Loyalty, according to the dictionary, is, “a feeling or attitude of devoted attachment and aff ection.” According to Minna Antrim, “love often wears a mask In order to test loyalty”, this is somewhat corroborated by Edwin Louis Cole in his philosophical quip “Confi dentiality is a virtue of the loyal, as loyalty is the virtue of faithfulness” Mark Twain was more pragmatic in one of his intellectual prognosis “Loyalty to the nation all the time,loyalty to the government when it deserves it” Now Mark Twain’s wisecrack seems to approximate the frontiers of tectonic loyalty in a tripod; loyalty to the nation, loyalty to the government and loyalty to the incumbent ego altar who is the commander in chief as it applies to Nigeria.
It would amount to a political suicide of a ruinous proportion for any president wishing to achieve any success in governance to exhibit nonchalance on issue of loyalty. Th e Minister of Women Aff airs, Aisha Jummai Alhassan showed a crass inadvertence to a reducible minimum of loyalty expected of a serving minister engaged at a time the nation is passing through one of her challenging times which demands that all cabinet members put their very best into deliverables cognate to their ministries and parastatals and not to be so insouciant as to publicly embrace political frolicsomeness. President Buhari should learn from the President of the United States who takes loyalty as an article of faith, needless to say that President Donald Trump’s obsession for loyalty has kept him afl oat in the Oval Offi ce for which he has demonstrated little leadership experience. Alhassan’s insubordination is not an isolated case under President Buhari’s watch.
Th e president seems to project an autarchic attitude to the fi delity quotients in its cabinet. It remains a mystery till this moment what motivated the DSS to transmit an adverse report on the Acting Chairman of EFCC to the National Assembly without presidential inputs. Th e same presidential docility that gave the DSS impetus seems to have been explored by the minister of Women Aff airs albeit with brazenness. Th e president must quickly put his house in order by allowing offi cials with questionable loyalty a timely exit, otherwise the little time remaining for his cabinet to impact the nation will end up in political horse trading and tectonic failure. Bukola Ajisola, Lagos, [email protected]
