The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • When the code goes red…

    The police cannot claim to be the peoples’ friend when what they dole out are not smiles but frowns, indifference and extortion

    Listening to the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, go at the police the other day made me take a U-Turn on my diet of PU this week. I had intended to be all sugar and spice to you today, dear reader, so that we could continue our Merry New Year get-together. But here we are, being reminded, once again, what perilous times we are living in. So we are constrained today to feed on something more grating: a little hard talk. Listen, if the Nigeria Police that have existed for donkey years are just now launching or renewing their Code of Conduct, then something, as they say, is rotten in the state of …

    Once, I gave a Code of Conduct to my dog. In it, I listed the many things I did not expect a self-respecting dog to do. There was to be no barking all night and refusing to stop just because a lizard ran by him. There was to be no turning up his nose at any meal simply because he could not see a bone somewhere at the edge of the plate. There definitely was to be no running up to strangers to lick their feet instead of barking and frightening the daylights out of them. The dog was expected to do what was right in all situations such as choosing to stay and guard the house rather than chasing after a bird. Even I had to admit I had a beautiful product there, the code I mean, not the dog.

    But the blessed dog not only chewed through the code, it even chewed through my slippers. And I was wearing it. And I was standing in front of him. After eyeball-to-eyeballing him, I gathered that he expected me to go indoors and produce another pair of slippers but I chose instead to give him a renewed Code of Conduct. Verbally. ‘Bad dog, go!’ And I confined him to his house indefinitely.

    There is no denying that Nigeria is in a sorry state, worse than my dog, and as I have maintained before in this column, I personally hold the Nigeria Police responsible. The basis of existence of any group is the collective decision to live together in peace and unity. But the thing is, most groups anticipate that not everyone will bear that noble purpose in mind. While some do-good members would be standing, heartily reciting the country’s anthem and looking fondly at the flag, some other baddies would be quietly planning how best to dispossess them of their bicycles. That’s life.

    So, in anticipation of those differing in purpose and purity from others, most countries, I say, have laws. You know them, don’t you? They are those beautiful rules which keep criminals on their feet while you and I can go to sleep. Or they are supposed to. They are supposed to be those things that guide the conduct of everyone who swears membership of the group. Or so they tell me. They are also so important that there is a special group of people detailed to keep vigil over their sanctity. They call them the police. You know what that is, don’t you? It is that group that generally goes around and comes around and struts around, and that kind of thing, in their fine uniforms. So, whenever the code goes red into the danger zone, the first thing anyone should shriek is ‘Get the Police!’

    It is a truism that if you want to take over a strong man’s house, first bind him up one way or another. I am saying this again because I have said it many times before: if you want to break the spine of any country, first disarm its police, because a country is only as strong as its police. This is why I claim that the rot in this country has been possible only because the police have disappointed many who shrieked for them. I wrote a piece sometime in 2011 in which I recited the story of a lonely old woman in Britain who frequently tricked the constabulary in her neighbourhood to tea by pretending to have been robbed. The police obliged her. I also recited the story of a Nigerian man who was held up all night in his home by marauders, the head of which he found out next morning to have been, you guessed it, a policeman.

    The biggest problem confronting the Nigeria Police is the fact that they find themselves unable to inspire faith or trust in the people anymore because of their, well, odd ways. Indeed, it appears that from where the people are standing, the newly launched code should be for the people and should contain only one item: Beware of the police. Now, it’s gone so bad that if confronted by the police and armed robbers on a lane, many people would first take care of the police.

    Right now, many Nigerians who do not have policemen as family members cannot claim that the Police are their friend. Indeed, many will do everything they can to avoid any contact with them. One man had brushed against another person’s car. The aggrieved man came out of his car ready to assail his attacker, only to spot a policeman approaching them. Quickly, the two men shook hands, exchanged addresses and left the scene in a hurry. No, sir, they did not flee because they were afraid of the law; they fled because they did not want anyone taking aim at the jugular of their pockets.

    There is a lot wrong with the Nigeria Police which the IG needs to fix. The stories told by Governor Oshiomole are disheartening indeed. Needless to say, the man would not have gone public with those stories if he was not sure of his standing. Truth is, nearly every Nigerian has a story to tell about the way the police in their own land have treated them, and they are not very savoury at all. All these stories are unfortunately typified by the attitude of those two policemen who witnessed the lynching of the Port Harcourt students: cynical, detached and indifferent.

    I do not know what the new Code of Conduct contains, but I sincerely hope it addresses issues such as how to get people to make the police their friend. I close with a cartoon I respect very much drawn by Josy Ajiboye quite a while back. It depicts a man who runs into a police station in a panic to report to the policeman on duty that he needed help because robbers were at his house even as he spoke. ‘Wharra mess!’, cried the policeman. ‘Go and arrest them right now and bring them here,’ he instructed. Yet another cartoon showed the police as being not so indignant. The two policemen who had been reported to quietly explained to the distraught victim that there were no good tyres on their vehicle, there was no fuel in the said vehicle, and could the victim be so obliging as to help the police arrest the assailant and bring him, then they would deal with him?

    Whatever may be the reasons for the Nigeria Police to be so far from the people’s dreams and yearnings, the time has truly come for a REAL evolution. The modern world has many demands, and they include an up-to-the-minute constabulary that would not only be at the top of its game but one that can give the people a genuine smile of friendship. The police cannot claim to be the peoples’ friend when what they dole out to them are not smiles but frowns, indifference and extortion. Certainly, the code for the Nigeria Police is red, because they are not our friend.

  • In reality, 2013 presages 2015

    In reality, 2013 presages 2015

    There are laws governing war, as there are laws governing peace. It is the tragedy of modern Nigeria that its rulers can hardly tell the difference between the two, straining as they often do, perhaps for private convenience, to juxtapose one set of laws with another and, in the consequent moral haze engendered by their laxity, interchangeably applying the two sets of laws without any scruple and across all boundaries. Last year was an illustrious one for Nigeria for many reasons. This year will be an even more eventful one for all patriots, considering that we have in effect set up a country where officials, elected and appointed, have schooled themselves both by theory and practice to undermine the law or apply it selectively. This year, we will keep the form of democracy, but deny its substance. We will continue to make laws for orderly government, but circumvent them at will. We will struggle to regulate and grow the economy, but opt for intuitive rather than scientific methods. And, trust us, we will embrace religion the more, but neither our dogmatism nor our fervency will produce a concomitant benevolence of spirit or ethical rectitude indispensable to the growth and regulation of stable and peaceful societies.

    In particular, a few issues will loom very large this year much more than others, and the following two years will be shaped by how we respond to them. One of these issues is Election 2015, which the President Goodluck Jonathan government has ingratiatingly suggested is too early both to discuss and to manoeuvre over. But neither he nor his opponents will take the counsel of discretionary patience. The debate over whether Jonathan is qualified to contest in 2015 or not was smothered a long time ago. That debate will not reoccur. Nor will the question of his ethnic origins as a factor in electoral contest and performance rear its head, in spite of the fulminations of Chief Olisa Metuh, the emotive and impressionable Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Publicity Secretary.

    The dynamics of elections may be changing in Nigeria, with performers being rewarded with a second term, but that change is slow, tedious and unreliable. In any case, while the change is discernible in some states, at the federal level, particularly as it relates to the executive arm, that change is imperceptible. Indeed, it seems that at the executive level, a different set of dynamics is at play in the consideration of who is elected president. I have read analyses suggesting Jonathan is undeserving of a second term on account of his poor performance. Roads have not been built or maintained; hospitals have been left derelict; and schools are nondescript or in some cases even mothballed. Policies have not been as vigorous as under the imposing and bellicose Chief Olusegun Obasanjo government. And Jonathan himself has neither been inspiring nor surefooted. In consideration of these elements, many analysts and general commentators, including the scientifically disputatious and the jobholding aggrieved, have tentatively suggested the president is in danger of losing a second term.

    However, Jonathan’s re-election will have little to do with his performance as with the internal dynamics of his party, the PDP. He knows this, and his opponents within the party understand this. So, too, do the governors. They all know that once the party can somewhat close ranks and select a standard-bearer, the election is as good as won. This is why there will be fierce jostling and jousting within the party to either consolidate control of party structure or hijack it, as the Adamawa State example is indicating with dire consequences for everyone in the party. This year is, therefore, the time to take implacable control of party structures nationwide, and keep it impregnable until the next election, whatever it takes. Jonathan will worry about who controls the national PDP, and he will ensure it is not the governors, no matter what the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) and National Working Committee (NWC) do. And he has Obasanjo’s presidency to learn from, including all the subterfuges and Machiavellian tactics of the former president.

    More importantly, in spite of saying 2013 is too early to begin politicking, Jonathan and his opponents know this year is probably the most conducive to do all the fighting and machinations. Next year will be devoted to reconciliation. Their chances of a clean fight and healthy reconciliation will be bolstered by their idiosyncratic obsession to control and share the country’s wealth. Once they have fought and settled, victory in the elections will be a question of each governor ensuring his state is delivered to the PDP column, either in comprehensive whole or in significant part. There will of course be compromises and consensuses; and there will even be cohabitations and plain unethical trade-offs. But in the end, especially judging by the dispiriting inability of the electorate to make enlightened choices, performance will hardly matter. It is not that it will not matter at all; the problem is that it may not matter in such significant quantity as to affect the outcome of the elections.

    The ongoing misunderstanding within the PDP will not snowball into fragmentation. There is too much at stake for all the disputants to endanger their collective future. If Obasanjo played hardball in Ogun in the last election, it was because he knew he would not, indeed could not, be affected by the outcome of the 2011 governorship poll. He knew that whoever won was likely to court him anyway, and could not afford to be as irreverent or suicidal as the then Governor Gbenga Daniel. In the current situation within the national PDP, Obasanjo will close ranks with his mentees in the party if the party’s grip on power at the centre should be threatened. And that threat can only materialise if the opposition unites and understands how to beat the behemoth. Emphasising PDP’s poor performance at the centre may be helpful, but it will not be sufficient to unhorse it. As recent elections in France, Russia and the United States have shown, a candidate or party must have the ability to appeal to the electorate’s emotions, and take advantage of certain shifting and indefinable properties on the ground that have shaped or are still shaping domestic politics. The paradox of politics in Nigeria is that a candidate’s performance must be extraordinarily good for him to use his records to win votes, but has to be extraordinarily bad for him to lose election. Most politicians, including Jonathan, straddle that delicate divide.

    Both Jonathan and Obasanjo know what is at stake. They will put a halt to their brinkmanship at the appropriate time. While the former will push matters to the limit to see how far he can go without upsetting the apple cart, the latter will pull on the party tethers to see how much concession he can wring for himself, lather his image and, as an extra, rub the noses of his enemies in the dirt. It is left for the opposition to recognise that while divisions within the PDP in the state could conduce to some electoral triumphs, that sort of division would be hard to find or exploit at the national level. In addition, the intense struggle to fill the vacant PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) position will end anticlimactically in favour of Jonathan. Neither Obasanjo nor the late Yar’Adua conceded the position to any powerful interest but their stooges. Even the much-hyped expectation of destructive internal schism in the PDP will not happen soon except the party loses a major election.

    But the PDP can indeed lose a major election. What is more, if Nigeria’s democracy is to endure and wax strong, the ruling party should lose the next poll. For instance, the party’s electoral potency could be vitiated if elections are compressed into one day. Compression will ensure there will be no room for bandwagon, or for a losing party to catch its breath and readjust its strategies mid-way into the polling. A one-day election will have salutary effect on the system, create a level playing field for all political parties, and lessen the potential for violence. It would in fact be immoral for any party to oppose the Independent National Electoral Commission’s suggestion for all the 2015 elections to be compressed into a single day.

    There is a sense in which all politicians recognise that 2013 presages 2015. The internecine feuds within the PDP can be likened to a shift in the earth’s tectonic plates. There will be metaphorical tsunamis, quakes, landslides and general geomorphological disturbances; but after brief hiatuses, the party will cool down and normality will be restored. The opposition, which is expected to merge and present a common front against the behemoth, must be ready to fight the PDP at its strongest. They must not base their calculations on a weak PDP. If the ruling party weakens, that should be regarded merely as a fortuitous event, a celestial chance to drive the knife deeper into its ribs. The last general election was probably the best time to unseat the ruling party, assuming key members of the opposition had not naively thought they could take on the giant without a strong alliance. I shudder to think what fate awaits the country and its young democracy if the ruling party, which has proved inefficient and immature in managing Nigeria’s human and material resources, should retain its hold on power for 20 years in a row.

  • The road to Igbo presidency

    The road to Igbo presidency

    Southeast should prepare for the future

    A few things stand in the way of the Igbo man or woman on the road to the presidency. One of them is the taste of power. Its sweetness excites the taste buds, courses through to the brain and flows down the rest of the body. It blinds and deafens and blocks all rationality. From Nigeria’s birth in 1960 to its 53rd anniversary, the Hausa have had the best taste of power at the top, whatever the system of governance. From Tafawa Balewa to Gowon to Murtala to Shagari to Buhari down to all the generals that came after, the North has savoured the taste of federal power more than any other region in the country. But this fact, however, has not dissuaded politicians and power brokers in the region from agitating for another shot at the top in the immediate, even in 2015. There is no shortfall of arguments for the Northern quest, none of which I need go into here. Ndigbo must come to grips with this fact. Put differently, an Igbo man’s ascent to Aso Rock will not come without profound opposition.

    Coming a miserable second in the power scheme of things are the Yoruba, one of whom, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, made it to the top first as an army general and then a civilian, giving him pride of place in power longevity. Still, the Obasanjo story does not seem to edify majority of readers from the region, largely because on both occasions of his ride to power, his kinsmen scarcely played any crucial part. The region will be happy to help send another of their own to Abuja in 2015. Ndigbo will do well, too, to note that.

    In the tripartite equation of the country, the Southeast brought up the rear. Since the dawn of the nation, they have had no candidate of their own at the top except the ceremonial presidency of Azikiwe. It hurts. So the Igbo quest for Aso Rock, even in 2015, is legitimate.

    Yet, Ndigbo are not the only ones with an eye on power at the centre. The so-called minorities desire the presidency as much as anyone. The Edo, for instance, will not turn down the opportunity if it presents itself. Nor will the Idoma.

    The quest for federal power is strong across the board, though it must be admitted that it is stronger in some parts than in others. But that is not the biggest hurdle in the way of Ndigbo. Their most telling challenge is internal, not external. It is not that other people want to snatch what they are reaching for. It is lame to continue to claim that certain people do not want the Igbo to govern; if any group of people can determine’ the fate of a nation till eternity without any challenge, they will do it. For as some have pointed out, no one relinquishes power easily or willingly. It is too sweet.

    The Igbo challenge is incoherence, a malady that is in no way domesticated in the Southeast, but which has continued to harm its people and their legitimate ambitions. There has always been a superabundance of national leadership material in the region, but at some point you begin to wonder if that is not in itself a problem. There is always the concern that where only one Igbo man is needed, with others backing him up, 10 or more may show up, each with scant support, and none getting the job. In this circumstance, there is no melody; only cacophony. In national politics, the best they get in this unflattering atmosphere is vice-president.

    To go beyond this point, Ndigbo must foster unity among themselves and put their best foot forward. While it is impossible for the entire Southeast to vote for one man (in fact it is even naive to hope for that) it is imperative for their candidate to garner overwhelming support from the region. But it does not end there, for all the votes in Igbo land and none from the other regions cannot take a Southeasterner to Aso Rock. The Igbo presidential aspirant needs appreciable ballots from other regions. To do that, he must reach out to them and quit posting the miserable, marginalised figure Nigerians are used to. The Igbo man must find his voice, his rhythm, his confidence. He must be bold again.

    The Igbo aspirant must have a vision for the country he wants to lead and present a well-thought-out plan for its growth. If others before him failed, he must not. His presidency must count, and not just make the statistics.

    The quest for federal power must start now but should target beyond 2015.

  • 2013: A year of infinite possibilities (2)

    2013: A year of infinite possibilities (2)

    Courtesy Dele Babatunde, a highly regarded former President of then University of Ife, Ile-Ife, Students’ Union and Victor Oladokun’s friend and contemporary at the university, I have been able to exchange pleasantries with the latter since last week’s article in this column. Victor must, however, be disappointed that Fola Aiyegbusi’s reaction to the article, far beyond my earnest hopes, had been archetypical, though certainly not enough to vitiate our high hopes for the country in 2013 and beyond.

    Wrote Fola: ‘Sir, without prejudice to the concluding part of your article, and while your comments are in line with my own thoughts, I would rather say Victor’s messages are a ‘mirage’. For the Southwest, it could look more like it; but at the federal government level, with President Jonathan at the helms, it is impossible. It is absolutely clear that he lacks the will: political, moral, or religious, to make a difference. Like I always say, Buhari/idiagbon exhibited these qualities in ‘84/85 and Nigerians followed. Let the attitudinal change campaign start this time again from the very top, and then we can be hopeful’’.

    On the basis of Oladokun’s very inspiring article, I had concluded my comments in the first part as follows: ‘Nigeria can be transformed. It depends upon you and I and it is attitudinal and therefore less dependent on President Jonathan though his personal life of sacrifice will facilitate and enhance the processes.

    Given President Jonathan’s well known inadequacies, I have sought, in that conclusion, to apportion to him only a miniscule part of all we would have to do as a people to re-jig our country and make it count among respected countries of the world. You do not have to hate Mr President personally to score him poorly on the following essentials of leadership if it intended to achieve outstanding results, especially, in a country like ours: Setting and achieving goals, identifying priorities, decisiveness in policy formulation and articulation; inspiring and motivating others, setting standards, and leading by personal example; the last being the only thing I asked of the President in the first part of the article.

    I still wonder what led President Jonathan to flying the kite of a 7-year single term, ‘from which he will personally not benefit’, as at the time he did. And only God knows how corrosive of his integrity as a trustworthy leader that single mis-step was as not a few Nigerians interpreted that move as absolutely self-serving given that nothing in our constitution stops a one-term president from contesting again. All he would have done, again, was make the judiciary a fall guy as was done in the case of Justice Salami where an outgoing Chief Judge thought nothing of being used.

    Since I do not believe that Mr President could be enough reason to delay our progress as a nation, especially in the business and technological arena, I remain persuaded in the following other parts of the Oladokun piece:

    OLADOKUN: PERSONAL GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT.

    In 2013 we saw hundreds of thousands of Nigerians breaking the barriers of cost, distance, and time by taking advantage of online educational portals such as Coursera, Minerva and edXJ that offer access to free online courses, lectures and events at Ivy League Universities including Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Princeton and a host of other colleges in fields as diverse as Mathematical Thinking, Operational Management, Fundamentals of Computer Programming, Computer Architecture, Leadership, History, Fundamentals of Personal Finance, Sustainability, Healthcare Delivery, Global History, and Artificial Intelligence, to mention but a few. In 2013, millions of Nigerians engaged in continual self-improvement without having to leave the shores of Nigeria or having to break the bank in the process.

    COMMENT: Nigerians, especially the younger and more educated ones, are becoming increasingly aware that they cannot tie their future to politicians, especially those belonging to the party that for over a decade has had their country in a stranglehold. Not that members of the opposition parties, especially in the National Assembly, have demonstrated any better traits other than together, as Professor Jide Osuntokun wrote in his last week column in The Nation, ‘paying themselves salaries and perquisites of office of over N25 Million a month; a sum that is unthinkable even in the United States, the richest country in the world’. What resources could have been used in making our universities world class are simply eaten up by this parasitic elite and their conniving future wreckers.

    I take together, the following from Oladokun’s inspirational article because, together, they answer to the complete absence of any sustainable youth empowerment programme by this PDP government just as they could , collectively, mitigate the totally irresponsible level of unemployment which is bound , very soon, to mushroom into an economic Boko Haram:

    OLADOKUN. YOUTH ORIENTED BUSINESS INCUBATORS.

    ‘2013 was the year that technology innovation made explosive strides from the high street to the backstreets of Nigeria. Creative entrepreneurs and NGOs planted visible IT & Business Incubators across the country with the goal of developing the ideas and concepts of thousands of creative young entrepreneurs. IT and digital media businesses led to the development of countless indigenous mobile and software applications for smart phones and computers, allowing young entrepreneurs to make generous profits in the process.’

    THE EMERGENCE OF ‘SOLOPRENEURS.’

    ‘In 2013, Nigeria saw the emergence of hundreds of thousands of Solopreneurs in IT, media, sales & marketing, computer graphics, audio and video post-production, professional proposal writing, and mobile app designs. Bucking a decades-old trend, hundreds of thousands of graduates and professionals began hiring out their skills, rather than seeking traditional employment.

    THE YEAR OF MERGERS: In business, professional sports teams, media companies, hospitals, NGOs, political parties, and even churches, mergers became the norm in 2013. In the process, wasteful duplication of resources was greatly reduced; strengths, skills and talents of the best minds were harnessed for greater efficiency; numerous newly merged entities began expanding the presence of their brands nationwide; while ‘excellence’ and ‘value’ began to take on new meaning’.

    COMMUNITY BASED CROWD SOURCING:

    ‘2013 was the year that funding networks collaborated in win-win joint ventures between creative business types and investors, with the goal of moving large numbers into gainful business ownership. Funding Networks of like-minded venture philanthropists came together to fund small and medium sized businesses that otherwise would not have been able to access traditional lending funds.

    VIRTUAL OFFICES MUSHROOMED. Instead of renting office space for a year or two in advance, many upwardly mobile entrepreneurs who do business on the go via computers or smart phones, began to lease Virtual Office space and facilities per block of hours or days for important meetings and teleconferences’

    I was delighted to hear Mr Gbanite, a Channels T.V Security commentator, allude to unemployment in a programme on security last week. Now, the Jonathan administration is overwhelmed by just one Boko Haram, but wait until Greek-like urban dislocations hit Nigeria’s major cities of Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano. And see what incendiary it will serve in Maiduguri and Yobe. Then those who make progress and development impossible in Nigeria would have to begin their self-deportation.

    Concluded

  • Pacesetting Ghana makes retrogressing Nigeria despondent

    Pacesetting Ghana makes retrogressing Nigeria despondent

    It is not just its stupendously high growth rate of 14% that underlines the quiet revolution taking place in Ghana, thereby shaming many African countries, including Nigeria. Even its peaceful violence-free elections make this West African country of 25 million people, which has made Nigeria a perennial laggard, undisputedly primus inter pares. From the election of Jerry John Rawlings, standard-bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), in 1992 and his re-election in 1996, to the election and re-election of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) represented by John Agyekum Kufuor in the 2000 and 2004 elections, Ghana began to serve notice of its arrival as a force to be reckoned with on the world map of democratic countries. As if to prove that its political achievements were not a fluke, Ghanaians took another detour by returning to the NDC and voting in John Atta Mills in 2009, thus marking the second time power would shift peacefully from one party to another and from one elected government to another. Even the death of Mills did not prevent the consolidation of Ghanaian democracy, as the country once again peacefully elected his former running mate, John Dramani Mahama, as president a few weeks ago.

    By every yardstick, Ghana is regarded as a stable democracy. Ranked as the second least failed state in Africa, and 7th out of 48 sub-Saharan African countries in the 2008 Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance, the country has become an investor’s dream, not to talk of serving as educational tourism destination for thousands of Nigerian youths. While Ghana has shifted twice between political parties, Nigerian ruling party politicians, who love to play God, have continued to emphasise their determination to stay in power for the next 60 years in the first instance. To underscore this obscene oath, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007 supervised probably the worst elections in Nigerian history, one in which he personally selected the candidates to run for the top office, and foisted them on the country. The result is that after four general elections, only one party continues to dominate power. The states are no better. Most of them have become one-party states, with supposedly elected officials acting unabashedly as feudal lords.

    To save ourselves continental embarrassment, it is absolutely essential for the country to change party allegiance. The present situation is both indefensible and unnecessary. It is time we reclaimed our sovereignty by ousting the Obasanjos and other one-party proponents who insist the country must head in one direction. It is time we tried another economic paradigm presented by a different political party. The current economic policy has only brought pain, poverty and stagnation. It is time we secured our freedom from mediocre leaders. The present coterie of leaders has nothing to offer but staleness and barrenness. It is time we moved on. And 2013 is the place to begin preparing for our own Velvet Revolution.

     

  • The unbearable lightness of the Nigerian being

    I hate people being happy when they should be unhappy,” Bernard Shaw famously complained. The great Anglo-Irish dramatist would have found a lot that is revolting and distressing about the perpetual happiness of our compatriots. There is an unbearable lightness about contemporary Nigerians, a gushing gaiety of spirit, a light-heartedness that puts a brilliantine gloss on the most tragic of circumstances. You begin to wonder whether any other people on earth could be more custom-made for punishment.

    When a global survey found Nigerians among the happiest lot on earth, everyone thought the poll had been rigged to make us look ridiculous and pathetic. How can people be happy in a hell-hole of unimaginable privation, of idiotic dysfunction and biblical suffering? But it does seem as if the poor chaps knew what they were talking about. Nigerians are as happy as a lark.

    Everywhere you turn, you encounter this sunny and rosy disposition, this remarkable capacity to refine and redefine pain and turn tragedy into a ridiculous farce. There are parties everywhere and every week. The dead are sent off with rousing pomp and panache. The newborn are welcomed with equal pageantry and cynical aplomb. If you cannot stay in your mother’s dark womb, you are signed on to the historical eclipse with remarkable hilarity. Omo tuntun alejo aiye, kaabo ku ewu.

    You are advised to drink to your heart’s content in this world, just in case drinking is prohibited in the next world. You are admonished not to invest in prolonged and protracted gloom because life is too short to be wasted on distracting and unproductive emotions. How long does a man hope to live that will make him procure for himself a dress made of iron?

    Don’t worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will take care of itself and if tomorrow does not take care of itself to hell with tomorrow. What the bird eats, the bird flies with. In any case, if the elephant cannot graze to its heart’s content in the forest, it is a shame on the forest. It is a desiderata of epic self-indulgence.

    Since a fish normally rots from the head, this light-headed frivolity has also infected Nigerian leaders who make fun of the nation’s misery. It can be seen in their tonnage of verbiage and inanities, in their sadistic glee as they watch their victims writhe in epochal agony. Like a snake charmer tormenting and torturing his serpentine wards, Nigerian leaders watch their subjects reel from the disastrous effects of their harebrained policies with relish and a vindictive smirk.

    You ask yourself when enough will really be enough. But you discover that the limit you see is not really the limit. There is some extra-capacity in the fabric to test the science of elasticity. But we all know that when a person with a natural smile is drowning everybody thinks he is smiling. The flailing arms may even be mistaken for a victory sign. The hirsute monkey also sweats but the tangled foliage of follicles absorbs the salty grime.

    In grim despondency, I went in search of the old master. Mourning what he described as the ultimate electoral genocide, he had of late been wearing a black band around his withered wrist in solidarity with the people. I met him this time at Eti-Osa ensconced in an abandoned canoe amidst rotting planks and decaying wooden hovels built on stilts. He eyed me with contempt and weariness.

    “Bros, what are you doing here? Has it come to this?,” I asked him with a sneer.

    “Oh boy, na condition com make crayfish bend oo. This time he be like if say water com pass flour,” he replied with a bitter smile.

    “Are you waiting to receive Yar’Adua?” I asked, openly taunting him.

    “Iya adura ko, baba adura ni. If the boy turns up here, he will end up among the seaweeds over there,” the old man snarled. I started laughing uncontrollably, but the guru was in no mood for such jolly frivolity.

    “Let me tell you something. If this farce stands, if this sacrilege is allowed, then this nation is finished forever. There should be no quibbling about that. Your national anthem will become an anthem of shame and disgrace, generations unborn will curse your memory and this nation will be permanently dishonoured in the comity of civilised countries.”

    “But….” I protested.

    “Just let me finish,” he snapped. “As for me, I know it is over this time around. But if I am to come back to this world let nobody make the mistake of sending me back to you flunkies. I will rather come back a real ape.”

    “Oh bros, but why an ape?” I asked him as he flung out his massive pipe and began to load it with the usual array of prohibited weeds.

    “Because an ape is still within the evolutionary scheme of things and can make much progress, evolutionarily speaking. But in your case, you seem to be out of the evolutionary loop. You are stuck in the middle of nowhere. You seem incapable of making progress as human beings and yet you cannot revert to the original status, so tory com get k-leg, as they say.” He had calmed down considerably and had now recovered his poise and philosophical equanimity. I saw an opportunity to unburden my heart.

    “Bros, what do you think is wrong with us as a people? We seem incapable of progressing politically and socially and yet we are making merry all over the place as if each day is the last day,”I asked with humility and concern. The old man looked at me with sorrow and pity in his eyes. I could glimpse his deep humanity for once. He knocked the tip of his giant pipe against the hulk of the boat with such force that the boat sagged and rocked like an ill-tempered camel.

    “You see, it is the equatorial oven that is to blame. To start with, things grow too quickly and die too quickly here, so there is a sense in which there is the permanence of impermanence, and this spreads panic among the people who are looking forward to some order and stability. Since their excess food rots easily in the tropical heat, your ancestors eventually found a way of turning it into alcohol which in turn led into an orgy of drinking and fornicating. So, in order not to confront the demon of impermanence, in order not to come unhinged, they resort to compulsory and compulsive merry making. That is why there are parties every day and everywhere. Without these parties everybody would have gone mad snarling and raving at each other ,or they would have lapsed into stony depression. So, this is as much a crisis of geography as it is of social order,”the old man ruefully and profoundly noted.

    His bleary eyes had gone misty. There were tears in my own eyes , too. Nobody has put the crisis in such perspective for me before, and I thanked him profusely. The old man was touched and marked by genius despite his eccentricity and madness.

    “When do you think this will end?” I asked as I rose to go.

    “When the equator cools down. Unfortunately by then, this phase of human existence would also have ended.”

     

    (First published in 2007)

  • Re: A president’s holy hypocrisy

    Last week I inexplicably wrote that the Nigerian civil war occurred between 1969 and 1971 rather than 1967 to 1970. I tender my sincere apologies and thank the numerous readers that drew my attention to the error.

    Today I publish some of the reactions to my piece of Saturday, 22nd December, 2012. Kindly read and ruminate.

    Segun, for sure you will never see anything good in Mr President. I think the man is wallowing in the disjointed system he inherited, so don’t blame him much and moreover tribalism, religious and political affiliation that has been a snag in this country, are not helping matters. So he needs prayers. We all need prayers including you.

    God bless Nigeria,

    Don Ezeala, 08064843000

     I read your column on ‘A President’s Holy Hypocrisy’. I appreciate your concern but sir, I humbly wish that you please note the following: the altar that President Jonathan knelt belongs to God not Pastor Adeboye. God’s door and worship places are in this period of grace open to ALL MEN. The owner of this vineyard will separate the vine at His chosen time.

    God bless and keep you sir, Makanjuola, 08152243411

     Did Salami pay you? Will your paymasters do better than Jonathan? How many other ordinary Nigerians have suffered more injustice? Show more respect when writing about the president,

    08139010472

     Holy hypocrisy – Did I hear you say that people don’t know their votes for GEJ will foist clueless leadership on them? Where have the voters been since 1999? You mean they don’t know what the party he comes from represented? Oh, I remember they voted for GEJ not PDP. Thoughtless people who never learn. You all voted along sentimental lines all because a guy once had no shoes. Truth is the country is getting what they deserve for lack of wisdom at the polls. Come 2015, the mistake will be repeated for Nigerians never learn from mistakes, 08064286736

     Jonathan pitted what he termed the 40% Yoruba against the 60% other tribes (read Ijaw) in Lagos during the 2011 elections. He did not mind the consequences of his utterances so long as he became President. With 2015 in mind, he kneels before a Yoruba pastor for redemption. What a geek! Jonathan is not only a hypocrite; he is a snake as depicted by Sam Omatseye, Foster Adeleke, 07059540595

    Marijata or what do you call yourself? How much were you paid to run down Mr President? Maybe he should have gone to babalawo to prostrate so that we can hail him. You have written virtually everything about this man. I am waiting for the day you will write about how Jonathan makes love to his wife. I am sure you are seeking for attention but nobody will grant you that hence you cannot rule your tiny village in Kogi State, stupid man, 07063121321

     I think you got it wrong on Saturday. What is bad in kneeling down for prayers? He swore to uphold the country’s constitution. Does that mean he shouldn’t practice his religion? Abaa! Even the bible says leaders should be prayed for,

    Sola Awe, Osogbo, 08022467206

    Sir, the President thinks that kneeling can solve the problem, not knowing it takes heroism, entrepreneurial culture, power and political drama, risk taking, courage, hardihood and vision not sympathy. Mr Segun, please tell him we cannot be fooled again, AdemolaNajim, 08068069798

     If people like you are not employed to do dirty work by running down the President because he is from the minority, what is wrong for leader kneeling down to before a man of God? Can you tell us which of the former Presidents of Islamic faith attended a Christian ceremony? Enough of this rubbish,

    Sam, Port Harcourt, 08037986593

     Segun, ‘A President’s Holy Hypocrisy’ is really a masterpiece in the way we Christians display our Christian life and ‘bornagainism’. The President’s hypocritical posture got to its apogee when he could not take care of his brother who died of malaria and his haggard-looking children; let alone other Nigerians or infrastructure like East-West road. As a crafty man, he chose to pretend on serious issues ravaging the country like failed security, elevated corrupt practices, total decay in infrastructure and appointment of failed politicians into juicy posts like Nigeria Ports Authority in order to help him in 2015. But Nigerians will never be tricked by those shoeless, Christian, Ph. D and regional sentiments. We need a prepared, purposeful and fearless leader who will not surround himself with praise singers and charlatans. We cannot be tricked for the second time. We are tired of him,

    Chike, 08033078336

     Compliments of the season, Sege. Read your Saturday stuff but I am beginning to have problems with the definition of ‘free and fair election’. Is it an election where the number of armed security men are more than registered voters or the one in which people are disenfranchised by a concocted voters register? Jonathan is President if we like it or not so Baba Adeboye cannot be blamed for allowing him to talk. What we have to live with for now is that Nigeria is on auto pilot. So, on our knees!, Regards,

    Olu, 07036646361

     Your December 22 article on the President’s hypocrisy was superb. Ride on, 08063812854

     What I understand of the Holy Ghost is it inspires us to passionately seek and adhere to the right things and hate evil, so if by now the President is not ruthlessly dealing with the challenges that are confronting the nation, it simply means the Holy Ghost he seeks continues to elude him. If I were him, I will be thinking of vacating the seat for a naturally ruthless person like Adams Oshiomhole or MuhammaduBuhari and continue to seek the Kingdom of God off the seat. If not, on it, God will always demand of him his stewardship and that may cost him dearly,

    Charles Iortyom, Makurdi, 07030437547

     It is like you are not mentally stable. It is not your fault, 08034225504

     Look Mr Segun or what you call yourself, what is it that Mr President did to you that you cannot forgive and pray for his repentance? Me thinks you are not a Christian because if you are go to Mathew 7:1. You are under God’s judgement for judging your fellow man. You are not a Christian and with an unforgiving spirit. First remove the spoke in your eyes before trying to help others. You unrepentant, selfish, pretending, unworthy servant,

    EzemaOzalla, 08179790654

     Hypocrisy is the middle name of the political class in Nigeria. Just imagine some years back, Agagu went to the Redemption Camp to thank the Lord for his victory at the polls, not too long after Mimiko also gave a testimony on his victory. The list of opportunists who mount the altar from the Obasanjo era is endless, from the opposition to the ruling party. People who perform rituals, make their godson to swear oath and rig elections now go to camp for prayers. What a shame!,

    Kola Alao, Lagos, 07069010873

     Sege, quite an interesting piece; really illuminating. Many Nigerians now know President GEJ as a deceit and a big mistake,

    Adey, Oshodi, Lagos, 07057631041

     Your article on this subject I admit was spot on. However, your question as to why would the G.O. allow his venerated altar to be cynically manipulated for political ends should find answers in the working relationship that exists between political leaders and religious leaders to perpetually keep the citizenry focussed on heavenly quest and God’s kingdom so as not to make demands on political leadership. The deliberate teachings of religious leaders on prosperity, God’s kingdom and the fact that this world is theirs take the pressure off political leaders. Keep illuminating, Williams Nuatin Genesis, Badagry, 0807776755

    “Is his treatment of Salami the action of A God-fearing man?” That indeed is the question! “Daddy G.O.” prayed for the President (perhaps on request) concerning his ‘onerous job’. At post-prayer session, he should have gone the whole hog and admonished him to ‘act right’ in Salami’s matter in fulfilment of God’s injunction in Ecclesiastics 12: 13-14; Strange that since the Holy Ghost Congress and open prayers, the President has simply gone back to ‘high stake’ politics and befuddled the nation with his decision to reappoint Chief Annenih as NPA Chairman!, 08034726625

    Segun, if you were a Christian I would have referred you to many places in the bible for you to know how God works. Jesus said he came for sinners not for the righteous and as many as receive him he gives the power to be children of God. God said he uplifts those who humble themselves but debases the haughty. Another thing I will let you know is that kings and rulers are made by God be they good or bad. They are installed for a purpose. God said in the bible that He raised Pharaoh of Egypt up for the sole purpose to show his might, so however it may be, leave Jonathan alone. There is a hand that kept him there and His purpose is best known to him. Nobody can undo what he has done except God permits it, 0806121‘0106

    Segun, you said it all. Jonathan hasdefinitely lost focus. The most painful is that of Justice Salami. They are with the swash-buckling Justice Minister, Adoke, playing away with time till when Justice Salami’s retirement comes. Jonathan never thinks or acts like someone who has a doctorate . He’s only there for history, 08136665522

    Segun, I’ve been your regular reader with high interest but your President’s holy hypocrisy has exposed your lack of real knowledge. Has Buhari, IBB, Abubakar or late YarÁdua ever entered a church? Are you saying GEJ should compromise his faith to please the devils?,Akpegi U.A, Abuja, 08138048180

    Uncle Segun, I was telling a young man in my office recently that some people that gave testimony in a thanksgiving service would have been struck dead if it were the time of holiness. Most of our altars are polluted. I am not surprised at the President’s hypocrisy but I think they should fear their creator, 08020645743

    My dear brother Segun, I just read your illuminating piece of a deceitful President. May the good Lord deliver us from this wicked soul, 08081862575

    There is no better way to express my appreciation over your article today. More grease to your elbows,

    Chris Itodo, Makurdi, 07030156730

    Mr Ayobolu, even though there are many things wrong with our country but there is nothing wrong in the President going to the RCCG event; there is also nothing wrong if he is recognised there; even the bible says Honour the King (Proverbs 24:21). I think you are mixing your dislike for the President with his faith, his freedom to express himself in a religious manner fit for him. Earlier this year when the Vice President was shown in Saudi Arabia performing his religious rites, why didn’t you echo a similar sentiment? I can feel so much bitterness and harsh judgements issuing from your column; I know if you were the Holy Ghost, you would have rained down liquid fire on the President at the altar but God does not have the heart of a man. You made some good points though, Cyril Musa, 07054002641

    You are not a disinterested commentator; you are an aggrieved partisan. I am certain that the Holy Ghost will not be embarrassed that a sinful President knelt or came before the throne of grace, Teyo, 08159500393

    Good day sir. I read The Nation newspaper almost daily. I like their stuff. I learn from your write ups too but the one thing I don’t understand is how you don’t usually see any good thing done by Mr President. More annoying, you won’t even proffer alternative solution to whatever you are talking about. Worst, you hit it hard either on that Christian pastor, CAN leadership etc. I may be wrong but it is not fair. Hit the Muslims a day or two, let’s see if the world would remain the same again,

    Kingsley, 08037395242

    This is my second time of responding to your write up on political issues. I am amazed that you are criticising the President for his humility in kneeling before a man whom you accept as a man of impeccable integrity and undeniable credibility. What is shameful or embarrassing in that act? The greater hypocrisy is from people like you who are always attacking people like Jonathan and Oritsejafor and turning a blind eye to the real people wrecking our society in the name of making this nation ungovernable. Why don’t you turn your attention on those sponsoring killings in the North? They have succeeded in destroying what was once a great region such that people are now running away from the North including even Northerners themselves. Please note that God will judge you people when you abuse the privilege you have in influencing public opinion by reason of where you work, 08069690340

    God is not a man so he never sees the way men see. The President may have gone to seek the prayer of pastor Adeboye with the mind of “Lord have mercy on me a sinner”. Hence he would return home justified by God than those who criticised him over that move. What can only he do in the midst of many frustrating his effort for their selfish and corrupt interest? Nigeria’s poor general condition is just the continuation of what Jonathan inherited and not easy to solve than calling on God as other reasonable Nigerians,

    08067549105

    Mr Segun, I wonder why you didn’t win any award at the just concluded NMMA. Your write up of today to me spoke the minds of millions of intellectually upright people. I think people like you, Mr.Osuji, Mr.Omatseye and a lot of you who have the audacity to always say the truth in this our religion infested society deserve great commendation. Keep the fire burning. This write up is of A+ rating,

    08035502412

    May God bless you and increase you in wisdom for that beautiful write up in today’s paper. You raised several fundamental issues. Keep it up bro, Bode Thomas, Akure, 08034978855

    Mr Ayobolu, why are you always castigating the President even when he went to church to pray? When has it become an offence as a Christian to kneel down in front of a clergyman in a church for God’s sake? Enough is enough for you these agents of evil who are bent on bringing this country down, Prince AdeniyiAdedoyin, 08132940725

    Dear SegunAyobolu, your article today makes a must contribution from me for the simple reason of saving you and some of your ignorant readers. Please for you and your family’s sake, do not write on anything about God. A man saw the Ark of the Lord falling and went to help to stop it only for God to strike him dead immediately for he is not supposed to touch the Ark. This is exactly what you have done. My prayer is that God will forgive you this time. But if you are in doubt, try and see if my God will not do what he said he will do. Adeboye will allow and bless anybody kneeling before him according to the direction of the spirit and not according to your law. He is seeing the spiritual Jonathan and not the physical Jonathan you are seeing, Andrew Udeze, Abuja, 08133790744

    Your article shows how timid and partial Nigerian journalists are. Jonathan is a politician. Why should Pastor Adeboye always surrender his pulpit to the high and mighty whenever they come calling at his Congress? Does Pastor Adeboyeafford lowly placed Nigerians such privilege? Would Christ have discriminated on the basis of a person’s social status? How often have you had the courage to criticise Pastor Adeboye for buying a private jet in the midst of abject poverty in a country where over 70% live below $1 a day? Would Christ have done that? Be courageous in speaking the truth and I assure you that the heavens will not fall,

    08033856295

    Segun, your piece is thought provoking. It is time Jonathan’s media handlers advise him to stop insulting our sensibilities. He should read Galatians 6:7 “God is not mocked. Whatsoever, a man sows that he shall reap”, AgabaOkpe, 08037031507

  • Where is Mikel Obi?

    Roll back the tape to 2005. The World Youth Championship held in Netherlands. Nigeria’s U-20 side lost to their Argentine counterparts. Two young boys – John Mikel Obi of Nigeria and Lionel Messi of Argentina – thrilled the world with the sublime skills and incredible talents.

    The final game between Nigeria and Argentina offered the platform to pick who between Mikel and Messi was the best player of the tournament. It was a close call. Many rooted for Mikel because he shone like a million stars. Messi was remarkable, the pivot of his Argentine side. Then, when he was voted the best player, not a few Nigerians sneered at the decision.

    Indeed, the year-long transfer controversy between Chelsea and Manchester United fuelled the fact among many football pundits that Mikel was truly the best of the twosome. This school’s argument held sway because of the pedigree of the two English clubs in global football.

    Another school bemoaned Mikel’s move to Chelsea, attributing his seeming eclipse in the game to what could be described as a misadventure. They argued that Mikel would have attained Messi’s Golan height, if he had gone to Manchester United. Good talk, but the flipside is that Mikel couldn’t have benched Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes in the midfield. This view holds sway, considering the fact that Giggs and Scholes still feature in Sir Alex Ferguson’s line-up till date. Giggs and Scholes were incredible midfield gems to be shoved aside by Mikel, whose football foundation as a kid wasn’t as refined as what the twosome had.

    Even with the Giggs and Scholes’ ages, can we say that Mikel is a better player now in comparative terms? I don’t think so. This argument underlines the reason why Mikel would have wasted time at Manchester United.

    Messi has blossomed to heights where Mikel won’t attain. The reason simply rests on their ages. We should tell ourselves the truth that Mikel is older than Messi by many years, even though they are age mates.

    What Messi has going for him is his age. He gets better with every year. Mikel diminishes in form every season. He would need to be at his best at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa, if he hopes to wear Nigeria’s colours at the 2014 World Cup competition in Brazil.

    Whereas we will need weeks of fasting for Mikel to break his goals jinx for club and country, Messi is scoring goals with aplomb. Messi has broken all football records, with many fans asking who will break all Messi’s records?

    Messi is an embodiment of all that is good- discipline, humility, and patriotism – and plays the game for club and country as if his life depends on it.

    He has repeatedly chosen Argentina ahead of Barcelona, in spite of criticisms from some of his countrymen that he plays better for Barcelona. This view must have changed in recent times, with the way Messi has been scoring goals for the Argentines, although many would argue that this new resolve is occasioned by the fact that he is now the team’s captain.

    Where do we start in assessing Mikel? It has taken God’s grace for Mikel to make the Eagles’ list to South Africa 2013 Cup of Nations. Mikel and Keshi had to shift grounds to work together. This fragile peace would be tested during the competition. God forbid it cracks.

    Mikel is Nigeria’s biggest player in Europe. He plays for one of the biggest teams. His presence in any country’ soccer team should inspire his colleagues. Stars like Mikel carry their country’s fate on their shoulders. Need I waste space to name such soccer stars.

    Mikel’s contribution to the Eagles’ performance against Cape Verde was disappointing. He shot once at the goalkeeper; otherwise, he was anonymous. He couldn’t inspire his mates during the game. He ran aimlessly and watched in awe as the more composed Cape Verdeans ridiculed Eagles’ defenders with their sublime skills.

    One hindsight, this writer could excuse Mikel because this is his real competitive game playing for the Eagles under Stephen Keshi’s reign outside the country. He should know that global football pundits expect him to lead the Eagles to glory. Having been a member of Chelsea’s UEFA Champions League diadem Mikel rates among the big stars that should dazzle fans with his silky skills culminating into breathtaking goals.

    Mikel should inform Keshi where he thinks he can best help the team. Keshi should also know that giving Mikel a free role in the midfield like we saw in the Wednesday night international friendly game against Cape Verde shows that he doesn’t watch Chelsea’s matches. Mikel is a defensive midfielder. He has been playing that role in the last five years and knows what to do to stabilise any defence.

    If Keshi wants the Eagles to play to their potentials in South Africa, he must field Mikel in the defensive midfield position. He should give the free role in the midfield to Moses, who is fast, strong and dribbles the ball well and can crack good shots that end up inside the opponent’s net.

    Eagles’ display against Cape Verde was appalling. They were not good in any department of the game, in spite of the changes made at the interval. What should strike our players’ bloated ego is that playing against African teams is a different kettle of fish from the European turf where they are coming from.

    It is about time Keshi accepted that the Eagles must at all times have four midfielders serving as the link between the attack and the defence. This archaic style of asking the wingers to fall into the midfield to help is problematic.

    These wingers ply their trade in Europe and would find it extremely difficult to cope with the high altitude in South Africa.

    If Keshi wants to succeed in South Africa, he needs to get Mikel to play at his best by picking gifted players in our team and also providing the right formation for the team to excel. A tree, the saying goes, cannot make a forest.

    Eagles’ conduct on the pitch

    I was disgusted with the attitude of Super Eagles midfielder Nosa Igiebor when Nigeria played against Venezuela.

    Igiebor was injured and the referee whistled for the game to be stopped. The doctor was invited. Having been attended to, Igiebor walked across the pitch and pushed down a Venezuelean who was walking beside him. The Venezuelan fell.

    That was an ungentlemanly conduct, but Igiebor escaped the referee’s red card, perhaps because it was a friendly. I waited patiently for Eagles’ coaches to rebuke Igiebor. That didn’t happen. I confronted one NFF official, who said that Igiebor was angry. I told the NFF man that I was utterly disappointed with his comment.

    I was, therefore, not surprised with the manner in which Victor Moses reacted to one Cape Verde player. The Cape Verde’s guy’s tackle was rough. But it was the referee’s duty to caution him, not Moses’. The referee showed Moses the yellow for retaliation.

    The referee’s slap on the wrist was because it was a friendly game. In major competitions, Keshi would have to play many games with fewer men on the pitch because of our players’ attitude.

    Our boys feel very important and they always take the law into their own hands, despite their exposure in the European leagues. Keshi needs to warn them to change, if he wants to lift the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations diadem. Thank God Keshi scolded Moses at half time and dropped him from the game. Moses didn’t play in the second half.

    Keshi must remind our players that the Zambians were not a fantastic team. What nobody could take away from the Zambians was that they were disciplined, determined, dedicated, focused and played the game with their hearts last year when they lifted the diadem.

    Without these ingredients (discipline, determination, dedication and focus), no team excels. Sani Kiata’s poor conduct cost Nigeria the chance to shock the world when he was sent off for the needless retaliatory kick on the opponent in our first game in South Africa 2010 World Cup.

    Keshi’s Nike cap; Nigeria’s Addidas kit

    Could somebody please beg Super Eagles chief coach Stephen Keshi to remove his Nike cap during Nigeria’s matches?

    Keshi wore a Nike cap whilst wearing Nigeria’s official kit, Addidas, during the barren draw game between Nigeria and Cape Verde. This is a misnomer.

    Brands must not clash on such sensitive platforms, irrespective of whatever deal players and coaches have. This offensive deep blue cap runs riot with Nigeria’s green and white colours. We must learn to respect contractual agreement.

  • Power, authority and security

    Venezuela’s President Hugo  Chavez’s  battle  with cancer  and the ensuing  constitutional crisis  over his absence at his swearing in ceremony and Barak Obama’s resolve  to rein in the gun lobby in the US after his own swearing in for a second term provide immediate  and ample  ammunition  for today’s analysis. If  you add to that Afghanistan‘s President Amir Kadzai‘s cap in hand visit to the US  to ask for an extension of the stay of US troops in his violence prone nation  and the reported call by the Chairman of the AU  that NATO  should intervene on behalf of the AU  in Mali,  then you have an idea of the sort  of pot pourri that we are about to digest here today.

    Firstly, Hugo Chavez’s cancer treatment  in Cuba and his absence at his own party as it were created  a problem of constitutionalism, legitimacy,   legacy, authority and performance not only for Venezuelan politicians and leaders but also  for  a   concerned and  watching global audience. These are issues we have to dilate on toda . However,  Obama‘s  delegation  of power to Vice President  Biden   the duty of making the US safe while not compromising   the right of US citizens to protect themselves; a right massively and vehemently championed  by the powerful lobby of the National Rifles Association -NRA- showed that the US president is more than worried about the way some crazy Americans have been shooting innocent ones of all ages indiscriminately because they have easy access to guns and are using them lethally to kill as  if America is at war when it is not, at least  for now,  on US territory.

    The  delegation  of power  as Obama  prepares for his swearing in for a second term   opens up issues of security, stability, human welfare and rights in the world’s most powerful democracy. Similarly the Afghanistan president’s visit  raises issues or matters arising like sovereignt, corruption and the limits of immunity from prosecution for anyone and not only US soldiers for whom this has been requested in Afghanistan. Mali‘s  case   however is  just  a lesson  in the abandonment of responsibility and ceding  of regional power and authority by the AU.

     Hugo  Chavez’s case can easily be compared with the case of the first Nigerian president to die in harness – President Yar Adua  and his succession by his Vice President based on the principle of necessity evolved by the Nigerian Senate for that occasion. But then the comparison stops there in that the Nigerian president died but Hugo Chavez is still very much alive although he is away in another nation receiving cancer treatment.

    The Venezuelan Supreme Court  ruled this week that Chavez could be sworn in later when he is well and found absurd the suggestion by the  Opposition that he had lost the presidency because he had failed to show up  for his swearing in as constitutionally scheduled. The Supreme Court also ruled that continuity had been established by his election and the swearing in is  just  a formality. The Supreme Court  then ruled  that  the  Vice President is to  act as president henceforth till Chavez is able to attend his swearing in.

     This  to me is like stating the obvious but in politics at times what is quite apparent and  obvious  can be lost in plain sight just as the Venezuelan Supreme Court  boldly asserted  and ruled.This ruling to me  is constitutionalism without mischief and the  Venezuelan Opposition  must  accept that it can not get through cancer affliction of the winner of the election it lost,  the quest  for  power it lost clearly at the last presidential election.

    This is because sickness is a human condition and no constitution on earth yet has decreed that a man cannot be sick before and after his election . Early last year well  before the election I had written that Chavez was playing god  and may never  be able to take part in the election  he   subsequently won. But then,  he had the guts to go through and he has my admiration albeit grudgingly.

    In  addition  there is great evidence that Chavez  has raised the standard of living of his people in terms of housing and education as a populist and socialist leader committed to the welfare of his people and ipso  facto   gets their sympathy  in his battle with cancer . The Venezuelan Supreme Court  to me has fulfilled its duty with dignity  and affirmed constitutionalism, the  rule  of law and stability in the nation. However  this is in spite of  the posture of the  Opposition, which while accepting the verdict has accused the judges of the court  of  cronyism  – which to me is no more than  a case of sour grapes of wishing an elected man dead and out of the way when his time has not come. That  certainly is unfair  and politically  unsound as we are all mortal after all and even Chavez cannot be an exception.

    I watched the American gun debate this week on CNN and it is obvious that the president must act fast and alone if any meaningful  action is to be made into law to deter killers and protect potential and real victims in the US. I watched a man who  said  he  wrote to Congress that Americans should not be discouraged from having sophisticated weapons to defend themselves and that making ownership of guns un transferrable  disarms generations of the same family. He  even went on to narrate that K14 rifles were  simple weapons until an expert showed him that under some circumstances they could be real war weapons and more. The expert went on to explain that while Americans may need weapons to protect themselves they do not need war weapons like the one being used in Afghanistan and Iraq  to protect themselves at home.

    Which to me sounds reasonable  and should be the practical solution rather than the NRA formula that asks that all schools in the US must have an armed guard like a nation under siege from its own people. In addition the decision by some US trade unions to disinvest  their pension funds from big companies like Wal Mart, the world’s biggest  super mart and reportedly the largest   global seller of guns and, is  a step in the right direction to challenge the impunity of the fierce pro  gun lobby in the US led by the infamous NRA and other hypersensitive, and overly security conscious gun lovers  and associations in  the US.

    In  the case of the Afghanistan president’s visit to the US  to ask that some US soldiers be stationed in Afghanistan after the announced departure date of 2014 for US troops  in that nation, one must appreciate US concern to keep to its announced schedule. Indeed the Americans seized the occasion to announce that all US troops will come back except Afghanistan gives US troops to remain,  immunity  from prosecution. Really I think the Americans are just telling the Afghan president to get lost  as I do not see him capsizing and accepting the immunity condition.

    This is because he would be short changing the sovereignty of his nation by agreeing with the immunity option  which really is an insult . But then the Kadzai regime in Kabul is said to be so corrupt and so afraid of its own shadow and security  that it would do anything that would keep the Americans around   post 2014  to protect it from the fury and  scorn of its own people.

    Yet I accept a deal  has  to be struck one way or the other and I expect the Afghan president to need the Americans who upheld his relection even though they knew he rigged the last presidential elections massively to hang around.

    This is because  security business is good business for the Pentagon and  military – security complex that the war on terror has spawned globally and which is booming like wild fire  in the opium infested mountains and fields of Afghanistan. How  that translates however into security for a corrupt government in   Kabul is a wonder to be seen. How it also makes  the Taliban  more friendly towards the US  and less terror  prone  is the formidable challenge the US and its allies in Afghanistan face between now and 2014 and beyond.

    Lastly the news that the Malian army had chased the Islamist occupation army out of a town –  Dountza in the north east,  in Mali  was cheering news because this was the first time the Malian army had shown some spine or mettle since invaders seized the northern part of Mali. The  army had shown more  interest in ousting its elected  civilian bosses  than  in protecting the territorial integrity  of Mali in recent times. It ousted the last civilian president because it said the government did not give it sufficient ammunition to repel the invaders of northern Mali.

    Now  it is doing its primary duty and the AU  is calling for NATO intervention. I think that is an extravagant digression and it shows that the Beninois President   Thomas  Boni  Yayi  doubling as AU Chairman  is out of his depth at least in regional diplomacy. This is because the UN Security Council has already approved a  force of 3000 for Mali and Nigeria is sending 600 men so why the call for NATO support? ECOWAS should pull its weight and set the ball rolling first by allowing Nigeria to take the lead, instead of the usual Francophone distrust and jealousy of Nigeria’s ample regional leadership pedigree in such matters  as in Sierra  Leone and Liberia.

    In addition the Malian Army should be encouraged in its new found courage to defend the territorial integrity of Mali as  this is the best way to drive the invaders away rather than asking for manna to fall from heaven with NATO.

  • Nigeria, as it could be made (2)

    There is no perfect nation to be born yet Nigeria is the worst nation to be born, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report. No thanks to the Economist magazine’s sister publication, the Nigerian newborn may arrive knowing he has come where the sun dies everlastingly for the bliss of the fig.

    The EIU report ranks Nigeria 80th out of 80 countries assessed in its Where-to-be-born index. Predictably, the report has inspired and incited all manners of conspiracy theories and affirmation of doom; foremost newspapers and columnists have written editorials affirming the report and the poor fate of the Nigerian child; child advocacy groups have regrouped to re-strategize in order to fleece international children foundations off grants that would never get to its touted recipient, the Nigerian child.

    Within the din of socio-politically correct and self-righteous vituperation, a crucial voice dies slowly, painfully but certainly; it is the voice that goes to bat for the Nigerian child. Foremost newspapers may have affirmed the EIU’s claims but very few newspapers would publish as their cover stories, the plight of teenage sex workers or child urchins across the country, unless there is a mass death involving the minors. Such media fare is never strong enough to upstage news of political party intrigues and permutations. And if you examine closely the child rights campaigns, you will find that they have always been meal tickets to duplicitous and luxury-lusting advocacy groups.

    Nobody actually speaks for the newborn. Nobody speaks for the Nigerian child. And nobody truly speaks to the only human force capable of exciting the future in which the Nigerian newborn may arrive assured of a prosperous fate and a better life; the Nigerian youth.

    There is a tragedy inherent in our customary lamentation every time our conscience is roused with a damning report and as it has become customary of us, more racist politicians and activists have suggested that we split and go our separate ways touting it as the only solution to our league of extraordinary problems.

    Secession is the anthem that we should shun. It is the fruit of ‘reason’ that we need to be wary of and I will continue to say this hoping every prospective muscle –the youth – by which the separatists hope to achieve their dreams of dissolution, would listen and learn to let the secessionists risk their skins to prove their platitudes.

    The biggest misconception about secession, insurgence, self-determination or whatever the separatists choose to call it is that it could be peaceful and that the end result would be a conscientious and citizenry-centred dispensation.

    It’s all dirty, greedy politics; the separatists want the youth to fly the flags of their dream nations, they want everybody to brandish a bumper sticker that bellows,”Death to the Federal Republic of Nigeria!” They call anyone that’s anti-war and anti-secession, “pacifist,” “traitor” or whatever colourful adjective suits their rage. Then they promise the youth a prosperous future and better fate under their dream nation. Consequently, youth that ought to know better buy into such farce and they all begin to dream and talk of the great uprising that would set them free from the living hell Nigeria has become.

    Truly, it is a sad thing for us as a nation to be afflicted by such youth whose eyes cannot see and intellect cannot detect the hideous manifestations of the vulpine intellect characteristic of the Nigerian separatists. Thus the Nigerian youth wastes his passion recycling hackneyed criticisms and fomenting trouble in the name of all manners of political godfathers, minority group leaders, human rights activists, tribal rights activists, youth leaders to mention a few.

    He engages in bootless pursuits at the end of which he accomplishes too little or nothing. For himself he probably accomplishes some individualized goal – satisfaction of a sentiment or material gain – which to him is everything but for Nigeria, he accomplishes comparatively nothing.

    Eventually, he grows into the prototypical average, disgruntled man on the street, who suddenly realizes in his twilight that he had squandered God’s greatest gifts to him, his intellect and talent – then the smokescreen of youth and hastily prized platitudes begin to peter out and he realizes that his miraculous talisman is a paltry plated coin, not fit to pass in the shops as a contemptible kobo.

    The attempt to conceive imaginatively, a better ordering of Nigerian society than the destructive, pitiless chaos in which the nation has sunk is by no means modern; it is at least as old as Plato, whose “Republic” set the model for the Utopias of subsequent philosophers and self-styled revolutionaries.

    The secessionists contemplate a new world in the light of an ideal: they claim to feel a great sorrow by the evils that characterize Nigeria, and they claim to be driven by an urgent desire to lead their race to the realization of the collective good. It is this desire which has been the primary force moving the pioneers of Anarchism and horrid tyrannies, as it moved the creators of ideal commonwealths in the past.

    In contemporary Nigeria, it is incense for suspicious revolutionaries claiming to fight for the interests of Nigeria’s ethnic divides. In this there is nothing new; what is new and unpardonably offensive is the pretension of such characters to heartfelt sorrow, shared grief and relation in identity and ideal to the present sufferings of the Nigerian youth and breadlines.

    This has enabled cynical and anarchist political movements to grow out of the frustrations and hopes of Nigeria’s youth and predominantly impressionable thinkers whose thought processes are anything but politically conscious. And this makes the agitation of the Nigerian separatists worrisome and markedly dangerous to the survival of the Nigerian State.

    The process of re-sensitizing the youth away from the establishment of chaos and genocide advocated by the secessionists will be greatly accelerated by the abolition of the current political order; however, this can only be achieved by the nation’s youth – who are unfortunately taken by the platitudes and poetics of Nigeria’s band of self-serving ruling class and racist emancipators.

    It is no doubt the stock in trade of the latter to refer to violent uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Iraq, Zanzibar, Tanganyika, India-Pakistan, Mali and parts of Asia among others, as worthy indicators of Nigeria’s need to follow suit. Whenever they dazzle with such informed commentary, tell them to lead the secession they advocate with their wives, children and closest relatives.

    Many activists, youth leaders and self-acclaimed political heroes today have their wives and children safely tucked away in secure schools and sociopolitical climes overseas even as they goad impoverished and clueless youth at home to their doom.

    If it is true that there is appreciable number of Nigerian youth capable of powering revolts for ethnic self-determination, the end of which is dissolution of Nigeria, why can’t the same youth power the social regeneration and reclamation of the Nigerian State from the clutches of the predatory ruling class, ethnic bigots and dissolution activists?

    The current political separation and acute race-sensitiveness must eventually yield to the influences of education and culture, if the youth could endeavour to be truly civilized. But such transformation calls for remarkable wisdom and tolerance.

    To be continued…