“There are no true friends in politics. We are all sharks circling, and waiting, for traces of blood to appear in the water.” — Alan Clark
The President’s men in this discourse were not among his original close allies. They just found common grounds in their mode of politics … grab power at all costs and run with it. These President’s men, all AGIP “any government in power” politicians, jumped into the Tinubu (friend)ship along the line. They have the devious ingenuities to warm their way to the power corridors. These “friends” are the proverbial goats that follow the carrier of the palm fronds. They can’t imagine living outside the power corridors. They qualify as frienemies because they are both collaborators and competitors.
To them, the game is to remain in or around the power circuit by all means. They are all adherents of the postulations of Prince Niccolo Machiavelli…sly, deceptive, distrusting, and manipulative, and they believe in all his intrigues. They also imbibe the doctrine of the modern Machiavellian, Robert Greene, as contained in the 48 Laws of Power, the way a Catholic nun would imbibe the gospel. Who are these men in the political life of Bola Ahmed Tinubu today?
One is the Senate President and former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio. Others are the former Governor of Rivers State and Minister-designate of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike; former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai, and the Niger Delta militant, Asari Dokubo.
When Tinubu was desperate for power and preparing to grab it and run with it as he said at a London restaurant, he needed like-minded people. He didn’t mind a liaison with them, even though he knew how dangerous they could be. He tapped their cleverness. The Jagaban knows them so well that he enjoys a lot of their similarities.
Rather than keep them out of his compact core, it was better and more strategic to bring them in for use but with a strong caveat. These gladiators get political positions more by their negative prowess than merit.
Having successfully deployed them to access the Aso Rock Villa, even if dubiously, the next stage is to manage their nuisance. They are now in the system more like a bull in a crowded chinaware shop. If you try to force it out, it brings down the items on the shelf. To avoid colossal damage, one has to lure it out of the shop. That is where Tinubu and his henchmen are now brainstorming how to manage these four toxic allies they picked up on their way to the Aso Rock.
They have tactfully disengaged El Rufai, but remain stuck with the other three, Senator Akpabio, Minister Wike, and the bellicose militiaman Dokubo. What will make Sen. Akpabio and militant Dokubo share space in political discourse? By their backgrounds, they are strange bedfellows. One is a politician; the other is a militant.
The only things binding them are their hailing from the South-South geopolitical zone and strong allies of Tinubu, at least for now. The other common attribute is their dramatic style of showing support and loyalty to the Tinubu project. Political watchers are even apprehensive their zeal might work against the President if they continue the way they are going. We grew up to understand that too much of everything is bad, but not with Akpabio or Dokubo. How does the world know they are loyal if they fail to showcase it? Meaning well is one thing, but how you convey what you mean is another.
Akpabio and Dokubo’s excitement about their new roles has been a source of worry for concerned citizens. Asari’s Aso Rock Villa visit and photo show with the President has turned his head like a chicken fed with local gin. Akpabio’s excitement has led him into taking many faulty steps, if he is not mocking the poor who voted him to the office, he would be flaunting the largesse of the office before the hungry and dimensionally poor voters unconcerned about the hardship going on in the larger society. His demonstration of loyalty to Tinubu is worrisome and democracy watchers fear it might kill the separation of powers.
Legislative watchers had thought that Senator Ahmad Lawan’s 9th Senate was going to be the worst in the rubber-stamp executive/legislature relations. But with what Nigerians have seen in less than two months of the 10th Senate under Akpabio, Lawan’s executive worship will be far more dignifying than what is coming with the uncommon man in charge. Should we be surprised, everything about Akpabio is uncommon, meaning that going forward, Nigerians are going to witness unusual, out of the way, legislative sycophancy in the name of maintaining good working relations with the executive or party loyalty.
This type of legislative surrender will expose the country to the fears aptly expressed by French philosopher Montesquieu: “When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.”
Asari Dokubo’s quasi-army is already competing with the Nigerian military. The military authorities have been struggling to separate themselves from him but the discerning public knows that a private army cannot just rise like that without some backing from the government. He threatens governors and any perceived anti-Tinubu elements in a way no federal agency can do. While Nigerians are dilly-dallying over the use of force in tackling the Niger Republic impasse, Dokubo assures his men will go and crush the Niger military. He comes to Abuja to lead street protests unrestrained.
Security experts agree that where Dokubo and his group are headed is dangerous for national security. But who cares? Concerned authorities are looking away possibly because of the dubious agenda that lies ahead for his implementation.
Then comes the most political nuisance of the era, Nyesom Wike. He collapsed his party structure for another party just to get accommodated inside the APC. He wears the garb of a Southern champion but remembered the South only after he lost the VP ticket to Ifeanyi Okowa. His struggle for the South would have had to wait if he was picked by Atiku Abubakar.
Today, he is not just a Minister in reward for his February 25 abracadabra in Rivers State and for helping to disorient PDP and its flagbearer Atiku Abubakar through his notorious G5 Governors group. But he is pushing his way dangerously into the kitchen cabinet of Tinubu. Many Tinubu men see this as discomforting but are being careful because of their fragile standing as they may need him for further electioneering that looks certain to come.
They need him to continue the checkmating of the main opposition PDP that needs to remain staccato to give breathing space to the ruling APC, the way one Lamidi Apapa is struggling to do in the Labour Party but is being overwhelmed by the weight of the Obidient Movement. But with the treasury of Rivers State still available to Wike, APC must be careful in handling him. Otherwise, the party will regret the romance the way PDP is still gnashing its teeth for accepting Wike’s Greek gifts.
Perhaps, the only person the Tinubu cabal has quickly found a way out is the most disingenuous and perfidious political character of this dispensation, Nasir El Rufai. After they had utilized his scheming to get power, they gave him the same guileful dose he gives to others to put him away. The ex-Governor had helped Tinubu to mobilize Northern Governors during the Presidential ticket contest and fought Muhammadu Buhari and the CBN to a standstill on the currency redesign but got nothing eventually.
El Rufai missed the VP slot after he fought for a same-faith ticket in the hope it would come to him, missed the SGF and President’s Chief of Staff, and was hoping for the Minister of Power portfolio, but was zeroed out in a most humiliating manner, failing the screening test of the Senate. Do not mind his face-saving gimmick of withdrawing from screening; he was rejected.
As bad and embarrassing as El Rufai’s case is, he is not enjoying any sympathy from the public because of his apparent ethnic and religious bigotry that has put him as a threat to national security and harmonious living. Also, he has a known history of betrayal, from Atiku Abubakar, who brought him into the national limelight to Olusegun Obasanjo to Umaru Yar Adua, and later Buhari. By easing him out, Tinubu has saved himself from his treachery.
So, in perspective, Tinubu and his team may have adequately used and are still deploying these delicate friends, but managing them remains a challenge. Stealing the village drum is not the problem, but where to blow it is an issue. For political brigandage, the only way Tinubu can remain in power means that these men are still useful as discarding them has an accompanying political risk.
Nigerians are not oblivious that there is always a jaundiced reason why birds of the same plumage flock together, especially in politics. There is always a common denominator, which in this case is the manipulation of the electoral process.
The person who steals a child’s toy should be ready for long inconveniences from him. We are aware of engineered distrust to make us less able to unite against our oppressors, but no matter how long it takes, a new Nigeria is possible and ‘Obikerereke’ will be sung. After all, history is replete with people who can do anything to remain in power.
Ivan the Terrible and Stalin, two brutal leaders of Russia who walked this planet, were willing to crush and kill their people, to do anything necessary to consolidate their power, but where are they now? Gen Sani Abacha cleared everything on his way to consolidate power, but he left, and power remained for another inheritor. Those with ears let them hear. God help us.