Pendulum : Ahmed Lawan is Already My Man of the Year By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, it is with so much pride and joy that I wish
to choose my Man of the Year, midway to the end of 2019. God’s ways
are indeed mysterious. I was a bit uncomfortable and perturbed when
the ruling party, APC, was fighting tooth and nail to install
Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan as President of the Senate and Hakeem
Femi Gbajabiamila as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The reason for my reservations and concern was not farfetched. I
had imagined that the only reason was that, as has been typical of
the highly touchy and sensitive APC apparatchiks, they must have
identified Lawan as a robot they believe would do whatever he’s
asked to do by the Executive, no matter how preposterous the
assignment may be. It was my belief at the time, the vitriol with
which the race was being pursued by the Party hierarchy could only
lend credence to the pervading public perception that the Party and
the Government wanted to foist a pliable and malleable leadership
on the National Assembly. This was particularly the case when the
candidates themselves seemed to be maintaining a level of decorum
and sense of fairness which the party top-notch seemed to be
lacking.

Anyway. Lawan has won the contest by a handsome margin and he is
now comfortably ensconced as the head of the Red Chamber of the
National Assembly and, as a result, the head of the Federal
Legislature. Congratulations to the President of the Senate, Ahmed
Lawan, and our dear friend, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, who emerged as
Speaker, Federal House of Representatives, also with an even
healthier margin. It is noteworthy that their respective victories
obviously transcended party lines and that the duo are quite
popular amongst their colleagues as the applause and happy buzzing
atmosphere that erupted after their elections demonstrates. I pray
they both individually and jointly act in the overall interests of
Nigeria and Nigerians. I’m of the opinion that their loyalty and
allegiance should be to the country, in accordance with the
hallowed and solemn oaths that they both took after their
elections, and not to any individual or collective of individuals.
May God grant them the requisite wisdom and courage to foster
peace, fairness and unity at all times in all that they do.

I will not trouble you with a rehash of the antecedents of the
new Senate President, Senator Lawan. Much of that information is
now readily available. Such is the allure of power, that one can go
from relative obscurity to instant fame and stardom. It is
pertinent to however note some features of Senator Lawan which I
believe has not only catapulted him into the elevated position that
he now occupies, but also offers a glimpse as to his personality
and what the future may hold for this man who seems destined for
greatness. Lawan is a geographer and former university academic who
holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of Cranfield, in England,
United Kingdom. His Bachelors and Master’s degrees came from the
University of Maiduguri and the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria,
respectively. It is clear that Senator Lawan is a very educated man
who has the opportunity of international exposure in his
educational formative years. I am partial to academics because I
grew up amongst them and I know the expansiveness of their thoughts
and views. Clearly, Senator Lawan is a man of this ilk and the
views he espouses and his purposive embracing of all-comers in the
political and social spectrum shows learning and a cultured
background. It accounts for why he is able to reach out to
everybody and his willingness to work with all shades of opinion as
long as he believes it is the best for Nigeria. Lawan’s
accomplishment as both Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee
whilst in opposition and the Appropriations Committee in 2015 shows
that he is a man his colleagues believe has integrity and
accountability. The margin of his victory despite the shenanigans
that accompanied the Senate Presidency elections, and the seeming
uncertainty before that, typifies a man who is very well respected
by his colleagues and seen as a unifying factor. Watching from the
distance, I also see Lawan as a man of cool mien and demeanour.

What Nigeria desperately needs today is that unification process
which all Nigerians are now stridently and strickenly crying for as
they are ravaged and savaged by all manner of disuniting and
separatist talk and actions. Nigerians certainly do not need or
want the endless wars of attrition being fought by President
Muhammadu Buhari and, in particular, his vengeful and neurotic
cronies, allies, and foot soldiers who derive so much pleasure in
seeking and drawing their pints of blood from real or imagined
enemies. Unknown to them, it is not all wars that must be fought
because the nation is bigger than them all. However, they
studiously ignore this point and only seem to see the here and now.
They forget the transience and evanescence of power and the
ephemeral and fugacious nature of the intoxicating elixir that
excessive and abusive power brews. They regularly flex their
muscles and try to bully submissive and already wounded Nigerians
into giving in to their bizarre ways.

One of their recent acts of truculence and obnoxiousness arose
from an innocuous appointment made by the new Senate President,
Mohammed Lawan. And what was the cause of their irritation and
irritability? Lawan, in his uncommon wisdom had chosen to embrace
meritocracy, competence and capacity by appointing as an aide,
Festus Adedayo, a highly cerebral writer and journalist, and a
Lawyer in the making, who was to be his Special Adviser on Media
and Publicity. The way the APC trolls responded was unbelievably
shocking and irrationally jejune. They pressurised Lawan so much
that he had to quickly drop Festus like a hot and scorching
charcoal. They unleashed a blistering campaign of calumny and
obloquy against a man they claimed had committed heresy by
criticizing their demi-god, President Muhammadu Buhari. Oh my God!
How, they asserted, could Lawan have committed such a huge blunder
and colossal faux pas by appointing such an infamous person to
enjoy the spoils of war that President Buhari had made possible for
all APC legislators by his own might and right?

Unfortunately, and sadly, these are the signs of the times. I
can almost bet my life that most of these APC folks who took to
venting their unrelenting anger against Festus Adedayo have never
read any of his articles which they seek to impugn. They only acted
on rumours and hearsay. Even if true that Festus is such an
irascible fellow who never saw any good in Buhari, was this not an
opportunity to win one of the critics over? Why could none of them
see that the fact that Lawan, who is expectedly a protégé of the
President had deemed it fit to appoint him would suggest that there
was some benefit and advantage to be derived from Senate President
and indirectly the APC and the government. Previous administrations
have brought in their most vociferous and harshest critics and
converted them to their attack dogs. Your worst critics often
become your greatest fanatic. So, in Buhari’s Nigeria, all critics
of Buhari have been summarily rejected, convicted and regarded as
persona non grata without any benefit of doubt or possible
rehabilitation. It is indeed a sad moment for Nigeria.

What the APC has inadvertently confirmed is that political
appointments are some form of gratification and reward for loyal
party men and women and not a call to service. As such, Festus
Adedayo was axed and hacked down because he was going to enjoy the
soup he did not help in cooking. What chicanery! If his main crime
was criticizing the President, I doubt if anyone has criticized
Buhari in more trenchant terms than his own irrepressible wife, Mrs
Aisha Buhari, a woman whose objectivity and boldness we all hail as
refreshing and commendable in a government that regards any form of
critique as an attack on its performance and perceived
successes.

What the President’s acolytes must realise is that critics are
not necessarily the enemies of governments. Critics, even those
that are acerbic, caustic and nasty can be like the mad man who
enjoys his lucid moments. In their venom one will always find
nuggets of golden truths that can illuminate and inspire the
government to aim to do even better. In any event, every Government
actually needs bold critics to help sharpen and reshape their
focus. Buhari will fail, spectacularly, if he continues to live
under the illusion of grandeur that he is infallible and beyond
reproach. In my view , it is those selfish sycophants, lackeys and
hangers-on that have contributed in the portrayal of the President
as a spiteful, bitter man who does not forget or forgive. Indeed, I
believe that people may have been taking advantage of his style of
leadership by delegation to feather their own nests at the
detriment of their principal’s reputation and goodwill.

I believe that President Buhari has just wasted what could
easily have been a major public relations stunt for his government
and party of gladiators and warmongers. Like I am doing now, many
people would have hailed not just Lawan, but the entire APC
executive and the President for allowing a vocal critic like Festus
Adedayo to join the team of the country’s number three citizen. The
danger I see is in the vainglorification of APC members and the
illusory belief that Buhari is the only saint and no one must ever
criticize him.

Nigeria can do much better than this. Our country needs loving
and caring leaders and not divisive elements, diversionists and
divisionists. If Nelson Mandela was a Nigerian, he would have
killed all his enemies when he came out of 27 years’ incarceration,
mainly in solitary confinement. But he chose the path of peace and
became the world’s greatest statesman. Why can’t my own people
borrow a leaf from such remarkable legacy.

Did our leaders not see or notice the peace the Republic of
Kenya currently enjoys after President Uhuru Kenyatta and his
arch-rival Raila Odinga embraced publicly and apologized to each
other. There is much to gain in true reconciliation, obviously.

Nigeria has been effectively taken over by demons who are
engaged in wanton destruction of lives and property. There is no
other reason for this than the dearth and death of love in our
climes. Nigeria is richly blessed with some of the smartest and
loving humans on earth. Yet, we have suddenly become so poor of
spirit and so suspicious of one another that the cankerworm of
disharmony, distrust and deceit has eaten deep into the fabric and
soul of our country.

Nigeria should go in search of anyone who can restore hope and
glory to our dear beloved nation. That is why Senator Lawan is such
a refreshing breath of fresh air that must be celebrated. I am
aware that the recent appointments of his personal aides not only
cut across party lines and the political divide, he also avoided
parochialism and shunned religious bigotry. He did not save plum
appointments for his kinsmen or fellow Moslems. He simply decided
to choose those he felt were competent even if he did not
personally know them. He worked on the basis of proven ability and
diligence and passion for Nigeria. It was his reason for choosing
Festus Adedayo. However, those who do not care about this nation,
but are egotistical and self-absorbed persons immediately rushed to
destroy what would have been an epoch momentous development.

Dividing Nigeria along political, ethnic and religious lines can
only deepen the mortal and fatal wounds we’ve sustained these past
few years. Someone needs to rise up stoutly and halt our supersonic
slide towards perdition. That someone is no other than President
Muhammadu Buhari, who needs to take a leaf from Senator Lawan’s
book and be more all-inclusive and all-embracing in appointments,
purge himself of sickening acolytes and their rabid viewpoints and
proceed to keep Nigeria united, peaceful and prosperous.

President Buhari can still live up to the expectations of those
who voted for change in 2015. He has one final opportunity. Indeed,
he has entered the last chance train. How he acquits himself this
time around may well determine whether Nigeria survives or not!