Amid growing concerns about the health of President Muhammadu Buhari and the uncertain swinging pendulum of the fate of the Nigerian government, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday evening, headed for the United Kingdom to answer, according to a terse release from his media handlers, summons of the ailing president. Upon his return, the law professor was asked by the press the reason for the summons. The man known for his articulacy was literally waffling. At the end of the day, he had no concrete reason for the London trip, what he came back with, how the man he supposedly met was faring and what hope lay for Nigeria.
Since the presidency has spat on the principle of full disclosure, the right of Nigerians to speculate is thereby activated. So came a release from a Northern group which calls itself Coalition for Sustainable Democracy, signed by its chairman, Mohammed Yakubu. In a 22-paragraph statement, it accused Osinbajo and his “hawks” in the South West of “behaving as if Buhari is gone for good and…unleashing the media against everybody close to Buhari (by) creating a ‘we’ versus ‘them’ scenario…” and warning that this “constitute(s) more dangers… than… even Boko Haram.”
It further warned that: “another South-West Agenda is being foisted on the nation… some people using social media platforms are harassing and coercing the rest of the nation to accept… that the South-West is back in power,” and that “we shall not accept the repeat of the post-June 12 situation where the South-West held down the rest of the nation and blackmailed us to concede the Presidency to it.” Finally, it said: “nobody can stampede President Buhari out of power or out of this world (and) in the event that anything happens to Buhari, with the way this Osinbajo crowd is carrying on, the North would react.”
The group also claimed that “(Osinbajo) must be surprised that on getting to London where he went to see the President, he met at least three of Buhari›s core loyalists in the cabinet. They are Attorney General Abubakar Malami; Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika and Director General of the Directorate of State Security (DSS), Lawan Daura.” In the absence of any full disclosure by the presidency, we would be right to assume that the group was right.
Apart from the palpable arrogance of power from whoever this group represents, what it also communicates is Osinbajo’s tepid hold on power, even though the constitution assumes he is in power. The question to ask Osinbajo is, did these key ministers and actors in the government ask for leave of him before jetting to London? The answer is in the release’s agreement that the Acting President himself must be shocked at their presence beside Buhari’s convalescent bed.
Though existentialist philosophers say that everyone will carry his own life burden by themselves – you cannot die my own death, nor sick my sickness – it is apparent that the so-called North that is blaming everybody for the position that it finds itself today in the equation of power is the author of its own fate. While the South West put forward whom it regarded as its own best, in the person of Osinbajo, the North put forward Buhari. In the din of his irritancy, you could glean some sense from Ekiti State governor’s prompt alert of the nation in 2015 about Buhari’s poor health. He is rightly compared with his Katsina kinsman whom he vilified on his sick bed too and asked to vacate office. Buhari’s imposition has understandably revived and revved northern anxiety but it is dubious to hold the South West or any region for that matter responsible for his illness. Why the self-styled Coalition for Sustainable Democracy would attack those who ask Buhari to attend to his health and not allow it affect the health of a nation of supposed 180 million people, is puzzling.
The group’s tantrum in threatening that if anything happens to Buhari, “the North would react” is one of the most idiotic averments one can accommodate from anyone. First, it should know that the North does not have a monopoly of reactions; second, is the president’s doctor a South Westerner? More importantly, what have the people calling for good governance and accountability done wrong in asking for full disclosure of Buhari’s health and ancillary governmental matters?
The group and whoever are its sponsors should remember that the South West does not suffer fools gladly, even when it has to do with its own son. President Obasanjo received the most biting pillory from the South West while he was president. What it did during the June 12 imbroglio was consistent with what anyone seeking remedy to a group injury will do, all over the world. Not only was the West denied the fruits of its electoral victory, its icon was murdered in the gulag of a Northern despot. When June 12 was abrogated and MKO Abiola was murdered, the North called both “an act of God” and asked the South West to accept it. Why is Buhari’s sickness now not an act of God, but someone else’s doing? Buhari’s wife, Aisha, had regaled us last week with the tale of hawks and vultures whose end had come: are they the sponsors of this coalition mourning their apparent end?
Handshake with Akala
Ex-Oyo State governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala and this writer were not the best of friends. Throughout his tenure and even when he aspired to rule the state in 2015, he received tonnes of scud missiles from the pen of the writer. But on Monday, July 10, 2017, at the University of Ibadan’s International Conference Centre, his late kinsman and Premier of defunct Western Region, S.L. Akintola, brought us together for the very first time. While he was the chair of a book written by historian and lawyer, Femi Kehinde, memorialising the late politician, this writer was the book reviewer.
So it was time for the review and acknowledgement of dignitaries on the high table. Sarcastically, the writer notified the audience that throughout his tenure, the governor received pleasant reviews from the pen of the writer. Right from the high table where he sat, Alao-Akala thundered his disagreement with the sarcasm. And when the review was done, he beckoned to me and in about fifteen minutes, with him pumping the hands of his nemesis like a long-lost friend, we both did a review of my years of unpleasant criticisms of his person and government.
“Unknown to you, you were helping me and my government. I couldn’t take any decision without thinking of what you would write against it. That kept me on my toes,” he said. And a blush ran through my visage.
He seemed to insinuate that events between 2015 and now must have served the writer right, as those he pitched his tent with had abandoned him. He also wanted to know whether he still bore the same bile-laced opinion of him, with the benefit of hindsight. “You attacked me that I traveled out of the country at the drop of a hat,” Alao-Akala said and asked if, comparatively, the writer still stood by his criticism. He also insinuated that he doesn’t abandon aides who bite the bullet for him. After bantering, taking pictures together, we exchanged cell phone numbers and agreed to meet to do a deeper review, perhaps over cognac.
As we departed the venue, Alao-Akala’s strikingly jolly good fellow heart arrested the writer. A few years back, I had met a former governor of Ogun State whom I once did an unflattering review of his government. He declined to shake my hands. I doubt if there is any public official whose tour of duty this writer had knocked as much as the ex-Oyo governor. I just hope I am not beginning to like Alao-Akala.
PDP: Return of the sick behemoth
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) erupted in shouts of joy last week. The Supreme Court had ruled that the party’s internal bickering post-power, over who headed the party, should end and power be vested in former Kaduna State governor, Ahmed Makarfi.
The party’s squabble over power was needless. The tiff had gone so bad that people still doubt whether things can ever come to normalcy in the party. While many put the metastasis of the PDP internal wrangling to a Third Force from the party in power, its nemesis could jolly well be the contradictions of power, glory and majesty of its 16-year reign. PDP became a toad which fed rapaciously on the fishes of the creek. It was obvious it would burst due to its bloat.
While many see hope of a PDP comeback to interrogate APC’s jaundiced view of governance, I feel such a conceived PDP is dead for ever. That brand has been sufficiently discredited and worsted in and out of power by a combination of the rascality of its stalwarts and their haters, so much that PDP is worthless to play the role of an opposition party today.
Anyway, if PDP lacks a punch, let it nimble in playing the role of a virile opposition. In concert with APGA and others, we may put the ruling party on its toes.
Obindo gets justice
A few weeks ago, this column dwelt on the run-up to the Osun West Senatorial election and recreated ex-Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s famous anecdote of Obindo, a widow who was a recipient of multiple injustices during and even after the demise of her husband. The piece submitted that, in Rauf Aregbesola’s very unAfrican treatment of the memory of late Isiaka Adeleke laid his approaching political nemesis.
Ademola Adeleke, Senator-elect, who mercilessly defeated Aregbesola’s surrogate, Hussain, did exactly that. Flakes in the sky then appeared. First was the arrest of an APC chieftain, Alhaji Fatai Oyedele, popularly known as Diekola, on alleged breach of public peace. Thereafter, a director in the state-owned radio station was suspended on allegation of abusing the governor on social media and supporting the candidacy of Adeleke. Then, a video of Adeleke dancing went viral, ostensibly from the governor’s camp, with the aim of putting the senator down as a sybarite not worthy of the people’s votes.
On the last point, many know that Adeleke hails from a family with a song and dance pedigree, his mother and nephew, the musician, Davido, being examples. Again, if anyone had ever seen the Osun governor dancing to Saheed Osupa, one would agree that there could never have been a greater epicurean. In any case, since when did dancing become an offence? It is a great African art. If anyone had seen His Imperial Majesty, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111, the Alaafin of Oyo, dancing to the ancient bata drum, they will appreciate that dancing is an African pastime. If there is an empirical show of a defect in Adeleke’s competence or elan, then his governmental traducers will have a point. Certainly, not in his love for dancing.
If I were Aregbesola, I would be fearful of the 2018 polls with the outcome of the senatorial bye-election. That massive trouncing of his surrogate is ostensibly a vote of no confidence on his government. The opposition in Osun and anywhere else must also have learnt a lesson therefrom: that amity will defeat autocracy and modern day imperialism. Unfortunately, they never learn their lessons.
Ekweremadu’s cants
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, last week threw Nigerians into a gross revulsion of his person as he carried senatorial rascality to its zenith. He had, like the purport of his gaits, arrogantly told the people of Kogi State that recalling Dino Melaye, perceived by his people as a good example of what a Senator must not be, was “an exercise in futility.”
First, the senate debating the recall is akin to being judge and prosecutor in one’s case. We all know that Melaye is the Alsatian that the Senate sends to hound and scare the legislature’s traducers. What objective assessment of his fate should any sensible person expect from such assemblage? The Assembly is known to be peopled by the dregs of us all and is a restroom for the flotsam and jetsam of society. Recall that right inside this same house did ex-AIG Nuhu Aliyu find an armed robbery suspect he said he investigated while in the police force.
Now, they said INEC has suspended the recall process of the garrulous senator. Methinks it is a sad day for our quest to have an avenue to hold the parliamentarians to account for their years of dross in the parliament. If Dino had been recalled, he would have been an example of the effectiveness of the people’s power to recall their effete parliamentarians and good governance would have received a boost.
Ekweremadu struck a wrong chord in inciting Kogi people against their governor in alleging that N12million was spent on advertorial against him. Ekweremadu’s constituents in Enugu will tell you that he incinerates bigger people’s money on senseless politics in his constituency. One only hopes that someday, an accountable system will come and people will interrogate the immeasurable wealth of parliamentarians in years of being in the legislature.
and then