It is not easy to lose your job. Having just lost mine, I guess I’ve earned the credential to speak on the matter. So, I can understand the demon in the bowl of our ministers who constitute the Federal Executive Council (FEC). But, I can never understand their sheer cowardice. For some people, the fear of losing their jobs is the beginning of wisdom.

Driven by the fear of the unknown, they do everything to keep their jobs. Still, nothing in life is permanent. For some, losing their jobs may also turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Here in my study, I have an excellent book entitled, WE GOT FIRED…And It’s the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Us, a bestseller written by Harvey Mackay.
It’s a way of saying that losing your job, even a ministerial job, may turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to you. But, it appears our ministers just do not want to take chances.

Twice at the weekly meeting of the FEC, they swore in their resolutions that ailing President Yar’Adua who is as sick as sickness, is indeed, as fit as fiddle to rule. Over 70 days down the line, the ministers maintain the same farce, knowing in their heart that they were lying so shamefully and brazenly to Nigerians and the world. And the worst is that they also knew that everyone knows they are lying. Such timidity!
Around the world, Nigeria and her timid ministers that form the FEC became such a huge joke. Lying in the secret is one thing, but lying so openly, so brazenly to Nigerians, indeed, the world was the limit of dishonour for these ministers who insist on being called honourable ministers.

You wonder how the ministers who openly lied repeatedly want to be taken seriously ever again at local and international fora when they make commitments to their counterparts abroad. Can anybody ever believe their words?
It took one bold, courageous heroine, Dora Akunyili again, to speak truth to power by presenting an excellently argued memo urging her colleagues to support efforts to persuade Yar’Adua to hand over power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan in an acting capacity. Having broken the ice or belled the cat as the saying goes, did the timid ministers support Akunyili? On the contrary, reports say she was shouted down by her colleagues! Abused! Behind the scene, however, some of them lined up to congratulate her for her courage in speaking the truth! What sort of men are these?
Timid souls.

Since everyone including the ministers know that Yar’Adua is not in a position to take up his presidential duties yet, we can safely assume that it is the fear of losing their jobs as ministers that made them lose their manhood. But one thing worse than losing your job is the apparent lack of character which the ministers have demonstrated openly. And, character far more than talent or wealth, defines a man. So, is any job really worth a man forfeiting his soul?
Some of the angry ministers suggested that Akunyili may lose her place in the cabinet. Really? I would imagine that as things stand now, the cowardly ministers may lose their jobs before Akunyili. And, even if she gets fired for speaking out, is that the end of the world? It is the cabinet that will lose her, not the other way round.
 
The other day when parliamentarians in the United Kingdom were accused of making more false expense claims, many ministers began to resign from the cabinet rather than be part of the government where such false expense scandals took place. It was Prime Minister Gordon Brown that was begging and lobbying ministers not to resign, not the other way round! Here, we live in a different planet.

Akunyili says she spoke out because her conscience would not let her sleep anymore. Where did the other ministers keep their own conscience? Sold it to the devil called opportunism, cowardice or politics?
For those who think that Akunyili lost her fire by taking up the job as the spokesperson of this colourless government, the woman has redeemed her spot in the pantheon of all-time national heroism.
If your wife has just had a baby girl, I suggest you name her Dora. Professor Dora Akunyili has brought so much honour to that name that it is has become a patron saint for courage and character. At a time like this, we need more men—sorry, women—of character to save the nation.