Nnamani's Curious Bid to Save the Presidency

 By Ogaga Ifowodo

Senate president Ken Nnamani's baffling decision to postpone debate of the Senator Umaru Tsauri PTDF review panel's report must strike many as a parable of not just our times but of Nigeria's baleful search for self-actualisation. It tells the doleful story of our sore lack of heroes on the political terrain. With the sole exception of the independence struggle  —  notwithstanding the many compromises and betrayals that set the stage for our lingering post-colonial distress  —  our politicians have distinguished themselves mostly in their unshakable commitment to nation-wrecking. Consequently, the long drought of visionary and courageous leaders has turned our country into a nationbuilders' desert. As I pondered Nnamani's uncharacteristic want of fortitude when for the second time it mattered most, I could find no justification for his action except perhaps a personal resolve to snatch odium from the jaws of glory.

It is obvious that until the matter of the Tsauri panel report, Nnamani was poised for the highest accolades from a despondent but grateful populace. Grateful to find that in the cesspool known as Abuja's corridors of power, there is a powerful man, the nation's number three citizen no less, who is not a slave to the urge to use public office only for self-aggrandisement. So bright had Nnamani's star begun to shine in our dark and angry sky that no less a seasoned commentator than Sonala Olumhense had urged a standing ovation for him and those members of the senate who ever since they thwarted General Olusegun Obasanjo's imperial dream of life-presidency had somehow discovered the reason for their being in the Senate.

Reading Olumhense's piece in The Guardian of the 18^th, I had silently joined my voice to his public eulogy. I had smothered the niggling fear that his public gesture might be too soon and the praise a little too profuse by reminding myself that in a land were public commentators are often pilloried for failing to give credit when it is due, Olumhense's laudation of Nnamani, the senate, and the judiciary did the tribe of "social critics" a timely favour. What is more, it served to shore up hope at a time when that vital commodity is dwindling faster than sand through the playful fingers of a child. This is no game of hindsight, always belatedly wiser. On the strength of his accomplishments in his short tenure as senate president, Nnamani, more than almost all his peers and certainly the most recent occupants of his high seat deserves commendation for restoring to parliament and public office a measure of purpose and dignity. So what went wrong?

Nnamani has given the reason for his lamentable action as the need to save the presidency. In his formulation of this great need, however, it is apparent that he short-changes himself through unaccustomed wooliness of thought. Struggling hard to douse the heat of the reaction to his decision, Nnamani stretches what it means to say that something is a symbol so far as to obfuscate the figure of speech it entails. In consequence, he conflates the presidency, a national institution, with the president, the person who might be its chief occupant at any point in time. Although Nnamani did seem aware that the institution is not its occupant  —  "It is not Chief Olusegun Obasanjo that I am talking about," he is at pains to protest, but " the institution itself"  —  it does not require the oracle to know that only the person, and not the institution, stood to benefit from his magnanimity. Nor to see through the inflated rhetoric of his declaration, "I would do whatever is within my powers to save the Presidency in (the) national interest. I would do that because it is more than a person; it represents our common psyche and our common identity is exemplified in the Presidency."

Nnamani's passive tone gives a lie to the false conviction that drove his action. In rationalising a deed that had already taken place, Nnamani speaks in tones of the moral imperative to justify future action. And his listener need only pause for a moment to detect the uneasy tension that binds him to the unspoken truth of his action: unbearable pressure from the president and Ayatollah of his party who, having made a solemn pledge to fight corruption, finds himself grubbing in the same muck as the adversaries he has selected for persecution. The Nigerian people, we must point out, did not tell Nnamani that they would rather save the Obasanjo presidency than have it aborted, however late in the day. If Nnamani defends his volte-face in the name of "the national interest," three questions beg for answers: whose national interest? Can felonies and misdemeanours ever be in the national interest? Is "our common identity exemplified" in the shameful PTDF kleptomania?

It was allegedly in pursuit of the truth of "high crimes" that Nnamani constituted the Tsauri panel to review the report of the Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba ad-hoc committee that first looked into the manner in which the PTDF had been pillaged for every conceivable purpose but the advancement of national expertise in the petroleum sector.  It was the curious unwillingness of the Ndoma-Egba committee to treat like cases alike with respect to the culpability of President Obasanjo and his estranged vice that formed Nnamani's justification. As we know, while Vice President Atiku Abubakar was found culpable of mismanaging the PTDF, Obasanjo was merely given a rap on the knuckles for approving projects outside its enabling law.  Although the president made a strenuous case for an infinitely elastic interpretation of the PTDF law, the review panel found his actions to be clearly outside its purview. The only conclusion left to the panel was that Obasanjo acted illegally in all the instances it enumerated and was thus obliged to recommend that the president, as his vice, be referred to the Code of Conduct Bureau. If we add to these findings the disclosure by the PDP big-wig and bagman, Otunba Fasawe, that President Obasanjo paid into his (Fasawe's ) private account the hefty sum of N700 million for the PDP's use, then it becomes even more obvious why saving the Obasanjo presidency couldn't possibly be in the national interest. For all his rhetoric, then, Nnamani might as well save the presidency were its occupant shown to be a serial paedophile or the kingpin of an armed robbery ring.

What then is the national interest that Nnamani should have been more willing to serve? It is to be found in the lofty sentiments he expressed while setting up the Tsauri panel. Then, when the awful influence of power had not quite succeeded in weakening his resolve, Nnamani could tell the true national interest in these words: "The main victims of corruption in the PTDF are the Nigerian people ...We should no longer close our eyes to massive embezzlement of public funds. In fact, misapplication and misappropriation of public funds should be perceived as capital offences that attract severe punishments. Such public misbehaviours are the cause of poverty and misery in Nigeria. The Review Committee must defend the integrity of the Senate. We must ensure fairness, firmness and justice to the Nigerian people." Nor did he stop there, as he went on to enjoin the Tsauri panel to "produce actionable recommendations that restore credibility and respect to public governance and ensure that the high crimes against the Nigerian people in the PTDF are adequately captured."

The pity, of course, is that when these words came to be tested, when under his command the Tsauri panel produced "actionable recommendations," he himself was suddenly wanting in the desire to be fair and firm in serving justice to the Nigerian people. That, he must know, is no way to save parliament, arguably an institution of greater national symbolism than the executive or presidency being constituted of direct representatives of the people.

Robot  Villager

# 1 Nnamani's Curious Bid to Save the Presidency...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 04.04.2007 10:19

ocnus  Villager

# 2 It's all part of Nigerian democracy. Some have defined Nigerian democracy as three wolves and a sheep deciding on what's for dinner. Posted by ocnus| 04.04.2007 10:48

akuluouno  Villager

# 3 Ogaga, Do not worry your self too much. Nigerian history is littered with potential heroes who later reneged from the pursuit of noble principles citing some dubious national interest. Nnamani is neither the first or would he be the last. That is why I watch whom I follow closely to ensure that he does not frustrate me in the end. Let us just celebrate the good that the senate has done and inter their bad with their bones. :mad: :twisted: Posted by akuluouno| 04.04.2007 11:20

Kibe  Villager

# 4 Of Senator Ken Nnamani in the PTDF scandal, .....Oh! How are the mighty fallen! Posted by Kibe| 04.04.2007 16:45

aiksmart  Villager

# 5 Nnamani still remains the finest of them all, congresses' retreat or not. OBJ is no push over either, and Ken Nnamani understands the intricacies of this jungle life. He thinks in degrees as he evaluates his next lines of action,-- what degrees of freedom does he have, or degrees of achievement, degrees of comfort, etc. Compare him to other Nigerian politicians bereft of vision or forsight, who think in feets and yards to measure their lines of action or the legacy the hope to leave behind. O, how we need God to bless us with several other Ken Nnamani's an trust them into leadership postions in Nigeria! Posted by aiksmart| 04.04.2007 18:10

oluye  Villager

# 6 Nnamani's move to delay the senate's deliberation on PTDF is a surprisingly smart move. There has been a tussle over control by the executive, the judiciary and the legislature. In the unfolding drama it is what the senate makes of the report that will determine the fate of the actors. If EFCC's indictment and that of FEC hold no water before the courts, there remains the senate. The crack in the presidency has made the PTDF report a bargaining chip that the judiciary and legislature are using against the judiciary. Only God knows how much Nigeria is actually losing behind the scene because someone refuses to take the reprimand of higher authority and submit himself to the fate of the highest authority- God. Nnamani recognises that to rob the executive of the power to reprimand one of its own amounts to the people deciding to keep the authority they claimed to have given to that office. If the presidency loses authority, it undermines the functionality of that office. Posted by oluye| 04.04.2007 20:23

tomr  Villager

# 7 "Unaccustomed wooliness of thought", "praise a little too profuse", "conflates the presidency, a national institution, with the president, the person", "made a strenuous case for an infinitely elastic interpretation of the PTDF law"... there is nothing as refreshing and enervating as well-marshalled thoughts carefully laid down in well-scripted words. It makes following the arguments of the writer a delight. Well done, sir. I look forward to more write-ups from you. Posted by tomr| 09.04.2007 02:08

tomr  Villager

# 8 @aiksmart: And what would - and could - OBJ have done to Nnamani at this stage? Had he stood up for what he enunciated earlier (check that out in the article), he would have been remembered for it. As it is, all that has been revealed is that Nnamani has clay feet. Arggh... Save you all. Posted by tomr| 09.04.2007 02:40

Abraxas  Villager

# 9 Hi, folks! From Dr. Nwafor Orizu, to Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, to Evan(s) Enwerem, to Adolfus Wabara, to Ken Nnamani, they have all had the constitutional and historical privilege of IMPEACHING seriously defaulting presidents, or filling up a political vacuum, but adamantly refused to seize the opportunity to make history. Only God knows why. Nnaaaaaa, na wa-o-o-o-o-O! Abi, dem do dem merecine? Dis won pass me, bo. Muchas gracias. Don Juan Carlos ABRAXAS (III) Posted by Abraxas| 09.04.2007 03:13

aiksmart  Villager

# 10 =tomr;166974>@aiksmart: And what would - and could - OBJ have done to Nnamani at this stage? Had he stood up for what he enunciated earlier (check that out in the article), he would have been remembered for it. As it is, all that has been revealed is that Nnamani has clay feet. Arggh... Save you all. Since you asked, well it may interest you to know that Sen. Ken Nnamani is from Enugu state, and he is at daggers drawn with Chimaroke Nnamani his state governor. It may also interest you to note that the governor has a choke-hold over the affairs of Enugu state, and is also in the good books of OBJ... Which simultaneously supplies part of the meaning to "the intricacies of this political jungle life". If Senator Nnamani begins to make any such move not heeding to the pleas from his good friends, the duo of "Andy Uba & Sir Emeka Offor", then it will only take less than 2 weeks for Enugu state governor to assemble the required signatures for the recall of Senantor Nnamani from the congress... You do the math... I still love and respect our Senate President, impeachment or not, indictment is strong enough. Regards Ike Posted by aiksmart| 09.04.2007 09:36