Seating Arrangements For Mr President At Official Functions Matter

 

His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is in Brazil for a bilateral meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil.

 

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At a meeting held at the Copacabana Forte aimed at strengthening cooperation and deepening the relationship between the two nations, Mr President is flanked by Governors Babajide Sanwoolu of Lagos state and Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state.

 

There is everything wrong with this seating arrangement in a country as diverse as Nigeria where regional and ethnic interests and representation are very important. Presidential minders should always have this in mind.

This kind of arrangement sends out the wrong signals.

 

I work in the strategic communications and public relations sector. Optics play a big role in what we do. Every word, statement or photograph means something and are subject to public scrutiny. From a PR standpoint the picture raises a lot of doubts in the minds of people especially for an administration that has severally been accused of running a lopsided government, skewed favourably towards people from a particular side of the country. This picture won’t help in dissuading the naysayers.

 

By the way I am in the President’s party but I come from a region too. Every politics is local. These are some of the ‘sins’ of my party that I have to defend before my people (the voters) when the time comes.

 

Uche Nworah Ph.D

 

RESPONSE

I read Dr Uche Nworah comments on this photo and I am surprised at the number of people who disagree with him. Dr Nworah is absolutely correct.

 

The President is in Brazil for the BRICS Summit. This meeting pictured here is a pre-summit bilateral meeting between the Presidents of Nigeria and Brazil on trade. In meetings such as these, the order of precedence around the President puts national interests ahead of regional ones. So regional leaders such as governors should be sitted either further away from the President or in the second row. It is a diplomatic faux pas to have the President surrounded by two regional leaders from the same zone, two southwest governors.

 

In a meeting like this, the right person who should be at the right hand of the President is Jumoke Oduwole, the Minister for Trade or Yusuf Tuggar, the Minister for Foreign Affairs. In the absence of both of them, Femi Gbajabiamila, the President’s Chief of Staff should be sitted at his right hand.

On his left, whoever is the second most senior national official or adviser should be sitted. In some cases, this person can be an ambassador or a high level diplomatic staff, depending on the agenda for the meeting. This is in case the president needs interpretation or other quick issues that may require diplomatic intervention.

If the President has minders, which I doubt, this is an inexcusable oversight. You don’t need to be an expert at protocol to see Governors Sanwo Olu and Abiodun flanking the President and immediately red flag it. If not for anything, Yusuf Tuggar, Minister for Foreign Affairs sitted three places away on the Presidents left hand should have jolted them into doing the right thing.