We were huddled in a needless suspense and tenterhook for about 120 days. Since 1914, the appointment of ministers had never generated so much heat cramp in the skeletal muscles of Nigeria. The preceding logorrhea in the social and mainstream media had hinted who would be on the list. Many people still expected surprises. A lot expected a departure from the familiar spirit of status quo.
I thought jaws would drop; but at the unveiling of the ministerial list from President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday by Senate President Bukola Saraki, jaws maintained their natural positions. Change has shown us another shade. When only men and methods change, in Nigeria, it is change too. Thank God it’s all over. We now have men Buhari wants and trusts.
I have a clear understanding of the historical patronage/spoils system as a practice in politics where positions and appointments are given to those who have helped a party win an election. Loyalists and supporters of the victorious party are always rewarded with “spoils of war”. After all, he who works at the altar must be a partaker at the altar. Buhari’s nominees are intelligent men and women who have served the people in one capacity or the other. I was hoping for new faces and fresh names. Appointments all over the world, however, are the prerogatives of the captain of the ship.
Let’s examine a few of the men now partaking at the altar. A former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, had an outstanding performance in Lagos. Many Nigerians believe he can stand firm and strong even as President. His mind is still fresh; and I am hopeful that he will come in with the energy of his first term as governor, not as the second. His second term was a disaster. I heard that’s what all Nigerian politicians do. They work in their first term and sleep at the switch in the second.
Fashola is my man any day. But please, if he is confirmed, don’t let him make decisions on upgrading websites. His bills are high-end. The allocation will build many schools and train many teachers in my home town of Imesi-Ile. I am not inferring that Fashola was corrupt as governor. I cannot say that about the man. You don’t convict a man by hollering; you do by proving your point in a court-of-law beyond reasonable doubt. But this web-site stuff is one weird web I have cited as the only blotch in Fashola’s eight years as Governor. If that’s the only web of discrepancy, Fashola is an asset to mankind and to Nigeria.
The immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, is a fine, polished, smooth-talking man. Fayemi speaks well and he’s got it together cerebrally. His greatest hidden asset is in his wife, Bisi. Bisi is both brain and brawn. The blood of the brainiac flows in the family veins. Fayemi could have won re-election last year if he had not detached from the people. He was unflagging in Ekiti during the four years rule; he did his best. Ekiti however got into another man’s kitty. That other man, you may call him any name you choose, is now doing what Fayemi never did. He hangs with regular people. The people love it, because governance is about people.
The other man made us believe that Fayemi loves beds more than he loves people. When I saw the pictures of the beds he was alleged to have bought for himself and his wife, I almost trashed mine. Fayemi is a bed-bug! I guess he sought more than the miracle of sleeping-and-waking as governor. The other man said the beds cost N100m. I rarely believe whatever comes out of the mouth of the other man. But those beds were beasty! I never knew an ordinary bed could have cost that much until I found out that there is a particular bed called Baldacchino Supreme Bed that costs $6.3 million (almost N2bn) and human beings lay on them. I hope I am not instilling some bad bed ideas into Fayemi’s head. He shouldn’t bet on some budget-busting bed as a minister under Buhari. The President is probably thinking how some of his ministers will sleep on some 1950 Ijesha local mats to save money for Nigeria. Fayemi’s brain and life experiences can revolutionise Nigeria’s education sector and take care of some businesses in our Foreign Affairs. Kayode is a coolly.
I hail from Osun State, and Rivers State is my second home in Nigeria. I love Rivers; and I love Rotimi Amaechi. He is a dogged fighter and a resilient wrestler. Anybody who wrestles with Baba Obasanjo, Ebora Owu, and prevailed, is a man who is free indeed. If you can’t, you end up wailing and gnashing your teeth. Ask Goodluck Jonathan. Rotimi’s testaments are all over Rivers State. Even his adversaries will tell you that the former governor worked tirelessly on behalf of his people, especially in his first term. Since his public declaration that the Jonathans were his avowed enemies, he has made many enemies for himself at home and in the South-South and South-East, and he knows it. Rotimi is smart, but he talks too much and he is neither a lawyer nor a pastor. Rotimi can bend a bow of steel with his tongue! His Peoples Democratic Party foes are now accusing him of corruption while he was governor. In Nigeria today, every public servant is considered a thief. People no longer trust politicians. Rotimi’s accusers have yet to prove a shred of any corrupt act. But he is highly regarded in Buhari’s inner circle. He will be an asset as a minister of the Republic.
Chris Ngige has nothing to fear about the godfathers who kidnapped him many years ago. Ngige is now a godfather to his godfathers in Anambra State. How times change. If the one-time Anambra Governor and Senator had won his re-election bid, today, we may only be talking about Bukola Saraki as a Senator from Kwara, not as Senate President. Ngige may be holding the gavel in that hallowed chamber. If there is one man from the South-East zone who is ethnic-tolerant, it is Ngige. He knows that Nigeria can only work for all if we band together without naive politics of ethnicity. Ngige will be an asset for Nigeria as a minister.
I can’t end this treatise without beaming a bit on Chief Audu Ogbeh’s nomination. This nomination is laughable. Ogbeh is very intelligent and articulate, but he’s been in government business for almost 40 years. In 1979, he was the Deputy Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly. In 1982 he was appointed Federal Minister of Communications, and later became Minister of Steel Development. Between 2001 and 2005, he was the Chairman of the PDP before he resigned; and a few years after, he joined the APC. He was screened as minister in 1982 by the current Senate President’s late father, Olusola Saraki. In 2015, the son, Bukola, will screen him too as a nominee. He is the only candidate going through the process of intergenerational senatorial screening to be minister. Is this a generational blessing? Ask a pastor near you. Common! I don’t know a lot about Benue politics, but I am sure there are intelligent young men and women in that state Ogbeh could have recommended. Why must one person serve in government for almost 40 years in a population of almost three million people? Why must seeking government positions become a lifestyle and an addiction? And why must my President allow perpetuation in government business? Why? I don’t know. Do you? Mr. President, if you are reading this, Ogbeh’s nomination as minister is not part of the change we asked for.
PUNCH
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