Obasanjo, Jonathan, better than other Nigerian leaders

The end to the last long drawn-out university teachers’ strike means that students are set to return to school. On the basis of their experiences during the strike, they are likely to once again, face the reality of a wide gap between theory and practice. In the area of mass communication for instance, many students may have to grapple with the real meaning and nature of communication. Having learnt that written communication is generally superior to other forms such as oral communication and body language, they would not easily comprehend why the choice of writing as a channel of communication by former President Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ) with President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) elicited so much anger from some people. Did the many angry commentators read Obj’s letter about which they made pedestrian comments?
If so, did they come across the aspect where the man said the letter in issue was not his first to GEJ? Why then, is this particular one special-is it because it was made public? Did OBJ not impute that it was because the previous ones were not responded to? Did those who argued that an informal chat between the two leaders would have been a better option not comprehend OBJ’s allegation that access to oral communication had become tedious? Again, why were people wasting their energies on who leaked the letter- can a letter whose author wanted to make his feelings public be described as leaked? Even if OBJ’s motive was as mischievous as his detractors would want the public to believe, the letter was no doubt useful to GEJ, his government and people of Nigeria. This is because it articulated inaccuracies/half- truths, false alarms, rumours, gossips, as well as publicly held allegations into a package for more robust handling. OBJ thus served as a channel to the people’s leader to have first-hand knowledge of the popular grapevine so as to nib public dissatisfaction in the bud. Here, other national leaders fell below.

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