Who should be the next SGF?

By his own admission President Muhammadu Buhari is set to name his abridged cabinet anytime next month. If the president keeps his promise, and goes ahead to name his ministers as scheduled in September, then the odds must be shortened that the next Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) would also be appointed […]

By his own admission President Muhammadu Buhari is set to name his abridged cabinet anytime next month. If the president keeps his promise, and goes ahead to name his ministers as scheduled in September, then the odds must be shortened that the next Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) would also be appointed before then.
For as long as I can remember, it has always been the responsibility of the SGF to superintend over the swearing-in ceremonies of newly appointed Ministers of the Republic. It was the practice even during the military regimes of the past. President Buhari, who has never hidden his strong desire to restore due process in the operation of our public institutions, should therefore be expected to name the new SGF before his ministers are sworn into office. But who will that person be? That is the big question on the lips of most observers at the moment.
The issue is even more intriguing because in Nigeria, it is foolhardy to take anything for granted, especially when the issue involves political appointments and their intricate requirement for geo-political balancing. With the election of Buhari (Northwest) as president, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (Southwest), and the virtual coup that enthroned Bukola Saraki (North-Central) as the Senate President; the position of the SGF was expected to be a straight shootout between the Northeast and the Southeast and South-south, that was, until the amiable Honourable Yakubu Dogora (Northeast) proved he lacked nothing in political sagacity with his election as the Speaker of the House of Representatives!
Dogara’s election, along with the emergence of Ike Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President, altered the permutations in terms of the sort of geo-political balancing required to stabilize the polity completely. With Dogara in the saddle, the Northeast cannot now vie for the position of SGF with sufficient justification. With each passing day, it now seems like a straight fight between the Southeast and the South-south notwithstanding the precarious position of Ekwerenmadu as the Deputy Senate President.
A few political heavyweights who discussed the matter with me do not expect Ekweremadu to survive for too long in his position. If the raging scandal on the alleged forgery of Senate rules fails to sweep him aside, they expect his principal (Bukola Saraki) to sacrifice him for his own political survival sooner, rather than later.
This group of politicians do not regard Ekweremadu’s “election” as compensation for the obvious exclusion of the Southeast from the highest political offices in the land. Beyond the sponsored solidarity receptions and pronouncements in his favour, they have always regarded Ekweremadu’s current position as a temporary distraction from the ultimate goal. The position they crave even with the nuisance created by Ekweremadu’s emergence as the pre-eminent Igbo politician from the Southeast, is that of the SGF! Nothing else would do.
With the Northeast already settled, and without prejudice to the emergence of a dark horse who could alter all permutations, the contest for the position of SGF now appears to be one between the immediate past governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi (South-south) and Chief Ogbonnaya Onu (Southeast), also a former governor of Abia state. Both gentlemen come equipped with excellent credentials.
With Amaechi, one thing we cannot dispute is his undoubted courage, and doggedness, even in the face of tremendous odds. Ameachi, it was, who squared-up to the former president Goodluck Jonathan, and the de-facto face of his terror machine in Rivers state, AIG Mathew Mbu, and survived to tell the tale like he did so eloquently at the reception in his honour last Sunday night in Abuja.
Since he decamped to the APC Amaechi has never looked back unlike some well-known rabble-rousers who chickened out of the G-7 for predictable reasons. He also served as the Director-General of Buhari’s Presidential Campaign Organization and remains the ultimate face of the APC in the South-South, along with the Chairmen Chief John Odigye-Oyegun.
If there are any chinks in Amaechi’s formidable armour, they can be found in the question marks about his temperament, and the critical comportment required for the position of SGF. Another factor is the current simmering suspicion of Buhari in the Southeast after the last elections.
If the position is given to the South-South, the serious matter of their political exclusion of the Southeast, especially when Ekweremadu is eventually eased aside like many have sworn he would be, would be further compounded. The status-quo will give currency to the exploits of the clown called Nnamdi Kanu, and the other idiots behind Radio Biafra.
Assuaging their fears will not amount to blackmail, it will be plain commonsense. Besides, the South-south has already produced the Chairman of the ruling party, and you do suspect that a befitting role in government could still be found for Amaechi in any case.
That explains why my vote for the position will always be for Ogbonnaya Onu any day and my choice is far removed from sentiments because he comes solidly qualified for the job. Unlike Amaechi who I have met once at the Sheraton Hotel in Tunis when I was included in the delegation for the FIFA 2010 World Cup qualifier between Tunisia and Nigeria, I have never met Ogbonnaya Onu, but there are still many things about the man that strongly appeal to me.
Beyond his credentials as a well-rounded intellectual – Amaechi, I must not fail to add is no slouch in that realm either- I am massively impressed with Onu’s cultured airs and undoubted humility. I am struck by his efficiency in working quietly and meticulously for the benefit of his party without indulging in the self-serving publicity stunts that has become so typical of our politicians.
And if character means much to Mr President, like we all know it does then it becomes even harder to look beyond Chief Onu for the position of the SGF.  A quick check of his political odyssey in the past sixteen years provides sufficient proof of the man’s decency and pedigree. Unlike the numerous Southeast politicians who jumped on the Goodluck Jonathan gravy train for the lucre, Ogbonayya Onu has remained the face of the opposition in the Southeast since his sojourn with the defunct All Peoples Party (APP) in 1998!
 How many of our politicians today, including those currently milling around the president can lay claim to such a distinguished record of loyalty to a cause they believe in?
And in case we have forgotten? The late Mahmud Waziri, Yusuf Ali and Abdulkadir Bafarawa all led the old APP at different times only to abandon the party in crisis for different reasons. It was only under the Chairmanship of Ogbonnaya Onu that the party stabilized and even became a formidable partner in the coalition that eventually unseated the PDP. Onu, in fact, led the APP into the merger of the multiple that produced the APC, and in doing so demonstrated that he is not a political prostitute.
Even now, without attracting much attention to himself, Onu continues to work faithfully for his party, in spite the loud groans in the Southeast against the president on the trend of his early appointments. I have no way of knowing how the mind of the president works under pressure, but such a man should certainly not be discounted in the choice of who eventually becomes the next SGF.  Apart of his undoubted value as a politician, he also has the additional advantage of being a sound technocrat.
May God guide PMB in making the right choice.