The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • Tried- yet unbruished and unbowed

    From a non-existent, comatose status, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), hitherto non-existent in the political firmament of Ondo politics suddenly sprouted some five months back. For a state that had been ruled by the PDP for six years straight under Olusegun Agagu and later under the jackboots of Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party for four years, it would be almost unthinkable for any party to want to contest for power. But not the Action Congress of Nigeria and its leadership. Convinced that parties are set up contest for power no matter, a right no one can question, satisfied that the party had a sellable ideology and formidable platform and determined to change the face and direction of Ondo politics, ACN threw its hat in the ring.

    Thus, in less than six months, the party energized its base and changed the political temperature of Ondo politics. With both hands on the lever, the national leader of the ACN, Asiwaju Tinubu led the charge to rebuild the party. Deploying many of his traditional political associates to pound the ground in Ondo, he employed his strategic prowess to put the party back in gear and into reckoning. What followed was a flurry of activities that soon turned the political battle in Ondo into a battle royale. What seemed like a walk over for Mimiko became a battle for his political survival.

    Having parted ways with those who paved his way to power, and pelted stones at those who stood up for him when it mattered most, Mimiko with power, money and the coercive instruments of the state in his hands became a demi-god-a governor turned Sheriff. For Mimiko, Ondo State was his farm and no one else dare attempt to take it over. But every student of politics knows that one of the very elementary lessons of politics is that the competition for power is constant, fierce and atimes can be brutal. Parties and politicians are in business to contest for power, to seek to unseat their opponents or even members within their party, to take advantage of their opponents and seize on opportunities. The game of politics is not a game for the lily livered. It is not one for the sentimental or the non-risk taker. So when people complain about ACN or any other party challenging Mimiko for the governship seat of Ondo, I wonder what planet they are from. It is well within their right.

    That the ACN, entered the race, stomped the grounds in Ondo, articulated a party manifesto and competed according to the rules of the game should be enough to earn it kudos. Any other argument about ACN and Ondo falls by the way side and on stony ground. Why do some people feel Mimiko or any other governor for that matter cannot be challenged at the polls when election time comes? The mere fact that a time limit is set for the tenure of elected officials at the expiration of which they must return to the electorate to earn a new mandate suggests that others that desire to hold such positions must be given the chance to compete. Therein lies the most fundamental ingredient of democracy which is the right of the people to either vote in or vote out representatives they do not like. There is no morality about what party, which individual or group can enter the race to contest for power. There is also no questioning of the rationale or the right or motives of such persons or parties to enter the race. What suffices is that the party or individual fulfils the requirements to compete.

    In Ondo, we have seen our democracy benefit from very spirited political campaigns, debates and multi-party exposure. The ACN brought a new spark, glamour and excitement to the governorship race. But more than that, it brought out the issues and forced all those in the race to compete for the votes and support of the electorate.

    The Ondo election has come, but it has not gone. In the next few weeks and months there will emerge evidence of vote manipulation, rigging, and other infractions that occurred that may form the basis for legal action. The gloss over the election will wear off. The maximum use of thuggery, the criminal acts of ballot snatching, the perpetration of violence and scare mongering that characterized the Ondo elections no matter how much they try to hide them will soon be revealed.

    It is sufficient for now to accept the fact that a winner has been announced in Mimiko, but to claim he won a landslide, that he was the preferred choice of the people and that he was politically invincible by breaking the second term jinx is to stretch the Mimiko narrative far into the realm of the ridiculous. For instance, Mimiko’s victory is neither resounding nor a landslide as we are being made to believe. With only about one in six voting for him in the election and with a 41.6 per cent of total votes cast in his favor fell short of getting a majority vote. However, In the combined 51 per cent scored by the PDP and the ACN, it is evident that the Ondo people voted more for a change than for Mimiko.

    I must return momentarily to the antagonists of the idea of South West integration for development. When the media spinners, pundits and a tribe of political charlatans seek to pooh-pooh the idea of the South West integration by referring to it as a thirst for territorial expansion and political hegemony, one is left to wonder where they were when Awolowo united the South-west and marched the region forward in bold steps towards development. Of course all was well until the most classic political betrayal yet in the annals of political history occurred and Akintola broke ranks with Awolowo. There is nothing wrong with the push for regional integration or South-west integration. It is not a crime in our books for parties or individuals seek to unite their people or region towards rapid development. It is purely legitimate. That is why we have the south-south states beginning to integrate. The north under the Arewa Consultative Forum and Middle Belt Forum are all attempts at regional integration which no one dares question. To now seek to question the move towards the South-west integration as championed by Tinubu and the ACN governors reeks of political bad blood and opportunism. That they seek to win more governors or persons to their cause is also very legitimate.

    The Yoruba have in Asiwaju Tinubu a dogged fighter for the race. It is on record that perhaps after Awolowo and Abiola, no other single individual has invested in the Yoruba cause. We ask pointed of those of the Afenifere and their cohorts who claim to be more Awolowo than the rest of us what is it that they have done to advance the cause of the Yoruba nation. The people do not know or reckon with them. They are the ones who eat the three course meal meant for the people and give nothing back. They are the ones in whose influence does not extend beyond the street where their house is situated. We saw their likes at work during the times of Awolowo and Abiola. It can be no different for Asiwaju Tinubu. In the unfolding developments around the Ondo elections, the Yoruba nation is yet exposed as intolerant of successful political leaders and too much in a hurry to demonize them.

    Now that the Ondo election has thrown up these issues once again, we must proceed with care and reasoning devoid of parochialism. The ACN from being a mere onlooker in Ondo politics now has a foothold , a stake and political actors now and future elections at all levels must reckon with the party. Definitely, the last has not been heard of the Ondo elections. The Action Congress of Nigeria for one will continue in its dogged pursuit of ensuring that the process of election is transparent and the playing ground is levelled. It will seek to send the message that the party is willing to concede defeat only when it is sure that no advantage was accorded its opponents either by the powers that be in Abuja or by the umpire, in this case INEC in the October contest. Those that seek power by all means must also be ready to answer when the roll is called up yonder.

     

  • Achebe’s personal history of Biafra

    Achebe’s personal history of Biafra

    A little over four years ago, precisely October 9, 2008, Chinua Achebe, one of the world’s greatest novelists and essayists and, for me, Africa’s greatest literary figure, delivered the keynote lecture on the occasion of the Silver Anniversary of The Guardian at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos. The lecture, entitled “What Nigeria is to me,” was vintage Achebe; simple, eloquent, coherent, rigorous and full of insight.

    He delivered the lecture on tape but his physical absence did not make it any less riveting for the distinguished audience that gathered that beautiful morning to listen to him.

    For me, the most memorable lines of that lecture were his concluding paragraphs. “Nigeria,” he said in reference to our first and second national anthems that have respectively described the country as ‘motherland’ and ‘fatherland’, “is neither my mother nor my father. Nigeria is a child, gifted, enormously talented, prodigiously endowed and incredibly wayward. Being a Nigerian is abysmally frustrating and unbelievably exciting. I have said somewhere that in my next re-incarnation, I want to come back as a Nigerian again. But I have also in a rather testy mood in a book called The trouble with Nigeria dismissed Nigerian travel advertisements with the suggestion that only a tourist with an addiction to self flagellation (will) pick Nigeria for a holiday. And I mean both. Nigeria needs help; Nigerians have their work cut out for them, to coax this unruly child along the path of useful creative development. We are the parents of Nigeria, not vice-versa. A generation will come if we do our work patiently and well and given luck; a generation will come that will call Nigeria Father or Mother, but not yet.”

    Achebe’s logic was impeccable; a country is what its citizens make of it, not the other way round. And until a generation of those citizens emerge who can feel proud of what their progenitors have bequeathed to them, the country cannot rightfully lay claim to father- or mother-hood.

    Few people, if any, would disagree with Achebe that Nigeria is yet to arrive at that happy milestone in its 52 years of independence from British colonial rule. The reason for the country’s failure to do so are many, not least of which is the failure of leadership which Achebe as essayist dwelt on extensively in his now famous little book, The trouble with Nigeria.

    Of course, the failure of leadership has not been the only trouble with Nigeria, even though it’s arguably the biggest. Also up there with the failure of leadership are problems of ethnicity, corruption and selfishness, all three – and even more – of which seem pervasive not just among our leaders but also among their followers.

    For Achebe, obviously, the work cut out for Nigerians, whatever their status or profession, is to conquer these and other vices, or contain them at the least. For the writer in Africa the “overall goal”, he says in his latest book, THERE WAS A COUNTRY: A PERSONAL HISTORY OF BIAFRA which has provoked a huge controversy, is “to challenge stereotypes, myths and the image of ourselves and our continent and to recast them through stories – prose, poetry, essays and books for our children.”

    Reading through the book, it seems to me the great writer has failed his own test of challenging stereotypes and myths about, and images of, the various nationalities that make up our country. Instead, he seems to emerge at the end of the book as an Igbo supremacist at worst, or its apologist, at best.

    Take for example the issue of the nationalist struggle. “The original idea of one Nigeria,” he claims matter-of-factly, “was pressed by leaders and intellectuals from the Eastern Region. With all their shortcomings they had this idea to build the country as one. The first to object were the Northerners, led by the Sardauna, who were followed closely by the Awolowo clique that had created the Action Group.”

    This was clearly a blatant distortion of history because neither the Sardauna nor Awolowo objected to independence from colonial rule as one Nigeria. What Sardauna objected to was the timing for the simple and understandable reason that for historical reasons the South had a huge head-start over his region in producing the skills required for running the government, and he needed time to do something about the gap.

    However, whereas the Sardauna objected only to the timing of the demand for independence, every school child knew it was Awolowo’s Action Group through its member, Chief Anthony Enahoro, and not Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s NCNC, that moved the original motion for our independence by 1959.

    That AG’s Enahoro moved the motion did not, of course, necessarily mean the party spearheaded the independence struggle. As Achebe said, Zik was a pre-eminent figure in that struggle, even more preeminent than Awo. Surely, however, the writer knew that before Zik there were non-Igbo politicians like Herbert Macaulay, Sir Adeyemo Alakija, Chief Bode Thomas, Kitoye Ajasa, etc – the so-called Black Victorians on account of their English lifestyle and aspirations – who wanted the colonialist to leave.

    Take again his position that other Nigerians, and even the British ex-colonialists, harboured a visceral hatred of the Igbo because of their successes in life. He does admit some flaws in what he says is the Igbo character which he blames somewhat as the source of this universal envy of the group, but quickly glosses over these in his attempt to blame others for the civil war that led to the deaths of millions of his countrymen in the Biafran enclave.

    “The British dislike (for the Igbo),” he said in The Guardian silver anniversary lecture I mentioned above, “was demonstrated when they accused the Igbo of THREATENING to break up a nation state they had carefully and labouriously put together.” (Emphasis mine).

    How anyone, least of all Achebe with all his respect for scholarly rigour, would describe Lt Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu’s declaration of a Republic of Biafra as a mere threat to break up Nigeria simply beggars belief.

    In his defence of Achebe’s book in an interview in the new newsmagazine, Verbatim, Professor Fabian Osuji, a former minister of education and now the Director-General of the Ikemba Odumegwu-Ojukwu Centre, Owerri, said General Yakubu Gowon was wrong to blame the Igbo for seceding. Gowon, he said, “did say that if there was no secession, there would be no war. Alright, which means that secession led to the war? But he was not honest enough to say what led to the secession.” This, he said, quite rightly, was the pogrom against the Igbo, especially in the North, which made them feel completely insecure outside the East.

    Osuji’s position merely echoed Achebe’s when he said in his book he believed that following the pogrom in the North which he claimed without stating any evidence was compounded by the involvement, even connivance of the Federal Government, “secession from Nigeria and the war that followed was inevitable.”

    However, if Gowon, as Osuji says was not honest enough to say what led to the secession, Osuji himself was not honest enough to say what led to the pogrom.

    In his Guardian silver anniversary lecture, Achebe does admit, albeit half-heartedly, that the first coup was a remote cause. “In the bitter suspicious atmosphere of the time,” he said, “a naively idealistic coup proved a terrible disaster. It was interpreted WITH PLAUSIBILITY as a plot by the ambitious Igbo of the East to take control of Nigeria from the Hausa-Fulani North.” (Emphasis mine).

    In his book, however, he failed to admit even the plausibility that the coup was an Igbo coup. Instead, he sought to revive the rationalisation that the coup was meant to rid the country of the corrupt and inept politicians who led the First Republic. Nowhere in the book was there any mention of the fact that mostly senior Northern army officers who had no role in public policy were also targeted and murdered in cold blood.

    Again nowhere in the book was there any mention of the role of Igbo triumphalism, as exemplified in the so-called unification decree and the manner it was declared without consultation by General J.U.T. Aguiyi-Ironsi, and also as exemplified in the widespread gloating over the manner the Sardauna was killed in his residence by the coup leader, Major Chukwuma Nzegwu Kaduna, played in provoking the pogrom.

    One highly symbolic example of this triumphalism was recounted by the expatriate managing director of the New Nigerian, Charles Sharp, in an article I have had cause to refer to on these pages. “I,” he said in the article entitled “The story that got away” (New Nigerian, January 20, 2003), “had a personal experience of the arrogance stemming from the South when Cyprian Ekwensi and his committee arrived at the NNN and informed me they were taking over. He wasn’t precise about who ‘they’ were, but a team from Enugu would run the newspapers. I was ordered to terminate the contracts of the expatriate staff and offer my own resignation as managing director. My immediate reaction was one of disregard and silence, for I was in no position to protest or adopt postures.” (This article is highly recommended reading for anyone with any interest in the story of the collapse of the First Republic.)

    What happened at the NNN, still then owned by the North, was enough to alarm the people of the region, especially their leaders, that their region was now regarded as conquered territory.

    No doubt, Achebe is a great writer but with his latest serving, he has largely failed the biggest test of good writing which is not just to be highly readable, which THERE WAS A COUNTRY is, but to tell truth to your readers.

    The truth of our civil war was that there were rights and wrong on both sides of the war. For once, it seems, Achebe chose to speak the truth, at times only half-truths, about one side and gloss over, or even deny, the truth about the other side – his side.

     

     

     

     

     

  • The rains, the floods, a sinking nation 

    The rains, the floods, a sinking nation 

    Last week, Apapa, a high-brow Lagos suburb known for its ever-buzzing business environment and busy seaports, was a spectacle of horror. The rains had pounded the city continuously from Tuesday to Friday. On that Friday, Apapa roads were overtaken by flood. The traffic was hectic as the water level was so high that only a few vehicles, should I say high-rise vehicles – jeeps and trucks – could manoeuvre the roads. Many commuters had to roll up their trousers and skirts as they ‘swam’ through the furious water running to nowhere in particular.

    It is common knowledge that whenever it rains in Lagos, the traffic is shut down as gridlock is noticed almost in all axis of the city. The spectacle in Apapa has been particularly worrisome as big craters that dot the road also impede vehicular movements. Articulated vehicles which ply Apapa roads to take delivery at the ports easily get stuck in the big potholes. That, in itself, usually worsens the traffic situation.

    In the last few weeks, the rains have intensified. So also is the flood that is ravaging almost half of the country. From whichever way you look at it, the country itself is sinking, not because of the floods that have wiped away many communities, but the burden of survival from all the vicissitude afflicting it. Remember fellow Nigerians who have been displaced in their thousands all over the country. Many have lost their homes, their means of livelihood, their property, their relations and even their humanness as they are cramped together in deplorable relief camps that are more or less ‘trauma camps’. Many communities have either been torn apart or balkanized into tiny islands by the floods.

    If the news filtering out from the various camps across the affected areas is anything to go by, it is as if there is no respite for the victims of the flood which has continued to bare its fangs as the water level continues to rise due to heavy rains. Unfortunately, in many of the camps, rapists are on the prowl doing their own thing freely with little or no resistance from the weaker sex who are obviously the victims. After all, there has not been any reported case of women rapists in any of the camps. It is only the men who have gone ‘sex-amock’. Besides the ‘sex marauders’, the sanitary conditions of the camps are said to be very deplorable, thereby heightening the fear of imminent outbreak of epidemic.

    One astonishing thing in this season of rains and flood is that the outside world is yet to look in Nigeria’s way. It is as if it has completely ignored Nigeria and abandoned Nigerians to their fate. I am not quite sure if the multi-national companies operating in the country have risen up to the occasion and provided any form of succour for the helpless victims of nature, yet, the rage of the flood has been total. Nobody is left out as both the high and mighty have fallen victim. The other day, the country home of the President was also overrun by flood. So also is the home of the Bayelsa State governor.

    Since the East-West Road has been overrun by the floods and rendered impassable, a journey one hitherto makes in less than two hours now takes more than six hours. This is apart from the attendant high transport fares. For instance, a journey from Warri to Port Harcourt now takes as long as seven hours as against the previous three hours. Instead of going through Patani to Port Harcourt, vehicles now go through Onitsha and Owerri to access Port Harcourt from the axis of the International Airport. According to a recent report, “to even get to Patani, which is just 60 kilometres away from Warri, takes a good effort and money. It is a most complex transport chain as the vehicle from Warri can only get half-way to a village called Uwheru before surrendering its passengers to boat and motorbike operators who do the rest of the journey.”

    The other day, I listened, with keen interest, the assurance of Akinwumi Adesina, the agriculture minister, as he dismisses the imminence of famine in the country due to the flood disaster. I am sure the minister was only being theoretical in his argument that some arrangements would be made to take care of the anticipated shortfall of harvests in the affected areas.

    There is no doubt that Adesina is one of the very few ministers who stand out in the present cabinet, but his present posture over the endless flood can only end up as mere theory that will defile any practical application. Whole farmlands in many agrarian communities that are reputed to be the food baskets of the nation have been washed away and are still being washed away, yet the minister is assuring the nation that there is nothing like famine in sight. Who will believe such a story? The earlier we wake up to the reality of our present circumstance the better for the entire nation.

    From all indications, Nigeria is in the trajectory of a major catastrophe with devastating consequences. Almost all the schools in the affected areas have been rendered unusable while the pupils and students are clinging to their ‘nomadic’ parents. For how long will these children be out of school? The economy of the affected areas is almost totally paralysed. Even artisans cannot go to work just like the farmers have no land to cultivate. Unfortunately, we are carrying on as a nation as if nothing precarious is happening.

    Every passing day, the country is being battered on all fronts: Boko Haram, kidnappers, armed robbers and now floods. Besides, the rampant incidence of extra-judicial killings by security agents everywhere, lynching or mob attacks are also on the increase. While the commotion caused by the callous and brazen lynching of the innocent four University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) students is yet to die down, gunmen were, again, on the rampage in the vicinity of the university last Thursday.

    In the latest orgy of blood-letting, a young graduate who had just completed his national youth service, his girlfriend and an undergraduate of UNIPORT were wasted by gunmen near the campus. Reports have it that the former corps member was celebrating with his friends when the car conveying them suddenly skidded off the road and ran into a shop. Although no life was lost in the crash, a group of men suddenly appeared on the scene and opened fire on the three persons who died on the spot. Mission accomplished, the gunmen quickly bolted away from the scene, leaving eyewitnesses wandering whether it was a Hollywood movie scene or a live orchestra.

    Also last Thursday, heavy explosions and gunfire shook the city of Potiskum, capital of Yobe State, to its foundation as suspected Boko Haram hoodlums clashed with security agents. The same scenario played itself out in neighbouring Maiduguri, capital of Borno State, widely regarded as the operational headquarters of Boko Haram. By the time the dust from the two-pronged attacks settled, at least, five primary schools, including an Islamic seminary, a local government secretariat and several shops and houses were completely razed by fire.

    The killings in Port Harcourt and the ceaseless attacks in Potiskum and Maiduguri coincided with the alarm raised by erudite scholar and Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, last Thursday at an event elsewhere in Port Harcourt. Soyinka said that forces of darkness and retrogression are waging war against humanity in Nigeria. According to him, “if we surrender to these forces, we cease to be human beings.” But for how long will the country continue on this path to perdition before it regains consciousness? Only time will tell!

  • Saving 1,000,000 LIVES; Nobel Prize for MDG inventors; Poor Health Budget AGAIN!

    Saving 1,000,000 LIVES; Nobel Prize for MDG inventors; Poor Health Budget AGAIN!

    I am an obstetrician, a courier delivering babies to paediatricians. The new initiative ‘Saving 1,000,000 lives’ is a good one as a health professional is only as good as the equipment at hand. The Nigerian delivery system must be forced into the 21st Century with an electronic fetal monitor, sonicaid, in every labour room and the alert line for safe delivery must move to above Apgar Score 5. Government should ensure that medical equipment only attracts single digit bank interest loans! Why is medical equipment more expensive here than in the USA or UK?

    What is the fate of a baby in a country where policemen accompanying vaccinators are killed? We are faced with preventable diseases including ‘Ignorance’ and malaria. IGNORANCE ELIMINATION and EDUCATION are keys to good heath. ‘Saving 1,000,000 lives’ requires that there is a multimillion naira Health/Media Outreach Budget and scheduled Health Ministries/all Media houses meetings for life skill messages/advertisements. Is there CSR ‘free’ airtime, 30-60minutes/day divided into 30-60 seconds slots for life skill messages?

    Why do the Secretary General of the UN, Directors of WHO and UNICEF not select 50-100 most important life skill messages annually for the ‘Global Fund Membership’ as ‘Global Fund Advert Moral Media Group’ and disseminate them on commercial packaging and in international and national media?

    Where are the UN, WHO, UNICEF incentives, Annual Prizes for ‘Best life Skill Message’, ‘Best Corporation in Life Skill Dissemination’? Only a fool depends on Bill Gates and BMGF, UNICEF, DFID etc to buy local airtime to save his own children.

    Non-life saving commercial messages out-number ‘life skill health and social’ messages in the media by 100-1000:1. Can the megabucks advertising billions and CSR schemes/scams be harnessed by an ‘Annual UN/WHO/UNICEF Moral Media Campaign’ for ‘ignorance elimination’ strategies? Let every commercial message carry a ‘piggyback’ ‘Unrelated Life Skill Message’ at no extra charge. Cigarettes and alcohol carry negative messages. Every other commercial product can carry piggyback messages. That ‘Social Message Advert Revolution’ will change the world! Women still get pregnant without taking pre-pregnancy folic acid to help prevent anencephalus and early abortion. Why is this, and malaria and typhoid information not taught in schools?

    Health facilities in Africa are a human right. Our Polio, Onchocerciasis, AIDS adverts, ATM, Insecticide Treated Nets programmes are successes of Rotary, Carter, Bill Gates and the Global Fund which ‘Grant’ Africa Life while Nigerian fathers do not buy ITN for their children? Do our markets, schools or religious houses even have cartoon posters with preventive health messages? Religious leaders should save the body and soul. The media must become morally involved in Medical Ignorance Elimination.

    Professor Ransome-Kuti championed Primary Health Care (PHC) and Clinics -one in every ward 16,400. ‘Saving 1,000,000 lives’ demands 10-20million posters to fill the 1.5million classrooms and 10,000 markets with life skill messages at Coca Cola-like advert saturation level? Politicians readily see the need to make 10m personal portrait posters for votes but will never budget for 10m life skill health posters for 100m+ Nigerians. A picture is worth a 1000 words except in Africa. These PHCs need funds. There is a survey ‘The Sorry State Of PHCs’ in The Nation Tue Oct 9. The government hospitals are also in the 19th Century resulting in ‘Out Of Stock-itis’.

    The Mortality Rates are known but one death in a family is 100% death and pain for the family especially if it is due to preventable diseases like malaria. There is a lack of political love. The ‘Saving 1,000,000 lives’ project notes that a lack of drugs, water, sanitation, happy to work personnel, power and simple equipment are ‘political diseases’ stacked against the ill, malaria-ous child. Delay is deadly! Nigerian children should not suffer, neglect, hardship and difficulty and our passport should not condemn our babies and children to the lowest rung on the world’s mortality rates ladder.

    Annual professionals’ meetings should provide an annual ‘State Of The State, Nation- An Audit’ highlighting solutions because politicians are ignorant of budgetary needs. Shamefully politicians have allocated a mere 6.04% of Nigeria’s 2013 budget to health instead of the 15 to 20% recommended, so how do we ‘Save 1,000,000 lives’?

    Medical management is not nuclear physics. The current ‘save one million lives’ is anticipating need and avoiding greed! It is preventive strategies, posters and media messages, kindness, medicines and equipment and replacements. The ‘work happiness factor’ demands 3 monthly painting, carpentry work, and refurbishment. Training is a special area- newsletters are as valuable as SMS updates. Specific skills may require ‘short course’ rotations through experts.

    The original MDG idea team deserve a Noble Prize in Preventive Medicine for forcing governments to attempt to achieve standards saving millions of lives. start a campaign.

    Much of our problem is from the CINS of politicians – Corruption, Incompetence, Negligence and Selfishness. No medical professional should have to treat malaria without facilities. Delay is death. But politicians have not yet even realised the tremendous value of water, for sanitation and thirst, as a human right.

    Persuade the politicians that the solution to Nigeria’s malaria and other health problems lies not in more multimillion naira Ladi Kwali Hall conferences and four wheel drive vehicles but in funding PHCs, and hospitals. The required 16,400 PHCs need N5m each per annum for running costs. Simple.

    Finally: BREAKING News: ‘Nigeria’s Senate President calls for EMERGENCY IN HEALTH SECTOR’ but it is too late for too many dead babies.

  • There was a country: Blockade, starvation and a requiem for Biafra

    There was a country: Blockade, starvation and a requiem for Biafra

    “ Until now efforts to relieve the Biafran have been thwarted by  the desire of the central government of Nigeria to pursue total and unconditional victory and by fear of the Ibo people that surrender means wholesale atrocities and genocide. But genocide is what is taking place right now – and starvation is the grim reaper. This is not the time to stand on ceremony, or go through channels, or to observe the diplomatic niceties. The destruction of an entire people is an immoral objective even in the most moral of wars. It can never be justified; it can never be condoned.” U.S. President Richard Nixon’s campaign speech on September 10, 1968

    The Nigeria-Biafra war which was (under) estimated by Gowon and his top officers to last not more than three months, had lasted more than two years by July 1969. By an inexplicably suicidal instinct, Biafra had held on to the frustration of the Nigerian side. All the brutalities of an overwhelming force and the air bombardments overtly aided by British fire power had still not totally subdued the ‘rebels’. The economic blockade of the ‘rebels’ was thus reinforced and the noose tightened. All the seaports to Biafra had been closed at the beginning of hostilities with the creation of Mid-West, Rivers and South Eastern states which isolated the Biafra state of East Central State. Biafra had also been isolated from the major oil wells by this singular action.

    Further economic and food blockades had been devised as state policy and were being strictly implemented. No agreement could be reached between the two warring parties as to the modus of shipping essential supplies to the ‘rebel’ enclave. Ojukwu insisted on air routes, fearing food poisoning if supplies come through Nigeria moderated channels but the Nigerian government would not hear of it, worried that arms may be smuggled in via that method. In his writing for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ series, New Issues, Professor Nathaniel H Goetz of Pepperdine University thus captures the complexity of the standoff: “Politically, the possibility of a land corridor seemed impossible. One of the many disagreements between the warring parties was simple, yet it illustrates both the mistrust and complexity of what was occurring: Ojukwu forbade the necessary food to reach the country through the neutral corridor for fear Nigerian troops would poison it… on June 5 (1968), an ICRC DC-7 aircraft was shot down by the Federal air force over Biafra, killing the three aid workers on board. Because of this incident, serious disputes over the conduct of relief operations arose and the airlift was again suspended.”

    While the diplomatic face-off went on, the scourges of hunger, diseases and deaths raged on in war-ravaged Biafra eliciting uproar across the world. Dan Jacobs, author of the book, “The Brutality of Nations” wrote about the lamentations of Pope Paul VI over this situation: “The war seems to be reaching its conclusion, with the terror of possible reprisals and massacre against defenseless people worn out by deprivations, by hunger and by the loss of all they possess… there are those who actually fear a kind of genocide.”

    Jacobs also quoted the editorial of the Washington Post of July 2, 1969: “One word now describes the policy of the Nigerian military government towards secessionist Biafra: genocide. It is ugly and extreme but it is the only word which fits Nigeria’s decision to stop the International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC), and other relief agencies from flying food to Biafra.”

    The International Committee in the Investigation of Crimes of Genocide led by a Ghanaian, Dr. Mensah after its investigation of the conflict, reported thus: “I am of the opinion that in many of the cases cited to me, hatred of the Biafrans (mainly Igbos) and a wish to exterminate them was a foremost motivational factor.”

    Let us take a final quote on the international outcry against the Federal Government’s handling of Biafra from no less a personage than Arthur Schlesinger, American historian and scholar of note: “The terrible tragedy of the people of Biafra has now assumed catastrophic dimensions. Starvation is daily claiming the lives of estimated 6,000 Igbo tribesmen, most of them children. If adequate food is not delivered to the people in the immediate future, hundreds of thousands of human beings will die of hunger.”

    It is from the foregoing, from the gloomy umbra of this genocidal turn of events that Achebe concludes that the highly respected Yoruba leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo could not be watching this gory Biafran drama happen, not to talk of being part of it and worse, being the master mind. “All is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I don’t see why we should feed our enemies fat in order for them to fight harder.” This is the alleged refrain from Chief Awolowo and reechoed by people like Chief Allison Ayida, says Achebe. This pogrom by hunger was steadfastly reinforced with such grim policies as state creation, secret currency change, the 20 pounds punishment, the ban on importation of certain commodities and the Indigenisation Act. All this orchestrated war of attrition to what end than to asphyxiate Ndigbo?

    How, when and why did Igbo brothers and sisters suddenly become mortal ‘enemies’ to be strafed, starved to death and exterminated so that the rest of Nigeria would have peace? Why was the reprisal coup not stopped at killing Aguiyi-Ironsi and Igbo officers; why did over 30,000 defenceless civilians have to be slaughtered with no questions asked? What manner of leader would fold his hands and watch while his people are killed like rats in a senseless pogrom without putting up a fight no matter how feeble?

    Achebe is saying that Chief Awolowo providing the intellectual prowess behind these sinister policies means that we still did not know at which point the rain started to beat us. He is saying that Igbo is not the problem of Nigeria. Achebe is asking: who jailed Awolowo on trumped up charges; who killed Adekunle Fajuyi, then governor of Western Region in cold blood, for no reason; who chased away the most senior military officer (Brigadier Ogundipe) and installed a stooge as head of state; who made sure Awo never became president of Nigeria; who killed Ken Saro-Wiwa, who made sure M.K.O. Abiola never became president and eventually killed him, his wife and damaged his businesses; who jailed Obasanjo; who always insists that he always must rule or determine who rules?

    Achebe expected Chief Awolowo, as the Yoruba leader of that era, who had just been freed from an unjust imprisonment to stand up against the injustice of the pogrom against Igbo in the north; he expected him to speak up against the raging genocide unleashed on Ndigbo the way others like Wole Soyinka, Victor Banjo and a few other Yoruba spoke against it, instead of aiding and abetting it.

    EPILOGUE: REQUIEM FOR BIAFRA; QUO VADIS NIGERIA? On January 15, 1970, the Biafran delegation, which was led by Major-General Philip Effiong and included Sir Louis Mbanefo, M.T. Mbu, Col. David Ogunewe and other Biafran military officers, formally surrendered at Dodan Barracks to the troops of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    Forty-two years ago, the rest of Nigeria teamed up seeking to exterminate the Igbo race in Nigeria, putting down more than two million and leaving the rest deprived, wretched and psychologically traumatised for no just cause. Forty two years after, all the rehabilitation and reconstruction promised was never to be. A trip through Igbo land today is enough proof of an ongoing ‘war’ by other means. Today, Igbo that was a pillar of the land, one of the majority tribes has been deliberately reduced to sub- minority. The people now are the least in population! It has the least number of states, local government areas and consequently, the least share of the federal revenue allocation. All these wars of attrition notwithstanding, the current attitude is: we dare you to talk about it. But Achebe insists: “My aim is not to provide all the answers but to raise questions, and perhaps to cause a few headaches in the process.”

    Sadly, Igbo land, the wretched remains of Biafra still bears the ugly marks of that near-annihilation, both physically and in the mind. For over four decades, Igbo still cannot dare to produce the President of Nigeria. For forty years, it remains tattered, disheveled and unkempt like an old hag. And because we have backed up the wrong tree, Nigeria generally has not fared much better either. The contorted creature sits pitiably today at a precipice staring down her deep, dark doom. Quo Vadis Nigeria?

  • Osun State or State of Osun?

    Osun State or State of Osun?

    What is in a name? In linguistic philosophy, name denotes as a sign for a thing, person or thought, or more accurately, of real or imaginary, mental or material phenomenon by which it is known. The sun, the earth, Osun State, the Emperor of Japan and the President of Nigeria are singular names that denote real things, including that of a person. In Yoruba language, a name not only denotes, but also has meaning (connotative). The same goes for Igbo and Hausa languages. Yoruba names are like sentences that have meanings. Thus we have Oluwabiyi (God has given birth to this (boy/girl)), Babatunde (dead father has come back to life, like in reincarnation), Omosini (child buries his parent) and Oluwarotimi (God stands by me). In Igbo, Chukwuemeka (God has done very well), Chijioke (God is the keeper and sharer of gifts and fortunes) and in Hausa, Maigari (one who owns the land). “Osun” and “State” are concrete and nameable things. What precisely then is the meaning of Osun State when translated into Yoruba language? It is simply Osun Ipinle. What is the meaning of Osun Ipinle? I really don’t know, but Osun Ipinle is an unmeaning mark or label because it is non- connotative. The same applies to California State (California Ipinle), New York State (New York Ipinle), Columbia District (Columbia Àgbègbè) etc. But we can give proper meaning to Osun State (Osun Ipinle) by renaming it State of Osun ( Ipinle Osun i.e. Ipinle ti Osun) because, unlike the latter, the former does not denote anything. If, for the sake of argument we say “to be is to denote”, then Osun State or Osun Ipinle is only officially recognised on paper or in the mind or imagination, but does not exist in reality as it does not denote anything.

    “Ipinle Osun” is meaningful while “Osun Ipinle” is not, in Yoruba language. Similarly, we can translate California State (California Ipinle), New York State (New York Ipinle) and Columbia District, CD (Columbia Àgbègbè, Ileto) to meaningful ones like State of California (Ipinle California), State of New York (Ipinle New York) and District of Columbia, DC (Agbegbe Columbia). We are not expected to treat Osun, California, New York and Columbia as if they are adjectives qualifying the word “state” and “district” precisely because they are not attributive of any quality, property or accident of an object or thing.

    We can now see that “Osun” and “State” are both proper nouns and concrete names where one cannot be used as an adjective qualifying the other as in Osun State. But we can use one as possessing or belonging to the other, like the State of Osun (i.e. State belonging to Osun), just as the State of California, State of New York and District of Columbia (DC) as states belonging to California territory, New York territory and District belonging to Columbia territory respectively. Which means that, in Yoruba language and probably Igbo or Hausa language, what we erroneously call Osun State, Anambra State, Bayelsa State, or Kano State is actually the State of Osun, State of Anambra, State of Bayelsa, or State of Kano.

    Governor Rauf Aregbesola has done well by pointing out the erroneous naming of a state by those who use the name of that state to qualify the word or term “state”, like the controversial “Osun State”. We can understand why this confusion has arisen. English is a foreign language which we can easily distort, maim or kill owing to lack of understanding of the linguistic analysis of the English language and consequently of our own language(s). But if we fail to understand this much, why then do we fail to understand the linguistic analysis of our own language by simply comparing it to an analysis of a foreign language like English? The interesting thing is that this Aregbesola’s version appears to be the one used in more civilized countries like the USA, where the State of California (Ipinle California) or State of New York (Ipinle New York) translates to Aregbesola’s State of Osun (Ipinle Osun).

    One would have said that Aregbesola prefers the version State of Osun to Osun State in order to align with the more popular names like State of California, State of New York or State of Colorado but for the fact that he seems to have relied purely on Yoruba linguistic convention which led him to the understanding of Osun State (Osun Ipinle) as The State of Osun (Ipinle Osun) or State of Omoluabi and not Omoluabi State. This is a result of original thinking which might have been the thinking behind the naming of states in the US. Perhaps the strong message Aregbesola wanted to send to all Nigerians is contained in his lecture entitled “Culture, Democracy and Good Governance” delivered at the prestigious Oduduwa Hall of the Obafemi Awolowo University on July 17, where he sees his state, The State of Osun, as Ipinle Omoluabi (the State of Omoluabi) as a state of virtuous people. Hence, the State of Osun (Ipinle Omoluabi) is to give emphasis to the meaning of Omoluabi as a state inhabited by virtuous people and equally ruled by people of virtue, freedom, wisdom and profound thinking (ìfogbóntáyése)”a state whose leaders are carefully selected to bring good things, by means of good governance, to the state and the black race.

    From the look of things, it appears that other states would have to follow suit if they are to give effect to the proper meaning of the names of their respective states. In this connection, the State of Osun is not the only Ipinle Omoluabi in the country. All the ACN states are naturally known as Ipinle Omoluabi which other states in the federation can emulate in rapid succession. Why then the unnecessary controversy?

    As I have said, it is probably because of our lack of sufficient understanding of the English language and its import about which we have a control that we quarrel unnecessarily about the naming of a state (the word state not being our language). It is, therefore, surprising that an important figure like the Secretary to the Federal Government (SFG), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, came out with his sermon that Aregbesola’s adoption of the State of Osun instead of the previous Osun State was either wrong or unconstitutional. Happily enough, the energetic and brilliant, activist, lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), had dismissed Anyim’s argument with a shrift, and thrown his (Anyim’s) sermon to the dustbin of legal history. Falana in The Nation newspaper Sept 29, p60), “it is not stated anywhere in the constitution that it is illegal to refer to any particular “state government” as “the government of a state” (italics mine). For the avoidance of doubt, he argued that Section 176 of the constitution refers to “the governor of a state” and not “a state governor” while Section 194 refers to “the government of a state” and not “a state government”. By the same token, Section 270 of the same constitution refers to the High Court of each state and not a State High Court; House of Assembly in each state and not State House of Assembly. He concluded that the Governor of the State of Osun, Aregbesola, has not violated the constitution while Aregbesola’s position is supported by the United States of America which, incidentally, operates a Presidential System of government which we claim to have copied.

    On a more serious note, I think if Anyim is to be taken seriously we should now talk of “President of Nigerian Federal Republic” instead of “President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”. If we are to go by Anyim’s position, “Nigeria Federal Republic” is the right name while “Federal Republic of Nigeria” is not! But the latter is what properly is in use, and not the former. I think we should give honour to whom honour is due, in this case to Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for telling us that he is better known as Governor of The State of Osun than Governor of Osun State, as Jonathan is better known as President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria than President of Nigeria Federal Republic.

    Other states should take a cue from Aregbesola’s insight and meaningful translation and consequent renaming of Osun State to The State of Osun. Enough of meaningless and misleading controversy that leads to nowhere. The bottom line is: The State of Osun or Ipinle Osun as Ipinle Omoluabi has come to stay. Anything to the contrary is a mere show of illogicality and primitive mentality on the part of politicians.

     

    • Professor Makinde is DG/CEO, Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo.

     

  • ‘There was a country’: Ogbunigwe, Abagana ambush; Achebe, Okigbo and Ifeajuna

    THE OGBUNIGWE BOMB: commonly known as Ogbunigwe during the Biafran war, its fame and mystique traveled wide on both sides of the divide. Considered a technological breakthrough of Igbos during the war, the bomb, which may well be a higher version of today’s I.E.Ds (improved explosive device) was deployed to great effect by the Biafran army.

    With the economic blockade of Biafra having a telling effect, the people turned inwards, devising survival strategies and apparatuses. Apart from extracting and refining their own petrol; they also had improvised armoured tanks and piloted their planes. The renowned Professor Godian Ezekwe led a team of scientists in what was known as the Biafran Research and Production Unit, RAP. This think-tank group is said to have developed rockets, bombs and telecommunications gadgets.

    According to Achebe, quoting another great author, Professor Chukwuemeka Ike, the ogbunigwe was put to so much devastating effect against the federal troops that the fear of the explosive was the beginning of wisdom for them; to the extent that the Biafrans succeeded more with it than any imported weapons. Ike in his book, Sunset at Dawn: A Novel about Biafra, captures it thus: “You must have heard that the Nigerians are now so mortally afraid of Ogbunigwe that each advancing battalion is now preceded by a herd of cattle.”

    Boasting about this feat in what is regarded his last official wartime speech, Ojukwu said: “ in three years of war, necessity gave birth to invention… we built bombs, rockets, and we designed and built our own refinery, and our own delivery systems and guided them far. For three years, blockaded without hope of import, we maintained all our vehicles.

    “The state extracted and refined petrol, individuals refined petrol in their back gardens. We built and maintained our airports, we maintained them under heavy bombardment… we spoke to the world through a telecommunications system engineered by local ingenuity.

    “In three years, we had broken the technological barrier, became the most advanced black people on earth.”

    THE ABAGANA AMBUSH: March 25, 1968 probably remains one of the most memorable days in the Nigeria –Biafra war. It was the day the Nigerian side suffered the heaviest single loss in the war. Known as the Abagana Ambush, the Second Division of the Nigerian Army led by Col. Murtala Muhammed had finally crossed the Niger Bridge after failing in the first attempt (having been repelled by the Col. Joe Achuzia’s guerrilla army and suffering heavy casualties). Having crossed into Biafra, the plan was to link up with the First Division led by Col. Shuwa penetrating the Igbo heartland through the north from Nsukka. As Achebe notes: “The amalgamation of these two forces, the Nigerian Army hoped, would then serve as a formidable force that would ‘smash the Biafrans’”. Col. Muhammed was said to have assembled and deployed, a convoy of 96 vehicles and four armoured cars to facilitate this plan on March 31, 1968.

    However, Biafran intelligence was said to have got wind of the move and a Major Jonathan Uchendu was charged with working out a counter-attack strategy. With a 700-man team, a counter- attack plan was hatched that essentially sealed up the Abagana Road while the troops lie in ambush in a nearby bush waiting patiently for the advancing Nigerians and their reinforcements.

    Achebe writes that “Major Uchendu’s strategy proved to be highly successful. His troops destroyed Muhammed’s entire convoy within one and half hours. All told, the Nigerians suffered about 500 casualties. There was minimal loss on the Biafran side.” It was probably the most resounding battle ever won by the Biafrans in the entire war.

    ACHEBE, OKIGBO AND MAJOR IFEAJUNA: Christopher Okigbo, the cerebral poet and Achebe had known from their Government College, Umuahia days. Though Okigbo was two years junior to Achebe in class, they struck up friendship very quickly and maintained the closeness till Okigbo’s tragic end in the war front. After Umuahia, they were to meet again at the University College, Ibadan, and while Achebe was in the Nigerian Broadcasting Service in Ikoyi , Lagos, Okigbo was West Africa manager for Cambridge University Press. Their friendship was such that Okigbo was godfather to one of Achebe’s sons and on many occasions during the ensuing tumult in Igboland, Okigbo played ‘father ‘ role to the Achebe house- hold.

    When the war was in full force and all the Igbo personalities had returned, Enugu was the natural settlement for most of the elite returnees in the early days before the ancient town was bombed into submission by the federal forces. It was in Enugu; precisely on Michael Okpara Avenue, that Achebe and Okigbo set up their publishing outfit called Citadel Press. It was indeed the idea of Okigbo who thought out and even worked out the whole project before getting Achebe to come on board. The crux of it all was to publish educational materials, including children’s books and books that would capture the ongoing crisis.

    The first book Citadel Press worked on was, “How the Dog Became a Domesticated Animal,” by John Iroaganachi. Achebe and Okigbo chose to rework the folktale and turn it around to become, “How the Leopard got its Claws.” This book never got to see the light of the day before the shelling of Enugu became unbearable and most people had to scamper and relocate further into the hinterland.

    While Citadel still functioned, Okigbo had brought a manuscript from Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, one of the five majors who plotted the January 1966 coup. The twain were thoroughly disappointed with Ifeajuna’s account of that critical event of Nigeria’s life. Hear Achebe: “I read the treatise through quickly and became more and more disappointed as I went along. Ifeajuna’s account showcased a writer trying to pass himself off as something that he wasn’t. For one, the manuscript claimed that the entire coup d’etat was his show, that he was the chief strategist, complete master mind, and executer, not just one of several. He recognized the presence of his coconspirators but did not elevate their involvement to any level of importance.”

    Chukwuma Nzeogwu, one of the chief protagonists of the January 1966 coup called the manuscript a lie while Achebe and Okigbo thought it too irresponsible to deserve publication. The manuscript was later to vanish to the regret of Achebe who thought it could have been preserved at least as a version of what transpired on that fateful January of 1966. Christopher Okigbo who had become a Major in the Biafran army was to be felled in the war front in August 1967, in Ekwegbe, close to Nsukka.

    Achebe who had fled from Enugu under the hale of shelling returned to Citadel Press after the war to find the small building reduced to ruble. It was instructive that a number of buildings in the vicinity had been unscathed by the conflict, but this one was pummeled to the ground. It was the work of someone or some people with an ax to grind, he thinks. TOMORROW: THE ECONOMIC BLOCKADE AND STARVATION; EPILOGUE

  • The news from Scotland

    The news from Scotland

    Last week, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond signed an agreement to put the Union of England and Scotland consummated back in 1707 to the ultimate test: To hold in Scotland, no later than 2014, a referendum to determine whether Scotland will leave to form a separate, independent country, or remain part of the United Kingdom.

    Not a few Nigerians desirous of correcting or revising what the former premier of Northern Nigeria Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto, famously called “the mistake of 1914,” will find this arrangement an attractive model. It is unlikely to happen here in their lifetime.

    But as they contemplate this development, those who are forever declaring that the “unity”of Nigeria is “not negotiable” — those making feverish preparations, no expenses spared, to celebrate and consolidate the “mistake of 1914” — ought to take a deep breath.

    If a Union forged more than three centuries ago among people who have a great deal in common and among whom there is nothing like the mutual execration that is the hallmark of the Nigerian experience, is to be subjected to a referendum, who can in good faith assert that an arrangement foisted by British imperialism on the peoples inhabiting a space the colonialists created principally for administrative convenience and commercial exploitation is sacrosanct and should remain so for all time?

    The Scots may yet elect to remain part of the UK, as indeed most Nigerians are likely to elect, I suspect, if presented with the same choice about their country. Polls suggest that only 28 percent of the population of Scotland favor outright independence, whereas 58 percent favour staying with the UK, with more powers for the Scottish government on defence and the economy.

    But nothing is foreclosed. The exercise will be transparent and wide-open, and both parties have pledged to abide by the outcome.

    Compare that with the charade that major political actors in Nigeria are staging in the name of effecting “amendments” to a Constitution so shot through and through with defects, the best authorities have said, that nothing less than a new one can respond adequately to the needs, hopes and fears of those whose lives will be governed by it.

    The proper forum for preparing such a document is a constituent assembly. President Goodluck Jonathan has chosen, instead, to co-opt a trainload of committees comprising for the most part handpicked members, with a remit to prepare a draft for the approval of a National Assembly whose members are concerned more with the benefits of office than with the attendant duties and responsibilities of office.

    This process will produce, according to Dr Jonathan, a “people’s Constitution,” though “the people” are largely absent from the scheme, invisible. Civil society groups, which Dr Jonathan has hailed as the “true representatives of the people” figure in his scheme only as a notion, and a token one at that. Theirs is not to suggest the way forward, but to lend a patina of credibility to the scheme.

    Even the leadership of the Nigerian news media has been co-opted to lend tacit approval to a process that the news media should subject to searching questioning because it is so manifestly underhanded, as has apparently the leadership of the Bar.

    The best that can be expected is that the exercise will paper over the cracks and conveniently leave fundamental problems of Nigeria’s existence for another time, thus driving existing wounds inward, there to fester.

    A committee of former chiefs of the Nigeria Police Force, now vested with unassailable wisdom despite the unflattering record of their performance in office and of the institution they once headed, says that the police establishment should continue to be centralised in a country that is supposed to be a federation. One of them has even gone so far as to declare that the establishment of state police would lead to a civil war.

    Case closed, based on substantially on the supposed authority of these experts, on the objections of some state governors in the North, and on the claim that it would be “abused.” Is the present centralised system not abused daily, and abused egregiously? In whatever case, what makes abuse by state authorities more objectionable or invidious than abuse by federal authorities? Why not institute measures that would minimise and punish abuse?

    Rejecting the demand for state police on the ground that it will be abused is akin to preventing a child from taking those first, faltering steps on the ground that it would fall and injure itself, perhaps badly. When will it learn to walk?

    It has also been contended that the establishment of state police would also lead to setting up of state prisons. The answer to that is: So what? In the First Republic and in the era preceding it, there were no regional prisons. But there were Native Authority prisons, and they served their communities quite well.

    Dr Jonathan is not interested in a fundamental re-ordering of the governance of Nigeria. The existing set-up is given, and all that can be done is to tinker around the edges. A full-time bicameral federal legislature that consumes a sizeable portion of the nation’s recurrent expenses but contributes very little to the well-being of the public is apparently to remain in place, a return to the parliamentary system that some very thoughtful Nigerians have proposed having been foreclosed.

    It has been argued that the composition of the Senate gives concrete expression to the equality of the states. Thus, Bayelsa has the same number of senators as Lagos and Kano. Can’t a less burdensome arrangement be devised that expresses the principle in ways more beneficial to the and at a much smaller cost?

    There is continuing talk of creating more states even as some states are finding it increasingly difficult to render basic services, much less engineer meaningful development. But there is no thought of providing an avenue for states desirous of doing so to coalesce into larger units that can better meet the needs of the populace.

    This past September, Philip Asiodu, one of a handful of the Yakubu Gowon-era civil servants consecrated by the media as “super permanent secretaries” because of their enormous contribution to, and influence on public policy, presented a public lecture in Abuja that is sure to rank among the most thoughtful, informed, and wide-ranging discourse on public service in Nigeria in recent memory.

    Given its provenance, the discourse was far from radical. Rather, it was a comprehensive agenda for reform, but one that is far more insightful than anything Dr Jonathan’s trainload of committees has produced thus far.

    There was a great deal in Asiodu’s lecture that those who have settled for a review rather than a re-write of the Constitution should have embraced. But did they even bother to read it?

    To them, it is far more rewarding to keep the country on the trajectory of an ever-shrinking circle.

     

     

     

  • Abia’s planned probe of Orji Kalu

    Abia’s planned probe of Orji Kalu

    I have always believed that the bane of developmental democracy in Third World countries especially in Nigeria since 1999 is that some of those entrusted with leadership positions do not consider themselves accountable to the people while in office and would also not willing account for their stewardship outside public office.

    The anti-corruption agencies in the country appeared to have gone to slumber, while non-governmental agencies and civil society organisations in a bid to survive the prevailing economic hardship in the country have made their organisations available for disgruntled politicians to use in feathering their political nests at the detriment of rest of us. This is what has brought the country’s anti-corruption fight to its knees and it is quite unfortunate and too bad for the future of the country.

    If not so, how would one justify the baseless attack by Emma Onwubiko of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria HURIWA on the government of Abia State over its planned probe of the administration of Chief Orji Uzor Kalu as governor of the state between 1999-2007?

    Constitutionally, every Nigerian including the leadership of HURIWA knew that Abia State government has not done anything illegal in its plan to probe Kalu’s administration in the state. For HURIWA leadership to describe the probe as a carefully choreographed and graphically plotted political witch-hunt of Kalu by the state government raises a lot of question on the role of the organisation in eight years of Kalu’s administration in the state.

    Even as the probe has not yet started, HURIWA is already crying more than the bereaved, and had gone ahead to put the cart before the horse by blackmailing Abia state government for performing its constitutional role. The organisation’s leadership continues to launch misguided attacks on the state government, now it has gone further to show hatred and malice with their recent action.

    People entrusted with leadership positions should always be ready to account for their stewardship anytime, any day. Whether they have any skeleton in their cupboard or not is another issue altogether. If they feel that opportunities were not given to them to prove their innocence or otherwise before the probe panel, they can take their case to court. That is the rule. Meanwhile, linking the probe with 2015 Igbo Presidency campaign is nonsensical and immaterial because I do not see how Kalu can single-handedly, even with support of his acclaimed allies, realise Igbo Presidency without the support of other major stakeholders in the zone especially the governors that control the resources and structures.

    If the present government in a bid to satisfy the yearnings of the people succumbed to pressure to probe of Kalu’s administration, Kalu should not be worried if he has not done anything wrong during his stint as governor. Governor Orji should equally know that his government is not immune from probe by his successor if he leaves office and the need arises.

    As a people, we should learn how not to politicise everything especially issues that have to do with the welfare of the people. Conscience is an open wound only truth can heal it no matter how long it takes. After all, it is better late than never. Kalu’s probe is not the first of its kind in the country since the inception of democracy in 1999 and will not be the last. That is the beauty of democracy. There is need for accountability in governance and politicians should not be scared of such within or outside office.

    What the HURIWA leadership should have done is to wait for the setting up of the probe panel and monitor its proceedings closely to ensure that fair hearing is given to all parties involved before making a conclusion. The individual is not bigger than the state, so Kalu having ruled the state for eight years as governor should be ready to submit himself for probe to prove his innocence or otherwise. It is a responsibility he owes the people of the state for whom he managed their collective resources for eight years.

    Sentiment and emotion has no place in law, but evidence and facts are sacred. For HURIWA leadership to tag the probe a kangaroo one even when it has not taken off exposed their ignorance and bias. Has HURIWA leadership forgot that even Kalu as a governor of Abia state once set up judicial panel of inquiry that indicted some of his perceived political enemies in and outside the state? Where was HURIWA leadership then and what effort did they make to assist those that were indicted by the panel then?

    The leadership of HURIWA should not reduce the body to a platform for the campaign for Igbo Presidency just because it is led by an Igbo man. That is not what human right groups and civil society organisations are known for.

    In the same vein, aligning Kalu’s probe with the performance of the present government in Abia State lack substance, because the people of the state are in better position to assess the two governments and pass a credible judgment based on what they had experienced and seen on ground in the state. There is need for organisations to do their research and investigation very well before making a categorical statements on issues affecting the people or passing judgment on any issue, especially now that Freedom Of Information (FoI) Act is already law, thereby making investigative journalism and research work easier.

    Everyone knows that if the present government in Anambra State set up a probe panel to look into the administration of Senator Chris Ngige during his time as governor of the state, Ngige will speedily and easily submit himself for probe without raising eyebrow knowing full well that he has nothing to hide. This is because the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under Mallam Nuhu Ribadu gave him a clean bill of health when he was removed from office as governor. This was despite the obvious political differences between him and President Olusegun Obasanjo then over the control of the state between him and his estranged godfather Chief Chris Uba who enjoyed Obasanjo’s support in the crisis.

    It was the same time that Ribadu told Nigerians that almost all the governors that will be leaving office in 2007 were corrupt and that they will be arrested and tried immediately they leave office. Ribadu, true to his promise arrested most of them including Kalu immediately they left office and charged them to court to face trial. But some of them who were in the good book of the then President of the country, late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua worked with the Presidency under him to remove Ribadu from office to frustrate their trial.

    That was how the commission under Waziri went to slumber over the trials of some of the ex-governors and today it appears the commission is more docile than ever before. So when all these were happening, where was the HURIWA leadership and what were their positions and efforts in ensuring that the ex-governors charged for alleged corrupt practices were brought to book? There is need for non-governmental agencies and civil society organisations to remain focused and steadfast in pursuit of their aims and objectives and avoid being used by politicians to achieve selfish political aims.

    • Kiri, a lawyer, wrote from Wuse, Abuja

     

  • Civil War 2012

    Civil War 2012

    I  enjoyed your historical analysis you titled “Albert agonistes”. I think Prof. Achebe has forgotten Nigerian history so soon or must have been suffering from hangover or senility or amnesia. Please post this article on the website to educate those of his like minds. – Chief Ayo, Ilesa.

    Achebe has long been writing in vain for the elusive Nobel Prize. His latest book showed he is filled with malicious rage and perhaps fractured mental balance. Thank you for dissecting his despondency and silly belly-aching. – Anonymous

    Those of you hiding Achebe for There was a Country are Yoruba who think Awo is infallible. Achebe is eminently right to relive, as catharsis, his experience during that our dark episode ; just as Soyinka wrote hisThe Man Died, and he – and we – his compatriots are the better for it! This is neither bigotry nor anti-Yoruba outburst. Awo didn’t deny that he didn’t order food blockade but he gave his reasons why he had to do that (The Nation08-10-12). My advice, however, is for Achebe to let go. There was a Country should act as the ultimate catharsis. – +2347068194122

    I read your piece and reaction to the ridiculous assertions of Pa Chinua Achebe about the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in his new book. Your postulation and analysis are inviting, realistic and academically stimulating. I have some vital questions for Pa Achebe and his horde of blind supporters: what would have been the fate of Nigerians if the Igbo had won the war? –Dave Blankson, +2348058514944.

    Re: “Albert agonistes”. Ojukwu could not take orders from Gen. Gowon and unlike Brig. Ogundipe who was the most senior military officer then, he declared a republic within Nigeria and dragged the Igbo and Nigerians into a war they were not prepared for. In war, there are casualties and collateral damages but Ojukwu should be blamed for this and not Awolowo. Prof. Achebe will end up doing himself more harm than good in his latest “tale by candlelight”! –Kayode A, Abeokuta, +2348073821313.

    It is very unfortunate that you chose to attack the personality of Achebe, instead of intellectual analysis and constructive criticism. The issues raised: 1. Should starvation/deprivation be used as war tool, like Chief Awolowo did? 2. When you declare “no victor, no vanquished”, should the people (losers) be denied of their life savings in various banks, just like Awolowo did, giving 20 pounds to each Igbo family irrespective of the amount they had in the bank? How about the banning of used clothes – the only cheap ones the Igbo could afford at that time, etc. I hope you can direct your pen to a professional debate and not on personalities. – +2348035181866.

    I think your piece was educative and analytical with reasonable facts. With all due respect to Prof. Achebe, his views are extreme, biased and lack analytical merit. Achebe should continue to enjoy his self-exile, instead of throwing “ethnic bazookas” that would continue to create needless tension at home. – +2348023185207.

    I am worried about the approach and response of you guys in The Nation to issues that have bearing on the Yoruba. Achebe’s new book which is not even in the market yet is being dissected and you guys are taking part for a whole. How do you review a serious intellectual work from a mere excerpt meant to market the book? Please The Nation is a highly respected newspaper. Don’t destroy it – Dr. Sam Aghalino, Unilorin, +2348039435843.

    Ripples: Thank you, Dr. Aghalino, but you, an academic of all people, should know that informed controversies do not destroy newspapers. Rather, they help build newspaper brands. As for your Yoruba/The Nation bother, my answer is simple: Nigeria is a federation and the media is federalised. So, let every shade of opinion fly.

    The war came and went. But 42 years after, the atrocities and other issues of the war are still being discussed. You know why? Those things that led to the war are still with us. I may not want to discuss Achebe’s position on Awo. Even as a Biafra veteran who fought on the side of my people aged 15 in 1967, Pa Awo remains a man after my heart for his high level of discipline. But he was very wicked to the Igbos. Achebe has every right to write his memoirs anytime he feels it is right for him. – +2347052461117.

    Well done comrade. I suggest people read the books, Brothers at Warby John de St. Jorre (Faber and Faber Ltd, 1972) and Biafra Story by Frederick Forsyth (Penguin London, 1969). The other voluminous book is Crisis and Conflict in Nigeria by AHM Kirk-Greene (a documentary source book, 1966-1970, 2 Vols, Oxford University Press, London 1971). The only solution to all is the convocation of a national conference. Thank you. – Col. Gabriel A. Ajayi, +2348037258268.

    “Albert agonistes”, a breakfast well served. One wonders why some people are held in perpetual bondage because of their unforgiving spirit of their own past mistakes, and the mistake of others. ‘Let go’ should have been the rhythm Achebe is dancing to now in quarter-to-end of his life, as against creating more civil wars within a conquered nation. – Yinka Ayanleye, +2348023178156.

    Please can you let Achebe and his ilk know that Col. Adekunle Fajuyi chose to die because of Ironsi, an Igbo man; that Soyinka risked his life going inside Biafra to persuade Ojukwu to recoil from war, and suffered solitary confinement for 22 months because of Igbos; that not a single Igbo was killed in Yorubaland and my Igbo lecturer at the University of Ibadan was most at home. Such a pity an 81-year old would choose to foul the air before departing. – +2348065475303.

    The Yoruba intelligentsia got it wrong in your response to Achebe’s book. I am happy that you agreed that the Civil War was a gang-up against the Igbo but your allegation that the Igbo ganged up against Abiola remains pure fiction, even if a few of our leaders misbehaved. After all, we did not starve or reduce the Yoruba class to nothing with an equivalent amount of 20 pounds. Igbo too were part and parcel of the June 12 struggle, men like MCK Ajuluchukwu, Arthur Nwankwo, Joe Igbokwe, Udenta Udenta and others. – Arinze Igbueli, +2348058054767.

    For those of you with the rare gift of intellectual pen power, the truth which hitherto has been kept from the public is out. What indeed triggered the pogroms was the provocative Igbo youths taunting northerners over the killing of the Sardauna. Can you please delve into the archives for the copy of Drum Magazine that featured on its pages the photograph of the body of Sarduana derisively (between February and March 1966) by the Igbo. Please ferret the Drum edition out, for the sake of posterity. – John Jimoh, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, +2347064370351.