When we were younger, it took us a little while to get used to the name: Aso Rock Villa. Nigeria’s presidential villa in Abuja casually referred to as ‘Aso Rock’ seemed to have sprang to life too suddenly back then. It just came upon us and took the limelight when it became the seat of government in late 1991. Before the 12th of December, 1991 when Aso Rock Villa started its official life, it was not a common name on our lips and it also was not in the news like the ubiquitous Dodan Barracks. We had learnt that Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja had been in the works since 1976 when General Murtala Mohammed’s regime gave life to the idea, and also began the actual physical work to move Nigeria’s capital from Lagos. But a new Federal Capital Territory (FCT) still didn’t carry that aura which we knew with the presidential palace in that almighty Dodan Barracks in Lagos.
The new FCT and Aso Rock Villa were still nebulous in our thoughts and could not readily play in the league of the seat of power in our minds. We still feared that mouthful “supreme headquarters” of the federal military government which rang eternally in our heads. Such other heavyweight names like General Muhammadu Buhari’s “Supreme Military Council” and General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida’s “Armed Forces Ruling Council” were the pinnacles of Nigeria. Back then, we held the thought that Aso Rock was therefore ‘a leaner’ because it was new and would not have streets and neighbourhoods that would resonate like Ribadu Road, Ikoyi, Obalende, Marina and such other places of power and powerful people, along with what they did in the affairs of Nigeria.
We also learnt that General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, the military president of that era who is popularly known as (General) IBB, had hurriedly moved from Dodan Barracks in Lagos to Aso Rock Villa in Abuja. The claims were that he ran there as a result of what he saw during a bloody coup which they said cost him a lot. That coup was christened “Orkar Coup” and it caused so much panic in the country and took many lives including that of Col U.K. Bello, said to be IBB’s aide de camp. According to reports and those who said they knew, the coup was meant to restructure Nigeria. Restructuring…?
All that is history now. We now live in the era of our Abuja presidential villa. Power has changed hands. The seat of power has relocated. Indeed, by the time we rounded off with secondary education and began our days in the University of Ibadan, General IBB had done away with us or, maybe we were the ones who did away with him. Whatever happened, General Babangida said he was stepping aside and he was forced to. He was standing aside and alone till he recently showed up in Abuja with that hugely popular launch of his autobiography, “A Journey in Service.”
We have moved so far as a country from the Babangida and General Sani Abacha eras. Abacha was the one who actually stood (or sat) on the June 12 mandate. We now have a President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is carrying us to where we no know, far away from democracy on which we still stand. We have grown into Aso Rock Villa so much that Dodan Barracks is now such a distant memory. However, we are getting all kinds of strange vibes from our journey in democratic rule. One of such vibes is the feeling that we now should have a definite branch of our presidential villa in Paris or somewhere else in France.
President Tinubu has taken us so far from the memory of Dodan Barracks that we have now created the need to learn of a new Aso Rock Villa… in Paris. Since he took the oath of office on May 29, 2023, he has visited France more than some people whose company’s headquarters is domiciled in that country. So, why should we not have a legitimate branch there or get Aso Rock Villa, French edition? If the Nigerian presidential villa in France has any other name, we should be educated.
This contention is premised on the knowledge that the aircraft the United States’ president is travelling in is referred to as Airforce One. This is supposed to be the same thing with other countries, but you know the United States can do a lot of show-off… The residence of the US president also has a name. They say it is ‘White House’. And when their president is on vacation, he moves to a place in the country they call ‘Camp David’. In England, they call their prime minister’s residence in London no spectacular name. It’s simply ‘10 Downing Street.’ I do not know if their Prime Minister has a ‘Camp David’ for their own vacations. 9 and 11 Downing Street are also residences of very top officials of the government of England. So, Downing Street is for their own high and mighty. These presidents live in their country indeed. The firewood found in their domains is enough to cook their food.
In Nigeria, our president lives in the Presidential Villa in Aso Rock, Abuja. I think and wish he should live there indeed! But from what we have been seeing since Tinubu’s predecessor, our presidents do not let their backsides rest at home. Let’s leave the why and ask ourselves if we cannot do it otherwise. Among the Yoruba, a person who hardly stays in a place is said to have ‘eaten the legs of a chicken…’
During Buhari, Nigeria’s main branch was in London, the capital of England. In Buhari’s eight-year reign, he was in London nearly as much as the British Prime Minister. He once returned from London one time and they announced to us that rats had infested his Nigerian office! They had to fumigate the Nigerian office in the Aso Rock Villa and change the locks and sundry stuff against the audacious rats and all.
But now, Tinubu’s preference is Paris, France. Paris is the owner of the sobriquet: “City of Love.” Our president has relocated our Aso Villa branch office from London to that city. When his latest trip to Paris was announced formally on April 2, I thought ‘Oh, how much he loves us!’ He goes to Paris so often so as to glean at the love Paris exudes so that he can share the love with us when he returns. You know, whenever he returns, it would be “From Paris with Love”. Senior Bayo Onanuga said President Tinubu would be there for about a fortnight and I think that’s enough time to breathe in enough love to share with us.
Do not bother to count the number of times President Tinubu has been there so that you may not lose count, but be sure that he is in Paris for the usual ‘working visit’. That’s the best place for our president to “appraise his administration’s midterm performance and assess key milestones.” Of course, there is nowhere in Nigeria suitable enough for President Tinubu to “retreat to review the progress of ongoing reforms and engage in strategic planning ahead of his administration’s second anniversary.” In addition, Senior Onanuga reminded us that this time round… no, he didn’t say that. He said: “This period of reflection will inform plans to deepen ongoing reforms and accelerate national development priorities in the coming year.” These are best done in Paris, France. So, going to Paris is like a period, it recurs.
What then shall we call our Aso Rock Villa in Paris? That is one place to which the feet of our president are very quick. If our president is somewhere, that place should be the Aso Rock in the same way the president’s aircraft is Air Force One. Since President Bola Tinubu has relocated to France yet again on a working visit, I think we should find a suitable and befitting name for that place our president works from when he is away to France.
Thus, our president’s office is not in Nigeria only. That should mark Nigeria out. And since he has another office in France, we should look for a befitting name to give to the place. I suggest we buy the place and give it our own name and designate it appropriately. We cannot just be vaguely saying that our president is in Paris, France with no clue as to where exactly he is in that country. He is too precious to us.
So, please help, what should we call our presidential villa in France? Should we call it the French bureau – the way newspapers or media houses create bureaux in some places of interest?
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