What is in a name? I ask again. So much attention had been bestowed on Acting President Goodluck and wife Patience’s names. So much had been wriiten with a lot of jokes and fabrications.
Now how about Dora?
Are you aware that the name Dora is a short form for the names Dorothy or Theodora. And what does the name Dora mean? Well, it simply means “Gift”.
Now how lucky are we as a nation to have a gift in Professor Dora Akunyili?
Women, I know should never be underestimated. Once their minds are made up, you are rest assured they will go after what their minds are set on. In this case we have two women at war – Turai and Dora. One fighting for Power for herself and her cohorts and the other fighting to rebrand the nation. A few days ago in an interview with National newspapers, she uprooted all presidential obstacles to our wheel to progress. It’s worth a read.
Channels Television website has reported that after about 48 hours before the Federal Executive Council [FEC] meeting, and five days after the president returned from Saudi Arabia, the presidency insists that the Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has not met with or seen President Umar Yar’Adua.
This clarification is coming on a day that the Information Minister Dora Akunyili continues to berate some people who she says are worsening the political crisis in the country. Barely 24 hours after Professor Akunyili criticised a cabal supposedly withholding information from Nigerians, the information minister says what has transpired since the presidents return amounts to a slap in the face of the acting president as well as Nigerians as a whole.
The Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili had challenged the cabal surrounding President Umaru Yar’Adua to speak up on the true situation of his health and save the country from the political crisis into which it is gradually slipping.
“I personally feel worried about how people around the President are handling his health issues. It is not a crime for anybody to be sick, but they have so shrouded his sickness in secrecy that it is beginning to generate issues that should not be there and I believe they are doing what they are doing so that they will continue to actually be in the control,” Akunyili said.
Professor Akunyili said shrouding the situation in secrecy is increasingly heating up the country with tension and confusion and creating opportunities for rumours and lies.
She condemned the fact that she is in no position to give Nigerians information on the president therefore making a mockery of her position as the Minister of Information and Communication.
“It is for the best interest of the country and even for the better interest of the presidency, if our president comes out to address us. If he is in a position to do so, but if he is not in a position to do so, people around our President should be honest enough to come out and tell us the true situation of the President’s health,” Akunyili said.
Minister of Information demands information for Nigerians on the president’s state. Professor Akunyili dismisses possibility of a coup in Nigeria.
Akunyili said the risk of a military intervention during Yar’Adua’s absence had been “a very big worry”, but that such concerns had eased, praising senior officers for openly resisting any attempt to drag the army into politics.
Akunyili noted that the deployment of military personnel to receive the president on his return without the permission of the Acting President is a slight to 150million Nigerians.
“Everybody is concerned for troops to be deployed, without the knowledge of the Commander-in-Chief, is very discomforting, because it means that they actually invaded the system…but I have heard that the Acting President has set up an enquiry and I believe that very soon the result will be out, because what happened that night has gone into a very negative side of history for this country,” Akunyili said.
A lack of photographs or any television appearance or radio broadcast since Yar’Adua’s return has led to renewed calls for him to resign or face impeachment by parliament if he is conscious, or for him to be declared incapacitated if not. This would require a resolution by a two-thirds cabinet majority.
Akunyili said it is up to the National Assembly and the Executive cabinet to “make sure the right things are done”
Honestly I am already tired commenting on the state of affairs of the Yar’Adua household, however, one cannot avoid it completely. While the state of health of President Obama was released to Americans yesterday, our President’s condition, let alone his state of health is shrouded in misery. Why so? It’s amazing really.
Hence when I see anything remotely positive about Nigeria, I am ever so excited to share it with you. However, I do not appreciate when derogatory emails, which only denounce or further tarnish our already tarnished image as a nation are circulated round cyberspace.
Take for instance an email with a photograph of dead and injured bodies on Ore/Benin road making rounds in cyber space. First and foremost, no prior warning was provided before I viewed the photograph and secondly, what that particular photograph was sent to do for me is a mystery. It had no purpose to serve, but to make me sick to my stomach.
What on earth was it meant to do for me? Motivate me or what? I really despise such emails. I don’t mind those emails that encourage me to receive my blessings after forwarding the mail to 15 other people. I don’t mind those. I simply delete or ignore.
Do you know that I actually think that certain emails such as this one in question serve as a comfort to Nigerians abroad. How? Well, they can thank God that they made the right decision to be out of the country to start with. Also, such grotesque photographs can also act as a form of justification for being in diaspora. I have not and will not be tempted to post this photograph. And I make no apology for the disappointment.
Turai or no Turai, please let us all do our sensible bit.
These isolated ‘Dora’ screams could only give Nigerians hope, it would also provide a new lease of life for our political system. Others with sensible strong and objective opinions would also be encouraged to come out.
I have never doubted Nigeria would get to the promised land. Precisely when that is? I don’t have the faintest of ideas.
On another note, if this is your first time here on JSD, why not tell me what you think of all this drama. And for regular readers who are yet to post any comment, it will only take a minimum of 45secs. Come on, it wouldn’t bite. Let JSD be a two way affair. While I ponder, I expect you to wonder with your comments. How about that? Also, you can subscribe to JSD. What that will do is to notify you as soon as I post an entry. How easy can it get. I am beginning to sound like….hehn, well just subscribe, ok.
Finally, It is still damn hot here in Lagos, Nigeria. 30oC (86oF) this morning.
Thank you for stopping by and God bless you real good.
Jide Salu’s Diary 