Reading the front page story in This Day Newspaper report of September 30 captioned "Minister's Tardiness Stalls 2005 Honours, List" leaves one with no doubt about the gross incompetence of Inter-governmental and Special Duties minister, Musa Mohammed who allegedly embarrassed his president and by extension the whole nation for failing to submit the list for confirmation of the 2005 recipients of the National Honours.

In fact the story was so detailed that even the Council of States had to allegedly adjourn for several hours to await the submission of the list but all to no avail. This story was so detailed that one would have congratulated the newspaper and its " insider source" for exposing this "tardiness". But what if the story turns out to be a hoax, deliberately manufactured and planted to the newspaper? What if it were a deliberate disinformation calculated, designed and produced to embarrass the minister?

The story was so graphic in details that it could easily have been swallowed as factual especially as Obasanjo was said "to have embarrassed when minister Mohammed could not produce the list of the people recommended for the National Honours for the consideration of the Council State". According to the newspaper, a "source close to the meeting" disclosed that, "when the item came up for discussion, President Olusegun Obasanjo asked his Special Duties Minister, Col Musa Mohammed (rtd), to brief the Council and serve members the memo accompanied with the list of the prospective awardees. The minister was not forthcoming with the documents after pretending to be searching for them in his bags". Following the minister's failure to produce the list, the newspaper continued, Obasanjo requested the meeting to be adjourned from 9am to 2pm to enable his minister and his staff to get his staff to get the memo and the list ready for the council. But, "the situation remained same even when the meeting reconvened" the source told the paper. Who is that source one wonders and what are his motives? This development, according to the source, "embarrassed Obasanjo who he said made spirited appeal to the Council to pardon him for the mix-up: "This is sad. It is unfortunate. It has never happened and it will not happen again. This happened because of the shoddy work of the minister and his officials. This is an embarrassment", the president was quoted to have said. But what is of great interest to me at this juncture is the accuracy of the report.

At least, the views of the minister in question was neither sought nor published. The story also never indicated that the minister was sighted at the venue of the meeting (Presidential Villa)and contacted but refused to comment, as he was reported by the newspaper to have appeared before the Council and failed to produce the list even after opening his briefcase pretending searching for the list that never was. Professionally speaking, this was a serious flaw, as it did not conform to one of the fundamental tenets of journalism regarding to be fair hearing. Furthermore, the newspaper went for the minister's juggler on October 4 through its columnist, Godwin Agbroko, and entitled "How Not to Minister" where the minister was taken to the cleaners. Encoring his comments on the September 30 news report, Agroko heavily descended on the minister for not presenting the list that he was hoping his name was included having lobbied his governor through a third party to be included in this year's list. In case you cannot remember the journalist, he was a former editor of The Week magazine and was for about six months detained in the infamous underground den of the military Intelligence, Apapa during the Abacha regime. I do not know whether that was enough to award one a national honour, but what was very clear to me was that Agroko had other reasons to descend on the minister the way he did. Apart from the alleged tardiness of the minister, he went further to review his performance while at the ministry of sports that he described as "woeful record". This to my mind was an overkill, as it did not provide the true picture; instead it contains several distortions and misrepresentations.

It was therefore quite refreshing listening to the minister explaining the circumstances and facts surrounding the non-submission of the honours' list to the president and information planted in the newspaper by a "source" inside the Council of States that has enough and strong motives to want to embarrass the minister. This source, which is likely to benefit from this act, must be one that has either a grudge against the minister or some political scores to settle with him especially bearing in mind the on-going controversial PDP re-registration exercise across the country. Also in case you do not know, the minister is from Gombe State. who would have fabricated this story if not somebody who stands to gain from it? In the first place, the minister explained he was never at the venue of the Council of States as he is not a member. According to the minister, he was not even supposed at that time to present the list to the president for approval not to talk of writing a memo to the Council as the committee vetting the list of the awardees was still working. It is only after they finish selecting from the over one thousand nominations, the list is passed to the relevant security agencies for vetting. It is after this security checks that the list is presented to the president for final approval. It is after this approval is obtained that a memo is raised and circulated to the Council of States members for their consideration before even the meeting of the Council is summoned. That has been the procedure for ages and this year has been no exception.

So on that fateful day, according to the minister, he received a message from the president to bring the list for the consideration of the Council of States. He went to the Villa and met the president in his office in the presence of some former Heads of States where he explained that national honours are not conferred in October but usually in December. In fact, both in 2003 and 2004, the honours were awarded on December 16. The list is therefore normally released in November after the approval of the council. He further explained, it was only the list of those recommended for prerogative of mercy that is announced on October 1 to coincide with the independence anniversary. After this explanation to the president, he left the office to join the meeting of the National Honours' Award Committee that was holding elsewhere in town. By the National Honours' Award Act No 5 of 1963 that established the award of honours to meritorious men and women, the highest number of people at any given year should not exceed 412 and to date it never exceeded 231 recipients.

From the foregoing, it would appear somebody was up to some mischief by tinkering with the truth for whatever reason. Similarly, our friend Godwin Agbroko in the article earlier mentioned was not fair to the minister especially in his assessment of his tenure as minister of sports. While he is entitled to his opinion, he should have recognized some fundamental facts that could not be denied as some of his achievements. For instance, no one would deny the fact that it was during his tenure that the National Football League was instituted, Nigeria came first at the All Africa Games in Abuja 2003 and the Super Falcons clinched its 4th victory in South Africa. Similarly, it was to the credit of Col. Mohammed as a minister of sports that the Under 21 national team won the Junior African Championship as well as dazzled the world in Holland at the Junior World Cup. So was the victory of the Enyimba Football Club of Aba, the victory of First Bank team at the West African Club Championship. Also during his tenure the Women Basketball Team emerged the best in Africa Also the minister it was that initiated the process for the abrogation of the infamous Decree 101 by getting the approvals of Council of Sports and the Federal Executive Council before finally sending the bill to the National Assembly. Finally, it was also Mohammed that broke the shaking-hand syndrome for athletes that brought honour to the country. He broke the jinx and lavishly rewarded the winners at the African Games and beyond

In a nutshell, one could see from the foregoing, that the minister was unfairly treated and was a victim of media hype especially on the National Honours List. The lesson to be learnt here is that government officials must take the extra efforts to enlighten Nigerians on their stewardship. In this era of mass communications, public enlightenment is as important as the job itself. While we are advocates of humility in public office, it should not be at the expense of blowing the trumpet so that even the deaf could hear. The efficient and effective management of information is very central to the success of government and its executives. Our ministers and other government officials must realize that they have a duty and responsibility to be informing Nigerian about their progress and challenges. They should learn from Col Mohammed who from all indications is a victim of intrigues perpetrated to achieve some sinister political objectives.