the day after his appointment was announced, on the Channels Television late evening programme, Politics Today. Tinubu, he asserted, supported his appointment by Buhari, having himself played a towering role in the emergence of the former President. “For every appointment I took,” Dare insisted, “I had (Tinubu’s) endorsement … I never stabbed him. That was a call to national duty, and it was not without his knowledge and support …I had his blessing”. If there’s any sense, on the President’s part, of having being betrayed by Dare, Tinubu hasn’t shown it, from this appointment – even though it is admittedly rare in Nigeria to have a Minister in one or two administrations become anything less than that thereafter.

While such a seeming ‘downgrade’ may be rare in Nigeria – where in most cases, public office is seen, not as a call to service (as Dare has rightly described it) but as an opportunity to ‘eat’ one’s share of the proverbial national cake (preferably in ever-increasing quantities with every successive dispensation) – it is a common occurrence in some of the world’s more advanced democracies. The United States of America, for one, provides multiple examples: one of the country’s earliest Presidents, the cerebral John Quincy Adams, served as a Congressman after his presidential tenure. A later President, William Taft, served as a Justice on the Supreme Court after leaving the seat of power. Much more recently, a former vice-president and presidential candidate, Walter Mondale, later served as US Ambassador to Japan under President Bill Clinton. Today, John Kerry, a former US Senator, serves as President Joe Biden’s global climate ambassador – after having been Secretary of State (the country’s highest diplomatic job, and the highest Cabinet position) under former President Barack Obama. The list goes on.

What is important, as Dare said in the Channels TV interview, is that when you’re appointed – not as a political move, but as a summons to national duty (whether to undertake a great task and confront mighty challenges, or to perform small but necessary chores) – you show up, and you strive to make a difference every day. In Dare’s case, it is a summons to help in the effective administration of the country (particularly in the area of engaging the people on the issues that matter most to them, and getting their buy-in into the government’s policy directions and actions) at a time when the government is undertaking far-reaching economic reforms designed, not just to engineer a recovery from the flawed fundamentals that have plagued Nigeria for so many decades, but to erect the building-blocks for sustainable growth and lasting prosperity. It is a period when the majority of Nigerians are in the throes of unprecedented hardship, with many wondering what on earth the Tinubu administration is doing to alleviate their suffering. “My focus now is … How do we support (a) president who had shown clearly that he has chosen the road less travelled …?” Dare said about the Tinubu reforms in Thursday’s interview. “… Every President said they would stop subsidy. None did it. Let’s give this man some credit … I acknowledge the fact that Nigerians are facing difficult times. It is just for a period.”

Experience has shown that this is the kind of brief at which a Sunday Dare would thrive and deliver excellent outcomes. He was the Chief of Staff/Special Adviser (Media) to Tinubu when the latter was an oppositin leader. An articulate public intellectual who writes and speaks with great poise and balance, Dare projects confidence and has a reassuring persona. He has also held the position of Executive Commissioner for Stakeholder Management at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) from 2016. A graduate of International Studies from the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Dare has decades of multimedia journalism experience spanning over two decades. He was the chief of the Hausa Service at the African Division of the Voice of America (VOA) in Washington, DC from 2001 to 2009, as well as a founding member of the Nigerian weekly magazines The News and Tempo in the days of military rule in Nigeria, where he served as Editor, Tempo Magazine and its pioneer online Editor-General.

Dare is a recipient of many awards and has been recognized internationally. He won the Voice of America’s Meritorious Honour Award in 2009 in recognition of his skillful leadership, as well as a citation by the Committee to Protect Journalists in 2000 in acknowledgement of his courage as a journalist. He a Member and Associate of several professional bodies, including the US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the Investigative Workshop of the American University, and a former Knight Fellow of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in Washington DC.

Already, feelers from critical stakeholders across the nation (on both the political and professional fronts) indicate a strong undercurrent of approval and support for the President’s appointment of Dare – especially after a period of turbulence on the information-dissemination front in the Presidency (which apparently led to discordant tunes between the offices of the two presidential spokespersons, and the resignation of one of them in as-yet unexplained circumstances). As he was before, they agree, Dare will be a valuable asset to the government of his old mentor, Tinubu, as he brings uncommon candour and a professional flair to the serious business of nation-building. His unique and proven skill-sets – which include critical thinking and strategic planning – will come in handy at this time of great uncertainty, for both the government and the governed.

Downgrade or no downgrade, it is clear that this is one among the many good picks that President Bola Tinubu has become known for. It bodes well for government’s ability to connect with the Nigerian people, going forward, in its quest to actualize the Renewed Hope Agenda.

• Keem Abdul, publisher and writer, hails from Lagos. He can be reached via +2348038795377 or Akeemabdul2023@gmail.com