THE GOLDEN SPARE TYRE

Josef Omorotionmwan argues that the Office of the Vice President is as important as the personality the occupant brings into it

Our focus today is on an aspect of a government functionary – the office of the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which the former President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, in his usual manner and the character of academia, lifted to the front burner lately. In this discussion, reference to the Vice President shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the Deputy Governor of a state and the Vice Chairman of a Local Government. 

Sometimes, in a derogatory manner, the Vice President is referred to as a spare tyre in a way that seems to suggest that he could be only as valuable as a spare tyre in an old car. To such people, ordinarily, there comes a time when the spare tyre could be more important than the four other tyres of the car.

You are on a night’s journey from Abuja to Benin City. One tyre goes flat somewhere between Okene and Okpella, the kidnap zone of Nigeria. It is 2:00 am. You have a choice to make between sleeping in the disabled car and feeding yourself to the kidnappers and fixing the spare tyre and getting to Benin City in one piece.

That spare tyre you always looked down upon has taken you home and you can now sing, “Last night the spare tyre saved my life!” It is a golden spare tyre.

Similarly, unknown to many, the Office of the Vice President is the most important office that anyone can freely ride into and become an instant celebrity around the world.

The framers of our Constitution realized early enough that it was not good for the President to be alone. They decided to provide a running mate for him.

Let’s show you how free that office is. At first, he did not have to be a member of any political party. He could be someone who had impressed a ranking member of a political party in one way or the other, and his name comes up for mention at the appropriate time.

He did not partake in all the risks that politicians take at the formative stage of the party. At that stage, you were lucky to be nominated to take part in the risk. Only one man was in-charge of bank-rolling the party.

For those conventions in Abuja, we were packed into Edo Municipal Transport buses – 50 sitting, 99 standing. We took off at 10:00 pm. We travelled all night and arrived in Abuja around 5:00 am. On a lucky day, we were driven to a cranky guest house from where we proceeded to the International Conference Centre after seemingly freshening up. We were always the first to arrive at the Conference Centre for the Convention.

When the Convention ended around 5:00 pm., we hopped onto the buses and headed straight for Benin; arriving at about 10:00 pm. 

The vice president, in most cases, has no baptism in any of this. Where he is not yet a party member, he must quickly go and register in his Ward 10 at Ogidigbo Local Government. He is already on his way to fame.

Once nominated, he rides into office on the back of the President – without paying any nomination fee or buying any form. As soon as the election is won, he automatically becomes the Number Two citizen of the country of 250 million people.

His status has changed forever. Across the world, he now wines and dines with Kings and Queens instead of dining with Local Government Counsellors. He might have been living at Maroko, but he must now migrate permanently to Victoria Island or any other better place of his choice. He is transformed forever! Most importantly, he enjoys all the immunities attached to the Office of the President.

Again, the Office of the Vice President is only as important as the personality the occupant brings into it. The qualification for being Vice President is the same as that of the President.

It is not by accident, but rather by Divine Providence that Nigeria has always had Vice Presidents that are better than their bosses in every respect – more educationally equipped, healthier and all that.

In this world, you must look the role you want to play. You can’t be a school principal looking like a cocoa farmer. We saw the personality and carriage that ebullient Dr. Alex Ekweme brought into that office in the Second Republic. He brought a lot of respectability into it. 

As Mark Twain would say, “When you get to a place, you look for what you want; and if it is not there you create it.” Such is the Office of the Vice President. Even in the Military regime, when Tunde Idiagbon got there, he carved out an empire for himself. He took all the tough decisions and all the good things were credited to him, with only the draconian Decrees left for General Muhammadu Buhari, as he then was. It was Idiagbon that propelled that Presidency. 

We witnessed with keen interest, the ascendency of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan from Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State to Vice President and ultimately, President of Nigeria. From the Office of a Deputy Governor, he rose quickly to the highest office in the Land.

[Enter the incumbent Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo]: William Shakespeare (1564-1616) cited his type in Cassius in the famous work, Julius Ceaser, “Let me have about me men that are fat; sleek-headed men; and such that sleep all night. Cassius is lean and hungry-looking. Such men are dangerous”. Yes, positively dangerous, this is one ebullient Professor of Law and one man who could test positive for Christianity any day. He is at home with any subject, any time. With his power of oratory, he can easily command a monkey to jump down from the tree top. During the short time he was acting President, he gave meaning, form and shape to the Presidency. Among other things, before the short period, no one had ever heard of the concept of Executive Order as a potent instrument of governance. In that space, he corrected many wrongs and sent many corrupt officials packing, even when some had to be reinstated later. His point was well made!

Frictions will normally arise when the Vice or Deputy begins to raise his shoulders with his principal. In the colloquial, we are reminded of the Case of “Come help me chop wey don wash hand reach shoulder”. This is what is happening in most states where deputy governors are fighting with their principals.

Jonathan thinks that a way out here is to have separate primary elections for the Deputies instead of having them as mere appendages to their bosses. Essentially, he is calling for parallel Governors in a State. It is an open invitation to catastrophe. True, the Vice contributed to the success of the election that brought them into office. All the same, the principal knows best, in which area he will be most useful. 

Let’s continue to have one undivided ticket.

What the Constitution has joined, let no one put us under!

Omorotionmwan writes from Canada