Lessons from Alhassan’s Rejection
NowthattheMinisterforWomenAffairs,AishaAlhassanhasopenlyrejectedherboss,PresidentMuhammadu Buhari, isn’t it time the president disbanded his cabinet and constituted a new one, asks Tobi Soniyi
Having made it clear that she no longer has confidence in her boss, the proper step for the minister to take is to resign her appointment. She should not wait for the president to sack her
The last certainly has not been heard over the comment made by the Minister for Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan wherein she expressed her readiness to dump her boss, President Muhammadu Buhari for her political god father, Atiku Abubakar. Many, especially women have commended her for making her preference public and for having the gut to speak out just like the wife of the president, Aisha once did.
It is her constitutional right to choose the candidate of her choice for 2019 and no one should crucify her for that.
But in politics leaders expect those who work for them to be loyal. The minister must be deemed to be aware of this when she chose to speak out.
However, the real lesson in the unfolding drama is that it brings to the fore whether a president should appoint into his cabinet someone who does not share his visions.
While reacting to the Alhassan’s comments, the Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai made it clear that even the president knew at the beginning that the minister did not support him nor share his visions.
The governor said: “In the APC she was never been in the Buhari camp, she did not support our candidates during the National Convention, she didn’t vote for Buhari during the primaries. But out of largeness of the president’s heart and to encourage women in politics, he felt that even though she was never a supporter of his politics nor a believer of his ideologies, and because of what she had tried to do in Taraba, he felt she earned being nominated as a minister.
“Many in Buhari camp did not support it but he overruled everybody because that is how he is, he tries to be inclusive, he considers every Nigerian his own son or daughter and he nominated her to be minister.”
El-Rufai said her comments did not come as a surprise. But he also added that as an individual she had every right to express her views and support whoever she wanted.
In appointing her a minister, the president must have set himself up a failure. If a president wanted to implement change but ended up appointing those who did not want change into his cabinet, is that not a recipe for failure? El-Rufai gave an unconvincing answer to the puzzle when he said: “Being part of Buhari government is a different thing because government sets policies and if you are a minister you execute the policies. You can execute those policies while pursuing a different brand of politics. And it is okay there is no problem with that.” Many disagreed.
Obviously, Buhari must have come to the reality that Alhassan is one minister who does not share his visions. The president must therefore be biting his finger for appointing her into his cabinet. Other than the fact that she ran for the office of the Taraba state governor on the platform of APC and lost, Buhari perhaps, has no basis for appointing her into his cabinet.
Other questions begging for answers are: as the minister for women’s affairs how much value did she add to the Buhari’s government if she was in this much hurry to bring Atiku as president? What is her performance like? The lesson, for Mr President is that appointments of people into cabinet should not be based on sentiments.
No one should forget that it took the president about six months before he could appoint ministers. If after six months, the president ended up appointing people who did not believe in his vision as members of his cabinet, it should be very easy to understand how we found ourselves at where we are today. If truly Alhassan’s reasons for joining the Buhari’s government is service, it should not matter under who she serves whether Buhari or Atiku.
Today, there are many Alhassans in this government. They are there because the president felt it was more important to compensate them than to deliver on his promises to Nigerians. If the president had based his decision to appoint ministers on finding the best hands to run the country, many of those holding ministerial posts today would not be there. And if they are not there, perhaps, the country would not be in this hardship because with more competent hands, this administration could have done better.
If nothing else, Alhassan has made an urgent case for the president to change his team and bring on board people who share his visions to change the country for good. Should the president delay further, another minister will sooner than later embarrass him.
In making new appointments, the president should widen the scope, he should not allow ethnic prejudices and political sentiments influence his choice. Go for the best. At this critical period, the country has no room for mediocrity.
The Alhassan’s issue has further exposed this government as one that does not do due diligence before making appointments. Recently, this government embarrassed itself when it appointed persons being investigated for alleged corruption by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission into that same commission.
For those who did not follow the drama Alhassan reportedly told the BBC Hausa Service that should the president decide to seek re-election, she would support her “godfather” – former Vice President Atiku Abubakar – against Mr. Buhari.
According to her, Abubakar was her godfather and she would rather support him in the 2019 presidential elections.
She also added that Buhari had not indicated interest in running.
She said: “Atiku is my godfather even before I joined politics. And again, Baba Buhari did not tell us that he is going to run in 2019.
“Let me tell you today that if Baba said he is going to contest in 2019, I swear to Allah, I will go before him and kneel and tell him that ‘Baba I am grateful for the opportunity you gave me to serve your government as a minister but Baba just like you know, I will support only Atiku because he is my godfather.’ If Atiku said he is going to contest.”
She also said she was not concerned about losing her job as minister over her comments. “If because of what I said, I am sacked, it will not bother me because I believe in Allah that my time has elapsed.
“Baba is not a mad man like those calling for my sack. They have been spreading it that if Baba sees this (my comments), I will be sacked” she added.
In a separate interview with Reuters, Alhassan said Buhari had told some of his supporters that he would not seek a second term.
“In 2014/2015 he said he was going to run for only one time to clean up the mess that the (previous) PDP government did in Nigeria. And I took him for his word that he is not contesting in 2019,” she was quoted as saying.
When she was approached by journalists at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the minister said she had said all that needed to be said in her interview with BBC Hausa.
‘‘No, I have no comment. What will I say now, I have said all in BBC Hausa. Get someone who speaks Hausa very well to translate it for you,’’ she said.
On her relationship with the president and fears she may lose her job, she said:
‘‘How will I know (on the relationship). I have not seen the president but I don’t think the president is a naive person.
God gives and God takes. That is all and I have said it all in Hausa. You know that there is an end to everything. Let the will of God be.”
Having made it clear that she no longer has confidence in her boss, the proper step for the minister to take is to resign her appointment. She should not wait for the president to sack her. That is the way it is done elsewhere.