“With the presidentโs implicit confidence in Wale Edun, Cardoso, and other men who helped him in Lagos, and with him ensconced in them, Shettima looks dispensable”
By Agaba Ayodele
During the campaigns, Shettima had touted himself as a security expert. Now, he loiters like an ice cream man. Shettima is effectively idle. Against the backdrop of Osinbajo, Shettima looks like a forgotten ceremonial piece. Shettimaโs dusty redundancy is confounding because the government grapples with many intractable demons. So Shettima canโt recline into this cheerleading without provoking sympathy. He should be assigned a big bone. Before the elections, the effusive man had big ideas, but now he floats like the naira, filling his days with hypemanโs flattery and motivational chants.ย
The presidency reeks of awalokan. Shettimaโs mind must harbour unutterable emotions. All levers of power are in the hands of trusted longstanding aides and associates of the president. It must be a little claustrophobic for an adventurous Shettima. Once in a while, when he is allowed to luxuriate and represent the president at a foreign conference, he comes to board his plane smiling for cameras. He didnโt come to the presidency for these international picnics. Yet he must remain in the โsuffering and smilingโ mode for his own good. Even a wince can make him a Judas. Buhari and Tinubu are different animals.
Regardless of the suffocating prevalence of parapoism in this presidency, a former governor and senator, who prides himself as Jim Oviaโs boy, should be allowed to breathe. These things prevent the atrophy of self-esteem. He has political gravitas that has been undercultivated and underutilised. Politically naive Osinbajo had his hands full. Shettima can even be used for nasty jobs. โAt-all at-allโ they say. We all know he chairs the economic council and a few other inconsequential gatherings. With the presidentโs implicit confidence in Wale Edun, Cardoso, and other men who helped him in Lagos, and with him ensconced in them, Shettima looks dispensable. Osinbajo carved and sold an economic and recovery program, and Atiku championed one program after another during his first tenure. But Shettimma has become an itinerant motivational speaker, hawking half-baked jokes at birthday ceremonies, mouthing platitudes about hope in the time of tumbling naira and crushing cost of living. His situation is pitiable.
The Police Force needs a thorough reformation. It could be the introduction of state police. It could be the institution of the concept of community policing so that agenda-setting and answerability happen at the lowest levels. Whichever we choose, this task needs an astute politician to harness executive and legislative cooperation and potential. Shettima can oversee the policy formulation and drive the constitutional amendment process.
National unity is another challenge. To douse tensions and reduce military exhaustion, we must prioritise national harmony. Across the country, political cold water needs to be poured over fires and fevers. Tinubu inherited deep divisions but hasnโt initiated any intentional and coherent national orientation and mobilization effort. This aloofness seems egotistic. National unity and unification should be prioritised now and long before the next elections. It isnโt just about peace. National development will accelerate if the country attains functional harmony and pulls in one direction. A Task Force might be required. Such a task force will initiate extensive honest interactions with stakeholders in the regions and ethnic nationalities. Though some see Shettima as a religious bigot or ethnic chauvinist, he has the political skill to give and take and fashion the requisite compromises. Shettima seems hungry to burnish his political reputation.
A new and holistic power plan in collaboration with the states is inescapable. The country is in relentless darkness. A clear plan with ambitious timelines and measurable deliverables must be designed. This plan will incorporate whatever ideas Siemens are pursuing. The Siemens Project canโt be our plans A, B, C and D. Siemens should be part of the plan. A proper roadmap should involve the three tiers of government and all their arms, the private sector and civil society. Power, or the lack of it, has become our worst enemy. We must declare a deliberate war against it. Not another war fought by sloganeering and jamboree-conferences, but a scientific war fought businesslike, with tears in our eyes and pain in our hearts, conscious of the many decades we lost to executive indolence and planlessness.
Despite political insinuations by his political opponents that he had sympathy for boko haram at some stage, Shettima can work with the NSA to fashion a new security architecture for the country. Often, reformation in this country means the old, unworkable idea in new robes and a dubious ceremony to celebrate charlatanism. A genuine reformation of the security architecture must take pressure away from the military in multiple ways. So it might lead to the formation of a National Guard to combat rampant banditry, kidnappings and petty insurgencies. The military is stretched. Apart from external aggressors and the vilest of internal insurgencies, all other violent actors must be the guests of a new agency with the widespread capability to scorch violence and hold grounds liberated by the military from terrorists. This will also preserve the police to focus on maintaining order, tackling routine crime, and sustaining prosecutions.
We have over 50 million youths. But our farmers canโt go to their farms. And we canโt use the youths to free the farms for the planting of agbado and cassava? Shettima needs to be tested. We canโt spend 15 billion naira on building a home for a man who only flies to watch the Super Eagles and represent the president at Arugungu fishing festivals.
A new Sports Development Plan that integrates grassroots sports with international opportunities through corporate sponsorships is imperative. There is a new consciousness amongst our youths. The fire to break world records has been lit. It must be fanned to spread from cooking and disc jockeying to athletics, tennis, etc. These endeavours require early identification and nurturing, funding, and international exposure. The Sports Minister has been meeting with industry captains to sell the idea of transforming the Nigerian Premier League. Shettima can drive this process with the weight of the presidency and his clout as a former governor and senator. Aikhomu played a significant role in pushing forward our football. If most of the clubs in our Premierhsip are owned by corporate giants, the nostalgic rivalries of the days of Stationery Stores, Abiola Babes, NNB, Bendel Insurance, Leventis United, BCC Lions, etc might return. Football will become big business in Nigeria in four years. Shettima is ebullient and young. So, how can he be this idle in the midst of many challenges?
The farmers versus herders crisis is still ravaging many communities. If it is comprehensively resolved with ranches and the limitation of cross-country grazing, bloodletting will be reduced, and harmony will flourish in many places. Shettimma can champion the reinvention of cattle herding practices and livestock farming in general. This task will require deep collaboration between many states and the federal government. It will require inter-ministerial team play. It might require a few new ideas on forest policing. So the task requires a central player with political nous.
Shettima and his aides might deny his idleness. They might even churn out a list of activities to refute it. But one year has passed and the vice president canโt name a major thing he has owned. Yet Shettima, we were told, was chosen on merit. And we had to upturn a convention and endure a Muslim-Muslim ticket to have him. The president said he wasnโt chosen as a mere device to get northern Mulsim votes. Shettima wore a wonky suit on an incongruous pair of sneakers to tell us the ticket was a heavenly bumper: โbuy one get one freeโ. But now we know better. If Shettima was going to be a spare tyre, why did Tinubu go through the rigour of using him to replace his original dummy running mate?
Mr President, give Shettima a heavy-duty assignment. He didnโt come to the Villa to watch an Eyo political festival.
