The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • For the love of Hope

    For the love of Hope

    Harriman the school boy – slim, tall, full of vitality and humour. Harriman of Government College, Ibadan, who earned a Grade One certificate and would not live it down to his dying day. Harriman the pioneer, who turned the real estate business not only into a profession of stature in the country but also into a sort of charity, bestowing homes on the unsheltered.

    Chief Hope Harriman passed on at the age of 79, two months to January 3, when he was billed to have an elaborate party for his 80th birthday. His daughter, Representative Temi Harriman, had already bought a present. She saw her father last in London when he came to console her over the loss of her son and his grandson.

    By the testimonies of friends, clerics, fellow professionals and business associates, Chief Hope Harriman was a man after many hearts. Bonhomie, fortitude, a faithful memory, a beloved father and husband, a scrupulous man of means and, of course, a man of the world. These yarns electrified the sombre night at the tony Boat Club in the ambience of boats and quiet waters where a service of songs took place December 19.

    Monsignor Christopher Boyo captured the irony of the man when he recalled how Harriman, not much of a church person, connected him to personages to raise money for his church. But he celebrated that act of pious benevolence by signposting the fact that “Uncle Hope did not go to church.” Boat Club was where he “worshipped.”

    Others spoke, too. Rev. Oyebolu spoke as a fellow student at GCI, and he recalled how Harriman gained admission at the right age while doing an instant math that disqualified him – Oyebolu – who was 14 instead of 12 years old, which was Harriman’s age. They walked a long distance from the popular Ames bus station to school.

    His Cambridge school mate, Dayo Akinrele, was gung-ho about Harriman daring into choosing a profession not well known. He also referred to how, after many years when their mates started dying, he would quip that “Dayo, you are next.” But if he went first, he would let him know how life was on the other side. Victor Oritsejolomi, son of the famous professor and surgeon, Oritsejolomi Thomas, described him as brave.

    Femi Okunnu (SAN) spoke of his generosity and sense of principle.

    Apart from the family, the strongest presence was GCI Old Boys, and they filed out beside the boats and sang for the departed.

    There were different stories. One of the stories was an invitation he gave to some friends to his Florida home, but they arrived and there was no Hope. They had to welcome him to his home. “but Hope had made arrangements for us before we arrived.” That was an example of a Hope, the loving but troublesome friend.

    They spoke of his high spirit, a sense of humour and accommodating temperament. He once joked to a friend that on his epitaph should be written that he “threw the best parties.”

    All of them spoke of his large heart, his progressive politics and love of family.

  • Personalities and issues of 2012

    Let me start by stating that I start this piece today on the horn of a dilemma . This is because as this is the last Saturday of 2012 I initially wanted to pick a Man of the Year in the best tradition of Time or Newsweek Magazine , which is to identify someone who has influenced world affairs for good or bad in the past year . In this mode of identification , Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini , and before him Adolf Hitler had controversially but correctly graced the front covers of this great American magazines. However to my consternation and frustration I had a difficult time finding one person not because there was a shortage of such distinguished persons , but the dilemma arose in that if I chose one , I will be leaving out so many on the crucial divide of those who have influenced 2012 for good or bad . That dilemma crystallized into the topic of today and you are welcome to your verdict on whether I have taken the easy way out or given myself an uphill task to finish off a difficult and terror ridden year .

    Personalities and issues that have shaped the fortunes of 2012 for good and bad are many and varied. They have created moments that have made us happy and sad and on occasions created the pitiful dilemma that made us unable to decide whether to cry or laugh . This then is my new assignment today which is to line up and analyze such personalities and issues in the way they have influenced world affairs for good or bad in 2012 .

    The first set of personalities stem from elections which saw such leaders being reelected into another term or assuming a position they had before and that includes US President Barak Obama and Russia’s new President Vladmir Putin . These two gentlemen have by their offices influenced world affairs more than any other human being for good or bad depending on what part of the political divide of global politics you have found yourself . The next set of leaders are those who have excelled in their vocations and have blazed a trail in setting their nations on a new road in terms of diplomacy and international relations . I doff my hat then to two ladies of substance who bestrode the world in 2012 like Amazons in this regard namely out going US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi who brought her nation in from the cold of international isolation and claimed a well deserved Nobel Prize in the process .

    In the Middle East where the Arab Spring of 2011 , a popular street uprising against entrenched despots in Tunisia , Egypt and Libya gave way in 2012 to a clash between Fundamentalists and Others in Egypt where the Muslim Brotherhood is using its majority to assert what Egypt’s new President Mohammed Morsi has been saying on CNN – there is no Islamic Democracy but only democracy. A statement of fact that is bound to shape the struggles for freedom and human dignity in the Middle East for the foreseeable future . In this wise while Mohammed Morsi of Egypt has influenced world politics for good in 2012 in spite of the opposition he faces at home. While the blood letting sit- tight President of Syria , Bashar Assad is the monster of the year in Damascus where he is using his army to suppress his people who have decided that he should go .

    In Sports laced with a tinge of security success Britain stands out as a model of success in the way it organized the 2012 London Olympics without any security hitch or terrorism similar to the Munich Olympics massacre of Israeli athletes sometime ago . Just as one must lambast Norway and the US on poor policing and security lapses in 2012 that resulted in lone terrorists inflicting mass murder especially of children and youths in their respective communities .

    In Nigeria air disasters and Boko Haram bombings especially of churches on a weekly basis dominated the skyline in 2012 and that leaves a very sour taste in the mouth . One can only hope and pray that 2013 will be better . In politics however the Opposition ACN is taking on the ruling and complacent ruling PDP on all issues and positioning itself as credible alternative to a poor performing government especially on issues of security and safety of life and property . In this regard the leader of the party Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu must take the credit for the domination of the South West by the party which has governors in four of the five states of the former Western region namely Lagos , Ogun ,Oshun , and Oyo states .

    These then are the issues and personalities that I feel dominated the horizon of our local and global politics in 2012 and I will briefly dilate on each but not necessarily in tandem . Let us start with the US where Obama’s reelection gave hope to millions of migrants who would certainly have been deported if he had lost the election . His support or his US policy of Engagement in the Middle East has promoted democracy and human freedom and dignity in a region that two years ago was agog with despotism and demagoguery . However tension and mistrust still exist between the secular and Islamist sections of the newly liberated nations of Libya , Tunisia , and Egypt and if that is not to escalate the US must amend its Middle East Policy to reflect new realities on the ground . It can do this by making Israel to return the lands it captured in the 1967 Six Days War and the 1973 War with the Arabs or by stopping the building of settlements by the Benjamin Netanyahu government on such land . This is because this is the cause of outrage and anti – Americanism in the Middle East and this will be exacerbated if democracy brings in elected, democratic but Islamist government, as as widely expected in the area .

    Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi because of the No fly zone imposed by NATO , Russia has opposed every thing that the US and EU nations have brought before the Security Council of the UN . This indeed is what has prolonged the political life of the hated Assad Dynasty and regime in Damascus . Vladmir Putin is the epitome and architect of this anti EU and anti American policy which has crystallized into blind and total support for Assad in Syria . This is because Putin believes the western powers were behind the massive demonstrations that greeted his 2012 election for another four years as president after a four year stint as Prime Minister , preceded by a two term, 8 -year tenure from 2001- 2008 as president of Russia . You can only grasp the enormity of this Putin political abradacabra or magic if you can see George Bush , the US 43rd president [2001 – 2008] who served for the same period as Putin returning to power again in the US . This was a major and successful political innovation that Putin imposed on his nation to the annoyance of the Americans who supported the opposition against him which he crushed, and is now using Syria as pay back time to thwart US backed Security Council support for Syrian Opposition, as was the case in Libya .

    The role of Hillary Clinton as the mother of the Arab Spring Uprising and its consolidation in 2012 is the stuff of history . So also is her beguilement of the military in Burma with the collaboration of Suu Kyi the famous prisoner of Burma that Hillary at last helped to free in 2012. That , together with the business trips to Asia to reinvigorate the ailing US economy that almost cost Obama his reelection made Hillary the most successful US Secretary of State of modern times and 2012 in particular. It is a tribute to the diplomatic dexterity of Hillary Clinton that the newly elected president of Egypt can claim that democracy has no religious color but is a game of numbers at the polls . Which is why I see the Egyptian president as speaking the truth and saying the obvious even though his party will use that majority eventually against the US because of its support for Israel , the arch enemy of the Palestinians and ipso facto that of all Arabs , including Egyptians .

    Lastly it is in the context of the leaders mentioned above that one must see the leadership of Asiwaju Tinubu of the ACN in the southwest which is the most politically sophisticated and articulate part of Nigeria . In 2012 this political leader provided an accommodating but firm leadership that placed political control of key western states under his control . More importantly the ACN – run states have become models in terms of efficiency and responsiveness to their neighbors . That is real regional power that can be harvested in elections in other places and Lagos State in particular is blazing a trail in this regard . Without mincing words Asiwaju Tinubu not only consolidated power successfully in 2012 he influenced Nigerian politics for good in the process of establishing his party as a credible alternative to the government in power in Abuja .

  • BRF: My man of the year

    BRF: My man of the year

    In the beginning was the word. That is true not just in the spiritual, religious sphere. It is also particularly true of politics. At the beginning of politics, there is the word. But for the continuous and sustenance of politics, there must continue to be the word. For, the essence of politics, it’s central nervous system, is communication. And the building blocks of communication are words. In despotic politics, it is the tyrannical, unquestionable word. In democratic politics, it is the seductive, persuasive word. But that is a central dilemma of democracy. When does persuasion become cynical and devious manipulation? After all, the iconoclastic Professor Noam Chomsky has warned that in supposedly democratic societies, corporate monopolies easily ‘manufacture consent’ through the manipulation of the media. Words can be honest and true. But words can also be deceitful and false. President Obama rode to power in his first term largely on his soaring rhetoric of hope. He has won re-election by persuading Americans of his sincerity and good intentions even if his promised hope remains, largely, a dream deferred. But Hitler also rose to power substantially on the power of his xenophobic oratory. Will the most eloquent orator or the most clever debater capable of beguiling the gullible majority necessarily make the most effective and patriotic leader? That remains a central riddle of democracy.

    In Nigeria, politicians also love words. This year, for instance, our leaders have issued a torrent of words. But they have been largely sad, desolate, despondent words in the form of condolences, regrets and expressions of shock after suicide bombings, assassinations, air crashes and sundry other avoidable tragedies. But in this festive season we have been drenched in a surfeit of words offering hope and optimism for the coming year. President Goodluck Jonathan, for example, has solemnly assured us that he would continue to move towards his promised transformation Eldorado at his current snail’s speed so as not to make mistakes associated with undue hastiness. He indeed gave his teeming Facebook friends the good news of improvements in the country ‘s power and transportation sectors. A substantial proportion of the President ‘s Facebook friends appeared not too pleased with what they probably considered a strange gospel from St. Jonathan. Many of them sounded quite unfriendly in vehemently pointing out to their presidential friend the vast gulf between his rosy assertions and their harsh existential realities. A good number of them appeared somewhat in a hurry for the arrival of 2015 to enable them pass a verdict on a President’s self satisfied leisurely stroll through the pleasurable corridors of power in a country obviously in a hurry to unravel under the weight of multiple tragedies. This is a good sign. For democracy to survive and be strengthened, more and more people must develop the capacity to weigh and consider the words of elective office holders, compare them with reality and take rational decisions at the polls.

    Since his assumption of office in 2007 and especially in his second term, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State has most times neither spoken nor acted like a typical politician. He is not a soaring orator. His public discourse often sound more like the coldly logical reasoning of a sober Senior Advocate in a court of law. In a way he sometimes reminds me of President Obama. Some of his actions may be unpopular even if necessary. He may not have satisfied some of the high hopes his outstanding performance has raised. But you always have a feeling that he means well; that some of his apparently harsh decisions are actuated by the purest and noblest of motives. During the last electioneering campaigns in Lagos State, some of his opponents made a big deal of the issue of taxation in Lagos State. One of them in particular promised to reduce taxes, increase workers’ wages and at the same time provide Lagos with a new network of ring roads. Of course, Lagosians saw through the elaborate fakery and gave Fashola a resounding victory at the polls.

    Some people have told me that Fashola has slowed down considerably in his second term; that his performance since 2011 has been below par. Of course, I disagree . First, I think the Fashola administration’s exemplary first term performance had raised hopes abnormally of a super human second term outing. Even then within the limits of resource, institutional and constitutional restraints, I am convinced that the administration continues to pose a path-breaking performance in diverse spheres. Lagos continues its steady pace towards being Africa’s model Mega city with so much going on in diverse spheres – education, health, the environment, infrastructure provision and poverty alleviation among others. More importantly, having laid a firm foundation in his first term, it seems to me that Fashola has opted for a less obtrusive and intrusive style in his second term allowing Institutions and processes to work routinely rather than personally projecting himself. Of course, there are rare exceptions like when he was forced to personally apprehend a military officer driving on the BRT rote contrary to the law. But this is unsurprising since Fashola himself has never used the siren or used the BRT lane even when held up in traffic.

    Fashola has phenomenally accelerated the radical modernization and expansion of infrastructure commenced by the Tinubu administration. As that process intensifies, it becomes imperative to commence the radical adjustment of the mental infrastructure of the people who will utilize this in accordance with the demands of a fast developing Mega city. This is what has apparently necessitated such tough measures as the new traffic law, the severe restriction on the operation of Okada, the introduction of tuition fees at the Lagos State University (LASU) and the collection of tolls on the Lagos-Épé Expressway – a Public-Private-Participation (PPP) project. Yet, the critics have also not appreciated some of the palliative measures of the administration including the provision of alternative artisan training skills for ex-Okada riders, the maintenance of a hugely funded scholarship scheme for indigent students of LASU and indeed the non-commencement of the tuition fees with students already admitted into the university.

    As patron of the Island Club, Governor Fashola utilized the opportunity of the annual Christmas Eve dance to reiterate his beliefs about government and his expectations of Lagosians and indeed Nigerians. In his thoughtful words: “ I believe that the dreams we aspire to as a people and as a country cannot be delivered to us by anybody. We must want it hard enough to begin to act to earn it. Law and order must be our gold standard. No revolution will bring a better life to us either, because I have heard the various calls for revolution. But the revolution we need is in our hearts. No leader can also force us to do that unless we are persuaded that it is necessary and I believe that it is necessary”. His central message was that a societal revolution must begin with a revolution in the habits, attitudes Andy values of the individual. This is probably why he places so much premium on enforcing law and order and ensuring that individual conduct is compatible with societal harmony and sanity. Continuing he told his audience “Sometimes I struggle to understand where we want to go. But in spite of these struggles, I am clear in my mind what kind of society I want to live in, grow old in and die in. In my life time, I want to see a reliable electricity power supply in Nigeria. It is not just praying about it. It is about talking about it and doing something about it”.

    Those could easily have been from Barak Obama’s lips talking about America. Fashola is certainly serious about what the award winning columnist, Sam Omatseye, calls building “a decent society”..This requires courage and Fashola has shown lots of it in 2012 for which he deserves commendation. But it also requires tact and patience so that the hawkish and selfish proponents of an indecent society are not given the opportunity of restoring the years of the locusts. Yes, the politician thinks of the next election and the statesman the next generation. But it will certainly help the next generation a great deal if the patriotic, statesman wins the next election. Here I would like to refer to President Obama’s interview in the current edition of Time magazine, which chose him as Man of the year. Obama said what struck him most about a new film on Lincoln he had watched with his staff were the compromises and deals the 16th President had to make in pursuit of his effort to abolish slavery. Obama noted that you sometimes have no choice but to get your hands dirty even in the pursuit of high minded ideals. Lesson: Governor Fashola must consider in some instances short term tactical compromises to win long term strategic objectives. Even then, BRF has had the courage to take tough decisions that may make him personally unpopular in certain quarters but are in the long term interest of Lagos State. It takes leadership to insist that Lagos State cannot run an Okada economy in the 21st century and that LASU cannot continueto be run like a glorified secondary school. Yes, for focus, vision, selflessness and tenacity, he is my man of the year.

  • Relax Osaze, relax

    Osaze Odemwingie has fouled the air with his uncouth utterances. He poured odium on the football fraternity over his exclusion from the country’s provisional list to the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

    That is okay because it is his right to do so. But he should also know that time was when he was picked head of others in the Super Eagles and heavens didn’t fall. When it favoured him, the coaches were immaculate. Anytime he is dropped, the coaches lacked personality, the players are undisciplined and NFF chiefs are inept.

    His jibes at Stephen Keshi, NFF, former captains of the Eagles and some stakeholders are unnecessary, especially after he hinted that he would love to be with his wife when his first child (a boy) is delivered.

    One had thought that his exclusion would have lightened his burden of choosing between his wife and the country. Nowhere is it written that fathers should witness the arrival of their kids. People do so at their discretion, more so when Osaze isn’t the doctor to deliver the child.

    One is also alarmed that Osaze feels that the coach must inform him about his exclusion. Indeed, it is pertinent to ask what Osaze did when Keshi didn’t contact him. Simply put, Osaze disregards his elders and needs to be told that African tradition recognises respect for older ones.

    Osaze has misconstrued being outspoken for rudeness. He ought to have called up Keshi to find out why he was dropped instead of lashing the tactician on Twitter. If he expressed those unkind words to Keshi on the telephone, the Big Boss would have understood, having faced such circumstances in the past. A shouting match could have ensued, yet he could have persuaded people to beg the coach after realising his folly. I wonder what he would do, if asked to apologise to Keshi and the football fraternity whenever he need something good from the system. He could wave his hands but he can never tell.

    Curiously, it was being rumoured on Thursday night that Osaze sought to leave the camp for England to witness his child’s birth. He also wanted to be shuttling between England and South Africa, baby-sitting and playing Nigeria’s matches at the Africa Cup of Nations. What a superman. We are told that Keshi rejected both requests before releasing the list. Could that be true, given the whiplash on Twitter from Osaze? Was Osaze trying to remind Keshi of what he did at the Maroc ’88 Africa Cup of Nations where he was flying in and out, playing for the country and his European club? This is Keshi’s full cycle.

    If Osaze has a grouse with Keshi, what would he say informed his decision to call NFF Board member Chris Green an idiot? Green called Osaze, following the prompting of those who knew about their firends. Osaze didn’t allow him to talk. He abused Green, a fact he confirmed on his twitter account on Monday. Green took it in his strides, but the pain was in his voice.

    Osaze should know that there is life outside football. He should understand too that no employer would touch him, given his antecedents with superiors. One is not sure if he would be welcomed into the Super Eagles again. He should always put himself in others’ position when he is angry.

    I don’t expect Keshi to join issues with Osaze. It would be foolhardy. I’m glad that Keshi has instilled discipline in the Eagles, but he must ensure that the stick is used without discrimination. A child that has just been flogged will definitely cry. That is what Osaze’s anger amounts to. Keshi should forgive him whenever he retraces his steps. That is the hallmark of a good leader.

    Glo: giant among stars

    The Glo/CAF Africa Footballer of the Year award in Ghana was always going to be a spectacle. A night of surprises. One in which the audience would detest some of the awardees. Hence, this writer wasn’t surprised when many in the crowd went for the choice of Manchester City FC of England’s midfield pearl Yaya Toure as the 2012 Africa Footballer of the Year.

    Of significant importance is the fact that such choices done by a voting audience of technically minded football coaches, captains and icons of the game were bound to throw up surprise winners. Indeed, such awards of excellence won’t be a popularity contest since the selection criteria are such that partisan fans wouldn’t be able to comprehend.

    For the ardent football fan, Didier Drogba was the obvious choice. No problem. He scored goals for Chelsea. Drogba’s equaliser changed the outcome of the Champions League finals against Bayern Munich. His penalty kick decided the game. Indeed, Chelsea has not found its rhythm since Drogba left. These accolades ought to have fetched Drogba the diadem. But this is one side of the coin. The choice of the winner isn’t for the fans, but the game’s technocrats who did through votes.

    Technically, Yaya Toure is better than Drogba. He plays as a defensive midfielder, yet he runs the length of the field to score vital goals for Manchester City and for Cote d’Ivoire.

    Looking at Yaya’s big stature, many have wondered how he carries himself effortlessly. He is the busiest player on the pitch and his absence during the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations held in Equatorial Guinea grossly affected his English team’s quest for their maiden EPL title. Little wonder Manchester City nicked the EPL title in the most dramatic circumstances last year, only after Yaya returned to the team. This is not forgetting others’ contributions.

    Yaya Toure’s choice marked another milestone for Globacom as one that stands for excellence. Others would have sought to influence the eventual winner. Yaya emerged from a transparent voting system. He wasn’t hand-picked nor was CAF told what to do by Globacom.

    Yaya represents the future of Africa football. It is also important that Africa’s best plies his trade in one of the best leagues in the world, not in far flung countries renowned as footballers’ retirement benefit zones. This is not taking anything away from the remarkable landmarks made by King Didier Drogba for club and country.

    Surprise is the hallmark of such awards and one must thumbs up for Globacom for changing the face of the Africa Footballer of the Year, which the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) is believed in many circles to have bastardised.

    Keshi’s list

    Since the provisional list of Super Eagles squad of 32 was released last week Friday, tongues have been wagging and potshots have been fired at the chief coach, Stephen Keshi.

    The noise shows that the list met most people’s expectation. Of course, no list is perfect. Yet, I was disturbed reading in CompleteSports stating that Danny Shittu was forced on Keshi. Reading through, I saw that Keshi accepted this claim and my heart sank.

    Keshi’s stoic silence on this subject is worrisome and I hope he would not tell us after an uneventful Africa Cup of Nations that the list wasn’t his.

    Interestingly, Keshi has the chance to redeem his image in Faro, Portugal, where the final 23-man list would be made. He should drop any player he doesn’t need. The final cut should be Keshi’s so that we know who to blame, if things go awry – God forbid – in South Africa..

  • This year…as all others (3)

    This year as all others, we pretended to have answers to everything. Did we? This year, we continued to spit words and eat them, like the dog that waddles back to gobble its vomit.

    This year, we quoted Nietzsche, Plato, Disreali among others to garnish our columns while we did all we can to silence true-born dissent on our news pages and news networks, lest we incur the ire of irate benefactors.

    This is the year we ennobled the thieving statesman and denied the patriot the plaudits we save for noble compatriots. This is the year we celebrated underachievers as the best of overachievers. This year, we celebrated the vanities of dim-witted celebrities on front-pages of our national newspapers.

    Here goes the year we exhausted newsprint and priceless airtime to glamorize the shenanigans of “society bigwigs and small wigs”although we cannot tell and still cannot tell, the simplest manifestations of our news practice, on say, the vendor who markets the newspaper or his girl-child for whom Universal Basic Education (UBE) remains an everlasting fantasy.

    This is the year we feted the northern mafia, eastern cabal, western gerontocracy, and south-south uprising, as usual, even as they undermined our collective dreams and everything that nationhood and ambition had ever bestowed us.

    Beyond our elegant words and brazen manifestations of high character, our practice is modeled after some greedy few’s cartography of citizenship than by any internal dynamic of allegiances. Hence our misinterpretation of the social contract between the Fourth Estate and every other estate charged with the administration and supervision of our nation-state.

    Thus this year as all others, we hid behind interviews, ‘big interviews,’ to abdicate our responsibilities to the Nigerian public. This is the year we taught the public to feast and digest perversion because we believe it’s what they love to do best; because we know if we treat them to more depravity, they will become more willing participants, and we would get more adverts and keep smiling to the banks.

    This is the year in which we squandered N1 billion or thereabouts to feed Mr. President and his deputy; this year, Mr. President approved N15 billion official residence for Mr. Vice President because leaders of men like them deserve to eat and dwell like no ordinary man.

    This year, President Goodluck Jonathan afflicted our luck with his New Year gift of fuel subsidy removal. In response, we marched out in protest to establish our home grown Occupy Nigeria movement but failed devastatingly because our voices quieted to racism and confusion. Mr. President’s kinsmen believed Nigeria should get with the programme; a South-south man is in power and everything he does should be accepted unquestionably.

    This is the year in which our brothers in the north-east tirelessly blew to death our mothers and daughters, sons and fathers in the market place, on the playground, in our bedrooms and houses of worship in the name of politics and religion. This is the year in which our brothers in the south-east determinedly kidnapped our wives and daughters, mothers and fathers, sons and heirs apparent, for a ransom, and their lust for unearned affluence. This is the year in which our brothers in the southwest habitually mortgaged our future on the altar of politics, personal and sectarian greed. This year as all others, we refused to dissect these maladies, in the interest of our nation and thus helped the world to understand why we are regarded as the inheritors in whose hands the heritage dies and everything fails.

    This year, we affirmed those dreadful points our internal and external publics love to make; that we have become inept, mediocre, irredeemably shorn of truth and uprightness in our work. This year, we affirmed that we are amoral and somewhat intellectually challenged by our ethnic and intellectual bigotry.

    This year, we failed to actualize press freedom because it was socio-politically incorrect to do so. This year as all others, we failed to acknowledge that our survival or death as a nation is undeniably entwined with the tenor of practice and citizenship of the Nigerian press.

    If words could bite, I hope this mauls the fingers and tongues of the spin-masters till they spin nothing but gibberish. I speak of the one who laments the state of the Nigerian media and in the same breadth burns our bridge to the future of our dreams.

    This year as all others, I make a case for re-sensitization of the Nigerian media. It is time we dismembered our clan of the shameless breed. I speak of the almighty charlatan who believes that the status quo should be sustained ad infinitum because characters like him deserve the right to unquestionable practice.

    Lest you think I moot that the press be gagged, I suggest no such arbitrariness – even if I do, it would hardly matter because we go through the practice, gagged.

    We are our worst enemies. In spite of everything, we choose to play god. That is why “dogs don’t eat dogs” in our Fourth Estate although it’s okay if we choose to eat the entrails of a few ordinary Nigerians and almighty benefactors, like the unfortunate adulterer caught pants down even as we underreport thieving bankers stealing from wretched folk to enrich their privileged peers.

    I hope we find the courage to report; “The Rot in the Media.” I hope we find the courage to report that for every kobo looted by government, in our public and private sectors, the press gets to have its take however meager it is. Dateline: media parleys, press conferences and governors’roundtables.

    Were we passionately inclined to monitor our affairs daily that we may not digress and put to shame our practice, wouldn’t journalism be much better? Were we humane enough to improve our welfare and conditions of service, wouldn’t our journalists be dignified and our practice nobler?

    It’s time we asked: “Who is a journalist?” and aspire to an untainted definition of it. It’s time we redefined what level of knowledge, qualification and professionalism is expected of a journalist. It’s time we ascertained what manner of passion channels the direction of our news practice.

    It’s time we refused to humour such society that continually disrespects us and treats us as disposable pawns in its grand scheme of themes. Come 2013, shall we continue to service the depravity of folk for whom our pens write maladies at the expense of melodies impoverished folk would die to have us write about, that they might fare better?

    Will 2013 mutate like our past? Shall we remain intellectual hit men of every hoodlum with towering cash? Shall we become cliff-hangers to take the portrait of every looter with a promising smile? Shall we remain the media managers that pay poorly even as we label expatriate firms, slave-drivers?

    Next year, will the masses stare at our cover pages with knowing glares, knowing they would never feel the infinitesimal clangor of chilled hope because we are, as usual, nothing more than an aberration of their desperate circumstances? Shall we continue to speak from both sides of the mouth? Shall we continue to eat like idiots at the feast of the one who calls us “idiot?”

  • The begging questions

    Whoever deviates from my instruction will live a hanging life and be resurrected a blind person in the hereafter” Q. 20:124

    Every aspect of human life is a question. Some are answered positively, some, negatively and some, not answered at all. But there is no unanswerable question in Islam. It is a different matter altogether if one is not pleased with the provided answer. That all-time phenomenal FAITH is known for providing answers even before questions are raised. And that is what distinguishes it from all other religions.

    If Islam had just been a dogmatic religion and not a complete way of life, it would have become like other creeds in the world today. Panel beaters would have worked on it. Painters would have re-sprayed it to their tastes. Fine artists would have added drawings of beauty to it for marketability. And, then, it would have become an all-comers’ trade fetching money day and night for merchants of fortune.

    But this divine religion is like a mighty ocean flowing ceaselessly towards all directions and watering all plants into life through the deltas of adjoining rivers. It will be a suicide bid, therefore, for anybody, government or nation, no matter how technologically advanced, to want to change its course.

    Looking at the emergence, the spread and the triumph of Islam in the midst of vicious empires and at a time when might and nothing but might alone mattered, any right-thinking person will surely be amazed by the surviving strategy of this divine religion. How did an unlettered desert man of little means come up with an ideology that captured the world slaves and kings? How did Prophet Muhammad (SAW) become a law giver without any training in a law school? How did he become a General without enrolling in any army? How did he become a scientist without attending any school? How did he become a doctor without undergoing any medical training? How did he become a ruler without receiving any tutelage in politics? And what can be more amazing, historically or contemporarily, than to have all these roles and more combined in a single human being who rose from such a crude background? These are not questions to be answered with crude abuses or parochial denigration.

    The great revolution which the great Prophet of Islam brought into the world cannot but beat the imagination of any sensible mortal being. There were hundreds of Prophets before him. Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Shuayb, Lut, Musa, Isa and a host of others had all come as prophets preaching peace and harmony to mankind. But none was either a General or a scientist or a ruler. Prophets Daud and Sulayman who were kings could though be called Generals in their own right, nevertheless, they were neither scientists nor doctors. Yet, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who combined all these rare qualities never claimed any miracle by magic wand.

    What makes Islam a unique way of life is the uniqueness of Prophet Muhammad’s personality which derived from the uniqueness of the Qur’an as a revealed ‘BOOK’ of Allah. If the Orientalists who were accusing Prophet Muhammad (SAW) of being a war monger were not ignorant or hypocritical, they would have known that no empire or civilisation has ever emerged or survived in history without fighting wars.

    How did such old empires as Mesopotamian, Greek, Assyrian, Macedonian, Persian and Roman emerge? How did the French and the Russian revolutions succeed in the early 19th and 20th centuries respectively? How did European countries become colonialist? And, even in contemporary time, how did America emerge as the world’s strongest power? Was it just by preaching human rights and democracy? The reality of today as presented by the history of the past has exposed the hypocrisy of yesteryears. Islam has transcended a stage in life when it could be intimidated or blackmailed into surrendering its legitimacy and identity to any spiritual or political charlatan.

    When the West talks of democracy today, the impression it gives is that democracy is a Western invention. This is very far from the truth. Despite the lengthy and speculative Platonic theories on democracy and despite the surreptitious claim that Aristotle wrote a constitution for the City State of Athens, the West did not come in contact with democracy practically until it had a political encounter with the Muslims in Spain in the 8th century C. E. And even with that encounter, Europe remained a mere spectator in the field of democracy until expediency brought about what was called ‘Magna Carter’ (Great Charter) in England in 1215 C. E.

    What the West calls democracy today was what Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had called ‘interactive government’ which he practiced as far back as the 7th century. At the time when he established an Islamic State based on Madinah Constitution, the first of its kind in the world, there was no single empire or nation in the entire world without a monarch. If he had not been sincerely focused on the genuineness of his mission, he would have joined the pack by crowning himself a king. But he became the first Head of State and government in the world not called a king because he did not govern like a monarch.

    The idea of democracy, which the West came to adopt as its heritage, therefore, is purely Islamic in origin.

    As Head of State, the Prophet never imposed any policy on the people without impute from the same people directly or indirectly except such a policy came in form of divine revelation. In other words, he was neither a monarch nor a despot. And, as a Head of State, he never saw himself as more important than any other citizen or resident in the State. That was why he was so indigent even as Head of State that his household could carry on for months without cooking any food under their roof.

    In Islam, democracy is not about voting and governance alone. Rather, it is fundamentally about justice in all its ramifications according to the rule of law. It is about tending the lives of the citizens for the overall good of the nation. It is about providing the needs of the people according to the available resources in the nation. It is about protecting the interest of the weak against the oppression of the strong. It is about managing the wealth of the nation with diligent sense of accountability and utilising such wealth according to conscience. It is about securing the lives of the citizenry in terms of jobs, feeding, shelter, health and education. It is about boosting the horizon of the youths and sharpening their hope against the future. It is about guaranteeing individuals’ adequate income per capital and ensuring a standard life expectancy. Any government that claims democracy without caring about the aforementioned can only at best be oppressive and hypocritical. That was Nigeria’s lot between 1999 and 2012, the continuity of which we had fervently prayed Allah to forbid. But how far has that prayer been accepted is a matter of self examination.

    And, today, more than 12 years into the so-called unbroken democracy in Nigeria, are we celebrating or mourning? It seems only the megaphones of the government can answer that question. They are the ones who put Nigeria on a rigmarole pushing it left and right, as it suited them, without a definite destination. They had once told us that what this country needed was ‘REBRANDING’ which they claimed was the panacea to Nigeria’s chronic disease. And by ‘REBRANDING’ they meant talking well of Nigeria abroad and covering at home the criminal corruption committed by those in government. The campaign for this new found orientation went wild thereby paving way for a junketing jamboree in the name of ‘REBRANDING’. But after funnelling billions of naira to God knows where they changed the tide. Today, the cliché called ‘REBRANDING’ has become history just as the monster called corruption grows bigger and waxes stronger. It is not enough to tell school pupils to do correction in his homework. At least a good teacher must be able to point out the error in his pupils’ work before calling for correction. Governance, like culture, has variety of colours, flavours and tastes. What is called democracy in a state may amount to despotism in another State.

    In Europe today, some of the countries championing democracy around the world are basically monarchical. For instance, countries like Greece, Netherlands (Holland), Belgium, Spain, Sweden and even Britain are all monarchical. Yet these are the same countries that descended with armed forces on Iraq and Afghanistan pretending to want to ensure the entrenchment of democracy in those poor countries. If absence of democracy was the problem in Iraq and Afghanistan, what problem in the defunct Soviet Union and Yugoslavia led to their breakup? Or were they not said to be democratic? Unlike France, Germany and Italy (which are monolingual), the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia collapsed because of the heterogeneity of their tongues and cultures. This confirms the fact that Western type of democracy can only thrive on common cultural identity.

    From experience, it has become evident that governance, whether democratic or monarchical, is fundamentally a function of culture. And that is why the British constitution is said to be partly written and partly conventional.

    Borrowing a foreign culture to practice democracy, as done in Nigeria, is like borrowing another man’s mouth to eat. Into whose stomach will the food go? By the way, has anybody ever tried to find out why the Arab countries are far ahead of the black African countries in growth and development despite the recent political crises in those (Arab) countries?

    The answer to this question is simple: Those Arab countries are monolingual and mono-cultural irrespective of individuals’ religious or ideological differences. Their constitutions are based on the language understandable to the majority of their citizenry and those constitutions are weaved around their common culture. Above all, those constitutions are readily available even to school children who study them in the classrooms as part of the school curriculum.

    For instance, based on the law by which those countries are governed, an average Arab policeman will politely warn a citizen not to commit an offence. It is only if the person goes ahead to commit the offence, despite the warning, that he will be arrested and still be warned, but not punished, if he is a first offender. The exception to that however, is when the committed offence is criminal.

    In Nigeria, an average policeman of Taraba origin posted to Ogun State will rather hide somewhere and watch you commit an offence that you never knew of its existence only to pounce on you thereafter, arrest you and get you punished severely unless you have the means of greasing his palms. So will a policeman of Osun State origin do if he is posted to Kano or Cross River State. The slogan in our own country is that “the claim of ignorance is no excuse before the law”.

    Now, the questions are: which law are we talking about? The laws contained in the constitution proclaimed by an unauthorised cabal in the name of the populace but not made available to the same populace? Who does not know that Nigerian constitution is a mere public luxury which constitutes an instrument of oppression in the hands of the ruling cabal? To an ordinary Nigerian, that constitution is the real political manacle with which the citizens are fettered to the stake of indefinite servitude.

    It might be true that while alive and in power, the late President Yar’Adua proclaimed the rule of law as one of his ‘seven point agenda’ but where was the law which rule was being proclaimed? And who are the people to uphold such law in Nigeria today? Can our legislators and police be trusted with the law which is not available to the public when it took the same legislators several years to pass the ’Freedom of bill into law which sought to entrench democracy?

    There are 53 countries in Africa today. Only seven of them are Arab countries. The rest are what the Europeans call ‘black countries’. Of these, only about 10 have not experienced military intervention or civil war within the last half of a century. The colonial devils and their agents have succeeded in creating what the linguists call ‘isogloss’ in various geo-political zones in Africa. (An isogloss is an area in which people of diverse, and not mutually understandable languages, settle down for co-existence). Semantically, such areas only connote cultural confusion. And that is what Europeans thrive on by using their African agents to enslave the black populace perpetually.

    There is no single Arab country in Africa not colonised by the Europeans. Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania were French colonies. Libya was an Italian colony. Sudan was a British colony. And Egypt, which was once an empire and a cradle of civilisation was colonized by both France and Britain at different times. But despite their colonisation and the recent political agitations in those countries, how do they maintain political sanity? Even among black African countries, how do Senegal, Kenya and Tanzania maintain their democracy for about half a century without military intervention where Nigeria became a haven for military coups?

    Today, Arab countries in Africa are nations (not mere countries) and they enjoy the benefits of being nations. What is more interesting is that not all these Arab countries are Republics. Morocco, for instance, is a monarchy but she thrives effectively in her own version of monarchical democracy. Citizens of Arab countries are highly patriotic and can die fighting for the good name of their nations. They are not as agitated for self-aggrandisement as citizens of the black African countries because most of their social needs are met by their governments. And when there is any disagreement on policy or ideology they resort to their culture for solution.

    If such a disagreement should occur in Nigeria, to which culture will our government resort; the British colonial culture or the American constitutional culture? This shows why the black Africans always resort to the use of guns in settling their internal differences to the delight of their colonial masters? With a situation like this, how can Nigeria ever dream of becoming a nation when even ordinary National Identity Cards took years of massive embezzlement to produce for citizens? Yet our rulers are calling for patriotism through ‘RE-BRANDING’ by chanting slogans and by distributing T-shirts and logos as if those are what the citizens need for survival. The Amnesty International keeps crying over an average of 350 Nigerians dying of hunger daily. And our government keeps asking us to chant ‘RE-BRANDING’ slogan and wear its logo to create the impression abroad that things are normal with us at home. Who is deceiving who? What a country? What a government? By citing the example of the Arabs here, I am not advocating for Arab democracy. It is not compatible with our own culture. But having surrendered to a common destiny, we can sit down together as a people and forge a common language as a first step towards a common culture. That was how Urdu and Swahili languages emerged.

    When people of different tribes and tongues are forcefully fused together without thinking of a common identity, the tendency is for multi-dimensional crises to remain with them perpetually. The only panacea however is genuine federalism which ought to have been fully adopted to enable every tribe or region conduct its own affairs according to its cultural pace. Prophet Muhammad had long warned against misplacement of trust by saying: “When trust is misplaced fundamentally, expect the end of time”. Is this not manifest in the current unprecedented corruption wrapped in deceptive campaign in Nigeria? How else can a government pursue shadow while leaving substance behind? To continue to pretend that nothing is fundamentally wrong with Nigeria democratically is like hiding behind one finger after stripping oneself naked. Hundreds of thousands of able bodied young men and women are jobless. Thousands of retired aged citizens who are qualified to pray effectively for the country are being corruptly deprived of their legitimate entitlements and our government is spending trillions of naira to sustain the ruling class in power. For how long can this continue?

    “Allah does not change a people’s lot unless they refrain from their iniquities. If He (Allah) decides to afflict them with tribulation, no one can ward it off. Besides Him, there is no protector them”. Q. 13:11. If 12 years cannot stabilize democracy, what magic can push Nigeria into the group of 20 best economies in eight years time as now being projected? Food for thought you may call this. Yes! Food for thought it is indeed.

    Note:

    More about ‘Madinah Constitution’ vis a vis Magna Carter, Habeas Corpus and American constitution may be published in this column next Friday, God willing.

  • Responsibility of citizenship: The youth in focus (2)

    Responsibility of citizenship: The youth in focus (2)

    Today, I offer the second installment of the lecture delivered under the auspices of a group of progressive indigenes of Oyo State on December 18 at the Ibadan Civic Center. The first installment was published last week on this page. Next week, I conclude with the role of youths in recapturing the essence and consequences of thinking including cooperation to meet the challenges of responsible citizenship.

    It is instructive to understand and appropriate the political wisdom that established and sustained the Oyo kingdom. Here was an ancient story of nation building that competed effectively with the best practices of the time. Indeed a foreign scholar once argued that the norms of governance established by the Oyo kingdom were comparable to any of the classical political philosophies. Recall that Aristotle, the Master of those who know, never really privileged democracy as the best form of government because for him the demos may have ulterior motives since they had little to no property at stake.

    The organisation of the Oyo kingdom did something unique with the checks and balances that it put in place vis-à-vis the power of the king and the authority of the Oyomesi. What else do the Greeks practiced that surpassed our heritage of governance? And what has prevented us hitherto from pushing the limits of innovation in this area that we helped create?

    I now go to the heart of what I consider to be the core of our culture and pace setting engagements. It is what I refer to as civic responsibility. It comes in various forms. I was only ten years old in the fourth grade when the Awolowo administration introduced the Universal Free Primary Education system in Western Region. The campaign for the system should normally engage everyone as one of the most impactful welfare schemes. All right thinking adults were integral parts of the campaign, putting themselves forward as community activists who were not officials of government.

    Surely, the folks who participated in the grass-root efforts must think of the benefits to themselves and their children. But I want to believe that my old man and his friends who were deeply involved had a good sense of the possible benefits to the community. They mobilised and rallied support for the measure. In the end, the community at large benefited. Of course, as we know, the other side scared citizens by focusing on the insubstantial and unsubstantiated negatives including the alleged loss of children to farm help.

    Civic responsibility is crucial to the success of any government. If citizens are not fully engaged, government work is one-sided and definitely impossible. I am sure that our governor would be the first to concede the enormity of the significance of civic engagement. It also occurs to me that this is what ThinkOyo as an organisation would like to emphasise with its focus on “ajumose.” To this important issue, I will eventually turn. First, let me think history and its various thinking deficits.

    I have made copious references to the pre-independence era of our various communities. I hope that I have not over-romanticised our past because it had its own challenges which included the shame of inter-tribal wars and enslavement of fellow community members. Yet such negative episodes must be understood as by-products of something positive, namely the civic engagement of community members in what they understood as the good of their communities. Whether it was Balogun Ibikunle of Ibadan, Ogedengbe of Ilesha, or Kurunmi Are Ona Kakanfo, or Lisabi of Egba fame, they and their cohorts were fully committed to their communities. That was our heritage. Of course, we can be Monday morning quarterbacks, to use an American idiom, and pontificate on the selfishness of those commitments. It cannot be dined, however, that these were commitments that the entire communities believed in.

    Moreover, and more relevant to our theme, these were cooperative efforts on their part. Yet, there is no denying the fact that those wars set us back at least a century. If the one hundred years war wasn’t fought, we would not be exposed to the European invasions that depleted our human resources through enslavement in the Americas. If those wars didn’t occur, who knows if we would devote our energies to innovations in education in competition with the Europeans? We could go on.

    After enslavement, we were colonised. And it was supposed to be for our good. Considered unripe for civilization, we were to be brought to the level of tolerance, where and when other fortunate nations can tutor us in the art of government. Never mind that we were going to be forerunners in the art of governance if we were not distracted from the insights that defined the Oyo Kingdom experiment. But we don’t really need to sweat to debunk the ideology of the burden of the West to spread civilization. The architect of the colonial idea was too honest to be misconstrued. Lord Lugard was clear about the Dual Mandate—to expedite the industrial revolution of Britain while helping the “uncivilised” people of Africa.

    The extent to which colonialism helped Africa should not detain us. What is important is the deficit of thinking that enabled a number of African folks to internalise its norms, especially in the matter of the alleged superiority of the coloniser’s culture. Whereas, Europeans deliberately waged war against the culture of Africans, in other parts of their colonising efforts, they refrained from a wholesale sacking of the people’s ways of life. What is sadder, however, is that even after independence, despite the campaign promises of some of the nationalists in the forefront of the struggle against colonialism; the colonial infrastructure was kept intact resulting in what Kwame Nkrumah referred to as Neo-colonialism.

    Our post-independence era was, therefore, effectively rigged for crisis and it didn’t disappoint. Primed to privilege our different pre-colonial nationalities above the new nation, we ended with a fratricide that still defines us till today and is not likely to go away any soon because we still lack the type of committed leadership that is capable of inspiring and mobilizing a new dialogue of hope and restoration.

    What I would like us to understand, however, is that the whole era of colonialism and the post-independence episode of fratricide are distractions. Assume that nothing happened to the pace of the old Yoruba nation in general and Oyo state in particular, you may indulge your imagination about where we would be by now. Indeed, assume that the pace we set for ourselves between 1955 and 1962 were not disrupted, you could imagine where we would be now. The question then is this: why has this not been our attitude? Why have we been manipulated into thinking that we couldn’t do much outside of the mainstream infrastructure that the center was supposed to provide? Why has the imaginative thought that developed the federal system been usurped by the unsophisticated resignation to the status quo ante that the accident of military rule suggested?

    And the structure that the military bequeathed to us must be regarded as a suggestion. After all the military is only one of the institutions of the nation and one that was shamed out of relevance to internal democratic governance. It cannot therefore aspire into reckoning in the national political dialogue without paying adequate attention to the longings of the people. When you ThinkOyo, you must contemplate these things. For, in thinking, as in other matters, ajise bi Oyo laa ri. Oyo kii se bi enikan.

  • Justice Kayode Eso: A tribute

    The death of Justice Kayode Eso hit most of us who knew him like a thunderbolt. When a man of his stature dies in Yorubaland, the cry is ‘Erin wo, Ajanaku sun bi oke’ meaning something like an earthquake has struck. The name Eso carries some significance in Yorubaland. In the days of the old Oyo Empire, the guardian or military class was known as the Eso and anybody by such a name in Yorubaland comes from the military aristocracy.

    Kayode Eso was of course not an Oyo man but an Ijesha man and it is generally known that Ijesha people are fighters who would not easily surrender to any overbearing force. This was why they and the Ekitis in the Ekiti Parapo Confederacy fought the Oyo Empire under its Ibadan military leaders to a stalemate between 1873 and 1886 and finally until Pax Britannica was imposed on the country in the 1890s.

    Justice Kayode Eso trained as a lawyer and attended Trinity College Dublin where he imbibed deeply the Irish scholastic tradition particularly in the liberal arts before studying law. This was why Justice Eso was so well grounded in literature and in the use of the English language. He could have, if he had wanted, become an English teacher with specialization in Shakespeare. He was a product of Ilesha Grammar School and he was very proud of it. He was in Ilesha Grammar School with another great legal scholar, Dr Ajayi former Solicitor- General and Permanent Secretary in Ministry of Justice in western Nigeria. I remember interviewing him when Dr Ajayi gave me his huge and scholarly manuscript for editorial improvement one or two decades ago. There was a particular page in the manuscript that was very interesting to Justice Eso and he asked me in his characteristic way whether the author mentioned the fact that he could not wrestle him down during ijakadi (wrestling competition). The judge was referring to something young people did in their pre-teen and teenage years as a form of recreation and exercise in the villages and the small towns of Yorubaland. As sophisticated and highly educated as Justice Kayode Eso was, he still remembered his roots and against those whom he wrestled. He had his ears close to the ground throughout his life; he loved his native Ilesha and Ijesha land generally.

    I know that he was heavily involved in plans of industrialization of Ijesha land. I remember visiting him with my late friend, Professor Biola Ojo during which time he was discussing in details with Prof Biola Ojo who also was a man of means and who had the progress of Ijesha land in his heart about resuscitation of the International Breweries – the only industrial plant in Ilesha.

    Justice Kayode Eso, in spite of his devotion to his native land was a Nigerian patriot. In his life, there was no contradiction between a local patriot and a nationalist. He was a good Yoruba man as well as an excellent Nigerian. On returning from his legal studies in Ireland and the UK, he settled down in Jos where he commenced his legal practice before coming to Yorubaland. In other words, he cut his legal teeth in Jos. Jos in those days was a cosmopolitan town with a section called Anglo-Jos where the British Tin Mining Community resided. This may sound rather quaint to many readers but in actual fact, Jos was the only town in Nigeria that was close to English culture because of the presence of many English people who had settled there to make a living and it was among these people that Justice Kayode Eso felt at home. He practiced law in Jos with the likes of Mr Agbakoba, Olisa Agbakoba’s father. Jos in those days was also inhabited by large Ogbomosho community including the present Shoun of Ogbomosho, Oba Oyewunmi Ajagungbade the third. There were other Nigerian communities particularly Urhobo of present day Delta and many others in the business and legal community from Eastern Nigeria and present day Delta area. It was in Jos that Justice Kayode Eso developed his pan Nigerian outlook and orientation. His wife, Mrs. Aina Eso, a lady that has hugely complemented Justice Kayode Eso is from the Niger Delta. It is not difficult to understand why Justice Kayode Eso loved Nigeria so much and why he was hugely disappointed that Nigeria was punching both locally and internationally below its weight. I remember an incident which personally made the revered Justice wonder what was going on in this benighted country. He had a fish pond in his well appointed Villa in Ibadan and nursed the fishes for a long time checking them and feeding them every morning as a hobby. Against all pleading that the fishes were hefty enough for harvest, he kept saying his wife should tarry a little longer. But alas one morning he woke up and all the fishes were gone. Some miscreants had stolen into his compound in the night to harvest the work of his hand. The old man could not believe what had happened. He jokingly said, some people obviously needed the fish more than himself. The Judge felt this incident symbolizes and epitomize the collapse of the moral order in Nigeria.

    On a personal note, I want to pay a special tribute to Justice Kayode Eso’s sense of fairness as a judge especially in the turbulent days of political squabbles and recrimination in the old western region. I remember a case which went before Justice Kayode in the early 1966 in which my brother, the late Chief Joseph Oduola Osuntokun erstwhile Minister of Education in Western Nigeria was involved along with virtually the entire cabinet of the late Chief S.L. Akintola the premier who had just been assassinated. The crisis in the Action Group between 1961 and 1962 had been so destructive in Yorubaland to the extent that both Sir Adesoji Aderemi the Governor, Chief S.L. Akintola, the premier and Chief Obafemi Awolowo leader of Action Group and leader of opposition in the Federal House of Representative had suffered huge personal losses. This tragedy eventually ended with Chief Awolowo being incarcerated for treasonable felony. The crisis in the West eventually led to a military intervention in Nigerian politics. It was therefore natural for the supporters of Chief Awolowo to feel triumphant after the January 1966 coup and to use their influence to deal with their political enemies. It was in such circumstance that the entire cabinet of Chief Akintola was hurled before Justice Kayode Eso and many expected them to be dealt with ruthlessly. To many people’s surprise, Justice Eso decided the case rather fairly and freed those who were innocent even to the surprise of those who had expected the worst. I was an undergraduate student of the University of Ibadan at that time and my late brother was in the dock and we were all so surprised about the judicial integrity of Justice Kayode Eso. So when people talk about him in abstract, I can provide life experience of the integrity and humanity of this great Judge. Justice Kayode Eso in later years was very fond of my brother Prof Kayode Osuntokun. As far as I know, apart from the late Justice Olajide Olatawura and Justice Tayo Onalaja, he was the only legal dignitary who sometimes attended the annual lecture in honour of Kayode Osuntokun at the Kayode Osuntokun Auditorium at the University College Hospital Ibadan.

    In later years, I got to know Justice Kayode Eso very well and even to know his son Olumide and Olumide’s wife Ronke, Major General Henry Adefowope’s daughter who happens to be my in-law. The Yoruba say that life is like old man river, you never know when you will cross it. At 87, Justice Kayode Eso lived well and lived long. May God rest his soul, be with his wife, with his two children and grandchildren. He has lived an exemplary life and joined the saints in his old age. Even though the situation in Nigeria seems dire, but who knows what the future will bring. Whatever it brings, whether good or bad, Justice Kayode Eso’s contribution to the growth of this country will remain imperishable and his name will be written in gold. Adieu the Cesarus of the legal profession in Nigeria and an Icon of judicial erudition.

  • In the womb of 2013

    In 96 hours, 2012 will become history. Already, we have started wishing ourselves happy new year in advance. We do this not because we are sure of anything but because we believe that we will see the new year whether the enemy likes it or not, to borrow a popular refrain. In no time, 2012 has come and is virtually gone. When we were entering the year about 362 days ago, we did so with high hopes, just as we are doing now with the approach of 2013. As we take stock of the outgoing year in preparation for the coming of 2013, there are many things to reflect upon.

    Those who are deep will want to give thanks to God for His protection, preservation and provision in the outgoing year. If it was not for Him, it is not likely that many of us will still be around today. Remember, many have gone and those of us who are still alive are not around because we are better than those who are dead. We are alive by the grace of God. We remember incidents which claimed the lives of many, but which we survived not because of our holiness but because the Lord in His infinite mercy decided to keep us. Our prayer now is that we will complete the 2012 race. Though it remains four days from today, but as I write this on the night of Christmas, I know too well that some may die before January 1, 2013, notwithstanding the fact that we have been wishing one another happy new year in advance in the past few days.

    What is really new about a new year? Is there anything new in it? Is it not just a change in time and calendar as we witness every day? Well, a new year is significant because it has gone through 365 days or 366 days as in the case of 2012, which was a leap year. To run a calendar for one whole year is not a joke in a country like ours which lacks the basic facilities for healthy living. To live well and long, a man must plan his life in line with the existing facilities in his country. Most of these facilities are expected to be provided by the government in collaboration with the private sector in certain areas. The buck, no matter how we look at it, stops at the government’s desk because these amenities are basic infrastructure required for the day-to-day existence of the people.

    We are talking about schools, hospitals, roads, electricity, water, security and those other things that make the world tick. In our country many people have taken it upon themselves to provide these facilities, but they are few and far between. The majority does not have what it takes to put these things in place. It is because of this silent majority that the government must be alive to its responsibilities. With President Goodluck Jonathan promising that things would be better in 2013, I want to believe that the yearnings of this silent majority for the presence of government in their lives will be answered. Is the president’s promise a good sign that things will be better for all of us in 2013?

    If the president can make such a promise then it follows that 2013 should be a year we should all look forward to with high hope. With or without the president’s promise some of us are hopeful that 2013 will be better. We have lived on such hope for ages and it seems we will continue to be hopeful year after year because as the saying goes ‘’while there is life, there is hope’’. We are hopeful for a better 2013 not necessarily because the president said so, but because it is in the nature of man to always look at the brighter side of life. Whenever a new year is approaching like this we make resolutions; whether we will keep them or not is a different ball game

    Some resolve to stop smoking; some resolve to stop philandering; some resolve to stop drinking and so on and so forth. The bottom line of it all is that the new year should be better than the old. This is the kind of resolution our president has made. He wants to be a better president in 2013, it, therefore, follows that we should be better followers too. As long as the president leads well, the people will follow. All he needs do is to shine the torch so that we can find our way. So far, the president has not met our expectations and he too knows. His resolution, if I may call it that, could be another way of telling Nigerians that ‘’yes, I know that I have failed you, please forgive me I will do better next year’’.

    To admit one’s failure is not a sin, it is the beginning of the sinner’s desire to change for good. In the outgoing year, Nigerians suffered a lot. They virtually went through hell in the daily pursuit of their means of livelihood. With the epileptic power supply, fuel scarcity and the high cost of goods and services, the fortunes of the common-man further dwindled. They lived from hand to mouth and from all the indices now there is no hope for them in 2013 except the president improves on his performance. As a president, who I believe has his ears to the ground Jonathan must know what troubles those he governs. He mentioned some of the people’s problems in his remarks at the foundation laying of Living Faith Foundation’s Bible College in Kaduna on Sunday.

    Hear him : ‘’Small businesses such as barbing salons cannot continue to buy generators to operate and break even. My wish is for Nigerians not to have generating sets’’. Mr President if South Africa can run its economy without generators, what stops us from doing the same? What is required is the will to fix the power sector and if you can do that we are on our way to have a country which will be second to none in Africa. The question is will the hawks in your administration allow you to serve the longsuffering people of our country? The choice is yours sir. You are by the grace of God our leader today and you don’t have to kowtow to anybody. Rather, people should be beholden to you because as they say in my village, ‘’you hold the knife and the yam’’.

    In Nigeria today sir, your word is law. What you want you will get as long as it is within the purview of the law. All you need do is to discard those who do not wish you and by extension the nation well. If you do that, you are on your way to writing your name in gold. I want to hold you by your word that next year will be better because having made that declaration you have no choice than to live up to it. Let me quote you here again sir. ‘’Let me assure all of you and indeed all Nigerians that 2013 will be better for us than 2012 in all aspects of the nation’s history. The new year shall be better for us in terms of job creation, wealth creation and improved security among others’’. I say amen to that. You were right on track when you referred to the people’s cynicism about your administration. That cynicism, you must know, is informed by what they have gone through under you in the past two years.

    It is left for you to make us believe in you in 2013. Again, your observation is appropriate here : ‘’Sometimes, challenges make people doubt the sincerity of government, but I am confident that God knows everything’’. Yes, God knows everything, but it is man that will do the job here on earth through His grace. Sir, are you that man? Happy New Year Nigeria and may the Lord guide us aright.

  • Igbo and Yoruba culture clash

    The verbal war between the Igbo and Yoruba columnists and opinion moulders over the role of their elites in the Nigerian post independence crisis and the subsequent civil war (1967-1970) rages on. The former celebrate Ojukwu and Achebe as heroes while demonising Awo as the architect of Igbo tragedy. The latter insist the statement of Awo, their hero, that ‘starvation is a weapon of war’, is not the answer to Igbo failure of leadership. That both derived different conclusions from the same set of facts only underscores our multiculturalism. As products of different cultures, our perception of reality is conditioned by our values, mores, norm and language.

    This explains why our elder statesman, Professor Chinua Achebe, a former Biafra cultural ambassador will declare with such finality that ‘Nigerians hate the Igbo because of their superior culture’. Of course, were Bola Ige, the unrepentant Yoruba irredentist and Achebe’s friend, to be alive, he would have countered by insisting Yoruba culture is the most advanced in Africa. Our pastoralists brothers from the Sahel of the north would, have as they once did in the 50s, dismissed the cultures of those they derogatively referred to as ‘half naked people of the east and unbelievers of the west’ as inferior. Never mind that anthropologists have long said no one culture is superior or inferior.

    The clash of culture also accounts for Achebe’s claim ‘there was a country’ while others argue what he saw, was probably an apparition, if he meant the Biafra nation Ojukwu created on May 30, 1967 which he impudently claimed ‘no power in Black Africa ‘could suppress, long after Gowon’s creation of a 12-state structure of May 26, 1967 which carved out South-eastern and Rivers states for the Ijaw, Efiks and Ibibio – sworn enemies of the Igbo.

    Achebe and Igbo elite also insist Awo betrayed the Igbo by reneging on a promise to declare an Oduduwa Republic. Again that amounts to viewing reality only from Achebe’s ‘superior Igbo culture’. Ojukwu was not in a position to know all that transpired in the meeting between Awo and Yoruba leaders in early May, where Awo made the statement, but it is on record that Awolowo later led a delegation of Western and Mid-Western leaders to Enugu on May 6, 1967, to dissuade Ojukwu from seceding according to Hilary Njoku’s ‘A Tragedy Without Heroes’.

    Both Ojukwu, who Professor Aluko said spoke better Yoruba than many Yoruba, and Achebe who lived in Ibadan, knew that Awo might have been revered by his Yoruba people, but that would not translate to Awo railroading the Yoruba to a war for which they were ill-prepared. With western Nigeria taken over by ’a northern army of occupation’ according to Awo himself, Yoruba would have asked him to first go and bring his children from London to lead the battle if he insisted on a mass suicide.

    Achebe claimed Zik was cheated because of cross carpeting after the 1952 election he had won. Igbo commentators as a result of selective perception seem not to be interested in all available documents which have shown that what happened was not different from Igbo going into coalition with the north in 1959 and 1979.

    But even if the story were different, bearing in mind our cultural differences, why should the decision of Yoruba elite to take their own destiny in their own hands in a federation where a northerner then controlled the North, an easterner controlled the East and Zik, based in Yoruba land using the platform of NCNC, a Yoruba party which had only one Igbo man during its first inaugural meeting, to mobilise the Igbo who had by 1959 outstripped the Yoruba in education, become the basis for bitterness passed down generations by leaders like Achebe?

    Would the Igbo elite which later schemed out Eyo Ita, a minority, as premier of the East have allowed a Yoruba man as premier of East in 1952?

    Of course the Igbo had the right to self-determination following the pogrom in the north. But others from different cultural background would have adopted a different approach. For instance the Yoruba culture prepares you for decision making , leadership and bravery through all forms of allegories : “Emi ko leku, ki nje oye ile Baba re’’ ‘the faint hearted never inherits his father’s throne’ ; but you are equally warned , “ti owo eni ko ba te eeku ida, a ki bere iku ti o pa baba eni”. (If you don’t control the armoury, you don’t embark on a war of vengeance). Ojukwu was stampeded to secession with less than 200 rifles.

    By 1968, with the fall of Enugu and defection of Zik, the war was effectively lost. But Ojukwu and Achebe extended the suffering of their people until 1970. Ojukwu returned after a decade in exile for an act of contrition by teaming up with his northern nemesis. He was later to work against the interest of June 12 and Yoruba, his host, by becoming an errand boy to Europe for Abacha.

    Again, if Yoruba do not regard such celebrated Igbo leader a hero, blame it on Yoruba culture that inculcates the spirit of supreme sacrifice for your host in times of great adversity (Fajuyi chose to die with Ironsi). This is contrary to Igbo culture which according to Achebe expects Igbo who stay in strange land to abandon their hosts “who know how to appease their gods when calamity befalls the owners of the land”. Igbo abandoned Lagos during the June 12 crisis to avoid becoming victims of war orchestrated more by their leaders. But again, MKO Abiola who on the eve of 1993 election predicted his martyrdom by making metaphorical allusion to those the Yoruba chose to carry sacrifice to the gods paid the supreme sacrifice.

    What has become apparent from the foregoing is a clash of culture between the Igbo and their Yoruba host. It was precisely to forestall such clash in a nation with over 250 ethnic nationalities that Ahmadu Bello, one of our founding fathers had in response to Zik admonition that they should forget their cultural differences to hasten their task of decolonization, warned they should instead endeavour to ‘understand our differences.’

    Tragically, over six decades after Ahmadu Bello’s warning, a segment of Nigerian ruling class made up of ‘vultures’ from the north, east and west, that have always exploited the divisive cultural differences, for personal gains such as becoming president without a political base, acquiring oil blocks, partaking in sharing of our national patrimony, and day light stealing of close to N2 trillion, still insist convocation of a sovereign national conference to discuss our differences is an invitation to disintegration of the country.

    All our angry, educated but jobless youths want is good things of life. Too lazy to worry about the past, they have become miracle seekers who want victory without war. Their counterparts from the north earnestly yearn for a messiah. Youths who don’t understand where they are coming from cannot chart the way forward. The challenge is therefore before the current political ruling class. They must learn from the selfless sacrifices of founding fathers of America, Germany and present Russia to negotiate our own variant of federalism.

    Every nationality has the right to choose its own hero as dictated by its culture. That is the whole essence of federal arrangement which as a social philosophy strives to liberate groups from the tyranny of the state. More than half of the world population has adopted one form of federal arrangement or the other. Europe after two world wars is resorting to a federal arrangement. Britain has accepted the Northern Ireland challenge after 300 years of forced marriage. This is the time to liberate this nation from the strangle-hold of ‘vultures’.