By Ike Abonyi
A daily briefing by the Minister of Information, based on authentic details provided by the President’s doctors, should start forthwith. As we have said many times, the health of the President, as a public figure can no longer be of interest only to his family and friends. Nigerians have a right to know. – Lai Mohammad, current Minister of Information seven years ago, when the shoe was in another person’s leg.
The people of the United States of America appear to be finding it a herculean task coping with the speed of their new 70-year-old President Donald Trump.
After protests could not halt him they now resort to court to force him to apply some breaks and slow down in the implementation of his campaign promises.
During the electioneering, the bizarre President made some weird campaign promises which a cross section of Americans felt was enough to deny him the position but they were wrong, he got it.
On January 20, 2017 he was actually sworn in as the 45th President of United States and there and then he told Americas.
Within one week of his taking over the office, the businessman who had zero experience in his public office record has put all America’s government machinery literally charged and on the move.
He has activated virtually all sectors rolling out his campaign promises except for those he needed the components of either the legislature or the judiciary.
The more the obviously jittery global community react to his strange style of administration the faster the speed and intensity with which he pushes through his desire.
You may be wondering why I am giving such ample space to discuss Donald Trump who is not even popular among the global community.
Reason, the democratic system we are running in this country since 1999 has been a direct facsimile from US so I find it interesting watching our mentors especially remembering where we are coming from and where we are at the moment. In our case 21 months after, government is yet to take off effectively in most sectors.
Most critical sectors of governance like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are yet to have a governing board.
This is a country in recession. Our beloved President took 12 years to chase this position he is occupying now and when he got it another seven months was taken to search for those who would be ministers.
And two years after there are still many positions yet unfilled including replacing a dead minister one year after.
The Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, wants Nigerians to wait till four years before judging their performance.
While those we copied our system from are in a hurry to fulfil their campaign promises to show the people that they can keep their words, in our case we are setting up committee to review promises because on entry what we are seeing is not what we envisaged.
More energy is being put into trying to get everybody to buy into a blame game that holds the previous administration responsible for everything.
Some are also arguing provocatively that after all, most of those promises that are unfulfilled were not directly made by the President but by party members.
They want all to believe them also that the President is keeping to his own promises, fighting and killing corruption before it kills Nigeria, crushing Boko haram and restoring order and discipline in the country, therefore making one naira to one dollar actually didn’t come directly from the President ditto feeding the children and restoring the economy.
All these are the balderdash that you hear from a visibly disjointed administration which rode to power rubbishing and condemning every inch of the steps of their predecessor.
Today they have literally driven their vehicle into a loop and are in a motion but no movement.
Even their own corruption index going by intelligence reports from critical areas of the economy are as endemic as the people they are tormenting.
The bitter truth is that it does not matter from which party you belong, which religion or tribe or which class, the undisputed fact remains that our beloved county is in trouble.
Almost two years into this administration the pilot of this aircraft is ‘radarless’ and how and when to land has been handed over to the gods of the sky. Communication between the airplane and the control room has virtually been unclear.
President’s men are not helping issues; they are talking from many mouths and leaking their contradictions.
Those who had earlier told the nation that the President is not sick and not in the hospital are now telling us he is waiting for results of series of tests conducted on him.
Where was the test conducted? The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, who enjoyed himself in opposition seven years ago lecturing then presidential and government spokespersons how a President of a country is a public property and everything about his health record should be made public, is today telling a contradictory story.
My brother and colleague Presidential Media Adviser Femi Adesina, a seasoned and highly respected editor who should know the danger of third party source, is telling the nation that he has not spoken with his Principal for 10 days of the vacation and that all the information of his being hale and hearty came from those around the President.
One had thought that faced with this type of challenge, my brother would have consulted his “Egbon” Segun Adeniyi who faced similar challenges but survived it and even wrote a book on it.
As a professional working with politicians can be very challenging, especially when the politicians are under stress.
They mess up everywhere keeping you the professional in the dark and yet expect you to remove the mess afterwards.
The Vice President himself, a man with many enviable accolades, a pastor, a professor and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) has also been dragged into the fray.
After declaring the President ‘hale and hearty’ upon hearing his voice on the phone (not Skype) the VP went further to say that he can’t resign because he was elected and that it’s only the President that can reveal his own health status. Plenteous information there for discerning minds.
The real worry in all this abracadabra actually is that while the economy remains recessed, the behind the scene intrigue for control of power preoccupy our leaders more than anything else. In this country today a piece of $100 is equal to Nigeria’s N50,000 yet the National Assembly and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are all engrossed in power play and 2019.
A “hale and hearty” President Muhammudu Buhari has suddenly turned his vacation into a political show with his lieutenants jostling for his seat while blaming imaginary opposition for rumour that they created.
This country has passed this road before and provided enough literature to have guided but instead we are watching history being repeated. Seven years ago when late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s health was undergoing scrutiny similar to the current situation in the country, his close aides were dancing disco on his health scheming to succeed him while he was still alive.
When he returned from medical trip half alive, he still could raise his hand to sign sack letters for some of his aides including the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babagana Kingibe. I just hope that some close aides of this President would not be found swimming in the same murky waters as Kingibe.
The concern really is that while the high wire politics is going on, the country is going down and we are all watching helplessly as the change we voted for is changing everything to our detriment. God help Nigeria.