By Reuben Abati
Perhaps the biggest news this week so far, has been the
attempt by the Presidency to debunk the allegation that President Muhammadu
Buhari has been kinder to Northerners and Muslims in the recruitment of persons
into his administration. The published list, itself a response to an earlier
indictment by the BusinessDay newspaper, has been dismissed as incomplete,
selective and misleading but all of that draws attention to a crisis at the
heart of Nigerian politics, nay African politics. Matthew Hassan Kukah once
described this in our context as “the-myonisation-of-power”.
That is when a Nigerian
from a particular part of the country becomes President, his people including
his kinsmen and his friends and associates from his community and other parts
of Nigeria
see his ascendance as their own opportunity to have a taste of the national
cake. They fight over the proverbial cake. Invariably, they benefit from what
is called the politics of proximity. They get appointed to the best positions.
They gain better access to the seat and the man of power than everyone else. Nigeria is not
alone in this regard.
The same politics plays out in other African countries. In Kenya , John
Githongo, their once-upon-a-time anti-corruption czar, in a book on him, the
author, Michela Wrong complains that what prevails in Kenyan politics is the
syndrome of “it-is-our-turn-to-eat.” In that country, the emergent politics is
not even just about what to eat, it is about ego, elite contestation, dynastic
rivalry and power. Wrong is right in many ways. That drama has been played out
in the recent elections in Kenya
but here in Nigeria ,
we have also been dealing with the same crisis since independence.