Date Published: 02/04/10

FEBRUARY 4, 2010            PRESS RELEASE

PROF. DORA’S AKUNYILI’S RARE COURAGE-A TIME TO BREAK THE SILENCE OF THE NIGHT!!!

The muted but uncommon attempt the previous day by the Information and Communication Minister and Former Director General (DG) of the National Agency for Food and Drug administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Dora Akunyili to get the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to do the right thing in line with the Constitution and compel President Umaru Yar Adua to write a Vacation Letter to the National Assembly empowering the Vice President to act as President in his absence is courageous and worthy of praise.

Her rare and noble courage even if belated couldn’t have come at a better time. This bold step by Prof. Akunyili is certainly gratifying and soothing to Nigerians at a time when many have chosen to substitute caution for courage. This is because most Nigerians have been disturbed and baffled by her silence, and apparent change of principles, since she became a Member of the Federal Executive Council. They have been asking and rightly so, if this is the same Prof. Dora Akunyili whose exploits as DG of NAFDAC electrified the nation and evoke the admiration and respect of all. But she had decided by this move of hers to put things in proper perspective which is very commendable.

We know that there are those who think that silence is golden and that it is better not to rock the boat, but there comes a time when silence is betrayal and that time has come for the FEC in relation to the Yar Adua unconstitutional issue. And we glad that Prof. Akunyili has chosen to break the silence of the night and distance herself from the hawks in the FEC. She may have stirred the hornet’s next by breaking the betrayal of own silences and she may have rattled the hardliners, sycophants, bootlickers and fierce loyalists of the President, but she can be rest assured that Nigerians are with her in this crucial period of history. But even if Nigerians are not with her, the Arc of the Moral Universe which bends toward Justice and the God and Monarch of the Universe himself are with her, because no lie as Carlyle has said can live forever. Her move may not be popular with this singularly corrupt, inept and unpopular government, and she may have indeed put her job and life on the line by speaking out on the behalf of justice and pitching her tent on the right side of the revolutionary change in Nigeria, but no matter what happens at the end of the day, posterity and most importantly God himself will be kind to her and justify on this issue.

We salute her and her uncommon courage. 

      Eneruvie Enakoko

(CLO Chairman in Lagos)