The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • Nuhu, accept my sympathy

    The Nuhu nullity: I had started out titling this piece ‘The Nuhu nullity,’ but the recent capitulation of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu being a complex matter, the narrative kept morphing as one plodded it. First it seemed the grandest of all betrayals that Ribadu, the former anti-corruption czar and erstwhile presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) jumped ship from the ‘progressives’ camp back into the ‘evil’ camp of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    For the simple-minded, Ribadu is among the last of the principled-minded in the land. As executive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from 2003 to 2008, he enjoyed the glistening facade of the knight in shinning armour, the super cop and the nemesis of corrupt officials. Many were taken in by the well-kept front, especially international agencies that showered him with funding, awards and accolades. But under a new president, he had a run-in with the centre and eventually teamed up with opposition elements. It was under this unlikely umbrella that he rather prematurely ran for presidency in 2011, failed woefully but remained in their fold till this grievous volte face a few days ago.

    Ribadu has not only suddenly joined the hated ruling PDP, he is moving on the double to pick the party’s governorship slot for his Adamawa State’s October election. Everything seems to be happening in a frenzy, both for Ribadu and his bemused on-lookers. It is rather difficult for many to conjecture how Ribadu could crawl into a PDP camp he had once described as ‘satanic’. Many are still trying to fathom how he would achieve that psychological denouement to mingle and clink glasses with the people he said ruled Nigeria since 1999 and the only things they brought upon “us are insecurity, suicide bombings and corruption at the highest level.”

    Yes we can understand the perfidious dance-steps of our professional and wayward politicians. We understand an Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a Segun Oni, an Ibrahim Shekarau and so on. We know it is all about gravy politics and the momentary relevance of the small-minded. Those who are perceptive would also understand that we are running out the end-stage of this shambolic political experiment. We are at the barefaced stage when the thief is quicker to catch the owner of the house.

    Notwithstanding, Ribadu’s capitulation seems the watershed; it is the turning point as well as the reference point that people will cite: “if Ribadu could decamp…” it would be said by all. He has perjured the polity and repudiated its essence. He has finally defrocked the troubled belle and stolen the last vestiges of her dignity. But sadly, this act also represents the Nuhu nullity. He is like the protagonist in ancient tradition that is as much the sacrifice as the calabash he carries. In other words, Ribadu has also nullified his own essence. Whatever he represented, real or imagined, he has managed to debunk all by himself.

    The Nuhu ribaldry: We can also term it the Nuhu Ribaldry or the Nuhu metamorphosis. He had always been a part of the raging crowd, the ill of the land. All they want is position, power, authority, the gravy and the good life. They are flippant, ephemeral, vain and unreflective. They define patriotism, national interest and development by their personal and exclusive dictionary. Nigeria for them is a zero-sum game; they either have their way or there is no way. He and his ilk believe they are the answer to Nigeria’s numerous questions but we know that they are the now jaded questions we have been asking since independence.

    Ribadu had lived and flourished under a burnished image over these years. To be charitable, if the polity had been upright and the system built on probity, he may have stood as a notable pillar. But the country is cannibalistic and it abhors rectitude thus Ribadu may be said to have done nothing more terrible than swimming in the stream of his birth. With a second degree in law, he had joined the police and acquitted himself fairly well. But when he was catapulted to the helm of the then new anti-corruption body, he simply played the game of the day, the game of his failed country.

    And he played it to the hilt. He turned EFCC into a fearsome Gestapo for the then unscrupulous President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    He was the gloved hands of, as well as the dog-handler for the former president. With the agency he kept a face by putting some petty fraudsters to jail while he kept up the real job of hounding down ‘enemies’ of his boss. The main victims were state governors many of whom were kept under perpetual investigation while in office but none was successfully prosecuted after office. Though the states were not examples of sterling leadership, but Obasanjo’s administration ended up as one of the most corrupt in Nigeria’s history. Ensconced at the vortex of power, Ribadu could have been alternate president at his peak. Many, like Peter Odili, former governor of Rivers State, must still live with the sad memories about how Ribadu ruined their political career by a mere whisper to the president.

    Sympathy for Nuhu: But discerning minds will have nothing but sympathy for our dear Nuhu. Once upon a time, a loony in my village market used to say that though he may not know what he was doing he sure knew what was ‘doing’ him. Nuhu on the other hand, may not quite understand what ails him.In explaining his defection, Ribadu had said that there is no difference between PDP and CPC. That may be correct and he has exemplified that proposition. But why choose one over the other? There must be a third option somewhere. In another breath, he told his supporters that, “For now, I wish to assure you that my defection is in pursuit of a good cause and never out of my selfish interest..”

    No sir that is a ruse. To speak of “a good cause” is either to delude himself or to deceive us. Can’t he see that we are in a virtually failed state? And here is what Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson say in their book, Why Nations Fail: “Nations fail today because their extractive economic institutions do not create incentives needed for people to save, invest and innovate. Extractive political institutions support these economic institutions by cementing the power of those who benefit from the extraction.”

    My dear brother Nuhu Ribadu is only hard at work seeking to cement his power to benefit from the extraction in Adamawa State. Can’t he see that all the institutions of state have been damage and dissipated? Let us end with another word from Acemoglu and Robinson: “When extractive institutions create huge inequalities in society and great wealth and unchecked power for those in control, there will be many wishing to fight to take control of the state and institutions. Extractive institutions then not only pave way for the next regime, which will be even more extractive, but they also engender continuous infighting and civil wars.” Accept my sympathy my dear brother.

  • Jonathan’s turn

    Jonathan’s turn

    As I prepare this week’s column for submission, President Jonathan is getting ready to receive the report of the National Conference. Therefore I do not have the benefit of his thinking on what he will do with the report or what is next for his motivation for setting up the conference. This much I remember. The President made a case for the conference upon its inauguration, citing his belief that “sovereignty belongs to the people and that their voices must be heard and factored into every decision” that government takes on their behalf. Jonathan went on to reveal his “sole motivation” for convening the conference as “the patriotic desire for a better and greater nation” and his determination that “things must be done in a way and manner that will positively advance that objective”.

    President Jonathan told the nation that the conference was not a “usurpation of the role of the National Assembly or the Executive” but rather it is meant to complement the efforts of both branches of government.”

    The following words of the President are especially germane to my focus here: “The National Conference is, therefore, being convened to engage in intense introspection about the political and socio-economic challenges confronting our nation and to chart the best and most acceptable way for the resolution of such challenges in the collective interest of all the constituent parts of ou fatherland. This coming together under one roof to confer and build a fresh national consensus for the amicable resolution of issues that still cause friction amongst our people must be seen as an essential part of the process of building a more united, stronger and progressive nation. We cannot continue to fold our arms and assume that things will straighten themselves out in due course, instead of taking practical steps to overcome impediments on our path to true nationhood, rapid development and national prosperity.”

    Furthermore, the President urged conference participants to “patriotically articulate and synthesise our peoples’ thoughts, views and recommendations for a stronger, more united, peaceful and politically stable Nigeria, forge the broadest possible national consensus in support of those recommendations and strive to ensure that they are given the legal and constitutional backing to shape the present and the future of our beloved fatherland.”

    From the above, it seems clear what the President’s expectations were. He wanted a robust document that provides a basis for a new constitutional order for Nigeria. He desired a conference report that boldly attacks the germs of instability and anarchical tendencies in the system. He charged participants to tackle the various issues ranging from “form of government, structures of government, devolution of powers, revenue sharing, resource control, state and local government creation, boundary adjustment, state police and fiscal federalism…..”  These were some of the items that President Jonathan himself believed to be crucial to the ultimate objective of a strong and united nation.

    Now, the Conference delegates have done their part and I believe their best under the circumstance, including the background atmosphere of mistrust and distrust that has bedeviled the political class of the country since its birth. Compromises have been made, self-regarding interests have been sacrificed. In the spirit of give and take, a report has been prepared and is being submitted even as I pen these words. The question is: what next? What will the President do now?

    It is now the turn of the President to demonstrate again the genuineness of his interest in a strong and united nation, show true leadership and deliver on his promises.  Of course, there is a lot that the conference has achieved and this must not be allowed to rot in the dungeon of our suffocating bureaucracy. There is also a lot that the conference failed to achieve, especially with regard to the most crucial issues of restructuring and fiscal federalism. The President has the right and responsibility to fill the blanks and close the gaps in the conference report. This is why it is his conference. But filling the gaps should not require the setting up of another commission to study the report. That would be an insult to the integrity of the conference participants.

    How might the President proceed? The National Assembly has not been in the forefront of any discussions on this matter since the inception of the conference, and rightly so, in view of the fact that it is Mr. President’s conference. Now President Jonathanhas to deal with the legislative branch of government and how he goes about this may seal the fate of the report either positively or negatively. There is no doubt that while it is the case that the National Assembly is the assembly of the people through their representatives and senators, there are conflicting interests therein paralleling the interests across the nation. The leadership of the President therefore matters in how members approach the conference report.

    Secondly, it is an inauspicious time as the general elections approach and Jonathan is expected to declare and run for a second term. Is he in a position to mount the proverbial bully pulpit or to use the carrot and stick approach to get the National Assembly to do the right thing? Here is the real issue. Yet, if the President fails to get anything done after raising the hopes of Nigerians on the matter of restructuring via the National Conference, can he count on Nigerians to trust him with another term?

    Beside the personal interest in a second term, however, the President has an even more fundamental interest in his legacy. As he himself stated in his opening remarks to the conference, the issue of the structure of the country has been a political albatross on its back since the dawn of its creation. The “minority” populations have suffered the indignity of being relegated to the backdoor prior to his having the good luck of occupying the most celebrated political office in the land. The question is this: how have Jonathan’s people fared under his presidency? Has there been any drastic change in the condition of the generality of the Niger Delta population? If not, then it follows that it is not the occupation of an office by one individual that can make a difference in the lives of a people. The Yoruba had it worse under President Obasanjo! What matters is a structure that provides for the autonomous growth and development of each region, state and peoples.

    President Jonathan must deliver on the conference report, fill the gaps where they exist, remove the dots where they are not essential and work with the National Assembly for a new constitutional framework, either by way of amendment or by way of a completely new constitution that incorporates the resolutions of the National Conference. Then he will go down in history as a leader, even if he doesn’t get a second term. Should he fail to deliver, he can rest assured that the failure will haunt him for the rest of his life, even if he gets a third term.

     

     

     

  • The sphinx called ‘Ebola’

    Preamble

    As severally expressed in this column in the past, column writing is like a pregnancy in the womb of a woman and a columnist is like a pregnant woman. Until she successfully delivers the contents of her womb no pregnant woman can be at rest. That is the experience which quality columnists often go through on a weekly basis. Generally, the problem of a newspaper columnist is not a dearth of ideas but a deluge of them. The more you think of a theme to write on the more you are bombarded with a variety of ideas which may sometimes lead to confusion. Thus, a columnist spends much more time in the choice of a theme to write on than he spends on actual writing.

    That experience took the front burner of this column again last week. While yours sincerely was busy thinking of writing on Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) to further educate Nigerian populace especially the Muslims, some other urgent issues of importance took the center stage and tried to brush Ebola aside. One of such issues was a national conference on interfaith which took place in Abuja last week Monday and Tuesday and was attended by President Goodluck Jonathan. As a participant in that conference and as a journalist, the professional urge to write on the conference became very tempting because of its touch on religious restiveness in the country.

    There was also the issue of a mortal’s might arrogantly flexed against the immortal’s will as evident in Osun State penultimate weekend which effectively arrested the attention of the entire nation. The issues involved in that political hullabaloo and the subsequent relief there from were enough to warrant any temptation to write by a worthy journalist. Yours sincerely almost succumbed to that temptation. But by and large, the concern for overwhelming majority of Nigerians, political or apolitical, religious or irreligious, who are frightened by the scourge of Ebola virus, finally took precedence over other themes. And, thus, here we are with what the column has to say about the dreaded death carrier called Ebola.

    Confession

    This columnist is neither a scientist nor a science-based professional. But the training in journalism is such that any journalist must know a little of everything and be able to communicate same to the public in the language of the concerned subject. Thus, whatever is read here today on Ebola should rather be regarded as a product of training in journalism than a research work or scholarship. Please, read on:

    History

    According to findings by this columnist, Ebola first emerged in Zaire and Sudan in 1976. Its first outbreak infected over 284 people, with a mortality rate of 53 per cent. A few months after the first outbreak, the virus emerged again in Yambuku, Zaire, with the highest mortality rate of any Ebola viruses ever (88 per cent). It infected 318 people. Despite the tremendous effort of experienced and dedicated researchers, Ebola’s natural reservoir was never identified. The third strain of Ebola, Ebola Reston (EBOR), was first identified in 1989 when infected monkeys were imported into Reston, Virginia, from Mindanao in the Philippines. Fortunately, the few people who were infected with EBOR never developed Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF).

    The last known strain of Ebola, Ebola Cote d’Ivoire (EBO-CI) was discovered in 1994 when a female ethnologist performing a necropsy on a dead chimpanzee from the Tai Forest, Cote d’Ivoire, accidentally infected herself during the necropsy. All these incidents were, ordinarily, enough reason for African countries to come together and work out a permanent solution. But typical of African governments, the preoccupation was more about self-perpetration in office than solving a genocidal problem. Thus, today, the situation remains what it was 38 years ago when the ruining disease first reared its ugly head.

    The Virus

    Ebola is scientifically identified as a rare but deadly virus that causes bleeding inside and outside the body of its victim. It takes its name from a river in the then Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) where it first broke out in the mid 1970s. It is believed that the forest which surrounded River Ebola was a major home for thousands of fruit bats and monkeys in that country. The villagers around that forest were fond of hunting those animals for meal and for sale. But unknown to those hunters, the bats and the monkeys harboured the virus that came to be known as Ebola which is quite inimical to human health. Incidentally, the natural carriers of that virus do (bats and monkeys) do not reflect any negative effect of the disease.

    As the virus spreads within the body of its victim, it damages the immune system and organs. Ultimately, it causes levels of blood-clotting cells to drop. This leads to severe, uncontrollable bleeding. Though, Ebola, according to medical experts, is not as contagious as some more common viruses like cold, influenza and measles. It nevertheless spreads to people by contact with the skin or bodily fluids of an infected animal, such as monkey, chimpanzee or fruit bat. Then it moves from person to person especially among those who care for sick persons or bury people who died of the disease. But one cannot contract Ebola from air, water, or food except the infected animals or people have had contact with such substances. It is medically suggested that a person who contacted Ebola but has no symptoms cannot spread it.

    Symptoms

    At the early stage, an infected person can feel the effect of Ebola like that of flu or any other illnesses. But its symptoms begin to manifest after two to twenty-one days following infection and such symptoms usually include: High fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, sore throat, weakness, stomach pain and lack of appetite. As the disease gets worse, it causes bleeding inside the body, as well as from the eyes, ears, and nose.  As a result, some people vomit or cough up blood, develop bloody diarrhea, and get rashes all over the body.

    To identify EVD in humans through tests, laboratory findings include low white blood cell and platelet counts and elevated liver enzymes. People are infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus. Through such findings, Ebola virus was isolated from semen 61 days after onset of illness in a man who was infected in a laboratory. The incubation period, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms is said to be two to 21 days.

    Transmission

    Ebola virus is transmitted into the human population through close contact with the blood secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. In Africa where poverty pushes some people to eat dead animals without caring about the cause of their death, Ebola infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead especially around rainforests.

    It then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood exposure, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated by such fluids. Burial ceremonies or mortuaries through which people have direct contact with the body of the deceased persons can also play a role in the transmission of Ebola. Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to at least seven weeks after recovery from illness.

    Thus, health-care workers have frequently been infected while treating patients with suspected or confirmed EVD. This has occurred through close contact with patients if infection control precautions are not strictly taken.

    International Spread

    Ebola can spread from country to country especially since people travel across borders. Thus, if an infected person travels, it is pertinent that he carries it with him. Meanwhile, Airline crews are being trained to spot the symptoms of Ebola in passengers flying from places where the virus has been found and they are thought how to quarantine those who look infected.

    Diagnosis

    Other diseases that should be tested before a diagnosis of EVD may include: malaria, typhoid fever, shigellosis, cholera, leptospirosis, plague, relapsing fever, meningitis, hepatitis and other viral hemorrhagic fevers. Ebola virus infections can be diagnosed in a laboratory through several types of tests:

    •   antibody-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)

    •   antigen detection tests

    •   serum neutralization test

    •   reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay

    •   electron microscopy

    •   virus isolation by cell culture.

    Thereafter, samples from patients become an extreme biohazard risk.

    Thus, testing should be conducted under maximum biological containment conditions.

     Treatment

    According to the World Health Organization (WHO), no licensed vaccine for EVD is available yet. Though several vaccines are being tested, none is yet available for clinical use.  Therefore, severely ill patients require intensive supportive care as patients are frequently dehydrated and require oral rehydration with solutions containing electrolytes or intravenous fluids.

    Prevention and control

    No animal vaccine against RESTV is available. Routine cleaning and disinfection of pig or monkey farms (with sodium hypochlorite or other detergents) should be effective in inactivating the virus.

    If an outbreak is suspected, the premises should be quarantined immediately. Culling of infected animals, with close supervision of burial or incineration of carcasses, may be necessary to reduce the risk of animal-to-human transmission. Restricting or banning the movement of animals from infected farms to other areas can reduce the spread of the disease.

    As RESTV outbreaks in pigs and monkeys have preceded human infections, the establishment of an active animal health surveillance system to detect new cases is essential in providing early warning for veterinary and human public health authorities.

     

    Minimising risk of Ebola Infection

    In the absence of effective treatment and a human vaccine, the only way of reducing human infection and death is by raising awareness of the risk factors for Ebola infection and the protective measures that an individual can take.

    In Africa where the rate of ignorance is still high, education on public health especially about risk reduction in contracting Ebola should focus on several factors including the following:

    •   Reducing the risk of wildlife-to-human transmission through restraint in the consumption of their raw meat. Animals should be handled with gloves and other appropriate protective clothing. Animal products (blood and meat) should be thoroughly cooked before consumption.

    •   Reducing the risk of human-to-human transmission in the community arising from direct or close contact with infected patients, particularly with their bodily fluids. Close physical contact with Ebola patients should be avoided. Gloves and appropriate personal protective equipment should be worn when taking care of ill patients at home. Regular hand washing is required after visiting patients in hospital, and at home.

    •   Communities affected by Ebola should inform the population about the nature of the disease and about outbreak containment measures, including burial of the dead. People who have died from Ebola should be promptly and safely buried through the use of the precautionary measures listed above.

    It is possible for pig farms in Africa to play a role in the spread of Ebola infection because of the presence of fruit bats on those farms.

    Therefore, appropriate bio-security measures should be in place to limit transmission. For Veterinary Doctors and other experts in Animal Science, gloves and other appropriate protective clothing should be worn when handling sick animals or their tissues and when slaughtering animals. In regions where RESTV has been reported in pigs, all animal products (meat and milk) should be thoroughly cooked before eating.

    By and large, our prayer to Allah is that He should rescue us from the scourge of this Sphinx as it happened in the mythological Island of Ithaca in Homer’s Rex. Amen.

  • What does the North want?

    What does the North want?

    I don’t assume that there is a monolithic North. This is encouraging since the South has never pretended to be anything but heterogeneous. But at times there is a coincidence of interests when the North or the South appears to speak in unison. Such a time is this in respect of the South but unfortunately for the North, the Middle Belt appears to have found its voice.

    The core North appears to have overreached in its lust for the return of presidential power as it now appears to invest its mental resources in bogus conspiracy theories. As it betrays its greed for power, it inevitably doesn’t mind losing long-term allies in the South. Historically, the Southwest championed the cause of ethnic minorities across the country. In particular, against all odds, Chief Obafemi Awolowo strongly supported the creation of Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers (COR) State during the First Republic. What did he get in return? His candidacy was rejected by those whose cause he championed. They preferred a northern candidate.

    In the Second Republic, both the Southsouth and the Southeast aligned with the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) even when the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) picked an Igbo as running mate. And while the two-party system of the Third Republic attempted to put an end to ethnic politics, and both the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC) drew membership from across the nation, the annulment of the presidential election quickly brought back the old animosity with a majority of other southern nationality groups, especially the Igbo, snubbing the Southwest and supporting the annulment and campaigning for the military. It was what the North wanted and succeeded in having.

    Now there is a new alignment going on. The North has lost its old allies in the Southsouth and Southeast, and it now appears that a southern solidarity front is emerging.

    I am not sure what to make of this development and how long it will last. What appears to be fuelling it is the perception, especially in the Southsouth, that the North is not a dependable ally. Assume that the North drops its objection to President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term ambition, I am almost sure that the Southsouth, and most certainly the Southeast, will forgive and resume their friendship. Southwest has always been and will be left in the lurch.

    Now, in its latest gripes, the North is either genuinely confused about what it wants or is deliberately confusing issues for maximum political effect.  First, its delegates to the National Conference accused other delegates of smuggling a Third Term agenda into the draft report and insisted that Jonathan must not run for re-election if he doesn’t want to plunge the country into crisis. Second, they rejected the inclusion of a draft constitution in the report of the conference on the grounds that it was neither part of the mandate of delegates nor within the legal bounds of the conference to draft a constitution or organise a referendum. Thirdly, the Northern Elders Forum demanded that Jonathan must bring back the Chibok girls by October or forfeit the support of the zone for re-election.

    I sense confusion—whether genuine or contrived. First, the concern of a hidden Third Term agenda is without any sound basis. What we had in 2005 was totally different and very glaringly in favour of a Third Term for the president. It was also true that the agitation against such an agenda was led—as it always does in pursuit of freedom and justice when others blink or decide to side with the agents of dictatorship and retrogression—by the Southwest even when a southwesterner was supposedly to be the beneficiary of such a term elongation. How can any reasonable person or group now expect southwestern delegates to be part of such a scheme for Jonathan? On what grounds? If this was even contemplated, I expect that delegates from the Southwest would have been up in arms.

    The northern delegates came up with this cock and bull story because of their belief that a “draft constitution” is included in the report. On the basis of this, they also believe that (a) the draft constitution has provision for a six-year presidency and (b) once a new constitution is adopted, the President can run under that constitution and in light of a Federal High Court ruling in 2003, he would be entitled to a third term. These are just too far-fetched and fuelled by unruly imagination. In the first place, the idea of a six-year presidency has been debunked since the “draft constitution” provided for the same two terms of four years each for the president and governors. Where did this false reading of the “draft constitution” come from? It’s pure hallucination; and a very unfortunate one as such.

    Second, assume that the draft constitution makes it possible for the president to run a second term, why is it beyond the realm of possibility for this aspect to be brought up in the discussion of the draft and subject to debate and possibly expunged before a final vote? In other words, why throw away the bath water of a confused reading of the provisions of the draft constitution with the entire report of the conference for which every delegate has made substantial sacrifice of over three months? Are we missing something here?

    Thirdly, how is it that the preparation of a draft constitution that simply combines the resolutions of the conference, which everyone agrees amount to amendments to the constitution with the extant portions of the constitution that were untouched in the deliberations of the conference, is considered illegal by northern delegates? What the conference leadership did was to not simply compile resolutions, but also to put them in rational form worthy of intelligent people. Why is this reasonable approach an anathema to northern delegates? More importantly, why do they have to see everything in terms of conspiracy to deny them access to political power?

    As reported in the media, one of the reasons given by the northern delegates was that because conference delegates were not elected, they “lacked both legal and moral authority to draft a new constitution for the Nigerian Federation.” If they had exercised some patience and allowed the leadership of the conference to explain the rationale for the preparation of what they referred to as “draft constitution”, the fear of the northern delegates would have been allayed. It was simply a proactive approach from the intellectual vanguards of the conference with no ulterior motive or hidden agenda. It shouldn’t even have come to this.

    But I take the last sentence back. It inevitably would have come to this. The North has been opposed to any change to the status quo. For them, nothing is wrong with the 1999 Constitution. Nothing is wrong with the structure of the country. Nothing is wrong with a revenue allocation system that truncates federalism and enshrines centralised dictatorship, with states having to beg for the crumbs from the master’s table. And certainly nothing is wrong with the direction the country is heading, with a President determining what revenue goes to the states and when they can receive such, for maximum benefit to him and his party. As far as the North is concerned, what is wrong is simply that the North is not in charge. With that mindset, the North’s grudging acceptance to participate in the conference was to ensure that nothing changes. If what the North seeks is a country at its beck and call, it should know that we passed that stage and that it is fast losing its old allies and not gaining new ones.

    Finally, in the matter of the fate of the young Chibok girls, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) simply played dangerously into the open trap of a presidency whose propaganda machinery is unparalleled. There is no doubt that the Federal Government has not only been caught napping about the rescue of the girls, but it has been criminally negligent in directing military resources to where it is needed. But why an ultimatum tied up with support for the President’s second term ambition? Given its record so far, the presidency knows that it is at the mercy of the girls’ kidnappers. Hitting back at the NEF is all it can do.

  • Fashola and the ‘hood gangs (2)

    Blood festival: When I wrote the first piece on this page on February 21, there was not meant to be a part two or a follow-up. But less than six months after, I am compelled to re-visit this senselessly gory affair because innocent, law-abiding citizens are being savaged almost every other week and property are damaged so wantonly by a lawless band of  uncontrolled and seemingly uncontrollable youths in Lagos neighbourhoods. Theirs is a festival of blood and sorrow.

    From Somolu to Bariga, Mushin, Ebute Meta and Mile Two in Lagos State, youths believed to be members of various cults have seized these communities, putting residents at their mercy while the state and security agencies seem to have no answer.

    During the first weekend of August, hoodlums laid a three-day siege to areas of Somolu, Mainland of Lagos. The young men said to number about 15 reportedly took over some streets of Somolu from Friday evening and operated through Saturday and Sunday, 3rd of August. Armed with guns, axes and cutlasses they waylaid passers-by, broke into houses and even defiled women. Streets like Awofeso, Olorunsogo and Opeloyeru have become no man’s land where residents live in fear because these miscreants visit pain and perdition on them so frequently these days.

    Two days after, in what must be a reprisal, a gang of cultists invaded the Somolu-Bariga areas again and by the time they were done, several vehicles were damaged, many houses were bullet-ridden and two people suspected to be rival cult members lay dead. Residents said it has been a long, bloody cycle of killing and counter-killing by suspected cultists in these areas.

    Early in July, in another part of Lagos, which was not hitherto cultists prone (Mile 12), hoodlums suspected to belong to a well-known confraternity raided the neighbourhood and in an orgy of wanton violence destroyed no fewer than 40 cars. Hapless residents woke up to find their vehicles vandalised and their humanity assaulted. Since there is no justice in the jungle, they were mere vicarious victims of a bad circumstance. The rampaging miscreants were said to have come to Mile 12 to extract vengeance. Perhaps failing in their bid, they left their ugly imprint across the community.

    Late last month in Ebute-Meta, some ‘bad boys’ chasing after another group chose to raze houses of innocent residents in the neighbourhood, perhaps in an attempt to smoke out their quarry.

    Above the law, above the state: Stories of agonies and pains abound across the state. In each case, the police either look the other way or appear after the damage had been done. Hardly any arrests are made or prosecution pursued. It is as if there is a grand conspiracy between the state government and the Nigeria Police to allow this evil to fester and to inflict pain on law-abiding Lagosians.

    These city terrorists have been active at their nefarious enterprise for over a decade now. They have become emboldened and grown more daring. Hitherto, they often operated at night but now they ride through their territory anytime they choose. They had only cudgels, machetes and axes, but today, they bear sophisticated rifles and even bulletproof vests. Today, many more communities around Lagos are becoming proud ‘owners’ of ‘organised’ neighbourhood gangs of their own. When they are not spoiling for a fight or waging bloody reprisal wars, they are robbing, raping and inflicting pains on their compatriots.

    Unconscionable silence: This situation is not acceptable. Not the least in a state pursuing the status of a mega-city. No serious state or government capitulates to hoodlums and miscreants; especially arm-bearing ones. It’s salutary to note that the Governor Babatunde Fashola administration has about the best security strategy of any state, but why it seems helpless towards these rampaging barbarians is hard to fathom. Besides, no group has monopoly to violence; people will eventually resort to self-help if the state won’t come to their aid and the evil will get viral.

    In the February piece, I suggested that “the state government must act fast: first to review and update laws on cultism, illegal arms-bearing and hard-drugs peddling and use in the state. Second, there may be need for a special squad on gangs and hard-drugs use; third, special tribunals may be needed to expedite trial and conviction and lastly, there is need for a sustained publicity campaign against neigbourhood gangs.”

    Several other suggestions were proffered but apparently no one seems to be listening. But being coy over this manner of pestilence is not only unconscionable but portends grave danger for all. Today it’s defenceless Lagosians who are being pulverised, tomorrow when this madness has fully ripened, even the Government House will not be safe enough for its dwellers.

    Osun governorship poll: goodbye to electoral impunity

    Though Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola was victorious in last Saturday’s governorship election and most deservedly too, there are numerous shareholders to the victory. First, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is to be applauded, the security agencies for keeping the peace without getting in the way of the process and lastly the voters in Osun who turned out en masse and voted for their choice candidate.

    What is, however, most noteworthy is the gradual elimination of electoral impunity which was pervasive hitherto. The elections in Edo, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun states have proved that votes can count and voters in Nigeria can truly determine who governs them. That ignominious era of stuffing or snatching of ballot boxes seems to be receding with our dark past, thankfully. Now parties and their candidates have to work their socks off; nothing is taken for granted or left to chance anymore.

    The larger import of this is that more quality candidates would emerge for elective positions, our democracy will surely get better and governance will improve. An incumbent would know better to start winning the heart of the people from the first day in office. It is a trend that must be vastly improved upon and guarded jealously by all. Again kudos to Prof. Attahiru Jega and his team at INEC, but they must work to institutionalise the process so that they are not easily reversed. The Osun poll is victory for Nigeria.

    IGP Abba, just another brick in the wall

    He came with such loaded promise but now that his tenure has ended, Mohammed D. Abubakar, the immediate past Inspector-General of Police (IGP) came a cropper at the end. He could not buck the ugly trend in the police system; he got swallowed up by it. Though it may be too early to say that after MD, hardly any IGP can heave the rotten behemoth, let us give the benefit of the doubt and believe it’s too early in the day.

    But at least MD started well with one far-reaching, if not radical move which was to wean the police from hanging loose on our roads and highways and feeding frenzy therefrom like vultures all in the name of security. Today, officers and men of the Nigeria Police are back to their ‘stations’ (road checkpoints) making fools of themselves and the force. Where did we get that orientation from that only checkpoints guarantee security?

    We thought that MD could follow from taking them off the roads to improving their welfare and further professionalise the force. In short, we thought MD would return the dignity of the police to it. But he failed. This column does not give the acting IGP a dime of a chance. He just does not look like the right man for the job. But I pray he disappoints me.

    Last word: Why on earth is he placed on acting capacity? What further ‘exam’ does he have to pass to become full IGP?

  • Still on Gaza

    Still on Gaza

    The massacre in Gaza published in this column penultimate week generated reactions from different quarters. Here are few of them.

    Palestinian statehood as panacea to peace –

    Comrade Shakiru Yekinni

    The question at the heart of the ongoing massacre of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel is the quest of a people for statehood. What has now become the ‘Palestinian Question’ used to be the ‘Jewish Question’ with regard to the search for a homeland for Jews fleeing persecution from the pogrom and the holocaust in both Eastern and Western Europe respectively. Palestinians used to live in peace until the state of Israel was forceful planted in their midst in 1947 from whence the landless Jewish immigrants of the holocaust commenced the twin-program of dispossession and genocide to displace the rightful owners of the land through the support of the big powers- America, Britain, France, Russia and even Czechoslovakia. Meaning that those who cannot tolerate the Jews in their midst ensured they were planted in the midst of others!

    The question of statehood is germane in two senses: one, statelessness presupposes that an occupying power can have a field day repressing, oppressing and subjugating a people not recognised as free; in the other sense, it makes the issue of resistance by the oppressed more of a moral one than a legal one, hence the seeming lack of punitive measure that has accompanied Israel’s atrocities. In recent time, the so called ‘free world’ rallied behind countries such as Haiti, Kuwait and currently Ukraine following Russia’s annexation of a part of it – the Crimea.

    Israel’s claim of security for which it kills Palestinians to sustain its theft of land and existence of the latter should be a shame on the conscience of the world. Its blockade of Gaza by air, sea and land is suggestive of a plot to make the people perish under a state of siege. We ask America and its Western allies, what makes the live of a Palestinian less sacred than that of a Ukrainian or an Israeli? This is a case of double standard, a dominant feature of Western civilisation in its treatment of others that is responsible for much of the violence and instability around the world

    The classification of HAMAS as a terrorist organisation by America and its allies (in apparent service of Israeli interest) is a parody of justice and runs counter to common sense and reasoning. Beyond any UN Conventions, HAMAS is compelled by the ‘natural law’ which makes fighting oppression and subjugation incumbent upon a people to extricate itself from the jaws of extinction within the limit of its capacity. If HAMAS is a terrorist group for resisting Israeli occupation, then George Washington and his group would be the first terrorist group of the modern world for resisting the British!

    Israeli atrocities and crimes spear no one (either individual or institution) deemed a stumbling block to its agenda of a ‘Greater Israel’ and its achievement. In this respect, the first non Palestinian victim of Israel’s aggression was Lord Folke Bernadotte – the first UN appointed mediator in the conflict who was killed by the Zionist militant wing, the Lehi (or the Stern Gang as they are called) on the 17th of September 1948 in Jerusalem. This is despite the fact that the man had earlier negotiated/facilitated the release of some Danish Jews from German concentration camps in World War II. Since this episode, UN centers and facilities in and outside Palestine have become fair targets for Israel. Not only that, governments seen as actively supporting the cause of the Palestinian people for freedom and a state have either been toppled or classified as ‘rogue state’; yet Israel’s systematic cleansing of the Palestinians has never even attracted a slap on the wrist!

    We call on those who claimed to be the global champions of human rights, freedom and democracy to stop burying their heads in the sand like the ostrich or shed crocodile tears and take actions that will put a stop to the continuous killing of Palestinians. This is the cause of much of the disaffection towards America and its allies in the Muslim world, and until this inhumanity is brought to a close, we hold responsible, not only Israel, but also its backers in Washington and the rest of the European capitals for the genocide of Palestinians.

    Yekinni is the Execitive Director Center for Global Peace Initiative (CGPI). laidetop06@yahoo.com

    Gaza: An open prison

    Imam Luqman AbdurRaheem

    The Muslim Congress (TMC) joins the teeming millions of people and nations across the world in solidarity with the people of Palestine and condemns in the strongest of terms Israel’s atrocities and war crimes on the people of Gaza.

    We support the global description given to Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as the genocide of a people by a brutal method of repression typical of all occupationist and terrorist regimes. We condemn Israel’s disregard for civilians and violation of all known international laws, norms and conventions in its conduct as it continues to shell with missiles schools, hospitals, places of worship, refugee camps and even UN centers with impunity leading to death of thousands of unarmed civilians mostly innocent women and children.

    We affirm and support the rights of Palestinians to a dignified existence through recognition of its right to statehood based on the 1947 UN border demarcation. We condemn in its entirety the satanic ‘vision’ of ‘Greater Israel’ which sees the whole of the Middle East as Jewish possession and which is the schematic behind Israel’s rejection of the two-state solution. We believe Israel should be held accountable for its war crimes in Gaza and that it should be pressured by the international community to remove its blockade of the strip which covers the air, sea and land making life intolerably miserable.

    We call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to take a cue from other countries of the world, especially those with whom Nigeria shared the inhuman agony of colonialism and apartheid and take necessary action against Israel such as cessation of diplomatic ties with Israel as demonstrated by the massive recall of their ambassadors from Israel by most Latin American countries and others around the world. It is high time Nigeria identified with the rights and dignity of the oppressed people of Palestine by making an official condemnation of the Israel’s massacre agenda as well as table the matter before the African Union (AU) for deliberation.

    We also wish to express our dissatisfaction, discomfort and concern over the killings in Kaduna of members of a peaceful pro-Palestine rally led by Ibrahim El Zakyzaky which left scores of people dead. The deafening silence of the Federal Government of Nigeria on this issue is generating disquiet among the Muslim community. Hence in the spirit of genuine peace and national unity, we call on the Federal Government to propel the appropriate agencies to conduct an investigation into the killings and make their findings public. We affirm and identify with the principle that anchors peace upon the tenets of justice and fairness.

    We reiterate once again that the people of Palestine deserves dignified existence and a blockade of close to two million people by Israel with tacit support of some superpowers, which makes Gaza the largest open prison in human history is unacceptable! It is time to stand on the side of justice by taking proactive steps against Israel’s inhumanity. As we fight the heartless Boko Haram sect in Nigeria, we should not be oblivious of our diplomatic responsibility and obligation to other nations suffering the pang of state terrorism.

     

    AbdurRaheem is the Amir of The Muslim Congress. luq_man2001@yahoo.com

    Gaza: Like Hiroshima, Vietnam – Luqman Balogun

    On July 8th, 2014, the occupying forces of the Zionist regime in Palestine commenced the massacre of innocent Muslims and Christians – children, women, sick and aged to the bewilderment of the whole world. Callously killing civilians, in an enclave described as the only open prison in the whole world, having been under siege on the land, air and sea for almost a decade now. Not satisfied, the criminal entity decided to launch a land offensive on the 17th of July.

    By the time the first 72-hours ceasefire was brokered, 1,867 Palestinians have been murdered over 9,000 injured, 222,000 homeless and sheltered in UN schools while thousands of homes were destroyed and reduced to rubbles. On the Israeli’s side, 64 Soldiers and three civilians had died.

    This action referred to, by many leaders of the world as massacre, genocide, terrorism and madness of the arrogant Zionist entity in the 21st century, and, the response of passivity by some governments, many European Union member states, and the outright support by the United States, seriously undermines and questions the claim to civility of these people. If civility truly means fairness, justice and the prevalence of reason over greed and desires, then, might will always be right only in the animal world.

    Although, all peoples of the world from the east to the west and from the south to the north, have been condemning the criminal attempt at genocide of the Palestinians by the Zionist regime, the most powerful nation in the world – United States, once again (recall Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Vietnam), has decided to be on the wrong side of history by siding with the criminal entity by saying that Israel has a right to ‘defend itself’ by killing innocent aborigines of the stolen and occupied land.

    In addition to billions of dollars in support of Israel, US authorised the use of additional American missiles and shells from her ‘war stocks reserve when the Israeli’s war missiles was running out, to be used in terminating the lives of hundreds of children, women and even, the sick who were in hospitals.

    The world would have been a more peaceful and harmonious place, saved from the horrendous spectacle of shattered and dismembered human bodies in Gaza, if the US had used her enormous influence on Israel to stop the massacre, rather than support it.

    The efforts of the UN body to call the Zionist regime to reason and stop the injustice and bloodshed is well noted, while the intransigence and arrogance of the Israelis in bombing UN schools and facilities in Gaza, even after being notified of the exact coordinates of the facilities more than seventeen times, is really appalling. All member nations owe the duty to take the regime to task and sue it in the world criminal court.

    If the meaning of courage is to speak a word of truth against a tyrant, and defend the truth and what is right, then we say to the Gazans that thank you for being a light in the darkness that has prevailed on humanity. Might is not perpetual, only truth and justice is! The blood of your martyrs shall not be in vain till you are granted victory on your right.

    The balanced efforts of the media, particularly Al Jazeera, Press TV and others in exposing these atrocities is well commended while that of others who would rather support the injustice is really sickening.

    We call on Muslims, Arabs and rights activists to unite and assist the Palestinians against the onslaught of the Zionists. Israelis products and that of all their supporters should be boycotted, political and diplomatic relations should also be severed.

    Balogun is the Director, Muslim Awareness International (MAI). info@mai.com.ng

     

    Palestine: Why our heart bleed – Kaamil Kalejaiye

    I must warn us all that Palestine is of paramount concern to all the two billion Muslims of the world, our humble selves inclusive, and not just the people of Gaza. Indeed, recent happenings in Gaza have internationalised the Palestinian struggle, breaking barriers of religion, ideology and race.

    Last week, the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign in United Kingdom mobilised a whopping 150, 000 to demonstrate in favour of the Muslims of Gaza. Oddly enough, the Chair of the Campaign, Hugh Lanning, is not a Muslim, nor is the vast majority of the demonstrators!

    200, 000 predominantly non-Muslim people also demonstrated in favour of Gaza in South Africa. Largely Catholic Bolivia, Venezuela, Argentina and Ecuador have all expelled their Israeli ambassadors and mounted a water-tight boycott of Israeli goods. The Bolivian President even went on to officially declare Israel a terrorist state. Non-Muslims are at the forefront of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, delivering painful economic damage to Israel and its allies.

    The question of the moment thus is, “where are the Muslims”?

    Because the Abu Bakrs of our time have refused to rise to the occasion, speak up and defend Islam at the intellectual, mass mobilisation and media frontlines, the Abu Talibs of our time have, and they will, because Allah will always protect Islam by the limbs of those amongst His slaves he chooses.

    This is a clarion call to Muslim youth, who have beyond doubt borne the brunt of the onslaught of Israel, the West and its allies the most. Shake off your laxity, timidity and intellectual emptiness. Rise to the occasion, and defend Islam and Muslims, so as to gain a slot on the train of Islam on its way to Jannah.

    Pray fervently for the people of Gaza, and the whole of the Muslim world. Seek correct and true information about your global Muslim brethren. Defend Islam vigorously on Facebook, Twitter and the likes, by broadcasting, sharing and uploading indisputable facts about the oppression of Muslims worldwide. Be at the forefront of the BOYCOTT MOVEMENT, by refusing to buy, sell, use or associate with Israeli goods, and encouraging others to do same.

    Kalejaiye is the President, Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Area Unit

     

    NB: The Message returns next week

  • A clear difference

    A clear difference

    I start with a declaration of two categories of assumptions on elections and human nature from which I infer the conclusion of a clear difference between the two frontline candidates in the governorship election coming up tomorrow.

    Concerning elections, I assume that they are crucial to a democracy and that all stakeholders, from the President to the lowliest citizens, have an interest in nurturing genuine democratic norms. In the light of our past history, the alternative is too horrifying to imagine.

    Second, democratic elections are best conducted in an environment free of intimidation or harassment. For, it is in such an environment that the electorate can exercise their right to choose the candidate that, in their judgment, can provide the service they associate with a particular office.

    Third, citizens have short-term and long-term interests ranging from the basic needs of food, health and shelter to the security of their lives and the education of their children. They guard these interests jealously. In a freedom-enhancing election, the electorate freely choose their candidates on the basis of their interests.

    Fourth, when candidates are faced with a choice between two candidates, one of whom is an incumbent, they base their judgment on his or her performance in office, whether or not his tenure has added value to their lives, considered as a whole and in the longer term. If their answer is negative, they choose to not give him or her a second term. If their answer is positive, they return him or her to office to finish the good job. For the challenger, the question on the minds of the electorate is what has he done in the past? What does he/she promise for the future? Is he or she a better alternative to the incumbent?

    It may be argued that my assumptions about elections apply to the ideal world and that we live in a world in which the ideal is the polar opposite of the real. I plead guilty as charged. But the real world that we prioritise is not the best we are capable of achieving. It is a world characterised by negativism and retrogression. It is a world in which we relish in our cleverness in subverting the will of the people and getting away with it because the silent majority find themselves outfoxed by those they trust with their lives. It is a world in which might has assumed the moral authority of right.

    Our real world has persistently failed to learn from history and has been forced at every turn to face the ugliness of repeating it. Recall the use of federal might in 1964, 1965, 1983, 2003, 2007 and 2011. I have only included here the years in which a party in power at the centre was responsible for the conduct of federal elections. In various degrees, in each of those elections, the central government brought the force of its power to bear on the conduct of the elections, especially through the instrumentality of security agents. The first and second republics were brought down as a result of such machinations.

    It is a sad commentary on our political development that we are engaged in the same game of betrayal of the people with what the Federal Government did in Ekiti and is currently acting out in Osun. In 1983, the Southwest was run over with the connivance of an Inspector-General of Police who hails from the region. This time round, as history is being repeated, the Minister of Police Affairs and the Minister of State for Defence are the instruments.

    For those who stick to the real world, then, the challenge is to defend the atrocities that are committed therein. On the other hand, the ideal world is not in the ethereal realm. It is a world in which many human beings like us live and thrive. It is a world in which the basic right of citizens to choose their leaders without harassment is respected and a world in which citizens hold their leaders accountable. It is still a world of politics and political calculations. But it is one in which those calculations do not cross the line to diminish the humanity of citizens. I would rather wish that world be my real world.

    In that world, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola towers above all his co-contestants in tomorrow’s poll. In particular, of all his opponents, the candidacy of Chief Iyiola Omisore would be dismissed as a non-starter. It is one of the ironies of our political culture and our real world that Omisore, with his antecedents in that state, could offer himself as a candidate and win the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary election in the first place. Either someone just decided to dare the people or to trick the candidate into political suicide. Neither disjunction is healthy. I am almost certain that PDP has better candidates to contest against Ogbeni. At any rate, if Omisore is the best candidate that PDP has to offer against Aregbesola, it is not difficult for me to determine the better candidate in terms of character, in terms of past history, and in terms of performance in office for the people of the state. Aregbesola has a clear edge.

    Aregbesola is a modern governor who thought deeply about the office before putting himself up as a candidate. He knew what he wanted to achieve for the people. He had a good understanding of the tragedy of our social fabric and what is needed to make it whole. It is therefore not surprising that on assumption of office, he just hit the ground running, churning out ideas and turning dreams into realities for many individuals. The list of his achievements in four years of office is simply amazing.

    In addition to performance, Aregbesola towers above many of his colleagues in his closeness to the people. While I have not been in correspondence with him and have not visited him in office, many of his old friends confirm that he is still the same old friendly and accessible guy. In the currency of our political lexicon, he is a grassroots politician. In the world that I would rather live in because it is one that celebrates humanity and opens the door of opportunity for all God’s children, Aregbesola would be re-elected as Governor of the State of Osun.

    This leads me to my second category of assumptions. Human nature is a tricky business. There are certain commonalities that warrant the reference to human nature. All humans have certain basic needs as pointed out above. The satisfaction of those needs leads us to behave in certain uniform ways. For one thing, we strive to satisfy our basic needs. But we may do so in different ways. Thus, while some engage in legitimate business to satisfy their need for food and shelter, others may choose to rob and kill to achieve the same end. Secondly, we all have emotions of joy, sadness, love, hate, etc. But we may choose to express them in various ways. That someone has genuine love for a person does not cancel hatred of him or her by another. So to talk about human nature is to talk about generalisations. My sense, however, is that for the majority of folks, the generalisations are valid. Recall our reference to the normal and abnormal.

    The way human nature plays into the decision of the electorate as they thumbprint their ballot papers will make the difference. While I expect performance to matter to the majority of the citizens of Osun, I do not rule out the fringe elements for which no matter what Aregbesola did or failed to do, the mere fact of his being his father’s son is an anathema. And I cannot rule out a few for whom the thought of rice and kerosene for today overcomes considerations of the long-term interests of their children. I also cannot rule out special interest groups so hateful of reforms that they sold their souls to the highest bidder. In the final analysis, however, there is a clear difference and I hope that the majority vote for their long–term interests.

  • Ebo-laugh: farewell to the great Nigerian handshake

    The other day I stretched my hand to shake a friend and colleague in our typical happy-go-lucky Nigerian style. He hesitated for a very brief moment, which could have been one long minute. Then he reached out his hand half-heartedly, making sure I got only the tip of his fingers. It was the coldest, the un-friendliest handshake I ever had. Imagine reaching out to grab a ‘live’ hand; to execute a macho handshake in the manner we Nigerians do it only to be met with a ‘dead’ hand.

    And it struck me: ah, no more all those boisterous Nigerian handshakes that sometimes last all of one minute! The type in which two palms are clasped and the two greeters would proceed to perform several hand-clasping rituals, which eventually end in a joint, loud, finger-snapping finale. Farewell to the great Nigerian handshake. By the time this new Ebola virus disease scourge is done with us, we may have lost our souls, our rich African souls.

    It is this warm handshake which is peculiarly Nigerian that will go first. Now our adversaries seem to be closing down on us fast; first it was HIV/AIDS which they threw at us but which seemed not to have been devastating enough for our doughty African souls. Boko Haram’s terrorism is raging up north and now Ebola. Chinua Achebe wrote that proverb is the palm oil with which words are eaten in Igbo-land and I say handshake and hugging are the crutches with which we support each other in Africa, particularly Nigeria.

    What shall we do without our big, rambunctious body-contact greetings? The big handshake which is our utmost show of fellow-feeling; that energetic grip that re-assures us about our common humanity in an increasingly lonely and forlorn world may soon become extinct. Unknown to many, a hearty handshake remains the last common communion we share freely with each other, with love, without that offending hint of hesitation that dampens the spirit. For instance, in the developed world, people shake hands too, but without a cheer, in fact, often with cold, limpid hands. Some even wear gloves and many live an entire lifetime devoid of bonhomie and geniality.

    It is not only our ‘kissing with the hand’ (as some wag has described our mode of handshake) that will suffer in this Ebola fever; even our good, old hunters are in trouble. With bush meat completely stigmatised as the chief carrier of this virus, it can only be imagined what calamity would have befallen the horde of our compatriots, the tribe of Cain who live through the providence of the forest. Their compounded tragedy is that the big men from the city, who patronise them, have become Ebola-savvy. They now dread the sight of their favourite delicacy.

    But bush meat is not mere delicacy but an economic commodity, an article of trade and a source of livelihood. Just because hunters have not upgraded their trade all these years does not mean they are not an important sector of the economy. But the Edo State branch of the Bush Meat Sellers Association (BSA) has cried out over the indefinite suspension of the purchase of the rare meat in the Edo State Government House. They are now condemned to consuming most of their commodity, said BSA’s spokeswoman. You see now that one man’s virus may just be another man survival.

    Further, it is woe upon our friends, the commercial sex workers too. Since this disease can be contracted through sweat and other body secretions, there cannot be a deadlier contact than that with the merry women of the red light districts. Oh, what a great economic calamity if you consider that that is perhaps the largest underground economic sector in the world. Imagine for a minute what will become of the world if the oldest profession of all is shut down, even temporarily? How would the practitioners be engaged and what will happen to their patrons?

    What about the harm Ebola is bringing upon herbalists, healing homes and spiritualists? How can the world come up with a ‘big’ disease like this and local medicine practitioners would be excluded from its concomitant largesse, so to speak? How can they be so absolute that Ebola has no native remedy or spiritual healing therapies? Not even the much dreaded HIV/AIDS with its convoluted foreign tags could become the exclusive franchise of the Western medicine men. From early in the day, all sorts of quasi-practitioners have fought for their space and claimed their stake in the huge AIDS industry. From Dr. Abalaka to Prophet Joshua, it boiled down to turf fight in a multi-billion dollars business. Call it man-eat-man if you like but the biz was good.

    How can you convince the followers of faith healers like Prophet Joshua or Pastor Oyakhilome that certain cases are beyond there Daddies; that they should not take their ailing children or spouses first to Daddy before a doctor? Is not the Synagogue of All Nations perhaps the most remarkable ‘healing’ place on earth? Is it not common knowledge that AIDS patients – presidents and pedestrians alike – from across the globe throng the Synagogue seeking succour? It is said that at a point in time there were probably more HIV/AIDS patients in Synagogue than in any specialist hospital. Did anyone reprimand or dispute his therapy?

    In like manner, the herbalist in our remote villages where the white man’s medicine has not been able to penetrate of course has exclusive rights to his patients whether they are afflicted by Ebola or Agora virus. Now we want to take him off the loop? And these: what are we going to do about our gyms, mass transit buses, schools and swimming pools? Now will you partake in the Holy Communion in your church on Sunday? That currency note in your hand, who touched it last?

    Finally, a few months ago when Ebola hit our sister countries along the West coast, our Information Minister in his usual blustery asserted that it was not a Nigerian problem. It was as if he either had the vaccine for it or he had a magic remedy. But of course he did not even know the symptoms then. The Health Ministry was merely full of reassurances and each time you mentioned Eb – they would insist they were on top of it. But you and I know that in this country, our governments are never on top of anything, in fact, everything is on top of us.

    Today, Ebola has walked into our homestead and everyone is running loose like a lonely testicle in a large scrotum? Which serious government allows her doctors to go on strike indefinitely? And you ask: who needs doctors if we have survived this far; who needs government too? And mark you, it’s only in Lagos that we have so much Ebola activity; in most other states, it’s still business as usual, nothing doing. Check your state if in doubt.

    Lastly, who is surprised that the Ebola virus is borne by monkeys; African monkeys in a monkey continent where we love doing monkey business. Has doom finally come upon the Blackman ? Now who is the monkey?

  • Letter to Acting Igp

    Letter to Acting Igp

    …And fear a calamity that may descend not only on those who incurred it but also on the innocent ones. Know that Allah’s retribution can be severe.’’ Quran 8:25.

    Dear Acting Inspector General of Police,

    This letter is, no doubt, coming to you at a very precarious time in the history of Nigeria. Its contents are motivated by a mixture of delight and sadness not only on the part of this columnist but also on that of the generality of Nigerians. This same letter was written to your immediate predecessor on assumption of office and he did not find its taste sour even though he never expressed any sweetness in it.

    Considering the experience of the past decades in which most of your predecessors made promises and ate up their words almost immediately, this letter would have been unnecessary. But since seasons are not the same, fruits cannot be graded alike.

    Ordinarily, It would have been wiser for me to tarry a while to see what difference (if any) you will make in office as IGP before putting my pen to paper on a number of issues affecting the corporate existence of Nigeria and Nigerians especially in relation to security. But the current boiling situation at hand gives no room for such. And I do not want a situation whereby you would have taken certain mistaken decisions only to turn back and say “no one called my attention to it”. By the way, I do not know whether or not you are familiar with this column called ‘THE MESSAGE’ being published in Nigeria’s foremost newspaper called ‘The Nation’. But if you ask some people around you especially those who manage the image of Nigeria Police they will tell you that ‘THE MESSAGE’ is not an ordinary column but one that is worth its name in contents and in essence. Having started in Concord newspaper about 32 years ago (1982), the column has consistently served as a pilot for Nigerian conscience on many national issues to the benefit of all and sundry.

    Reminscences

    Letters similar to this had been written to former Presidents (Olusegun) Obasanjo, (Umaru) Yar’Adua and even (Goodluck) Jonathan. Thus, any advice or suggestion offered you here should not be seen as an intrusion. ‘The Message’ as a column curries no favour and knows no juggernaut when it comes to calling a spade a spade.

    When your appointment as Acting Inspector General of Police was announced by the Presidency last week, it held many Nigerians nonplussed because it beat the imagination of some lobbyists. But those who knew you very well with your antecedent and your worth were quick to give testimonies to justify your appointment. Besides, those who appointed you knew what you were capable of doing. When I juxtaposed the two sides, I thanked God for you even though I have never met you. It is hoped that you will not disappoint.

    In retrospect

    Shortly after your immediate predecessor assumed office in 2011, he brought many surprises to bear. He did not only cancel Police road blocks throughout the country, an action that was received with mix feelings because of the previous experiences, he also gave an impression that he was in office to clear the rottenness with which the Nigeria Police was characterised and sanitise that colourless force.

    However, despite the unbridled scepticism that greeted some of his policies and despite the surreptitious pressure from the beneficiaries of the rot at that time, he firmly stood his ground. Please, be informed that those policies, based on principle endeared him, if briefly, to many Nigerians who valued decency and civility.

    Today, Nigerians across board continue to appreciate the daring courage with which he surmounted a major problem of insecurity in the land mostly constituted by men of Nigeria Police. Because you were then a senior member of that Force, you might not know the extent of the relief he temporarily brought to Nigerians and the rate of reduction in corruption he induced by some of the decisions he took but posterity will bear witness to it all at the right time. At least, the rate of killing bloody civilians for failing to ‘deliver’ reduced drastically. It is the belief of this column that the gesture will continue to be appreciated many years after his exit from office by the future generations as it is now being appreciated by the present generation.

    Oliver Twist

    Nevertheless, Nigerians, as may be known to you, are like ‘Oliver Twist’ who always ask for more. There is no doubt that despite your predecessor’s efforts days and nights to ensure a peaceful atmosphere in Nigeria and whatever may be in your blueprint for same you will be much disturbed by more demands especially in respect of the current spate of terrorism amounting to crime against humanity. And this will not just pose a great challenge to you as a Chief Security Officer but will also constitute a major cog in the wheel of the country’s supposed progress. Thus, you are expected to do more even as our worry on this disturbing issue is that the government is not approaching it from the right angle. Now that you are in the saddle, people will see your handling of the situation as a test of your competence. And the election coming up in Osun State tomorrow will be the first leg of such test. Already, by deploying over 140, 000 armed forces to that state alone just because of election, you have given the impression that election in Nigeria is war that the federal government must execute by all means in the guise of maintaining peace. How you will manage it without a boomerang arising from any naked or avowed partisanship remains an issue to watch.

    ‘THE MESSAGE’ like some other sensible Nigerians believe that in a normal society, security is not just the absence of war and pandemonium but the presence of confidence in the leadership by the populace. In other words, insecurity is like a suffocating smoke hovering in the atmosphere and preventing everybody from breathing properly. To stop such smoke in order to save lives, what should be done is not to dispel it with a crude local fan but to search for the fire from which the smoke is oozing out of the chimney and quench it once and for all. However, no such smoke can ever be dispelled as long as the fire remains kindled beneath the chimney.

    As a Police officer of note, I do not know what various measures you have in the kitty for achieving peace but there is a way of measuring your performance by yourself. If you discover that you are getting the same result every time from the same effort and that result is unfavourable, it is only instructive that you change the method.

    With my little experience of how security functions in some other countries outside Africa, south of the Sahara, I believe that your duty as the boss of Nigeria Police is not merely to deploy ‘the boys’ to the field with guns but also to instruct them that the lives of the citizenry are their priority in protection.

     

    Security by other means

    If you study the situation in some states in the Southern part of Nigeria especially the Southwest, you will discover that most of them have technically devised security by other means. Each of them employed about 20, 000 jobless youths and engaged them in various ways while paying them what can be termed a token by the standard of Nigerian economy. Small as that token is, it saves a lot of hassle security wise. Yet, despite that devise, there are still hundreds of thousands of such jobless youths wandering about aimlessly in the cities and towns like Egyptian gypsies of yore. One major hope in that effort, however, is that those youths understand that they cannot all be employed at once. And those among them who are wandering about know that some of their cousins or other siblings have been somehow employed and that alone is a consolation. Otherwise, each region of the country would have been plunged into a state of anarchy by now.

    Sir, security is not about the ability of the police to quell the fire of any crisis. It is more about the trust and confidence which the populace repose in the performance of the government as well as the credibility accruing from that performance. It is only when the majority trust the government on its performance that support can come to the government in managing security in the land. As of now, this cannot be said to be true of Nigeria.

    Hunger in the land

    Millions of citizens are hungry. They have no means of feeding.

    Millions are orphans. They have nobody to care for them in life.

    Millions are widows who will do anything to survive. Millions are aged and wretched whose only hope in life (pension) is audaciously been embezzled by the vampires in government who may not live to see old age with comfort. Yet millions more are looking for jobs to engage in even if they will be paid pittance. And to them, the government is indifferent. Yet the same government wants peace to reign in the country. It wants Nigerians to be patriotic and Nigeria to be great.

    What a contradiction? Can any nation be great on idleness and hunger?

    Currently, the general focus is on the vandals called Boko Haram who are masquerading under the cloak of Islam to perpetrate what Islam forbids. But insecurity is much more than that in Nigeria. There is a ubiquity of idle army of youths in every part of the country who are ready to do anything for any amount of money. Such youths are a potent tool in the hands of mischief makers like politicians especially now that elections are approaching. If you want to confirm this, please, take off some early morning hours on a number of days to visit some newspaper stands in various parts of the country. Pretend to be one of the free readers and listen to the discussions of our youths. From there you will automatically concur that Nigeria is truly a keg of gunpowder waiting to explode at any time. These youths spend every day of the week at those newspaper stands discussing politics in the morning, economy in the afternoon and sports towards the evening.

    And when it is twilight, they all disperse to their respective houses only to regroup the following morning. That is their way of warding off boredom. Will you blame them? The question is this: if they do not spend their days that way how else will they spend it? Some of them are University or Polytechnic graduates who want to work either in offices or on farms but there are no provisions for them. Yet on their very nose some political demagogues are stealing or embezzling billions of naira which these youths know for sure that belong to all Nigerians. Mr IGP, if any or some of these youths are your children and you are so helpless what would you do? Another category of idle Nigerians are the millions of uneducated men and women who have resorted to begging as a calling because there is nothing else for them to do. What Saudi Arabia, a fellow OPEC member, is doing to solve such problem is to earmark a chunk in the annual budget for such people either as grants or loans. And that is why an average Saudi citizen will do anything in defence of his or her country. Can we sincerely talk of patriotism in Nigeria? God forbid a situation in which Nigeria will engage in an international war. Judging by the present situation, any defeat that may arise from such a war will come not from the enemies but from the citizens who will sell out due to long time suffering neglect and frustration engendered by abject poverty.

    FGN’s duty

    If, like the Southern states mentioned above, the Federal government too can employ at least 20, 000 in each state of the federation, wouldn’t the labour market shrink and thereby reduce the rate of danger constituted by idle hands? What is the federal government doing with over 52 per cent of the federal allocation it collects every month?

    If we have a central government in place that abdicates its responsibilities by zoning every one of its duties to privatisation, why do we need a central government? And if the government cannot manage roads, electricity, water, education, health, railway, aviation, and even security for decades what qualifies it for a government? If I were President Jonathan, what I would have done to break the backbone of the so-called Boko Haram was to mop up the labour market from which that obnoxious group recruits suicide bombers by employing the youths in those areas massively even if they would be deployed to farms. Nobody willingly wants to die. But when people are overwhelmed by poverty in the midst of plenty, the tendency is to ask themselves of the value of their lives. Can you imagine a married young man volunteering to engage in suicide bombing just for N7500 as confessed by some arrested criminals? Can you also imagine some female teenagers in niqab blowing themselves up with bombs or other explosives? Can this sincerely be for the purpose of religion? How can one be sure that such teenagers are not acting under duress due to poverty? If such people are paid even only N10, 000 each every month and they are sure of its consistency, will they undertake such a devilish venture?

    Yet, we do not know where the billions and trillions of naira being incessantly stolen with impunity by government officials are going. All we are hearing of is investigation into every case of corruption. But amazingly, the more we hear of investigations, the wider the tentacle of corruption in the land becomes. Where are we going from here?

    Learning from hindsight

    Many Nigerians do not know what the late President Musa Yar’Adua saved Nigeria with his ingenuous unconditional amnesty granted the South-South militant groups on a platter of gold some years back.

    Perhaps if President Jonathan had adopted a similar policy about three years ago, Nigeria would have been saved from today’s shameful embarrassment of Boko Haram menace. But it is not too late. A major part of security is to advise the President on such issues and that is part of your duty. You cannot rely on guns alone to wrestle down people classified as faceless who are fighting a guerrilla war. You will only end up subjecting millions of innocent people to undeserved massacre. We have had enough of the shedding of innocent bloods. Let the government be responsible and peace will automatically return to Nigeria. There can be no separate laws for the rulers and the ruled. Governance is like a water stream which can easily become undrinkable for the majority if it is polluted by the minority who are drinking from its source. If the truth must be told, corruption is the tap root of insecurity in Nigeria. Whoever wants to secure Nigeria must stop corruption by example. As a Chief security officer, this is the message you should deliver to the President with courage. And by so doing, you will become a foundation layer of corruption eradication. With corruption remaining a monster, no one should dream of either peace or greatness for this country. A word is enough for the wise. The above quoted Qur’anic verse is a summary. Long live Nigeria!

  • The massacre in Gaza

    While some Nigerian Muslims were still busy discussing the confusion which emanated from the sighting of the moon to start or end this year’s Ramadan, one particular topic of interest which aroused most people’s enthusiasm, sympathy, apathy, emotion and curiosity, all at once, was ‘the ongoing massacre in Gaza.

    As a onetime Foreign Editor and a student of International Law and Diplomacy who had lived in the Arab world and was quite familiar with the situation in that region, I had severally given public lectures on the Middle East conflicts analysing the causes and effects of those conflicts from diverse perspectives. Below is a summarised excerpt from one of such lectures which I gave differently in contents and in style:

    “This is not the first time in history that partition would be adopted as a solution to a contentious problem. In ancient time, King Solomon ruled between two mothers who were laying claim to a single child: “If you cannot give one child to each of the two women claiming to be the mother, then split the child into two and give one half to one and the second half to the other”.

    This analogy was re-enacted almost three thousand years later in an area disputably called Palestine and Israel. The only exception in this case is that the Wisdom of Solomon is conspicuously absent.

    Like the false mother in King Solomon’s case who welcomed the bisection of the controversial child, the Jews accepted the partition of the Holy Land because it gave them something they did not own.

    Partition of countries against the wish of the people is not only a social aberration but also a clear evidence of man’s inhumanity to man.

    Wherever adopted as a solution, partition only brings suffering, destruction and tragedy to millions of human beings as in the case of Vietnam, Germany, Korea and now Palestine. Normalcy could only return to Vietnam after the reunification of that country following ten years of fierce war. Although the conditions of the partition of Germany after the World War II  in the mid 1940s appeared normal, neither that country nor those who partitioned it felt relaxed until Germany became a single country again in the early 1990s. The situation of (North and South) Korea today can be regarded as temporary because reunification of that country is just a matter of time.

    The imperial powers which imposed partition on the three countries mentioned above against the wish of their inhabitants were the same that inflicted the tragedy of partition on Palestine without any consideration for the agonizing plight of her people.

    GENESIS OF THE CRISES

    The general belief in many Muslim quarters is that the ‘Middle East’ crises are a religious affair. The Arabs are capitalising on this belief to whip up Islamic sentiments among non-Arab Muslims for the purpose of winning their sympathy. Such a belief is wrong and misplaced. Long before the Israeli factor came into those crises, the Arabs had been at loggerheads among themselves for centuries in that sub-region. History is there to testify to this fact. But for the internal wrangling among them, the entire Europe would have been fully Islamised today. At least the Umayyad Dynasty which was fully run by the Arabs lasted about 500 years in Spain where its headquarters was relocated after eviction from Damascus. Despite that great vintage, they missed the greatest opportunity of launching Islam to the rest of Europe.

    The Middle East crises cannot be pinned down to the Arab/Israeli conflict alone. They are a multifaceted conflict that requires a multidimensional solution. For instance, the State of Israel was not planted in Palestine until 1948. But Syria and Lebanon only agreed just a few years ago to exchange diplomatic mission for the first time since 1943 when the latter became independent. Why? Are both countries not Arab in language, culture and orientation? And this example can be found in virtually all the Arab countries. The truth of the matter is that the Arabs are the problem of Islam. Ironically, that divine religion originated from them.

    THE CONFLICT PROPER

    The conflict between Palestine and Israel, which now dominates the Middle East crises, did not start by accident. It was well designed and well orchestrated from the very beginning. In 1879 when the Zionist movement was officially launched, an Austrian Jewish lawyer and journalist, Theodor Herzl, who, incidentally, was the founder of that movement published an article in a European popular magazine. In the article he declared: “Let sovereignty be granted us (Zionists) over a portion of the globe large enough to satisfy the rightful requirements of a nation; the rest we shall manage for ourselves”.

    The outbreak of the World War 1 came to fertilize the soil for the germination of that tall dream. The year 1916 was disastrous for the allied forces. Casualties on the Western fronts were heavy. Anxiety rose very high. And the only seeming choice left for Britain to escape defeat in the hands of the Germans was to draw America into the war on her side. It was at this gloomy period that an Oxford educated Armenian, James Malcolm, walked in.  He was a friend of the then British Secretary of State, Sir Mark Sykes. The latter told Malcolm that the British Cabinet was looking anxiously for American intervention in the war.

    Responding, Malcolm who was well connected to the topmost echelon of the American government told Sykes that Britain was going about it the wrong way. He said: “You can win the sympathy of certain politically minded Jews everywhere and especially in the United States in one way only, and that is by offering to secure Palestine for them”.

    That was the beginning of a long journey that was to culminate in what has now become the ‘Arab/Israeli conflict’. Of course through Malcolm’s connection, the US entered the war on the side of the allied forces in 1917 and that resulted in a fate accompli for Germany.

    To fulfil her own side of the agreement, therefore, Britain made a declaration on November 2, 1917 through her Foreign Minister, Arthur Balfour, giving a substantial part of Palestine to Israel. That declaration has since popularised the name of that Foreign Minister as it has since been known as Balfour Declaration. Ever since the declaration, the Arabs have never been able to sleep with their two eyes closed. It has always been a matter of war today, cease fire tomorrow. This is not mainly due to the condemnable usurpation of their land by the Zionists but more because of their own diabolical disunity that is telling incessantly on Islam.

    Today, with the obliteration of Caliphate which was for many centuries, the central core of Islamic operations, there is no precise leadership for the Muslim Ummah. The implication of this is that there is no universal competent Muslim authority that can be obeyed globally if and when a vital order is given to propel Islam statutorily. Thus every country or community operates at its level to the detriment of unity.

    What is more worrisome in all these is the snobbish Arab attitude which places premium on Arabism rather than Islam as if Islam is the property of the Arabs which can be incorporated into Arabism at will.

    Except for Libya, Somalia and Sudan, no Arab country bears a name that reflects Islam. Even those three African countries only reflect Islam in their official names for political reason. ‘THE MESSAGE’ will elaborate on this in full details in the near future.

    ARABS’ ECONOMIC STRENGTH

    The wealth available in the Middle East is valued to be about one fifth of the entire wealth in the world. Yet the size of that sub-region in terms of land area and population is less than 2% of the world’s land mass. But unfortunately, the enormous wealth in the area is being managed and spent directly or indirectly by the West. Every Arab country has her foreign reserve in the US or other Western countries. Their administrative thinking and security strategies are from the West. Most of their investments are based in the West. Yet their most insuperable problem, that of disunity is from the West. How can they survive without the West?

    The total Gross Domestic Products (GDP) of the Arab countries was $1,195 billion in 2008. Much of this money kept in Western banks is what those Western countries use to further their own development.

    They also use a part of it to finance NGO projects in Africa and some other parts of the world in the name of humanitarian gesture. And most of the beneficiaries are non-Muslims. More will be said about this later.

    THE WAY FORWARD

    Never in the history of man has war been the final determinant of peace. The victor and the vanquished in any war will eventually sit around a table to talk and negotiate the terms of their coexistence.

    It happened in Asia and Europe. It happened in Africa and America. It happened in Australia and the Middle East. There is neither permanency of victory nor that of vanquishness. And that is why there is always room for communication even in a war situation.

    The war of attrition between Israel and Palestine is not in the interest of humanity no matter the sentiments. And it can never be. If these two countries have fought constantly for 66 years (1948-2014) without much to count as gain, logic must dictate a change of style.

    In the last one decade alone, the Palestinian people have lost more than 10, 000 lives; over $40 billion in income opportunity; 20 million square meters of agricultural land; and 100 million man-hours in crossing either from West Bank to Gaza or vise versa at Ramallah. Much more than that, almost 2.7 million of the 4 million residents of Gaza and West Bank have become refugees in almost inhuman camps. The opportunity cost of conflict for the Middle East from 1991-2014 is estimated to be $15 trillion. In other words had there been peace and cooperation in the Middle East since 1991, every Palestinian citizen would be earning over $3,400 as income per capital in 2014 instead of the $1,200 now being projected. Every Israeli citizen would be earning over $46,000 as income per capital in 2014 instead of about $24,000 now being projected.

    Because of an import-export ban imposed on Gaza by Israel in 2007, 95 per cent of Gaza’s industrial operations were suspended. And out of 35,000 people employed by 3,900 factories in June 2005, only 1,750 people remained employed by 195 factories in June 2007. The figures can be imagined today. Blockade has severely hindered health services in Gaza. Between October and December 2007 for instance, the World Health Organization confirmed the deaths of 20 patients, including 5 children due to lack of access to health care. Between 2007 and 2008, 120 people in Gaza died because they were not allowed access to medical treatment.

    The Israeli Government’s cut in the flow of fuel and electricity to the Gaza Strip has also been called collective castigation of the civilian population, which is a violation of Israel’s obligations under the laws of war. Starting from February 7, 2008, the Israeli Government reduced the electricity it sells directly to Gaza.

    This also had a terrible effect on all spheres of life in the Gaza and West Bank.

    The war between Israel and Palestine is not limited to weapons and diplomacy alone. In the Middle East generally, water is a resource of great political concern because of the desert nature of the sub-region. Thus, since Israel receives much of its water from two large aquifers which are sprawled across the Green Line, the use of this water has been contentious in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    Though the major source of the common water lies in the Israeli section of the disputed land, some of the wells used to draw that water are situated within the Palestinian Authority areas. This has limited Israelis’ direct access to drinking water.

    But the argument is that Israel herself had prevented substantial volume of water from flowing to the areas occupied by the Palestinians thereby limiting the quantity of water that may be drawn from those wells.

    While Israel’s consumption of this water has decreased since it began its occupation of the West Bank, it still consumes the majority of it.

    In the 1950s, Israel consumed 95 per cent of the water output of the Western Aquifer, and 82 per cent of that produced by the North eastern Aquifer.

    Although this water was drawn entirely on Israel’s own side of the pre-1967 border, the sources of the water are nevertheless from the shared groundwater basins located under both West Bank and Israel. By 1999, the percentage of water available to Israel had declined to 82 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively. Now, with the continuation of war, neither Israel nor Palestine feels secure even as threat of further war is drummed into the infants’ ears in that area daily.

    Historically, the Jews and the Arabs are from the same father (Abraham). If one claims a return to ancestral home to justify land occupation, the other may be right to make the same claim. Thus rather than continuing fighting war which may eventually lead to total loss of the entire land why not sit together and negotiate peace on a permanent basis? That is perhaps worthier than the shedding of innocent bloods where a better alternative is available.