News: See Jonathan's Woman, Men who have lost Influence & Power

In this piece, Punch's Olalekan Adetayo and Eniola
Akinkuotu write on the influential personalities that will be
largely affected by President Goodluck Jonathan’s exit
from the seat of power in Aso Rock.
That President Goodluck Jonathan lost the March 28
presidential election is no longer news. Although he has
been in the saddle for six years, he has not been leading
the country alone. By virtue of being close to the President,
there are men, women who have been wielding huge
influence on his Presidency.
It is therefore no gainsaying that he did not lose this
election alone. These people calling the shots from their
comfort zones are also losers. Below are details of
Jonathan’s strong men and women:
Patience Jonathan (Mama Peace)
Mrs. Patience Jonathan is the wife of the President. Like
wives of Presidents before her, she runs the Office of the
First Lady with glamour despite the fact that the office is
not recognised in the nation’s constitution. So powerful is
the woman who prefers to be called Mama Peace that she
was also elected the President of the African First Ladies
Mission, a body of wives of Presidents across the
continent. She also founded a non-governmental
organisation, Women for Change, which has the mandate
of empowering women nationwide.
The influence she wields cannot be measured. Her hands
seem to be on everything. She is believed to be the unseen
hand behind the travail of a former Bayelsa State Governor,
Timipre Sylva, which denied him a second term ticket. The
former governor was made uncomfortable in the Peoples
Democratic Party until he left to join the All Progressives
congress.
They replaced Sylva with Governor Seriake Dickson. The
current governor tried hard to please the President’s wife to
the extent that she was made a Permanent Secretary in the
state. The honeymoon, however, did not last. Dickson also
ran into troubled water with the woman who is said to have
pencilled down the Special Assistant to the President on
Domestic Matters, Dr. Wariponmowei Dudafa, as the next
governor. She has since resigned her appointment from the
state job.
It is also a known fact the problem between the President
and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State which forced
the governor out of the PDP started with a disagreement he
had with Mrs. Jonathan over the demolition of some
houses in Okrika, the ancestral home of the President’s
wife.
To get something in this government, you must be in the
good books of Mrs. Jonathan. That is why government
officials and their spouses bow and tremble before her.
Senator Pius Anyim
Anyim is the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation. By virtue of his position, he is a big man (not
about his stature) in the cabinet. He coordinates the
activities of ministers.
Because of his closeness to the President, the former
President of the Senate wields huge influence. He was
accused of providing cover for the former Minister of
Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah, when she was facing fire over
the two bulletproof BMW cars bought for her. To avoid
journalists, Oduah was on many occasions driven out of
the Presidential Villa after weekly Federal Executive Council
meetings in Anyim’s official car.
He is also alleged to have a hand in the crisis rocking the
state chapter of the PDP in his home state, Ebonyi. The
state governor, Martin Elechi, had claimed that Anyim was
the brain behind the impeachment process initiated against
him by some members of the state House of Assembly.
His camp was accused of foisting the state Deputy
Governor, Dave Umahi, on the people as the PDP
governorship candidate in the April 11 governorship
election at a time when Elechi was rooting for a former
Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu. The situation
has forced many PDP stakeholders in the state to be
working for the Labour Party.
Diezani Alison-Madueke
Alison-Madueke is the Minister of Petroleum Resources. To
say that she is one of the most influential ministers in
Jonathan’s cabinet is an understatement. She is very
powerful. She is one of the few ministers who are driven
straight into the forecourt of the President’s office through
the Service Chiefs’ Gate. Others always walk a distance of
about 300metres from where their official cars are parked
to the President’s office.
The minister was recently elected the first female President
of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Three
weeks after, she was also appointed the first female
President of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.
So powerful is she that she dragged the House of
Representatives to court to stop the House from probing
her for allegedly spending N10bn on the charter and
maintenance of a jet for unofficial purposes. The
Presidency remained quiet over the issue.
Alison-Madueke is no doubt a super minister in Jonathan’s
cabinet.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Okonjo-Iweala is the Minister of Finance. Jonathan
elevated her slightly below the Vice-President when he
named her the Coordinating Minister for the Economy.
During a typical FEC meeting, ministers mill around the
woman because of the kind of influence she wields in the
cabinet. They consult her before presenting any memo to
the council since they would need money to finance them.
Many Nigerians call Okonjo-Iweala the nation’s de facto
Prime Minister.
Governor Godswill Akpabio
Akpabio is the Akwa Ibom State Governor. He is also the
Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum. Without any fear
of contradiction, he can be said to be the closest governor
to the President.
The governor supports Jonathan to a fault. The PDP
Governors’ Forum that he chairs was formed to solely drum
support for Jonathan in the face of continued friction
between the Presidency and the Rotimi Amaechi-led Nigeria
Governors’ Forum.
He is also one of the governors who formed the parallel
NGF being led by Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State. In
supporting Jonathan vehemently, however, Akpabio had
unknowingly been enlisting more enemies for the President.
Chief Edwin Clark
Clark is not a government official but he wields the
influence that is more than what a government official can
do. He sees and carries himself like the President’s father.
The residence of the First Republic Minister of Information
is like Mecca. Those in search of government jobs or
contracts visit him regularly while government officials who
want to remain in the President’s good book also lay siege
to Clark’s house.
He is one of those who held the belief that Jonathan must
be re-elected or we should all forget about what is called
Nigeria.
Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu
Mu’azu is the National Chairman of the PDP. Popularly
called “the game changer,” Muazu took over the office
when the PDP governors moved against the then chairman,
Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
By virtue of that position, the former governor of Bauchi
State is very influential in and outside the government. He
has inputs in many of government’s decisions.
With his party losing control of the Federal Government as
well as its waning popularity in Bauchi, Mu’azu may be idle
politically for the next four years.
Tompolo
For former Niger Delta militant, Government Ekpemupolo,
otherwise known as Tompolo, power will not remain the
same after May 29 when Buhari takes over government.
In 2009, he was declared the most wanted man in Nigeria
by the Joint Task Force for allegedly killing 11 soldiers but
his story has since changed following the amnesty he
received from President Umaru Yar’Adua and his closeness
to Jonathan.
So powerful is the ex-militant that not only did he ensure
that his younger brother was made a local government
chairman in Delta State, he reportedly nominated the
current Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime
Administration and Safety Agency, Ziadeke Akpobolokemi.
NIMASA awarded a N15bn contract to Global West Vessel
Specialist Limited, a firm widely believed to be owned by
Tompolo, to supply 20 vessels for the use of the nation’s
military authorities to secure the waterways.
So powerful he is that he even stopped the President from
going to Delta State to inaugurate the Export Processing
Zone following a misunderstanding with Itsekiri leaders. He
reportedly influenced Jonathan to sack a Minister of
Transport, Yusuf Suleiman, following a disagreement.
With Jonathan’s imminent exit from Aso Rock, Tompolo’s
influence will definitely decline.
Senator David Mark
Although he has made history by becoming the first senator
to win a fifth term, Mark’s influence will wane in the 8th
National Assembly.
Mark, who is also the nation’s longest serving Senate
president, cannot retain his seat since the All Progressives
Congress now controls the Upper Chamber of the National
Assembly. At best, Mark can be made the minority leader.
Mark made life easy for Jonathan throughout the
President’s tenure and defended the President even to a
fault. He came under fire recently when he reportedly
manipulated the screening process that ensured Senator
Musiliu Obanikoro − who was accused of rigging the Ekiti
State governorship election − was confirmed a minister.
Besides getting Obanikoro confirmed, Mark has never
blocked any of Jonathan’s ministerial nominations.
Last year, he convinced his colleagues not to pass a vote
of no confidence in Jonathan over the President’s failure to
curb insecurity. In November last year, he foiled a move by
some senators to impeach Jonathan.
In return, Jonathan gave him several benefits including the
nomination of some ministers in his cabinet.
Jonathan’s defeat and the waning power of the PDP in the
senate has certainly relegated Mark to the background.
Chief Tony Anenih
Anenih is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the
PDP. He took over from former President Olusegun
Obasanjo who resigned from office because of some
anomalies he noticed in the running of the party.
The former Minister of Works who hails from the South-
South, the same geopolitical zone with the President, has
never hidden his support for Jonathan.
Long ago, it was Anenih who first said it publicly that the
President should be given an offer of first refusal as far as
the party’s presidential candidacy is concerned.
He wields no small influence in the Presidency.
- All in all, these men and women would lose their so called
influence from May 29, 2015. Change! CLICK HERE TO READ FULL AND TOUCHING NIGERIAN CELEBRITIES BIOGRAPHY AND SCANDALS

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