Abati: Jonathan And The Scramble For Political Appointments

Guardian

15 May 2011

Abati: Jonathan And The Scramble For Political Appointments .

By Reuben Abati Opinion

 .“JONATHAN, PDP Governors in cold war over ministerial list,”; “Nomination tears party apart in Osun” (The Nation, May 14, p.1); “Ministerial Posts and Federal Appointments: Fresh Crises hit PDP state chapters…Reps kick against Ekiti ministerial nominees” (Punch, May 14, p.1)…How sad.  The biggest enterprise in Nigeria after every election is not necessarily the work of the election petition tribunals, nor an educative stock-taking of the electoral process, but the mad, utterly mindless struggle for political appointments. The sociology of it beggars belief, for it is rooted in the Darwinian struggle for survival, where the strong and the smartest  outwit every other competitor to get a place in the new dispensation. And it has started. President Goodluck Jonathan, and all elected Governors are under pressure to appoint this or that person to a public position. In the National Assembly, even ahead of the inauguration of a new Assembly, ambitious elements have started scheming, and wheeling and dealing and trying to protect their selfish interests by proposing to amend the Standing Orders. In this search for political appointments, there has been over the years, a set of strategies which Nigerians never fail to deploy. These include the following:

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The reason for the desperation is not far to seek. In Nigeria, the only job that pays premium dividends is a political job. Everyone wants a bite out of it. Even those who are not interested encourage their friends to show interest in political appointments: have you sent your CV? Have they called you? Why don’t you  ask someone to put in a word for you? If they call you, you must not say No oh? It is considered a taboo for anyone to reject the offer of a political appointment. It is seen as the ultimate meal ticket. It is all about what people can get for themselves not what difference that they can make. One of the interesting developments in the past week for example, is the plan by some persons who had left the PDP just before the elections to return to the same party, in order to take part in the sharing of political appointments, and should they receive an offer, they will not only jump at it, they will rationalize it and we are all expected to understand. This is the way it is.

But it is also the reason Nigeria has not been able to make progress. Persons are offered leadership positions for the wrong reasons. They get to high positions for which they are ill-suited. The PDP Governors and party leaders who are engaged in a “cold war” with President Jonathan over the Ministerial list are not acting in the national interest: they want to impose their own nominees on the President, usually the flotsam and the jetsam from their states definitely not the best (state Governors would rather send their errand boys to Abuja and not potential stars who could become a threat to them). Most of the people who are shopping around with their CVs just want to “chop.” When President Yar’Adua assumed office in 2007, most of his Ministers were appointed for him by the state Governors. He didn’t know many of them. He had no idea who they were, and he never really knew them till he died.

How will President Goodluck Jonathan walk the tightrope then? It will be unrealistic to think that he can ignore the Governors. He owes them: in his relationship with the Governors, there are IOUs that he needs to pay. The Governors stood by him during the PDP primaries; they also worked for him in their states during the Presidential campaigns. There are also Godfathers that Jonathan may not be able to ignore. But this is where his first major leadership challenge lies.

Since his victory in the April 16 Presidential polls, nearly every political commentator has stressed the point that Jonathan must depart from tradition and appoint only the best and the brightest into his cabinet. He is required to embark on business unusual, look the fortune-hunters straight in the eye, and disappoint them. This is what he must do. He should beware of the strategists and their tricks. To save Nigeria is a job that must be done; only the best is good enough, this time, Jonathan.