Chime, Imoke And The Cult of Secrecy

The trend by serving public officials in the country to always keep the people in the dark over their failing health at any point in time is as topical as it is worrisome. Granted that providence is the only giver of good health and no one is immune to falling ill, the tendency by public office holders and their ilk who are maintained with tax payers’ money to hoodwink the people anytime and every time issues over their health are raised is despicable.

Undoubtedly, it stands logic on its head that the concerned public officers shield such vital information from the long suffering masses, who pick the huge  medical bills they incur on those medical travels.

It is in this light we view the recent return into the country of Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State after a five-month sojourn in London, United Kingdom, where he confessedly underwent a treatment for nasal cancer.

His revelation acutely negated the shameless fibs his Information Commissioner, Chuks Ugwoke, severally told that he was in good health and only holidaying abroad. Similarly, questions are still being raised about the true state of health of Cross River and Taraba state governors, Liyel Imoke and Danbaba Fulani Suntai respectively.

Imoke who was seen on 12 November 2012, was said to be ill, but his aides, friends and cronies are wont to dispute it, as though it was a taboo to say so. Ditto, for the ill-fated pilot-governor Danbaba  Suntai, whose aides went a notch to diffuse through the media a  belief that all was well, and with pictorial illustration of the governor cuddling his twins and his wife beside him.

Certainly, many who should know have asked the executive town carriers to tell their untrue stories to the Marines. We support the opinion of Senator Jumai Al-Hassan, Danbaba’s kinsman, that an audio message from the governor be broadcast by those who always claimed to have spoken to him just few minutes away anytime people asked questions about his whereabouts. A similar scenario played itself out with the long absence of former President Umaru Yar’Adua from his duty post in 2010. What followed were dangerous intrigues, power play and abhorrent desperation of a cabal, at the time, to keep the ailing president in power and fool Nigerians, albeit unsuccessfully, which almost pushed the country the a precipice.

It is a sad reality that lies-telling, with the intention to mislead the people, has been elevated to a level of statecraft, while public accountability and transparency in governance and administration are elusive.

This cult of secrecy by public officials is at the roots of the endemic corruption that has hamstrung good governance and genuine socio-political development in the country. If it is impossible for them to tell us the truth about their health, which they have no power over, why should we trust them with the country’s resources? Their inability to give accurate information as and when necessary on matters of national importance is a conspiracy against the people.

It smacks of  extreme desperation on their part to hang on to power at all costs, while they continue to maintain a delusional disorder that the masses would be permanently compliant. Rather than this, we advise our leaders to take a cue from former American Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, who publicly declared she was suffering from a blood clot.  Only in such manner can they prove to be responsible, responsive and representative of the people’s mandate.