Power brokers who’ll lose influence after May 29

In this piece, OLALEKAN ADETAYO and
eniola akinkuotu write on the
influential personalities that will
be largely affected by President
Goodluck Jonathan’s exit
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.

Power has broken abi

About to, after may 29
#WATCHOUT

Soon!

Yeah!

aneke peter chukwujekwu wrote:

Power has broken abi

i tink so

Dis lyf na turn by turn

aneke peter chukwujekwu wrote:

Power has broken abi

wat r u insinuating o?

Nothing last forever

@aneke I'm sure d tin still dey do u lyk dream; dat's y u still dey nurture dat hope

Hahahahahahah

Safex wrote:

Dis lyf na turn by turn

Yes o

Safex wrote:

@aneke I'm sure d tin still dey do u lyk dream; dat's y u still dey nurture dat hope

I think so, let him know it's a reality bro