The Nation Newspaper

Category: Monday

  • Like Ali

    Like Ali

    What is the link between Muhammad Ali and the new call to restructure Nigeria? Not Ali’s rope-a-dope, not the flourish of his poesy, or the beastly beauty of his stalking and punching, or the balletic finesse of his footwork.

    But his tribalism, especially when he boxed into limelight. Ali was a tribalist as black racist, as an anti-establishment, when he tarred fellow black Joe Frazier as Uncle Tom, when he renounced Cassius Clay, when he embraced Elijah Mohammed in pious defiance, when he threw his Olympic gold medal in the river, in his famous “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong.”

    But that was early Ali. That perhaps is where we are in the fight for restructuring. Today, it has become a familiar hymn. But it is not new. If we were a nation of intellectual fidelity, if our political elite were sincere in their soul, we would have resolved the matter decades ago, especially after the hurly burly of the civil war. I am for restructuring. The federal system sits a centre like a leviathan in shallow waters, ponderous, stuck and “swimless,” and at the mercy of the nibbling rapacity of a swarm of small fishes.

    We cannot sustain a system where the centre owns over half of our money, our power, our morality, our constitution. It is a garishly decorated monarchy, a throwback to our monarchical and feudal loyalties with a despotic shadow of our military past.

    It has suffocated the states, and made them beggar units. They clasp bowl in their hands every month to the counterfeit mercies of the centre. The APC highlighted this in the course of the campaign. For all its tendentious politics, the conference in the twilight of the Jonathan era afforded a platform for more robust dialogue. It was therefore a historic error that Buhari tossed it into the archives.  That big, dark vault of nothingness called archives. The time will come when we shall build a museum of suggestions, paradigms and solutions ignored generation after generation. All the ceremonies, tea breaks, lunches, deliberations, perorations, communiqués and tomes of recommendations turn into ashes in a bonfire of time.

    It is waste of scarce resources, and contempt for ideas. It impugns the nobility of the project, even if we impute cynical motives to the projects. Out of rottenness, shows the good book, comes out sweetness. That is why in spite of the opportunism of Atiku Abubakar in making the call for restructuring, we pick the idea and ignore the man. After all, he did not broach the idea. He it was who walked on Buhari’s coattails in his early days as president and even extolled him as the father of the nation. But he lost traction and favour with him, so he executed a pirouette.  He wants to fish in the fertile storm in the opposition as their redemption. He decided on his habitual mobile harlotry. He also lost his bid to be chairman of the board of trustees because the APC disavowed that position as antipodal to the presidential system.

    Rahab, the first famous prostitute, will go to paradise because she did good to angels. So, I hope Atiku’s leadership in this matter should bolster his career.

    If Buhari ignores the call to restructure Nigeria, it will haunt him as he tackles our lopsided being. I expect the call to increase in its stridency in the coming months. The National Assembly lacks the courage or even the depth to push it. This new restructuring fever might be another fight in futility. The cries may make our country a catacomb of echoes, room after room relaying the same calls. But the audiences are dead, with worse than ear infections. They have no ears.

    But some of the calls may not emanate from a love for Nigeria, but a love outside it. It is early Ali incarnated, a  retreat  to what philosopher Francis Bacon designated as the “idol of the tribe.” But there is also an echo of the “idol of the theatre.” This issues out of Plato’s “allegory of the cave” where prisoners mistake shadows for reality and mock the person who sees the real thing. It is the grand illusion of the age. We see things through insular, tribal lenses.

    We can see this in the uproar over Biafra, the Bombing hysteria of the Niger Delta Avengers and the rustic barbarism of the herdsmen.

    This is part of a global phenomenon. This week, Britain seems likely to endorse BREXIT and yield to the nativist fear about immigrants in Europe. In the United States, Donald Trump has revved up racial phobia in the model of all democracies and stirring up a crowd difficult to ignore. All over Europe from Germany to France to Belgium, parties that hate other people are rising in standing. Even in the UK, UKIP has soared beyond expectations. About two decades ago, the world hailed the birth of globalisation, but the implication for the intercourse of cultures has led to discomfort and distemper. People are at war with reality and embrace lies of comfort. Hell, as Jean Paul Sartre noted, is other people. Men love shadows rather than light.

    Sentiment becomes key to appealing to crowds. Oscar Wilde says humans are not rational beings. Humans are sentimental. We rally facts to suit sentiment. That’s the difference between humans and animal. Leaders of such groups deploy both demagoguery and what, for lack of a better word, sociologists call charisma. Pol Pot, Hitler, Bin Laden came from the same pot. They flatter the secret hopes of the followers. In his epoch-making work, Crowds and Power, Nobel laureate Elias Canetti shows, in seductive style, how rulers exploit the paranoia of the mass. But a key to the working of the mass must be found in Eric Hoffer’s classic, The true Believer, and how he has shown that all fanatical followers, whether Christian, Muslim, Labour, Marxist or ideological, fulfill the same pattern in adherence and practice.

    This book ought to be read these days to understand what is fueling the rage to be caged either as a herdsman, an Avenger or Biafran in Nigerian society. We may say that these people see themselves as narrow-minded. Quite the opposite. They feel they want to be free. That point was made long ago by philosopher Isaiah Berlin. The terrorist wants to be free to be a terrorist, just like the Biafran or the herdsman.

    Many, like me, who want restructuring want it for clear administrative ease. I fear that some want it for nativist satisfaction. We often forget that in any of us is a universal seed. When we walk, we move about with something of the other. Some psychologists have said the racist is often closer to racial harmony than the so-called liberal. Hence Martin Luther thought that the south would be the first to embrace harmony. That theory does not always work. Trump is a New Yorker.

    Ali died an evolved man, an apostle of peace and accommodation. He outlasted his bigotry. So, while we want true federalism, we hope those who want state police would not use it to kill enemies. While we want to control resources, we hope it is not a portal to greater corruption. It may even be a gateway to get away from the country.

    Are we fighting for true federalism, or some of those rhetoric cloak desire to dismantle this country? Nothing wrong with that, but let us put the facts on the table. So we understand the nature of the dialogue. We either legitimise the herdsmen, the Avengers and IPOBs of the nation, or articulate, in clear language, what we want. We shall know whether we have evolved like Ali, or are still feverish with nativist dreams. We cannot do that without a sincere sovereign conference.

  • Osun’s school dresses

    Those who watched media clips of Baptist High School pupils, Iwo Osun State,would have been amazed at the sight of students dressed in sundry religious apparel. There were those in hijab (veil); choir dresses while others appeared in flowing white garment clothes – apparently denoting the religious mix in that particular school. Of course, there were others who appeared in their usual school uniform unmindful of the seeming dressing competition.

    The situation looked quite confused. A young man who was taken aback by the scenario could not help but exclaim “religious dresses on parade”! That was the situation in that school and it had its roots in a recent court judgment which permitted female Muslim students to attend classes in hijab.

    A suit filed in 2013 by the Muslim community against the Osun State government, had asked the court to grant Muslim students the use of hijab in some public schools where they were being harassed and discriminated against.

    Their counsel premised his argument on the decision of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin between the Provost of the College of Education and one BasiratSaliu and noted that female Catholics wear veil, Mary mother of Jesus always appears in picture with veil on her head. He then prayed the court to allow female Muslim students wear veil in those schools since they have been wearing it in accordance with the 2004 directive of the state government.

    Justice JideFalola premised his judgment on section 38 of the Nigerian constitution and Article 8 of the 2004 policy published by the state ministry of education and restrained the state government from disallowing female Muslim students the use hijab in its schools.

    But the Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) Osun State chapter did not take kindly to the matter. It has not only accused the state government of plans to Islamize the state but vowed to resist any move to implement the ruling. It went ahead to order Christian students in all schools founded by Christians to wear Christian garments and vestments as part of their school uniforms. The students who appeared in sundry Christian apparels and vestments were only following the directive of the Christian body which has also indicated its intention to appeal the ruling.

    The development generated serious tension with the state government threatening to expel students who disobey the official uniform. But the threats did not change the situation as the students, apparently buoyed by the support of the Christian body defied government threats for three consecutive days.

    An attempt to stop them at the school gate nearly resulted in crisis but for the timely intervention of the traditional ruler of the community. For now, grave yard peace pervades the state as both Muslim and Christian leaders have resolved to maintain the peace so that the legal battle will run full circle.

    That appears the most sensible thing to do since CAN has indicated intention to appeal the ruling. It has no doubt, drawn copious attention to its position on the ruling and cannot go beyond that without prejudicing the very appeal it seeks to file.

    At issue however, is why the use of hijab has become so contentious in Osun school system? This poser is pertinent when it is realized that state takeover of schools in the state dates back to 1975. If Muslim and Christian students in the state co-habited without any shred of suspicion and antagonism for over 30 years, why has the hijab suddenly become an issue? Why did the Christian schools before now operate without problems even as they were being run by the government? Why has the use of veil become such an issue that the Muslim community in that state had to approach the court to enforce the rights of their students to wear it to school?

    The ugly development has its roots in a recent policy of the state government to merge and re-classify schools. In some of these schools, the Christian groups that founded them have their churches and other places of religious worship domiciled in those premises. They have their own established tradition fashioned along the line of the founders. And this has worked out fairly for them especially as some of them were single sex schools.

    With the merger, they had expected that any student in their system would be brought up in their tradition since both Muslim and Christian students had co-habited without any problem. But soon, the issue of hijab resonated with the Muslim community approaching the court for their rights to be enforced.

    This of course, raised genuine suspicions. The Christian groups saw it as an attempt to Islamize the state. Though the court ruled in favor of the use of hijab in the schools, it is obvious from current events that that ruling is fraught with serious problems for peace, harmony and order in that state. For, rather than the takeover and merger of schools acting as a melting pot for sectional, religious and primordial differences, they have curiously become an embarrassing reinforcement of these ugly tendencies.

    That is quite unfortunate, to say the least. It may be convenient for the Osun state government to wash its hands off the current controversy on the guise that it was the one that was sued. That the Judge cited article 8 of the 2004 policy published by the state ministry of education on the matter, meant there is a state policy on it.

    Given the forgoing, it would be a herculean task to convince the Christian groups that the government is not remotely behind the controversy. This writer was in class three in a seminary when the then East Central State government took over schools immediately after the civil war. We were during that period, given an essay on the takeover of mission schools.

    I did argue in support of the takeover, citing my experience while growing up in a village catholic primary school. Then, it was a harvest of antagonism and discrimination between pupils of the Catholic faith and those of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) (now called Anglican)

    The way CMS was presented to us made us loathe anything having to do with their pupils. Not unexpectedly, this resulted to abuses, quarrels and occasional fights between pupils of both schools especially while going home after classes. Iargued in that essay that takeover of schools will eliminate all that negative indoctrination and the attendant rivalry and antagonism.I remember very vividly that my teacher, a Reverend, noted in my script: Are you sure?  But to my big surprise, he still scored me very well.

    Given this background, one can then understand the huge contradiction in the agitation for the use of a particular religious veil in government schools in Osun State so many years after. And if one may ask, what then happens to the veils of other religions as counsel to the Muslim community rightly pointed out. Will Catholics then approach the court to enforce their rights to veils? And what type of future shall we be erecting in the minds of impressionable youths who are being introduced to religious bigotry so early in their lives?

    These are some of the inherent contradictions. And if one may ask, how much value does the use of hijab hold in the educational advancement of Muslim students especially in a state that is largely reputed for its high level of religious tolerance and understanding? It would appear that the matter is an unnecessary distraction with loaded prospects of rupturing the peace of the state. There are a myriad of challenges of the ordinary citizens that require the attention of the government than the dissipation of energy over such mundane issues.

    Beyond this, the controversy highlights the contradictions in government policy on the takeover of schools. It also brings to the fore the incongruity in the merger and re-classification. If these policies are incapable of improving on a subsisting order, it is better to maintain the status quo.

  • Uniform of religion

    As could be expected, the June 3 ruling by a High Court in Osogbo, Osun State, in favour of religion-related veil-wearing by female Muslim students in public primary and secondary schools in the state, has resulted in absurdities.

    A background report: “The court, presided by Justice Jide Falola, in a 51-page judgment…held that any act of molestation, harassment, torture and humiliation against female Muslim students using Hijab constitutes a clear infringement on their fundamental rights. Folala cited Section 38 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) to rest his ruling.” It continued: “Osun State Muslim Community on Feb. 14, 2013, dragged the State Government to the court. They sought an order of the court to allow female Muslim students to enjoy their fundamental rights by granting them order to use veil in public schools.”

    Following Justice Falola’s decision, a secondary school in Iwo on June 14 became a theatre of comicalities. A report said: “Students of Baptist High School, Iwo, who wore vestments, caused a stir in the school as other students who were in uniform hailed them. Some female Muslim students who also appeared in hijab equally gained access to the school without restriction. Also, some male students donned white robes around 8:30am before other students joined in donning white and purple choir robes…Also, some students dressed in white Celestial Sutana were hailed by their classmates…”

    Considering that things have reached this theatrical stage, it remains to be seen how far the comedy of errors and horrors can go. The errors are based on an erroneous understanding of secularity; the horrors are based on a horrifying picture of what is possible when the question of secularity is not definitively answered.

    In the final analysis, the legal endorsement of hijab in public schools in Osun State further highlighted the reality of ambiguous secularity. In this case, it is unclear why the judge could not distinguish between the uniform of religion and the uniform of secular education, and why he could not appreciate the incongruity of a combination of the two in public schools.

    The students who wore church garments to school in Iwo “were allegedly children of some Christian clerics… in line with the directive of the Osun State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)”. The Christian body had protested, and had also called for a protest against the court judgement that endorsed hijab-wearing in public schools during school hours.

    A report quoted the head of the Catholic bloc of CAN in Iwo, Cathechist Paul Olagoke, who said its members were in the school to ensure that no student was chased out. He reportedly said: “We are here to defend the rights of our children. Since female Muslim students are free to wear hijab, our children are also free to wear anything they want, too.”

    The plot thickens. Secularity needs to be clarified, so that clarity can put an end to unclear ideas about the limits and limitations of religion in a secular society pursuing social progress.

    It is clear that the dramatic news pictures of some students who attended school in church garments cannot change the existing court decision validating hijab in public schools in the state. Clearly, the authoritative intervention of the highest structures of justice would be necessary for the needed clarity.

    Ultimately, the path to take is the straight and narrow pathway of the law, particularly because the issue has not been settled by the final court, and the current decision can be still be challenged at higher levels of the justice system. The Christians cannot expect to change the current court judgment by their forms of protest outside the courts, and they should understand that and be guided by that reality.

    Interestingly, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) responded to the adoption of unhelpful self-help by the Christians. It observed that some Christian students of the Salvation Army Middle School, Iwo, also attended school in church garments, apart from those that did the same thing at Baptist High School. The group advised the protesters in a statement: “If CAN is genuinely interested in protecting Christian interest, they should go on appeal, otherwise no matter their current protest (which will fade away with time like every other protest but only make the current CAN leaders get TV and newspaper popularity), the current judgement will remain the valid law of the land…the law will stand if Osun CAN doesn’t immediately go on appeal.” This is a developing story and Osun CAN should help it to develop further towards a definitive clarification.

    It is said that History repeats itself. It remains to be seen whether the Osun Islamic scarf controversy would follow the course of the Islamic scarf controversy that arose in France in 1989 concerning the wearing of hijab in French public schools. For over a decade, the French controversy cried for clarity until President Jaques Chirac in 2003 “decided that a law should explicitly forbid any visible sign of religious affiliation in public schools, in the spirit of secularism”. A report said: “The law, sometimes referred to as “the veil law” was voted in by the French parliament in March 2004. It forbids the wearing of any “ostentatious” religious articles, including the Islamic veil, the Jewish kippa, and large Christian crosses. The law permits discreet signs of faith, such as small crosses, Stars of David, and hands of Fatima.”

    What followed this important clarification of secularity? The report said: “In 2004, a year after the law was voted in, one organisation opposed to it, called the “Committee of the 15th of March and Liberty,” published a report on the law’s effects. The report cites the files of 806 students affected by the law. Of the 806 students, 533 have accepted the law and no longer wear their veils in class. The report also gives an assessment of students who have left the French school system because of this issue. Among them, 67 have pursued their studies abroad. Another 73 of those 806 suspended or expelled from schools over the veil have chosen to take government-run CNED correspondence courses in order to finish their studies. The number of those who have chosen to study via other, non-government forms of correspondence schools is unknown.” It added: “The opening of the 2005 school year passed largely without incident, and opposition to the law seems to have given way to broader public opinion. However, the actual number of those who no longer attend French junior high and high schools over their veils is unknown.”

    There is no doubt that the French example is clearly secularist, and leaves no grey area that could be manipulated by those without a conceptual understanding necessary for a correct interpretation of the idea of secularity.

    The secularity test in Osun State is useful. Hopefully, it would eventually help to further clarify the concept and practice of secularity for the benefit of the other states of the federation, and for the benefit of the state of the federation.

     

  • One beheading, too many

    Kano State again! That was the exclamation of a young man when the chilling news filtered that a 74 year old woman and wife of a pastor, Mrs. Bridget Agbahime was beaten to death in Kano by Islamic fundamentalists on the spurious allegation that she blasphemed Prophet Mohammed.

    But the real account of what transpired was that the woman has been having a minor disagreement with a neighbour trader over the latter’s regular habit of washing his legs in front of her shop instead of his each time he wanted to pray. Reports had it that on that fateful day, the man after being cautioned as usual to wash his legs in front of his shop, went out and raised false alarm that Bridget had blasphemed Prophet Mohammed.

    Unknown to the woman who was busy attending to her customers, some hoodlums masquerading under the guise of their religion, attacked her and were on the verge of killing her husband before he was rescued by the police. The incident has attracted wide outrage and condemnation. The presidency, Kano State government and the Jama’atu Nasir Islam JNI among others have strongly condemned the killing. For the JNI, the act is un-Islamic and perpetrated by miscreants and criminals.

    But the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) northern branch is piqued at the frequency of such premeditated killings in Kano and has called for an open trial of the alleged masterminds. The CAN summed up the contradiction in the latest killing: “this type of issue is giving Kano State a bad name and image. So if your enemy is angry with you, the best thing to do is to raise false alarm using religion as a cover to kill you”.

    Some years back, another innocent citizen, Gideon Akaluka was in a similar dastardly circumstance killed and decapitated. Then, a group of Muslim fanatics had gone after the head of Akaluka after his wife was alleged to have desecrated the Koran. The police promptly arrested and detained him. But prompted by some faceless leaders, the angry group of fanatics and killers stormed the prison, captured Akaluka and cut off his head.

    They were later to put the severed head in a spike and drove around the Kano city with it in the most reprehensible manner. There is no official record of any person apprehended and brought to book for that dastardly act. Elsewhere, there was also the case of Mrs. Oluwatoyin Oluwaseesin, a teacher at a secondary school in Gombe State who was murdered by students of that institution for alleged similar infraction.

    Her offence was that while invigilating an examination, she took away a bag which a student had brought to the hall against the rules and put it away on the floor. Incidentally, the bag was said to contain the holy book and this infuriated the students who later regrouped, burnt her car and striped her naked before killing and burning her.

    These represent a tip of the iceberg in the orgy of endless religion-induced crises in that part of the country that took serious toll in human lives and property. Curiously, Kano has been at the centre of them all including the devastating Maitatsine riots.

    Perhaps, the silence of the authorities each time such killings occur has emboldened more miscreants and hoodlums to take laws into their hands to extract punishment on behalf of their religion. A society that allows any and every body including miscreants to sit in judgment, determine what sentence to award a suspect and proceed to execute same under whatever guise, is a clear invitation to disaster and anarchy.

    That is the contradiction the CAN brought to the front burner when it contended that an enemy who has a matter to settle with another can just raise false alarm using religion as a subterfuge to kill his opponent. And that is central to the case of Mrs. Agbahime.

    If motives are being imputed into the frequency of these decapitations in Kano, there are sufficient grounds for them. Those worried by such raging feelings and their prospects for the breakdown of law and order must do something now to stem the tide. The section of the country constantly targeted is already tired of spilling the blood of their sons and daughters for this country to stand.

    Even then, the landlord of the shop was reported to have before the latest incident, wadded into the disagreement, advising the man to confine himself to his shop. Sadly, it was the same person that went and recruited the hoodlums and street urchins that attacked and slit the throat of the woman under the spurious reason that she was irreverent to his faith.

    One can now see the danger in the entire sad episode. The same scenario must have also been at play in the case of the decapitation of Akaluka since nobody was apprehended and punished for that dastardly act.

    Those who murdered Agbahime and Akaluka may have been acting out a devious script written for them by some criminal sponsors masquerading under the guise of protecting their religious faith. There could also be other motives to it. It is however, heart-warming that unlike in the case of Akaluka, both the Kano State government and the JNI have come out to denounce the killing claiming it has nothing do with their religion but the handiwork of criminals and urchins.

    But, that raises a very fundamental question regarding on whose shoulders the responsibility for determining infractions to the Islamic faith resides. The poser has become pertinent because the impression these acts of lawlessness conveys is that every and any Muslim can determine when their faith has been desecrated and award punishment as he deems fit including taking peoples’ lives.

    And we ask, are there no extant processes for apprehending such suspects and making them face trial? Are there no laws to which those accused of one infraction or the other are supposed to be subjected to before punishment can be meted out on them? Why is there always a standing army of fanatics ready to decapitate any time such allegations arise? And on whose behest do they exist? We raise these questions because of the constant recourse to mob justice each time allegations of desecrating the Muslim faith arise in Kano especially now we are being told such killings are the handiwork of criminals.

    It would appear there are issues leaders of that faith have to straighten out with their teeming adherents especially the illiterate and those exposed to radical teachings. It is clear from these unfortunate incidents that self-help in matters of this nature is the message that subsists in the minds of many adherents.

    What the situation calls for is the intensification of enlightenment campaigns on inter-faith cooperation and co-existence which the JNI said its scholars had embarked upon. Such campaigns must centre round the sanctity of the human life and the fact that nobody has the right to extract capital punishment in the name of his religion. Such messages should be extended to the schools, market places and other places of public interest in the most engaging and aggressive manner.

    Muslim scholars and the leadership of the JNI must get it down to their adherents what steps and institutions to contact any time there is suspicion of any infraction to their faith. It is obvious there is still much work to do in this direction. Had there been sincerity and sufficient education on this, we would have been saved the unfortunate situation where Citizen Bridget had to be slaughtered like an animal just for an individual to settle personal scores hiding under religion.

    Above all, trial of the suspects in the instant case must be handled openly in such a manner as to drum the message very clearly that the era of jungle justice in such matters has gone for good. Then, we can take seriously the condemnations, claims and assurances pouring in since the killing of Bridget. We are watching!

  • Anniversary of insignificance

    President of the Senate and Chairman of National Assembly Olusola Saraki should be congratulated on his first anniversary in the powerful positions. It has been a stormy year in office for him, and it promises to be stormier. He has been unable to still the storm, despite his desperate efforts to do so. Ironically, he triggered the turbulence himself, perhaps underestimating its force and overestimating his own capacity to manage it.

    Saraki’s statement marking the thought-provoking anniversary, titled “8th Senate: The journey so far”, was an ego trip. This is how he started his statement: “One year ago today, the 8th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was inaugurated. That inauguration marks a further consolidation of our democracy and opens a new chapter in the practice of government by representation in our country.  Let me congratulate all my colleagues not only for the time we have spent in the legislature, but also for all that we have achieved together and all that we have planned to achieve for our peoples and our country as the highest legislative body in the land.”

    It is a misinterpretation and misrepresentation of demonstrable reality to suggest that the 8th Senate is built on a democratic foundation. The country certainly doesn’t deserve a legislative commander that emerged in a morally controversial manner, and whose emergence was coloured by a colourless subversion of his party’s position.

    Only a dysfunctional decoding of the concept of party supremacy could have encouraged the circumstances that brought him to the helm of affairs at the Senate, an ascendancy he actualised through an unapologetic defiance of his party’s desire and decision.

    It is noteworthy that the same warped twist resulted in a queer combination and cohabitation at the helm of the Senate. With Saraki of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), a party elected to power on the premise of progressivism, and Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu of the unprogressive Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the 8th Senate has a leadership that is ambiguous and confusing.   Saraki made matters worse by rubbishing his party’s list for Senate leadership posts. It is, of course, worth mentioning that Ekweremadu is alleged to have attained his position based on a forged Senate standing order.

    To compound the complications, Saraki became the first Senate President to face trial on corruption-related charges, and the ongoing trial may well be a journey for him. It remains to be seen where the trial would take Saraki.

    A report said: “The Code of Conduct Bureau cited a 13-count charge of corruption against Mr. Saraki. In charge number ABT/01/15, dated September 11, 2015 and filed before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Saraki is accused of offences ranging from anticipatory declaration of assets to making false declaration of assets in forms Saraki had filed with the Code of Conduct Bureau while he was governor of Kwara state. He was also accused of failing to declare some assets he acquired while in office as governor, acquiring assets beyond his legitimate earnings, and accused of operating foreign accounts while being a public officer.”

    The report continued: “An official of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Peter Danladi, stated in a court affidavit that the investigation of the various petitions of corruption, theft, money laundering, among others, against Saraki in 2010, was conducted jointly by the officials of the EFCC, CCB and the DSS. “The EFCC conducted its investigation on the various petitions and made findings which showed that the defendant/applicant abused his office, while he was the governor of Kwara State and was involved in various acts of corruption as the governor of the state. The defendant/applicant borrowed huge sums of money running into billions from commercial banks, particularly Guaranty Trust Bank, and used the proceeds of the loan to acquire several landed properties in Lagos, Abuja and London, while he was the governor of Kwara State.”

    This is the man at the head of the country’s federal legislature. This is the man who apparently continues to enjoy the support of the country’s federal legislators. This is how Saraki ended his first-anniversary statement: “Once again, I want to thank you for the unalloyed support I have and continue to receive from my colleagues in the last one year. This has been unprecedented and I don’t take it lightly. This unique support has been steady, bipartisan, and unconditional. Their support has been the bulwark on which my belief in the emergence of a greater Nigeria rests.”

    He added: “The support has meant everything to me and I am more than ever determined to play my role as a leader to see to the emergence of a more virile National Assembly playing its constitutional role without fear or favour. I congratulate all Senators for all that we have achieved in the last one year. I am confident that when the history of this era is written, all of us would be amply remembered as the generation that played its part and did its best to make Nigeria a better place.”

    Why does Saraki think he would last the distance? He has three years of his four-year term left. He is involved in a conflict that is nothing short of a domestic war of sorts. It is not for the faint-hearted. On Saraki’s side in particular, he will need a tremendous capacity to endure a war of attrition. Saraki must understand that in attrition warfare, the fundamental strategy is “to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses”.

    He should understand what he is facing, or perhaps more aptly, the force of the forces ranged against him. How much can he take as his opponents pursue a strategy of attrition?  How far can his backers go with him, considering that he is fighting what looks like a losing battle?

    The significance of Saraki’s first-anniversary statement may well be its insignificance. It is lamentable that the position of Senate President, a public office of great democratic significance, has been reduced to insignificance in Saraki’s first year in the saddle.

  • Go forth and give

    Go forth and give

    Three men have shown us the different shades of love. One shows it genuinely, the other as a show man and the third in dubious colour.

    I am referring to Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man; Mohammed Ndinmi, Africa’s 39th richest person; and Ali Modu Sheriff, the most prominent African politician whose image conjures the blood and ogre of Boko Haram.

    Borno State, where the ravages of Boko Haram left a human trail of tears, beckoned for charity. The internally displaced persons lost not just home, they lost family. Especially, they lost the soul of their lives. Their past is a story told. The past of halcyon moonlights and storytelling, of home jokes and cosy whispers, of family landmarks and quiescent worship, of pictures, of farms and heath, of intimate hugs and family moments and mementoes. They are histories without artifacts. The same family members became corpses without names.

    It is time to gather their limbs together after the so-called goons of God roared into their towns and villages with blood in their eyes.

    Dangote hit headlines with a donation of N2 billion to the IDPs in Borno State, and he did not do it in the abstract. He visited Maiduguri, especially the Dalori and Bakassi camps. His flesh and blood was present among the bloodied and bowed. “It’s not the first time I am coming here,” he said as though it was news.

    His words were confirmed by his amiable host and Borno Governor Kashim Shettima, who acknowledged that he had been coming around and had earlier donated N400 million to the same IDPs. Dangote has not restricted himself to Borno State, It is on record that he had given N1.2 billion to IDPs in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.

    The Dangote generosity is also significant in the light of the labour minister, Chris Ngige’s recent “order” that banks should discontinue their firing canon. Dangote is exemplifying the modern view of corporation as civil partners. They are not in society only to make profit but also to profit society.

    They are enterprises and conceived for self-enrichment. But that is the province of pristine capitalism. With increasing call around the world social engagement, big companies are being held to account. I may not go as far as compelling individual companies not to fire their workers. I, however, believe that the conversation ought to begin as to the moral imperatives that must factor into such decisions. A bank with billions in its vaults should have a better reason to consign workers into the streets. That is one of the reasons that Bernie Sanders has stirred great passion in the United States election year. Inequality in today’s world is returning to the Industrial Revolution levels, as aptly documented by the French economist Thomas Picketty in his epochal work, Capital in the Twenty First Century.

    Dangote’s activities with his foundation reflect this sensitivity. But the Nigerian rich, ever sick of self love, thinks little of the little guy. One of such is Mohammed Indinmi. He is a well-known billionaire and gained notoriety over his donation to a U.S. university while boy victims of Boko Haram are squeaking from malnutrition in a Borno State IDP camp.

    He debunked a rumour that he contributed $14 million to a U.S. university but a mere $900, 000. He  probably expected us to embrace him and slobber him with kisses because he contributed an equivalent of about N300 million to a university in a country where its income per capita is probably more than half of the Borno State IDPs put together.

    We have not seen from him an equivalent  show of love to his own people suffering in the aftermath of the pious hoodlums. The school is Lynn University and it set up a Mohammed Ndinmi International Business Center with state-of-the-art features like a venture lab, internship centre, 11 classrooms, etc.

    Some see him as a show man, more willing to please his rich school than his abject neighborhood. He has inferiority complex, and seeks the gratitude of the American rather than the joy of his own habitués. That suits his ego. He acted in tandem with the words of writer Carlos Ruiz Zafon: “Presents are made for the pleasure of those who give them, not the merits of who receives them.” It’s the same Ndinmi, who sent his six children to the same school and his son buzzed ignominiously on the social media when he flashed his account balance of $100 million. He is not a Nigerian leader, even if he is IBB’s in-law. He is not an American leader either. He is a giver who is a counter to the Biblical line, “charity never fails.” His charity failed in Borno, so did his money.

    The other player is Ali Modu Sheriff. The former Borno State governor, in all his moral weightlessness, is embroiled in leadership slugfest in a befuddled PDP. But the man has been the flipside of a Borno statesman. He is an example of a giver as cynic. The man cancelled bursary awards to his state students when he was governor. He boasted that media reports could not hurt him since his indigenes could not read. The same was associated with Boko Haram and has done little to swim out of that poisoned stream. The same man said he donated N150 million to Boko Haram. Many in the state said it was cynical. Even at that, the state said they never received the money. The Borno State Resettlement Committee said they did not get the man’s money but two truckloads of rice. Sheriff has not denied the denial. The genuine N150 million donation to IDPs came from faraway: Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. Sheriff could learn a thing or two about actualising pledges.

    The indigenes are probably echoing the lines of the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson: “Let me go: take back thy gift.” It is like the Greeks whose horse the Trojans looked in the face. The Sheriff donation was a nothing about much ado. Shakespeare in his play, Much Ado About Nothing, had a character say, “My charity is outrage.” It was a whited sepulcher.

    The IDPs are a charity case. So are Sheriff and Ndinmi. A man’s life consists not in the abundance of things he possess, said Jesus. But in the abundance of love shown. They should borrow a page from Dangote. Shakespeare’s words for the rich: “no legacy is so rich as honesty.”

     

    MTN at rest

    At last after the rough-and-tumble crisis, a settlement has been reached. The network mogul MTN will pay N330 billion to the Federal Government. It is relief to the company, a costly one at that. It was important that MTN followed the law in this matter. But the law is not designed to kill. A company cannot learn a lesson in the grave. So, MTN was punished enough to feel the pain but also enough to rouse itself to a more circumspect way of doing business.

    MTN has huge investment in Nigeria and many employees. All that also came into the picture in the settlement. The company can now go back to business without the weight of a fine, or after the weight of the fine.

     

  • One year on

    One year on

    Lagos has always been a place of small beginnings. A small port town, a puny army, a humble royalty, a seeming patch of land, straggles of settlers. During the Yoruba Wars, it snorted under the shadows of valiant horsemen and kabooms of gunfire exchanges.

    But it has not taken its smallness with humility. It is as though it is haunted by Prophet Isaiah: “A little shall become a thousand and a small one a strong nation.”

    In the past century and a half, Lagos has dwarfed everyone. It has moved from a tiny port town to a towering harbinger of commerce. It hosts the banks and money, the entrepreneur, soldiers of destiny and the great bards. The nationalist twitted the imperialist, from Macaulay to Azikiwe to Awolowo.

    Its heroes have always followed a trajectory from the unknown. I.K. Dairo, Fajemirokun, Gani Fawehinmi, Awolowo, et al. It is the place where Nigerians have patented their geniuses. One of such narratives is in the offing.

    The story of Akinwunmi Ambode had such a heady start from when he became his party candidate. The PDP had its Jimi Agbaje, and he was in the flush of PDP largesse. His supporters said he was the one. Some young and some professionals and some ethnic stalwarts coalesced. They said Agbaje was the winning formula. They said he had the gift of the garb, a winsome look, a charisma that did not go beyond a nifty suit and rakish fila, or Yoruba cap. He spoke about grandiose topics like “ocean economy” and a murky agenda for the youth.

    Agbaje wore the false garb gladly. He pivoted towards the idol of the tribe, and he raked up tribal hate among Lagosians. He said he was going to elevate the Igbo as a kingdom, at least fiefdoms, in Lagos by ranking their chief on an equal pedestal with the Oba of Lagos. President Jonathan rolled into Lagos to back his separatist and Balkanising agenda. In the heat of the campaign, they had decided to give phantom contracts and offices.

    In fact, a crop of ethnic lawyers amassed money to throw a victory party a week to the polls to celebrate the “takeover of Lagos” as though it was some form of military encounter. Lagosians thought differently and voted for commonsense over clannishness, continuity over brashness, competence over showmanship.

    But as governor, he did not slide into a party. A few stumbles happened early on. Crime smeared the city, and here and there we witnessed fear and trembling. A mere anarchy of hoodlums took over streets and some major arteries. Compounded by a heady traffic snarl, Lagos cast back to military-era melee. PDP critics leapt into the fray and thought that the Lagos voters erred. A temporary Agbaje nostalgia rent the political space. As Mahatma Ghandi noted, “we shall stumble and fall and rise again…”

    So, Governor Ambode never expressed public alarm or rhetorical opprobrium. All he assured Nigerians was that he was working, and he soon would turn everything to rights. A few months later, he fazed the city with an unprecedented supply of security cars, motorcycles, helicopters, walkie-talkies and other gizmos. A new regime of safety suddenly burst into town. The crime lords retreated. Also in a short while, the traffic snarl was contained.

    As he turns one as the helmsman of Lagos, few remember their grumbles. Even the critics have become grudging adulators. Following a tradition of Asiwaju Tinubu and Fashola, he has stamped his signature early. His appetite for development is big. I told a few critics who read this column that they should wait and they would be convinced. I said I had met him a few times before the election and knew he bounced with great zeal, ideas and competence. His resume, I said, was one of the best for governance we ever had in this country. Having worked in all parts of Lagos, he knew where the city hurt and healed.

    Some of them wrote to flay him in the early going, and I counseled patience. Once he settled in, some of them drew my attention to some things he had done even before I knew.

    Some of his early kudos have been in the area of rural Lagos. His infrastructure work, building roads with dual carriage patterns and opening some of the rustic part of the city have impressed citizens. I drove through the Third Mainland Bridge one night, and my car stopped when the security gadget tripped. I had no fear because the bridge was almost like daylight. The long, serpentine stretch of the bridge over the lagoon revealed every detail of lanes and automobile zipping by. No hoodlum could have menaced me without consequences, especially with police also at the ready. A friend once told me that right from work to home at night, all the streets are lighted.

    One of his virtues is his knowledge of the economy. With the economy in bad straits, it now looks like serendipity that an Ambode should hold the state. And he has proved the man to do it. With deft management of the infrastructure of collection, Lagos is perhaps the only prosperous state in the federation today. In the United States, California and New York are regarded separately as world economies, just like Ontario in Canada. Lagos can stand today as an economy in Africa, besting most countries. In the first quarter of this year, the state curled in N101 billion as revenue. This is why Lagos can also boldly pursue grand projects. For instance, Ambode just signed an MOU for the fourth mainland bridge, which could be completed before his first term is over, all things being equal. He also has started what might be the medical mecca of West Africa in Ikoyi.

    He has turned a whole community into a habitat of light, in Ibeju-Lekki where the government is paying the light bill until they get their metres.

    He is doing all these and more without what some thought was his inability to give soaring oratory. Ambode is a man of policy, not a figure of speech. He acts and allows his work, not words, to tell his story. The narrative, so far, is turning him into the alpha governor of today.

     

    Goodbye, Ali

    It was in 1979 at the Tafawa Balewa Square, and I was a student trying to board a bus home. Suddenly, a crowd surged outside the façade of the stadium, and I looked. To my astonishment, the man at the centre was a light-skinned fellow of buxom build faking boxing exchanges with little boys who were ecstatic to return their own fake jabs. The man, with handsome look and dainty footwork, was Muhammed Ali. He was visiting Nigeria to campaign over some humanitarian issue.

    That was my only sighting of Ali. The Greatest died, and I join others to mourn this great black man. He lived a life that is lacking today. A world where religion can be a platform for humane causes. A world where tribe and cant have replaced a multicultural bliss. We have BREXIT, Trump, ISIS, Boko Haram. He was a pugilist for justice. He fought against racism as a conscientious objector when others allowed themselves to die in an America that treated them as sub-human.

  • Secularity needs clarity

    It should be clear that a question of religion is not the same thing as a question of secularity. The June 3 ruling by a High Court in Osogbo, Osun State, in favour of religion-related veil-wearing by female Muslim students in public primary and secondary schools in the state, is food for thought.

    A report said: “The court, presided by Justice Jide Falola, in a 51-page judgment…held that any act of molestation, harassment, torture and humiliation against female Muslim students using Hijab constitutes a clear infringement on their fundamental rights. Folala cited Section 38 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) to rest his ruling.”  It continued: “Osun State Muslim Community on Feb. 14, 2013, dragged the State Government to the court. They sought an order of the court to allow female Muslim students to enjoy their fundamental rights by granting them order to use veil in public schools.”

    My mind went back to April 2014 when the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (CBCIU) and The State Government of Osun organised an All-Comers Colloquium on Fundamental Imperatives of Cohabitation: Faith and Secularism at the centre’s Auditorium, Abere, Osogbo.

    Have you heard? This was the question many people in the hall asked others following the news that Boko Haram terrorists had bombed the Nyanya Motor Park in Abuja with at least 75 people dead and 164 injured. It was the opening ceremony of the colloquium. A moment of silence was observed for victims of the bombing.

    This coincidence was striking and mirrored the timeliness of the event, which the conveners said was “organised against the background of perceived religious war by Boko Haram and tension in some states, for example Osun, where religious differences are being exploited to cause trouble.” CBCIU Chairman, Professor Wole Soyinka, stressed that the colloquium should not be seen as just a direct reaction to the Boko Haram terror campaign which has escalated in the northeastern part of the country since 2009. He said: “The conference has been conceived in many minds for decades in the face of rising problems.”

    Fundamentally, Soyinka meant that Boko Haram is not simply an identifiable physical group of religious extremists, but also a metaphorical signification, referring to all manifestations of extremism based on faith. Soyinka described the Boko Haram insurgency as “a war situation, which is a strictly security situation.”

    On Day Two of the colloquium, Soyinka was proved right as the Islamist terror champions on April 14 kidnapped 276 students at the Girls Senior Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State. The extremely scandalous incident continues to trigger emotionally charged responses worldwide, particularly as 218 abducted Chibok schoolgirls are still missing.

    In his opening-day speech, Soyinka had pointed out that “we cannot underestimate the religious inspiration”, suggesting that religious adherents could go to unimaginable lengths to further their cause.

    It is precisely this lack of limit, especially in the context of secular society, that the colloquium was organised to address.

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who is a Muslim occupying a secular office, expressed his standpoint at the forum. He said: “My position is that religion should not be a source of rancour, misery and cheap death as we have in Nigeria today. Accommodation of one another should transcend the context of faith.”

    Soyinka, a master playwright, imaginatively and dramatically captured the need to separate faith and secularism, and the necessity for harmonious cohabitation in the country’s multi-religious situation. The Nobelist said: “I admit that I’m not a particularly religious person, but I believe in the spiritual quest; every human has a portion of himself which seeks transcendence.  Sometimes I wish religionists would leave us to develop the earth, and go to paradise or wherever; they can take a spaceship to another planet where they can live by faith.”

    The three-day conference, with four plenary sessions and 18 papers, was marked by open and frank discussions, and participants explored the essence of the concept of secularism as it applied to the country in particular. The papers included Primordial Spirituality as Agent of Development by Prof Dawud Noibi; Religion and Development by Mr. Modupe Oduyoye; Equilibrium that Adjusts the World by Dr. Abiodun Agboola; Pluralism and Accommodation in a Democratic Society by Pastor (Dr.) Michael Adekunle; Quest for Peace by Mr. Mustapha Adebayo Bello and Personified and Objectified Persons by Dr. Olujide Gbadegesin.

    Others were: From Violent Crises to Insurgency by Dr. Bimbo Adesoji; Theocracy and Secular Mind by Dr. Kamil Koyejo Oloso; Reinventing the Wheel of our Life by Ogbeni Funmi Odusolu; Secularism and Pluralism Nexus: The Nigerian and Sudanese Experience by Comrade Jide Olutobi; When Faith Makes Sense: Religion as Catalyst of Progress and Development by Engr. Moses Oludele Idowu and You Must Find Your Own Way by Mr. Femi Macaulay.

    Additional papers were: Mythologies and the Test of Humanity by Ms. Folakemi Odoaje; Where the Rain Began to Beat Us? by Engr. Moses Oludele Idowu; From Mysticism to Technology by Dr. Tunde Adegbola; Rational Religion by Araba Ifayemi Elebuibon and What Shall We Teach Our Children? by Abdul-Hakeem Ajilola.

    There was a perceptible tension between advocates of “strict secularity”, which implies a “relegation of religion in public affairs”, and proponents of “quasi-secularism”, which suggests “minimum religious penetration of state affairs”.   However, it was generally agreed that there is a need for cohabitation in the context of “secularism that respects and appreciates the reality of diverse faiths without promoting any religion at the expense of others.” Aregbesola said: “We need an organised intervention in this area.”

    A central issue in the various perspectives was the observed religionisation of politics by the country’s leaders, which continues to complicate the fundamentals of secularity. Concerning those who misuse religion for non-religious purposes, Soyinka noted: “The mind is where it started and ultimately the mind is where this disease will be cured.”

    Collective recommendations emerged towards attaining inter-faith harmony in the pursuit of peace for social progress. The proposed path was specific:  Constitution review to reflect religious diversity; tightening legislation to address religious violence; non-politicisation of religion; value reorientation; programme of compulsory education for social enlightenment and establishment of a national centre for inter-faith studies.

    In the final analysis, the legal endorsement of hijab in public schools in Osun State further highlights ambiguous secularity.

  • Citizenship and nation-building

    Citizenship generally refers to the right conferred by law or custom on an individual as a member of a state. It is usually denoted in the form of reciprocity or social exchange between the citizen and the state.

    Its origin was a major concern of social contract theorists- Thomas Hobbes and Jean Rousseau and it is intricately linked to the theory on the evolution of modern states. They had characterized the conditions of primeval man in the state of nature as that of ‘war of man against man’.

    At a point, man in that state of nature, got fed up with the lawlessness of that order and decided to surrender some of his rights to a sovereign, who will in turn, provide him with some form of protection- thus the twin concepts of state and citizenship.  It involves rights on the one hand, duties and obligations on the other.  By this reciprocity, the citizen owes the state certain duties and obligations and in return claims some rights from it.

    Nation-building which is closely linked to the former, involves conscious efforts to inculcate in the citizens a sense of common identity as a member of a given state. It is a psychological process of mind reconstruction to elicit in the citizens attitudes and dispositions that make for the good health of the state.

    It seeks for instance, to make Nigerians out of the various ethnic, religious and cultural groups that make up that political entity, in the same way leaders of the emergent state of Israel deployed the kibbutz system to inculcate the twin ideologies of socialism and Zionism in their people.

    That accounts for the strong attachment the average Israeli citizen has with his home state in the same manner Americans are very proud of their country. Success in nation-building will then make the Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba ethnic nationalities etc to see themselves as Nigerians rather than from the current narrow primordial prism.

    Nation-building bears positive relationship with the foundation of modern states especially ones in which people of different ethnic, cultural and religious groups were lumped together to form a state by a former colonial power.

    Given the very manner these groups were lumped together by colonial Britain coupled with its policy of divide and rule, mutual suspicion and mistrust had arisen even before independence. Matters were not remedied by disparities in the level of education and development.

    Thus, bitter competition reared its ugly head as these inclusive units struggled with one another to take advantage in the affairs of and institutions owned by the federal government. The imminent departure of the colonial masters coupled with some of the strategies adopted by our nationalists while campaigning for their exit succeeded in alienating the people from the government.

    With the advent of military rule, things took a turn for the worse as the command and regimentation system of the military, led to the centralization and concentration of virtually all powers of the state at the federal level. The federal government thus became omnipotent and omnipresent dispensing almost entirely, the means of life and death.

    This in turn, accentuated bitter competition among the various ethnic groups for the control of the centre so as to take advantage of the enormous resources at its disposal.  That accounts in the main, for the scandalous level of corruption that has wrestled this country to the ground.

    Today, these primordial cleavages are in stiff competition to control the centre and all efforts to restructure the country, diffuse the debilitating rivalry and unleash the creative energies of the population for rapid development are being resisted by interests that profit from the decadent order. It is a pipe dream to nurse the idea that we can possibly make Nigerians out of these competing interests the way things stand.

    Peter Eke in his theory of the two publics, made a distinction between the primordial and civic publics which have different standards of morality.  He contended that though these two are different, politicians operate in both the primordial and civic publics and the problems of African politics are traceable to the defective moral bearing that accompanies the civic public.

    The relationship of the people with the civic public is characterized by an amoral linkage while there is a high level of moral attachment to issues that impinge on the primordial realm. Thus, while one is seen as an avenue to be impoverished or even incapacitated (civic public) the other (primordial realm) is conceived as one that needs to be cared for and protected.

    This has been the reason for the constant competition between primordial tendencies and the central government for the soul and loyalty of the citizens. Nearly 56 years after independence, centrifugal tendencies have continued to impose the greatest obstacles to nationhood.

    You are considered smart if you steal from the coffers of the government because that government is thought to belong to nobody and could be conveniently incapacitated by members of the various ethnic groups for themselves and members of their inner groups. Foremost political scientist Richard Joseph dubbed this prebendalism- politics for the benefit of one’s immediate families and ethnic groups.

    It is therefore neigh impossible for nation-building to take root in such a fragmented, disoriented and dysfunctional political environment. What we get instead is the ascendancy of primordial and parochial tendencies to an all time high. Separatist tendencies denoted by communal violence, agitations for self determination, sectarian and religious fundamentalism have had the combined effect of whittling down any prospects for nation building.

    Today, the nation is still battling the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east part of the country; militancy in the Niger Delta region is again in an upsurge. Agitations for the independence of the sovereign state of Biafra have also resonated with great ferocity while the insurgency of the Fulani herdsmen has taken a dramatic but dangerous dimension.

    All these fissiparous tendencies cannot allow the psychological reconstruction of the mind for a common national identity which nation building requires to flourish. Matters are not helped by the increasing disposition of the government to the notion that military might is all that is needed to wield this country together. Coercion may succeed in quelling dissent or outright rebellion but it is of very limited value when it comes to nation-building as has been clearly shown by the resurging centrifugal tendencies. We need a rethink; new approaches to festering challenges.

    For this country to make real progress in nation-building we must first, restructure the polity; reduce the over-concentration of the powers of life and death at the federal level. Fiscal federalism will whittle down the concentration of all the finances of the government at the centre and reduce the unbridled competition for its control by the competing primordial cleavages.

    The mind-bugging looting of public funds, illustrates the amorality that is associated with the affairs of the civic public. There is no way nation-building can take root in a clime replete with these negative attitudinal tendencies.

    It will require very serious and conscious efforts at social re-engineering and mind reconstruction to elicit trust in the capacity of those in authority to be just, fair and equitable to the federating units before the brand of citizens that will be easily amenable to nation-building can emerge.

  • Ambode: From words to deeds

    Obviously, saying something is not the same thing as doing something. Also, it may well be easier to say something than to do something. These realities mean that a power-seeker may well be a talker and not a doer, and may well demonstrate inaction in power.

    In October 2014, a power-seeker who is today in power formally expressed his desire to govern Lagos State. He projected his political vision through an inventive acronym, LAGOS, which was notable for the inclusion of service.   Akinwunmi Ambode declared at a well-attended event at the Onikan Stadium, Lagos: “Our message is LAGOS. LAGOS is Leadership, LAGOS is Accountability, LAGOS is Good Governance, LAGOS is Opportunities and LAGOS is Service. This is what I stand for.” It was striking that his organising principles were put in a capsule named after the state he sought to govern.

    As Ambode marks a year as Governor of Lagos State, his performance in office shows that he is a man who can walk the talk.  It is useful to reflect on how he moved from words to deeds. What’s in a biography? Plenty, if it’s about Ambode.  The Art of Selfless Service by Marian Osoba, which was launched in Lagos ahead of Ambode’s political ascendancy, stands out as a must-read for anyone who wants a picture of him.

    Two quotes from the biography deserve contemplation, considering the familiar tendency for personal aggrandisement in the country’s corridors of power.   Ambode was quoted as saying: “A true leader sees his work as selfless service towards a higher purpose. A true leader should be judged by what he has not – ego, arrogance and self interest.” He also said: “We must, wherever we find ourselves, create an atmosphere of selfless service.”  Ambode’s emphasis on selfless service is a defining plus because a leader without a correct sense of service is ultimately negative.

    Interestingly, the biography provides a thought-provoking response to the view in certain quarters that Ambode is a puppet of certain political kingmakers. Ambode said:”At different points in our lives, we have had relationships; a teacher, a boss, an employer, a friend, a parent who has greatly changed the way we looked at life and the world. Someone who inspired us and motivated us, someone who taught us to set goals and instilled the confidence and spirit to achieve them, someone who had high standards and truly stood for something; such a person is the real mentor we all need to find. I have found true leaders through such observations in the course of my career…they help you build your art of selfless service, but it is important too that you carve out for yourself an identity authentically your own, that you don’t monkey another person’s life so slavishly as to lose your own.” Against this background, it may be observed that Ambode has been guided by his understanding of brand identity. In a year in office, he has communicated his own unique personal brand.

    Before he became a governor, Ambode in May 2014 published a piece in celebration of Lagos State’s 47th anniversary.  Ambode said in the piece titled “Happy Anniversary, Lagos State”: “As Lagos turns fifty in the next three years, therefore, the future beckons on whoever would take over the baton in the relay of enduring people-friendly policies to solidify and build on these worthy legacies.” His reference to legacies was a tribute to the governmental accomplishments of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who governed the state from 1999 to 2007, and Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, who succeeded Tinubu. The state’s 50th anniversary will be celebrated next year, and the Ambode administration is preparing for a mega celebration.

    It stands to reason that a megacity needs mega governance. The status of Lagos as a megacity is a reason for mega governance. Nigeria’s megacity in 2015 was listed 12th among the world’s largest 35 cities, and credited with an unofficial population figure of “approximately 21 million”. Of course, a mega city has to grapple with mega challenges. Megacity challenges include slums, crime, homelessness, traffic congestion and environmental pollution.

    “If we take the concept of resource generation, allocation and distribution into cognisance and apply the principles of good governance, we will achieve economic growth and development,” Ambode said while presenting a paper titled “Public Finance: Probity and Accountability” at a workshop organised in August 2014 by the Lagos State Government and the Lagos Business School. Also, in a newspaper interview he shed light on his understanding of good governance, which is an essential aspect of his vision:”In essence, the elected government is like a caretaker for the rest of the people, overseeing their resources on their behalf. The citizens remain the landlord while the elected officials are only caretakers. Arising from this, good government can only thrive where the resources of the people are judiciously distributed to various sectors/needs in the society in a just and equitable manner that makes life easier for every person.”

    It is noteworthy that when in November 2015 the Ambode administration donated modern security equipment worth over N4bn to the Nigeria Police Force, President Muhammadu Buhari described the donation as a “remarkable feat”. Buhari urged other state governments to “emulate Lagos State by supporting security agencies that are trying to keep us safe”.  Ambode’s exemplary donation was of national significance because security is significant.

    Food is significant too. Food is a hierarch in the hierarchy of needs. When in March the Ambode administration signed a record-setting agriculture-related Memorandum of Understanding with Kebbi State’s Atiku Bagudu administration, it was an exemplary move towards a much-needed agricultural revolution in the country. “This is the first time in the history of Nigeria that two states are collaborating to develop their agricultural potential,” Ambode declared. The logic of this agricultural partnership and how it will enable national food sufficiency and food security, apart from its employment-generation possibilities, is compelling and commendable.

    These two instances will suffice to illustrate and underline Ambode’s national relevance and remarkableness, beyond his undeniable gubernatorial value.  By effectively moving from words to deeds, he has shown what is possible when a leader takes his own words seriously.