As Covid-19 melts Aso Rock: Matters arising

Typical of the Nigerian political space, surreal is often the best tag for some topical developments, either because they are the substance of fantasies materialising inexplicably into reality, or they defy the basic rules of logic. The past week did not miss out in featuring its own cascade of twists in the country’s political fortunes: this time in the seat of power itself- the Presidential Villa, also called Aso Rock, and raised fears of a leadership vacuum for the country. A playout of the proverbial game of musical chairs there has for all practical purposes altered the balance of power and interests, following the inevitable exit from office (even if temporarily) of the Chief of Staff to the President, Alhaji Abba Kyari. Following his recent reported indisposition and subsequently testing positive to the dreaded Corona virus, the gentleman is disposed to undergo the mandatory isolation and treatment, and out of his seat. However, even before the Kyari’s next course of action would be determined, administrative changes in the Villa had commenced with the replacement of the Permanent Secretary Jalal Arabi – his point man in the Villa.

According to reports the removal of Arabi was at the instance of the First Lady Aisha Buhari, who had maintained a no love lost relationship with Kyari, since the inception of the Buhari administration in 2015. The removal of Arabi was ostensibly intended to decimate the vicelike grip of Kyari on the affairs of government and the Villa in particular, which the man allowed to extend even to the public ridicule of Aisha. Incidentally, her current intervention is not stopping at checkmating Kyari, but has extended to a total lockdown of the Villa, with the key firmly planted in her purse.

Beyond the vitiation of Kyari’s clout, Aisha may have even secured the jugular of the Buhari administration by executing a personal quarantine of the President himself in the context of exercising her inalienable right to attend to and defend her husband personally as his wife. Riding on the fears ove Covid-19, Already the President’s compromised health status is public knowledge just as the period tallies with when he should have gone for routine medical attention abroad – a situation that has been compromised by the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. Given the fact that Muhamadu Buhari as the elected President of the country had earlier delegated much of the functions and authority of his office to Kyari, the implications of the miasma in the power structure in the Villa cannot be lost to any discerning observer. If nothing else Aisha who had all along been sidelined in the affairs of governance shall now enjoy an enhanced position of prominence in the political space, courtesy of COVID-19.

The country’s dilemma here is accentuated by the fact that the present circumstances constitute an implosion and a meltdown in the administration, whereby its leading lights and critical assets as they are, remain currently under the fear of or infection with COVID-19. As things stand, a list of possible, direct contacts with Kyari after his return from Germany, and who may in all likelihood   been infected directly by him, contains over 20 names. These are the top notch politicians and public officers.  Extending the list of Kyari’s primary ‘victims’ to include other secondary and tertiary ‘victims’ may count in hundreds. By implication, the COVID-19 menace can only be seen to abate when this complement of infected VIPs has been resolved and such may not be in a hurry, hence the plague may also haunt the administration like an incubus for as long as it lasts.