The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has explained why pigeons did not fly during the Armed Forces Remembrance Day ceremony.
Adesina, who lambasted those he described as “the idle and indolent populating social media” for making an issue out of the development, said it’s a natural phenomenon.
He added that only those with addled minds gave spiritual connotations to a natural phenomenon believing there is something ominous about the whole development.
He said the pigeons could not fly because they have been kept in the cage for a very long time, noting that “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”.
Disclosing this in his article titled: “Reflections from a wreath laying ceremony”, Adesina averred that: “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?
“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.”
