Back in the day when I was an undergraduate, the lecture room would buzz with students gathering for some last-minute study at night, especially on the eve of a tough exam or the deadline for the submission of a complicated assignment which we had sufficient time to complete. But most of us, battling procrastination, often waited until the eleventh hour.
Like students, many people suffer from that same disposition to delay tasks until the final moments. Personally, I am yet to understand why humans are like that.
President Bola Tinubu, despite his intellectual assets, is not immune to this human trait.
Last week, as the 60-day deadline approached for the President to unveil his ministerial nominees, the Aso Rock Villa, particularly the President’s visitors’ lounge, felt eerily quiet.
He had until Friday, July 28, in line with section 42(a) of the Constitution, which states that “the President must submit the list within 60 days of taking the oath of office.” Though he managed to beat the deadline by 24 hours, it wasn’t without heightened anxiety and challenges.
During this period, he reportedly requested two days without visitors, except for select high-profile individuals such as his Beninoise President, Patrice Talon. The other meetings were part of the consultation process to finalise his list.
Sources revealed that drafting the list was no easy task for the President. While most of the nominations were settled, some “stubborn” states gave him challenges due to the candidates involved.
Before his inauguration, Tinubu’s team gave Nigerians the impression that he had a ready-to-go cabinet, assembled well before assuming office. There were reasons to believe he had meticulously drafted it long before his administration began.
However, the reality of the office may have introduced him to countless blind spots – challenges one only encounters upon assuming the role of the President of a diverse country like Nigeria.
Like they say, you see differently when you are on the driver’s seat.
Perhaps, he soon realised this is not Lagos, where, as governor years ago, he could pick commissioners with a snap of his fingers. Several laws, interests and considerations bind your decisions at the national level.
The President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, affirmed the meticulousness involved when he said “The President took his time. Spent a lot of time going through (the list), did a lot of due diligence, going through the nominees one by one…But I really hope that we haven’t missed anything that would have necessitated any name not being on that list…the remainder of names, not sure how many probably about 12, maybe 13, will be forwarded to the Senate in the coming days.”
With 28 nominees set to face the Senate tomorrow (Monday), a sense of relief washes over Tinubu and his team in the interim. However, Nigerians remain eagerly poised for the unveiling of the remaining nominees in the coming days.
Meanwhile, many state governors also struggled to meet the deadline, despite having two months to do so. On Friday, which was a day to the Saturday deadline, no fewer than six of them hurriedly forwarded their commissioner-nominees to their Houses of Assembly for screening.
Clearly, the task before the President to pick a solid team is not over yet. In the remaining nine states that have yet to have nominees, reports indicated that serious lobbying is ongoing, which could even complicate matters for him.
But, like he said during the May 28 inauguration dinner and gala night, “…don’t pity me, I asked for the job. I campaigned for it. No excuses.”
In the opening chapter of his book, Mastery, New York Times Bestselling author, Robert Green, worded it this way, “There exists a form of power and intelligence that represents the high point of human potential. It is an intelligence that is not taught in our schools nor analysed by professors, but almost all of us, at some point, have had glimpses of it in our own experience.
“It often comes to us in a period of tension – facing a deadline, the urgent need to solve a problem, or a crisis of sorts. Pressed by circumstances, we feel unusually energised and focused. At these moments…we become more inspired and creative. Once the deadline has passed or the crisis is over, this feeling of power and heightened creativity generally fades away.”
When your neighbour’s house catches fire
As Tinubu grappled with rising tension nationwide over the economic situation while racing to meet the deadline to announce his wise men, the Nigerien military complicated matters by seizing power, displacing President Mohamed Bazoum.
This presents a challenging start for Tinubu, who on July 10 assumed the position of the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States. Thus, he can’t look away.
As if he knew another coup was looming, Tinubu in his remarks after his emergence as the chairman in Guinea-Bissau, said, “We didn’t give our soldiers resources, we didn’t invest in them, in their boots, in their training to violate the freedom of the people; To turn their guns against civil authorities is a violation of the principles upon which they were hired…to defend the sovereignty of their nations.”
However, it seems the Nigerien commanders were listening to him, nodding their heads, thinking, “He can’t be talking to us.”
African states seem to be adopting a terrible habit from one another regarding coups.
Think with me. Bazoum is the latest target of five coups or coup attempts to topple a West African Head of State within just three years. Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau are clear examples, while Niger has also faced its fifth coup amidst numerous coup attempts since gaining independence in 1960.
Shockingly, there have been 49 coup d’états and coup attempts on African administrations and regimes since 2010.
Hoping that the Niger coup would fail like others before it, my optimism waned when Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane announced to his countrymen that “the defence and security forces…have decided to put an end to the regime you are familiar with”.
From Mali’s Assimi Goïta to Niger’s Abdramane, African militaries appear to be learning how to sink democracies, much like killer whales in Europe are learning to sink boats.
As Tinubu said in Kenya, “This ugly trend has only succeeded in threatening the peace, security and stability of the African continent…We, therefore, must take deliberate steps to address the root causes of coups d’état in Africa.”
Talking about root causes and without justifying the barbaric act, first, African leaders must govern responsibly and avoid overstaying their welcome in power. They should follow their acumen to recognise when political tides have changed and gracefully bow out, refraining from forcing themselves on their people.
Second, they must strengthen the institutions in a way that makes it near-impossible for anyone to pocket the legislature, intimidate the judiciary and tinker with the Constitution to ensure a lifetime ticket to power. That would be a monarchy disguised as a democracy.
Coups do not happen spontaneously; they are the culmination of numerous political missteps and socioeconomic miscalculations by leaders. Early warning signs are often present, making it essential for African leaders to engage in open and honest dialogue through mechanisms like the African Peer Review Mechanism. This way, leaders can tell one another the bitter truth before it’s too late.
To address the challenge, the President would be hosting an ECOWAS special meeting in Abuja today. Wish them well!
Why is the DSS investigating itself?
As Tinubu juggles the weight of assembling his cabinet and addressing the turmoil in neighbouring Niger Republic, he remains conspicuously silent on the conflict between the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Correctional Service over the custody of former Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
Last Tuesday, Emefiele appeared at the Federal High Court Ikoyi, Lagos, clutching a big King James Bible. Some see this as a reflection of how “persecution” draws certain individuals closer to their faith. Not to imply that Emefiele lacks devotion to God on ordinary days, but his open display of faith hints at heightened devotion amidst the current “trials and tribulations.”
Who knows? Perhaps, the God of Emefiele is fighting his battles, pitching “his enemies” against each other as they wrestle to keep a man the law had granted bail. The court also rejected requests by the DSS to detain him for an additional 14 days.
Amidst these developments, the DSS’s decision to investigate itself over the incident in court has sparked many questions. Does the service have the moral standing to conduct a credible investigation into its own actions?
The President cannot but be interested in this because it has to do with the respect for rule of law, which he pledged to uphold; he’s the commander-in-chief and the buck stops with him; the DSS DG, Yusuf Bichi, reports to him; and lastly he’s the President, the Jagaban.
