To Go Or Not To Go —Akunna Ejim

Kim Jong-Il of North Korea and Fidel Castro of Cuba are recent examples of leaders who found it difficult to relinquish the reins of power even in the face of extreme ill-health. In the case of Kim Jong-Il, it is still an ongoing issue, with rumours of plans to replace him with his son Kim Jong-Un—something he vehemently denies. Fidel Castro, finally unable to suppress the fact that he could no longer carry on, in typical dictatorial fashion, anointed his brother, Raul as his successor. It would appear the same scenario is playing itself out in Nigeria. Even though the logical thing to do when a leader is too sick to effectively and vigorously carry out their responsibilities and obligations to the electorate, would be to gracefully and wisely bow out in order to completely focus on the very important task of getting the necessary medical attention and recuperation.

akunna-ejim

There is of course, much more to it than that. The office of the President is one of high stakes and there are a lot of vested interests that accompany it, not necessarily for the well-being of the country. Instead, there are a lot of selfish, greedy and clandestine interests in that position, which is the constitutionally conferred apex position of power. But, doesn’t the same constitution also lay down a clear-cut framework to be followed in events such as this? Of course it does. That is precisely why there is a Vice-President who is constitutionally imbued with the mandate to take over in such a situation as where the President is unable—for any reason, be it a vacation, ill-health, impeachment, or even death––to continue to fulfil the normal functions that accompany that important position, and assume the responsibilities of the President.  There is a reason for this—to ensure the smooth and progressive administration of the nation.

It is somewhat the same principle that guides the relationship between the managing director and the deputy managing director. Where the managing director is absent, the deputy will take over the steering of the ship, as it were, contingent on the by-laws or constitution of the corporation, till he is made the permanent manager, or somebody else is appointed. There is a very good reason why constitutions exist and that is to make it crystal-clear what the guiding principles must be in any kind of event. This is to prevent anarchy and also to protect the integrity of the nation. Also, very importantly, it serves to ensure that the country continues to run smoothly and will not be held ransom to any one person, or group of people’s interests.

At first, attempts were made to hush up the fact that the President was ill, but how can anyone hope to hide something so important when the President is a very public figure who must preside over meetings and make frequent public appearances in the course of his administration of the affairs of the nation? Of course, eventually, the truth became public knowledge to the point that now the Senate president want the nation to pray for the President. Yes, we shall pray for President Yar’Adua because, say what you will about him, I genuinely admire and respect the man and his innate humility. He did not create the problem Nigeria is deeply entrenched in now even if he definitely could have done a lot more to address the problems. Everyone knows that politics is a terrain that is infested with sharks and you have to be an even bigger shark to deal with the shenanigans that pass for the Nigerian version of politics and pardon me, but the President doesn’t strike a lot of people as a shark. A majority of Nigerians have their suspicions about how power was supposedly ‘thrust’ upon him and it just doesn’t somehow sit quite right with his personality.

There have been a lot of complaints about reforms that have been slow to come and about him being too slow, period! But what do you expect from someone who has something more important, like his health, to worry about? Apart from the fact that it is unfair on the Nigerian people that the President is not able to apply himself completely to the arduous task of piloting the affairs of the country, from his perspective, it is even more unfair that he cannot wash his hands off the high-stress environment of politics and concentrate on getting well, which is my point exactly. Surely, he doesn’t need the added nuisance of having to make decisions that will affect millions of people when he can just as easily step aside. At this point, it is those who are propping him up while scheming for succession and what have you that should be advised to let the man be. We have a Vice-President who ran with the President on the same platform and who is able to take over the reins from the ailing President according to the letter of the constitution. But alas! there is a lot more to it than simply handing over to the Vice-President who not only is not a northerner, but from the part of the country that has been agitating for more control of their resources. There is also the rather delicate matter of a successor for the Vice-President should he eventually ascend to the position of President. This rather unforeseen ill health of the President mid-term has presented a conundrum for the proponents of the wholly undemocratic zoning practice; they cannot replace the President with someone from the North – that would be unconstitutional; his Vice-President has to take over and they are unwilling to do that. So, now what? Stall, drag it out as long as possible in the hope that the President will somehow manage to the end of his tenure so they can do their thing and produce a President of their own anointing. But the man obviously needs a break and the citizens are the ones at the receiving end.

All I can say is that Nigerians are weary of the constant drama in politics and would prefer that those in authority would put the welfare of the Nigerian citizens above theirs and do the right thing for once. One can always hope.

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