Vice President Kashim Shettima
By Clem Oluwole
You do not have to reach for your dictionary for the definition of the word bigmania because you will not find it there. Bigmania is a disease afflicting big men.
It is a metaphor for pomposity, pride or shoulder lifting. Superiority complex also fits into the allegory.
What defines a bigmaniac is his status in the society. In this political era, a governor, a minister, a member of the National Assembly/State Assembly or a local government chairman/councillor is a big man.
Also referred to as big men are special advisers/senior special advisers, and special assistants/senior special assistants to any of the big shots listed above.
Also qualified to be referred to as big men are permanent secretaries at the two tiers of government. Directors-general, executive secretaries, directors, assistant directors, etc., are big men.
In the private sector, board chairmen, managing directors, chief executive officers, general managers, company secretary/legal advisers, or board members are big men. I have hugged board membership four times in my lifetime, all in Plateau state, so I know what I am talking about but I escaped the bug.
The traditional institution is not left out. First class, second class or third class emirs or chiefs are big men. District heads or even village heads are big men in their own right.
Also, take a closer look at the spiritual setting. Pastors, reverends, bishops, arch-bishops, general overseers, apostles and even presbyters are big men.
Curiously, the bigmania afflicting these men of God is not defined by the number of souls they win for the Kingdom of God but by the mansions they own, the private jets they acquire, the fleet of cars in their garages and the retinues of mobile/regular policemen that follow or swarm around them in public to guarantee their protection as enjoyed by the bigmaniacs listed above.
The huge shame in the case of these so-called men of God is that while they move around in company of heavily armed security men, they print stickers and sell them to their followers, asking them to paste same on their cars and the doors of their houses/business premises as insurance for all-round protection!
There are different categories of big men in this country. We have those whose bigmania is transient. Then there are folks who have the status thrust upon them by virtue of their positions.
However, bigmania which is a psychological disorder (superiority complex) afflicts men, making them to think that once they have attained a higher status, people around them, including friends and relatives, are to be avoided like a plague.
Having attained the next level, the nouveau riche will cultivate new friends among the new class of people he has found himself in the belief that you should not mend new clothes with rags!
Without a doubt, one key factor that fuels bigmania is pride. The other factor is the security details thrown around the big men. When a bigmaniac sees his security team fencing off “commoners”, he feels like God.
His phones are always never with him. The PA manages the barrage of calls and chooses to play God, deciding which calls should be entertained and the ones to ignore. Oftentimes, the responses are “oga is at a meeting” if the calls are ever picked.
At times, calls regarded as nuisances are forwarded or routed into voice mail and text messages are waved away.
In some cases, phone lines are changed. It is commonly said in this part of the divide that a friend in power is a friend lost. That is the naked truth!
However, one interesting thing about this syndrome is that once the afflicted fall from power and return to square one, they are abandoned by their new-found high-profile friends. The bombardment of calls and text messages would cease almost immediately, especially if they have nothing else or clouts left in them.
That is one of the side effects of the intoxicant. A former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan was said to have felt abandoned by his friends, associates and colleagues after his tenure.
His cell phones that were perpetually connected to power banks to keep them alive suddenly went dead not because of poor network but for the simple reason that no one needed him anymore!
But not all big men are prone to the syndrome. When Chief David Attah was the Chief Press Secretary to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, he never got bitten by the bug. Chief Attah was my General Manager at The Nigeria Standard Newspapers, Jos, and we were very close. His door and phone lines were always open to me anytime I called.
Mr. Femi Adeshina, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the former President Muhammadu Buhari is another fine and erudite gentleman who escaped the terrible bug throughout his tenure that lasted for eight solid years. As a friend and fellow columnist, we enjoyed reading each other’s columns before his elevation. Though a very busy man, Femi would pick my calls or return same.
I also remember Malam Garba Shehu, Femi’s tag team partner at the Aso Villa. The first time I met Garba shortly after his appointment at a function in Abuja organised by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) under the watch of the late Maikanti Barau, we gave each other a long-time-no-see bear hug and shimmied for a long while. He too attended to my calls with promptitude whenever I did so.
Another friend that had been vaccinated against the syndrome was Alhaji Buba Ahmed. Alhaji Ahmed and I were good friends in Jos. He was the Team Manager of the Mighty Jets FC of Jos, run by an international business mogul, Alhaji Isyaku Ibrahim, while I chaired the Standard FC also of Jos…two arch rival outfits in the late 70s.
Alhaji Ahmed, in his capacity as the Minister of Sports, represented President Shehu Shagari at the closing ceremony of the Nigerian Universities Games Association (NUGA) events hosted by the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in the early 80s. I attended the occasion at the invitation of the organisers.
At a point, I walked up to the minister who was seated in the grand stand to exchange pleasantries with him. I squatted by his seat and to my greatest surprise and other VIPs, Alhaji Ahmed came down to my level by squatting with me as we pumped hands.
Sadly, the epitome of humility passed on in Kano last year and I took time off to pen a fitting tribute to him in this column to the appreciation of his family.
My list of humility personified will be incomplete without mentioning Sen. Kashim Shettima, the incumbent Vice President. I met him when he was the Governor of war-torn Borno state in 2012.
When he first addressed me as “Oga Clem”, I found my jaw on the floor. It took me a long time to adjust to the respect he accorded me throughout his tenure.
Then, there is my former boss at the Blueprint Newspapers Ltd., Abuja, and now the current Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, who addresses me as “Mr. Clem”. No boss addresses his employee with such respect no matter how old.
My parting shot: If a bigmaniac is climbing up the ladder of life, he should always remember that no condition is ever permanent and that what goes up must obey the law of gravity and climb down!