Driving through\u00a0some streets of Abuja central area some three weeks or so ago, I came\u00a0across some\u00a0squat posters done in assaulting colours.\u00a0These posters had the picture of Rotimi Amaechi prominent on them.\u00a0 The\u00a0gentleman could be seen holding his chin\u00a0and starring off into the distance with a half smile.\u00a0 The owners of those\u00a0posters identified\u00a0themselves as Patriotic Nigerians something group or the other.\u00a0 Their\u00a0message? Rotimi Amaechi must become a\u00a0Minister in this here Nigeria.<\/p>\n
You might feel put\u00a0off by this rather unnecessary hard-press tactic but it is not novel.\u00a0 It\u00a0is reminiscent of the Nigerian Senate\u00a0leadership tussle.\u00a0 About six months ago,\u00a0way before Bukola Saraki had that one man night vigil at the National\u00a0Assembly\u2019s car park, his posters and those of Senator George Akume
\nlittered the\u00a0pale yellow walls of Abuja.\u00a0 They took to\u00a0reminding passersby, bus users, and other petty traders that they were the\u00a0only\u00a0fit persons to lead the Senate.\u00a0 Two\u00a0months later, Saraki ambushed his colleagues and his Party and the rest is\u00a0now\u00a0on-going history.<\/p>\n
The common\u00a0thread here is these were Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) boys who later\u00a0became\u00a0new-PDP men before their latest incarnation as All Progressives Congress\u00a0(APC)\u00a0honchos.<\/p>\n
And so about a\u00a0week ago, playing true to type, Amaechi showed up at the National Assembly in\u00a0his splendid attire with a couple of bus-load of supporters holding aloft\u00a0those\u00a0same garish posters, screaming, and whipping themselves into near\u00a0delirium.\u00a0 It was a quintessential PDP style turn\u00a0out.\u00a0 In fact, I was expecting Goodluck Jonathan to\u00a0emerge from the crowd with his young Transformators.\u00a0 But all I thought\u00a0was, oh, is this not what we\u00a0are trying to get away from?<\/p>\n
The Senate had\u00a0since done the needful because…well…that is what they does.\u00a0 Rotimi\u00a0Amaechi is now an Honourable Minister\u00a0of the Federal Republic.\u00a0 Heck, Alhaji\u00a0Lai Mohammed is a Minister too.\u00a0 The\u00a0Senate confirms anyone who is put in front of them regardless of anything at\u00a0all.\u00a0 In fact, it appeared to me that the\u00a0challenge the Senators felt they faced was to ensure that not one hair on any\u00a0nominee\u2019s head was harmed.\u00a0 Also, the\u00a0disinterest exhibited by some of the Senators during the screening\u00a0sessions was\u00a0quite something else; some of their questions were worse.\u00a0 To add the\u00a0cherry on the farcical cake, when\u00a0the Senators managed to rouse themselves long enough to cry \u201cNay\u201d against a\u00a0particular nominee, Saraki bangs his short gavel and says \u201cthe Ayes have\u00a0it.\u201d\u00a0 In all honesty, we could have saved ourselves\u00a0all the trouble by simply allowing Buhari to straight up appointment his\u00a0Ministers and be done with it.<\/p>\n
But why must a\u00a0ministerial nominee go the route Rotimi Amaechi went?\u00a0 Is it really that\u00a0important to be made a\u00a0Minister?\u00a0 Why invade the languid\u00a0premises of the National Assembly with Agberos and other hungry\u00a0miscreants?\u00a0 Why campaign to be made a Minister?\u00a0 Why do you need to print\u00a0posters and have
\nthem plastered all over town?\u00a0 You\u2019d have\u00a0to ask what the motivation of such a nominee truly is.<\/p>\n
I chuckle when I\u00a0hear a Nigerian say they have not, or they do not partake in bribery.\u00a0 I\u00a0laugh even harder when I hear a Nigerian\u00a0politician utter those words.\u00a0 Yeah, a\u00a0lot of us have not received or given bribes directly through our own\u00a0hands, but\u00a0that does not mean we are not corrupt.\u00a0We all certainly facilitate and benefit from corruption one way or the\u00a0other in this country, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 How\u00a0many of us pay or want to pay the correct tax?\u00a0The folks down at the Tax Office don\u2019t even want you to do so because if\u00a0you do, they won\u2019t make their money.<\/p>\n
When you shell\u00a0out a large portion of your personal and\/or State\u2019s endowment for a political\u00a0cause and then move very determinedly and gracelessly to benefit from that\u00a0same\u00a0cause; is that bribery?<\/p>\n
Posters are not\u00a0cheap.\u00a0 Renting large crowds is not cheap\u00a0either.\u00a0 In fact, nothing is cheap in Abuja.\u00a0 A job seeker who goes to all\u00a0that trouble,\u00a0who goes to damn near the end of the earth to secure a particular
\nappointment should\u00a0worry all of us.\u00a0 Beside leaving a bad\u00a0taste in the mouth and reminding us of the hardly Halcyon days of the PDP, it\u00a0smacks of too much desperation.<\/p>\n
What is in it\u00a0for Amaechi?\u00a0 Is it all about power and\u00a0prestige, or just to save face?\u00a0 I don\u2019t\u00a0want to be tacky but it is not a huge leap to imagine that such a desperate\u00a0nominee might even have attempted to \u2018reach\u2019 some Senators to secure\u00a0confirmation. Besides, what should be said for a Party or administration that\u00a0puts up such a nominee?\u00a0 And if this is\u00a0how we get ministerial appointments in Nigeria then it is no change at all.<\/p>\n
Who is next and\u00a0what is next?\u00a0 The whole thing became a\u00a0humdrum, an unsophisticated farce.\u00a0Having watched a few of those ministerial screenings on TV, in my view,\u00a0the real losers are Saraki and the Nigerian Senate.<\/p>\n