For the Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Nkem Akunyili, the more than two years she has spent at that position have not endeared her to the citizenry of Nigeria.

Her memorable years were those she spent as the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). While she was the NAFDAC boss, she fought the barons and peddlers of fake and adulterated drugs and food-related products. It was to her credit that NAFDAC, which was more or less a moribund agency like most other Nigerian agencies and parastatals before her entry, came to life and became unarguably the most trusted agency during the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo. What it required for a drug or food substance to be accepted as genuine was the NAFDAC number. It was a stamp of authenticity. If a drug or an edible substance had no NAFDAC number, it was immediately treated as if it was leprous. If there was a rumour concerning any product, the moment Akunyili came out and assured the public that the product was safe, the fear of the public would be doused. It happened during the bird flu scare and also when the boss of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria made a statement about the existence of adulterated palm oil.

Akunyili and a handful of other appointed officers in the Obasanjo administration were viewed as credible and result-oriented. The positive image of Akunyili and these few colleagues of hers rubbed off on the government of Obasanjo. While people vilified the overbearing, garrulous, self-opinionated and vindictive proclivity of President Obasanjo, the achievements of people like Akunyili helped to blunt the missiles aimed at this former general; after all, it was argued that choosing the right team is one of the qualities of a good leader. It was not surprising, therefore, to many Nigerians that Akunyili was picked as Man of the Year by many media houses and organisations and also won many local and international awards during her tenure as NAFDAC boss.

When in 2007, President Umaru Yar'Adua appointed her a minister, many Nigerians felt it was a promotion to another office where she would use her passion, credibility, determination and decisiveness to turn things around once more. But when the Federal Government announced that the Minister of Health was Prof. Babatunde Oshotimehin, no doubt, eminently qualified for that position, while the Minister of Information and Communications was Prof. Dora Akunyili, most Nigerians felt that Akunyili's ministerial portfolio was a case of putting a square peg in a round hole. It became the lot of Akunyili to defend the actions and inactions of the government of Yar'Adua. And the more she defended or explained away those actions - many of which were not popular - the more the image she had acquired at NAFDAC got battered. Even her "Rebrand Nigeria initiative", an otherwise laudable project, was ridiculed by the populace, because there was a systematic disconnect between the words and actions of the Yar'Adua administration. Suddenly, a very popular Akunyili, who before May 29, 2007, was the toast of most Nigerians, became the butt of many attacks by commentators in the newspapers, TV, radio, and the Internet.

But Nigerians woke up on Thursday, February 4, 2010 with newspaper reports confirming a news item that appeared on the Internet the previous day that Akunyili, Minister of Information and Communications of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, had, at a Federal Executive Council meeting, held on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 in Abuja, circulated a memo, which urged her fellow Ministers to advise ailing President Yar'Adua, who had been away for over 70 days, to send a letter to the National Assembly as a step towards handing over power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President. The reports said that in the memo, she pledged her loyalty to the Yar'Adua presidency but noted that Yar'Adua's absence had stalled smooth governance and led to some acts of unconstitutionality. It was also reported that she was, however, promptly and vehemently shouted down by the die-hard loyalists of Yar'Adua and all copies of the memo were withdrawn. Even though many members of the Federal Executive Council sympathised with her view, they were afraid to speak up or identify with her at the meeting. Many of them went to her privately after the meeting to show their solidarity.

The 1999 Constitution, hastily crafted by the regime of General Abdusalam Abubakar, curiously vests in the Federal Executive Council the power to determine if a President is capable of discharging his duties or not. All members of the FEC, except the Vice President, are appointed by the President, and the President has the power to sack any or all of them at any time, except the Vice-President. So it is unimaginable that members of the FEC in a country like Nigeria, where politics is seen as a means to acquire wealth and influence, can ever decide to work against a President who has saved them from relative obscurity and placed them on the national pedestal of affluence and influence. Two weeks ago, the present FEC had, therefore, predictably declared President Yar'Adua capable to continue in office despite being away from office for over two months as a result of a heart problem.

With that bold action of Akunyili, she got her image back in the eyes of most Nigerians. In other climes, her action would be seen as commonplace but in Nigeria, where the handover of power from President Yar'Adua to Vice President Jonathan has been interpreted by some as a loss of power by the North to the South, that 'little' action of Akunyili was revolutionary. By that brave and patriotic action, she will be marked out by the hawks in government as 'disloyal.' She will even been viewed by them as a saboteur. And given the fate that befell two Yar'Adua subordinates two times Yar'Adua was away due to ill health, the fate of Akunyili is hanging in the balance. When Yar'Adua was the Governor of Katsina State between 1999 and 2007, he was away in Germany for six months at a stretch in 2001 due to illness. When he returned from that long absence, his deputy, Tukur Bakori, was impeached by the House of Assembly. Again when Yar'Adua returned from one of his overseas sick trips as President of Nigeria in 2008, he immediately fired Secretary to the Government of the Federation (Mr. Babagana Kingibe) on Monday, September 8, 2008. The only thing that will make Akunyili not to be fired as Minister is if Yar'Adua does not return to office before the expiration of his tenure on May 29, 2011.

It is true that Nigerians and Africans are not usually eager to resign if they are unhappy in political office, yet another way for Akunyili to show her dissatisfaction with the charade going on in government is to resign. It will not be surprising if the nation is told in the days to come about some corrupt practices that have been unearthed against Akunyili. That is one way 'dissidents' are cut to size in Nigeria. Akunyili must beware that she has touched the tail of a tiger. The repercussions may be enormous. Is she ready to weather the storm?