GREEN IN THEIR EYES

  Dele Olowu argues that critics of the Chief of Staff to the President are mischievous

It was President Obasanjo who in 1999 grafted the office of Chief of Staff on the Nigerian state system. An otherwise personal convenience, the office has since grown in such consequence, that its incumbents , from early on, must now expect to encounter acrid belly aching, much of it couched as earnest criticism. On Friday June 2, 2023, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, was named as Chief of Staff to President Tinubu. In polite circles, the appointment was greeted with huge sentiments of endorsement. This will be no surprise in many quarters. The elemental links which bind Tinubu and Gbajabiamila go down to decades and they have enjoyed a mutuality, which makes them a natural working partnership.

But Gbajabiamila’s appropriateness for sensitive public office goes beyond this emotionalism. He is a lawyer and while in America in earlier years, he gathered public issue experience when he participated in the campaigns and election of Bill Campbell who eventually became the Mayor of Atlanta. His public issue engagement which flowered in the United States received even greater impetus when he got elected into the Federal House of Representatives in 2003. A plenitude of charges is often levied against our legislators, principally for ineptitude. However without an eye for elevation or the expectation of reward of any kind, Gbajabiamila furiously supported the Employee Rights Bill, the local content in construction Industry Bill, the Vocational Schools Bill, the Economic Stimulus Bill, the Interest free Students Loan, and the establishment of the Nigeria Education Bank Bill. Gbajabiamila has also been an enthusiastic and successful sponsor of a number of significant constitutional revisions. In all, Femi Gbajabiamila has had an extensive and deep experience in the legislature, and has provided leadership that has been spectacularly rancour-free. He is also reported to have significant leverage in the political space and has presented himself with great success as a man of affairs over the years. His oratory, along with his polite airs, many insist , have made him a fitting accompaniment in the Tinubu Presidency. Yet, as with other choices in the past, Gbajabiamila’s choice as Chief of Staff, even as his work unfurls, is being undermined by the regular parade of cynics and fault finders. In Nigeria, there is a well-established pattern of engagement which promotes watching the mighty fall from office, as a malicious sport. This band is populated by those who in delusion see themselves as activists and pundits, but really, are disguised self-seekers. For others, the malice is perhaps more strategic. Even though the position is not established by the constitutional order, it is understood that its incumbent commands significant power if only just on account of its physical closeness to the President.

Even its putative obligations are significant enough. The Chief of staff’s responsibilities include leading teams, easing communications and uniting people across organizations to keep them moving forward. These multitalented professionals are often the right hand to other top-tier executives, including Presidents, heads of Departments and Chief executive officers . Recognizing the centrality of the Chief of Staff’s office in the Tinubu governance structure, political enemies have come to the conclusion that the most fatal shots at the Tinubu government must be fired at the Chief of Staff. That explains some of the clamor and criticism which now challenge the office of the Chief of Staff. Some prescience in this regard has been demonstrated by an organization of social cultural groups from different regions in Nigeria. Called the Ethnic Youth Leaders or EYL, the platform has stated that an unscrupulous political elite who are hell bent on derailing President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda are behind the deliberate media attacks on Femi Gbajabiamila. One of the affiliate groups, Arewa Youths extolled the choice of Gbajabiamila and urged the government to stand firm behind the COS. The statement exalted saying “We have a man who has had over two decades as a member of parliament , demonstrated his true passion for issues concerning his constituents and Nigeria as a whole. As a parliamentarian he understands the needs of the citizens and how best the executive and the legislature can work in harmony to achieve national goals. Gbajabiamila’s loyalty to Tinubu has never been in doubt, nor has his acumen and capacity to offer service to the Nigerian project. A fellowship of mutually reinforcing fraternity has held these two unrepentant Democrats together for several years. Gbajabiamila has a stunning record of having been returned six times to the House of Representatives and of leading the body without any turbulence. Gbajabiamila has brand recognition across Nigeria and has had the unique legislative experience of rising through the ranks, from being a floor member, to being a minority leader and then Speaker of the House. His democracy credential are almost as intense as those of Tinubu as he was in the vanguard of those who shot down the 3rd Term Bid. Memorably, it was Gbajabiamila who brought in the bill that led to the swearing in of Dr Jonathan as the Acting President. Success in politics as in other fields of endeavor can provoke hostilities and multiply one’s stock of enemies. On this account, the wilderness must be heaving with entities who wish to spew poison on Gbajabiamila’s political path. This will include those who sought the office of COS for themselves and lost; it will include those whose political expectations were blighted when Gbajabiamila became Speaker House of Representatives.

 But Gbajabiamila continues to receive massive strength from the President himself. To that extent Gbajabiamila and his own supporters remain impregnable. Tinubu and his Renewed Hope Agenda, proselytized by Gbajabiamila and his agents, will get more and more traction if they continue to commit to the people wilderness.

Olowu is a Veteran Journalist