As man Nigerians have expected, Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, has finally explained why the pigeons released by the president during the Armed Forces Remembrance Day in Abuja at first refused to fly.
There were media reports that day that the pigeons released by the President at the even last Friday refused to fly, notwithstanding various efforts made by the president to make them fly.
The incidence sparked a flurry of comments and interpretations by Nigerians, some of whom went to the extent of saying it was not a sign for the administration.
Writing on his Facebook Wall titled, ‘Reflection from a wreath-laying ceremony,’ Adesina described the refusal by the pigeons to fly as “a natural phenomenon”.
“Now, something for those who twist my every word, turn it upside down, to generate hatred. Something for them to wail about. The release of the pigeons.
“At every Armed Forces Remembrance Day, after the laying of the wreaths, the sitting President releases some pigeons, to symbolise peace in the land. Emblems of National harmony. It was not different last Friday.
“The pigeons had been kept in a cage. For how long, I do not know. And when birds and some other roaming animals have been circumscribed for a while, they get accustomed to their new status as lawful captives. Therefore, when you offer them freedom, they first baulk, thinking it’s too good to be true. It’s a natural phenomenon.
“President Buhari opened the cage that held the pigeons, about a score or so. One hesitated, then flew, followed by another. The others temporised a bit. And then, two, three minutes later, they all took to the sky. Nothing extraordinary in the development, you would think.”
“I thought it was the second time Pigeons refused to fly. I was wrong. But actually, this is a terrible signs that things wont be better any soon for Nigerian military and Nigerians in general,” one Emeka Gift tweeted from @EmekaGift.
Adesina also faulted Nigerians for describing the refusal of the birds to fly as a “bad sign”, urging them to do something productive with their time.
He said, “But not to the idle and indolent, most of who populate the social media. It was time to major in something minor, cavil, find fault unnecessarily.
“The pigeons didn’t fly, they refused to fly, it’s ominous, they wailed like wailing wailers. And you began to wonder: are people this idle?
“Don’t they have productive things to do with their times? Are their minds so addled, and all they want to do is find faults against their President, ascribing spiritual connotations to a non-issue?
“For their information: Muhammadu Buhari has no time for such frivolities. He just continues to serve the country with his heart and mind, trying to make a difference in security, economy, and anti-corruption. And he will get there, by the grace of God. But if they don’t change, the wailers will be losers, standing small.”
But ascribing spiritual undertones to such an omen is not new, as one of the commentators said that day.
According to him, a similar thing in 2014, when pigeons released by President Goodluck Jonathan refused to fly, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, an ardent supporter of President Buhari, had said that the pigeons’ refusal to fly meant that God had finished with Jonathan.
