As God above is my witness, who sees all When I see any danger threatening my people Whatever it may be, I shall declare it. No man who is his country's enemy Shall call himself my friend. Of this I am sure - Our country is our life only when she rides safely, have we any friends at all. Such is my policy for our common weal.

- Creon (Sophocles)

Professor Dora Akunyili, the Minister of Information and Communications, may not have read the above-stated quote from the Greek play, but it fits recent response to the nation's clearly avoidable political dilemma of a yawning vacuum in its leadership. That is, courtesy of President Umaru Yar'Adua's protrated illness, and his long stay in a Saudi Arabia Hospital. The various reactions it has so far elicited has shown, in patently obvious terms the two camps, of the patriots on one side and the self - serving, conscienceless clique that has held our dear country by the jugular ever since, on the other.

I am not surprised therefore, at Akunyili's recent memo presented to the Federal Executive Council, FEC entitled Time To Right The Wrong. For years, I have been a fiercely loyal admirer of hers, using every opportunity to show case her admirable attributes, more so, when she was the Director - General of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC. Not only was I the first Nigerian journalist to influence the writing of an editorial to highlight the agency's rising profile under her in August, 2003 at the Daily Times, I went ahead to use my columns to let the public know the great revolution she brought to bear in the hitherto, murky food and drugs industry, thereby saving the lives of several hapless Nigerians.

Amongst these essays are: Dora And The Merchants Of Death (D.T. Friday, January 16, 2004), I Am On NAFDAC'S Side (D.T. Friday, March 19, 2004) and Lessons From Dora At 50 (D.T. Friday, July 16, 2004). This was my assessment of her, when she clocked the golden age: At 50 Dora has become an enduring metaphor for service, academic excellence, courage, candour and a patriotic zeal to seek public good at her personal comfort. Like it or not, I am entitled to that opinion. Why did I do all these, for a woman who does not know me from Adam? It is all because our nation is in search of heroes and I see her as one.

Back to the basics. Reading through her memo to her colleagues, I was touched because of the pertinent, incontrovertible issues she raised. On the theory issue of empowering Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to act as President, in the absence of their sick boss she said: I want to remind them that the permanent secretaries has been waiting to be sworn in for over two months now. Consequently, many ministries are without permanent secretaries, including my ministry. Is this not true? Should that political logjam be allowed to persist? Of course, not.

Going further, she made apt reference to the recent Jos crisis that had the Vice President deploying troops to Plateau State. She noted that:Many have openly said that he does not have the right because there cannot be two commanders-in-chief at a time. That is another political aberration. However, Akunyili has proved to be a true friend who is ready to tell the truth at the risk of losing that friendship.

On the re-branding of Nigeria's battered image, she explained it this way. The power vacuum at that level has also compounded our poor image at the international level because of our failure to rise to international expectations, commitments and engagements that require the presence of our President. Abdulmuttalab's failed bomb explosion in a Detriot-bound plane on Christmas Day has worsened that image.

Reminding her colleagues of the persistent call by concerned Nigerians, including former Heads of State to right the wrong she emphasized that: The looming crisis in the system is over boiling. Our hard-earned democracy is being threatened by the day. Going by the last Saturday edition of The Punch, the Ministers have been allegedly angling for mouth-watering oil deals and sundry contracts, which is why they have been against the empowerment of Jonathan. It is not because of their so called love for Ya'Adua, after all.

I wish they know that power belongs to God and He will favour whom he will, inspite of their schemings, intrigues, blackmail and blatant subversion of the people's wishes. I do honestly hope also, that those who have exhibited 'hatred' for Jonathan to his face, are aware of the grave implications of the bad precedence they have set, for the nation's unresolved political imbalance and for generations yet unborn. Can't the pro-Yar'Adua group now see the writing clearly on the wall? That the game of deceit is up?

Notably, the refusal to empower Goodluck Jonathan is a failure of the PDP as a political party. If it had no faith in the Vice President's leadership capabilities why did they throw him up as the deputy to the President in 2007? This has revealed that it lacks a cohesive, binding political philosophy, and has succeeded purely as an assemblage of politicians, poaching for political power, for its own sake.

For now, I urge Akunyili to stick to her guns. She must not resign her appointment, for patriotic Nigerians are solidly behind her. We have had enough of the political brigandage. As she rightly warned: If we fail to act now, history will not forgive us. So let it be.