She served in different capacities and made a huge success of every of her endeavours. But painfully, she failed to live her political ambition, writes Ojo M. Maduekwe, while paying tribute to a former Minister of Information and Communications, Dora Akunyili, who passed on last weekend.

She was said to have wanted so badly to be Senator because she felt she could best serve her people further in that capacity. The former Director General of the National Agency for Drug, Food Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Dora Akunyili had only spent two years as the Minister of Information under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan when she resigned in 2010 to contest as Senator for the Anambra Central Senatorial seat under the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
At a rerun election, in what was reported to have been keenly contested, Chris Ngige of the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), now All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared winner of the election, beating the former minister. While Ngige, a former governor of Anambra polled 69,765 votes, Akunyili was said to have garnered 69, 292.

Before then, there was the April 9, 2011 election said to have been inconclusive by an Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) administrative panel, which result when tallied, was said to have given a slight lead to Akunyili. Discussing the election in a later interview sometime in April 2013, Akunyili insisted she won the election and did not lose to Ngige.

“I was rigged out during the election and technicalities prevented me from reclaiming my mandate at the election tribunal, as my petition was not heard because my opponent employed delay tactics to ensure that the case was not decided within the 180 days stipulated by the Electoral Act.”

This was not the first time the professional turned politician was at the receiving end of a bitter and corrupt politics. When the late Yar’Adua was incapacitated and unfit to rule as president and the true state of his health hidden from Nigerians and some cabinet members, including then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan by a small cabal controlled by his wife, Turai Yar’Adua, Akunyili was the one who wrote a memo to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to vote Yar’Adua as unfit to rule.

Being a member of the cabinet herself, this unusual posturing was a shock to the president’s loyalists, who felt Akunyili’s action was akin to biting the hand that fed her, but many Nigerians who were waiting for an end to the drama hailed Akunyili’s stand. But before that day, many Nigerians had concluded that the former NAFDAC boss, known to be honest might have become an establishment person.

Her acceptance of the position of the Minister of Information, instead of insisting to be appointed Minister of Health or nothing, made Nigerians see her as someone who had tasted the pie and wanted more. But, Akunyili’s public posture on the Yar’Adua’s health saga, siding with the people, redeemed her and in an instant, she became the darling queen of the Nigerian people.

At this time, however, the smoke from the kitchen cabinet in Aso Rock had become intolerable. Following her insistence that the memo be read at the FEC meeting to the public and the leaking of same to the press, there were calls for her resignation by some politicians said to be loyal to the Yar’Adua/Northern cause.

Then Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Michael Aondoakaa, was rumoured to have asked her to resign. Also, during a Senate ministerial nominee screening exercise in 2010, Senator Kanti Bello from Kastina State did not conceal his disgust for Akunyili and reported to have at a point turned his questioning into yelling at her.

For someone doing the honest thing, Akunyili must have been shocked at the cold response she was getting from politicians who swore an oath to protect the Nigerian Constitution and who were supposed to at all times side with the electorate. When it must have become glaring for her that she couldn’t serve the people well as a conduit pipe to a government that had been infiltrated by people interested only in serving their personal interest, she left and worked towards representing her people at the Senate.

But three years later, Akunyili in an interview, said it was not the treatment she got from her outspokenness about the late Yar’Adua’s health that made her resign her position as the government mouthpiece; rather she said she was moved by a desire to serve her people in a different capacity.

“I voluntarily resigned my appointment as Minister of Information and Communications on December 15, 2010 to enable me contest the April 2011 senatorial election on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance. My governor, Mr. Peter Obi, also invited me to come and run for Senate so as to join him in working for the good people of Anambra State.”

Although in her characteristic manner, she fought hard to realise this dream of becoming a Senator, the odds were stacked against her. Aside the popularity of her opponent, Ngige, whose short tenure as governor of Anambra is still being adjudged one of the best in modern day Anambra State, the nature of Nigerian politics dictated that Akunyili must become part of the establishment and act like them.

She would have resorted to violence and thuggery. To toe this line would have been the moral death of the honest crusader who won hundreds of local and international awards for her work in pharmacology, public health and human rights.

“One of the greatest problems facing female politicians is violence. Sadly, thuggery and election rigging have become part and parcel of politics in this country. We are unable to handle these twin evils because women by nature are mild, gentle, compassionate and humane. We have that motherly instinct that would not allow us to associate ourselves with violence,” Akunyili said in an interview in 2013.

Another challenge faced by female politicians, according to her, was nocturnal meetings. “Nigeria’s politicians prefer to hold important meetings at night. I believe nocturnal meetings are not the best and there is no meaningful discussion that cannot be concluded before midnight on any day. Women are not able to handle this aspect of politicking. How can a woman be outside her home at night in the name of meetings? I believe this is a subtle way of excluding women.”

As a public servant, she was outstanding and honest; the kind many Nigerians would like to be attended to when they walk into a government organisation and not the type that would demand money in exchange before rendering you a service they were employed to do. But as a politician, the chances of Akunyili making it was slim; not because she didn’t have what it takes to be one but because she had one thing many politicians lack – honesty. This was what got her the NAFDAC job in 2001.

In 1998 when she was the Zonal Secretary (South-east) of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF), Akunyili was diagnosed by Nigerian doctors as having a growth and needing surgery. Not satisfied, she decided to travel to the United States to get a second opinion. The PTF sponsored her trip. The bill for the medical trip was $17,000, including $12,000 for the surgery. During check-up, doctors told her she did not need surgery. Akunyili made sure the money for the surgery was returned to the PTF.

On hearing this, Muhammadu Buhari, who headed the PTF, wrote her a commendation letter. Years later, in 2001, President Olusegun Obasanjo wanting to appoint a Director-General for NAFDAC, and asked for the recommendation of an honest Nigerian pharmacist and someone mentioned Akunyili’s name.

Several roadblocks were laid in her path by some politicians who came up with insinuations such as – the then Minister of Health, Prof. ABC Nwosu, being an Igboman from Anambra, same state as Akunyili. Some also said the market for counterfeit drugs was controlled by the Igbo’s and that Akunyili was going to shield her people from prosecution. Obasanjo ignored all these and appointed Akunyili to head NAFDAC and till date, Nigerians are the healthier for that decision.

In today’s Nigeria, the people are looking to connect with public servants that exhume passion for their job or for a politician who is driven by conviction for an idea to better their lives.

With the death of Akunyili, there is hardly anyone to look up to now for honest and brave leadership – two key ingredients lacking in several self-serving politicians parading themselves in today’s polity as men and women of the people.

Ojo M. Maduekwe wrote this piece for ThisDay.

 

UPDATE: BODY DORA AKUNYILI ARRIVES TODAY FROM INDIA.

The body of former minister of information and communications, Professor Dora Akunyili, will arrive Abuja Wednesday evening from India.

Akunyili died on Saturday, June 7, after a battle with cancer, having been initially misdiagnosed over a long period of check-ups and treatments.

A family member told TheCable that the body will be deposited at the mortuary of the National Hospital while the family finalises burial plans.

No date has been agreed upon yet, but there are strong indications that she will be buried in August to accommodate the schedule of high-profile personalities who have indicated interest in attending the event
.