By Iorliam Shija
Since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democratic rule, a peculiar reality has taken root in our public life which is that illiterates, semi-literates, and opportunists have found themselves in positions of power. It is their luck, their fortune, and sometimes their efforts or even accident of political arithmetic. Inevitably, they have gathered followers, for as we know, power, no matter how it is acquired always attracts a crowd.The Democracy we practice allows this, but same democracy does not suspend knowledge, history, or hierarchy of ideas.
It is from this background that we must understand the recent attempt by a section of Tiv and Benue politicians to reduce the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) to that of a glorified clerk, a mere recorder of minutes at Federal Executive Council meetings. This is not analysis; it is ignorance emboldened by access to microphones. When people speak confidently about institutions they have neither studied nor occupied, they do not enrich debate; they expose themselves.Yet history, as always, is a stubborn witness.
Since 1951, when the Tiv formally entered Nigerian politics, no Tiv man has ever occupied a higher or more strategically placed office at the centre of power than the SGF of the Federation. Rather than us situating this achievement within its proper historical weight, some have chosen to trivialise the very office they once prayed would come to Tivland. So let us ask plainly, when did the SGF become a minute-taker? Only when senator George Akume , the incumbent was aided by the governor of Benue State, Chief Rev Fr Dr Hyacinth Iormem Alia , into the office in June 2023, as alleged?
If the SGF is ceremonial, then Ufot Ekaette, who served President Obasanjo for eight uninterrupted years, must have spent a decade arranging files. Yet Ekaette coordinated reforms, harmonised ministries, and stabilised an assertive presidency. Power does not always shout; sometimes it coordinates.
If the SGF is powerless, then Anyim Pius Anyim, a former Senate President, wouldn’t have willingly returned to it after holding legislative authority to sit quietly and take notes. But Anyim was not invited to the presidency to sharpen pencils; he was brought in to manage politics, balance power blocs, and control access.
Even under military rule, Olu Falae occupied the same office, shaping economic thought and national direction. No military regime ever entrusted real power to a man whose only duty was clerical.
Then there was Baba Gana Kingibe during the turbulent military years, an era where proximity to power defined relevance. Kingibe sat at the crossroads of military authority, diplomacy, and transition politics. In that environment, the SGF was not a note-taker; he was a translator of power into policy. One of those who made these claims was uplifted in life, I was told by same Kinigibe. What an irony.
In our recent history, Boss Mustapha was entrusted by President Buhari with coordinating the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the most sensitive non-security assignment of that administration. In a national emergency, the presidency did not look for a recorder of minutes; it turned to the SGF as the chief organiser of government response.
So where did this sudden theory of SGF as a “mere recorder” come from? It comes from a Tiv political family, a dangerous mix of political envy and intellectual laziness. When power does not flow through familiar local channels, it is redefined as empty. When a man rises beyond ward politics, the office he occupies is suddenly declared irrelevant.
The irony is profound. The same Tiv political space that once lamented exclusion from the centre now labours to belittle the highest point of inclusion it has ever attained. Tiv denen ibyume party! Denen ilaha kpaa.
Let it be said, therefore, to those who dabble carelessly in these lofty debates from their ignorance , that access to power does not automatically confer understanding. There are subjects like history, understanding institutions and power play that demand study and restraint. Those who overstretch themselves in such matters do not weaken the office; they only advertise their own limitations.
The SGF is the clearing house of government, the coordinator of ministries, the harmoniser of executive action, and often the gate through which policy reaches the President. In any serious system, that office is never ornamental.To argue otherwise is to insult not Akume alone, but Falae, Ekaette, Kingibe, Anyim, Boss Mustapha, and every statesman who has occupied that office. Power is temporary, records are permanent and history, unlike some commentators, does not take minutes, it takes measure.