“There Are No Slow Days.”
Chuks has his hands in his pockets. He is not smiling. The meeting has been going on for hours and they are no closer to the nineteen names they need and the eighteen other names after that. They were new doubts, old hopes, and the idea that they are three days late to their own party.
The party leader sits on half of his chair making some point to the President but Chuks can see that Richard is not really listening. He has always had this odd way of leaving a room mentally when he cannot find a voice he likes or the solution he wants.
Bukar keeps on him:
-Your Excellency, you cannot change everything overnight. This idea of barely following the law will be a shock to the system. We have it down to thirty-seven names we can live it. What else do you want?
Richard’s voice is a surprise in the large room:
-I am not trying to shock, Joshua. We must make some changes. We promised that.
-yes, but this is a large ship not a canoe. You change direction in small movements
-look, we are almost agreed. I am not sure of the pick for finance, and I still want to merge culture, information, sports, and communications into one.
-because you do not respect such things?
-because I can get rid of some of these names you are giving me that are just…
He searches for a word that will not be an insult but does not find it. His eyes are wildfire though. Chuks takes in water in large sips.
Later, with the party head gone and the latest list all but typed up as the final list, Chuks tries to find the right tone of voice for this mood.
-you know how you intend to govern
-yes
-then let us do as the constitution allows and work our reforms through the system we have now. We remember our plan: popular first term and then transformative second term
The President laughs for the first time.
-what else is happening today?
-the Service Chiefs want to deploy more troops in the northeast
-of course, they do
-we have some other meetings that will only get you worked up
-too late for that
-look, you have not crumbled yet
-yes
-you need to slow down
-I wish I could but there are no slow days
-well, tell me who you don’t like?
The President laughs again but it is a wicked and wishful kind of laugh.
-you know we were eighteen when we first said the popular and transformative thing
-I know
-the truth is we will probably change nothing
Chuks is silent but he is doubting nothing.
He looks up at the President from the list he knows will now be final.
-well, we have eight years to find out.
Dramatis Personae
Richard Edewor Williams-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Chukwuma Nwachukwu-Chief of Staff to the President
Joshua T. Bukar-Chairman, the Democratic Party of Nigeria (TDPN)
Article in Daily Chronicle
Military To Step Up Chase For Islamic Group Leaders In The North
Excerpt
Anthony Nwabunor
“…reports for Defence Headquarters say the military is looking for a so-called surge in the number of personnel sent to the Northeast in an effort to take the fight to the Islamic militants…”
Memo
Memo from the Office of the President to the SGF Thursday, 2nd June 2011
Excerpt
{Content unavailable}
