History, as Ibrahim Babangida used to say, when he ruled this country with iron fists, will forgive us for taking wrong decisions but will not if we take no decisions at all. This was the principle that guided his administration.

Maybe it is still too early to ask whether history has forgiven the retired general for taking certain horrible decisions. Beyond the annulment of June 12, 1993 Presidential Election, we will someday look at the baskets of other wrong decisions his administration took.

But these words are true. When there is confusion in the polity, when everyone seems compromised to a position described by the late Bola Ige as sidon-look, then someone must have enough sense to put his foot down and tell the truth or demand for it. History is filled with people who, at the risk of being killed (some were actually killed), stood for the truth. This is naked patriotism.

It was America's Adlai Stevenson, who, beaten twice by Dwight Eisenhower in presidential elections in the 50s, gave a speech that defined patriotism in the real sense of it. He said, "Men who have offered their lives for their country know that patriotism is not the fear of something; it is the love of something. Patriotism with us is not the hatred (of Yar'Adua), it is the love of (this country) and of the ideal of liberty of man and mind in which it was born and to which this Republic is dedicated"

This brand of patriotism is being played out today in Iran. Many people are being assassinated by the supreme leadership of the country because they rose up against what they believed to be false election results that have kept the losers and not the winners in power. But the death of these innocent Iranians has only succeeded in raising another generation of patriots.

When news broke on Wednesday morning that Dora Akunyili, had done what no other minister had the courage to do, I clapped for her. At the same time, I feared for her life. As minister of information, Akunyili has really not spoken much about the ailment torturing President Umaru Yar'Adua. She has deliberately kept her mouth shut. It could just be that she does not want to tell lies when she already knows what the truth is.

At the Federal Executive Council meeting that Wednesday, the professor, who fought fake drug dealers in Nigeria to a standstill some years back, searched her conscience and declared: enough is enough! She must have reasoned: what shall I tell my children, that the court ruled and Senate adopted a resolution and I still remained part of a gang of self-interest seekers that deceive more than 150 million Nigerians in the name of loyalty? How long shall we continue to sacrifice truth and enthrone falsehood?

The words of James Russell Lowell must have re-echoed in Akunyili's mind, "truth forever on the scaffold; wrong forever on the throne. But that scaffold sways the future. And behind the dim unknown; standeth God within the shadows, keeping watch above His own."

As these words rang a bell in her heart, her conscience pulled the sword. She remembered swearing to an oath to uphold the Constitution and defend it. But there, she sat helpless while a group of people who took the oath with her, was trampling on that sacred document, and falsehood sat crowned on the throne.

Information available to me is that none of those making noise about Yar'Adua's super healthy condition has even spoken with him since November 23, 2009. None of them has access to the man. They all know that our President has lost understanding of the world around him. Even when the court demanded invocation of Section 144 of the Constitution, they conspired and refused to do so. When the Senate resolved that the President executes Section 145 of the Constitution, the ruling party expressed disgust.

By speaking her mind, which represents the position of millions of Nigerians, Akunyili is now a dissenter. She has refused to conform. She stands out from the pack and posterity will notice her contribution to constitutionality and justice. She is likely to be ostracized by her colleagues. They will throw mud at her and curse the day she was brought into government.

Not to worry, she has better company out here. As Cass Sunstein says in one of his books, "much of the time dissenters benefit others, while conformists benefit themselves. If people threaten to blow the whistle on wrongdoing or to disclose facts that contradict an emerging group consensus, they might well be punished..."

In this case, she cannot be punished because none of the conformists appointed her. She must be consoled in the words of William Bryan that "the humblest citizen in all the land, when clad in the armour of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error." She is our hero in the struggle against abuse of the Constitution by the Executive which she belongs.

Our freedom lies in people like Akunyili. Freedom of opinion is a fundamental right that must not be silenced. It does not matter if only one out of all the ministers expresses a different opinion. Those who shouted Akunyili down when she presented her position on Wednesday are the real enemies of Nigeria.

Majority opinion is not always right, neither does might imply justice. As Lowenstein, Lechner and Bruun have noted, when a minority cannot make its opinion known, it ceases to serve as an effective counterpoint to majority opinion, because society proceeds forward in lockstep conformity.

Let me conclude this accolade in the same manner the late US President, Lyndon Johnson said of Stevenson while speaking at his burial: because of what Akunyili did last week, she will forever hold a permanent place on that tiny roster of those who will be remembered as long as mankind is strong enough to honour greatness.