![]() ![]() Rumours were circulating that President Obasanjo wanted a third term which was unconstitutional. After Chief Audu Ogbeh’s removal, the PDP headquarters was being run as a department under President Olusegun Obasanjo. Esprit de Corp between Colonel Ali and President Obasanjo is so deep. Colonel Ali served as Minister of Education between 19 during the era of General Olusegun Obasanjo. He was replaced by Colonel (rtd) Ahmadu Adah Ali (86) from Idah in Kogi state. Chief Audu Ogbeh returned to his Efugo Farms in Makurdi. Chief Ogbeh’s resignation took effect on February 28, 2006. Chief Ogbeh had earlier taken over the Chairmanship of the party from Chief Bernabas Andar Iyoryer Gemade (73) also from Benue state. It was assumed that Chief Ogbeh fell out with President Obasanjo on certain principles. In January 2005, Chief Audu Innocent Ogbeh (74), an Idoma from Otukpo in Benue state, was forced to resign as Chairman of PDP. The only thing remarkable about the lame-duck era of General Abdusalam was that it was successful, in that he handed over to General Olusegun Obasanjo on May 29, 1999. At that time the media was reporting how our foreign reserve was depreciating daily. The gossip among the workers in cabinet secretariat was that the memos were “partying gifts”. Utok and others were working day and night. Kaigama, along with Alhaji Auwab Abdullahi, Mr. Day and night members of the cabinet secretariat were receiving memos on contracts from different ministers. During the Lame-duck era of General Abdusalam, The Cabinet secretariat was the centre of activities. Lame-duck era is when ministers rush memos to the Cabinet Secretariat for approval by the Federal Executive Council. The affinity between the two men was very strong. No doubt President Mandela was very much fond of Alhaji Malami. He constantly referred to him as Shehu while Malami referred to President Mandela as Madiba. Present at the meetings with President Mandela was the then Nigeria ambassador to South Africa, Alhaji Shehu Othman Malami(88), Sarkin Worno in Sokoto state and former Chairman of Union Bank, who was not only a friend to President Mandela and also part of his household. We met the then South African President, Nelson Mandela (July 18, 1918, Mvezo, South Africa-died December 5, 2013, Johannesburg) in Pretoria and Johannesburg. I accompanied Alhaji Gidado Idris on the trips. He dispatched his then Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Gidado Idris, GCON, (15 March 1935 – 15 December 2017) to South Africa and East Africa to sell his transition programme to the leaders of that region. The emergence of a ruling cabal is the failure of leadership.ĭuring the lame-duck era of General Abdusalam Abubakar, GCFR, he only concentrated on the construction of the Eagle Square, the National Assembly building and devoted much of his time to the transition programme. Hence we hear of a cabal ruling the country. The danger of weak leadership is that you do not really know who is in charge. We need dynamic leadership with initiative. He can even split the country with indecision and failure to act. A leader with excessive weakness can be a danger to democracy. The good news is that nothing lasts forever too. The bad news is that nothing lasts forever. ![]() We have nothing that is really our own we hold everything as a loan. Nothing humbles a man or a woman who has been in power to realize suddenly that he or she has to lose the power.Įxit date humbles any government official and that is why they say power is transient. What is about to happen is the deconstruction of the imperial Presidency. Lame-duck became the term used to describe politicians, especially the president, who either lost an election or decided to forgo reelection.įor some time, we have been witnessing a weak Presidency, but it is likely going to get worse now. The lame-duck definition refers to when a person in power has entered the final stages of their control, and the chosen successor has been elected or soon will be. ![]()
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