St. Lucia: The day I worked on Pres. Tibubu’s speeches by Abdulhamid Al-Gazali

BY ABDULHAMID AL-GAZALI, AUGUST 13, 2025 | 09:44 PM

It was a rare opportunity for me to have been in the president’s trip to St Lucia, an island nation that’s not as big as my town in Maiduguri. When the presidency informed me some six weeks to his trip to the Caribbean island that Mr. President mentioned my name among those to be included, it was a mix of disbelief and shock because I do not have any sympathy for his government.

‘Abdulhamid, will you be available for a trip with His Excellency, the President, in June,’ an official from one of either the office of the chief of staff or ministry of foreign affairs said in a rather unassuming tone when he called.

Beyond being a journalist and an entrepreneur, I am a farmer. So the month of June is a tough call. I asked the caller—who is one of three different people that called variously within a space of just 48 hours—to call in a week to confirm. Then followed the Chief of Staff, who was somewhat furious over my hesitation. ‘My friend, are you snubbing us again?’ Mr. Femi asked. ‘You can’t this time around, Mr. President wants you in the trip. There’s an instruction for an hour’s meeting for you and him slotted in our schedules,’ he added. He went further to add that I would be contacted for the arrangements.

Contrary to his claims, I didn’t snub them. In 2022, I was invited to join a group of media strategists to support their campaign. I told Femi, with whom I had met at Fairmont Hotel in London (or Savoy as it is called there) to discuss the offer, that I would be winding down whatever I was doing for the APC along with President Buhari. Buhari was actually the only politician I had truly ever supported.

It was hard to resist the offer, though and it was of the reason I had his respect ever since. Simply, very few could turn down such an offer. Our workstations were to be in London, Dubai and Lagos / Abuja, with a provision for an expansive business suite accommodations in 5-Star hotels in all cities. Indeed, I contemplated taking it; but not for what it came with. I wanted to take advantage of working with and learning from some of the best media strategists in the world. A few of them were behind the Yes We Can campaign that took Obama to the White House. It was one of the best ever media campaigns of its scale.

The other, Fred Vicker, took the Apple brand to where it is today. In Nigeria, the team included some of the best. But I was not meant to work in the team; and this may have offended Mr. Femi, who, as the Speaker of the 8th Reps, used to be very close to me. It was in fact him who gifted me with a Jaguar Land Rover JLR 2022—my first ever EV; a hybrid of gasoline and electric engine. Unlike Rotimi Ameachi, I loved the gift. It has a 523-hp twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8 engine, as well as a 31.8 kwh battery pack that runs a range of about 48-miles on electric. Its HSE version sold in 2022 for $215, 000.

But that was that, I was not driven to do the work. This time too, I almost wouldn’t because it coincided with the rainy season. Ordinarily, nothing takes me away from the farm. But this was a national call to duty, and it was definitely an opportunity, I told myself, to share some of my thoughts with the President. I braced up for the trip and exchanged several calls with the team planning it.

Finally, I realized why the President wanted me on the trip. History. The President has always been interested in our history, even though he knew little of it. Though the history of Slave Trade is not my interest; he believed my presence in the team could help in some way. In fact, Mr. President had asked that I read his proposed speeches, about 4 different ones, each for the activities lined up for him. I had worked on them. I emphasized that the first of Africans in the Americas didn’t make it there as slaves and that there were a number of migrants who crossed the Atlantic several centuries before Christopher Columbus.

It made the President happy, and made sure his message of commendation was conveyed to me. I added a line that specifically excited him. ‘With your population of about 180,000, all a mix of African, British and French weaved together by an eventful history, St. Lucia is also the only island part of the Lesser Antilles to have derived its name from a female,’ was the line. I did it specifically to make the president look in full command of his speech and a thorough global thought leader. Mr. President mentioned to me even how I made sure I corrected all lists of things or places in the speeches to follow their alphabetical order (such as African, British and French), which was a writing principle I had long learnt from my father.

I was also reminded that we would be having a meeting with him July 4, where he said he would discuss an important national assignment he wants to give me.

Interestingly, I didn’t join the presidential plane. As would be expected, I was in the advance team, which arrived 48 hours earlier, along with over 60 officials and plain-clothe security personnel. Of the number, only five of us knew we were headed for the same event and activity. I got to know some after arriving at the airport, the expansive Hewanora International Airport. In fact, I knew a lot more in the subsequent prep meetings we have had with the Nigerian team already there for security, protocols, logistics and communications, ahead of the president’s arrival.

The arrangements, as well as the reception in St. Lucia was topnotch. The Nigerian team on ground to receive Mr. President, the security, protocol and accommodations, including meals, were global best.

For instance, my suite, at the Sandals Grande St Lucian located at Grot Islet, was a real home away from home. Again, I seem to have had one of the best accommodations on probably Mr. President’s instructions. I had felt it was a trap and his strategy to soften my hard stance against the government.

It was a one-bedroom suite with an expansive luxurious living room, the most exclusive of their collections, generally called Overwater Bungalows, also facing another awe striking Beachfront Butler Suites. As with the name, it has a thatched roofing and exquisite glass floor panels, greeted by beautiful golden sand beach some 200 meters away.

They are reserved for A-list guests but according to its staff, the hotel’s greatest honor since it was first opened in 1989 was hosting former US President Bill Clinton in the year 2005.

The painting was lily-white, with touches of gold, with sleek furniture, to tell that it’s the country’s best. Even though an Italian brand, I had interestingly once seen the furniture collection in Dubai’s Hadidd showroom, with a set—comprising of a three-seater, two two-seaters, a center table and three side-tables—going for 20, 000 Dirhams. I had enjoyed everything in my stay there, especially the room service and highly professional officials at the front desk.

It was July 4. I was told that I was going to see the president at 11:00 pm. A perfect time for me, probably the president too because I had noticed he also closes his days at 3:00 am and starts the next day at 10:00 since we came. Mr. President’s accommodation was at the Government House, or so I thought. I didn’t know where he lived because I made sure I avoided his convoys. I received the daily advisory every morning. So I went to the specific venues that were mentioned with my driver, Mr. Vardy, who told me he was first trained as a bodyguard. ‘Oh, so I now have a chauffeur and a bodyguard in one man,’ I was told him with some hesitation. Surprisingly, the remark excited him. For this remark alone, he made his wife called in to thank me. Strange thing, right?

I asked Mr. Vardy to be at my hotel at 7:00pm ahead of my meeting with the president. I was waiting for the team to send me the address, which I was told would be shared with me 45 minutes to the time. Some security stuff? Anyways, I woke up and never got to meet him! Interesting, isn’t it?