by MAHMUD JEGA
Last week’s bizarre events on the national political scene was a case of natural sickness worsened by presidential power grab, compounded by ambitious scheming, amplified by many-sided incompetence, intensified by the two-faced antics of state officials, further magnified by the grandstanding of regional groups and power-seeking cliques, with foreign countries’ poke-nosing as the icing on the sour cake.
The family and political circle around President Umaru Yar’adua, obviously led by his wife Hajia Turai, went to unbelievable lengths to hide the truth about his physical state from all their countrymen. This much was evident from the late-night timing of the return trip, refusing to inform Acting President Jonathan or any ministers [including the 6 who were already in Saudi Arabia] that Yar’adua was on his way home, turning off airport lights, driving away airport officials, deploying Guards Brigades-men to the scene, sneaking the President into the State House and rendering him incommunicado thereafter.
Why should anyone go to this length to hide the truth? Obviously because Yar’adua is in a pitiable state physically and more seriously because his inner circle is completely intent on hanging on to presidential power using every method in, on, under and beside the books. Needless to add, the strategy being adopted speaks volumes about the quality of the persons behind the strategy.
The remarkable thing here is, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan’s camp does not have any higher strategic quality than the Yar’adua camp, as far as I can see from events in recent weeks.
Initially, Jonathan adopted all the right posture of blind political loyalty, which in Nigeria is the only winning formula for a Vice President [or a Deputy Governor], given the Constitution’s reckless vesting of “all Executive power of the Federation” in the President. Jonathan even firmly dismissed the pre-emptively planted media rumour that a “Northern clique” had asked him to resign from office so as not to succeed Yar’adua.
At some point though, Jonathan hearkened to other advice, abandoned this strategy and began to actively, though covertly, seek to consolidate his Acting Presidency and then made a lounge for the substantive Presidency. In so doing, the Jonathan men weren’t content to have constitutionality and morality on their side; they began to play a dangerous geopolitical card.
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