Alausa: The Dilemma of a ‘Japada’ Medical Minister of Education

By AK OMERANMUKA’ANDU

Let me borrow these words from one of my colleagues, “When some people decried his appointment as the Minister of Education owing to the fact that he’s been out of touch with the reality on ground having been outside the Nigerian shores for a better part of his career life, they were derided/scorned. Now he’s vindicated them by these actions he’s taken so far”, to describe the dilemma of Dr. Tunji Alausa, in the face of the ongoing ASUU 2-Week Warning Strike, A2-WWS!

Anyone who has followed the trajectory of the Minister’s incoherent dictum in the media of recent, would easily arrive at the conclusion that he is unstable. He had lost touch with the reality on the Nigerian terrain, politically or otherwise. He came in as a Japada, after being lost in the wilderness of offshore adventure as a medic. He was reported to have been the personal physician of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in years past. Why Tinubu brought him back is a matter of conjecture left to the marines.

Dr. Alausa appears to have no shame. How can he lie to the whole nation that ASUU has no justification for strike, every demand met? – FG https://search.app/1k4AP. This man is a worse character than Dr. Chris Ngige, erstwhile Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity under the Buhari administration. Ngige was the man the devil used to scuttle the 2022 industrial action embarked upon by ASUU. But this time around, our Union must brace up. For Alausa to make the claim on national TV that the FG has met every demand of ASUU is nothing but a bare-faced lie from the pit of hell. After telling lie to the nation, he reportedly left the country for the Hajj.

This is nothing short of the proverbial home owner, who left his house engulfed by an inferno only to run after an inconsequential rat that escaped from the fire. His principal, the President is in Rome currently while the Minister has gone to observe a religious obligation, leaving the roof to be consumed. Is it not someone suffering from insanity that behaves like that? Not to worry, our National President is a Psychiatrist and only needs to admit Alausa as a patient at the expiration of this strike.

He kept deceiving the people of Nigeria that Tinubu has promised not to allow students to be out of school for a moment. Even celebrating two years of ‘No Strike’ from ASUU. Not to worry. Alausa is up for the greatest shock of his life. This ongoing action is a precursor to the mother of all strikes. We will no longer succumb to pleas, blackmail and outright deceit. We have explored avenues that the Federal Government of Nigeria has ignored. We gave them a long rope of two years. The die is cast and the chips are down. Let him return from Saudi Arabia. He will come back to meet the mess he left behind.

The Lie can reign for twenty years. In a fleeting moment, the Truth will overtake it. The truth is here. Everyone has seen the nakedness of the government. Go round the towns and villages. Visit the marketplaces and malls. The effect of the less than 24 hours strike is already being felt. The home and the bush rats no longer squeak like rats. The birds of the air are no longer chirping like they used to. They have summoned a gathering over Alausa who told a big lie. And they have resolved to distance themselves from him. They say collectively that they cannot allow him to stain their integrity. He must be made to recant.

(OMERANMUKA’ANDU writes from Jos, North Central Nigeria).