ABUSE OF OFFICE !
By Che Oyinatumba
Before the Amazon
saddled and tamed the bronco called NAFDAC, the only
drug I know that was abused, is volume 5 and 10.
This drug was the companion of the rich who cannot
sleep for the poor are hungrily awake, plotting how
to undo the rich man or where they can’t, main the
master’s favourite goat.
Another drug I use to know that was abused is
cocaine. Once one is referred to as drug
user/abuser, my mind drifts to the rich man’s son,
who schooled abroad and acquired the white man’s
mannerism of constantly sniffing, hugging his chest,
with darting eyes like a rat ready to pounce on a
piece of funeral meat.
Dr. Dora Akunyili, came on board and broadened my
understanding. The use of any drug, be it Vitamin C
or paracetamol without certified medical
prescription, is drug abuse. Suffice to say that,
anything done improperly, or properly without
consent of the recipient, is abuse, even if it is
for the common good of all or the recipient. When is
the tenure of Dr (Mrs.) Akunyili at NAFDAC due and
expiring? Or is she in abuse of office?
Nigerians like a performing official and quick to
build a personality cult around such, as depicted by
“coming soon” soap opera being advertised in AIT.
Most Nigerians have failed to understand that any
drug, no matter how potent it is, has an expiration
date. A date beyond which its potency is of no
effect and its continuous use is poisonous. In social circle,
it is called point of diminishing returns or a
plateau, where the brain runs in auto mode and cannot generate fresh ideas to attack fresh problems.
At this stage in a carpenter’s life, every problem
is seen as a nail and solved with a hammer.
Gradually, Dr. (Mrs.) Akunyili is degenerating as
the Director General of NAFDAC and if nothing is
done, her failure from the exalted height we hold
her, will be a sore on the nose, used by the
international community to ridicule the black race.
Her spiral dance to questionable efficiency was
noticed during the campaign tours of Yar’Adua/Goodluck.
She was obstructively visible and some of her fans
excused it by blaming the highhandedness of OBJ,
whom they reasoned must have “commandeered and
threatened” all appointees and hangers-on, as was
evident during the PDA convention to support
Yar’Adua. Another faithful claimed that she was
drafted to make sure that the cold drug to be used
by the PDP presidential hopeful-as he then was
befitting and not the one produced at the request of omo nna, fit only for a donkey in the country of
production.
After the emergence of Yar’Adua as president, one
had thought that Dr. (Mrs.) Akunyili, will face the
illegal drug marketers at Head Bridge Onitsha and
the kingpins she alleged wanted to kill her. There
are other issues to be addressed. The locally made
Vitamin C tablets (chewable) are rough and despite
having a NAFDAC approved number, tastes like chalk!
Same applies to other across the counter drugs. The
clamp on importation of certain drugs in the absence
of a local industry to cater for the hunger induced
medical condition of Nigerians, should be reviewed.
The few industries, cannot meet local demand, the
comatose power supply under Yar’Adua’s government,
makes mincemeat of this noble attempt. Through out
November/December 2007, I could not find an infusion
water-drip anywhere in Kubwa Abuja. Phone calls I
made to other cities, confirmed the scarcity. This
is ordinary sterilized water how much more other
drugs?
Rather than tackle these problems, to our dismay,
the strongman of Ibadan garrison, while facing trial
at magistrate court Wuse Zone 6 Abuja threw up Dr.
(Mrs.) Akunyili into the murky waters of PDP
backstabbing. In an interview with journalists
Alahaji Adedibu said “Having lost appointment as
minister, she is going about abusing everybody…”
Further more Adedibu reasserted that during the
campaign tours that Dr. showered encomiums on him.
One can dismiss this as the ranting of amala
politics, but the resurfacing of Dr. Akunyili at the
judicial abuse of Nigerians on Tuesday 26th February
2008 gave me a reason to worry. Wistfully, an
observer asked if Dora has come to support Buhari
(Whom it is believed recommended her for the job),
or Yar’Adua, who wants to reshuffle his cabinet once
the tribunal gives him a reprieve. Another opined
that she came to stop the jurist from abusing the
faith Nigerians have reposed in then.
Nobody denies that this great woman has done well,
but any dancer who fails to leave when the applause
is loudest, is doomed to be booed out. There are
others in NAFDAC, who can push this Akunyili’s
success story a step further. If she is interested
in Politics and if her tenure has “expired”, let the
Senate or whatever body is responsible for acceptance of her resignation letter/removal step up
and perform its duty. Until Nigerians see that
governance cum service to our fatherland, is slavery
determined by constitutional, Civil service rotation
based on competence, age on the job and not godfatherism, the younger generation will be worst
than this generation. A firm example should be shown
that once you have expired your constitutionally
allotted time to do your best for the good of all;
you are elevated to senior citizenship to allow
others contribute their quota. Some thought Nigeria
would have collapsed if the constitution was not
adulterated to contain third term, but here we are,
celebrating the dismantling of the criminal
dispossession of Nigeria's heritage under “due
process”
It will be recalled that as a build up to the fever
pitch Tuesday, the lower tribunals have shown
courage in dismantling the fraud by Iwu’s infamous
INEC. As prelude to the Supper Tuesday, David Mark,
the senate president, was unmarked by Abubakar Usman
(young Alahaji). All Nigerians were ready for a
landmark judgment. But the Court of Appeal ruled as
though they are not Nigerians and illogically
affirmed rigging.
Mark you, the David Mark election that was unmarked,
was conducted on the same day that Yar’Adua’s (s)election
was done, same time, same returning office, and same
political party. Could PDP have rigged in Mark in
two LGAs and fail to deliver a PDP presidential
candidate? How can non numbering of a ballot paper
not be substantial non compliance with the
provisions of Electoral Act? Even in common UME, the
test questions are marked and grouped to avoid
cheating. Haba oga judges!
The tribunal has given the sought after temporary
reprieve as the battle ground shifts to Supreme
Court but the PDP convention at the door step, is
giving the presidency a nightmarish dream of
Chairman Mao while in China.
The needful cabinet reshuffle may be a donkey years
away. Apart from the ambition of those who showed
crocodile support at the tribunal, there is need to
drop some of the baggage this administration of
strange bedfellows is dragging. What is a Senior
Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) doing in tourism
industry? Learned men, is mastery of African
traditional legal system a condition precedent to
conferment of SAN? What is a distinguished SAN, who
served as Attorney General of a state for 8 years
doing as a junior minister in the comatose power
sector? This is grouse abuse of the silk.
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