Dear Minister Wike, did President Tinubu really issue that directive?

BY UGOCHUKWU UGWUANYI

Old habits, they say, die hard. So is the appetite for the limelight. As governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike held court every day and commanded the entire nation’s attention with his televised regular events where he was either flagging off or commissioning some projects.

It was in those circuses, which had the full complement of a live band, that he treated Nigerians to the hit track: “as e dey pain them e dey sweet us. As e dey sweet us na so e dey pain them.”

Wike could adopt showmanship as the chief executive of a state because governors in Nigeria act as emperors. But to continue in this trajectory as a minister where he is subservient to and serves at the pleasure of the president speaks to how attached the man is to old habits.

Now, isn’t “never outshine the master” the first rule in Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power? On the surface, Nyesom Wike may come across as flouting this law with his well-choreographed nine-day outings across the federal capital territory.

He is actually not! The rambunctious minister is too much of a thoroughbred politician not to know or be guided by the golden rule of power play. It is in keeping with not outshining the master that Wike disclosed what necessitated the question in the title of this article.

Last week Wednesday, Wike and his team were in Gwagwalada to commission the rehabilitation of some roads in the area council. During that event, the minister asked residents: “Has any minister come to talk to you like this before? Have you seen a minister before? Mr President has directed that you cannot be a minister and the people you are serving do not know you.”

This is how the former governor has successfully constricted himself to the confines of Greene’s rule number one: you will always hear “Mr President this or that” in the man’s speeches, cleverly attributing what he’s doing to the administration’s “Renewed Hope” agenda! His deference and signalling to President Bola Tinubu raise suspicion of whether he’s not going over and beyond by attributing to the president what the big boss may not have said.

A case in point is his quotation above. While not doubting the minister, yours sincerely cannot but double check with him since he seems to be the only one carrying out this presidential directive. Not even the minister of information and national orientation or the special advisers on media and publicity has so engaged the people!

How could the president have given such marching order to his lieutenants only for them to stay put in their cozy offices and gilded motorcades without letting the people know them as should? As it stands, very few Nigerian elites can properly identify five out of the over 40 ministers serving in this government.

An overwhelming majority of them are not known by the masses, little wonder the over-bloated cabinet is considered one of the most lacklustre and underwhelming in this Fourth Republic.

Yet, there is a subsisting injunction for them to be up and about like Wike! Not even the mass misery, distress, and frustrations that culminated in the #EndBadGovernance and #FearlessinOctober protests could nudge these ministers to be in the faces or interact with the people. Something is apparently not adding up!

Let’s then give Wike his flowers for not just regaling the people of the FCT with his majestic presence but running with their feedback. Of a truth, one can go a lifetime without having the privilege of being in the same arena as a minister of the federal republic. He did not only allow them to see him but engaged with them. “We never stay in the city to decide what to do for you. We came for a town hall meeting… we told you if that is what you want, consider it done. The president has directed that whatever you ask we should give it to you,” Wike revealed.

How touching! This is definitely the hallmark of democracy and good governance.

The benefits of the minister’s outreach came to the fore the day before when he discovered the deplorable neglect of road A2, which connects Pai community to the Abuja/Lokoja expressway. He lamented the omission thus: “While we were coming from the expressway, called A2 to Pai, they refused to award that contract but instead awarded the contract from Pai to Gomani. Now, if you construct the road from Pai to Gomani, how do you come to Pai, when that road is not motorable. Whoever masterminded this, you are not being fair, and we cannot continue this way.”

So, before anyone accuses Wike of fawning, being vain, garrulous, or sycophantic with these elaborate commissioning occasions, such critics should be reminded that the minister’s unique ways yield some dividends. In fact, President Tinubu should try to act in the same manner, even if for the sake of political capital.

He needs to interact more with Nigerians. If not town halls, there should be regular presidential media chats and addresses through which he can offer desperately needed hope to Nigerians. Such deliberate interface is what will make the ministers take President Tinubu’s directive more seriously for Nigerians to know them.

Wike may have inadvertently indicted his colleagues by revealing what members of the federal executive council were told to do but are clearly not doing. But hey, they really don’t need to be told to do what comes with the territory. They are public servants, maintained by taxpayers for Pete’s sake.

Minister is rooted in the Greek word diakoneo, meaning “to serve.” As such, what are those in the federal cabinet ministering if the people they are supposed to serve don’t know them? To those of them who think their service is unto the president, the FCT minister was quick to remind them that democracy is government of the people by the people and for the people.

While we advocate more engagement and interactions with the people, citizens must be allowed to speak freely in such town halls without being cajoled into saying what the authorities want to hear.

One way to ensure this is to allow people from all strata of society and with all shades of opinions to participate. Such an important interaction shouldn’t be restricted to party faithful, government officials, contractors, and regime apologists.

It should definitely not be the type where critical stakeholders who are the landlord cede “lord” to the powers-that-be, opting to call themselves “land.” The News Central Town Hall series typifies how the government can best feel the pulse of the citizenry. It is in such a meeting of disparate minds that those in the corridors of power will get to realise that, truly, to jaw-jaw is better than to war-war!

 Ugochukwu Ugwuanyi is a pundit based in Lagos. He can be reached via the X handle @sylvesugwuanyi.