Apart from the struggle to win a primary election for nomination to contest for an elective political office under a political party platform and the rigorous campaign to win the actual electoral contest with other rival candidates from other political parties, the next most difficult activity in the democratic process is the formation of a cabinet. This is irrespective of the type of the democratic system practised is presidential or Westminster Parliamentary system as the case may be. For example, under the British Westminster type of parliamentary democracy, the leader of the political party with clear majority Members of Parliament (MPs) is the person that would be asked to form the government by Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. The party that comes second in number of MPs becomes the lead opposition party and thus forms the Shadow Cabinet. Thus, the leader of the minority political party in parliament is the counterweight to the Prime Minster.

 

In contrast however, under the presidential type of constitutional democratic form of governance - the type Nigeria practices, the presidential candidate of the party that wins the election is the person that selects those whom would be members of his or her cabinet, more often than not, in close consultation with the ruling party’s hierarchy. Therefore, the process of selecting these individuals differs from place to place and circumstances. For examples, in some democracies, the elected president is at liberty to select whom so ever he or she wishes to be member of his or her cabinet without prompting from and/or influence by the ruling party’s’ national and or local caucuses. In some other democratic situations however, both the elected president and the ruling party’s national and local caucuses put heads together to select those whom would be members of the cabinet; all things considered. Sometimes individuals outside the ruling party’s membership may also be co-opted into the cabinet depending on needs and circumstances.

 

Going down the memory lane of Nigeria ’s political history, Nigeria experienced both parliamentary and presidential types of democratic governments before and after independence in 1960 to date. In addition, the country also, experienced very long military interregnums especially in the following periods: 1967-1979 and 1983-1998, respectively.  The period 1957–1967 covers Nigeria’s   experience with the British Westminster Parliamentary type of democracy, while the period 1979-1983 was the beginning of Nigeria’s experimentation with the American-type Presidential system of democratic governance. The experiment with the Presidential system of governance in Nigeria was interrupted for 16 years by military rule between 1983 and 1998. However, the country returned to presidential democratic governace from 1999 to date.

 

Therefore, Nigeria had experienced both Westminster type and American Presidential type of democracies respectively. It also tested bitter military dictatorships. Nevertheless, we are still learning the ropes of the borrowed American-styled presidential democracy. For example, our shortcomings in this experimentation were exposed and revealed in the 1983; 1993; 2003 and 2007 general elections respectively. However, the focus of this write-up is not on what happened in those general elections. The attention is on formation of Cabinet or Government after the elections were won by the various political parties. In this case, the attention is on President Umaru Musa Yar Adua (UMYA) and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); winners of the April 21 2007 Presidential Poll.

 

Therefore, the focus of this article is on the burden of formation of President Yar Adua’s Cabinet, also known as the Federal Executive Council (FEC) here in Nigeria . If experience were anything to hold on to, then, I would say that President Yar Adua must have been having sleepless nights on this issue since the results of the poll were declared by INEC in his favour. This should not be a surprise within the context of Nigeria ’s political dynamics. In fact, The Economist Magazine (May 26th– June 1^st 2007 edition, page 67) stated that Nigeria is “one of the most ungovernable on the planet.” This further underscores the heavy burden and enormous political engineering that any national leadership and even, leadership at the states and local governments’ levels face in Nigeria .

 

Leadership in the Nigerian context requires great political dexterity and mastery of an artful mix of political creativity, ethno-religious inclusiveness and bridge-building symbolism in forming a cabinet. What this means is that, one must be well groomed with the art, science and skills of balancing the constellations of interests from a polity of over 140 million and distributed amongst over 250 different ethic and multi-religious groups and political divides.

 

Yet how the past leaders of Nigeria (both civilian democratic and military dictators, respectively) handled this very sensitive and controversial issue could provide the recipe for President Yar Adua as he struggles to form his cabinet soon. However, the pertinent question agitating the minds of many political watchers of Nigeria is can Yar Adua use the formation of his cabinet to quickly stamp his mark and spring surprises against sceptics who still thinks he is an Obasanjo’s puppet and surrogate? This question is constantly being asked by public affairs commentators and the general public since Yar Adua was declared the winner of the widely controversial Presidential election of April 21, 2007 . These concerns are being raised because some of Obasanjo’s criteria for the person who would succeed him as President were absolute personal loyalty, willingness to continue with his failed reforms and by extension, to protect the interest of “The Family.”

 

“The Family” are members of the cabal of relatives, friends and business moguls who surrounded him and had grown enormously rich during his eight inglorious years of reign. Therefore, critics of Obasanjo believe that he was only interested in handpicking the successor that he can control after leaving office. Therefore, Yar Adua’s presidency began amidst curious suspicions that he is nothing but a cipher, a puppet of Obasanjo and a new generation of powerful cabal and oligarchs, that benefited tremendously from Obasanjo’s twisted reform policies.

 

Nevertheless, some public affairs commentators argue that, at this very early start of the new administration, it is foolish for people to try to predict the future course of Yar Adua’s presidency just as it is foolish to underestimate his ability to be an independent-minded politician and “Servant-Leader” and not former president Obasanjo’s puppet. Time is what matters in determining these issues. However, the burden of proof is on Yar Adua to stamp his executive authority over the national leadership thrust upon him by the Nigerian power elites.

 

It has been noted by political watchers that, President Yar Adua has a reputation of one who likes to listen and react to policy issues very slowly and cautiously. This raises many concerns in the polity that is used to the with “immediate effect syndrome” militaristic mentality of the past. Therefore, what would impress Nigerians and the international community from President Yar Adua would be a statesmanlike push to calm down the aggrieved electorates and opposition politicians. This is in the light of the strong damnation of the results of the April 2007 general elections. Already Yar Adua has indicated his desire to form an all-inclusive federal government – a government of national unity (GNU). This has become necessary because of the nature of how he got into office. This means extending olive branches to the main opposition political parties and their aggrieved chieftains to participate in his government.

 

Hence, this is where the French connection comes into light in this analysis. The newly elected President of France Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy kick-started his administration by strategically neutralising the opposition by co-opting parts of it into his government even though his party won both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections with landslides respectively. To observers of French politics and public affairs, the broad-based appointments made by President Sarkozy into his cabinet co-opting not only opposition parties but including Rama Yade, a young (female) black politician and another one who is of North African decent (Rachida Dati) politicians were masterstrokes. The real masterstroke here is that opposition to Mr Sarkozy will be too feeble. This is the lesson that President Yar Adua learn from the Sarkozy strategy.

 

Nevertheless, some of President Yar Adua’s only appointments and policy actions and inactions, as the case may be, are frightening and unimaginable. For example, front-loading his administration with the Obasanjo’s leftover shenanigans and bunch of geriatrics will not serve Nigeria ’s national interest. Because these are individuals who have been over-reused and recycled and have refused to quit the corridors of power; despite suffering from irreversible wear and tear; degradation of the soul and body and brain dementia with the passage of time. These individuals together with their sons and daughters always claim “grandfather” rights to political and bureaucratic appointments from any government in power from 1957 to date.

 

They are pterodactyls : the old big men who have served in all the governments of formed in Nigeria from 1957 to date, thus blocking the chances of the emerging new generation Nigerians their rightful places to serve their father land in higher levels of decision-making, policy implementation and management. Please do not get me wrong here, I believe that old or elderly people could still play important roles in public affairs just as they play very important and appreciative roles as grandparents in the family and society. The point I am making here is that old father-politicians and aged technocrats should take the back seats and provide guidance from their deep wells of wisdom and let the younger generation take the front row in running governmental affairs.

 

Furthermore, creeping of retired military dictators and their civilian collaborators into the national leaderships such as we see now happening in the National Assembly Senate and the Presidency is alarming and disturbing. For example, I quote at length the unhappiness of a Nigerian in this regard as expressed in a letter that was published in the Letter section of a national newspaper recently:

 

Another mistake to avoid in selecting those who would make it to the cabinet A-list is bringing onboard discredited Ex-Governors. The reason why they should not make it to the cabinet is that overwhelming majority of them are under investigation for wanton treasury looting by the anti-corruption agencies. For example, the Economic and Fiancial Crimes Commission (EFCC); the Independenct Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal have indicted many of them. Will President Yar Adua be comfortable having indicated and soon to be indicated Ex-Governors sitting in his “seemingly pristine and Zero-corruption tolerance” cabinet? That is a billion naira question. Time will tell.

 

Furthermore, Yar Adua should not allow the “Garrison Commanders” at the PDP headquarters to continue with the thuggish ways in which they deal with internal party matters and external opposition. Their repugnant behaviours amount to insult to our collective human intelligence. They make mockery of our democratic processes and seriously mar reconciliation efforts with the opposition; including civil society organisations. Equally, it is even more insulting at this very critical and challenging time, for President Yar Adua and his new Kebbi State Son-in Law, Governor Saidu Usman N Dakin Gari to go ahead and start arranging wedding ceremony between Mr President’s daughter and the Kebbi State Governor. The timing is very wrong as the nation is deeply in economic and political turmoil, with no Cabinet in place both at the national level and in Kebbi State . Yet the President and the Governor have the time to embark in wedding ceremonies under these conditions the nation finds itself. In addition, we still dream and want Nigeria to be among the 20 most developed economies of the world by 2020. May God Almighty help Nigeria get it right and give us the right leaders with the right mental state to lead us to the Promised Land. Amen.