I could imagine the emotions on the faces of members of the Federal Executive Council when Dora Akunyili presented the now-famous memo. Surprise and disbelief. After these initial reactions, anger seemed to be the dominant mood at the meeting as the hawks rudely shot the memo down. The pretext was that it didn’t follow due process as it should have been circulated to members at least one week before it was discussed in council. But that is bunkum. What the Minister presented to the council was not a memo per se, but a note. There is no need to adhere to the one-week-notice rule with notes. In times of crises, or during emergencies, a minister can introduce matters of urgent attention through a note. You wouldn’t expect a patriotic minister to have the luxury of a seven-day wait before introducing an urgent matter to the council. That’s enough time for Jos to burn, and for Al-Qaida run rings around Nigeria.
To boot, the last Jos crisis was discussed in Council without FEC members following the one week rule. Same for the Abdulmutallab issue. No doubt, those were issues requiring urgent attention. With Jos, a major Nigerian city was gripped by ethno-religious violence while our image was being assaulted by foreign media because of the imprudent action of the alleged Nigerian bomber. If the ministers could waive the rule in those cases, couldn’t they adopt the same approach with the matter Akunyili brought to council?
Or, is the 74-day absence of the President not serious enough to be regarded as a an ‘urgent national issue?’
Of course, It is and Akunyili was right to bring the matter to council. The minister of information and communications was brave and deserved commendations for that action. Just imagine! A 42-member council made up of at least 36 men, not one of them could speak up for what they know is true in their heart of hearts. I have strong suspicion that these men are great patriots .... in the privacy of their bedroom. There, they could analyse all the issues regarding the president’s ill health and give countless reasons why he should step aside for his deputy. They are heroes only to their wives and girlfriends who they regaled with their ‘deep insight’ on the constitutional crises brought about by the president’s misadvised action. But Nigeria does not need men like them. We do not need men who will not speak up for their convictions in public, who will say the opposite of what they know is true and right. Nigeria needs statesmen, men who will place national interest above self.
Men like Akunyili. Yes, I know, she is not a man. But do you call cowards who can’t stand up for their beliefs men? Do you?
I was grated by news reports that a good number of the ministers later congratulated Akunyili behind, telling her that what she did required guts. I took that as an admission that they lacked it. Since they are lily livered and cannot stand up when history demands it, they have no business being in the cabinet. We can’t trust them to be bold enough to defend our interests in cabinet meetings.
The scenario playing out in the cabinet underlines the postulations of some scholars that the majority is sometimes, if not often, wrong. And the dictatorship of the majority is a very terrible thing indeed. It could easily prop up leaders without moral compunction. It is reason why the worst dictators in
human history 
got away with genocide. Imagine there had been serious revolt in Hitler’s cabinet, that someone like Goebbels or Himmler seriously canvassed an alternative view, instead of egging the Fuehrer on. The course of human history might have changed for the better, and millions of lives would have been probably saved. But what we have mostly is the silence of men in the corridors of power. Men who are afraid to speak the truth because it might jeopardise their daily bread. But no nation can truly develop if we only consider our self interest above everything else. There must be a time to stand up tall for what you believe in and damn everything else.
