Bola Ahmed Tinubu

By Bola Bolawole

Ibe Kachikwu is a very lucky and, therefore, much-envied Nigerian. He holds two very important positions of managing director of the cash-cow called the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and at same time is the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources. Just one of the two posts will make any politician or technocrat’s day. Therefore, I will not be surprised if there have been underground moves to get him divested of one of the plum jobs.

There are many people waiting on the side lines for just a fraction of what has been put in Kachikwu’s basket. My suspicion all along is that he will not be able to keep both posts for long; as pressure is bound to mount on President Muhammadu Buhari, he will be forced to reduce Kachikwu’s largesse and spread the butter on the bread of other anxious party faithful and hangers-on. Kachikwu himself appears to be speeding up that process with the faux pas he committed last week. He inadvertently has let the cat out of the bag that he has been over-working himself in his two posts. And no one who overworks himself brings out the best in himself. If his workload is reduced, may be the junior Minister may be helped to bring the best out of himself.

In response to the seemingly unending fuel queues, Kachikwu had said he was not a magician that he would simply wave a magic wand and cause the queues to vanish. The problems causing the queues, he explained, had deep roots and it would take some time for them to be uprooted. The fuel queues, therefore, would not disappear until about two or three months’ time. Bedlam! Kachikwu did not say anything new; he did not say anything that Nigerians did not know; and he did not act in any way that surprised Nigerians. Fuel queues have been on-and off since the return to democratic rule in 1999. On a countless number of times, the people have had to queue and they have had to suffer.

Dr Ibe Kachikwu

Seldom had the people bought the commodity at the official price; and rarely had the authorities rolled up their sleeves to attack the monster. Officials acting like tin-gods have always taken their time and have often been leisurely in the way they try to “solve” the problem. Usually, it is our problem and not theirs. They have talked down on the people even in worse tones than that employed by Kachikwu. So Kachikwu couldn’t have expected any problems from his statements – and there wouldn’t have been any – but for the fact that a very big man from a very unusual quarters decided to square up to Kachikwu over his otherwise “innocuous” statement. And that big man is no less a person than Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC!

Fuel queues

In every respect, Kachikwu and Tinubu are unequally matched; so, it was not a surprise, therefore, that just one jab from the Jagaban Borgu was enough to send the junior Minister sprawling on the canvass. Kachikwu is a wise man; he dared not look Tinubu in the eyes; instead, he licked his wounds, recanted, and apologised. He thereafter said the fuel queues would now be tamed within a few days – and not months again. Thank you, Asiwaju, for coming to the rescue! Conspiracy theorists have, however, been upbeat constructing theories for Tinubu’s intervention. For one, as APC’s National Leader and Kachikwu being a mere political appointee of the APC government, a phone call from Tinubu to Kachikwu could have done the job. Tinubu’s going public on a matter that, in PDP parlance, would have been treated as “family affairs” aroused the suspicion of many.

In every respect, Kachikwu and Tinubu are unequally matched; so, it was not a surprise, therefore, that just one jab from the Jagaban Borgu was enough to send the junior Minister sprawling on the canvass. Kachikwu is a wise man; he dared not look Tinubu in the eyes; instead, he licked his wounds, recanted, and apologised. He thereafter said the fuel queues would now be tamed within a few days – and not months again. Thank you, Asiwaju, for coming to the rescue! Conspiracy theorists have, however, been upbeat constructing theories for Tinubu’s intervention.

Was Tinubu trying to set up a proxy war; was he aiming at a bigger fish? If that was the case, the bigger fish wisely and tactically avoided the bait. President Muhammadu Buhari not only reportedly instructed that a press war should not be opened with Tinubu, he also went forward to attend the Asiwaju’s well-celebrated birthday a few days later, where he poured encomiums on the Jagaban Borgu. The Buhari speech at the event will qualify as one of his all-time best; it is in the same class as the Yakubu Gowon speech in which he eulogised an Obafemi Awolowo who was resigning from his Cabinet, saying, “I salute your political sagacity…” and an Ibrahim Babangida speech to the same Awo in which he described the sage as “the issue…in Nigerian politics”. Some have said that Tinubu was fired simply by patriotic zeal and deep concern for suffering Nigerians. Una do well, sir! The timing was auspicious; even if it was meant to draw attention to the birthday a few days away, it still served the purpose of Nigerians very well. The Tinubu intervention was very effective; apart from Buhari himself, I doubt if there is any other leader who could have weighed in with such a heavyweight punch that would send Kachikwu and the entire machinery of government scampering for cover.

Kachikwu must have learnt his lessons. One: Nigerians love the fire-brigade approach. Telling them of a carefully laid-out plan to end fuel queues in two months’ time won’t wash, as they say. Now, how come the Minister will solve the same problem he initially said would take two or three months in nine days? He certainly will apply fire-brigade approach, even if it means immediately papering over and not totally uprooting the problem.

Some have said that Tinubu was fired simply by patriotic zeal and deep concern for suffering Nigerians. Una do well, sir! The timing was auspicious; even if it was meant to draw attention to the birthday a few days away, it still served the purpose of Nigerians very well. The Tinubu intervention was very effective; apart from Buhari himself, I doubt if there is any other leader who could have weighed in with such a heavyweight punch that would send Kachikwu and the entire machinery of government scampering for cover.

 

Two: Nigerians know the truth but also know that the truth is bitter. We are a happy people here and don’t like anyone spoiling the fun for us with their bitter truth. We are very optimistic people; so, what you cannot do in one year, tell us you can do in one week and we will hope and pray along with you.

Three: Where was Kachikwu when ex-President Goodluck Jonathan committed his own hara-kiri of “I am not a Goliath; I am not Pharaoh; I am not Nebuchadnezzar, I am not a General”? Is it not instructive that it is everything Jonathan said he was not that Nigerians jubilantly, overwhelmingly voted for a short while after in the last presidential elections?