It is incredible to think that with all the deficiencies Nigerian politicians bring to the table, we also have to worry about them being able to express themselves appropriately in public.

In the times of late Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Mallam Ahmadu Bello, Chief Bola Ige SAN among others, public speaking was practically a requirement for entry into public office.

These men and women understood how to stir a crowd to action without moving a muscle, they might have used it to further their own personal agendas but at least they had an agenda to further.

The political elites we have today can be summarily described in media term as a “reporter’s nightmare”. They are poorly read and inarticulate and are often the subject of public ridicule every time they are required to speak in public.

The few public officials who do have the gift of public speaking seem only interested in defending indefensible actions from the government or accusing critics of the government of divisive action and treason.  Some of them are in the habits of making statements they will later come back to refute with more than two press statements.

They’ve made a mess of their offices and the list is growing because no one has paid for such gaffe. President Buhari is popular for making the “97% and 5%” statement while answering questions in the United States on how he will handle the Niger Delta crisis, he is also popular for making the “Nigerian youths are lazy” statement.

In Oyo state, the Governor was once caught on camera abusing protesting students of LAUTECH Ogbomosho, also Comrade Oshiomole was once caught on camera telling a widow to go and die same as Governor Elrufai calling on people to stone Senators Sheu Sanni and Hunkuyi. The list is endless and it keeps growing.

Last week at the Ondo State Social Media day the wife of the Governor publicly lashed out at students of the state-owned Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba-Akoko calling them irresponsible for protesting the last increment of their school fees.

As at the time of writing this story. The first lady hasn’t come out publicly to deny this. Hers is not the first and probably won’t be the last but for our public officials to keep making embarrassing statements in their public communication won’t be forgiven again.

Political elites should be mindful of their words, if they can’t improve their public communication skills they should stick to prepared speeches, they have tons of people to write that for them. Enough of poor public communication.