The National Security Adviser's Ministerial Briefing

By Reuben Abati
Something most unusual but significant for its implications occurred in the past week, and it has been almost overlooked; it should be recalled and analysed: it is the public reporting of a security awareness seminar that the National Security Adviser had with the newly appointed Ministers, and what he said. His statements at that meeting were made public by his Chief Press Secretary which means that the leakage of the encounter was deliberate and premeditated. But why would the office of the National Security Adviser release the details of a Ministerial Security briefing? This is not standard practice particularly here where the security agencies are not only sworn to an oath of secrecy, but are required to conduct their affairs away from the prying eyes of the public and the "offensive tongues" of public commentators. What exactly does the NSA seek to achieve with the weighty statements he made at that meeting? Was he setting a tone for something? That his office is sending a clear message is clear enough, for it would be an ultimate breach of national security for that office to engage in frivolous dancing in the market place. What the National Security Adviser has done most unusually is to offer a critique of the Nigerian system. He tells us matter of factly that the Nigerian state is failing and in urgent need of rescue. Coming out of his reported statement is the declaration that Nigeria faces a human development crisis and that the quality of human development has serious implications for national security. He is right.

He laments what we all know already: the poor state of the health and education sectors, Nigeria's poor rating in the UN Human Development Index, the spread of poverty, the menace of unemployment, the failure of Nigeria's education system, other distortions within the system which promote instability and insecurity, including the low value that Nigerians place on human lives. If we take this as a national security report, it can be assumed that the Nigerian National Security Adviser was directly telling his immediate audience and other Nigerians that our country is not working. His review of the situation is an open and unapologetic indictment of the governance system in the country: a subtle and not so subtle way of saying that from a security perspective, the Yar'Adua administration has failed Nigeria. Beyond him, the Obasanjo administration has also failed Nigeria! The country needs to start afresh. This is quite a political statement coming from a National Security Adviser. But again, he is right. This country is in a mess. Lt. General Aliyu Gusau may have confirmed what we all know, based on security findings, even if the evidence is there for all to see, but we should all be frightened that our condition may be worse, and that the full security dilemma facing this country has not been brought to the open.

However, the proper linkage that the NSA established between the performance of the sectors of the economy and the human development index is apposite. It reflects the spirit of Chapter Two of the Nigerian Constitution where security is considered not only a matter of physical security, but also economic and social security. As General Gusau pointed out, Nigeria faces a serious crisis of human security. And if by any chance at all, he was speaking with the approval of the Acting President, he was thereby defining for the Ministers, their primary assignment. In attendance most instructively was the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed and the Head of Service, Steve Oronsaye both of whom served as moderators at the meeting.

But it is not enough to define the problem. Since a security profile of the Nigerian crisis has been formulated, we expect that this will serve as guideline for service delivery. And so Alhaji Gusau told the Ministers that their job is to ensure that government policies and their implementation help to promote the security of all Nigerians. This much should have been obvious to anyone who has been offered a Ministerial appointment and has accepted to serve. But the good faith of the new Ministers cannot be taken for granted. We have seen over the years, public office holders for whom the privilege of public office is considered an opportunity to address the challenges of personal security. Since the appointment of this new set of Ministers, there have been speculations that some of them are in government to amass wealth towards the 2011 general elections or to promote the interests of their Godfathers. In case anyone of them is in any doubt, they should be advised to take the meeting with the National Security Adviser as a warning and a threat. The sub text of that meeting is a reminder that they are being watched closely: "beware, we are watching you!" The Security establishment has perhaps stumbled on some disturbing details about some of the appointees and the Nigerian public has been brought into the know just so that nobody complains about a Minister from his or her village being victimized when such particular Minister is found with his or her hands in the cookie jar. And if truly a veiled threat was being issued, in no way should it be an idle threat.

If human security must become a cardinal objective of the governance process, then government must take more seriously the national integrity framework. Thieving Ministers who are only interested in their own pockets pose a threat to the survival of other Nigerians. The Jonathan administration has been making a lot of statements about fighting corruption; if it fails on this score when a review is attempted a few months hence, the people will be in a sure position to dismiss the Acting President's statements at the inauguration of his cabinet, and during his visit to the United States, his administration's re-invigoration of the EFCC and the ICPC and the National Security Adviser's meeting with the Ministers and the heads of government as nothing but hypocritical.

I do not consider it an accident that about the same period that the National Security Adviser held a seminar for the new ministers, there was a sudden re-awakening at the anti-corruption agencies, ICPC and EFCC, with both agencies descending on two men who may ordinarily be considered very powerful: that is former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori and Chairman of the PDP, the ruling party, Vincent Ogbulafor. A few months ago, with the jailing of former PDP strongman Commodore Olabode George, the point had been established afresh that no man is above the laws of the land. But Aliyu Gusau has indicated that there should be more persons behind bars. He dismissed the anti-corruption campaign as ineffective, selective and unreliable, noting that the leaders of the two agencies are guilty of "wrong doings".

He also descended on the crime prevention machinery and the judiciary, noting that both promote criminality through negligence and inefficiency. His words were strong and specific: "very little attention is paid to the prevention of crime. Proactive security measures assist to prevent crimes. Good laws and efficient penal system will deter criminals and reduce crimes. It seems our current legal system promotes crimes...This is because it penalizes a few unfortunate individuals while society sees many they consider guilty enjoying their loot in freedom. Some of the agencies involved in anti-corruption have credibility problems, their leaders being accused of wrong doings." Such words coming from the National Security Adviser is the equivalent of the CIA boss in the United States indicting senior officials of state. In plain language, the Nigerian National Security Adviser was directly accusing top officials of state of "wrong doing."


He didn't have to spell it all out; he managed to send a strong signal. Could it be that the President is planning to remove the heads of the anti-corruption agencies, and the police and make some changes in the judiciary? Within 48 hours after the NSA's statement was reported, all the indicted agencies sprang into action. On April 21, the newspapers were already reporting: "ICPC charges Ogbulafor, four others with fraud." The Police headquarters also sent its men to go and arrest Chief James Ibori. So important did the Ibori matter suddenly become that a combined team of all the security agencies in the land stormed Delta state to arrest the former Governor. So far, they have been successfully resisted by militant youths: an obvious confirmation of Aliyu Gusau's disclosures about inefficiency and the ridiculous nature of national security. Again, the same charge of being selective and partial would still apply. The law enforcement agencies should not crank to life like bad engines only when one mechanic comes along to offer a necessary spark: the import of Gusau's statement should again be the urgent need to rebuild the institutions of state. For the question may be asked: are the security chiefs having been indicted by the office of the NSA struggling to keep their jobs, by following a script or they really mean business?

The NSA didn't spare the Governor of the Central Bank either. Without mincing words, he accused the Lamido Sanusi CBN of sabotaging the Nigerian economy with policies that promote instability. Aliyu Gusau was not on the soap box looking for votes. He was speaking as National Security Adviser. And we can for that reason alone still assume that he was speaking seriously. And that he has the authority of the Acting President backing him. If I were Lamido Sanusi, I would seek a security interpretation of the NSA's statement. Well, it is clear enough isn't it? It is a serious charge indeed for a country's National Security Adviser to dismiss the CBN as a saboteur institution. The NSA wasn't talking economics or banking but security.

And according to him, the current interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria "seemed to have damaged economic activity in the banking sector to the detriment of the larger society." Charge no 2: "the travails of the banking sector reflect the double standards critics perceive in the administration of justice; what every bank seems to be doing, yet only a few banks were penalized." The bank chiefs who were indicted by Sanusi's CBN must be clinking glasses. The Renaissance Professionals, the mouthpiece of the anti-Sanusi lobby must be dancing. But it is surprising that there has been no statement yet from the CBN defending itself against the damning verdict from the National Security Advise, for there are contradictions of logic in the NSA's position on corruption and how to fight it which the CBN should be able to identify. For example, against what benchmark is the NSA comparing Sanusi's CBN? Is there an alternative blueprint which nobody is aware of? And is the NSA not aware that he invariably heats up the polity and sends the wrong signals to investors when he publicly dismisses critical institutions of state? However, if Gusau was speaking the mind of the Acting President in all of these matters, then the stage may have been prepared for some critical personnel changes in the days ahead.

But is it really progress that they seek or greater control of the levers of state? The NSA has indicted the anti-corruption agencies, the police, the judiciary, the Central Bank of Nigeria and he has offered a candid review of national woes identifying them correctly as issues of security. He left out the intelligence agencies which he oversees. Those agencies are just as inefficient and as unreliable as all the others that have been adjudged guilty of "wrong doings." He talked about the carnage in Jos and the Boko Haram killings, and the need for proactive measures in the prevention of crime. How do we prevent crime if the intelligence agencies and the security advisers cannot manage open intelligence? The rot is widespread and it is all encapsulating and there is work for the Jonathan team. Analysis of the dilemma in the corridors of power is useful but what Nigerians really need is change and progress and concrete assurance that the new drivers are willing to serve and make a difference.



The buck stops at the Acting President's table. He must draw a fine line between mere posturing, political rhetoric and actual performance. It is unfortunate that so early in the day, some characters are already on the streets of Abuja campaigning for Jonathan to be president in 2011. Jonathan's minders should not tell us that these are fifth columnists at work. Such campaigners and their sponsors pose a threat to national security; they are just as guilty of wrong doing.

Yar'Adua: A tourist attraction?

By Reuben Abati

"I have this very brilliant idea." "Don't bother. Keep it to yourself." "Hear me out. Don't be anti-intellectual." "I say keep it to yourself. You think I don't know you? I can imagine what is going on in that skull of yours. I know you well enough to know that you can only come up with stupid ideas and embarrassing mischief"

"This one is in the national interest and it has to do with President Umaru Yar'Adua. I have been thinking about all these visits by the clerics and the inability of the men of God to tell a simple, straightforward story based on the evidence of their eyes."

"It is shameful. You know if any of those guys was my pastor or imam, I will be reluctant to go for worship this week, in protest."

"No. Don't generalize. Archbishop Onaiyekan has not said anything out of place. Bishop Oyedepo has refused to be drawn into the politics of the matter. Sheik Isa Pantami has also kept a dignified silence."

"But the parrots among them have been contradicting each other. If these are truly men of the cloth, then it is shameful. Religious leadership should be about responsibility and that includes the ability to say the truth."

"I know. It is embarrassing. One religious leader says they saw Yar'Adua sitting on a sofa. Another one saw him lying down. Yet another one says he shook hands with them, which someone else denied. And someone else says they sat together with him at the dining table. These are supposed to be adults, and men of the cloth? I think dragging religion into the Yar'Adua matter is the limit of absurdity."

"I wonder what the pastors and the Sheiks will say when their congregants face them and ask the inevitable question: did you actually see him?"

"One pastor said he thought he heard the man saying Amen although he wasn't quite sure because his eyes were closed."

"One of these pastors who are not sure whether Jesus Christ forgave the thief to the right or the one to the left. I know that type."

"But one of the Sheiks says if anybody attempts to invoke Section 144 of the 1999 Constitution and talk about declaring Yar'Adua incapacitated, there will be fire in Nigeria."

"I am surprised that the fellow is still walking free. In a serious country, that fellow will be in detention. He will be busy telling the security agencies where he saw the fire coming from, who prepared it, and what he really intends to do with it."

"My friend, don't go that way. The man is a religious leader."

"That does not give him the right to threaten fire and brimstone, juts because some people

have been talking about Section 144 of the 1999 Constitution. In fact if you ask me, I will insist that the Constitution should be invoked by the Yar'Adua cabinet to put an end to this blackmail, this charade."

"No. Not yet.

"Meaning?"

"Can't you see a great a potential here, a revenue generating opportunity? Big business? A business idea. Entrepreneurship."

"I don't get your drift."

"I have been thinking about it. We can turn President Yar'Adua into a tourist attraction. Yes. This sudden interest in Yar'Adua sighting can be used to jump-start the national tourism industry. That way he can pay back some of the money that the country has spent on his illness."

"Sounds hare-brained to me."

"It is like this. In this country today, the biggest deal is seeing Yar'Adua. Yar'Adua sighting can therefore become a big revenue generating programme for Nigeria. Instead of all these clerics who are contradicting themselves going to the Presidential Villa and telling strange stories, we can throw the doors open. Imagine the great scramble! The queue will stretch all the way out of Abuja. Why haven't they thought of fit? The problem is that these people are not patriots."

"You want to turn the President of Nigeria into a comic spectacle?"

"Look at the revenue generating potential. It will be a brilliant way of diversifying the Nigerian economy. Just imagine the number of people who will take part in the programme and feel compelled to write a bestseller. It is a win-win proposal."

"You can't be serious."

"I am."

"I know you are joking."

"You think so? Have I told you that kind of joke before now?"

"You know what I want?"

"What do you want?"

"I want the traditional people, Soyinka's orisa people to also go on this Yar'Adua sighting expedition. I believe they will tell us nothing but the truth."

"What is the difference? We are saying the same thing. I am just saying let people pay for it. And who told you traditional religionists will tell the truth. Even Orunmila may be tempted to bend the truth like a Beckham shot if the pay is right."

"Not if they send Sango people, Ayelala, Egbesu and mammy water. Get Professor Soyinka, Professor Wande Abimbola, Sat Guru Maharaji, and all the leaders of the spiritual groups: Eckankar, House of Truth, Freemason, ROF, AMORC, Society of Friends, Ancient Order of Foresters and so on and so forth to make the selection. And when they get there, they should get Turai to swear to an oath of truth."

"Ha- lla- lu -yeah"

"Are you alright?"

"Ha lla-lu- ya ah dua. Oh Jehovah. Sha baba ra baba ba ba"

"Hello o"

"I see a vision"

"You don shack?"

"No. It just occurred to me that the Yar'Adua people are leaving out something important. They are inviting clerics and all kinds of people, but they have not yet invited the right kind of people."

"How?"

"Why haven't they invited Pastor Chris Oyakhilome and Pastor Temitope Joshua?"

"Oh. Is this about your favourite Pastors? For your information, these people were actually not interested in Pastors. The Christian clerics were invited as an afterthought after the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) threatened to make an issue out of the politicization of President Yar'Adua's ill-health and faith".

"That wouldn't have been necessary if they had invited Oyakhilome or Joshua. By now, the President would have been up and about. These are Pastors who have the anointing to make the lame walk, to make the blind see, to give strength to the infirm. Was it not a Pastor who said he saw the president lying down? Why didn't he lay his hands upon him and proclaim: Be well in Jesus name, I command you to rise in Jesus name as our Lord rose on Resurrection Day."

"You really think this thing is a joke."

"On the contrary, I consider it a serious matter. Take a man like Pastor Temitope Joshua, people travel all the way from Zambia, Gabon and Ghana to ask for his healing powers. We are not talking about ordinary people, but Presidents and former Presidents. One of them even camped out at the Synagogue and proclaimed that Pastor Joshua is his saviour. Charity should begin at home. We should value what we have. Pastor Joshua and all the pastors who claim to have special anointing must feel challenged to give Nigeria a practical demonstration of their healing powers. But if they are not invited, will they send the healing grace by SMS?"

"The ways of God are not the ways of men."

"Don't tell me that. You are making me lose faith."

"If you lose faith, many more will believe."

"So, that is what President Yar'Adua's illness has become? A matter of faith and belief?"

"You use what you have to get what your want. Macchiavelli."

"Where is Nigeria in all of this? Isn't this supposed to be a secular country? When it suits the ruling elite they throw up religion to serve their own selfish purposes. They really don't care about Nigeria, do they?"

"Nigeria is there? Are we not all Nigerians? Hasn't Jonathan made Mrs Allison-Madueke Minister of Petroleum? Anything is possible."

"If I were in Jonathan's shoes, I will invoke Section 144 of the Constitution and have Yar'Adua impeached."

"He doesn't need to do that. Did you not listen to his speech when he was inaugurating the new Cabinet? Very nice speech. Strong and well put."

"I am tired of nice speeches. Go and read Yar'Adua's inauguration speech too. It was also nice and well put."

"There is a difference. Take that speech apart. You'd see that was Jonathan telling the Yar'Adua group that Nigeria has moved on. Moved on, and he is in charge."

"We can't move on until we resolve the Yar'Adua matter."

"I don't think Jonathan wants to resolve anything. Did you not notice that he referred to the President only once and not by name? He looks like he really doesn't mind if the Yar'Adua people invite all the clerics and busy bodies in Nigeria to the Yar'Adua sighting carnival. It really doesn't change anything. Don't forget that the Americans are all over him. He is going to the United States and there are talks that he may have a one on one with President Obama. Johnny Carson, the US Assistant Secretary of State has been referring to Nigeria now and again as if Mungo Park has just discovered River Niger. Yayale Ahmed the Secretary to the Government of the federation just met with Mrs Hillary Clinton. Well, Nigeria is moving on"

"You mean your Ijaw brother wan go White House? Now, now? "

"What kind of talk is that? Is there any American law saying an Ijaw man cannot come to the White House?"

"Niger Delta meets Obama."

"Stop that nonsense."

"But I hope your man won't go there and tell Obama, this is the best thing that ever happened to me."

"We are smarter than that. Have you not heard about our code of conduct for Ministers and is anyone still in doubt that we are in charge?"

"We?"

"Yes, we-we".

"And who are we?"

"Stay there. This is our turn to let all you hijackers of the Nigerian state know that a minority man can also control Nigeria's security vote and inspect the Presidential Guard of Honour and drink tea in America"

"Are we still having a conversation here?"

"Yes. What do you mean Ijaw man wan go White House? What kind of talk is that? The problem with you people is that you think you have a divine right to rule, and that is why President Yar'Adua and his aides will line up all the religious clerics to remind Nigerians of his divine right."

"Okay. I am sorry. You know I am not one for divine rights. I was joking. You know I am a constitutionalist and a federalist. We are in this mess, because people won't just do the right thing."

"Yes. You people won't do the right thing. That is why all the highways have been taken over by bandits and a fine man like Abubakar Rimi will be attacked by robbers. He gets taken to a hospital, a teaching hospital, a so-called centre of excellence, and there are no wheelchairs and no care givers to attend to him. And the man died, just like that."

"Just like that. Yeah, his death should serve as a lesson to the elite and even plebeians. In the long run, we are all in this together and who knows whose turn it will be to pay the price for our collective omissions."

Source: www.guardiannewsngr.com

Related Posts:

• Yar'Adua: Beyond The Clerics' Visit

Yar'Adua: Beyond The Clerics' Visit

By Reuben Abati

The Yar'Adua camp may soon run out of new devices in its bag of tricks and mischief in the attempt to retain a semblance of power, authority, control and relevance. What are the next possibilities in the seemingly endless power game in Abuja? A quick review of some of the steps that have been taken so far to keep the Yar'Adua Presidency alive may be necessary as a way of conveying the scope of their desperation. First, the President refused to hand over to his Deputy, nor did he ask for a leave of absence as constitutionally required. When it became clear that his stay in a Saudi Arabian hospital would not come to an end so soon, they began to spread the story that the man was strong enough to sign the 2010 Appropriation Bill, and that he did. With Yar'Adua being brought to power as Acting President through a radical intervention by the National Assembly, no less a civilian coup, the President was rushed back to the country under the cover of darkness to lay claim to his "throne". But the palace courtiers underestimated the Nigerian people who insisted that they did not believe that the president had returned unless they saw him. This then resulted into the adoption of fresh strategies.

On one occasion, we were told that the President was seen drinking tea with a cousin of his. On another occasion, the Presidential convoy drove round Abuja: The sick President was reportedly taking fresh air! On another occasion, he was supposed to have attended Jummat service at the Abuja Central Mosque. And now the clerics' visit which has also back-fired. What President Yar'Adua and his strategists want to prevent is a situation whereby the Yar'Adua presidency is completely forgotten or it goes down in history as one of the many accidents of Nigerian history. They also probably want to retain power in the hands of the proverbial North. They also want to frustrate and sabotage the Jonathan Presidency having seen that Jonathan is striking out on his own. But in all of these regards, their strategies have failed, indeed the most ludicrous being the selective and arranged sighting of the President. If they want public sympathy, they do not have it.

There is also no sense of protectionism over the Yar'Adua Presidency by the North. Except for minority voices like Datti Ahmad, most Northerners are just as unhappy with the uncertainty that President Yar'Adua's illness has brought and they are incensed by the desperation of a narrow clique pretending to be struggling for power to protect the Northern interest. The biggest obstacle to the Yar'Adua camp is the consensus that has now emerged around the subject that Nigeria is more important than any individual. The Yar'Adua strategists are further hobbled by the role of the international community particularly the United States. America is showing such an unusual interest in the Jonathan Presidency that must be understood nonetheless for what it is.

There has been so much talk about having a stable Nigeria because of the implications for regional security. But I sense a cold-blooded calculation: perhaps the Americans are not just interested in Jonathan, but also the possibility of his becoming President in 2011, in order to quieten the militants in the Niger Delta. Perhaps if the militants see one of their own with that famous cap and walking stick pumping hands with Obama, and one of their own as Minister of Petroleum and another fellow from the creeks as Minister of the Niger Delta, as is now happening, they will let the oil wells flow, and America's strategic economic and security interests in the region will be better served. So given the facts of the case, what other tricks can the Yar'Adua group come up with? What other chances do they have?

They have lost a major chance in the court of public opinion. Even the most unreconstructed cynic should know that public opinion matters a lot in a democracy. By playing games with the Yar'Adua sickness, his wife and aides have lost the battle in the court of public opinion, local and international. I do not see what tricks they can use to reverse that. Not with the Egyptians about the same time of Yar'Adua's sickness handling the same problem with regard to President Hosni Mubarak in a more civilized manner. They have pushed themselves therefore, and their man to a point where it appears they all stand condemned. And it is most unfortunate because Yar'Adua as a person may be their victim and not the instigator of the wrong steps they have taken in his name. When a man is sick, he needs help. But when he is surrounded by equally sick persons, then he is truly lost. The only chance that they have hereafter is for the President to suddenly regain his voice and energy and become strong enough to return to office. That will change everything. Illness makes Yar'Adua vulnerable, the mishandling of his politics makes him pathetic, recovery will reduce his vulnerability as physical strength fetches him political strength. It is the miracle he needs. Even if he were to recover, he will need to convince the public that he is the same person, for there may well be a few cynics asking for a Presidential DNA.

Medical experts extrapolating from the little that has been made public about his state of health insist that he stands no real chance, all the same. If that is so, I still do not see his wife and strategists giving up. They will continue to keep him and manage him, and now at least they have succeeded in telling us through the clerics that he is strong enough to sit down and shake hands, so they may stay with this with the hope that even if it is one month to the end of his Presidency, he will become strong enough to reassert himself and torpedo the Jonathan "interregnum." I use that word advisedly in this context. It is partly why they have refused to allow Jonathan to see him. They assume that granting Presidential audience to Jonathan would mean endorsing him and his Acting Presidency. So should we all wait for that moment when President Yar'Adua returns to be the man to hand over power to the next President or to turn the Jonathan Presidency adrift? If it is within the powers of the Yar'Adua strategists to do this, they will. This is obviously no longer about Nigeria. It is about naked power and ego. They have invested so much energy. They will fight to the finish, to borrow an appropriate cliché.

But there is another side to it. Should they be allowed to fight to the finish? In the eyes of the public, and let's give credit to the Jonathan strategists who are playing an equally desperate game, an impression has been created in the public sphere that Nigerians are tired of the Yar'Adua games; they just want to move on; they want the country to make progress. So, if there were to be a vote in the market today and a choice to be made between the President and his Deputy, Nigerians will queue up behind Jonathan and ask that he should be allowed to complete the remainder of the Yar'Adua tenure, while the sick man seeks the miracle he needs. Aware of this, the Jonathan strategists are exploring and exploiting their advantage. Jonathan is off to America and if he meets with Obama, that will be a deadly punch. That will give the impression that Nigeria is truly moving on and that Jonathan is in charge, because mark this, there may be no reference at all to Yar'Adua in Washington DC!

Jonathan has also told Nigerians that he will personally handle the power portfolio. He knows that what all Nigerians as well as investors in the economy want is just regular electricity supply. He is trying to reassure us that he means well and that he intends to meet us at our most critical points of need. But he may have made a terrible messianic choice. Chief Bola Ige is no longer here, but I think the word came out when he was in charge of the Power Ministry that there is a crazy cabal in the power sector that does not want regular power supply, the same cabal that has stopped the distribution of pre-paid meters, and has gone back to the old regime because a pay- as-you-go system in the power sector is not good for corrupt business just as Nigeria having regular electricity will smash their cash pots. By electing to take on this powerful Mafia, Jonathan may have resolved to slaughter the dragon or go down with it. Whichever way and in whatever direction, his resort to populism may become his Achillee's heel. Whether he likes it or not, the Yar'Adua matter is something he would still have to address.

There has been a lot of speculation that one of the first assignments that will be carried out by the Jonathan cabinet is to invoke Section 144 of the Constitution to set in motion the process of removing Yar'Adua from office on the grounds of incapacitation. I don't see that happening. Jonathan already holds all the aces. It won't be in his interest to trouble the ghost. Section 144 requires that a medical team of five physicians be constituted with one of the five being the President's physician to conduct a medical examination and report on the fitness or otherwise of the President. If this is pursued at this stage, the opportunity to do it having been lost when it presented itself, the whole country will be confronted with practical difficulties. One, Mrs Yar'Adua and other Yar'Adua strategists will make it impossible for anybody to have access to the President. Without a physical examination, there can be no report. They could take him out of the country in the dead of the night, the same way he came and block access to him. Should anyone then produce a report anyhow, the President's physician who seems to be complicit on the other side, will go to court and insist that he has not been carried along and that he has a constitutional right to have his opinion considered. Finish.

Another strategy would be for the National Assembly to commence impeachment proceedings against the president on the grounds of "gross misconduct" as the Constitution states and "gross misconduct" here is as the lawmakers define it. That there has been "gross misconduct" is not in doubt. But who will bell the cat? The Senate is spineless. The House of Representatives is politically conservative. So, Yar'Adua is not likely to be impeached. That leaves us with a situation therefore whereby the Jonathan group will continue to hope that Yar'Adua does not recover and that the Acting President gets a chance to prove himself and impress Nigerians well enough that he can be considered favourably as a candidate in 2011. With that being the situation, Jonathan may also have his own team of clerics who are praying secretly: a war of the clerics known only to the gladiators! And if Yar'Adua recovers and returns to office, the calculus will change radically with far-reaching implications.

The more I look at it, the more all of this is beginning to look like a lose-lose situation for Nigerians. The saddest part of it all is that the same man who prepared the grounds for this misfortune is now said to be going up and down recommending Ministers and playing the Godfather. Obasanjo. Should Obasanjo be the one now to call the shots about our future or should he be responding to questions about the past and the opportunities that he wasted? Hmmm, o ma se o, what a country!

Source: www.guardiannewsngr.com

Related Posts:

Yar'Adua: A tourist attraction?

Yar'adua: Marginalising Other Nigerians

Written by Reuben Abati
Some close friends and associates of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua reportedly sighted him on Tuesday. On Thursday, four Muslim clerics also saw him in the presence of his wife and security aide and they had a prayer session with him. I don't have a problem with this, I grant a benefit of the doubt, assuming the clerics are willing and ready to lay their hands on the Holy Quran and swear that indeed the man they saw and who sat down and could not utter a word, but was strong enough to raise his hands in prayer was President Umaru Yar'Adua. However, there are questions to be asked.


Are these persons who have been given the special privilege of selective sighting of the President more important than other Nigerians? If the President is strong enough and can shake hands, the more dignified approach would have been to put him on national television and have him smile and wave at us. Given the amount of emotion that Nigerians have expended on the matter of his ill-health and invisibility, we would be satisfied to know that he is still alive, first, before other posers are raised. Besides, he is receiving medical treatment and has been on a protracted leave at the taxpayer's expense.

Are the privileged ones who have been allowed to see the President more important than his mother who was reportedly prevented from seeing him? Surely, if he is strong enough to receive visitors as they claim, his mother should be more than happy to see him recuperating. Are the privileged visitors who are now advertising their access to the unseen President Yar'Adua as if it were a status symbol, also more important than Acting President Jonathan who now calls the shots in the Presidency but who has not been allowed to exercise control over the Presidential Villa by President Yar'Adua's very powerful handlers? The Daily Trust quotes one anonymous aide saying the President doesn't want to see Jonathan but he may grant audience to David Mark and Dimeji Bankole! Is all of this about personal animus or Nigeria? Where are the patriots in this saga?



Turning the President into an apparition who makes occasional appearances and is seen by a few whose evidence is unverifiable has turned the man into a subject of ridicule, erodes public sympathy for him, and further raises serious security questions. Has it not occurred to anyone that having a Presidential Villa to which all kinds of persons may be admitted without the knowledge or authority of the Acting President's own officials compromises his security as Acting President? In the newspapers yesterday, it was reported that Acting President Jonathan had no prior knowledge of the visit by the four clerics. He read the story in the papers like other Nigerians. Is the National Security Agency still reporting to Yar'Adua or to Jonathan? What is the new National Security Adviser doing? Can anyone imagine clerics and associates sauntering in and out of the White House without the knowledge of the secret service? At every turn, the handling of President Yar'Adua's case amounts to having a studied contempt for the Nigerian people, and particularly for the Acting President. We have just had another demonstration of that.

Making a song and a dance out of what should have been a quiet, private visit exposes the mischief of the persons involved, but whatever may be their real motive, this has backfired badly as the latest incident may be given an ethnic and religious interpretation. First, the religious dimension. Note this: all the persons who have so far claimed publicly to have sighted President Yar'Adua, since his return from Saudi Arabia, are all Muslims. This is a point that aggrieved persons may raise or use as a point of reference to promote existing prejudices. Follow the sequence of the orchestrated (dis)information: There was a certain cousin of his who drank tea with him shortly after his return. A Muslim. On Friday, last week, there were additional reports that the President was going to attend Jumat Service at the Abuja Central Mosque. This caused quite some excitement as both Muslims and Christians staked out the mosque expecting to see him. The Nigerian Tribune later reported the sighting of the Presidential convoy, but there was no Yar'Adua offering prayers at the Mosque. Now, a few days ago, four Muslim clerics reportedly saw the man: the Chief Imam of Abuja, Ustaz Musa Mohammed; leader of the Izala Muslim sect in Katsina, Sheik Isa Pantami; Sheik Yakubu Musa, and President of the Supreme Council of Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN), Sheik Ibrahim Datti Ahmed.

In a country where there are strong sentiments about balance and representation, I dare say this guest list is insensitive. Why should it be only the Sheiks seeing the President the moment he is able to sit down and shake hands? Where are the Archbishops, the Bishops, Primates, Prelates - representing all the major religious groups in the country, the Chief Imams of other major cities in Nigeria, (apart from the privileged ones from Gombe, Kastina and Abuja), the Sheiks of other Islamic sects (granting access to only the Izala sect could cause intra-Muslim group disaffection). Where are the Living Spiritual Masters? They too should be obliged. President Yar'Adua does not need to say anything to them; he can also just sit down and shake their hands, and thereafter, those religious leaders should give their own reports. The selection should reflect the country's six geo-political zones to forestall the simmering religious conflict. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has issued a statement protesting that the visit by religious leaders should have taken place under the umbrella of the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council; the members see an attempt by "a Northern Islamic cabal to make Nigeria a feudalistic state"- an obvious reference to the bearded Sheiks from the Izala and Sharia sect. See?

Nigerians of other ethnic extraction may also raise a legitimate point about being marginalized. Virtually all the names that have been advertised as having seen the President are from one part of the country: the Hausa-Fulani stock. The Northernisation of power and the marginalization of other Nigerians is a usual refrain on the lips of critics of the political North. Here we are again. If all Nigerians contributed money to pay for President Yar'Adua's healthcare to bring him to a stage where he can now contemplate going to mosque and receiving visitors, then other Nigerians must be good enough to see him too, and have him drink tea with them and honour them with a handshake. It A Federal Character principle is enshrined in the Constitution. It is one principle that many Nigerians like to quote endlessly and in every situation. A sick President is bad enough. A President that opts for nepotism at critical moments is worse. Nigerians from other ethnic groups should be granted access to President Yar'Adua. On his guest list this week, we have been told there was a close friend- Alhaji Dahiru Mangal, (certainly, he must have close friends from other parts of Nigeria too); there was also a son-in-law in attendance, Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi state (lucky fellow, see how he is already enjoying the benefits of marrying a President's daughter!), and a member of the House of Representatives- Hon. Inuwa Shehu lmam. Allowing the issue of President Yar'Adua's health to fan the embers of ethnic and religious division is a dangerous dimension to the story.

And that brings me to the report by BBC on the latest development: "Nigerian clerics meet ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua." Those clerics were not representing Nigeria. The door to selected visitors could be opened a little wider. If the objective is to convince Nigerians that the President is alive and on his way to full recovery, for credibility purposes, there must be a perceived diversity to the number of persons providing the evidence. To this end, I recommend that members of the civil society should also be invited to be part of this sighting game.

Professor Wole Soyinka can be invited specially to drink wine with the recovering President. No tea please. Wine! Wine won't do President Yar'Adua any harm. The distinguished Professor can be counted upon to know the right kind of wine that can strengthen his ailing heart and free his tongue (the Chief Imam says he can't talk yet). Of course, the Nobel Laureate will offer us a far more detailed and convincing feedback. Sounding somewhat excited, the Chief Imam of Abuja disclosed that President Yar'Adua now looks fit and he may soon return to active duty. Is the Chief Imam a medical doctor now issuing certificates of medical fitness? A second team from civil society should include Pastor Tunde Bakare (in case prayers are required, he will sort that out, and in any case, he was even born a Muslim, so he can speak both spiritual tongues!); Joe Okei-Odumakin (gender sensitivity), Chidi Odinkalu (he will represent the Open Society advocates), Shehu Sani (he can be trusted), and Omoyele Sowore (to convince the concerned Nigerians in Diaspora that the meeting actually took place). I will like to be there too (to write the report, and I promise I will describe every little detail. If the President coughs, scratches his head, or asks for a glass of water, everything will be documented!) To acknowledge the international community's stake, journalists from BBC, VOA and CNN should also be allowed to have access to the President, on the condition that they can only describe what they have seen and not video-tape the encounter. A representative of Human Rights Watch can also come around to ensure that the rights of a man freshly rising from a sick bed are not violated. It may be a good idea to protect the man from civil society activists who may exceed their brief and start asking such questions that can affect his heart. The Sheiks who went to see Yar'Adua didn't remember to take pictures with him. Henceforth, every privileged visitor to that hidden section of Aso Villa should be allowed a photo session with President Yar'Adua for the benefit of all doubting Thomases. If this is the game that the Yar'Aduas want to play, they might as well play it properly.

But isn't all of it ridiculous? That's what you get in a country that opts for self-ridicule as a way of life.

Jonathan’s Cabinet Choices by Reuben Abati

Written by Reuben Abati



Acting President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet choices, as represented by the 33 names that he has already sent to the Senate for screening and confirmation sends a clear message about his own politics and ambitions: the Ministerial list has nothing to do with public interest or the delivery of democracy dividends in the remaining 13 months; it is all about Jonathan’s attempt to consolidate his hold on power, here is a man who is ambitious for power and wants to survive politically by all means.

 Before eight additional names were added to the initial 25 that were forwarded to the Senate, it looked as if Jonathan wanted to bring a few professionals on board in addition to his own loyalists. But by the time the number of nominees increased to 33, a much clearer picture had emerged: divided in terms of the background of the nominees, there are far more politicians on the list of 33 than professionals or technocrats. In real terms what are we dealing with? Given the choices that he has made, it is unmistakable that President Goodluck Jonathan is effectively distancing himself from his boss and trying to take charge of power. His advisers seem to be telling him that the best option is to launch a Jonathan Presidency. Somewhere in the corridors of power, a decision has been taken that the Yar’Adua presidency is effectively over. But was this not what the people wanted when we all demanded Yar’Adua’s resignation and called on Jonathan to be his own man?

 There is however now another Yar’Adua: one Murtala Yar’Adua, a son of the late General Shehu Yar’Adua, former Chief of Army Staff (1976-79), and founder of the PDM political movement, whose political goodwill was one of the factors that brought Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to power in 2007. Murtala Yar’Adua’s nomination is not fortuitous; he is the product of sheer political expediency and an acknowledgment on the part of President Jonathan of the need not to alienate the Yar’Adua clan even while taking over power from his boss. But there are implications. For the Yar’Adua family, a difficult question may have been raised: who is better entitled to the Shehu legacy: his son or his brother? But for the rest of us, we should be concerned about the turning of the power corridor into a space for the creation of dynasties by those who are pursuing expedient political objectives. Must the Yar’Aduas be in power by this means or the other? I sympathise with Murtala Yar’Adua: no matter how competent he may be, the popular perception is that he is being made a Minister because he is a useful pawn in a grand power game.

 There is also a Josephine Anenih on the list. She is a women’s leader of the ruling PDP and wife (some say former wife, but she still bears his name) of the PDP strongman, Chief Anthony Anenih. She may deserve high office in her own right, and it may well be true as is being peddled around that she and her spouse are estranged, but the truth is that by her appointment, the Anenih brand and identity have been brought again to public consciousness. The cleverness behind this should also not be discountenanced: Chief Anthony Anenih gets his name back into reckoning at a time when he seems to be losing out heavily in Edo state, his constituency. Nine Ministers have been retained from the old Yar’Adua team but these are the nine Ministers who did not show any open fanaticism about either Turai Yar’Adua or her husband in the course of the politics of the latter’s ill-health. All the die-hard Yar’Adua loyalists have been dumped. Dora Akunyili has been rewarded for her courage and loyalty. Senator Bala Mohammed who called for an investigation of President Yar’Adua’s health status on the floor of the Senate is on the list.

 What seems important as the overriding values in these appointments is loyalty and support. Acting President Jonathan has offered us a smart balancing act, a cabinet of compromises that helps him to build a power base of his own; every cabinet in Nigeria is about compromises - afterall the Constitution insists on the reflection of Federal Character in the composition of such bodies, but in the present instance, the compromise is more obvious than the goals, and it is a compromise of survival not Federal Character or service delivery. What is President Jonathan’s own grand plan – beyond his so-called four-point agenda -and how does he hope to address all the urgent social and infrastructural issues that confront the country? This much is not clear from his cabinet choices.

 The emphasis on survival should be underscored. On many occasions in the past, it had been the tradition that state Governors had a strong input into the appointment of Federal Ministers and ambassadors especially where the same political party is in power at both the state and the Federal level. Appointments at the centre were part of a network of political patronage up to the grassroots level, to make governance representative and to create spheres of influence for the Presidency in the states. It is doubtful if the PDP Governors made any strong input into the Jonathan list of Ministers in spite of Governor Namadi Sambo’s claim to the contrary. It will be recalled that it was these same Governors who took the decision recently that the Presidential slot for 2011 will remain in the North, thus ruling out the possibility of Goodluck Jonathan hoping to succeed his boss by exploiting the power of incumbency. By ignoring the Governors (most if not all of them) in compiling his list of Ministers, Jonathan is boldly reminding them of the power and influence of his office. In this regard, Jonathan’s cabinet choices are in part about 2011 and intra-PDP politics.

 The two nominees from Ogun state, former President Obasanjo’s home state, certainly could not have come from Governor Gbenga Daniel. Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye, one of the Ogun nominees, is an arch-rival of Daniel in Ogun politics. Nor are Dora Akunyili and Josephine Anenih, nominees of the Anambra Governor, or Charles Ogiemwonyi a nominee of the Edo Governor, or Yar’Adua of the Katsina Governor or Bala Mohammed, a nominee of the Bauchi governor who happens to be President Yar’Adua’s son-in-law, and so on. It is not impossible that by now, the state Governors who trooped to Abuja with their recommendations and who were tactfully snubbed will be busy analysing the implications of the Jonathan list. Hitherto, Governors as party leaders in the states saw and treated Ministers and lawmakers in Abuja as their own ambassadors at the centre. Jonathan’s attempt to checkmate the Governors and the Yar’Adua group is however a double-edged sword that could result in vicious intra-party wrangling and this in the long run, may not be in President Jonathan’s interest.

 The real question about the Governors and the counter-balance effect of Ministers can only be best understood in terms of who controls the delegates for the 2011 election caucuses.  It is also instructive that a group of Katsina lawmakers this week tried to create a scene at the House of Representatives when they sought to move a motion of urgent national importance with claims that President Umaru Yar’Adua is being marginalised and victimized and that there are plans to withdraw his security aides. President Jonathan may have unwittingly set the stage for the distractions that could further hobble his efforts.

 Two future developments may well further indicate the thinking of the Jonathan Presidency: what the new cabinet when properly constituted does about the Yar’Adua Presidency and what President Jonathan does with the post of the  Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which will become vacant, with the expiration of Professor  Maurice Iwu’s tenure in June, regardless of the silly campaign by a few misguided elements that Iwu’s tenure should be extended. Will the new cabinet take the decision to declare President Yar’Adua incapacitated, a step that the Yar’Adua cabinet could not take and which civil society expects? And whoever Jonathan appoints as INEC chairman, will he not feel obliged to do Jonathan’s bidding in the 2011 elections since the National Assembly has refused to accept the Uwais panel’s recommendation that the position should be fully independent?  There are many grey areas in need of further deconstruction.

 Worth noting is the fact that Dr Jonathan had to visit the Senate President at home before the list of Ministers was forwarded to the Upper House. The Senate has promised a proper screening of the Ministers which is unlikely to happen. More so as the intended portfolios for each nominee were not indicated. In previous exercises, there had always been a strong demand from civil society that the portfolios of intending Ministers should be disclosed to allow public participation in the screening to provide the Senate an opportunity to ask task-specific and knowledge-based questions and to prevent the usual comical display whereby would-be Ministers are asked either irrelevant or stupid questions.

By submitting his list of Ministers in a business-as-usual fashion, Dr Jonathan is not interested in any rigour. By accepting the list, instead of sending it back for the inclusion of intended portfolios, the Senate is also equally complicit in denying Nigerians the benefit of a proper screening. The Jonathan Presidency is faced with three main transitions: a Presidential transition, an electoral transition, and a policy transition: reducing all three to the politics of expediency is bound to further foul up the political space. The argument that a near end of term cabinet that is likely to become lame-duck in a matter of  months is not meant to deliver any service is an abuse of privilege, and we can only hope that this is not the sub-text for the absence of rigour.

 The present situation is unfortunate considering the fact that the dissolution of the Yar’Adua cabinet was a popular move. Nigerians were fed up with that morally conflicted cabinet which, when confronted with the truth about Yar’Adua’s ill-health, failed to act honourably. Its dismissal could have given Dr. Jonathan a good opportunity to make a strong statement about change, solidarity and progress at once. But he failed to act decisively ab initio by delaying the announcement of his list of Ministers, even now six states are yet to be represented in the list. No one should be optimistic that the Jonathan cabinet will make any difference in the social and development issues that affect the people in the remaining 13 months before the next change of government, compromised as it is by the politics of its composition and Jonathan’s own ambitions. In the long run, replacing a Yar’Adua cabal with a Jonathan cabal (comprising mainly influential retired Generals) serves the same narrow interests that have held Nigeria down since independence, and can only trigger a deadly struggle for power and control. The season of the people’s liberation appears to have once again been postponed.

Source: Nigerian Guardian Newspaper

Related Articles:

Jonathan’s Ministerial Blues by Dele Momodu

Thank you, Dora by By Reuben Abati

DORA Akunyili, Nigeria's Minister of Information and Communications, is obviously the only man in the Executive Council of the Federation, the others have lost their spine and submitted to the tightly knit conspiracy spun by that body and its faceless accomplices in deceiving Nigerians 74 days on, that President Umaru Musa Yar'çdua is fit. Akunyili thoroughly fed up with all the fibbing and shilly-shallying reportedly submitted a memo to the Executive Council this week asking that the deception must stop and that President Yar'Adua must hand over to the Vice President so the country can move on in his absence.
Thank you, Dora. You have just confirmed what we have always known that the members of the Executive Council of the Federation who are required under Section 144 of the Constitution to take a decision as to the incapacitation of the President are not likely to do so, first because they are his appointees (the law givers apparently overlooked this, in the future this section should be amended); second, the lying Ministers are more interested in protecting their seats rather the common good and three, they want to be seen to be loyal to the President. And so before now, they had issued a statement saying that President Yar'Adua is well, some claimed to have spoken with him as if that amounts to a certificate of medical fitness, and shamelessly that body, with the help of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, chose to misinterpret the law and make short-shrift of a court ruling.

It was a case of Federal Ministers, maintained at public expense, insisting on doing what is wrong. Every week, they pretended to be holding a Cabinet meeting, with a vacant seat and an absent President as Chairman, the emptiness of that space gradually becoming a metaphor for other observed patterns of emptiness, and at each meeting they further pretended to be awarding contracts, under the authority of a Vice President who had left no one in any doubt that he has no powers to sign documents or give directives. Dora Akunyili must have been frustrated by the charade. As an insider, she must have witnessed the drift first hand, the posturing of a few and the helplessness of a Federal Cabinet that is supposed to serve the people, now bogged down by a self-inflicted illness, engaged in nothing else but "little chats".

Surely, it was not only Yar'çdua that was in hospital, the Federal Executive Council as they call it, was also ill. Everyone had issued a statement, including elder statesmen, the Arewa Consultative Forum, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, media chiefs, civil society groups, professional associations, members of the National Assembly, asking President Yar'Adua to respect the rule of law. With the Arewa joining the campaign and the likes of former President Shehu Shagari joining a delegation to Aso Villa on the same matter, there was no way anyone could fly the flag of ethnic persecution; for the first time in a long while, the Nigerian elite managed, albeit slowly, to forge a consensus on a matter of national importance. Yet, Yar'Adua's cabinet preferred a macabre dance.

Dora Akunyili's rebellion and forthrightness is the kind of development that we need for this matter to be resolved. Ironically, she is such an unusual rebel. She is paid to help the government and the President cover up their dirt. As Minister of Information, she is the government's spin doctor. Before now, she had in fact made an effort to help cover up the mess, telling Nigerians that the President's health was improving and that we should find something else to talk about. But it must have occurred to the lady that there is no way Nigeria can be rebranded, the campaign she leads, if its leaders tell lies and engage in deceits. The slogan "great nation, good people" makes no sense if so much energy has to be expended to get Nigerian leaders to act properly in the public interest. She must have gotten tired of being told by a few who claim to have seen the President to go and sell a fib to the people. Dora is a Christian. The Archbishop must be glad about her conversion on the road to Damascus.

Is this something about women? There were stories during the Obasanjo years about Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Federal Minister, being one of the very few who could stand up at meetings and tell the all-knowing OBJ the truth. But the parallel that immediately comes to mind is Clare Short, the former Secretary of State for International Development in the Tony Blair UK Government who accussed then Prime Minister Blair of "recklessness" in his pursuit of the war against Iraq. Short has quite a reputation for going against the grain within the Labour Party. Similarly, Dora Akunyili's offensive against drug dealers and importers of fake drugs while she held sway at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC) was more or less an act of rebellion: the drug cartel is populated by persons who are likely to donate money to politicians and who lay claim to substantial influence. Death threats did not deter Dora at the time.

Her appointment as Information Minister had raised doubts about her role in the present government, but she seems to have found her voice again. Clare Short, testifying at the on-going Iraqi war enquiry, the Chilcot Committee, continues to insist that Tony Blair lied to Cabinet about Iraq. Short used the words: "Misleading", "conning", "being deceitful". These are words that can be adapted and fitted into the current Nigerian situation. Nigeria is not going to war but it is preparing a war against itself at home. When other Ministers in the Blair Cabinet behaved as yes-men on the Iraqi question, Ms Short spoke up. Will Dora Akunyili stand firm? She should. Should she resign her appointment? I don't think so.

She has not committed treachery nor is she carrying a banner for regicide. Party chieftains may condemn her, many of her colleagues in the Federal cabinet may accuse her of grandstanding, "trying to be holier than thou", who does she think she is? "don't mind her, she is always looking for publicity?", "what's wrong with her, she caused the problem in the first place, if she had managed information well, we would not be in this mess;" "she has joined forces with enemies of government"- these are typical Nigerian responses which always beg the issue. But the only thing she has said is: please, let us obey the law. She also added: "It doesn't pay anybody the way the coutnry is drifting." But her colleagues wouldn't even look at her memo. They shot it down.
There may well be a few persons in the Federal cabinet who feel the same way as she does, but lack the courage to speak up. They should not hide behind Dora Akunyili's skirt. She has shown them that it is alright to say one's mind. Such persons should gather whatever is left in their hearts and say what is right, with the hope that the right things will be done. Party chieftains will most likely put pressure on Dora Akunyili and accuse her of disloyalty. If that happens, she must resist the temptation to recant. It's alright to stand alone.

Where are we as a nation, 74 days after our President checked into a hospital in Saudi Arabia? Things appear to be coming to a head. The world is laughing at us. It has been reported, for example, that at an ongoing conference in Cape Town, South Africa, the Mining Indaba Conference, one of the speakers, David Hale dragged Nigeria's story into his presentation telling his audience: "In Nigeria, the President has been in Saudi Arabia for nearly three months for medical treatment and he refused to hand over to the Vice President, even though the people are calling for it. He is suffering from acute heart problems and should be dead in six months. So, in Nigeria, there should be a new election in six months after the death of the President." The Nigerian delegation to that conference is demanding an apology. The Punch reports, February 4, that "The remarks by Hale who is the chairman of David Hale Global Economics surprisingly elicited loud laughter from the participants..." Loud laughter? Why won't the rest of the world find our circumstances funny?

Look at the rigmarole over a letter that the President was supposed to have written. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) says he prepared such a letter to be taken to the National Assembly in compliance with Section 145 of the Constitution. The letter was handed over to Senator Mohammed Abba Ajji, the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters. And that same letter is now being treated like a pin in a haystack. The SGF cannot find it. He doesn't have a file copy? And what kind of man is the Special Adviser who will not know what happened to a letter given to him? A special meeting is to be held at the official residence of the Senate President to discuss this missing letter! Nothing can be more uproarious.

Unwittingly, the Yar'Adua government has turned the matter of the President's health into another June 12 or Third Term issue, two previous national issues on which every Nigerian felt obliged to take a stand. With more persons and groups taking a stand on the Yar'Adua health issue, it won't be long before the uncertainty is resolved.