The ‘Sins’ of A Good Gatekeeper

April 22, 2020 | By Umar Yakubu

Previously, no such orchestrated campaign of calumny was ever carried out against any former chief of staff as was done against Mallam Abba Kyari and the reason was simple. People had access to past presidents and could sit to discuss ‘business’ with them. Fortunately, no one, and I mean no living human can dream of sitting with President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss any ‘deal’ or issues of personal interest, as against the national interest.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. – Albert Einstein

Starting with George Washington of the United States, each president employed a private secretary to assist with handling official matters. However, it was not until 1857, during the tenure of President Buchanan, that the U.S. Congress created an office called the “Private Secretary at the White House”. This position was a highly respected office held by usually exceptionally talented and skilled men. The role combined personal and professional assignments that were highly delicate and required great skills and discretion.

More recently in 1946, the position of Assistant to the President of the United States was established and charged to oversee the affairs of the White House, with President Eisenhower re-designating this post in 1953 as the White House Chief of Staff. Since 1968, with Nixon as president to current President Trump, the chief of staff has become a permanent fixture of White House administrations. Prominent chiefs of staff include Donald Rumsfeld, Scooter Libby, Leon Panetta and Jon Podesta.

Nigeria changed its political governance system from the parliamentary model and adopted the U.S.-styled presidential system of government in 1979. Every Nigerian presidential chief of staff typically oversees the actions of the State House and its staff, manages the president’s schedule, and decides on who can meet with the president. Because of these duties, the chief of staff has at various times been labelled “The Gatekeeper.”

This background is necessary because some may be unaware of the vital role the chief of staff plays in our system of governance and similar presidential systems of government. Ironically, while ministers, ambassadors and heads of government agencies go through National Assembly for the approval of their jobs, the most important government position after the president, which is the chief of staff, does not! He only needs the trust of the president, and that strategically makes him more powerful than the vice president. The only time a U.S. vice president was more powerful than the chief of staff was when Dick Cheney, a former chief of staff to President Gerald Ford in 1975, was vice president to President George W. Bush.

When one understands the degree of importance of this post, then it may be easier to comprehend why there was so much negative campaign against the late Mallam Abba Kyari, the recently deceased chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari. The position of the chief of staff is simply the most critical appointment of a president, which defines the success or failure of his government. The chief of staff protects the interests of the president with his heart and soul! He manages the flow of information; negotiates with the National Assembly; liaises with senior government officials; and deals with matters of economic and foreign policy, and is, of course, involved in national security matters.

So, when the Atlanta professor says Kyari was in charge of the Buhari administration, in an effort to spite the Presidency, he simpley displayed the lack of understanding that the late chief of staff was actually meant to be in charge! But that does not mean he was in control. He is meant to be the president’s most powerful adviser and closest confidant in order to transform his agenda into reality. Being the gatekeeper, it is the most relentless, thankless job that one may imagine because one takes all the blame and almost none of the credit on the job. He is the heat shield meant to take fire mostly from allies because the opposition are usually more focused on the president.

From the first family to traditional rulers, everyone has been used to pitching the president against his loyal chief of staff. And these people figure that once they take the chief of staff out, that should create opportunities for them to perpetuate legal and illegal business transactions.

Also we should recall that we run a rent-seeking system in which most rich people actually do nothing tangible to accrue their wealth. It’s mostly about access to public resources through those vested with power, and based on who they know. Most who are rich out of the dint of hard work have little to do with government. Since the president is inaccessible to fuel the system of patronage, the natural person that will take the bullets is the chief of staff, since all correspondence to the commander-in-chief goes through his office.

Now, the mentioned vested interests have been spoon-fed from public coffers for decades. There are small pockets of them in the political and economic sectors who are all trying to continue milking the country at any cost. From the first family to traditional rulers, everyone has been used to pitching the president against his loyal chief of staff. And these people figure that once they take the chief of staff out, that should create opportunities for them to perpetuate legal and illegal business transactions. If we carefully follow the trend of all the fabrications against Mallam Abba Kyari, there is not even one of them that has any evidence attached to it. No one has come out with facts to indicate where Kyari did wrong in his official capacity.

The worst, if it’s a negative thing, as espoused by Elder Mahmud Jega and Dr Obadiah Mailafia, are that Kyari was the most powerful man in this Buhari government. Some may misinterpret that statement. What’s the purpose of seeking power if it’s not going to be utilised? What matters is what the power is used for? Lets task investigative journalists come up with facts to prove that Kyari used power for personal interests or contrary to the president’s interests. I am not in any way absolving him of what he might have done in office; I met him only once for about an hour in the office of Mallam Surajudeen Yakubu and as such I cannot claim to know him. Although within that hour of meeting him, I could conclude that he was a stoic, articulate and serious person, with a passion for national development, and having no time for nonsense. Invariably, we have no right to judge people on the basis of emotions or what is written in that shark-infested space called social media. Positive and negative emotions cannot occupy the mind at the same time, so for some, they have a problem for every solution.

Unfortunately, most of us are obsessed with our public image; what people think or say about us. Instead of thinking of how we conduct ourselves with public funds, which we would be accountable for, if not here but certainly on Judgement Day, we seem to be more interested in whether people will say we are nice people or not; and particularly with public resources.

Of course, it is important for people to have positive views of others, but in the context of the Nigerian public service, being nice is akin to abusing the public trust, while those vilified are mostly trying their best to follow the rules. If you see a public servant being maligned and insulted, it is highly likely that he does the right thing. For those who are liked, the nice ones, they must either be involved in corrupt practices, looking the other way, or are selling ice cream when they should be on the public job.

This pattern of thinking makes some to be accountable to what people think and start taking selfish and unpatriotic decisions, thinking they are ‘helping’ people, while the nation suffers. That is how most people’s intellects are caged into doing unnecessary things towards pleasing people in the fear of being vilified. I have seen how Oga Waziri Adio, the minister of Foreign Affairs and a few others that have fallen for this trap, thereby trying so hard to launder what is not dirty.

What matters the most is that his boss, President Buhari was happy with his work and called him “The Best”. Those who know things that the president doesn’t know should come up with these. Those embittered by Mallam Kyari’s work have not come up with anything tangible to justify their anxieties. They should come up with issues about his lack of good judgement or ineffectiveness in matters of governance. Falsehood, rumours, innuendos, and ‘alternative facts’ don’t carry much weight in the long run. There are several whistle blowing channels available. Let the work begin.

Umar Yakubu is with the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch. Twitter @umaryakubu