That President Goodluck Jonathan lost
the March 28 presidential election is no longer news. Although he has
been in the saddle for about six years, he has not been leading the
country alone. By virtue of being very close to the President, there are
men and women who have been wielding huge influence on his Presidency.
It is therefore no gainsaying that
Jonathan did not lose this election alone. These people calling the
shots from their various comfort zones are also losers in their own
right. Who are these President’s men and women?
Mrs. Patience Jonathan
Mrs. Patience Jonathan is the wife of
the President. Like wives of Presidents before her, she runs the Office
of the First Lady with glamour despite the fact that the office is not
recognised in the nation’s constitution. So powerful is the woman who
prefers to be called Mama Peace that she was also elected the President
of the African First Ladies Mission, a body of wives of Presidents
across the continent. She also founded a non-governmental organisation,
Women for Change, which has the mandate of empowering women nationwide.
The influence she wields cannot be
measured. Her hands seem to be on everything. She is believed to be the
unseen hand behind the travail of a former Bayelsa State Governor,
Timipre Sylva, which denied him a second term ticket. The former
governor was made uncomfortable in the Peoples Democratic Party until he
left to join the All Progressives congress.
They replaced Sylva with Governor
Seriake Dickson. The current governor tried hard to please the
President’s wife to the extent that she was made a Permanent Secretary
in the state. The honeymoon, however, did not last. Dickson also ran
into troubled water with the woman who is said to have pencilled down
the Special Assistant to the President on Domestic Matters, Dr.
Wariponmowei Dudafa, as the next governor. She has since resigned her
appointment from the state job.
It is also a known fact the problem
between the President and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State which
forced the governor out of the PDP started with a disagreement he had
with Mrs. Jonathan over the demolition of some houses in Okrika, the
ancestral home of the President’s wife.
To get something in this government, you
must be in the good books of Mrs. Jonathan. That is why government
officials and their spouses bow and tremble before her.
Senator Pius Anyim
Okonjo-Iweala, Anyim
Anyim is the Secretary to the Government
of the Federation. By virtue of his position, he is a big man (not
about his stature) in the cabinet. He coordinates the activities of
ministers.
Because of his closeness to the
President, the former President of the Senate wields huge influence. He
was accused of providing cover for the former Minister of Aviation, Mrs.
Stella Oduah, when she was facing fire over the two bulletproof BMW
cars bought for her. To avoid journalists, Oduah was on many occasions
driven out of the Presidential Villa after weekly Federal Executive
Council meetings in Anyim’s official car.
He is also alleged to have a hand in the
crisis rocking the state chapter of the PDP in his home state, Ebonyi.
The state governor, Martin Elechi, had claimed that Anyim was the brain
behind the impeachment process initiated against him by some members of
the state House of Assembly.
His camp was accused of foisting the
state Deputy Governor, Dave Umahi, on the people as the PDP governorship
candidate in the April 11 governorship election at a time when Elechi
was rooting for a former Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu. The
situation has forced many PDP stakeholders in the state to be working
for the Labour Party.
Diezani Alison-Madueke
Alison-Madueke is the Minister of
Petroleum Resources. To say that she is one of the most influential
ministers in Jonathan’s cabinet is an understatement. She is very
powerful. She is one of the few ministers who are driven straight into
the forecourt of the President’s office through the Service Chiefs’
Gate. Others always walk a distance of about 300metres from where their
official cars are parked to the President’s office.
The minister was recently elected the
first female President of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting
Countries. Three weeks after, she was also appointed the first female
President of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.
So powerful is she that she dragged the
House of Representatives to court to stop the House from probing her for
allegedly spending N10bn on the charter and maintenance of a jet for
unofficial purposes. The Presidency remained quiet over the issue.
Alison-Madueke is no doubt a super minister in Jonathan’s cabinet.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Okonjo-Iweala is the Minister of
Finance. Jonathan elevated her slightly below the Vice-President when he
named her the Coordinating Minister for the Economy.
During a typical FEC meeting, ministers
mill around the woman because of the kind of influence she wields in the
cabinet. They consult her before presenting any memo to the council
since they would need money to finance them.
Many Nigerians call Okonjo-Iweala the nation’s de facto Prime Minister.
Governor Godswill Akpabio
Akpabio is the Akwa Ibom State Governor.
He is also the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum. Without any fear
of contradiction, he can be said to be the closest governor to the
President.
The governor supports Jonathan to a
fault. The PDP Governors’ Forum that he chairs was formed to solely drum
support for Jonathan in the face of continued friction between the
Presidency and the Rotimi Amaechi-led Nigeria Governors’ Forum.
He is also one of the governors who
formed the parallel NGF being led by Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau
State. In supporting Jonathan vehemently, however, Akpabio had
unknowingly been enlisting more enemies for the President.
Chief Edwin Clark
Clark is not a government official but
he wields the influence that is more than what a government official can
do. He sees and carries himself like the President’s father.
The residence of the First Republic
Minister of Information is like Mecca. Those in search of government
jobs or contracts visit him regularly while government officials who
want to remain in the President’s good book also lay siege to Clark’s
house.
He is one of those who held the belief that Jonathan must be re-elected or we should all forget about what is called Nigeria.
Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu
Mu’azu is the National Chairman of the
PDP. Popularly called “the game changer,” Muazu took over the office
when the PDP governors moved against the then chairman, Alhaji Bamanga
Tukur.
By virtue of that position, the former
governor of Bauchi State is very influential in and outside the
government. He has inputs in many of government’s decisions.
With his party losing control of the
Federal Government as well as its waning popularity in Bauchi, Mu’azu
may be idle politically for the next four years.
Tompolo
For former Niger Delta militant,
Government Ekpemupolo, otherwise known as Tompolo, power will not remain
the same after May 29 when Buhari takes over government.
In 2009, he was declared the most wanted
man in Nigeria by the Joint Task Force for allegedly killing 11
soldiers but his story has since changed following the amnesty he
received from President Umaru Yar’Adua and his closeness to Jonathan.
So powerful is the ex-militant that not
only did he ensure that his younger brother was made a local government
chairman in Delta State, he reportedly nominated the current
Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety
Agency, Ziadeke Akpobolokemi.
NIMASA awarded a N15bn contract to
Global West Vessel Specialist Limited, a firm widely believed to be
owned by Tompolo, to supply 20 vessels for the use of the nation’s
military authorities to secure the waterways.
So powerful he is that he even stopped
the President from going to Delta State to inaugurate the Export
Processing Zone following a misunderstanding with Itsekiri leaders. He
reportedly influenced Jonathan to sack a Minister of Transport, Yusuf
Suleiman, following a disagreement.
With Jonathan’s imminent exit from Aso Rock, Tompolo’s influence will definitely decline.
Senator David Mark
Although he has made history by becoming
the first senator to win a fifth term, Mark’s influence will wane in
the 8th National Assembly.
Mark, who is also the nation’s longest
serving Senate president, cannot retain his seat since the All
Progressives Congress now controls the Upper Chamber of the National
Assembly. At best, Mark can be made the minority leader.
Mark made life easy for Jonathan
throughout the President’s tenure and defended the President even to a
fault. He came under fire recently when he reportedly manipulated the
screening process that ensured Senator Musiliu Obanikoro − who was
accused of rigging the Ekiti State governorship election − was confirmed
a minister.
Besides getting Obanikoro confirmed, Mark has never blocked any of Jonathan’s ministerial nominations.
Last year, he convinced his colleagues
not to pass a vote of no confidence in Jonathan over the President’s
failure to curb insecurity. In November last year, he foiled a move by
some senators to impeach Jonathan.
In return, Jonathan gave him several benefits including the nomination of some ministers in his cabinet.
Jonathan’s defeat and the waning power of the PDP in the senate has certainly relegated Mark to the background.
Chief Tony Anenih
Anenih is the Chairman of the Board of
Trustees of the PDP. He took over from former President Olusegun
Obasanjo who resigned from office because of some anomalies he noticed
in the running of the party.
The former Minister of Works who hails
from the South-South, the same geopolitical zone with the President, has
never hidden his support for Jonathan.
Long ago, it was Anenih who first said
it publicly that the President should be given an offer of first refusal
as far as the party’s presidential candidacy is concerned.
He wields no small influence in the Presidency.
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