Anenih’s birthday bash

One newspaper had nearly 50 pages of advertisement devoted to the grand old fox.You can’t begrudge an old man his due, but the Anenih birthday clearly shows that in spite of everything, Nigeria’s power elite is one happy family in khaki or out of it. I guess Mr Anenih would not have answered his name […]

One newspaper had nearly 50 pages of advertisement devoted to the grand old fox.You can’t begrudge an old man his due, but the Anenih birthday clearly shows that in spite of everything, Nigeria’s power elite is one happy family in khaki or out of it. I guess Mr Anenih would not have answered his name if he could not fix the kind of birthday bash that had virtually all Nigerian presidents, past and present, fawning over him. Governors  and other Nigeria’s great and the not-so-good were all there to be part of the crowd or stay on the right side of the men of the moment. As a show of his pre-eminence in fixing tricky political equations, the event clearly shows that he is the man to beat. In fact, even on the home front, the old Edo  chief is as colourful as they come. While most people only know of his former wife and one time women affairs minister, Josephine Anenih, the old man outed himself when he was shown at the event with two other women bearing the title of Mrs Anenih.
 There is certainly some mystique about the man that goes beyond the home front and which every occupant  of Nigeria’s seat of power, from Obasanjo to ‘Yar‘adua and now Jonathan, finds he so desperately needs his services for. In the run up to 2015, and all the turbulence it is already generating, it is clear that Chief Tony Anenih is the man that President Jonathan will  keep close by to help him to navigate his attempt to, in the words  of the old war horse, ensure that there is no vacancy in Aso Rock again! However,  as he goes about “fixing” Nigeria, it may be well to remember the local saying of many days for the thief and one day for the owner.
The persuaders
Those still doubting President Jonathan’s interest in the 2015 election should watch the footwork of his not-so-hidden persuaders that are busy singing the gospel according to the current occupant of the villa. For the sake of clarity,  this column could not be talking about the two or three official spokesmen of government in general and the Presidency in particular. Certainly not Reuben Abati who often gets reminded of his previous public position on the president, his wife and other sundry matters, or the Minister of Information Mr Labaran Maku who also wants to forget his student union pro-masses days and Dr Doyin Okupe who does not want to hear about a certain contract that he got from Benue State.
 I am here talking about people like the former FCT minister, the gentlemanly Engineer Abba Gana, one-time President of the Senate, Ameh Ebuteh, and the one and only celebrated former mass mobiliser, Professor Jerry Gana. In the past one week all the three plus the ambitious serving senator who wants to be Taraba State’s next governor, Emmanuel Bwacha, are all over the newspapers lambasting the position of those who are asking question about the president’s right to contest for the next election and the newly minted opposition party, APC. Theirs appear to be a well choreographed attempt to show that we should all line behind the leader and shout hallelujah, even though the leader himself has no idea where he may be taking the nation to now or as from 2015.
It may not be fair to the distinguished gentlemen to speculate their motive for this seemingly well oiled campaign that has political editors of many newspapers, radio and television stations competing to exceed each other in the number of stories and interviews they publish on the subject. This column will not have minded if the four persuaders are basing their arguments for their hero’s  right  to contest on his solid personal achievements.  Instead they are busy questioning the position of the Northern Elders Forum, the rebellious PDP governors and anything else that does not agree with them that Jonathan is the best thing that has happened to this country.
 Senator Ameh Ebuteh seems  clever by half as is reported by one of the newspapers as charging Northern leaders to give space to other sections of the country to rule, noting that when northerners ruled the country, they were not disturbed as President Jonathan is presently being disturbed. Well, well, well, you could say that again. What do you call the slant of media reports on the second republic government and indeed on all other governments led by Northerners up to the present?