Date Published: 10/21/09

Randy Minister and His Legion of Problems By Onome Oguibe

Leadership in the true sense of it, is a subjective word. It means different things to different people. It is a relative word.However, there are leaders and there are leaders. Hardly can you find a true leader these days. Majority of people who are called leaders especially those who find themselves in positions of authority these days, are mere misfits and self seekers. Quite a bunch of them are square pegs in round holes. Under the present political dispensation in Nigeria, hardly would you find two responsible leaders out of ten, who command the respect of their people.

Most of them are self-centred crooks; expert election riggers controlled by Satan, the spin doctor of death, who in their various states of origin, had before now subverted the will of their people and that of their Almighty Creator. This category of people who bulldozed their way to power, hardly think of what they can do for their electorate rather than serving their personal goals and by extension, doing the bidding of their girlfriends and godfathers.

Several among our present appointed leaders are pimps and murderers, womanizers, night crawlers, drunkards and treasury looters, out to milk the nation to its knees.

This cap fits the Minister of State in the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Aliyu Idi Hong. He falls under the group of irresponsible, politically myopic and a roguish leader of our time. The man apart from his crafty nature, he is an opportunistic person who aspired to power through the influence of Satanic and dubious means, he swore to blood oath naked in a manner of speaking, to owe loyalty to a fellow undemocratic and Satanic leader, Senator Jibril Aminu. Both of them symbolize insensitivity and roguish attitude to the plight of the citizenry. That is why the duo always flounders from one avoidable misfortune to another. For example, Senator Aminu you can recall had a rough time with security agents in the wake of the 419 Siemens bribery scandal. Dr Hong in his own case, narrowly escaped death by the whiskers after involving in a fatal motor accident recently. According to an eye witness account, who does not want his name in print, the incident occurred around 2a.m recently in the Central Business District of the FCT. The source further volunteered that, the accident involving his official car, a black Jeep (Reg No. withheld) could have been avoided, if not because of the Minister’s insatiable interest in things under the skirt.

It is believed that the accident was as a result of either drunkenness, sleeplessness or both. My findings show that the Minister who was on the wheels, was in company of a Lady, assumably his girlfriend, ostensibly on their way from a night crawl, heading to one of the Ministry of Health Guest Houses in the Central Area. Though both escaped unhurt, the accidental car now a write-off is currently covered with a tarpaulin, awaiting its renewal from the tax payers money. What an abuse of office priviledge you will say.

It could be recalled that one of the national dailies recently reported that, Dr. Hong had before now, engaged in an unwholesome relationship with his godfather Jibril Aminu, presumably to achieve something personal from the latter. Hong’s recent burning desire in sexual intercourse with females from neighbouring Niger Republic and some Northern states of the Federation out of wedlock, presupposes that our man has finally gained back his freedom to relate with opposite sex naturally. But is the swift change owing to his octogenarian boss’s inability to perform as before or why?

Perhaps, the only advice people close to the Minister should offer him, is the need to minimize to the barest minimum, the frequency of his late night crawling from one Guest House to the other. He should also note that, some of these girlfriends he introduces to Chief Executives of Parastatals under Ministry of Health for contract favours, fall short of decent manners. These girls should be gentle in their approach and know that, these Chief Executives are not employees of the Minister of State Health, but that of the Federal Government. They should desist from distracting business- minded public officers, doing what they know best in their quest to earn a living.

Another tsunami that may likely consume the Minister of State Health Dr. Hong is the alleged N400 Million corruption scandal that is currently rocking the organization. My findings show that the Minister and some top ranking public servants have collectively perfected the strategy to deduct another N400 Million from the Federal Government approved Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure (CONTISS) paid members of staff of the Ministry who belong to the Medical & Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN).

Some members of the Union who spoke to me on condition of anonymity averred that, some principal officials of the Ministry among who is the Minister of State and the Permanent Secretary using their positions, had between January and June this year illegally converted payment of CONTISS to HATISS, the Harmonized Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure and saved over N400 Million. According to further sources in the Ministry, another N400 Million deduction using the same method is currently being worked out, so by the end of the year the N800 Million target, may have been realized for democratic sharing among principal officers of the Ministry. It could be recalled that, this was the same banana peel that saw the premature exit of the immediate past Ministers in the Ministry last year. To get to the root of this issue, various anti graft agencies should wade into the matter to save the tax payers money from going down the drain.

ONOME OGUIBE sent in this piece from Wuse Zone 4, Abuja.