The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • Crisis in states: Buhari will need Peter Obi

    There is crisis in the land; deep economic crisis. This is the reason why though one is truly constrained to cast the above headline because of its inherent political undercurrent, we all must remember that we have a country to run. We also have an economy to manage. And now that elections have been won and lost, if the good of the country is uppermost in our minds, we must forget about party lines and partisan politics and seek solution wherever we can find it.

    The stories emanating from states across the country are dire and dangerous. Most states are virtually on the verge of collapse. This is why the President and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), need to urgently switch to emergency mode as they fashion out a belated economic agenda. They must also build in a template for the states and local government areas to thrive.

    Three quick examples will suffice here to illustrate the utter hopelessness in states across the country. In Imo State, Southeast of Nigeria, the structures of governance have virtually collapsed. It is not only that different categories of workers and pensioners are owed months of pay, some do not even know what they earn anymore, as arbitrary deductions are levied each time government manages to pay.

    Last Monday, doctors and medical workers in public hospitals in the state reported for work to find that the government had ambushed them. Government’s vigilance group had barricaded public hospitals and locked out workers. The hospitals had been concessioned and forcefully acquired, they learnt.

    By last Monday, there were months of salary arrears; there were patients on admission requiring attention, there were patients bearing various ailments. They were all turned back. A certain concession agreement had become operational, somebody said and that ends it.

    In this state, the so-called revenue yielding agencies of government had been long abandoned to ‘fend’ for themselves. The governor simple declared that “we cannot be wasting public resources on people who are not productive; I cannot continue to give them subvention.”

    Is this any way to run a state? If agencies are not meeting performance expectations, are they not to be restructured for optimum results? Are they simply handed out to the so-called concessionaires or left to disintegrate?

    The local government system has long collapsed and most headquarters are overgrown with bush; their monthly allocation pocketed. Adapalm, Imo Transport Company and Concorde Hotels, which were up and running, have become moribund under Governor Okorocha. Now that the civil service too has almost crashed, the state is stark and barren like a homeless orphan. Even the bailout fund is being disbursed from the governor’s pocket. Meanwhile the governor is reportedly more liquid than the state. He is said to shuttle the globe frequently in chartered jets. Official profligacy and wastefulness thrive in a state that is deep in debt and almost failing. Call anyone you know in Imo State and all you will hear are ululations and cries of sorrow and anguish.

    In a recent interview, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC) Comrade Ayuba Wabba, had this to say about Gov. Okorocha: “Look at what is happening in Imo State, the situation is very sad and depressing. Governor (Rochas) Okorocha is not only owing workers’ salary, in Imo State, pensioners have not been paid for over a year…many of them are dying of hunger. We have written several letters to Okorocha, but he has not replied us. We are not going to fold our arms while workers are suffering in the state. We are going to shut down Imo State if that is what it will take to make Okorocha listen to the voice of reason.”

    In the Southwest of Nigeria and Oyo State to be precise, the state that prides itself on the agenda of free education, Governor Abiola Ajimobi has already introduced what is termed ‘development levy’ in public schools. At a recent event, the governor was recorded as saying that the N26billion bailout fund the state got was peanuts, as its outstanding wage bill was already over N21 billion.

    He said as soon as his government cleared most of the arrears, it would start owing once again, “as we will start to scramble for more money.”  He then reeled out the old litany: income (read federal allocation) has dropped to N3billion, monthly wage bill has shot up to N5billion and internally generated revenue (IGR) is N1billion; the state is therefore left with a monthly deficit of N1.8billion.

    This is the same tale-by-moonlight we have heard from Oyo and most other states in the last four years. Oyo has 33 LGAs, what about the billions of naira accruing to them monthly? How could a state the size of Oyo deign to earn N1 billion IGR monthly?  Without leaving one’s office in Lagos, one could raise N1 billion in Ibadan alone in one week.

    Four years ago when minimum wage was increased to N18,000, Gov. Ajimobi had let out the same lamentations about salary bills and deficits, but that same salary bill has almost doubled since then. What measures were put in place in the last four years to expand the economic base of a large state like Oyo? We often forget that the most imposing building in Ibadan, Cocoa House, was built from the proceeds of agric produce and not oil revenues. Cocoa has not stopped thriving in the west of Nigeria; countries like Ghana and Ivory Coast still subsist largely on cocoa.

    It would make interesting statistics to find out how much chicken is consumed in Oyo State daily, how much rice, how much milk, cocoa beverage, vegetable oil, tinned tomatoes, etc.? Most of these things are not produced in Oyo State; in fact most of them are smuggled from across the border. If Oyo State were a company with over five million mostly able-bodied and educated workers, would it be declaring a revenue of N1 billion monthly!

    In Benue State, the former governor, Gabriel Suswam, who ruled for eight years spoke recently, justifying why he left an empty treasury. According to him, if you depended solely on revenues from the federation account, you are bound to leave an empty treasury. Wow, how profound! He met an empty treasury, according to him and he left an empty treasury plus four months’ of salary arrears and a huge debt in billions of naira. Shouldn’t we therefore conclude that he is an empty fellow?

    Goodness gracious! How could a man run an entire state for eight years and all he could boast of is an empty treasury and huge debts. Benue State can feed the entire country down to the West Coast of Africa (with rice, beans, yam, potatoes, tomatoes, fruits, chicken, beef, milk, you name it) if perchance it finds a thinking governor someday.

    We can go on and on in almost every state. The leakages, the pilfering and the wanton wastefulness coupled with a lack of imagination to run a state and create wealth are beyond words. Instead, most governors hold their states by the jugular and make sure their economies suffer asphyxia. In most states, the entire people are made to breathe through the nose of the governor; that is the horror template.

    This column will never be tired of calling attention to the Peter Obi paradigm. And the President will do well to go beyond party politics and bring Obi to his corner. How did he do it? Anambra had less allocation than most other states, yet Obi never borrowed a dime in eight years. He left about N75 billion in cash and investment papers, he galvanised major investors to set up in the state (SABmiller, Innoson, Juhel); he invested heavily in education, health and roads.

    Today, Anambra is not part of the bailout crowd. Anambra is meeting its salary and pension obligations promptly? Nigeria will need to sit Peter Obi down and ask him how he did it?

  • Zones of disaffection (1)

    Zones of disaffection (1)

    The new progressive government at the centre has reason to worry about souring ethnic relations. Indeed, since the beginning of the British experiment that assembled disparate entities and tossed them into what was meant to be a melting pot of cultures, embers of sectional fires have never been completely extinguished. While the founding fathers tried to manage the crises with varying degrees of success, managing was all they were able to do.

    The politics of the centre has been the most potent force in the crisis of ethnic nationalities since before independence. It was the fear of domination by the southern nationalities that informed the northern resistance against early national independence. And our embarrassing inability to have an accurate national census since 1960 is traceable to the fear on the part of every nationality of being disadvantaged in the distribution of amenities and positions.

    The politics of ethnic nationality is the reason for the dearth of national leaders. For no matter how charismatic and effective a leader is, once sectional lens are focused on him or her, the charm disappears. Charisma to one section is repulsion to others. In the twinkling of an eye, leaders follow their followers back to sectional shells. Water finds its level and a nation in the making falls back to the worship of old idols.

    In the name of unity, we have indulged in national self-deception for far too long. When will we realise that we are not moving forward in the journey of nationhood?

    That journey began more than 55 years ago if we include the common national struggle for independence. Ironically, it was that struggle that exposed the fault lines in the structure of the future nation. The original and erroneous conception of the emerging nation as a tripod elided its multiple component parts with little or no provision for the minority nations. On their part, Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba nationalities saw themselves as rivals for the central throne.

    Among the majority nationalities, the Yoruba stood out for the principles they espoused. From the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) to the Constitutional Conferences, the position of the Yoruba leadership was unambiguous. The 1953 Action Group motion for independence, just two years after its inauguration as a political party, was the hallmark of its advocacy of freedom for all, life more abundant. But it was also the major source of its troubles.

    Losing the federal elections in 1959 did not appear to slow down the Action Group. Carrying its convictions to the centre, it pressed for progressive policies and challenged policies at variance with its avowed ideals of good governance. The Yoruba loved their leaders and their place in the country even when they did not control the centre. Then there was crisis of leadership and things fell apart. The centre finally succeeded in slowing down the west and decimating its leadership. But it was the entire country that collapsed under the weight of the conspiracy.

    Still mindful of its place in history, Yoruba leadership tried its best to avert the war. Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi demonstrated the Yoruba ethics of Omoluabi when he chose to be killed along with his host so nobody could insinuate that the Yoruba had a hand in the conspiracy. During the war, the Yoruba preserved old friendships as best as they could under the circumstance, faithfully discharging the moral obligation to protect Igbo property.  None of these gestures mattered to hate mongers and empire builders. It was as if the Yoruba were the chief culprits.

    Between 1978 and 1983, the campaign strategy of the National Party of Nigeria was to impugn the integrity of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. They demonised him, branding him as Igbo and Fulani hater. Of course, his Yoruba adversaries, in the minority in Yorubaland, supplied the gasoline that fueled the fire of hatred.

    The annulment of the 1993 presidential election was the final straw in ethnic nationality relations. While the Yoruba saw it as a deliberate effort to frustrate them from leadership of the Federal Government, other groups cheered on the military government. Relationship grew worse during the terror years of General Abacha such that even those Yoruba who were opposed to the progressive ideology of Chief Awolowo came round to condemn the high-handedness of the military hierarchy and their sponsors.

    The government of General Obasanjo was an equal opportunity dictatorship in democratic garb and credible Yoruba leadership did not see it as their own. Indeed, many mainstream Yoruba organisations distanced themselves from the government. Recall Obasanjo’s mockery of the rule of law in his treatment of Lagos State’s local government funds.

    I have travelled this historical route to make an observation regarding where we are now. In the last few weeks, two tendencies in Yorubaland have raised issues bordering on relationship with other nationalities in Yorubaland. Typically, the Yoruba do not have problems wherever they live in other parts of the country. As strong believers in the relativity of cultures, they would rather be Romans when they dwell in Rome.  They do not go anywhere to upset the proverbial applecart. Unfortunately, others are not as respectful of host communities and their traditions.

    Before I discuss the specific cases, however, it is important to make a general philosophical observation with a question. In the unavoidable case of culture conflict in a federally-structured democracy, how is it to be resolved?

    I assume that in such a structured democracy, there are clearly defined constitutional mandates that provide for certain conduct. Thus, killing an innocent citizen is a crime and there is punishment upon conviction. No matter where one resides, this is upheld as the law of the land.

    By the same token, however, there are customs and traditions and each constituent group or culture has its peculiar idiosyncrasies which it guards jealously. In a well-constituted federal republic, there would be provision for according due respect to such customs and traditions, provided that they do not contravene the provisions of the laws of the greater republic. A traditional customary law cannot conflict with the law against killing an innocent person.

    A true federal system makes adequate provision for cultural autonomy in a democracy simply because, as the sum total of the beliefs and values of a people that make them who they are, they would certainly want to protect and promote their culture even when they become a part of a political state. As elements of a culture, language, religion, beliefs, arts and values are, therefore, expected to be under the auspices of the people. To the extent that this is not the case, the struggle of cultural autonomy is warranted and legitimate.

    In our corner of the world, the struggle was intense in the years leading to national flag independence. It was the struggle between unitarism and federalism. Since federalism won in the end, customs and traditions came under the auspices of regional and later, state governments. That was why each region had a House of Chiefs and on the executive side, a Minister of Culture and Tourism. The House of Chiefs was the custodian of tradition and culture, including the preservation and promotion of the institution of monarchy. The traditional ruler in Yorubaland is “alase ekeji orisa” (authority second only to the gods).

    For the foregoing reason, and due to the fact that there are traditional rules and guidelines for the various cultural mandates in Yorubaland, only those with the authority of tradition are allowed to carry them out. In common Yoruba parlance, we must perform the task as specified so that the outcome is as desired. Where there is a conflict between the specification and the performance, there is bound to be avoidable chaos. When it affects tradition, the chaos could be spiritual and catastrophic.

    Indigenes with a good understanding of tradition are, therefore, eager to protect their communities from any untoward outcomes of missteps. It is also their moral obligation to warn sojourners and visitors in their midst against flouting tradition and customs. More importantly, no matter how it appears to visitors, a people’s culture is their essence. Therefore, any conflict of culture must be resolved in favour of the host community.

    (To be continued)

  • Crescent University’s 7th Convocation Lecture

    Monologue

    University is a city of perspiring dreams which some people turn into inheritable reality but which others keep as dreams in perpetuity. The knowledge that propels the world into greater hopes may sometimes be packaged in the University but its basis is surely outside the University. The most knowledgeable human beings in history never knew anything called University yet they ventilated the environment that brought University into being.

    Crescent University, Abeokuta, held its 7th convocation on Saturday, October 10, 2015. But its Convocation Lecture which yours sincerely delivered came up a day earlier: Friday, October 9, 2015. It was a lecture too lengthy to be published in a single edition of this column and ‘The Message’ doesn’t serialise articles. But an excerpt from it is brought here today. Please, read on:

     

    Preamble

    Any time one remembers an historic inscription once placed conspicuously at the main entrance of the University of Cordoba in Spain, the heart throbs. The inscription read as follows:

    “The World is sustained by four formidable Pillars: The Wisdom of the Learned; the Justice of the Great; the prayers of the Righteous and the Valour of the Brave”.

    It will be noticed that the key words in that inscription are four: Learning, Justice, Righteousness and Bravery. Those words are the real factors of ethics and morality embedded in the University curriculum from inception to accentuate the high level of discipline and the fear of Allah required to reflect in the life of an average University graduate.

    Those factors simply summarise the essence of temporal and spiritual life of man in all ramifications through the vehicle of education. Without them no life can be said to be worthy of living and no education can be rightly proclaimed.

     

    University of Cordoba

    For those who did not know, University of Cordoba was the very first formal and standardised University ever established in the world. It was established in the earlier part of the 10th century CE by Caliph Abdur-Rahman III of the second Umayyad dynasty who ruled in Spain from 912 to 961 CE. University of Cordoba preceded the three oldest Universities in the world today: Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt; Qarawiyyin University in Fez, Morocco and Zaytuniyyah University in Tunis, Tunisia. Each of these Universities is well over 1000 years old now.

    It was at the University of Cordoba that the Christian Europe first came in contact with the yoke of the knowledge that fetched it what is now called modern civilisation. Thus, at a time when the city of Cordoba under the Muslim rule, was styled ‘The Jewel of the World’ by the Europeans because of its beauty, serenity and grandeur, the University of Cordoba stood out as a second to none citadel of learning in the entire world.

     

    Attestation

    To attest to this fact, a French Historian of the 20th century and author of ‘The Civilisation of the Arabs’, Gustave Le Bon, had the following to say:

    “At an epoch when the rest of Europe was plunged in the darkest barbarism, Baghdad and Cordoba, the two great cities where Islam held sway, were centres of civilisation which illumined the whole world with the light of their brilliance”.

     

    Introduction of zero

    If some people in this generation are still in doubt over the above narration to which some well known historians have attested as quoted, then, we can shift our focus to a related but more familiar terrain that has no shadow and cannot be doubted.

    At least most of us can still remember that the numerals which we inherited from our colonial masters are called Arabic numerals. Those are the numerals with which we were taught mathematics in schools when we were young. They are the same numerals with which we now conduct our economic activities. It was through those numerals that Muslim intellectuals introduced the figure called zero (0) into the world thereby bringing decimal system into being. At least, everyone knows that without decimal system the achievement of any scientific advancement would have been impossible.

     

    Europe’s adoption of Arabic numerals

    Before the invention of zero, Europe had relied heavily on the clumsy system of Roman numerals which required enormous expenditure of time and labour. For instance, while the decimal system makes it easy to write such figure as 1848 in only four numerals and within a second, the Europeans used to write the same number with 11 numerals as follows: MDCCCXLVIII in Roman numerals.

     

    Essence of Zero

    The real essence of inventing zero (0) by the Muslim intellectuals was not just to advance the course of science and technology for academic purpose but also to boost human morality by facilitating transparency in economic transactions that could be devoid of manipulation and thereby prevent corruption.

    This further confirms that the end result of education in those days was not just to obtain certificate but to pave way for civility. But can there be any civility in the absence of good human conduct? This is where the question of ethics and morality comes in. It is through high level of discipline and sound ethics that exemplary leaders emerge.

     

    Qualities of Exemplary Leadership

    University is so named because of the universality of certain human norms and mannerism that distinguish between man and animal. This does not however pave way for a tradition in which leaders must have passed through any University before emerging as leaders. The greatest leaders in history never passed through University. Even as the most educated human being that ever lived (Prophet Muhammad (SAW), was an illiterate. Yet from the fountain of his education many nonentities have become professors in various fields of learning while many more, literate or illiterate, people across nations and continents have been employed so permanently that they can never be jobless again.

     

    Education and Literacy

    The difference between education and literacy is grossly misconceived in Nigeria. While the one is universally beneficial to all and sundry, the other is beneficial only to the so-called literate. Whereas education is about knowledge, cultural value, responsibility and legacy literacy is about momentary material benefit that can never become either a legacy or a heritage. The death of a literate person connotes the end of literacy in him while an educated person lives on even long after his demise. Prophet Muhammad is a typical example of the latter.

     

    Benefits of Education

    Our ancestors who domesticated plants and turned them into edible foods did not attend any school and were therefore not literate. It was from their education that we came to inherit how to turn cassava into gari and eba and yam into yam flour (amala) and pounded yam (iyan) and maize into pap (Eko). It was from their knowledge also that we came to turn melon (egusi) as well as locust beans (Iru) into nutritious soup. It was also those ancestors who cultivated cotton and silk without learning textile technology in any classrooms and turned them into fabrics with which they designed a variety of dresses for men and women of different generations.

    Thus, if we wear such dresses as Buba and Iro as well as Agbada, Danshiki, Oyala and the likes today it is due to the sound education of our illiterate ancestral fathers and mothers rather than the ingenuity of our literacy. As a matter of fact, the modern professors have not added anything tangible to those foods and dresses despite their five star certificates in nutrition and textile technology. If anything, they have rather used their so-called literacy to bring various diseases and immorality into the world through nutrition and nudism. Whereas education abhors corruption literacy encourages and upholds it.

     

    Pseudo-Education

    Today, what remains of most Nigerian Universities is mere nomenclature attributable only to literacy rather than education. Even such literacy has so evidently dwindled to a stage of mockery that one sometimes wonders if University as an institution of learning in Nigeria still has anything tangible to contribute to education for the benefit of mankind. The quality of most Nigerian graduates today is so unfitting to the status of the tertiary institution called University that the phrase ‘University Education’ has virtually become meaningless. And this is because the main objective of seeking admission into Nigerian Universities these days is just to obtain certificate that can serve as meal ticket rather than education that can pave way for quality life.

    The heavily pregnant inscription quoted at the beginning of this speech  in respect of the University of Cordoba is quite symbolic of the intellectual  and humanitarian qualities that enabled the Muslims of that time to pilot the world, with knowledge, into the realm of what is now termed ‘Modern Civilisation’. It constitutes the summary of good leadership theoretically and practically whether in the primordial or contemporary times. It connotes the necessary equanimity with which excellent leadership is managed and maintained in any sane society. That is what a well-meaning University should be. That is what Crescent University is grooming its graduates to become. We pray Allah to enable Crescent University also become great in history. Amin

  • Referendum: Would Ndigbo prefer Nigeria or Biafra?

    It is understandable that the Biafra fraud has found a new fillip in President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘provocative discrimination’ against the Southeast zone of Nigeria, but it still is not sufficient reason for Ndigbo to resort to mob action  – the coward’s alternative.

    If a referendum were done today for Ndigbo to choose between Nigeria and Biafra, Igbo will vote Nigeria. In fact, by my reckoning, Ndigbo had moved on long ago from Biafra, reintegrating themselves fully into the Nigerian family. Ndigbo actually have the most stakes in Nigeria today and are also the most exposed economically. The Igbo have invested right from the head bridge of the Niger River up the country to Ilela (Sokoto) and Gamgoro, the northernmost tip of Borno.

    Why would anyone so exposed seek separation? Time has come to call the so-called Biafra agitation championed by MASSOB (Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra) what it is – a fraud. Its founders, who were not gainfully engaged about 20 years ago, are now stupendously rich. Where is all the money coming from? How many misguided youths have been wasted so far? To what end? We urge MASSOB champions to morph into an Igbo socio-cultural organisation as Gani Adams has done with OPC. MASSOB is not Igbo consensus. Enough is enough!

  • Nwabueze on Buhari: Elders as critics?

    Last week was a nightmare for EXPRESSO; the devil, that age-long nemesis of the printer, poked his forked rod on this page. The result was a bizarre reproduction of the newspaper’s editorials of the day (on page 11) right on this page. Such a glitch never happened before in over four years of keeping this column. Sincere apologies to all the adherents of this space; especially those who noticed and expressed concern; let’s just say stuff does happen eh? We shall be much more watchful henceforth.

    Last week we looked at the situation in our mega city-state, Lagos. One basically lent his voice to the unfolding new regime in our city and urged that a true city should never go to sleep. In fact, a well run city never blinks. One opined therefore that to allow such virtual vacuous state for about five months is a worrisome augury.

    One noted also that our new governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, did not run with the ball on touchdown. That has caused so many nuts to loosen and explains the loud creaks in the mammoth engine that is a city is. After a short preamble I had rerun a piece ran here on Friday, June 26, 2015, titled: “A note for Gov. Ambode.” It can be accessed on The Nation’s website.

    Today, we dwell on the recent intervention of elder statesman, eminent advocate and legal scholar, Professor Ben Nwabueze. I stand to be corrected, but I wager that no lawyer or law teacher in Nigeria (perhaps Africa) has contributed more original literature in constitutionalism and constitutional law than Prof. Nwabueze.

    He earned his silk (Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN), 38 years ago and is a distinguished honoree of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM). Apart from his immense contributions in shaping Nigeria’s constitution, between 1975 and 1992, he had also worked on the development of the constitutions of such African countries as Zambia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Namibia to name a few. He was also instrumental to the setting up and development of numerous Law Faculties across African nations’ universities. At 82, Prof. Nwabueze must be a voice to be reckoned with anytime he deigns to open his rich depository of wisdom and knowledge to us. His opinion would come as precious pearls and his interventions in the affairs of the nations must be like rare gems and indeed, rarefied.

    But the last instalment from the erudite octogenarian in The Guardian (October 16, 2015) and some of his recent comments would appear to cast him in the mode of a common social critic and run-of-the-mill politician. The two-page article, which was presaged by a front page news extract, is titled: “The public acclaim of President Buhari as a liberator and national hero.”

    His submission is that President Muhammadu Buhari is neither a liberator, national hero nor the messiah Nigerians seem to equate him with currently. Hear him: “I think it fair, in concluding this section, to reiterate that the public acclaim of President Buhari as our deliverer from the evil of corruption has been adroitly stage-managed; it is the product, not of concrete actions or results actually accomplished, but actually of propagandist talk, cleverly designed to charm the mind and hearts of people and to endear the President to them, as well as whip up public sentiments for him as deliverer, even as a messiah. The plan succeeded admirably, from which it follows that the public acclaim of the President is undeserved…” He posited further that though the president may be under the illusion that corruption is number one enemy, he is mistaken. Nigeria’s number one enemy, Nwabueze affirms, “…Is the North-South Divide, which is deepened, as it unquestionably is, by the Divide separating the adherents of the Christian and Muslim religions.”

    Also high on the ladder of national challenges, higher than the scourge of corruption, according to Nwabueze, is the matter of national question. Again, let’s hear it from him:

    “The National Question may therefore be described as Nigeria’s predominating and daunting problem, which, having been left largely untackled over the years, continues to loom over us. President Buhari does not qualify to be hailed and idolised as liberator and national hero on the score-card of his anti-corruption war alone, unless and until he effectively and successfully comes to grips with the National Question.”

    The wizened professor spoke so many wise words in his two-page disquisition as is always his wont. Anyone seeking some light as to the current dynamics of our nationhood ought to read it.

    But great as the piece may be, one has a few reservations. First, and as has been stated earlier, Prof is making too many interventions recently, making him sound like a mere politician or a social critic. One thinks that elders should speak less frequently and sparingly so that their opinion would not lose weight. (Alhaji Balarabe Musa also recently said that the anti-graft war was slow. At least 30 former governors and ministers ought to have been tried now, said the one-time governor of Kaduna State.)

    Secondly, Prof’s piece seems to be a bit high-tempo-ed if not intemperate. One does not see the need for that yet; especially from an elder. But more remarkably, Prof seems a bit harsh on President Buhari; as if the president has committed a crime to have persevered these past 16 years in his honest quest to manage the affairs of the country. It is our collective shame that the lot has fallen on none else but a septuagenarian to carry the burden of this nation at this turbulent juncture of our nationhood. And worse, it is our collective woe that the immediate past president (and his rogue party) was leading the country to damnation before our very eyes.

    Much troubling to one particularly, is that Prof is not known to have rebuked the immediate past occupant of Aso Rock sharply enough in those years of unbridled pillage and ruination of the polity.

    The current man on the saddle is never known to have branded himself ‘liberator’, ‘hero’ or any such tag, that would be the people’s perception and not by his prompting. If President Buhari has erred in the course of the job (like seeking to add a ministerial portfolio to an elephantine presidential portmanteau and like ‘beefing’ Ndigbo for shunning him at the polls), let us treat such case-by-case, otherwise, he is new and he is doing his utmost best so far, it seems.

    Buhari is not the cause of Nigeria’s woes and cannot be blamed for them. Those issues raised by Prof are long-term challenges. Could we in good conscience be bugged down by issues of national question and ethnic and religious schisms in the face of a near-comatose economy and a system afflicted by a cancerous graft and debilitating impunity? We urgently need to reclaim the country first before we can begin to renegotiate our nationhood.

    Lastly, one would expect Prof to give a bit more attention to Ndigbo that currently suffer their worst catharsis and are in dire need of direction. Prof must be worried that the Ohaneze he built and nurtured for over two decades as secretary general has be turned into a soggy bowl of porridge. Is Prof worried as one is, that a misguided band known as MASSOB is giving Ndigbo a bad name and violating the Igbo essence because the land is devoid of leaders? Isn’t Prof worried that his people have become a nation of olukus whose elders observe traditional rites in the cities and pour ‘libation’ to foreign chi’s? Prof must be pained that Ndigbo that abhorred the feudal over-lordship of monarchical rule now boast of self-crowned monarchs in every street of the world! Ndi ofeke a nara anyi obodo!

     

     

     

  • Party supremacy and personal integrity

    Party supremacy and personal integrity

    Liberal democracy, our system of politics, combines two of the ideals of the modern world. The first is the freedom of the individual to determine the kind of life that he or she wants to live without societal, religious, or traditional encumbrance. The second is democracy.

    The foremost apostle of individual freedom was John Stuart Mill. Its primary creed is encased between the covers of On Liberty:

    “The sole end for which mankind are warranted individually or collectively in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number is self-protection…. the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his (or her) will, is to prevent harm to others. His (her) own good, either physical or mental, is not a sufficient warrant.”

    Our national fight against Boko Haram is predicated on this powerful doctrine, whether we acknowledge it or not. That evil sect is bent on causing harm to others. And it is doing so on account of its warped logic of saving people from themselves, based on its understanding of religious obligation. For Mill, that is an unjustifiable infraction of individual freedom. Therefore, society has a good reason to intervene on behalf of innocent victims.

    Democracy is the second ideal in the liberal-democracy juxtaposition. Democracy is essential to the extent that a thoroughgoing pursuit of the ideal of freedom might lead to the unintended consequence of anarchism. Indeed, as Robert Paul Wolf has argued, anarchism would be the only justifiable social state compatible with absolute freedom. However, anarchism is counter-productive in view of our knowledge of human nature. Therefore, there is need for a second best, a political state in which individual freedom is reconciled with political obligation to a political community based on the voluntary renunciation of absolute freedom by the individual.

    The prudential and moral justification of the renunciation of unenforceable absolute freedom in favour of guaranteed limited freedom is a no-brainer. It is better to accept such a limitation as long as others are also committed to it. Where absolute freedom is the deal and it cannot be guaranteed for anyone, no one is really free.

    Assume then that limited freedom is acceptable to all; the next question is how do we organise society to effectively realise the beneficial outcome? We could go with monarchy, or military dictatorship, or feudal authority. None of these structures has the potential to maximise individual freedom because each is an instrument in the hands of one or a few.

    Democracy is the only political structure that is inclusive of all. It guarantees that every individual of mature age has a say in how he or she is governed and in the amount of limitation that is placed on individual freedom. While liberalism is a social ideal that favours individual freedom, democracy is the structure that ensures the effective protection of this ideal to the extent that it is possible in a political setting. In the enduring sentiment of one of its foremost modern architects, democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people.

    That Lincolnian definition is, however, only half true. For we know that in a modern democracy, not everyone participates in government. What was possible in ancient Athens is not possible in 21st century Nigeria. Therefore we have to improvise with Representative Democracy, so that we approximate the ideal of government of the people by the people and for the people.

    An essential institution in this improvisation is the political party. Whereas in a city state there is no need for a bridge between the people and the state, in a modern behemoth that approaches the stature of a Leviathan, a go-between is essential. This is the role that a political party assumes in a modern liberal democracy such as we practise.

    It is not a coincidence that our constitution recognises this important, indeed, indispensable role of the political party in our political system and prescribes that the party constitution and ideals must be in conformity with the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of the State. In other words, the political party is the institution that the constitution recognises as the agency to monitor and ensure the effective implementation of those principles and policies through its control over the executive and the legislature.

    What the foregoing means is that if the political party performs its oversight functions effectively, the legislature and the executive would move the nation forward in the matter of implementing the constitutionally mandated fundamental objectives and directive principles of state. The corollary is simply that if it fails in these oversight functions, the nation may fail to move forward on those principles and objectives, especially where the executive and the legislature pursue disparate agenda.

    It is for the foregoing reason that one of the most constitution-conscious and politically savvy national leaders of all time insisted on the doctrine of party supremacy. In an address to the Oyo State Conference of the Unity Party of Nigeria in 1980, Chief Obafemi Awolowo made the following remarks:

    “…our Constitution clearly makes a Registered Political Party the cornerstone of the activities of all the members of that Party, including those of them in the Legislature and the Executive, as well as those of them operating outside these two organs of Government….Any elected member or group of elected members of a Political Party who refuse to toe the Party line—that is, choose to break their link with the Party source—must, of necessity, either quickly affiliate with another Political Party for a link with another Party source, or be doomed to political dehydration or anaemia. In other words, by express provisions as well as necessary implications in the Constitution, the Registered Political Party is supreme and absolutely decisive in the conduct of our public affairs.”

    As an outstanding achiever in the realm of constitutionalism, Chief Awolowo approached the matter from that perspective. As a moral leader of no mean repute, he could also have approached it from the perspective of ethics and morality.

    There is a moral tie that binds a member of the executive or legislature to the source of his or her election into the legislature or the executive branch. That tie demands an obligation of fidelity to the ideals, programmes and policies of the sponsoring party. In particular, because the party is the link between the electorate and the government, it is morally imperative for the individuals so elected to avoid anything that might break that link or sour the relationship between the party and the electorate. In the recent past, we have seen how the break in such a link adversely impacted the fortunes of the party in subsequent elections.

    Where does the foregoing observation on the supremacy of the party leave the integrity of the individual? Can personal integrity be reconciled with party supremacy?

    The answer to this fundamental question is fairly simple. Since no one is forced to join a particular party, the choice to associate with a political party is voluntary. Being a voluntary decision, one expects that it is taken with due consideration for the ideals that the particular political party endorses and the programmes it plans to implement. To the extent that this is the case, then it is reasonable to assume that an individual makes the decision to join such a party because there is correspondence between his or her ideals and those of the party in question.

    If personal and party ideals coincide, then the individual’s integrity is intact. On the other hand, if the implementation of the ideals subscribed to by the individual and the party poses a threat to the perceived interest of an individual, it is the personal interest of the individual that is at stake, not the individual’s integrity. Since this conflict of interest is always a possibility, personal integrity recommends personal sacrifice in the larger interest of the party ideal. This is where our democratic journey must lead us. Obviously, we are still far away from that desirable destination.

     

     

     

  • Let’s hear it for Gov Ayade!

    This column has been a close watcher of governors across the country and its initial verdict is that Prof. Ben Ayade of Cross River State and Malam Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State are front-runners so far. In terms of having a grasp of the job and zooming off from day one in office, the twain seem to take the prize.

    Ayade proves this when he got President Buhari on Wednesday to flag off his 260km dual carriage superhighway that will traverse his state and beyond. While most other governors are grappling with such mundane stuff as paying of workers’ salaries and while some are completely crushed by the responsibility of running their domain, Ayade seems to be soaring away with big, salutary ideas. To think that Cross River is not an oil producing state. Did they not say there is treasure under every soil? Rev it up Prof.!

  • Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (1952 – 2015)

    A lesson in legacy and democracy

    IT is a telling lesson on the importance of positive performance in power that former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha reportedly rushed back to the country from Dubai,  where he was receiving medical attention, out of fear of extradition to the UK to face corruption-related charges. His death at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital on October 10, aged 62, seemed like the culmination of insecurity out of power, though official sources said he “died of complications arising from high blood pressure and diabetes which affected his kidney.”

    No less a person than Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson confirmed that a feeling of insecurity was a major factor in the tragedy. Seriake said in an emotional state broadcast that reflected the sense of loss of Alamieyeseigha’s Ijaw ethnic group: “We acknowledge the anger, the genuine sense of anger and disappointment, and the outrage held by our people at home and in the diaspora and all well-meaning Nigerians and lovers of justice around the world for the way our leader was harassed, pounded and forced to abandon his treatment abroad. We condemn…the propaganda and the orchestrated harassment that led to his untimely death.”

    It is noteworthy that, in the end, a controversial 2013  state pardon of Alamieyeseigha by former President Goodluck Jonathan proved inadequate to redeem him as he remained wanted in the UK  where he was facing money-laundering charges but escaped mysteriously to safety in Nigeria. It is understandable that he was still haunted by the possibility of prosecution in London, after jumping bail in 2005, and got jittery in Dubai following reports that the UK had requested his extradition.

    Alamieyeseigha came to politics from a military background, having been trained at the Nigerian Defence Academy. He retired from the Air Force in 1992 as a Squadron Leader. His re-election as governor in 2003 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), after a four-year term, resulted in an unravelling from which he never recovered.

    There is no question that Alamieyeseigha who governed oil-rich Bayelsa State from 1999 to 2005 was stained by official corruption. While still in office, he had one million British pounds stashed in his London residence; the loot was discovered during a search by London Metropolitan Police. Another hefty sum of almost two million British pounds was found in his bank account in the UK.

    He lost his governorship position when he dramatically surfaced in Nigeria and was impeached by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly. His subsequent prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) resulted in a plea bargain after he pleaded guilty to theft of public funds and money laundering. He forfeited money and property to the government, and got a two-year jail sentence in 2007.  He reportedly spent no more than two days in the cage post-sentence, having been held in detention for two years since his apprehension.

    Notwithstanding the foregoing, the man famously called “Governor General of the Ijaw Kingdom” was intriguingly hero-worshipped by the Ijaw. He was credited with the establishment of the state-owned Niger Delta University and enjoyed the confidence of Ijaw nationalists. It would appear that, to his ethnic group, his failure to achieve socio-economic development that matched the state’s rich resources was a pardonable inadequacy.

    From a more objective viewpoint, Alamieyeseigha’s power years cannot be described as exemplary, particularly in a country faced with serious developmental challenges. He may not have appreciated the virtue of spending public money for public purposes. His legacy is not an edifying lesson. He proved not to be the kind of political leader that should be emulated.

  • The dilemma of a columnist

    No information can be as tenable as that of an eyewitness to an incident”.  

    By Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

    Monologue

    It has been asserted severally in this column that the similitude of column writing in a national newspaper on a weekly basis is like a pregnancy in the womb of an expectant mother. Such a pregnancy carrier can hardly have any respite until she has been delivered of her pregnancy. In the same token, the problem of a quality columnist is not a dearth of ideas but a deluge of them. No columnist of worth will ever be in search of vocabulary to use or facts to be presented comprehensibly to his or her readers. A strong linguistic background and many years of experience in column writing would have taken proper care of that. Thus, a worthy columnist only faces a problem when it comes to choosing the subject of his writing. And that is a weekly intellectual agony which any newspaper columnist anywhere in the world is compelled to pass through regularly.

    As a columnist, while ruminating on a subject to write on, several other subjects often spring up and start throwing themselves torrentially at you in such a manner that you may fall into a dilemma or even confusion sometimes. That is the case with yours sincerely this week.

     

    Debunking a rumour

    The rumour making the rounds that the leader of this year’s National Hajj   Coordinating Team, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II, the Emir of Kano, had ruled out the participation of Nigerian pilgrims in the future throwing of pebbles at the Jamrat. This rumour is not founded. What the leader of the team said was logically conditional. This is how he put it: “The throwing of pebbles at the Jamrat is not worth the blood of any Pilgrim. If throwing of pebbles will be the cause of deaths for Nigerian pilgrims that aspect of Hajj rites might be reviewed in such a way that Nigerians may skip it in future since those pilgrims are not on Hajj to die. His Royal Highness cited an example of a group of pilgrims who came on Hajj riding camels. When those pilgrims complained about the problem faced by their camels at Mina during Hajj the Prophet advised them to stay put in Makkah to be able to save the lives of their camels. His Royal Highness therefore concluded that if the Prophet could permit camel riders to abstain from throwing pebbles at the Jamrat just to save the lives of their camels why can’t the lives of human beings be saved from being perished through stampedes”. He also requested the Saudi Authorities to reconsider the location of Nigerian pilgrims at Mina in relation to the distance between that location and the Jamrat. Thus, since the throwing of pebbles is only symbolic it should not be the cause of death for pilgrims. After all, the opinion of His Royal Highness which was based on Qiyas (one of the four sources of Islamic Law) is not mandatory on all pilgrims. It is only meant for those who may not want to lose their lives at the Jamrat if they are threatened.

     

    A promise is a promise

    As promised last Friday in this column, the idea of today’s contents was to continue the reappraisal of the stampede in Makkah that caused the termination of thousands of pilgrims’ lives including those of hundreds of Nigerians. That was meant to suggest to Nigerian government what it could do to prevent its citizens from falling victims of a similar occurrence in the future. Such a reappraisal was meant to enable Nigerians to know the immediate and remote causes of that unfortunate incident and therefore device a means of avoiding its likes in the years ahead.

    However, as soon as yours sincerely started putting together the contents of today’s column last Wednesday, many other equally important issues began to surface, as usual, to compete for my attention and choice. And which of those issues does not deserve attention anyway especially for someone who just returned to the country after about one month of spiritual sojourn in Saudi Arabia?

    There is the new Islamic year (1st of Muharram, 1437 AH) globally being celebrated in the Muslim world. There is also the speculative apprehension being caused in Lagos and some other Southern States at the instance of the satanic terrorist group called Boko Haram. There is also the unbecoming rampant spate of rape in Nigerian cities and towns that seems to have turned some Nigerians into heartless beasts.

    There is also the ridiculous brouhaha from some diehard tribal bigots over the presidential nominations for ministerial appointments. There is also the newly emerging artificial scarcity of fuel being currently experimented by some Nigerian Shylocks called oil barons in readiness for another round of callous exploitation of ordinary Nigerians. There is also the shameless tribal eulogy for a onetime public criminal who got a tribal official pardon and whose extradition was being sought in another country for prosecution. There is also the seemingly ignored petitions against certain ministerial nominees whose nominations are generally perceived as rewards for corruption.

    Besides, I was privileged to deliver the 7th convocation lecture of the Crescent University, Abeokuta last Friday at the invitation of the authorities of that University. And characteristically, such a lecture deserves immediate publication in this column if only to enable the readers of ‘The Message’ column and other Nigerians to benefit from it. Now, which of these is not strong enough to draw a columnist’s attention?

     

    Sacredness of life

    However, given the fact that human life is or should be sacred in any sane society and at any given circumstance, I decided to choose the last option. Though the dust on the recent Makkah stampede that consumed thousands of lives has now settled, its reverberating effects on the affected homes are yet to settle. What of the bleeding hearts of wives who suddenly became widows or those of husbands who fortuitously became widowers or even those of teenagers who are now orphans at the instance of that unforgettable stampede? Though the general focus has been on the lost lives because of their sacredness, the amount of money lost in that stampede was also incalculable. Because of the nature of Hajj and the spiral movements of the pilgrims during the sacred days of the Dhil-Hijjah every pilgrim carried his or her money about. Thus, millions of Saudi Riyals, European Euros, American Dollars, British Pound Sterling, French Francs, German Deutsche Marks and the likes were lost in the stampede but nobody is talking about that.

     

    A Chronicle of previous Hajj Disasters

    It is never expected that an annual gathering like Hajj that accommodates millions of pilgrims can completely be devoid of deaths and injuries either due to unavoidable natural disaster or human error. But when such disasters are becoming more frequent than normal tongues must wag and comments must be made. For hundreds of years, the Hijaz area of the country now called Saudi Arabia has maintained the two most sacred sanctuaries in Islam creditably well without blemish and she has consistently taken credit for that. It is therefore expected that if on a particular occasion or occasions there is any lapse in the same exercise she should humble enough to take responsibility for it.

    Saudi Arabia’s maintenance of the two sanctuaries as well as the activities of Hajj around them is voluntary. And if for any reason she had needed the assistance of some other Muslim countries she would have sought such assistance. Thus, by not seeking assistance, Saudi Arabian government might have indicated her readiness to accept any responsibility arising from any administrative lapse on her part.

     

    Personal observation

    From my personal observation, there is hardly any country in the world that can maintain Hajj better than Saudi Arabia in terms of infrastructure, security and administration. This country has such a tremendous experience in Hajj matters that calling for withdrawing the administration of Hajj maintenance from her may only amount to sheer envy. But whoever can happily take credit for a job well done must also be ready to take blame for a job not well done.

    So far, Saudi Arabia has tried her very best on Hajj matters but shifting blames in times of lapses shows neither good intention nor reflects sense of responsibility. Any government that voluntarily takes charge of an institution like Hajj must be ready to accept any responsibility associated with it.

     

    Stampede update

    In what became the latest update about the Makkah stampede of September 24, 2015 so far, as it concerns Nigerian pilgrims, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) disclosed last Wednesday (October 14, 2015) that the death toll of Nigerian pilgrims in that stampede had risen to 168. NAHCON also revealed that the official figure of death toll admitted by the Saudi government was 769 as against over 4000 alleged by the international media. It added that seven out of the 42 Nigerians previously admitted into hospitals for various degrees of injuries were yet to be discharged and added that the figure of the hitherto declared missing Nigerians had reduced from 165 to 144. Thus, as of today Nigerian pilgrims who participated in year 1436 AH can be said to have gone to war only to return as vanquished. Meanwhile, in the melee of conflicts in death toll figures the Saudi Interior Ministry has claimed that only 934 pilgrims were missing without giving the details of the nationalities of those missing.

     

    Saudi Arabia’s Reaction

    In a spontaneous but embarrassing reaction to the devastating stampede the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Interior blamed the cause of that stampede on what it called unruly attitude of African pilgrims whom it described as a bunch of illiterate that understood neither Arabic nor English. But when that insulting comment attracted a barrage of media criticisms from various parts of the world the Ministry quickly retracted its statement and denied ever making such a remark. For those who witnessed the agonizing scene, nothing could have been further from the truth in that unfortunate remark. As an eye witness to that tragedy, I could not personally put the population of black Africans in it beyond 3% of the entire pilgrims involved. How could such a tragedy be then blamed on Africans?

    After a similar stampede in 2006, Saudi authorities instituted single-direction pathways for pilgrims going to or coming from the Jamrat to avoid commotion. In the past decade or so, the Saudi government had worked with a wide range of architects and designers, including the famed international firm Gensler, to improve flow and safety at all of the hajj’s major sites including the Central Mosques in the tent locations of Mina and Arafah.

     

    Crowd management

    Reflecting on the various causes of stampedes during Hajj in the past decades an American columnist, John Seabrook wrote an opinion article in 2011 in which he stated as follows:

    “In the literature on crowd disasters, there is a striking incongruity between the way these events are depicted in the press and how they actually occur. In popular accounts, they are almost invariably described as “panics.” The crowd is portrayed as a single, unified entity, which acts according to “mob psychology”—a set of primitive instincts (fear, followed by flight) that favor self-preservation over the welfare of others, and cause “stampedes” and “trampling.” But most crowd disasters are caused by “crazes”—people are usually moving toward something they want, rather than away from something they fear, and, if you’re caught up in a crush, you’re just as likely to die on your feet as under the feet of others, squashed by the pressure of bodies smashing into you. (Investigators collecting evidence in the aftermath of crowd disasters have found steel guardrails capable of withstanding a thousand pounds of pressure bent by crowd force.)

    In disasters not involving fire, panic is rarely the cause of fatalities, and even when fire is involved, such as in the 1977 Beverly Hills Supper Club fire, in South-gate, Kentucky, research has shown that people continue to help one another, even at the cost of their own lives”. Other issues not accommodated in this column today will be published in the subsequent weeks in sha’Allah.

  • Soldiers on the loose

    Soldiers on the loose

    There was a time when the military was more respected than feared. The Nigerian Army was reputed to be a disciplined force. Unless drafted to quell civil unrest, it could only be imagined what they did on the battle front by their orientation and disposition. That tradition is largely lost now. The new turn probably informed the lamentation by a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Salihu Ibrahim that the Army he was leaving behind in 1993 had become a Force of anything goes. If anything, things have got worse in terms of discipline and military-civil relations. Apart from constantly harassing the public, the Army has become notorious for taking on officials of paramilitary organisations and civil groups. On a number of occasions, they have been locked in open conflict with policemen and men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps.

    On Monday, it was the turn of an official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA), Mr. Peter Owolabi. The poor LASTMA official had to be battered for daring to enforce the law. And, to show that the soldiers who descended on the poor man, the soldiers who could not fathom why a common LASTMA official would dare caution them, blocked the Bus Rapid Transit Lane around Obanikoro in the former capital city. It did not matter to them that it would amount to gross indiscipline which is punishable under the law, nor did it bother them that the dedicated lane was for the free flow of traffic in the congested city. They were sure that no authority under the sun could call them to order.

    And, to confirm their position, their commanders have not considered it necessary to issue a statement since the ugly development. There has been no visit to the brutalised official, no apology to LASTMA and the state government, Owolabi’s employers. The soldiers are indirectly, thus being told to repeat the ugly incident should any other law enforcer attempt to make them obey civil rules.

    That was not the first time the soldiers and some of their officers would flagrantly disobey the laws of the land. On many occasions, they had been seen driving in the wrong direction at great discomfort to other road users. They are sometimes known to have forced gas stations to sell to them at whatever price they may dictate, and are hardly patient to join other would-be buyers on the queue.

    This is supposed to be a new dispensation, one that has promised to mobilise Nigerians for rebuilding the country. We, therefore, call on the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, to order a probe into the incident with a view to identifying the soldiers and disciplining them according to the rules to act as a deterrent to others. The same impunity had informed the shooting of tax-paying citizens in the past.

    It need be pointed out again that in a democracy, the military is subject to civil authorities. As many as elect to willfully flout the laws of the land should be brought to justice, if only to assure citizens that they are safe. The senior officers should be good examples. When they are orderly in all things and at all times, purged on the contempt for civilians who are sometimes described as “bloody civilians”, the forces would begin to act as members of an orderly society.

    We call on the Federal Government to reconsider the strength and size of the Nigeria Police Force. Obviously, 30,000 officers and men are inadequate to police Lagos. While not unmindful of the instruction to the Inspector General and the Police Service Commission to recruit 10,000 more policemen to shore up the strength nationwide, this is a mere drop in the ocean. There can be no substitute for allowing the states to police their territories. The involvement of the military in purely civil matters like traffic management might have fuelled the superiority complex that sometimes drive the soldiers.

    Nigeria is not in a state of anomie. The Federal Government has a duty to act immediately to halt the dangerous trend.