Kachikwu’s reality, –By RAFIQ RAJI

It is beginning to dawn on Ibe Kachikwu, the Nigerian junior petroleum minister, how diminished he is.
When I happened on the leaked memo he wrote to Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian president, about the supposed misdemeanour on the part of the head of the state oil company, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, who he accuses of making personnel changes without following due process (besides not conferring with him), I immediately recalled a term oft-used by one of my very clever teachers: “velvet ghetto”.
It is a situation whereby a person has all the comforts of a position or offi ce but does not have any real power or infl uence.
If you are not well-to-do or have not had the good fortune of experience about what that implies, you may wonder why anyone could be unhappy amidst much luxury just because their power is usurped by another person or group of persons.
Money and luxury are things desired until when acquired, how little they are in the scheme of things becomes apparent.
Billionaires do not engage in philanthropy only for the tax benefi ts.
Most do so because having acquired wealth, it dawns on them the purpose is not so much their comfort as it is what they can do with it.
It was a “brave” act in the fi rst place for President Buhari to initially appoint Dr.  Kachikwu not only to the “juicy” petroleum ministry but also to the headship of NNPC.
Buhari’s “people” were most unhappy then.
Were the position not so lucrative and much sought after, Kachikwu might have immediately seen why his diminished role may not be as exciting as it was hitherto.
I suppose he took comfort in the fact that Buhari would be the senior minister.
But of course, in government, the Presidency is really the chief of staff ; currently Abba Kyari.
And it is simply not possible for the president to handle all the fi les that require his attention.
So eff ectively, Kachikwu’s supervisor is Kyari.
But such is the enormity of Kyari’s tasks that even he would have to provide a great deal of latitude to his reports.
I recall vividly a guardian of mine once, who was a top functionary while I stayed with him.
Th e way we knew he was headed back home from the offi ce was when his driver brought ‘some’ of his fi les home before going back to the offi ce to ferry his boss as well: Th ere was simply no space in the car for his principal on the fi rst trip.
Th e old man would get back and sleep for about three hours and thereafter, with the aid of many cups of coff ee, labour till just before dawn to ensure the fi les are treated.
An hour’s sleep after the Muslim dawn prayer would be all he got afterwards before heading back to the offi ce.
Never mind the numerous meetings that he needed to attend when he got there.
He was just a functionary, talk less the president.
And the cycle would continue all over again.
Needless to say, his wife was very much relieved when he fi nally left offi ce.
Besides, the North was never comfortable with an outsider at the helm of both the petroleum ministry and NNPC.
Left with a choice between the two, they would gladly give up the ministry; especially since it would nominally still be Buhari’s.
When the grumblings within his inner circle became deafening, Buhari had no choice but to make the change.
But with that change, there was no way the junior minister could remain infl uential, especially since he was believed to already have had a frosty relationship with Baru, before his appointment as NNPC’s group managing director (GMD).
If Kachikwu did not already know this, I would wonder a great deal about his fabled intelligence.
Perhaps his belated outcry is just so at least his grievance would be on record.
But he could not really think that his outburst would make things any diff erent; that is, barring solid proof of illegalities by Baru.
In fact, I think the secret service would be keen to fi nd out whether the leaked memo was instigated by him.
But for the political sensitivity of removing him, in light of myriad accusations of ethnic bias in appointments by the Buhari administration, the Presidency would probably be eager to ease him out.
However, his presence provides credibility to the administration.
And Kachikwu can by and large, be expected to come to heel.
Did Baru act unilaterally? I do not think so.
I am almost certain the personnel changes at the NNPC could not have been without the approval of the Presidency.
Besides, it was probably to ensure that the changes would be made with the least inconvenience that the action was taken in Kachikwu’s absence.
It helped, of course, that Buhari was indisposed at the time as well.
At the very least, it gives him deniability.
Key among the grievances of the North was the preponderant ascendancy of Niger Deltans to the upper echelons of the petroleum bureaucracy during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Whilst the avaricious Diezani Alison-Madueke was oil minister then, she made sure the buck at the NNPC stopped with her.
And because Alison-Madueke had the ears of Jonathan, no NNPC functionary dared challenge her.
Of course, we now know that was at the expense of our commonwealth.
Kachikwu was able to continue that tradition with his dual portfolios as minister and GMD until his wings were fi nally clipped.
He may need to learn how to fl y with shorter wings or fi nd a diff erent tree to perch on.
Raji writes from Lagos.