Tag: Amosun

It is imaginable that she was an unseen presence at the show, and possibly other ethereal beings were in attendance.  “Why not now?” she might have wondered.  Those in a position to answer the question could easily have acted in a way that would have made the poser out of the question. But because they didn’t, the September 29 National Honours’ investiture seemed like an event that had lost its soul and had become soulless; these two conditions may not be the same.

Speaking of souls, particularly the souls of the dead, perhaps such apparitions were at the venue, International Conference Centre, Abuja, just to see the spectacle organised by the living dead.  Or is there a better description for those who are biologically alive but morally dead?

The celebration of deadened consciousness, which the event projected on account of glaring and jarring omissions in the list of awardees, represented yet another instance of institutional insensitivity. In this specific case, the institution is no other than the country’s presidency, or more precisely, the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

It would take a phenomenal leap of the imagination to grasp the administration’s tactless treatment of the memory of those who recently paid the ultimate price and made a supreme sacrifice for the country. It would probably be more appropriate to call it an egregious insult which the departed do not deserve.

What is even more unacceptably unthinking and unfeeling is the brusque defence by Dr Doyin Okupe, Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Jonathan, who reportedly said via his Twitter account that the national honours were not given posthumously.  It is instructive that between September 19 when the full list of awardees was publicised and September 29 when they were decorated, there were loud calls from concerned quarters highlighting the nauseating exclusion.

Two of such wake-up calls will suffice. The Chairman, Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Cross River State chapter, Dr. Callistus Enyuma, said: “One would expect that she should not be neglected when honours are given. I believe it is not too late for her to be included on the honours’ list. She must have that honour.” Next, the President of Jojaina Deck of the National Association of Seadogs, Mr. Fabian Avoh, said: “Let us ask the Federal Government or precisely the presidency what yardstick was used in including all sorts of people on the list of the highest honour in the land when Adadevoh, who sacrificed her life, was not on the list.”

In a reasonable context, the inclusion of Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh who died on August 19 should have been beyond question, even if by way of special mention at the event and by immortalising her.  She was the most prominent among the country’s health care workers who died of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) after contracting it from the Liberian- American Patrick Sawyer who brought it into the country and died from it on July 25. It is noteworthy that the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, said of her role: “She it was who took the initiative to intimate the ministry concerning the index case; and substantially to her credit, the moderate containment achieved we owe to her and her colleagues.” There is no doubt that the professional intervention of Adadevoh and others arrested the possibility of a wide-spread dispersal of the deadly virus. The Jonathan administration must be suffering from inattentional blindness.

Even more intriguing is the likelihood that the government may also be afflicted with complicated confusion. Two days after the disquieting silence on the EVD-related deaths of health care personnel who worked at First Consultants Medical Centre, Obalende, Lagos, Jonathan referred to the tragedies superficially. He said in his October 1 address on the country’s 54th Independence Day: “I appreciate and welcome the spirit of collaboration, unity and partnership with which we confronted the threat of the Ebola Virus Disease. I thank all Nigerians for working together to prevent what could have become a major epidemic. I particularly thank the medical personnel, some of whom paid the ultimate sacrifice.” Could this be interpreted as thanking the dead for dying?   What a way to reward heroic self-sacrifice!

Interestingly, Jonathan’s idea of reward seemed suspect, if not mischievous, especially in connection with three personalities who made this year’s national honours’ list of 305 awardees: the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a former governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun; and the Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who is on his way out, having lost controversially in the June governorship election to Ayo Fayose of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) . Considering that the men are members of the APC, the intensely critical opposition party with a strong ambition to rule the country, their inclusion may have been no more than a wily attempt to present the Jonathan administration and the PDP as perhaps dispassionate and uninfluenced by zero-sum mentality. They were given the title, Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON).

It is food for thought that these particular honourees, who could have exploited the publicity opportunity to further rubbish the administration and what it stands for by maintaining a respectable distance, chose the path of counter-productive accommodation. Odigie-Oyegun was represented at the ceremony. Fayemi, rather than be in Abuja to receive the national honour, attended the opening ceremony of the Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi Centre for Gender and Social Policy Studies donated by his wife to the Obafemi Awolwo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. He was quoted as saying: “It is thus at great cost that I am here in demonstration of my dedication to a worthy cause. Nothing can be more important than this. The CON can be posted to me by courier, but nobody can post this to me.”  In both cases, there was a sufficient indication of acceptance.

Amosun surpassed them by displaying a petty ecstasy. Not only did he attend the investiture, he apparently got carried away. Listen to him: “When you are given an award like this, you are honoured; it is a call for more service. It is like describing an elephant; it is from the perspective from which you are looking at it. Yes, there may be one or two misgivings about it; people will talk anyway. I think whoever is given, it is a call to serve more, render selfless service to the nation and to our different states.”

It would appear that Amosun may not have reflected on the governmental performance of the giver. Has Jonathan himself shown a satisfactory understanding of the concept of service in political office?  Why would he desire to encourage what may be indeed alien to him? What is the subtext of this dramatic political scheming?