March 28, 2010
As I write this, the senate is getting ready to carry out its statutory function of screening and confirmation of prospective Ministers, which they have turned into ‘bow-and-go’ in Nigeria Senate. The question in the minds of many Nigerians that have waited with bathed breath is what quality of men and women the Acting president will present for this historical assignment.
As I write this, the senate is getting ready to carry out its statutory function of screening and confirmation of prospective Ministers, which they have turned into ‘bow-and-go’ in Nigeria Senate. The question in the minds of many Nigerians that have waited with bathed breath is what quality of men and women the Acting president will present for this historical assignment.
To be sure, Nigerians handed over the best cooking ingredients to Jonathan some few weeks ago to make delicious soup for the generality of the long-suffering masses of this country that have had to endure the most debilitating kind of leadership in the last half of this century. The soup we refer to here is neither afang nor banga soup. We are talking about a new opportunity offered to Jonathan on a platter of gold to set in motion a new beginning for a country that has been under the auctioneers’ hammer as they auction her gradually to the highest bidder all these years. One is talking about the number and quality of cooks in Jonathan’s kitchen. We have been hearing of kitchen cabinets in most administrations. The Yar’Adua administration is the first to give a face to otherwise faceless members. As has been observed else where, the Yar’Adua kitchen cabinet metamorphosed into a cabal. Cabal meaning a group of conspirators or plotters, particularly one formed for political purposes. While most political elites condemn this cabal, recent events point to the fact that their resentment derive from their non-membership. With what we are witnessing now in appointment of Minister’s, it appears the current Jonathan’s handlers are trying to dislodge Turai’s cabal to replace them with theirs. This vicious cycle does the Nation no good. When next you hear the word cabal, please observe who is calling first, because we must endeavor to separate the chaff from the wheat.
For purposes of expediency, one would concede the survival measures of Mr. Acting President for which he has taken certain actions ostensibly to stabilize the polity fractured Mr. Yar’Adua’s long absence from duty. The cabal purportedly assembled by Mrs. Turai Yar’Adua to-stand-in for him has caused some sleepless nights in the camp of Mr. Jonathan and true lovers of this country. Through a combination of hide and seek, invocation of fear and their brilliant articulation of lies, which they routinely dish out to the unsuspecting public, they were able keep the state in a static position for more than three months. The imagined miraculous appearance at the Abuja central mosque last Friday the 26th instant was one of such cock and bull story. To them, retaining a static State is apparently more important than survival of the Nation. Would you blame them?
It is becoming obvious that the acting president in an effort to destabilize this group has entered into some strategic unholy alliances with some strange bedfellows. He has employed divide and rule tactics. He has engaged the services of every influence hawker in the National question in a desperate move to consolidate power. Most of the recruits are coming to the kitchen with poisoned chalice and very dubious credentials. They mean no good for both Jonathan and the Nation and in the short run; it seems to be all that is needed for him to have a breather.
Here incidentally, is where I part ways with Jonathan’s approach. Courage is never the absence of fear. It is a conscious choice to make a difference no matter the odds. Jonathan should find accommodation in the words of my friend {Chinenye} who said, “Heroes do not make history, it is history that eventually make heroes of men”.
I know the expectations of the ordinary Nigerians. They erroneously believe that a new regime is in place and Jonathan heads that regime. They also believe that Jonathan, on assumption of office will immediately behave like Obasanjo or Babangida. Two former heads of state that at different times in our recent history held the reigns of power like personal assets and deployed it at will for personal use. Tough luck, Jonathan does not have such stature.
In an effort to exercise power without constantly checking his neck, he has had to recruit, Babaginda, Obasanjo, Gusau, Danjuma, David mark, Bankole, and recently Ogbulafor and some state governors considered influential enough to rock the boat. There is no further evidence to underline this position than the composition of the dissolved Federal Executive Council.
The general believe now is that the re-constituted FEC nominated by these men will all be loyal to Jonathan and ready to do his bidding including the invocation of section 144 of the constitution that will ultimately transport Jonathan from an Acting position to a substantive President. Nothing on ground points convincingly that this scenario will play out fast and easy after the re-constitution. I say this because all the strange elements that Jonathan has assembled as watchdogs are themselves interested in the big meat hanging in that Aso-Rock kitchen. I am yet to be convinced that Babangida, Gusau, David Mark, Saraki and Ogbulafor who are all eyeing the Presidency at some point from 2011 will consciously work to have Jonathan consolidate power for future use perhaps not far from 2011. A lot of good luck has come the way of Good luck Jonathan no doubts. However, when predictions become too obvious, they seize to excite. For instance, predicting that 25 of December will be Christmas. The excessive dose of mother luck Jonathan has enjoyed in the political firmament of the nation is well documented. The paranoid and superstitious nature of our political class will not permit them to allow Jonathan and his Good luck to have the better of them any longer. As it stands today, it appears anything that suggest consolidation of power that will make Jonathan start having ideas beyond 2011 will be met with high wired intrigue if not brutal force. In this, all the gladiators enjoy a consensus. The powers conferred on the Nigerian Presidency are too intoxicating to be ignored, not least by seasoned power mongers like Babangida and co.
It is against this background that I had thought that Jonathan and his managers would for sake of the Nation followed a more pragmatic route in reconstituting the cabinet instead of this weather beaten part that is all laid with destructive thorns. He allowed them to ambush him just like his visionless predecessors. I thought he could have taken a cue from Obasanjo who after discovering the powerful weapons of political mass destruction assembled by Atiku who he out-sourced his Presidency to, in his first outing, in preference for enjoying himself in world capitals, decided to ignore the political class in re-constituting his cabinet shortly before 2003 general {s} election. That singular decision saved Obasanjo’s Presidency from total collapse and disgrace. It was at that, time he brought the likes of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and other tested technocrats that gave that administration a semblance of governance.
The euphoria of a decisive Acting Presidency will soon give way to despondency from the people that erroneously believed that the dissolution of FEC would enthrone a new bright beginning. If the names sent to the Senate are the ones that Jonathan hopes to use to turn things around in the next one year, I have no problem in predicting that Jonathan will loose in two critical areas. First, opportunity to write his name in the annals of Nigerian history and secondly a short at the Presidency in 2011 using a qualitative record of performance as negotiating tool. Of course, the ultimate looser, once again will be the poor masses that have placed an unjustified hope in a Jonathan Presidency. One will not entirely blame a people that have helplessly watched each successive regime fritter away their future. From each section of the country, all manner of power peddlers have nominated for inclusion among the federal Executive council, men and women whose only credential is their loyalty to these power dealers/brokers.
My major worry is our attitude to our plights. We have a large army of armchair critics and internet revolutionaries who look up to every one else but themselves to be the change we desire. It is not smart to watch and wait for Jonathan to provide a platform and solution and become a hero, which in our individual capacity; we can be. Again, my friend aptly observed that when we are looking for who will lead us, we are looking away from ourselves and forgetting that each of us is probably a hero and inspiration to someone else. We have to continually galvanize and pull the dynamic social forces that have in recent times, given us a listening ear at the presidency and the federal legislature. I would therefore like to believe that when next the Save Nigerian Group {SNG} and Enough-Is-Enough take to the streets to protest the ‘salty soup’ our Acting President has served us, we shall receive the same co-operation from the law enforcement agencies just like when we where protesting that the sacked cabinet should respect our constitution. After all, a man who kills his native doctor should know that those who poison him are not all dead.
Consequently, I foresee a troubled regime of chaos occasioned by the new appointees who will as usual desperately try to steal enough for themselves and their benefactors in the short time remaining in the life of this mal-administration. When and if this happens, we should all rise up to protest the abuse. A society that rewards criminality is a doomed one. We must always remember the wise saying that, when the bush is on fire, grass cutters do not have a chance to bid each other good-bye.
Mr. Acting President, we are losing our appetite because this soup is too salty.
Chike Orjiako.
To be sure, Nigerians handed over the best cooking ingredients to Jonathan some few weeks ago to make delicious soup for the generality of the long-suffering masses of this country that have had to endure the most debilitating kind of leadership in the last half of this century. The soup we refer to here is neither afang nor banga soup. We are talking about a new opportunity offered to Jonathan on a platter of gold to set in motion a new beginning for a country that has been under the auctioneers’ hammer as they auction her gradually to the highest bidder all these years. One is talking about the number and quality of cooks in Jonathan’s kitchen. We have been hearing of kitchen cabinets in most administrations. The Yar’Adua administration is the first to give a face to otherwise faceless members. As has been observed else where, the Yar’Adua kitchen cabinet metamorphosed into a cabal. Cabal meaning a group of conspirators or plotters, particularly one formed for political purposes. While most political elites condemn this cabal, recent events point to the fact that their resentment derive from their non-membership. With what we are witnessing now in appointment of Minister’s, it appears the current Jonathan’s handlers are trying to dislodge Turai’s cabal to replace them with theirs. This vicious cycle does the Nation no good. When next you hear the word cabal, please observe who is calling first, because we must endeavor to separate the chaff from the wheat.
For purposes of expediency, one would concede the survival measures of Mr. Acting President for which he has taken certain actions ostensibly to stabilize the polity fractured Mr. Yar’Adua’s long absence from duty. The cabal purportedly assembled by Mrs. Turai Yar’Adua to-stand-in for him has caused some sleepless nights in the camp of Mr. Jonathan and true lovers of this country. Through a combination of hide and seek, invocation of fear and their brilliant articulation of lies, which they routinely dish out to the unsuspecting public, they were able keep the state in a static position for more than three months. The imagined miraculous appearance at the Abuja central mosque last Friday the 26th instant was one of such cock and bull story. To them, retaining a static State is apparently more important than survival of the Nation. Would you blame them?
It is becoming obvious that the acting president in an effort to destabilize this group has entered into some strategic unholy alliances with some strange bedfellows. He has employed divide and rule tactics. He has engaged the services of every influence hawker in the National question in a desperate move to consolidate power. Most of the recruits are coming to the kitchen with poisoned chalice and very dubious credentials. They mean no good for both Jonathan and the Nation and in the short run; it seems to be all that is needed for him to have a breather.
Here incidentally, is where I part ways with Jonathan’s approach. Courage is never the absence of fear. It is a conscious choice to make a difference no matter the odds. Jonathan should find accommodation in the words of my friend {Chinenye} who said, “Heroes do not make history, it is history that eventually make heroes of men”.
I know the expectations of the ordinary Nigerians. They erroneously believe that a new regime is in place and Jonathan heads that regime. They also believe that Jonathan, on assumption of office will immediately behave like Obasanjo or Babangida. Two former heads of state that at different times in our recent history held the reigns of power like personal assets and deployed it at will for personal use. Tough luck, Jonathan does not have such stature.
In an effort to exercise power without constantly checking his neck, he has had to recruit, Babaginda, Obasanjo, Gusau, Danjuma, David mark, Bankole, and recently Ogbulafor and some state governors considered influential enough to rock the boat. There is no further evidence to underline this position than the composition of the dissolved Federal Executive Council.
The general believe now is that the re-constituted FEC nominated by these men will all be loyal to Jonathan and ready to do his bidding including the invocation of section 144 of the constitution that will ultimately transport Jonathan from an Acting position to a substantive President. Nothing on ground points convincingly that this scenario will play out fast and easy after the re-constitution. I say this because all the strange elements that Jonathan has assembled as watchdogs are themselves interested in the big meat hanging in that Aso-Rock kitchen. I am yet to be convinced that Babangida, Gusau, David Mark, Saraki and Ogbulafor who are all eyeing the Presidency at some point from 2011 will consciously work to have Jonathan consolidate power for future use perhaps not far from 2011. A lot of good luck has come the way of Good luck Jonathan no doubts. However, when predictions become too obvious, they seize to excite. For instance, predicting that 25 of December will be Christmas. The excessive dose of mother luck Jonathan has enjoyed in the political firmament of the nation is well documented. The paranoid and superstitious nature of our political class will not permit them to allow Jonathan and his Good luck to have the better of them any longer. As it stands today, it appears anything that suggest consolidation of power that will make Jonathan start having ideas beyond 2011 will be met with high wired intrigue if not brutal force. In this, all the gladiators enjoy a consensus. The powers conferred on the Nigerian Presidency are too intoxicating to be ignored, not least by seasoned power mongers like Babangida and co.
It is against this background that I had thought that Jonathan and his managers would for sake of the Nation followed a more pragmatic route in reconstituting the cabinet instead of this weather beaten part that is all laid with destructive thorns. He allowed them to ambush him just like his visionless predecessors. I thought he could have taken a cue from Obasanjo who after discovering the powerful weapons of political mass destruction assembled by Atiku who he out-sourced his Presidency to, in his first outing, in preference for enjoying himself in world capitals, decided to ignore the political class in re-constituting his cabinet shortly before 2003 general {s} election. That singular decision saved Obasanjo’s Presidency from total collapse and disgrace. It was at that, time he brought the likes of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and other tested technocrats that gave that administration a semblance of governance.
The euphoria of a decisive Acting Presidency will soon give way to despondency from the people that erroneously believed that the dissolution of FEC would enthrone a new bright beginning. If the names sent to the Senate are the ones that Jonathan hopes to use to turn things around in the next one year, I have no problem in predicting that Jonathan will loose in two critical areas. First, opportunity to write his name in the annals of Nigerian history and secondly a short at the Presidency in 2011 using a qualitative record of performance as negotiating tool. Of course, the ultimate looser, once again will be the poor masses that have placed an unjustified hope in a Jonathan Presidency. One will not entirely blame a people that have helplessly watched each successive regime fritter away their future. From each section of the country, all manner of power peddlers have nominated for inclusion among the federal Executive council, men and women whose only credential is their loyalty to these power dealers/brokers.
My major worry is our attitude to our plights. We have a large army of armchair critics and internet revolutionaries who look up to every one else but themselves to be the change we desire. It is not smart to watch and wait for Jonathan to provide a platform and solution and become a hero, which in our individual capacity; we can be. Again, my friend aptly observed that when we are looking for who will lead us, we are looking away from ourselves and forgetting that each of us is probably a hero and inspiration to someone else. We have to continually galvanize and pull the dynamic social forces that have in recent times, given us a listening ear at the presidency and the federal legislature. I would therefore like to believe that when next the Save Nigerian Group {SNG} and Enough-Is-Enough take to the streets to protest the ‘salty soup’ our Acting President has served us, we shall receive the same co-operation from the law enforcement agencies just like when we where protesting that the sacked cabinet should respect our constitution. After all, a man who kills his native doctor should know that those who poison him are not all dead.
Consequently, I foresee a troubled regime of chaos occasioned by the new appointees who will as usual desperately try to steal enough for themselves and their benefactors in the short time remaining in the life of this mal-administration. When and if this happens, we should all rise up to protest the abuse. A society that rewards criminality is a doomed one. We must always remember the wise saying that, when the bush is on fire, grass cutters do not have a chance to bid each other good-bye.
Mr. Acting President, we are losing our appetite because this soup is too salty.
Chike Orjiako.
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