As state governments transit to change hands after the last presidential elections in Nigeria it is now clear how many governors are migrating from the seat of power in our state capitals to the Nigerian senate in Abuja. To such former governors it is a positive development for it keeps them in power and perhaps at a more prestigious level at the federal level than their posts in the state capitals. For them the saying on Julius Caesar, Emperor of the Ancient Roman Empire that – for Caesar it is better to be first in a village than second in Rome – is not applicable. This is because in Abuja, in our very Imperial red seat senate they are still very much in power in the legislature as part of the checks and balances of our presidential system of government. That is what I want to label as tenacity of office today. I will then go on to show that it is not that condemnable as long as the new senators bring impeccable credentials to the senate as former governors who performed in their previous assignments to have earned such power promotion to their new political assignments.
Interestingly the desperation of governors to get to the senate in Nigeria is best illustrated by the plight of the Imo State governor Okorocha who allegedly put a gun to the head of the INEC conductor of his election to announce him winner. A misdeed for which INEC refused to give him a winner’s certificate and for which a court in which he filed a protest has refused to consider his case, such that he is in a quandary on how he can fulfill the power fashion of governors becoming senators after their tenures as governors in Nigeria.
As I said before performance matters in the way and manner governors resurrect in our senate after their tenure. This is just plain common sense in that even a primary school student knows that to be promoted he must earn that promotion by passing his exams which indicate good performance. That was the humorous way that Chief Igbinedion campaigned for the reelection of his son Lucky as governor of Edo state by saying rhetorically that if he had performed in office he should be given another term of office as a reward. So on the face of it I do not quarrel with tenacity of office provided it is anchored on good performance which can be echoed in the saying that you do not change a winning team in football. It is definitely the same in politics according to the rules of tenure and succession.
Given that the presidential elections have come and gone and the incumbent president has been reelected one can safely assume that the reelection is a reward for performance in the last four years of his first term of office. That would be a fair and realistic assessment. But it is not all that glitters that is gold and the ruling and victorious party the APC knows that. One could point out constraints, unexpected, that made optimum performance impossible like the president’s sickness; or the hijacking of the senate by the senate president and the defections that made the resurrection of PDP possible as the war against corruption floundered in the absence of the president and anti corruption forces rallied and fought back so massively that the PDP, infamous for corruption got more states than it deserved in the 2019 elections. But every cloud has its silver lining. That of the APC is the fact that it has not allowed itself to slip into complacency in retaining power now and in the future. That is how I see the call by the National Leader of the APC Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the government to review its policy on power such that Nigerians can be able to thank it as an agent of change and economic empowerment of Nigerians. It is in the light of meaningful performance in office that one should view the call by the Jagaban on his government not to increase VAT because of its dire economic consequences on our productive resources and the sectors that are the goose that lays Nigeria’s golden eggs in all ramifications for the Nigerian economy. In a way the Jagaban has played his part like the American general who rallied his troops after a failed assault by telling them home truths on their deficiencies and prodding them to victory with the admonition –‘ we have seen the enemy and the enemy is US.‘
Let us leave Nigeria for a while and look globally on the way today’s topic is playing out in some capitals of the world and with their leaders. In terms of leaders who have not performed but are clinging to power tenaciously there is insurrection against their tenure in Algeria and Sudan. In Israel where an election just took place the incumbent PM Benjamin Netanyahu won a famous but close victory by making security and nationalism his last ditch political assault. In the US embattled President Donald Trump who just survived the Mueller Investigations on his election in 2016 took the fight to his enemies by prompting his Attorney General to probe those who initiated the Mueller Probe of his election on the ground of plotting a coup against his election thereby committing treason. I will examine these global events serially.
In Algeria 82 years old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika after 20 years in office finally gave in and agreed to quit office after weeks of protests by Algerian youths who said he was too old to govern and has ruined their present and future by his poor leadership that has made their economy moribund and the youths massively jobless. Bouteflika had stroke and had not been seen in public till the protests started. Instead of reading the handwriting on the wall for him to go, he came out to sack his cabinet and clung to power. But the protests continued and he had to give in this week. A good example on how tenacity of office cannot survive poor leadership performance.
That was the situation in Sudan too where the army propped up the Omar Al Bashir ‘s dictatorship for over three decades and finally toppled it this week. Protests against bread and fuel prices started in Khartoum, Sudan’s old capital weeks ago. They were led by professionals in Sudan especially doctors who were severely beaten and manhandled by Bashir’s henchmen and security forces. This week they used real arms to disperse the protesters and the army finally asked Bashir to quit after 30 years of ruling without economic progress.
I skip Netanyahu’s victory for now and end up with a good example of leadership performance in terms of economic progress and good tenacity of office, albeit in controversial circumstances. That example is US President Donald Trump who I initially labeled before his election, which I predicted, as the Nemesis of American politics . Before you call me names let me give you a quote from him on his inability to disclose his tax returns because he is under audit, which he claims the US laws allow. According to Trump – I built a great company, one of the best companies. I have some of the greatest assets in the world. I did a good job and now frankly I don’t care about them. I only care about the United States.’ How many world leaders can boast so credibly and boldly on top of a performing economy in the two years he had been in office against all the odds?. Certainly, not many. But that is the way that tenacity of office can be beneficial without protests in any democracy. Once again, long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.