Buhari's spokesperson just cried for help

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, let out a cry for help this week and we all pretended like we didnt hear him.

Adesina speaks for President Muhammadu Buhari.

When a man who speaks for the President doesn't have access to his principal, it's sufficient grounds for plenty of worry.

"I am in touch with the President daily...daily", Adesina said during a recent television interview, "but", he added with an index finger pointed to the heavens, "I am not saying I speak with him direct, but I am in touch with London daily.

"But people around him (sic), we speak daily", Adesina added.

In yet another interview, Adesina detailed how hamstrung he's become in a Presidency where a cabal has reportedly seized the reins.

ALSO READ: I speak to people around Buhari daily

"I have not spoken to him (Buhari) directly...He was to speak with me last night, I was already put on standby that the President would speak to me last night. The call eventually did not come.

"So maybe he slept off or something. But I don’t even need him to speak to me. Because I don’t need to authenticate that he’s well or is alive. I speak with people there every day and they tell me how Mr. President is. So, I don’t need any authentication".

Let's call it what it is--Femi Adesina is in a bad place.

Femi Adesina needs help in the form of hugs and kisses.

Spokespersons should have round the clock access to their bosses because they speak for their bosses.

Adesina is the President's mouthpiece. When he says he's been unable to speak with Buhari, he's inadvertently asking the rest of us to bail him out; he's indirectly telling us that he's been ostracized when it comes to discharging the responsibilities of his office.

How do you communicate the state of health of a President to the people when you've not heard him speak since he left Nigeria's shores?

Why does a spokesperson have to depend on second hand information to know what's going on with his boss?

ALSO READ: 10 Things Aso Rock wants you to know about President's health

Do the other people the President is speaking with, have two heads?

There was a sneer in Adesina's voice when the interviewer mentioned Mamman Daura.

To hear the grapevine tell it, Daura is the President's cousin who calls the shots within the Buhari administration. They call him the head of a sinister cabal.

Was Daura in the Uk with Buhari as everyone expects?, the interviewer inquired.

"I don’t know if Mamman Daura is there", Adesina barked. "He doesn’t serve in government. I can talk about those who serve in government that I saw off at the airport".

You don't need to read between the lines--you can actually read the lines themselves.

Adesina's case may just be one of many instances where otherwise capable persons have been emasculated in the larger scheme of things by a President who some say likes to micro-manage governance.

Just look at Babatunde Fashola and Kayode Fayemi. Who would have thought that these gentlemen would be made to look this ineffectual and (for want of a better expression) clueless?

Adesina needs us and we need to offer him some hugs and prayers.