Let’s unpack IGP Idris ‘transmission, transfusion’ moment

Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, is trending again for all the wrong reasons.

There’s a video making the rounds online of the nation’s police chief making a complete mess of a prepared speech.

“I mean transmission…transmission effort….I mean transfusion…apprehensive….Sorry…transmission …transfusion….transfusion and transmission of effective”, and on and on he went.

The word 'transmission' will never sound the same to me again after watching the clips.

At one point, a gentleman in suit had to step forward to point out the correct words to Idris, but it was too little too late. The police boss was far too gone in the transmission of his speech to an apprehensive audience, to be transformed.

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You have to admit that it was a horror moment for Idris who has had a couple of weeks to forget. Idris has been publicly called disobedient by President Buhari, he's been called names by Benue Governor Samuel Ortom and he’s under fire from the senate for not obeying their summons.

In between, Idris has been called incompetent by Nigerians as herdsmen unleash one deadly attack after another on hapless communities.

I was sat in a bus in static Lagos traffic last night when Twitter brought the IGP’s horror moment to me.

There are a couple of explanations for the 'transmission' mumbo jumbo and I can help with a few.

Just maybe the video was doctored to sound repetitive for mischievous purposes. The word for that is ‘looping’. Someone suggested last night that the video was ‘looped’ by a good video editor with an agenda.

It is also possible that IGP Idris suffers from a medical condition called dyslexia. A dyslexic finds it difficult reading or interpreting words, letters and symbols, but that doesn’t make him dumb. Dyslexia doesn’t affect the individual’s intelligence or ability to comprehend.

If Idris is indeed dyslexic as some have preferred, I'd say no one should be laughing at him right now. A medical condition shouldn't be scoffed at.

The third reason I can offer is that the IGP did indeed make a mess of his speech like we saw because he has a problem speaking in public or reading before an audience. That happens to the best of us. There are other videos of Idris making public speeches without stuttering. Did he not have enough sleep prior?

In any case, the video has been shared numerous times across all social media platforms, leaving the police hierarchy with more mess to clean up.

Here is the thing, though: whether that video was doctored, looped or whatever, it doesn’t speak well of the nation’s police boss or the office he occupies. It was simply embarrassing.