The two eminent personalities this essay is all about are no longer mortals, like the rest of us. They are both late. One of them slept in the lord over 13 years ago. The other was just snatched by the cold hands of death penultimate Tuesday. However, the circumstances surrounding their eternal transitions bore a striking resemblance.
President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua of blessed memory, the 13th leader of Nigeria, died in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday, May 5, 2010. He passed on after battling acute pericarditis. He was aged 58. Prior to becoming Nigeria’s president in 2007, Yar’Adua had served as Katsina state’s governor for two consecutive terms, between 1999 and 2007.
With a bachelor and master’s degrees in Chemistry from Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria, Yar’Adua was the first university graduate to govern our dear nation, and the only Nigerian president (up till this day) to have declared his assets, publicly.
Yar’Adua was also the first elected Nigerian leader to die in office, and the second Head-of-state to die in the Presidential Villa after General Sani Abacha on June 8, 1998. As for Arankurin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, he is the immediate-past Governor of ‘The Sunshine State’ – Ondo.
Akeredolu reportedly died in Germany last week Tuesday, aged 67. He succumbed to complications arising from a protracted leukaemia disease, and prostate cancer. He was a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, who became President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, in 2008.
During his time as the governor of Ondo state, Akeredolu fondly called Aketi, also doubled as Chairman of the South West Governors’ Forum. As far as Nigeria’s political evolution, social stability and national development is concerned, both Yar’Adua and Akeredolu were key players.
Their duo contributed, in no small measure to entrenching good governance and institutionalization of democracy in the country. Yar’Adua in particular, left an indelible positive mark as one of the best leaders this country ever produced. Upon assuming office in 2007, Yar’adua unveiled his 7-POINT AGENDA: a simplistic approach to good governance and roadmap for a brighter Nigeria. They include: Power and Energy, Food Security, Wealth Creation, Transportation, Land Reforms, Security and Human Capital Development/Education.
“He assumed the mantle of Nigeria’s political leadership in 2007 on a highly-promising note, bringing into government much dignity, candour and humility. He predicated his tenure on the rule of law and observance of due process. And to signpost his transparency, he publicly declared his assets becoming the first President to do so, thus inspiring other public officials to follow suit.
“Under his due process regime, at least one minister, Prof. Abimbola Grange was removed from office for allegedly failing to return unspent funds at the Ministry of Health into government coffers as at when due. And in furtherance of his advocacy of zero tolerance for graft, he did nothing to prevent the imprisonment of Chief Bode George, a chieftain of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for corruption,” part of a newspaper editorial mourning his demise, and published 13 years ago, reads.
Akeredolu, on his part, remains one of the most-respected past president of NBA. A seasoned legal luminary who devoted his learning and capacity to progressive causes, as a sterling champion of the rule of law and dignity of the citizens, Akeredolu as Ondo governor, truly discharged his official responsibilities with breathtaking competence, patriotism and candour. He spoke on national issues without fear or favour, caring less about whose ox will be gored.
In an emotional-laden tribute, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu described Akeredolu as a fearless brother, confidante and a man of ideas and action.
Said Tinubu, in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale: “I cannot fairly capture in words Rotimi’s towering figure and his human essence. Rotimi was a man who moved our nation towards equity, fairness and justice in his strident advocacy against every form of injustice in our country through the instrumentality of the law as a senior advocate, attorney general of his beloved state, as President of the Nigerian Bar Association and Governor of Ondo State.
“In a challenging moment of our statehood when marauding agents of darkness spread their tentacles across our country, Rotimi was a strong voice in wilderness calling us to rethink our security architecture so we can have a more secure nation. His unrelenting advocacy led to the birth of the local police in the South West.
“Rotimi was a man of ideas and action. While he was with us, he taught us the power of action and service. In Ondo State where he had the honour to serve as the Governor in the last 6 years, he served his people with absolute loyalty, dedication and forthrightness.
“His footprints dot the entire landscape in the hundreds of kilometres of roads he built, the many schools he built and healthcare facilities that he provided. Governor Akeredolu was not just a friend, ally and associate, he was a brother and soulmate. His death is a blow to our governing APC and the progressive family as we are diminished by it”.
However, both Yar’Adua and Akeredolu (or let’s say, their handlers), intoxicated by power, failed to do the needful by relinquishing power when their health challenges crippled their mental capacity to govern Nigeria and Ondo state. Their two could not muster the needed courage to quit when the ovation was loudest for them.
It took one ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ contraption by the 6th National Assembly, NASS, before then Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, could assume the presidency, albeit in acting capacity, on February 9, 2010. Before then, Yar’Adua’s Justice Minister and Attorney General of the Federal,
Michael Aondoakaa, SAN, proclaimed with magisterial authority, that his boss could pilot Nigeria’s affairs even from space, as no law compels him (then) to transmit power to Jonathan (his Deputy, then) while he (Yar’Adua) was away on a foreign medical leave.
On the other hand, if not for Tinubu’s intervention, the brand-new Governor of Ondo, Mr. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, could not have had a date with history, in succeeding his principal. It was Tinubu’s mediation into the Ondo political imbroglio, incited after Akeredolu’s hasty return to Nigeria in September (after first receiving treatment in Germany) that saved the blushes of Aiyedatiwa, as the State Assembly had concluded plans to impeach him.
Not a few Nigerians will recall that Akeredolu, while serving as NBA President in 2009, advised a critically-ill President Yar’Adua to quit office, and tend to his deteriorating health. But by the time the table turned, barely 13 years later, the erudite lawyer-Governor of Ondo, threw caution to the dogs and held tight to his ‘exalted throne’ – even when it was crystal clear he was incapacitated and could no longer take Ondo to the Eldorado.
However, Nigeria is in need of another constitutional review, in the aftermath of Aketi’s transition – just like we had after the Yar’Adua presidency’s curtain was drawn. A binding legislation that will swiftly empower any Deputy Governor or Vice President to become an acting governor or president (when their principal is affirmed incapacitated medically) is direly needed.
A cabal should not be allowed to hold any state or Nigeria itself, to ransom, when next our President or a governor becomes indisposed. In August 2020, the longest-serving Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated two years ago, resigned after a recurrence of ulcerative colitis.
Abe, at a news conference announcing his resignation then, said he wanted to avoid causing problems to the Japanese government because of his worsening condition. “I have decided to step down from the post of the prime minister. I cannot be prime minister if I cannot make the best decisions for the people,” he said.
What do Nigerian politicians stand to lose if they, like their contemporaries in other climes, toe the path of honour and quit office when their health conditions become a thing of public concern? Worst still, how do Nigerian public office holders feel clinging on to power, instead of throwing in the towel, when they are enmeshed in all sorts of corruption scandals? I doubt if anyone has a convincing explanation!
Mahmud, Deputy Editor of PRNigeria, writes via [email protected].
