Architect Victor Attah, revered nationalist and leader of thought has just turned eighty. Attah, a former Governor of Akwa Ibom State and former President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects is one man born into a wealthy home but who, like many a prince has looked beyond personal comfort to also seek the interest of the people.
Attah has received many awards and chieftaincy titles over the years including being made the Fiwagboye of Egbaland. He is a member of several professional bodies and was a participant in the 2014 National Conference in Abuja.
Above all this though, Attah is a promoter of Justice, Equity and Liberty.
Dike Chukwumerije, poet and son of Late Senator Uche Chukwumerije said, “If there are laws they should set us free”. Sadly in this nation, some of those we elect to lead us make laws precisely for the opposite reason. Eight years ago, after Victor Attah had left office as Governor of Akwa Ibom State, a certain former Minister decided to run for Governorship of that state. Senator “J.J” Udoedehe’s legitimate ambition landed him straight into prison. The then Governor of the state made a law which was enacted and passed with lighting speed, giving the executive arm the power to detain certain individuals for up to fourteen days without trial.
Senator Udoedehe knew he was the target of the law, but damning the consequences he went ahead with his campaign. To the chagrin and annoyance of the sitting Governor, Udoedehe was found to be “running things” even from his prison cell! Furious the incumbent then had him (Udoedehe) flown in chains and from Uyo to Lagos and finally to Abuja. The photographs of Senator ‘J.J’ in chains were splashed all over the media at the time. Senator ‘J.J’ was held, not even in the DSS holding cell but he was thrown into jail by the police, this time on purely trumped up charges. Victor Attah was never a man to sit back and wring his hands in despair. Attah swung into action immediately; he intimated a certain National Security Adviser on the matter, and a meeting was arranged with Nigeria’s Number One man in the Police Force.
Attah called the then Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to release Udoedehe at once, insisting the man was innocent; was only being framed for political reasons. When this (the release) was not happening, Attah then demanded that he (Attah) be detained along with the innocent Udoedehe!
The IGP at that point got up and bowed low before the men. He admitted that he knew the man in question was innocent; investigations had shown that he had been framed of the charges against him. But he admitted that he (IGP) was acting, in the Nigerian parlance, on “orders from above”.
This incident is brought out here to reveal just how much of a lover of liberty and justice that the man Victor is. From state level to the national level, Attah’s position remains the same. At a certain time in the not too distant past of the nation’s history, Nigeria was faced with the national dilemma of an absentee president. Had the nation’s Number One Citizen been an army officer, at that time he would have been declared AWOL: Absent without Leave.
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was Nigeria’s (ailing) President at the time. President Yar’Adua suffered from a terminal condition, but this was kept top secret to all but a couple of close people. The Nigerian nation was definitely kept in the dark. But some illnesses are pretty difficult to conceal when at the centre stage, certainly nobody who was President could possibly hide all the symptoms. Therefore Nigerians knew he was quite ill, only that people did not know just how far gone he actually was.
He suffered one of his crises again in November, 2009 and was immediately flown out to meet his regular doctor in Saudi Arabia. Nigerians were fed with a statement after the event that he had travelled to Saudi for the “Lesser Hajj”. This was in November, a fortuitous coincidence for the official untruths.
The problem was, the Hajj later ended but long after, Yar’Adua was not forthcoming. Worse, he had left, as usual with no official communication of transmission of power to anyone. To absolutely concretize matters, President Yar’Adua was also incommunicado. Here is a sample of the oath of office of the President of the United State used here as an example because Nigerian practices the American Presidential System-
“I _____ do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States”.
Clearly President Yar’Adua was not in, on any of the counts. The man was simply too ill!
Add so the country, which previously had come to a veritable standstill, began to literally roll backwards. Although Nigeria is said to be practicing a democracy, with separation of powers between all tiers of government; in reality the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria wields enormous powers while on seat, and Yar’Adua’s absence brought this truth to the fore like never before in Nigeria.
Nigerians started asking serious questions and after all the bogus tape recordings of, and “official visits” to Yar’Adua in Saudi Arabia the questions turned to demands for the person of a leader.
Victor Attah dived straight into fray. He announced that, going by the constitution, in the absence of the President, the Vice President is to sit in, in acting capacity. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was the Vice President at the time-practically in name only. Even his wife had made a retort to reporters then that: wasn’t it only reading newspaper that you people sent him to the office to sit and do?
Well, Patience Jonathan’s rhetorical question was in fact the sum of the job description of the Vice President, as applicable at the time!
However, Attah’s proclamation became a livewire to the comatose country. Many other individuals and pressure groups started speaking up loud and hard after him. This writer is one of those people. Let it be on record that Architect Victor Attah was the first Nigerian of prominence to declare that the right thing to be done in line with the constitution was to make the Vice President, the Acting President.
