How are people supposed to trust an organisation with a palpable lack of class, discipline, tact and common sense with the details of their identity and sensitive information?
In Nigeria, sycophancy and fawning are deeply entrenched in politics and power. This phenomenon is exacerbated by the fact that public office and access to power have largely become a one-way ticket to wealth and affluence. People with inordinate ambition display excessive obeisance to those above them on the power ladder as a public display of fealty. Desperate politicians who want to cling on to power by any means necessary and wealthy businessmen who want to protect their interests at the expense of the suffering populace fawn on those high on the political and authority chain to pledge loyalty and ingratiate themselves with those who they feel hold the keys to the success of their endeavours.
Politics is a stage of dirty and cutthroat endeavour and the numerous actors in this perilous political theatre do what they have to do to get by. When you mix the distasteful gamesmanship and hideous shenanigans of politics with the impunity and classlessness of the Nigerian ruling class and elites, then you are bound to have a nation of sycophantic reprobates steeped in perpetual vicious power struggle. But every man and woman of conscience and conviction should be worried when this dangerous norm starts creeping into critical and important state institutions that should ideally be independent and stay away from the murky waters of politics.
On Sunday, Seyi Tinubu, the son of President Bola Tinubu, turned 40 years old. As expected, the president took to his social media page to celebrate and wish him a happy birthday. He showered encomium and effusive praise on his son in a moving, emotional and beautiful birthday wish like a father who is happy that his son is attaining the critical and momentous age of forty. Many Nigerians also joined him in félicitation with his son.
Even though previous presidents since the return to democracy in 1999 have largely treated occasions like birthdays of their children as private affairs and did not make a fuss about it, there is nothing wrong with the president’s decision to publicly wish his son a happy birthday. But the political undertone of the decision is not lost on those who can see through the shenanigans and antics. Seyi Tinubu has been a visible and important figure in his father’s government, pulling the strings from behind the curtain, and there are talks of him vying for the governorship election in Lagos. The effusive and elaborate birthday message is part of strategic positioning.
However, it is the actions of some top government officials, appointees and state institutions that have triggered debate about decorum, class and professionalism among public officers and state institutions. No sooner had the president penned the eulogy for his son on the occasion of his 40th birthday than appointees of the president started falling head over heels to send their own wishes.
The chief staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, wrote a glowing birthday message. Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, penned a flattering birthday wish. Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ben Kalu, and chairman of the Nigeria in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri, stepped into the fray to drop their own wish. While there is nothing wrong legally or morally with what they did, their actions further exposed the chronic sycophancy and bootlicking that many in the current administration indulge in and which have come to characterise the government. While there is nothing
Joining in the scramble is the National Identity Management Commission, an agency in the Ministry of Interior. The director general of the commission, Abisoye Coker, in a brazen disregard for professionalism and crass display of sycophancy, decided to wish Seyi happy birthday on the official social media page of the commission. She did not stop there. As if to publicly pledge her unflinching loyalty to the government, she decided to tag the Minister of the Interior, Olubunmi Ojo, in her post.
While one can overlook the amenable disposition and obsequious flattery of Keyamo, Gbajabiamila and the likes, the action of the NIMC is not only inappropriate, it’s abhorrent. The NIMC is not just another federal government agency; it is an extremely important organisation that is in charge of the sensitive information of Nigerians and it is crucial to national security. To reduce such a critical agency to a tool of ingratiation and sycophancy is dangerous and unconscionable. How are people supposed to trust an organisation with a palpable lack of class, discipline, tact and common sense with their data and sensitive information?
One would have thought there would be a line that should not be crossed, but for this administration and many serving in it, that line has since been wiped clean by power-hungry courtiers who engage in crude politicking and distasteful sycophancy that should have no place in our public institutions.