Edwin Clark, Goodluck Jonathan, And A Cautionary Tale For President Buhari

Editor’s note: It is obvious that the people Muhammadu Buhari is surrounding himself with are going to shape his next four years in the presidential seat. Joachim MacEbong, the Naij.com columnist, talks of the need for President Buhari to serve as a mediator between those in the corridors of power, and not as a pendulum swinging to favour certain groups and individuals.

Top, from left to right: the immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan and the incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari; bottom, from left to right: Edwin Clark, Reuben Abati

The transience of power

Since leaving office on May 29, twice has Reuben Abati had cause to contribute to public discourse. Both times, it concerned the realities of life after power.

The first was about his personal experience, describing how his phones, which used to ring endlessly, fell silent after the elections. The second one was about Edwin Clark’s exit from the PDP to be a “statesman” while lauding Buhari’s anti-corruption efforts, a development which the former chairman of the Guardian’s editorial board says was shocking.

There is nothing shocking about Clark’s volte-face. In a country like Nigeria, where government remains the biggest game in town, both articles paint the obvious reality of the transience of power. Like Piers Morgan’s Twitter bio aptly states: “One day you’re the cock of the walk, the next a feather duster”.

Despite this, or maybe even because of it, the government is seen as a bazaar by many, an avenue for personal enrichment, or the request for favours from friends and family who have such connections. The prospect of being cut off from that source of sustenance fills those who enjoy the benefits of being close to power with dread, and a change of alliances is swift in the event of a reversal of fortunes.

Last man standing?

With people like Obasanjo, Edwin Clark and many others who are seeking redemption and continued relevance by distancing themselves from the PDP and Jonathan, Abati appears set to seek his own redemption by calling out their hypocrisy and mounting a vociferous defence of his former boss. Among the ten “cleansed,” as it were, by their proximity to power, he is the one who has returned. At least that is the way it looks right now.

The former chairman of the Guardian’s editorial board will find himself increasingly alone in this role in the months to come. With Obasanjo and Clark walking out the PDP door and slamming it behind them, others are sure to follow as the reality of isolation bites harder and harder. In a political space devoid of much by way of principle, it was ever thus. To expect it to change anytime soon is an exercise in futility.

Avoiding sycophants

As a result, Abati’s writings after leaving the corridors of power offer a very timely reminder of certain realities which the current administration will do well to heed. Even now, there are many jostling for relevance. Some have been on the Buhari train long before it was ever obvious he would be president. Some others are of the more recent variety, but make no mistake, nearly all are there for what they can gain.

It is instructive to compare what Edwin Clark said in public about Jonathan while he was president to what he now says merely six months after Attahiru Jega declared Buhari the winner of the elections. Back in the “good old days,” his access to Goodluck Jonathan was unfettered. He came in and walked out of the villa with the swagger of one who owned the place. Regarding what he did with that access, your guess is as good as mine, but his public statements reinforced opinion that Jonathan had become a sectional president, hijacked by ethnic warriors. These warriors poured scorn on any critics of the administration and isolated it from all those who genuinely wanted it to succeed.

President Buhari will do very well to avoid such a fate. It is very much in his interest to have proxies and aides who refrain from being unnecessarily combative in their external statements, and who will tell him the truth in private. It is one of the hallmarks of high political office that its occupants are quickly surrounded by those who wrap them in a reality distortion field, hailing their every move, even when the world is collapsing around them. While in this bubble, they move around, deaf to the voices of those who voted them into office, and frittering away their goodwill. There are several recent pictures of Buhari reading a newspaper or watching television. It is a habit he must continue. He must continue to be actively engaged with the mood of the public. Isolation is dangerous.

Isolation from the citizens who placed their faith in him comes hand in hand with proximity to sycophants and jobbers who will seek to tell him what he wants to hear. He must resist them at all costs. Men like Edwin Clark and others who will turn on Jonathan in due course are all seeking to “align with the center” in much the same way a virus seeks a new host after the current one is no longer viable. Avoiding them is probably the first step to leaving a legacy that will endure long after the circus has moved on.

Legacy is all that matters

In his inaugural address, Buhari said he belongs to everybody and to nobody, a statement that shows he recognises the imperative of being the president to all of Nigeria, not just who have stuck by him through thick and thin. This mindset will be critical in giving all Nigerians the hope of somehow creating a state that works for all, not just the few.

There will be battles to fight in the coming months, many of which have been kicked down the road by those before him because they were too hard, or due to the paucity of thought and execution that went into them. He will not be able to win every battle, but he must win some of them. He will not be able to do that if he is unable to grasp economic realities and go against some of his natural inclinations.

He will almost certainly come up against his avowed supporters as well. Some of these people still profit from the status quo, one which has to be dismantled if Nigeria is to make progress. They and their proxies will bleat like goats whose yams are about to be taken away. In those times, soon to come, these words in Abati’s latest article should be framed and hung in the presidential villa:

“However, the greatest defender of our work in office is not our ethnic ‘fathers’ and ‘brothers’ but rather our legacy”.

President Buhari must never forget this.

Joachim MacEbong for Naijcom

Joachim MacEbong is a communications professional and political analyst.

This article expresses the author’s opinion only. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Naij.com or its editors.

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