Opinion: Between Mr. Goodluck and Adamu Mu’azu, Mr. Game Changer

by Olalekan Adetayo

Names (and I dare to add, nicknames) have ways of having effects on those who bear them, either negatively or positively. We do not need to look far before getting appropriate examples.

President Goodluck Jonathan is a typical case study. A stroke of good luck catapulted him from being a university teacher to being a deputy governor, state governor, Vice President and President in that order in a space of a few years. Although, those who are more spiritually inclined will argue that God’s grace and intervention played a role, luck cannot be completely ruled out.

Many may not be aware that the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, is also a case study in this regard. I will explain.

Shortly after he took over from the party’s former chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, during a palace coup orchestrated by some PDP governors, things started looking brighter for the party. The situation led Jonathan to christen the former Bauchi State governor “the Game Changer.” Like a presidential fiat, the nickname quickly stuck to Mu’azu like a bee.

Throughout the party’s presidential rallies held across the country in preparation for the 2015 general elections, once the party chairman was introduced, the shouts of “Game Changer” would rent the air. He always acknowledged the cheers with broad smiles that spread through his lips while he waved to party loyalists.

The President and others who got used to calling Muazu this nickname did not know that it would have a negative effect on him. Under the Game Changer, the game indeed changed for the worst for a political party that once pride itself as the biggest in Africa. Under the watch of the Game Changer, the PDP lost a presidential election for the first time in its history. Under his watch, PDP lost its leadership role in the two chambers of the National Assembly to opposition, All Progressives Congress. Under him, the APC won almost all the governorship seats in the country, leaving PDP with a handful.

The good thing is that Muazu is not deceiving himself. He is aware of his game changing (though negative) ability. On Tuesday, he was at the Villa to confer with the President. Such visits are not in short supply.

While he was making his way to the President’s office, State House correspondents mobilised with a view to interviewing him. He is not always ready to answer questions when he visits the Villa, so the journalists devised a means. They started hailing him, “the Game Changer,” “the Chairman, sir.”

Mu’azu was aware that if he acknowledged the cheers and granted interview, the issue of his party’s woeful performance across the country would come up. He looked for a way out. He looked back at the journalists and said, “I am the chairman of a defeated party!” and walked briskly into the President’s office.

I guess the President will think twice in future if he wants to give somebody a nickname.

Shortest serving ministers ever

Prominent among those that will feel the pain of Jonathan’s loss of his re-election more are the eight ministers that were inaugurated on March 18. They will only be in the saddle for two months and a few days.

These ministers include Senator Patricia Akwashiki (Information); Prof. Nicholas Ada (State, Foreign Affairs I); Senator Musiliu Obanikoro (State, Foreign Affairs II); Col. Augustine Akobundu (retd.) (State, Defence); Mr. Fidelis Nwankwo (State, Health); Mrs. Hauwa Bappa (State, Niger Delta Affairs); Mr. Kenneth Kobani (State, Industry, Trade and Investment); and Senator Joel Ikenya (Labour and Productivity).

Obanikoro’s case is a bit different since this is his second coming in the life of this administration. He had earlier resigned to contest the governorship ticket of the PDP in Lagos State which he lost to Mr. Jimi Agbaje. He managed to play his cards well and struck a deal that he would be re-appointed as a condition for supporting Agbaje’s candidature.

For others, I don’t even know whether they have really settled down well in their various ministries because they were inaugurated at a time when preparation for the general elections had reached its peak. For instance, apart from the day of their inauguration, Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting was the first one they attended.

Like a prophet, Jonathan had told them at their inauguration that they came in during his administration’s “injury time” and urged them to work hard because all eyes would be on them.

“For the ministers, this is an injury time. It is like bringing a player in when you have just five minutes to go in a football match. So everyone wants to know what that player will do, the magic the player will perform within that short period. The player himself will be struggling to at least kick the ball before the end of the game. So you are coming in at a quite challenging period and I believe that a number of people will not envy you because government is coming to a close. But sometimes, it is even good to come at this time because you are now well exposed to Nigerians. Everybody will be watching your dancing steps and we believe you will dance well,” Jonathan had told them.

In any case, whether they served for only one month or more, it will reflect in their curriculum vitae that they are former ministers.

The rich also cry

Nigerians have suddenly become used to the poor electricity supply in parts of the country. Apart from buying generating sets or installing inverters at homes, one other way they have devised to keep them going is the use of power banks to charge their mobile telephone handsets when they are on the move.

Those who think average Nigerians are alone in the suffering associated with the poor electricity supply in the country are getting it wrong. Those who think that way will have a rethink after reading this.

Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State on Thursday met with President Jonathan in his office. As the governor was stepping on the corridor leading to the President’s office, what caught the attention of journalists was a white cable dangling from the governor’s hand.

A close look at the governor’s hand revealed that the cable was the one connecting his mobile telephone handset to a power bank. As he made his way into the President’s office, colleagues wondered openly why a governor will be charging his handset openly with a power bank. They wondered whether the Ondo State Lodge in Abuja is also experiencing blackout like the homes of majority of Nigerians. The thing became a topic for jokes among colleagues for a long time.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

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