I saw the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, the other time wearing a cassock and delivering the sermon at the Aso Villa Chapel. This suggests that he is either a priest or something close to it (may be a lay reader). Don't be surprised therefore if in no distant time, the Nigerian Television Authority beams into your sitting room a live broadcast of a national prayer crusade to be organised by Nebo's ministry as a way of tackling the nation's power supply problems! You will connect your faith with those of the men of God that will cast and bind on your screen, that is if you are lucky not to be among the 120 million Nigerians the ministry admitted are living in darkness.
Nebo was at his best at the post-Federal Executive Council meeting press briefing on Wednesday, not as a minister of government but as a minister of God. Having earlier presented his ministry's achievements and challenges in 2012 to the Federal Executive Council, journalists asked him whether he still holds the views he delivered at his Senate screening that some evil forces were behind the problems of the power sector in the country.
Pronto! the minister went spiritual. Describing the question as the 'question of the decade', the minister (of God, if you like) said, "What I said was that I heard some people saying that evil forces were behind continued darkness in Nigeria and I said I would drive the evil forces away like I did when I was a vice-chancellor. I still believe strongly that some unseen forces are behind it (the darkness). How will you explain the actions of some youths who deliberately destroy power plants and turn around to blame the President and the ministry for power failure? What about those who deliberately dig holes on the highways so that there will be traffic jam for them to sell their wares? There are people who will do anything to get their businesses going. These are all sorts of evil forces but they will all be defeated!" Before you shout "a bigger amen" please wait for the crusade to take off.
Dame's album coming
I did not plan to write anything about the wife of the President this week, having featured her in all the three previous editions of this column. But mama, as she is fondly called by both the old and the young, cannot just be ignored. May be that was why organisers of the nation's centenary programmes accommodated her Lagos meeting with women in their programme. Organisers of the last Democracy Day celebration also took a cue from them when they accommodated her dinner with women in their programme.
When next you will be hearing from this 'mother of modern Nigeria', she may be inviting you to the public presentation of her musical album. Mrs. Jonathan gave those who attended the dinner held last Friday at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja (a new one that will gulp a whopping N2.2bn is under construction) a bit of what to expect in the album when released. She, assisted by three other ladies with angelic voices (please note that I am not saying Her Excellency's voice is not angelic), sang two tracks from the album. They were all composed and dedicated to her husband, the President. If applause can be used to determine acceptability, then the album when released, will make a quick sale in the already saturated Nigerian music industry. But you and I know that sycophants will do anything under the sun.
So, let's try the songs. The first one goes thus: Goodluck, show us the way (2ce). Papa Goodluck, show us the way. Since independence we never get am. Thank you Goodluck for showing the way. Nigerian women are saying thank you!
And the second one: Na who be the man o? Jonathan! Na which be the party? PDP! As you surely give us 35%, we will surely give you our support. Hmmnnnn.
Did Mr. President really go drinking?
If you want to find a direct answer to this $10m question, you may have to look beyond this column. May be, you may want to lay your hands on the gospel according to Reuben Abati titled "The Jonathan they don't know" as widely published in the media in August last year and re-read (if you have read it before).
I read in a section of the media that President Goodluck Jonathan drank himself to stupor during the just-concluded 21st ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Africa Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to the extent that he missed a speaking slot during the opening session. Some reports suggested that His Excellency was vomiting after the drinking spree. Some others said he was down with diaorrhea and had to turn the toilet to his permanent place of abode.
In response to questions from some of my readers who knew I attended the Addis Ababa event, I will serve you details of the behind-the-scene events as witnessed by me and leave you to make your deductions. I just hope I will not run into trouble for divulging too much.
Immediately he landed in Addis Ababa on Friday evening, President Jonathan retired to a place called 'Villa' inside Sheraton Hotel. At around 8.30pm local time (6.30pm Nigerian time), he granted an interview to a 10-year-old Nigerian girl based in California, Miss Zuriel Oduwole, who was said to be working on a documentary on the African Union's 50th anniversary. The interview lasted less than 15 minutes.
Immediately after that session, the President also granted an interview to a CCTV crew. While that interview was ongoing, a big guest arrived. That visitor was former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He was quickly ushered upstairs. After the interview, one of the President's aides informed him of the former President's presence. As he stepped into the elevator to go upstairs, his Principal Secretary, Ambassador Hassan Tukur, led other top aides to seek the President's permission for them to retire to their hotels to go and get some sleep. In granting the request, Jonathan said he was going to sleep too after attending to Obasanjo. The man who sought the permission on behalf of others told him that they would arrive early enough on Saturday to join him to attend a certain breakfast meeting that would precede the summit's opening session. The President' reply was that if he woke up early enough, he would attend the breakfast session and that if not, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abassador Olugbenga Ashiru, should represent him while he gets set for the opening session. That was few minutes after 10pm (8pm Nigerian time). As at the time those aides were leaving him, it was only Obasanjo that was in the 'Villa' as a guest. I am not relying on a third party in this narrative, I was there.
On Saturday, Jonathan attended that opening session. He even got their early. My colleagues and I were held up in a gridlock caused by the blocking of roads for VIP passage, so Jonathan got to the new AU headquarters venue before us. Obasanjo and another former head of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, also attended. Three minutes were allotted to each speaker. The public address system was programmed in such a way that it would go off immediately a speaker exhausted his time.
While that session was going on, President Jonathan left the large hall to attend a meeting on the proposed Lagos-Abidjan Expressway on the sidelines of the summit inside one of the smaller conference halls. Ashiru read Jonathan's speech at that opening session.
As an accredited journalist at that summit, I have a report of the meeting released by AU secretariat stating that the Presidents of Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana attended that infrastructure meeting while their counterparts from Togo and Benin were represented.
I'm one of those who felt and still feel it was not tidy enough for the President to go and attend another meeting when he knew that he could be called anytime to address the opening session. But Abati, expectedly, has justified it saying that the meeting on infrastructure was also as important as the opening session of the summit.
This is all I know about the "appearing and disappearing" of Mr. President in Ethiopia. I rest my case till next week.
Punch
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