Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, on Thursday said it is unfortunate that some idle and indolent wailers made an issue out of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day ceremony where pigeons released by President Muhammadu Buhari refused to fly.
In his weekly article titled ‘ Reflections From A Wreath Laying Ceremony,’ Adesina said the pigeons having been caged for sometimes hesitated because they couldn’t believe they have been set free.
He said, “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 symbolize 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 temporized a bit. And then, two, three minutes later, they all took to the sky. Nothing extraordinary in the development, you would think”.
“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?”
