Jonathan’s Exit: Some Power Brokers Who’ll Be Swept Out Of Office

Jonathan’s Exit: Some Power Drunks… Power Brokers Who’ll Be
Swept Out Of Office And Lose Influence After May 29
That President Goodluck Jonathan lost the March 28 presidential
election is no longer news. Although he has been in the saddle for
about six years, he has not been leading the country alone. By
virtue of being very close to the President, there are men and
women who have been wielding huge influence on his Presidency.
It is therefore no gainsaying that Jonathan did not lose this
election alone. These people calling the shots from their various
comfort zones are also losers in their own right. Who are these
President’s men and women?
Mrs. Patience Jonathan
Mrs. Patience Jonathan is the wife of the President. Like wives of
Presidents before her, she runs the Office of the First Lady with
glamour despite the fact that the office is not recognised in the
nation’s constitution. So powerful is the woman who prefers to be
called Mama Peace that she was also elected the President of the
African First Ladies Mission, a body of wives of Presidents across
the continent. She also founded a non-governmental organisation,
Women for Change, which has the mandate of empowering
women nationwide.
The influence she wields cannot be measured. Her hands seem to
be on everything. She is believed to be the unseen hand behind the
travail of a former Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva, which
denied him a second term ticket. The former governor was made
uncomfortable in the Peoples Democratic Party until he left to join
the All Progressives congress.
They replaced Sylva with Governor Seriake Dickson. The current
governor tried hard to please the President’s wife to the extent that
she was made a Permanent Secretary in the state. The
honeymoon, however, did not last. Dickson also ran into troubled
water with the woman who is said to have pencilled down the
Special Assistant to the President on Domestic Matters, Dr.
Wariponmowei Dudafa, as the next governor. She has since
resigned her appointment from the state job.
It is also a known fact the problem between the President and
Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State which forced the
governor out of the PDP started with a disagreement he had with
Mrs. Jonathan over the demolition of some houses in Okrika, the
ancestral home of the President’s wife.
To get something in this government, you must be in the good
books of Mrs. Jonathan. That is why government officials and
their spouses bow and tremble before her.
Senator Pius Anyim
Anyim is the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. By
virtue of his position, he is a big man (not about his stature) in the
cabinet. He coordinates the activities of ministers.
Because of his closeness to the President, the former President of
the Senate wields huge influence. He was accused of providing
cover for the former Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah, when
she was facing fire over the two bulletproof BMW cars bought for
her. To avoid journalists, Oduah was on many occasions driven
out of the Presidential Villa after weekly Federal Executive Council
meetings in Anyim’s official car.
He is also alleged to have a hand in the crisis rocking the state
chapter of the PDP in his home state, Ebonyi. The state governor,
Martin Elechi, had claimed that Anyim was the brain behind the
impeachment process initiated against him by some members of
the state House of Assembly.
His camp was accused of foisting the state Deputy Governor, Dave
Umahi, on the people as the PDP governorship candidate in the
April 11 governorship election at a time when Elechi was rooting
for a former Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu. The
situation has forced many PDP stakeholders in the state to be
working for the Labour Party.
Diezani Alison-Madueke
Alison-Madueke is the Minister of Petroleum Resources. To say
that she is one of the most influential ministers in Jonathan’s
cabinet is an understatement. She is very powerful. She is one of
the few ministers who are driven straight into the forecourt of the
President’s office through the Service Chiefs’ Gate. Others always
walk a distance of about 300metres from where their official cars
are parked to the President’s office.
The minister was recently elected the first female President of the
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Three weeks after,
she was also appointed the first female President of the Gas
Exporting Countries Forum.
So powerful is she that she dragged the House of Representatives
to court to stop the House from probing her for allegedly spending
N10bn on the charter and maintenance of a jet for unofficial
purposes. The Presidency remained quiet over the issue.
Alison-Madueke is no doubt a super minister in Jonathan’s
cabinet.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Okonjo-Iweala is the Minister of Finance. Jonathan elevated her
slightly below the Vice-President when he named her the
Coordinating Minister for the Economy.
During a typical FEC meeting, ministers mill around the woman
because of the kind of influence she wields in the cabinet. They
consult her before presenting any memo to the council since they
would need money to finance them.
Many Nigerians call Okonjo-Iweala the nation’s de facto Prime
Minister.
Governor Godswill Akpabio
Akpabio is the Akwa Ibom State Governor. He is also the Chairman
of the PDP Governors’ Forum. Without any fear of contradiction, he
can be said to be the closest governor to the President.
The governor supports Jonathan to a fault. The PDP Governors’
Forum that he chairs was formed to solely drum support for
Jonathan in the face of continued friction between the Presidency
and the Rotimi Amaechi-led Nigeria Governors’ Forum.
He is also one of the governors who formed the parallel NGF being
led by Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State. In supporting
Jonathan vehemently, however, Akpabio had unknowingly been
enlisting more enemies for the President.
Chief Edwin Clark
Clark is not a government official but he wields the influence that
is more than what a government official can do. He sees and
carries himself like the President’s father.
The residence of the First Republic Minister of Information is like
Mecca. Those in search of government jobs or contracts visit him
regularly while government officials who want to remain in the
President’s good book also lay siege to Clark’s house.
He is one of those who held the belief that Jonathan must be re-
elected or we should all forget about what is called Nigeria.
Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu
Mu’azu is the National Chairman of the PDP. Popularly called “the
game changer,” Muazu took over the office when the PDP
governors moved against the then chairman, Alhaji Bamanga
Tukur.
By virtue of that position, the former governor of Bauchi State is
very influential in and outside the government. He has inputs in
many of government’s decisions.
With his party losing control of the Federal Government as well as
its waning popularity in Bauchi, Mu’azu may be idle politically for
the next four years.
Tompolo
For former Niger Delta militant, Government Ekpemupolo,
otherwise known as Tompolo, power will not remain the same
after May 29 when Buhari takes over government.
In 2009, he was declared the most wanted man in Nigeria by the
Joint Task Force for allegedly killing 11 soldiers but his story has
since changed following the amnesty he received from President
Umaru Yar’Adua and his closeness to Jonathan.
So powerful is the ex-militant that not only did he ensure that his
younger brother was made a local government chairman in Delta
State, he reportedly nominated the current Director-General of the
Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Ziadeke
Akpobolokemi.
NIMASA awarded a N15bn contract to Global West Vessel
Specialist Limited, a firm widely believed to be owned by Tompolo,
to supply 20 vessels for the use of the nation’s military authorities
to secure the waterways.
So powerful he is that he even stopped the President from going to
Delta State to inaugurate the Export Processing Zone following a
misunderstanding with Itsekiri leaders. He reportedly influenced
Jonathan to sack a Minister of Transport, Yusuf Suleiman,
following a disagreement.
With Jonathan’s imminent exit from Aso Rock, Tompolo’s
influence will definitely decline.
Senator David Mark
Although he has made history by becoming the first senator to win
a fifth term, Mark’s influence will wane in the 8th National
Assembly.
Mark, who is also the nation’s longest serving Senate president,
cannot retain his seat since the All Progressives Congress now
controls the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly. At best,
Mark can be made the minority leader.
Mark made life easy for Jonathan throughout the President’s
tenure and defended the President even to a fault. He came under
fire recently when he reportedly manipulated the screening process
that ensured Senator Musiliu Obanikoro − who was accused of
rigging the Ekiti State governorship election − was confirmed a
minister.
Besides getting Obanikoro confirmed, Mark has never blocked any
of Jonathan’s ministerial nominations.
Last year, he convinced his colleagues not to pass a vote of no
confidence in Jonathan over the President’s failure to curb
insecurity. In November last year, he foiled a move by some
senators to impeach Jonathan.
In return, Jonathan gave him several benefits including the
nomination of some ministers in his cabinet.
Jonathan’s defeat and the waning power of the PDP in the senate
has certainly relegated Mark to the background.
Chief Tony Anenih
Anenih is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP. He
took over from former President Olusegun Obasanjo who resigned
from office because of some anomalies he noticed in the running
of the party.
The former Minister of Works who hails from the South-South, the
same geopolitical zone with the President, has never hidden his
support for Jonathan.
Long ago, it was Anenih who first said it publicly that the President
should be given an offer of first refusal as far as the party’s
presidential candidacy is concerned.
He wields no small influence in the Presidency.