Yar’Adua flew to Saudi- Arabia late last year for medical reasons. This was without the knowledge of some of the principal members, like Dr, Jonathan Goodluck, of his administration. Many weeks later and still without a word from him or about, Nigerians from all walks of life started getting excited and demanding to know what had become of him—their leader.
Then entered a cabal made up of persons, in and out of government, whose common interest was self-reservation, with stories that sought to assuage the fears of the public about the worst. This was the first gambit. Less injurious to the body polity and the most durable of all including, the most recent which is the subject of this piece.
When the word over word gambit could not ramrod the people, BBC gambit was deployed. Here, the British Broadcasting Corporation was “persuaded” into simulating an interview or rather chat, with him in which hw simply re-echoed the ground troops anthem that he was recovering and would soon be back to resume duties. He neither returned nor chatted again. Instead the word for word resumed with the cabal using the so-called chat as a by-line.
Meanwhile, the country Nigeria was bumping through landmines—Sanusi’s disruptive proclamations from the CBN headquarters, the Jos Christian Muslim war, the unresolved Niger Delta and the minor ones like petroleum product scarcity—without a driver, a dangerous enterprise even a country fighting internal wars. This was however, not the opinion of the pro-Yar’Adua cabal as they declared through the then attorney general of the federation that the driver cold actually drive from any point or position including outside the Vehicle.
Thick heads! We rejected, and loudly too, the innovation, insisting on the traditional face me I face you, brick and mortar style. Dr. Jonathan, fearing the worst from the cacophony, engaged native wisdom: he coupled a team to, in the traditional way, go, see him and wish him, quick recovery on behalf of behalf of the good people of Nigeria. Before then, others had tried to do same but was given the impression that the Saudi-Arabian monarch and government was not disposed to the idea of allowing visitors into the complex; an impression that was cancelled out by the country’s representative in Nigeria, thus paving the way for the presidential visit.
The duly scheduled visit ended an anti-climax as the cabal, fearing that the visit signaled the commencement of an impeachment process, gathered Yar’Adua from his hospital be into a flying hospital—same day the visiting delegation was leaving for Saudi—for onward delivery into his official quarters, in the dead of the night, a deadly gambit that turned the risk of living in Aso Rock into a naked one, for the entire community. The cabal however, did not think much of it, as they, under the leadership of Segun Adeniyi, after the dethronement of Aondoaaka, addressed the Acting President, as Vice President, an act that suggested that the president was back for good. Alas! This was not to be as days of waiting for the president to make a public appearance turned into weeks and nearing months.
However, for majority of enlightened Nigerians—Save Nigeria Group—this was of little concern. And the word was self-congratulations, as there was now someone on whose table the bulk could stop—that had been the kernel of the of the clamour, if only the cabal had the good sense to champion its actualization if only as bargaining chip to stay relevant.
Unlike the cabinet he inherited, Goodluck needed one that was answerable to him. So he dissolved the former and within one week submitted a list of nominees that included the nephew of the president that had all this while being anonymous. The cabal saw this as a threat, tried to get him to walk out on the offer and failed, miserably. It then dawned on them that their struggle has suffered a major causality—you cannot dye your cloth darker than that of the bereaved, can you?
Fear rather than reasoning drives the actions and inactions of this dying group. Their current gambit of allowing clerics from both the Muslim and Christian faith to see Yar'Adua some days to the swearing in of the new ministers even when he had been in the country for over a month, is a product of fear that the incoming cabinet may declare him incapacitated, and so needed to purchase their comment about him, improving or something nebulous but confirmed that he is still alive. Avoid like the plague a clergy man who is also a businessman—Saint Jerome
But this need not be as the constitution did not expressly state that such a declaration of incapacitation by the executive council amounts to a sack. No. There’s still the medical team and the National Assembly to factor-in. And if Nigeria is still Nigeria, it will be near impossible to impeach since as things are today, his stay as the substantive president does not constitute a constraint on the capacity of the president discharge his function. Impeachment can only succeed if those in court succeed in getting the upturn the decision of the national assembly that made it possible for the country to continue to function under an acting President.
The cases in court—some instigated by them—should be their concern, not getting clerics, like they are celebrities, to come and endorse him, like a product, in order to prepare the minds of their fans that he is still usable and only needs time to bounce back. After all, the current, he has difficulty talking runs against the BBC clears as, chat voice; against his so-called relation, Ali, he moves around, and all that stories; against the colourless Segun, he is improving yawn and importantly, against future gambits of the rapidly disappearing cabal.