The Deputy As Colleague

By

Anthony A. Akinola

anthonyakinola@yahoo.co.uk)

Sometimes one gets carried away and makes a statement which may be most unbefitting for an occasion and the position one holds in society. Recently the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayo Fayose, made it clear that he demanded absolute loyalty from his new deputy. In an analogy which seems rather crude for a swearing in occasion, Mr Fayose, in demanding from Mr Adebisi Omoyeni the type of loyalty he himself gives to President Oluseugun Obasanjo, said “I am absolutely loyal to President Olusegun Obasanjo and no other interest can change my loyalty to him such that if the President asks me to slap anybody, I will not look back or hesitate before doing so, this is the kind of loyalty I expect from you.”

Refusal to carry out an instruction that borders on thuggery should not mean that a decent deputy is disloyal. The Governor should have found a better way of illustrating the type of loyalty he demands. Political loyalty, in the parlance of our prominent office holders, is one that is personalised. In fact, they demand that their deputies or subordinates be servile, even to those who may be associated by marriage or by birth. “The offence of urinating on the Nigerian Constitution, right inside the House of Assembly, may be more easily forgiven than that of a deputy or subordinate ignoring the first lady or the first daughter”, has been my summation of what most of our office holders perceive as political loyalty.

The position of deputy, be it to the President of the Nigerian Federation or the governor of any state, is not one that can be construed as a position of irrelevance or small significance. A vice-president or deputy governor is potentially president or governor, not least because he or she becomes the occupant of that position in the event that it becomes vacant either because the initial occupant is dead, impeached or incapacitated by illness. Thus, Mr Omoyeni, who has been drafted from his position as director of a bank to become deputy governor could actually become governor of Ekiti State tomorrow if, God forbid, the position becomes prematurely vacant.

Apart from the need to provide for succession, or the requirement to stand in for the boss whenever he or she is not available for a role, the one other important political reason for the position of the deputy is that of “balancing the ticket”. Such a balancing act, in a diverse polity such as ours, ensures that key constituencies are represented at the top echelons of political governance. Thus, if the president is from the south, political wisdom suggests that the deputy would be from the north. Similarly, in the states of the Nigerian Federation, political positions are distributed to reflect balance between the senatorial constituencies.

Principally because he is a potential successor to the office of the boss, the deputy is expected to possess appropriate qualities suitable for the topmost job. In the Nigerian parlance, it is often said that “two heads are better than one”. Thus the president/governor and deputy is a form of collegiate in which the deputy compliments the boss. They agree to disagree on positions. Once they have mapped out a strategy together, the principle of collective responsibility demands loyalty to that strategy especially from the deputy to the one that has the final say. That is the beauty of democratic companionship, as opposed to dictatorship.

The unpredictability of human nature, and the greed and ambition in most political animals, suggest that the relationship between boss and deputy is not without envy. In fact most bosses ensure that the ones they choose as their deputies are not superior to them, either in knowledge endowment or charisma. Some deputies were known to have been disloyal to their bosses once they coveted the lion’s portion of control. It has been suggested that the discord between Mr Ayo Fayose and his erstwhile deputy, Mr Abiodun Aluko, may not be too far from the latter’s aspirations.

Now that Mr Fayose has succeeded in getting himself a new deputy, the advice from here is that loyalty is not about the deputy punctuating every sentence with “yes, sir” or “your excellency”. It is not as if your deputy should be an idiot. Sufficient class must be demonstrated at the apex of political governance. Loyalty is about mutual respect and supporting agreed goals and objectives. It is also about wishing each other well. It is definitely not about a deputy assuming the role of a servant or that of a thug.

Governor Ayo Fayose conveys a picture of one politician of the Adegoke Adelabu school - of massive appeal to the grassroots but resented by the intellectuals. He may not possess the charisma and oratorical eloquence of Adelabu but he is nevertheless his good student of the politics of the gallery. Not seeing anything wrong with stopping a motorcade in order to have a quick drink with the locals in a palm wine bar and personally conveying old men and women to the bank in order to help with opening bank accounts, epitomises the type of political behaviour associated with the “penkelemesi” years. It is about demonstrating to the underprivileged that even the one they hold in high esteem, sees himself or herself as one of them. Of course there was also an element of thuggery in penkelemesi politics which modern Nigeria cannot endorse.

Oxford

England