In the on-going serial that is the President Umaru Yar’Adua health hiatus, the nation’s political

Victor Ogene

class is increasingly adorning the toga of Roman plebians, who switch loyalty and stand on every emerging issue, with about the same disgusting regularity as a prostitute changes male partners. Four weeks ago, after about 80 days of Mr. President’s absence from the country, backed by official stalling, Information and Communications Minister, Professor Dora Akunyili, had in a move which depicted her male colleagues as spineless, made public a memo which sought to end the anxiety caused by the unfortunate situation, by goading the Federal Executive Council (FEC), into taking steps to anoint Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President.
Although a few persons, particularly erstwhile Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa (SAN), had chastised Akunyili for “playing to the gallery” and seeking “cheap publicity” over the issue, the majority of Nigerian people: elder statesmen, governors, National and state legislators, and the public sided with Akunyili, praising her for speaking up when she did, even if belatedly.
To say, in fact, that Akunyili became the heroine of the several efforts aimed at finding a political solution to the impasse would only be stating the obvious; except that the star status is being quickly deconstructed and in its place the portrait of a villain and or a loose canon.
As it has turned out, those who had dismissed the president’s return–yet unfit as he is–as a political miscalculation may soon find out that they spoke up too early. For, apart from staving off imminent moves to permanently shut him out of the Presidency, the Yar’Adua return has re-energised his fast–fading clout and imbued his loyalists with renewed vigour to sustain his presidency.
Not totally unexpected, the prime target of the rejuvenated Yar’Adua camp is the Amazon herself, Akunyili, who in an interview which she granted three newspapers and published in their editions of February 28, 2010, denounced the diet of lies which the public had been fed since the sad episode began.
For a Minister who is supposed to be bound by the collective responsibility code, Akunyili’s strident salvos have come under the scathing criticism of those who applauded her at the beginning, governors and legislators inclusive–in the tradition of the Roman plebians.
“Tackling the Amazon,” our cover story for this week’s edition is written by Igho Akeregha, head of our Newsroom, who is yet to fully overcome the emotional trauma arising from the death of his father.