Ahmed Yahaya – Joe
“I’m not a member of any cabal, I’m cabal myself.” – Ismaila Isa Funtua (1942-2020)
Perhaps this advisory is coming too late for the chap standing in obeisance in the attached picture. The fact that an Abuja high court has recently prevented his arrest is beside the point. The masses always love the public hanging of a scapegoat.
According to Rakibul Alam, a professor at the Bangladesh Army University, “When there is social chaos, a scapegoat is probable. Many scapegoats are innocent, but a scapegoat does not have to be innocent to make an effective scapegoat.”
In 2015, the now-retired AIG Mustapha Magu arrived at his duty post shooting from all cylinders unfortunately for him, “In the heat of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal.” – 48 Laws of Power
Like in chess the ultimate goal is to by any means necessary protect the king.
I have always pondered on why Sir Ahmadu Bello preferred holding sway in Kaduna to being Prime Minister of Nigeria in Lagos. The reasons started filtering down during my final year at Kaduna Polytechnic as I embarked on an assigned case study of the Kaduna Polo Club as part of my design project.
I vividly recall how the club secretary Gbenga Atoki wondered why my inquiries were more journalistic than architectural because as he went on and on about ideal stables design for polo ponies, I was more concerned about the complex interrelationships between those than owning them.
Alas, my youthful probing beyond the clubhouse layout and spectator stand specifications was earlier this year validated in Prof. Moses Ochonu’s latest book, Emirs in London: Subaltern Travel and Nigeria’s Modernity (2022)
The attached picture has been understandably subject to diverse interpretations particularly as it relates to the now-deceased elderly gentleman crossing his leg, Malam Isa.
A not-too-surprising development is that since 1999 to date no CBN governor has ever earned a second term except the incumbent.
Femi Adesina’s trajectory to the Villa the presidential aide in his own words over two phone calls is self-explanatory:
First, “On March 31, 2015, final results of the presidential polls were coming in. As Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Sun Newspapers, I had worked late, closing at about 11 p.m. Got home shortly before midnight, and by then, the last result had been announced. My phone rang shortly after midnight. The voice was unmistakable. It was Mallam Isa, and he said, “Please hold on for the President-elect.”
Gen Buhari came on the line. And he said: “Adesina, I want to thank you very much. Thank you for your support all these years. There are people who could have paid you millions, but you chose to support me when I couldn’t even give you a bottle of Coke. Thank you very much.”
A second phone call, “Date was May 31, 2015. The new President had been inaugurated two days earlier. I had attended the event at Eagle Square, Abuja, but was back in Lagos. I was home, on a Sunday, and it was about 5 p.m.
A phone call, and that familiar voice again. Mallam Isa. “Your name will be announced tonight as Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President. Should we go ahead?”
The rest as they say is now history.
The best way not to be a political scapegoat is to adhere to sage advice from the longest-serving British PM Margaret Thatcher, “Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by traffic on both sides.”
Simply put, any valuable appointee of the Jonathan administration that has become so influential in the Buhari administration is target practice without covering fire from a godfather. While to have survived thus far implies being not unlike the double-faced Roman deity Janus, it is mind-boggling for such a brilliant banker to be unable to properly read and interpret political dynamics.
As the pool of Kaduna power brokers is drying up who are its next occupants?
The question is pertinent against the background of excruciating poverty and widespread insecurity pervading Arewa with the World Bank recently claiming it would take North 40 years to catch up with the south of Nigeria.
Looking back Malam Mamman Daura in his tribute to Dr. Mahmud Tukur gives us a rare insight into the beginnings of the current aging cabal,
“The Sardauna, Premier of the North (may ALLAH rest his soul) personally selected six boys, all top of their class in their respective secondary schools: Mahmud Tukur, Tiamiyu Salami, Abubakar Alhaji, Augustine Yange (now Abdullahi Yange), Shehu Ibrahim and myself were told to drop whatever we were doing and prepare to go to England.
“We were taken to London, thence to Bournemouth, and placed in Bournemouth Municipal College. The Sardauna’s instruction was that we were to be given a “liberal education”.”
The late Sam Nda-Isaiah dropped a hint on some inner workings, “People associate guest houses with devious and philandering plutocrats, but people like Dr. Tukur keep guest houses only as hideouts to read and study and to contemplate. Meetings are called to discuss national issues and analyze policies.
“I have attended several such meetings in Kaduna. It’s always interesting watching Dr. Tukur and Malam Mamman throw puns at themselves.”
To be continued……
