The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Let’s take it easy on Super Eagles

    Here we go again. We seem to think that all football competitions must be won by Nigeria, no matter how ill-prepared we are for such tournaments. We raise the bar for our coaches, based on sentiments and a patriotic rating of our players who, unlike in the past, warm benches for their foreign clubs.

    Our players’ bench-warming status affects the way the Eagles play such that we tremble, fast and do all manner of permutations to pick qualification tickets that look like a piece of cake whenever the draws for such competitions are announced before the tournaments begin.

    We pile pressure on our players and coaches, forgetting that other countries learn lessons from uneventful tournaments without destroying the teams. Nigeria lost the chance to become a world soccer power when we failed to defend the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa. Providence brought another opportunity when we clinched the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Yet, the garrulous sports minister, who was there when the goggled one stopped us from going to Johannesburg, refused to allow the Dream Team 1 leverage on the Olympic gold victory by playing the bigger football nations. Our clock of development stopped after that kindergarten decision and we have since tottered, using discipline to witch-hunt those who we don’t like.

    Playing at the finals of the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations in Lagos gave us another opportunity to rebuild, but we missed it, largely because of our administrators’ mindset. Johannes Bonfrere could do nothing wrong. We celebrated the Dutch- rightly, many would say. We do this always because we like celebrating the past. Burkina Faso 2002 Africa Nations Cup afforded us another chance to build on the gains of the past, following the country’s qualification for the 2002 World Cup co-hosted by Japan and Korea. Yet, our administrators had their perception of the Eagles. As they say, the rest is history.

    The Eagles’ death knell in global football competition was toilet at the Japan/Korea World Cup when we failed to go to battle with our best. We emasculated the coach who took us. We asked him to rebuild, using devious instrument to eliminate players who we didn’t like. Yet, we humiliated the coach by dispensing with his services. That coach holds the record of taking us to the worst World Cup even though this writer knows that he would have done better, if he was allowed to do his job.

    I have chosen to go down memory lane to highlight why we cannot compete with the best. At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, France was the worst in terms of results, players’ conduct and the odium they brought to their country. The French have rebuilt their team, using some of the stars who misbehaved in South Africa. Today, France is rated as one of the countries to do well at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. In our usual style, the administrators struck. This time, they misled President Goodluck Jonathan to announce the country’s withdrawal from big competitions. The President did a recant on his decision but the damage had been done to our football, in terms of how others relate to us in playing friendly games or doing serious football business.

    This hail them today- kill-them-tomorrow syndrome in the Eagles starts with setting ambitious heights for our team, despite the rebuilding toga every new coach wears. We have since 1999 being rebuilding the Eagles. I wonder when we will complete this structure. Truth be said, our administrators don’t want this game to grow, knowing that if it does, freebies from the government will be stopped. It is only in Nigeria that football is not big business.

    It is true that Nigeria, given our players’ exploits in Europe, America and the Diaspora, should always be the default winner of any soccer competition in Africa. Things don’t work that way anymore because our successes of yesteryears were not hinged on enduring plans that would produce replacements for fading stars. That is our dilemma, the old factory has dried up and the talents have been lost to age and the absence of nurseries to nurture rookies at the grassroots.

    We have perpetually built the Super Eagles on discoveries from outside our shores. Playing for the senior team is guaranteed when a player plies his trade outside, no matter the quality of the league in which he features. Yet we expect bench-warmers to excel in South Africa next year. It surely doesn’t add up.

    When we glittered on the African scene, our boys played regularly for the best teams. They made the headlines, scoring goals with aplomb and thrilling their audience with silky skills that left their markers kissing the turf in awe.

    Our players dominated the Africa Footballer of the Year list. They won awards for excellence in Belgium, France, England, Germany etc. Not so now. We have no team. We keep changing garbs, making it impossible for European teams to scout for our players.

    Must we continue this way? Do we need a seer to tell us that our FIFA ranking is a true reflection of our soccer status? Cote D’ Ivoire are the favourites for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. I know that they will lift the trophy this time. I’m drawing my belief from what happened to Nigeria at the Senegal’92 Africa Cup of Nations. We were the team to beat. We played very well against Ghana, but lost-painfully. Many still argue that our equaliser crossed the line. But that wasn’t our year. We returned to win in 1994 in Tunisia, where we lost the crown in 1990. But that is not my argument. What happened at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations was God’s act. He played a big role in Zambia’s victory, although the East Africans fought for their feat.

    Cote d’ Ivoire gave the game their best, but bowed to providence. This time, is their turn to shine. Need we put pressure on our coaches and players to lift the 2013 edition? Eagles can lift the cup, but it is a long shot (more like a mirage), given the way the Ivoirens are playing in the European clubs. They remind one of the Nigerians of yore: Rashidi Yekini, Setphen Keshi, Sunday Oliseh, Austin Okocha, Emmanuel Amuneke, George Findi, Mutiu Adepoju, Daniel Amokachi, Samson Siasia, Austin Eguavoen et al. They were regulars in Europe. The Eagles bench was star-studded. The Ivoriens are in that mould now. We can return to win the trophy in 2014, after we would have evaluated our exploits in South Africa.

    In South Africa, what should interest us is how Keshi blends the players. We want to see how he reads the matches. We want to see how his substitutions improve the team’s play. We want to see how our players fight. We should use the matches to know those who shouldn’t return to the team. We must be able to identify our problem areas and know who to pick as replacement.

    The major plank for our 2014 World Cup qualifiers should be those who excelled at the Africa Cup of Nations. The gambling with new players should stop after the Nations Cup. Keshi should at the end of the Nations Cup be able to invite players to solve the problems with the team and not for screening. At the end of the Nations Cup, we will have less than 13 months to prepare for the Mundial in Brazil.

    We are feeling the heat, but we must be very careful if we don’t want to destroy our 2014 World Cup qualification campaign. Let us see how the team evolves instead of setting benchmarks which could undo us. This Eagles side cannot lift the diadem in South Africa. That is the truth. Our target should be doing well in Brazil and South Africa 2013 is the stepping stone. If we lift the trophy, that will be fine. If we don’t, we should leave the place with great prospect, not return home to apportion blames.

  • Snatching hope from the jaws of defeat

    The reelection of US President Barak Obama was the climax of a close fight between him and the defeated presidential candidate Mitt Romney of the opposing Republican Party. To  say that Obama  fought furiously for his political life in this battle he won will be an understatement.  To add that in terms of suspense and uncertainty, the election compares favorably with epoch, close,  contemporary electoral battles  in US history,  like that of Kennedy/Nixon in 1960 or that of Bush /Al Gore in 2000  will be stating the obvious.

    However,  it is in Obama’s acceptance speech that he reached to the stars to excel in matchless oratory to lift the spirit of his nation and country men and women at his moment of victory. In that speech Barack Obama atoned for a poor economic performance record, showed sincere gratitude to an electorate that had amply rewarded such performance with his reelection, and gave America a new vision of shared destiny, based as he said so eloquently, on love, duty and patriotism. Barak Obama in his reelection virtually snatched victory from the jaws of defeat after a disastrous first debate that gave grit and confidence to an hesitant  and fearful opponent who had come to battle initially with feet of clay. But the such is the stuff of history and  grand political drama.

    At  the end,  both the challenger and the victor at the re election of the 44th US president,  strengthened the concept of  popular democracy   as the ascendant democracy of our time and elections as the engine room of that ideology. Of  course I am talking of free and fair election and that was what the US president was referring to in his  inspiring speech when he said that in some climes,  people and nations still struggle over elections that Americans have come to take for granted. Mitt Romney on his part  conceded defeat graciously and thanked his wife who he said would have made an excellent   first lady.

    He lamented his lack of opportunity to lead as Americans have elected a different leader. Obama too was magnanimous in defeat and thanked his wife Michelle, his Vice President and  millions of his volunteer campaign workers, noting they made his victory happen. I  confess to being carried away by Obama’s acceptance speech,   especially his redefinition of hope in the light of his reelection,  as that stubborn human trait that makes you never to give up in the face of adversity  and daunting odds. At  that moment he paid homage to the twin virtues   of empathy and sharing, the very ‘secret‘ weapons that have ensured his reelection in a nation that has never rewarded poor economic  record by any president with success at  elections.

    In practical terms too Obama  ‘reset‘ his relations with the American people domestically over the stubborn economy and its travails for them even though ‘reset ‘and  ‘engagement‘ are terms he had used to map out the direction of the US foreign policy at his first coming in 2008.

    In  diplomacy and international relations the world can heave a sigh of relief . Britain and Russia were the first to react. British PM David Cameron said he looked forward to continuing his talk on global trade with his friend Barak Obama,  while Russian strong man and President Vladmir Putin  expressed his happiness at Obama’s reelection. Obviously Mitt Romney had jagged a few powerful nerves globally on his utterances on  Israel, Iran, China and other world issues. Initially,  I  had thought that a diplomatic challenge  or  foreign matter – like Israel attacking Iran and forcing the US to support Israel – will be the undoing of Obama’s reelection effort. Fortunately,  that did not happen but a more dangerous natural disaster Super  Storm Sandy threw spanner in the works at  the home front in New York and New  Jersey.

    Ironically however the wild  Hurricane   Sandy did a lot to bring out the best  in the incumbent US   president, to the joy and happiness of his party supporters  and to the chagrin and vexation of Romney and his team,  who could only wring their hands helplessly as the US president acted like the real angel of mercy elected by the American people to look after them in any crises, natural  and man made. Brilliant and bipartisan management of Hurricane Sandy reminded Americans that they have a compassionate and committed leader that can salvage them in any crises – including the  much advertised economic one, hence their reelection of Barak Obama on November 6.

    It  is in the light  of Obama’s redefinition of hope that I  look at events this week in Mali  and  Nigeria. In  Mali  the Islamist group Ansar Dine  that has destroyed Islamic Shrines in Timbuctoo and which is in control of Northern Mali  has agreed to allow aid agencies to bring relief materials and to negotiate as ECOWAS mass  a 3000 man strong military contingent to drive out  the invaders. In  Nigeria there is some relief as the party of General Buhari deny that he knew of any plan to make him a negotiator nominated by Boko Haram, the terrorist group bombing churches on a weekly  basis in Nigeria. In Nigeria too the Anglican Communion held a conference called Divinity Commonwealth Conference  -DIVCOOMM-in Abuja in which it asked its members to confront the dangers facing it from within and without especially the bombing of Churches in the Northern part of the nation.

    In  Mali, Burkina Fasso‘s President Blaise Compraore is the ECOWAS leader in charge of the regional negotiation  with the northern invaders. Compraore has experience in such matters having helped ECOWAS in nipping in the  bud an earlier military coup in Guinea Conakry by seizing the coup leader on his way home after medical treatment in Morocco  and marooning him in Ouagadougou the capital of Burkina  Fasso  while elections were being held in Guinea Conakry. The Ansar Dine have taken over northern Mali from the Tuaregs who defeated the Malian army sent to contain them, leading to a military coup on the ground that the civilian regime in Mali then, had not given sufficient ammunition to the army to contain the rebellion. ECOWAS leaders however put down their feet that the era of coups was over in the region and since Mali was landlocked, starved the military of fuel whereby they agreed to  form a diarchy  of sorts while ECOWAS gave a Coordinator’s role to the Nigerian Head of State President Goodluck Jonathan to get a force to rescue Mali from the Ansar Dine occupying the north.

    The fact that Ansar Dine is ready to negotiate gives sign that the crisis may not be protracted as it is known that some militant groups have promised to launch a jihad from the Sahel on ECOWAS nations once the Islamists in Mali are attacked or dislodged from that nation  by the ECOWAS force. This  is to be taken seriously in the light of information gathered that Boko Haram  group has connection and  are being trained  by the invaders of Mali.

    Similarly  the Anglican Church seem to have taken a stand on defending it devotees who have been subjected to the terror of Boko Haram which says it does not recognize western education and wants Christians to leave the north. At  a welcome address to Anglican faithful attending the second Divcom  Conference in Abuja  the Anglican Primate  Nicholas  Okoh  lamented the bombing of Churches as wicked. The theme  of the conference is ‘Contending for the faith‘ and according to the Primate  – ‘Contending for the faith handed   over to us is not a tea party. It takes sacrifice, denial, focus, even at the risk of taking one’s life‘. To me the Primate’s admonition is one of self- defence at a time when it has become fashionable for Boko Haram to bomb churches even during Holy Communion. The call   should also create  a sort of  adeterrence for Boko Haram to redress or abandon  its impunity of killing Christians at will without any punishment from any quarters. It reminds me of the principles of mutual deterrence or balance of terror during the Cold War when knowledge  of the arsenal of both the US  and then USSR ensured mutual peace and respect   and strengthened global peace. The theme of this year’s Divcomm is a step in the right direction for peace in the north from Boko Haram terrorism.

    Similarly the fact that General Muhammadu Buhari has been absolved by his party  the Congress  For Progressive Change -CPC – of collusion with the   Boko Haram,  inherent in his purported  nomination as a mediator  with the Federal Government  by Boko Haram  showed  that hope is not lost in containing terrorism in Nigeria especially in the North. The CPC  was up in arms in righteous indignation at the suggestion and put the blame and mischief  at the door step of the ruling PDP as being ever  ready to embarrass the CPC leader.  Reportedly,  the President of the nation,   Goodluck Jonathan  called the Boko Haram  a  barbaric organization for bombing churches and it is difficult to see the same government negotiating with a barbaric organisation. It  is my belief that to dine with the devil one must have a long spoon and in killing innocent people Boko Haram should be dealt with summarily in the interest of peace in Nigeria, and before so called global  Human Rights group,   who value the rights of terrorists more than the lives of their victims, turn Nigeria into another Somalia, right before our eyes.

  • Snatching hope  from the jaws of defeat

    Snatching hope  from the jaws of defeat

    The reelection of US President Barak Obama was the climax of a close fight between him and the defeated presidential candidate Mitt Romney of the opposing Republican Party. To  say that Obama  fought furiously for his political life in this battle he won will be an understatement.  To add that in terms of suspense and uncertainty, the election compares favorably with epoch, close,  contemporary electoral battles  in US history,  like that of Kennedy/Nixon in 1960 or that of Bush /Al Gore in 2000  will be stating the obvious.

    However,  it is in Obama’s acceptance speech that he reached to the stars to excel in matchless oratory to lift the spirit of his nation and country men and women at his moment of victory. In that speech Barack Obama atoned for a poor economic performance record, showed sincere gratitude to an electorate that had amply rewarded such performance with his reelection, and gave America a new vision of shared destiny, based as he said so eloquently, on love, duty and patriotism. Barak Obama in his reelection virtually snatched victory from the jaws of defeat after a disastrous first debate that gave grit and confidence to an hesitant  and fearful opponent who had come to battle initially with feet of clay. But the such is the stuff of history and  grand political drama.

    At  the end,  both the challenger and the victor at the re election of the 44th US president,  strengthened the concept of  popular democracy   as the ascendant democracy of our time and elections as the engine room of that ideology. Of  course I am talking of free and fair election and that was what the US president was referring to in his  inspiring speech when he said that in some climes,  people and nations still struggle over elections that Americans have come to take for granted. Mitt Romney on his part  conceded defeat graciously and thanked his wife who he said would have made an excellent   first lady.

    He lamented his lack of opportunity to lead as Americans have elected a different leader. Obama too was magnanimous in defeat and thanked his wife Michelle, his Vice President and  millions of his volunteer campaign workers, noting they made his victory happen. I  confess to being carried away by Obama’s acceptance speech,   especially his redefinition of hope in the light of his reelection,  as that stubborn human trait that makes you never to give up in the face of adversity  and daunting odds. At  that moment he paid homage to the twin virtues   of empathy and sharing, the very ‘secret‘ weapons that have ensured his reelection in a nation that has never rewarded poor economic  record by any president with success at  elections.

    In practical terms too Obama  ‘reset‘ his relations with the American people domestically over the stubborn economy and its travails for them even though ‘reset ‘and  ‘engagement‘ are terms he had used to map out the direction of the US foreign policy at his first coming in 2008.

    In  diplomacy and international relations the world can heave a sigh of relief . Britain and Russia were the first to react. British PM David Cameron said he looked forward to continuing his talk on global trade with his friend Barak Obama,  while Russian strong man and President Vladmir Putin  expressed his happiness at Obama’s reelection. Obviously Mitt Romney had jagged a few powerful nerves globally on his utterances on  Israel, Iran, China and other world issues. Initially,  I  had thought that a diplomatic challenge  or  foreign matter – like Israel attacking Iran and forcing the US to support Israel – will be the undoing of Obama’s reelection effort. Fortunately,  that did not happen but a more dangerous natural disaster Super  Storm Sandy threw spanner in the works at  the home front in New York and New  Jersey.

    Ironically however the wild  Hurricane   Sandy did a lot to bring out the best  in the incumbent US   president, to the joy and happiness of his party supporters  and to the chagrin and vexation of Romney and his team,  who could only wring their hands helplessly as the US president acted like the real angel of mercy elected by the American people to look after them in any crises, natural  and man made. Brilliant and bipartisan management of Hurricane Sandy reminded Americans that they have a compassionate and committed leader that can salvage them in any crises – including the  much advertised economic one, hence their reelection of Barak Obama on November 6.

    It  is in the light  of Obama’s redefinition of hope that I  look at events this week in Mali  and  Nigeria. In  Mali  the Islamist group Ansar Dine  that has destroyed Islamic Shrines in Timbuctoo and which is in control of Northern Mali  has agreed to allow aid agencies to bring relief materials and to negotiate as ECOWAS mass  a 3000 man strong military contingent to drive out  the invaders. In  Nigeria there is some relief as the party of General Buhari deny that he knew of any plan to make him a negotiator nominated by Boko Haram, the terrorist group bombing churches on a weekly  basis in Nigeria. In Nigeria too the Anglican Communion held a conference called Divinity Commonwealth Conference  -DIVCOOMM-in Abuja in which it asked its members to confront the dangers facing it from within and without especially the bombing of Churches in the Northern part of the nation.

    In  Mali, Burkina Fasso‘s President Blaise Compraore is the ECOWAS leader in charge of the regional negotiation  with the northern invaders. Compraore has experience in such matters having helped ECOWAS in nipping in the  bud an earlier military coup in Guinea Conakry by seizing the coup leader on his way home after medical treatment in Morocco  and marooning him in Ouagadougou the capital of Burkina  Fasso  while elections were being held in Guinea Conakry. The Ansar Dine have taken over northern Mali from the Tuaregs who defeated the Malian army sent to contain them, leading to a military coup on the ground that the civilian regime in Mali then, had not given sufficient ammunition to the army to contain the rebellion. ECOWAS leaders however put down their feet that the era of coups was over in the region and since Mali was landlocked, starved the military of fuel whereby they agreed to  form a diarchy  of sorts while ECOWAS gave a Coordinator’s role to the Nigerian Head of State President Goodluck Jonathan to get a force to rescue Mali from the Ansar Dine occupying the north.

    The fact that Ansar Dine is ready to negotiate gives sign that the crisis may not be protracted as it is known that some militant groups have promised to launch a jihad from the Sahel on ECOWAS nations once the Islamists in Mali are attacked or dislodged from that nation  by the ECOWAS force. This  is to be taken seriously in the light of information gathered that Boko Haram  group has connection and  are being trained  by the invaders of Mali.

    Similarly  the Anglican Church seem to have taken a stand on defending it devotees who have been subjected to the terror of Boko Haram which says it does not recognize western education and wants Christians to leave the north. At  a welcome address to Anglican faithful attending the second Divcom  Conference in Abuja  the Anglican Primate  Nicholas  Okoh  lamented the bombing of Churches as wicked. The theme  of the conference is ‘Contending for the faith‘ and according to the Primate  – ‘Contending for the faith handed   over to us is not a tea party. It takes sacrifice, denial, focus, even at the risk of taking one’s life‘. To me the Primate’s admonition is one of self- defence at a time when it has become fashionable for Boko Haram to bomb churches even during Holy Communion. The call   should also create  a sort of  adeterrence for Boko Haram to redress or abandon  its impunity of killing Christians at will without any punishment from any quarters. It reminds me of the principles of mutual deterrence or balance of terror during the Cold War when knowledge  of the arsenal of both the US  and then USSR ensured mutual peace and respect   and strengthened global peace. The theme of this year’s Divcomm is a step in the right direction for peace in the north from Boko Haram terrorism.

    Similarly the fact that General Muhammadu Buhari has been absolved by his party  the Congress  For Progressive Change -CPC – of collusion with the   Boko Haram,  inherent in his purported  nomination as a mediator  with the Federal Government  by Boko Haram  showed  that hope is not lost in containing terrorism in Nigeria especially in the North. The CPC  was up in arms in righteous indignation at the suggestion and put the blame and mischief  at the door step of the ruling PDP as being ever  ready to embarrass the CPC leader.  Reportedly,  the President of the nation,   Goodluck Jonathan  called the Boko Haram  a  barbaric organization for bombing churches and it is difficult to see the same government negotiating with a barbaric organisation. It  is my belief that to dine with the devil one must have a long spoon and in killing innocent people Boko Haram should be dealt with summarily in the interest of peace in Nigeria, and before so called global  Human Rights group,   who value the rights of terrorists more than the lives of their victims, turn Nigeria into another Somalia, right before our eyes.

  • For the love of oil

    Who will teach us to love something else?

    From the colourful protest by walking-stick-wielding kings and chiefs in top hats and reach-down robes, as well as from the hot exchange between Rivers and Bayelsa state governments, it is clear that oil still sends heads crashing against one another in these parts. Unfortunately.

    But before it begins to look as though this flammable liquid is being accused of causing trouble, it must be stated early enough that oil does not hurt anyone. It has neither hands nor feet. Nor does it have brains to think for itself. Like money, it remains harmless until man’s appetites come into the picture. You could say the thirst for oil is the root of all strife.

    For the love of petroleum, nations have crossed their territories into other lands, and even deployed to battle. For the love of crude, blood has spilled and heads have rolled. For the sake of oil, a powerful cartel was formed long ago to determine how much nations should sell their natural resources. For crude oil, developed nations have been unable to abandon Nigeria no matter how rough its administrative edges, or how rudimentary its development profile.

    For the sake of oil, Kalabari monarchs and their chiefs overlooked palace duties and administrative obligations to stage a protest at the nation’s capital, even dragging President Goodluck Jonathan into the matter. And was it not for the sake of oil that Bayelsa is at ‘war’ with Rivers, two neighbouring states, each hosting some communities with common ancestry and traditions?

    The Kalabari chiefs in Rivers State said five of their community oil wells have been ceded with their lands to Bayelsa, and that derivation funds accruing from the ceded lands are already being paid to the state to which the lands and wells were given. The chiefs also accused President Jonathan, who hails from Bayelsa, of approving the transfer of the lands and resources.

    The President, through his spokesman Dr Reuben Abati, has denied the charges. Abati also used such terms as “irresponsible” and “school-boy-style” to describe the chiefs’ protest, saying they were acting out the script of some “hidden sponsors”.

    Bayelsa has not denied that the lands and wells in question belong to the Kalabari in Rivers State who have common cultural roots with the Nembe in Bayelsa. But Governor Seriake Dickson, through an aide, argued that the 11th edition of the administrative map of Nigeria recognised the contentious lands and oil wells as being part of Bayelsa State. Apparently by the same token, the governor reasoned that Bayelsa government has the responsibility to administer the recognised areas and should also receive derivation funds accruing therefrom.

    Governor Chibuike Amaechi retorted that before the 11th edition of the federal map that there were first, second, all the way to the 10th edition of the same administrative map. The governor’s argument is that if the map recognised the Soku fields as part of Rivers State until its 11th version, why did the geographical status of the fields change suddenly?

    Dickson believes it does not matter, and that the Kalabari can own the transfered land while Bayelsa should exercise administrative control and receive money for doing so.

    Amaechi and his community leaders will have none of that. In fact the battle line has been drawn, though the Kalabari will want neutral intervention, from the National Assembly, preferably, to prevent a worsening of the crisis.

    Things can actually get worse, but that would be unfortunate and unnecessary; such strife even exposes our pathetic paradox.

    The bickering is not about lands or communities suddenly uprooted and tranplanted in another state in the name of state creation or boundary adjustment. It is simply about oil and the cash that it brings. We have our kins quartered in different parts of the country, even beyond the country. That does not necessarily generate any crisis, at least, not the sort we are witnessing in the Southsouth. The strife comes when oil is involved. That is the most unfortunate part. For our oil has done pretty little to lift us off the ground. As the chiefs and state chief executives bicker over Soku fields which pump out 300,000bpd, the rest of us should ask ourselves what oil has done for us and the country. It has not helped our jobs profile and our economy remains weak, susceptible to the fluctuations of oil prices. Oil has not taken our people off poverty. Our infrastructure remains unflattering. Beyond our potentials and pockets of integrity, we have pretty little to offer the world, in spite of our oil.

    That is not to say lands and resources should be grabbed arbitarily. The Jonathan administration should ensure that there is justice in the matter by nudging the boundary commission to properly delineate boundaries.

    But we need to tame out thirst for oil and cultivate healthier and more fruitful tastes.

  • To recover a lost country

    To recover a lost country

    The celebrated writer and fiercely independent thinker, Chinua Achebe’s new book, ‘There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra’, makes fascinating, stimulating and enriching reading. Achebe remains a compelling story teller. In his practiced hands, one of Nigeria and Africa’s most tragic conflicts comes alive in vivid colours. The wise old man of African letters evokes in the sensitive reader emotions of deep pathos as he paints a graphic picture of human suffering on an industrial scale in Biafra. We encounter in this work a mind that remains remarkably brilliant and profound, with an uncanny capacity to look at old things in new, refreshing and unexpected ways.

    But why did Achebe have to wait for over four decades to tell his story? Why is he ripping old wounds open? Why not let sleeping dogs lie and leave better forgotten memories severely alone so that we can blissfully go on with our lives? I do not share this view. Achebe has done us all a great favour. We are fast treading that same part of elite greed, cynicism, intolerance, impunity, irresponsibility and incompetence that spawned the tragedy of Biafra. The past must speak to the present to safeguard the future. This book is a wake- up call. War is no tea party. The book’s horrific scenes of human suffering in Biafra should spur our leaders in particular to rise above current depths of sheer stupidity and mendacity to new heights of selflessness and integrity so that the past does not repeat itself on a vaster, possibly irredeemable, scale.

    But then, why the title, ‘There Was A Country’? Does that country refer to Biafra? I do not think so. I think the country of Achebe’s title refers to a Nigeria that once functioned as a normal, vibrant, efficient entity with premium placed on high ethical values. It was an idyllic pre-independence Nigeria that held so much hope and promise for what Achebe nostalgically described as his ‘lucky generation ‘. Reading through the early part of the book, one finds it amazing that such a Nigeria, a sharp distinction from the current abnormal, corrupt and malfunctioning structure that only mimics a country in any meaningful sense of the word, once existed. Government colleges in Umuahia, Ibadan, Lagos and other parts of the country were centres of excellence. They had first class staff and facilities. When Achebe performed with distinction in the national common entrance examination, a British gentleman who was a distinguished member of the colonial education system actually came to greet him at home! Listen to Achebe: “Now, I had never encountered such a thing before. Surely, people of that distinction did not call on children? But here was this man, who was a very important person in the British educational system, who thought that my work deserved encouragement, recognition, and a visit from him. So, clearly I had a good beginning.” Pray, can that happen in today’s Nigeria?

    Listen again to Achebe’s amazing story of life in that long lost Nigeria: “After graduation I did not have to worry about where I would go next. The system was so well organized that as we left university most of us were instantly absorbed into civil service, academia, business, or industry. We trusted – I did, anyway – the country and its rulers to provide this preparatory education and then a job to serve my nation. I was not disappointed”. Without attempting to justify British colonialism, Achebe frankly admits that “The British governed their colony of Nigeria with considerable care. There was a very highly competent cadre of government officials with a high level of knowledge of how to run a country. This was not something that the British achieved only in Nigeria; they were able to manage this on a bigger scale in India and Australia. The British had the experience of governing and doing it well”.

    Is Achebe simply fantasising and justifying the exploitative economic system that colonialism essentially was? No, he was only being intellectually honest. In his words, “There was a distinct order during this time. I recall the day I travelled from Lagos to Ibadan and stayed with Christopher Okigbo that evening. I took off again the next morning, driving alone, going all the way from Lagos to Asaba, crossing the River Niger, to visit my relatives in the east. That was how it was done in those days. One was not consumed by fear of abduction or armed robbery”. Yes, there was indeed a country! Sadly, Achebe laments that within six years of attaining flag independence in 1960, the seeds for the destruction of that country had been sown. In his words “…Nigeria was a cesspool of corruption and misrule. Public servants helped themselves freely to the nation’s wealth. Elections were blatantly rigged. The subsequent national census was outrageously stage-managed; judges and magistrates were manipulated by the politicians in power. The politicians themselves were pawns of foreign business interests. The social malaise in Nigerian society was political corruption”. It was in this context, therefore, that things fell apart, the centre could no longer hold and that beloved country that once was descended into the anarchy of Biafra.

    It is unfortunate that Achebe’s strong views on Biafra and his brutally frank assessment of the roles of key actors on both sides of the divide have generated such vigorous if largely unproductive debate. I disagree strongly with many of Achebe’s opinions on different aspects of the war. I do not believe that the war was inevitable had there been greater wisdom on both sides. The causes of the pogrom in the North appear to be more complex and nuanced than the simplistic picture of northerners simply waking up to massacre Igbos. But then, Achebe’s critics are calling for a standard of so-called objectivity from the great writer that is humanly impossible. I agree entirely with Ishaq Moddibo Kawu of the Vanguard that if most of us were in Achebe’s shoes we would most likely be ardent Biafrans too! It is his people who were killed in their millions for Christ’s sake! It is his people who suffered starvation, deprivation and deaths of genocidal proportions. What impracticable objectivity are we then demanding of Achebe in the analysis and interpretation of an event that had such a traumatic impact on his psyche? Can the average Yoruba man, for instance, be objective, dispassionate or unemotional in his attitude to the annulled June 12 election and the death of Chief MKO Abiola? In reading this book, I tried to put myself in Achebe’s position and was thus able to empathise with and better understand his own all too human biases and prejudices.

    Even then, I am impressed by the high degree of intellectual honesty and moral integrity exhibited throughout the book by Achebe even when he is obviously biased or overly sentimental. For instance, on one hand he gives the impression that the Igbo have a monopoly of merit and talent in Nigeria and that they were entirely faultless in the events that degenerated to war. But he also admits that “there is no doubt that at all that there is a strand in contemporary Igbo behaviour that can offend by its noisy exhibitionism and disregard for humility and quietness”. Achebe’s sympathies undoubtedly lie with Ojukwu’s conduct of the Biafran war but he also with characteristic honesty notes that “The prevalent mantra of the time was “Ojukwu nye anyi egbe ka anyi nuo abha” – “Ojukwu give us guns to fight a war”…But in the early stages of the war, when the Biafran army grew rapidly, sadly Ojukwu had no guns to give to those brave souls”. In the same vein, despite his own pro-Biafra position, Achebe presents the reader with the following anti –war stance by the late Dr. Okechukwu Ikejiani: “Anybody with an intellect, with a sense would consider carefully the implication of a war. War is destructive. There’s no country that went to war that didn’t suffer, not one. When we went to war, we destroyed everything we had. That’s true”.

    Even though the bulk of Achebe’s book is his personal narrative of the civil war, he concludes by giving practical suggestions on how the lost Nigeria can be reclaimed. The path to the redemption and transformation of Nigeria, he posits, lies in the institutionalisation of free and fair elections, a free and vigorous press and a strong justice system. This will facilitate the emergence of positive leadership at all levels as well as a system of checks and balances that will check corruption and promote development. Achebe’s book will be a great inspiration to forces of progressive change in the ongoing grim battle for the soul of Nigeria.

  • Mimiko: Why should ‘Ayobolu’s venom’ matter?

    Mimiko: Why should ‘Ayobolu’s venom’ matter?

    For a reasonably well written rejoinderto this columnist’s analysis last week of the Ondo State gubernatorial polls of October 20, it is curious that the piece, published in the Daily Independent of Thursday, November 1, and titled ‘Mikiko and Ayobolu’s Unceasing Venom’ carries the rather anonymous by-line of an unknown quantity, Atinuke Alatise, from an undisclosed address in the expansive town of Akure. Of course, the resort to uncouth and intemperate language as well as cheap abuse by this suspiciously fictional parsonage can be excused. Such ‘bolekaja’ gutter fare always come in handy when logic and concrete facts are in short supply. Atinuke Alatise describes me as ‘Jagaban’s sycophant’ for expressing my honest assessment of Governor Mimiko’s victory. This implies that she (?) must be Iroko’s lickspittle who lacks the capacity for independent thinking and sound judgement. She sincerely deserves pity.

    Atinuke wonders if I had nothing else to do with my time for according the Ondo polls such significance as to warrant a series of commentaries. But it would appear such investment of precious time was not wasted after all. If nothing, it has at least forced Atinuke to sit down, sweat out over 1000 words and launch her career in the art of propaganda through subtle innuendo, baseless insinuations, laughable illogic, wild generalisations and outright falsehood. Apparently, the tumultuous jubilation she imagined going on all over the South West at Governor Mimiko’s re-election was not sufficient rebuttal to my position on the Ondo polls. She had to fire an ill tempered response to a column which, in her estimation, nobody took seriously. Then why the bother? Why not just dismiss and ignore the column? Perhaps her sponsors could adopt that stance only to their peril.

    Launching her feisty jeremiad, Atinuke alleged that “during last year’s general election, internal split within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gave Oyo and Ogun states to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Segun Ayobolu went to town singing a crass song of ACN supremacy and boasting to no end”. She provides no iota of evidence to prove this vituperation. It is simply childish. She refers me to “informed analysis…pouring in from outstanding columnists from other mediums, including, most notably, “Jagaban returns to Lagos empty-handed”. Well, that particular columnist’s journey from Temple University in Philadephia, US, to take up appointment as a member of the governing council of an Ondo state university in Okitipupa during the current administration’s tenure is an interesting one. It will be interesting to find out if he came back “empty handed”.

    Atinuke alleges that I ‘berated’ and ‘abused’ Governor Mimiko before the elections only to become an ‘objective critic’ after October 20. Again, she cites no instances of such abuse. I criticised the governor for relative non-performance given the over N600 billion that accrued to the oil producing state under his watch. I cited facts and figures at my disposal as well as my own extensive travels within Ondo state. I was equally critical of the governor’s ideological inconsistency and frequent change of party platforms. Nothing has happened to change my views on that. It is most certainly daft for anybody to equate criticism with abuse. Curiously, Atinuke argues that “…it is only a dull student of politics who will claim that performance is the sole criterion for re-election”. I congratulate Atinuke on her brightness. So performance was not a factor in Governor Mimiko’s re-election? Well, very revealing.

    This ‘guest columnist’ laboured in vain to disprove my contention that Governor Mimiko won a minority of votes (41.6%) as against the 57% that voted against him. His performance declined from the 55% of the votes he recorded in 2007. This is clearly no landslide. It shows an incumbent in trouble. The Punch newspaper made this point pungently in its editorial of October 25, 2012. According to the Punch, “Mimiko needs to do more to win over more of his people. He may have made some achievements in his first tenure, but the pattern of the votes cast shows that all is not well. He only got off lightly by scoring 260,199 votes. But the total votes for his rivals of the PDP and ACN which came to 299,473 are higher than his own score, indicating that those who voted against him were more in number. He and his party have to do a far better job of explaining and translating their vision and politics to the electorate. Mimiko will have to rally more citizens of the state to the relevance of his policies and programmes”. Well, I rest my case. After all, that is The Punch, not Segun Ayobolu. Apparently, none of the three major parties came away from the Ondo gubernatorial polls empty handed! Talking of professorial emptiness!

  • Sports retreats and reality

    It is a season of sports retreats in Nigeria.

    The same people have struggled to de

    fend their positions in the Foray (Abuja and Asaba in Delta State), yet they have missed out on where the problems of sports development in this polity lie.

    When these pundits are not canvassing the point for early preparations, they lunge the problem on poor funding with many others unhappy with the sickening manner in which sports is administered.

    Indeed, we think that with adequate fund, which sets the process of early preparations, Nigeria will be a noble beater in sports. Not true.

    Successful models adopted by achieving sports such as Jamaica, United States, Britain and indeed, the Asia nations have shown that enduring structures, not necessarily high profile infrastructure, good coaching by competent, trained and tested technical hands that are passionate about achieving the set objectives, patriotism from athletes and officials and a discerning roadmap hold the key to achieving greatness.

    The emphasis of these sports achieving countries is on catching athletes young. And the catchment brackets are kids between the ages of 8-11 years. The search for these kids is not a blind chase. Deliberate attempts are made to establish nurseries and equip them with basic equipment to help them learn the sports adequately. Specialised coaches are fished out to teach them the rudiments, tactics and new techniques. Icons in the sports in those countries are introduced to the kids to mentor them. Their grass-to-grace stories serve as reminders to these rookies that greatness in sports is just a step away-only if they remain focused, disciplined, dedicated and are prepared not to rest on their oars with each passing feat.

    Indeed, the kids are taught the doctrine of self belief in whatever game they are engaged in.

    The script before the kids is that sports and education can mix. And the kids are further shown those who have combined both and became successful. An example is Barrister Adokiye Amiesimaka. They should be exposed to sporting models like him and others to engender their interest in sports.

    Central to these workable models in Europe, America and the Asian countries are regulatory bodies to set the framework for the athletes, coaches and technical officials to bond into brands that the business concerns can key into, using other products and services.

    These regulatory bodies must have the bigger component at the government level which sadly too in Nigeria, is not recognised by the law. But the sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi exposed this flaw before President Goodluck Jonathan, penultimate Tuesday at the Presidential Sports Retreat in Abuja. And President Jonathan promised to re-introduce the National Sports Commission (NSC) Bill before the National Assembly as an executive bill. The president was excited that the flaw was brought to his notice, insisting that such laws that seek to unify Nigerians mobilise the masses, create employment for the people and the big public relations tool to re-shape people’s perception of our country is being sponsored on the floor of the National Assembly as a private bill.

    Good talk Mr. President. This NSC bill will re-invent our sports framework. It will ensure that administrative personnel don’t handle tasks meant for technocrats. Little wonder most of the reports submitted to the Sports Ministry eggheads end up in the ministry shelves.

    Again, the NSC bill will precipitate the need for all the 36 states and Abuja to have their sports commissions. Delta State has taken the initiative to pass the Delta State Sports Commission Bill. This writer cringed with envy when Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan told participants at the Delta State Sports Retreat at the Grand Hotel in Asaba, that the state’s vision for sports has moved beyond winning the National Sports Festival. Dr. Uduaghan showed that he understood the subject when he stated categorically there was the urgent need for the NSC to throw open the country’s biggest multi sports competition for Nigerians here and in the Diaspora to compete. Dr. Uduaghan clearly situated the need for the rookies to watch, compete and get to appreciate the values associated with being icons in their sports for our celebrated stars such as Chioma Ajunwa, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi, Funke Oshionaike, Gloria Alozie, et al.

    Indeed, Dr. Uduaghan scored the Oscar point when he attested to the fact that such structures as the Sports Commission would provide the template to store the data of energizing stars, in a bid to checkmate the shameful acts of age cheats that have infiltrated our sports.

    Yet it is important that we have sports Institute which will provide the platform to train and retrain our coaches. Such experts must come from countries that are world beaters in such sports. The bane of most of the athletes is that they are introduced to sports at the wrong age just as they are taught the wrong approach to the rudiments of the sport. Hence, we don’t get to know the potentials of our athletes here until they head to Europe.

    With more than 37 Sports Commissions and Institutes, it would be easier to package brands (individual sport) through inter and intra sports competitions for the business concerns to pick the sports of their choice. In selling the brands (Sports) to the captains of industry, we must tell them that they would benefit from such an adventure. Therefore, state governors must emulate the work being done by Raji Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Rotimi Chubuike Amaechi (Rivers), Akpabio (Akwa Ibom) Imoke (Cross Rivers), not forgetting Kwankwaso of Kano State.

    It must be stated here that there isn’t a professional approach to sell sports to the business community. There is therefore the need for these sports commissions and institutes to have marketing arms run by professional marketers with proven records of performance or they outscore the marketing aspect of sports to experts or consultant.

    Such professional approach will change the chop chop attitude of our sports administrators to that of sports achieving the objective of creating jobs, mobilize people as a medium of entertainment and recreation and above all the big public relations tool to change people’s perception of Nigeria.

    A professional set up will ensure accountability and transparency since no entrepreneur will want its brand image integrity and reputation to be tarnished on the altar of sharp practices, fraud and controversies.

    Government- that includes all its arms should encourage the corporate world to identify with sports. Government needs to provide tax reliefs for firms that contribute to the development of the sports industry. Government also needs to exploit the window of national Sports Lottery to drive sports to its zenith like we have seen in successful climes in Europe, America, Asia and the Diaspora.

    Conclusively, one will want our leaders to learn from these quotes thrown into public domain by Jamaica’s athletics legend Bertland Cameron, which formed the bedrock of the paper he submitted at the Delta State sports Retreat in Asaba on Tuesday.

    Jamaica’s track and field athletics coach Bertland Cameron said: “Coaches play integral part in our athletics. Jamaica has 300 qualified coaches and I think that you have former athletes who can do it. You should not look outside to turn things around. The talent is here. “Mary Onyali is like Merlene Ottey. Innocent Egbunike is hot and there was a time I was praying he should not come to events for me to shine. I remember the Ezinwa brothers. They were never scared. I wonder why a big country like Nigeria is not doing well. Nigeria always starts strong and finish so weak. You must ask questions. Why is it like that? Is it that you stopped nurturing athletes? What about sponsorship?

    “It is not that we (Jamaica) are better naturally. It is because we have learnt from the mistakes we made in the past and have put the plans and programmes in place to harness and nurture our talent. We rotate our coaches as no one coach stays permanently on one job. There is continuity in our sports. And we never forget our heroes.

    “Those who started the glory like Donald Quarry, Merlene Ottey, Juliet Cuthbert, myself, Usain Bolt, Ashafa Powel. Powel is a hero and is staying back in Jamaica. He is living well, driving good cars and living in a good house. This motivates the younger ones. Everyone wants to be like him. That is our secret. At the last Olympics, we never went abroad except for Veronica Campbell who lived abroad with the husband. Her husband is a Jamaican too and a coach. We are patriotic and have the mentality and passion to win. Nigeria should not be looking up to Jamaica. We should be the ones looking up to Nigeria. Our lineage is from Nigeria,” he said.

    Will our leaders lead us to the Promised Land? You tell me.

  • Global power play – Between change and consolidation

    Next  week will see a sea change in the politics of power in the two most  economically powerful nations on earth. The US  presidential election  holds  on November 6 while the 10-yearly transfer of power conference of the Chinese Communist Party, the ruling party of China,  starts two days later on November 8. In Russia, Vladmir Putin, the president and strongman of Russian politics cancelled some state engagements sparkling speculations that he could have a nagging injury but even then no one doubted his hold on power  as the  Czar  of Modern Russia. In Nigeria , Primate Nicholas Okoh, head of the Nigeria Anglican Communion at a news conference on next week’s 2012 Divine Commonwealth Conference in Abuja asked that the British government should appoint an Archbishop  of Canterbury who  is ‘ biblically based and not someone with wide theologies‘.

    Yet, before discussing the power plays already identified for this week let me acknowledge with awesome respect the natural fire power of Hurricane Sandy or Sandy Storm t in the US that brought life to a halt in New York  and New Jersey  this  week. The storm halted, albeit briefly,   the acrimonious US presidential campaign   and allowed the US President Barak Obama  a rare opportunity to use his incumbency maximally to his advantage in the elections,  in the way  he responded   like a father of the nation  to the crisis.

    Even  the late George Washington  and the founding fathers of the American nation must smile in their graves at the sight this US president in Airforce one charging down the plane’s doorsteps to bring succor and hope to those blighted by an inhuman storm that threw out even caskets from their graves in its fury and wanton, destruction of lives and property on its path. Hurricane Sandy showed  very clearly that in terms of raw power  and  its  display, science and man are yet to conquer nature  and both are well advised  to be extremely   cautious as to how they try to control the elements in their midst and in their  various global environment. The fact that the US Metrological   Authorities could identify the   path of the storm as well as its speed but could not stop it,  is enough testimony to the fact that man is yet to be able to control his environment, in spite of the  huge technological achievements of our age and time . Which really is a frightening truth to live with, in a world with enough man made horrors of its own.

     In similar  manner and undoubtedly then,  the result of the forth coming US elections  can bring new horrors of its own depending on who wins. Most Nigerians expect or pray that Obama  should win .But  Nigerians are not going to vote in the elections . From the utterances and campaigns of the two candidates  Americans must make a choice come November 6. From what Mitt Romney has articulated so far, his administration will look after the rich and mighty and will not raise taxes from them but will want the poor and middle class to fend for themselves or perish in the process if they cannot. If Romney wins he will give full backing to the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu and will encourage  an attack on  Iran’s nuclear facilities which he thinks are the most potent threat to world peace today. Iran on its own has said that it would wipe out Israel and there is no doubt that it  is  not about to make itself a sitting duck  for  any US – engineered, Israeli attack ,  on its nuclear facility. This, in addition to the violence in nearby Syria which is an ally of Iran whose plane drones are reported to have been sighted in Syria  helping the Assad regime, is bound to complicate issues and make the world a dangerous place to live in indeed   in a Mitt Romney presidency.

    Obama,  on the other hand ,  is tested hand whose foreign  policy of engagement with friends and enemies alike has made the world a safer place to live in so far. He has beheaded Al Qada in the killing of   Bin Laden and his foreign policy has flowered the growth of democracy in the Middle East. Obama’s foreign policy in the Middle East   has destroyed  some old animosities  and created new  friends that make the prospect of a lasting peace in a combustible region possible after all. Hamas has moved away from Syria in protest at the killing of the Syrian people by their president. Hamas has lost sanctuary and funding from Syria but it has found a new friend in equally rich Qatar whose Prince visited Hamas territory recently and Qatar is an ally of the US, and Saudi Arabia,   great  enemies of Syria.

    In  Lebanon the EU  has refused to follow the US in categorizing Hizbollah, an ally of Iran, as a terrorist organization because of the humanitarian work it is doing for all parties concerned fleeing the carnage going on in Syria and becoming refugees in Lebanon. Such realignments and reappraisal of relations make diplomacy a potent tool for peace in the region as the prospects of war recedes  in the face of pragmatic politics and emerging relationships. At  home in spite of the ailing domestic economy Obama   has shown more empathy with the poor and down trodden of the US economy more than any US president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt-FDR -who led the US during the Great Depression of 1929  and the thirties. To  me as a citizen of the world Obama is a safer option for world peace and stability and I wish him God’s speed on his reelection bid.

    China too will be busy next week organizing its own orderly and party guided transfer of power. 2000 party faithfuls will be gathered in Beijing next Thursday to name Vice President Xi Jinping    to succeed outgoing President Hu Jintao while Vice Premier Li Keqiana will replace outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao . About 5 to 7 seats on the Chinese Communist Party Politbureau are expected to be filled at the closed shop conference which is unlike the hullaballoo that attend American presidential campaigns and elections. That  is politics and democracy – Chinese style -as in the  global interplay of power politics one man’s food is another man’s poison and as long as there is political stability and security , the end can always be used  in any political  system to justify  the means. Already about 1.5m volunteers have been mobilized in Beijing to ensure stability during the Party Conference next week. So  whoever wins the US elections already knows who to deal with on the Chinese side but the same cannot be   said  of the Americans till  after the elections of November 6.  Really,  I wonder which one is neater or  preferable.

    Russia’s Vladmir Putin’s postponement of state events may bother his guests but his absences  are really of his own making and are indeed  due to the fact that he has too much time on his hand in running Russia  and has injured himself in the process. This is because in addition to  dangerously  flying planes along with migrating birds, Putin is a judo black belt who inspired the large haul of gold medals in judo for the Russian contingent at the just concluded  2012 London Olympics. That not with standing Putin must  or should wear the ultimate ‘gold medal‘ in Russian politics for the way he organized his return to power  in 2012 after ruling  as   president for the mandatory two terms of four years from 2001  to 2008. He  simply appointed a stooge who ruled as president of Russia for four years while he demoted himself as Prime Minister  for four years  only to get his presidency back in a stage managed election later. Now, Putin is expected to be in power till 2020.  Who  can challenge him for the gold medal of power in Russia? Definitely no one –  so the postponement of  state engagements are an inconsequential distraction that can be overlooked by the state;  as Putin, indeed, is the state in Russia.

    Nigeria’s Anglican Primate Nicholas Okoh’s advice to the British government to stop the politicization of the appointment of the Archbishop of Canterbury should be looked at in the context of the   appointment  as well as the performance of  the   outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury,  Rowan Williams;   as well as the personality and views  of the appointing authority of the next Archbishop   of Canterbury  who is the present British PM.

    In simple terms former British PM Tony Blair appointed Rowan Williams while the present  British PM David  Cameron is to appoint his successor. This is what the Nigerian Anglican  Prelate is objecting to. This to me is because David Cameron is on record as threatening to cut aid to African nations that have laws against homosexuality and lesbianism and Nigeria is unrepentantly one of such nations. Outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams turned a blind eye to the ordination of gay priests in the US and ignored the objections of African bishops during his tenure. This divided the global Anglican Communion deeply and created a Schism.

    Rowan Williams played with words,  philosophies and theological arguments to justify his nonchalance on gay priests in the Anglican Communion hence Primate Okoh’s advice to the British government to appoint a new Archbishop that knows the bible and respects it and not just another radical intellectual like Rowan Williams who  fiddled like Roman Emperor Nero while the global Anglican Community burnt like Rome over the consecration of gay priests and bishops during his tenure.

    I  think Primate Okoh is trying to preserve the Commonwealth heritage of the Anglican Communion and the teachings of the bible in spite of the  apparent swing of British politics and government in the direction of accommodation for gays and lesbians. It  is really a complicated power play and pot pourri of religion and politics  fit only for the high priests and princes of the Church to be watched  only from a safe distance by a curious laity.

  • NFF’s, Keshi’s sack letter

    The presidential directive that the Super Eagles must lift the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations’ diadem in South Africa is clear to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

    Equally instructive is an NSC chieftain’s fiat to NFF chiefs to sign the performance bond in the aftermath of the presidential order to ministers in the Goodluck Jonathan’s government.

    Jonathan’s message is meant to motivate the players and challenge the NFF chiefs to ensure that we present a good team at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. Or was anyone expecting the president to ask the Eagles to lie down for their opponents without a fight in South Africa next year?

    Besides, the presidential performance form was served on those appointed as government functionaries. People shouldn’t hide under such umbrella to set traps for perceived enemies in the NFF and the Eagles. The NFF board came into effect through elections, not as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) supporters but as apolitical Nigerians.

    I ask that the NSC chief who is insisting that NFF must sign the performance form, if the decision is binding on distinguished members of the National Assembly.

    Are we not witnesses to the country’s worst outing at the London 2012 Olympic Games? Did anyone ask those hounding the NFF with this form to quit? Anyway, Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi warned me to discountenance any government policy not signed or/and voiced by him. I digress.

    Yet, these two instructions may be the death knell on Nigeria’s quest to appear at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. I don’t need to be a seer to know that the Eagles won’t lift the diadem in South Africa. We are rating the Eagles based on their talents and exploits in European clubs.

    What we have failed to appreciate is that the depth of talents in these European clubs is not what we have in the Eagles. We have also not recognised the fact that the players in these European clubs have spent more time together as a team, playing matches weekly. These matches provide the platform for the players to gel and produce scintillating performances that send the fans into a frenzy.

    Rebuilding a national team is not a hasty assignment. It includes identifying new talents, weeding out ageing ones through competitions and finding the right combination of players to do the job. I don’t think that the Eagles have played 14 games under Keshi. And it would be the height of unbridled patriotism for anyone to expect such a team to win the Africa Cup of Nations.

    It is true that football is unpredictable. What is also true is that no ill-prepared side such as the Eagles, in terms of quality time to prepare the players for the assignment, wins big trophies.

    Unfortunately, that NSC chief didn’t have the balls to explain to President Goodluck Jonathan why the Keshi-led Eagles won’t carry the day in South Africa. Is anyone surprised? Don’t ask me if he was a member of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) that wrongly advised the president to withdraw Nigeria from all football competitions.

    Since those PTF foes lost face after the President’s recant in 2010, they have latched onto any opportunity to sustain their campaign with every poor outing by our football teams. The President has listening ears – from what I saw during the Presidential Sports Retreat in Abuja two months ago.

    Super Eagles has the highest population of Europe-based players who warm the bench in their clubs.

    This presidential fiat seems to me another way to prepare the ground for Stephen Keshi’s and the NFF’s board’s sack in the event that Nigeria doesn’t win the Africa Cup of Nations. If that happens, the hawks in high places would pounce on the confused setting. And I can take a bet that Nigeria’s flag will not be hoisted at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

    If we don’t lift the Nations Cup, it would be because we wasted time in recruiting the last Eagles coach. It also should serve as a lesson because asking Keshi to step aside (God forbid), will destroy what he has painstakingly built. The ripple effect will stop us from the Brazil 2014 World Cup.

    I have prayed fervently that we don’t win it. My prayer stems from the fact that we would spend precious time celebrating and end up not qualifying for the World Cup in Brazil.

    We don’t need a pilgrimage of appearances at the World Cup to become the first African nation to play in the semifinals and ultimately win the trophy. That dream will be actualised if we build blocks. And that includes taking the positives from whatever happens to the Eagles next year in South Africa and build on it.

    God forbid jail term for Emenike

    The media was awash with the heart wrenching story Wednesday that Super Eagles striker Emmanuel Emenike will be jailed for close to three years, having been indicted in the match-fixing case in Turkey last year.

    The manner of speech of the prosecutor Ufuk Emertcan clearly indicated that they had sufficient evidence to hound Emenike to jail, if he had been in the court on Tuesday.

    The prosecutor submitted that Emenike feigned injury in the landmark match-fix ing case where it was alleged that Fenerbahce officials had fixed that season’s match against Karabukspor, demanding that Karabukspor should not name Emenike in its team. The caveat to this match fixing case was for Emenike to dump Karabukspor for Fenerbahce after the game.

    Ememike said in his defence that Karabukspor’s doctors asked him not to play the fixed game because he was injured. Emenike added that he called the Super Eagles coach, who asked him not to play the game with pain killers, obviously because of the repercussions.

    The questions to ask this prosecutor are: Did the Karabukspor doctors dent their medical advice to Emenike? Is it Emenike’s duty to field himself in a match? Did Emenike go the hospital? If yes, has the hospital denied that he didn’t come there? Did they discover any transaction where money was transferred from an account to the Nigerian’s? Is it not laughable that a player would fix a match and yet prevent himself from featuring in the game? How then would he facilitate his team losing to the opponent? From off the pitch?

    There are certainly more questions than answers. But my plea to NFF chiefs and officials of the National Sports Commission (NSC) is to immediately contact Emenike and his lawyers to get the brief of the case.

    A Nigerian international as a match fixer is no palatable news. We shouldn’t fold our arms and allow an incompetent lawyer send our soccer ambassador to jail.

    We need to fortify Emenike’s legal team. He must not be left alone. The time to intervene is now. It could start with an appeal. Emenike must not go to jail, except he is found guilty after a transparent trial. Over to you Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi. We must save our son from this show of shame. Emenike gives his best during Super Eagles matches. We need to show concern in this matter, please sir.

    Good night Dr. Anthonia Onouha

    Last week, I refused to disclose the ailment of Nedum Onouha’s mum, Dr. Anthonia Onouha, even though she told me. She didn’t ask me to re-broadcast it.

    But I was shocked to the marrow on Wednesday night while reading through my e-mails. A message from one Davis broke the sad news that Dr. Anthonia Onouha had died on November 8. She may be buried this weekend in Manchester in the United Kingdom. My heart sank.

    I never met her. But from our telephone discussion, she was quite a homely person. It still hurts to know that she has passed on. My prayer is for God to grant her soul eternal rest and give Nedum the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

    I just hope that chieftains of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), and indeed, Super Eagles Chief Coach Stephen Keshi will remember to call Nedum to express their condolences. That is the way forward. Nedum may embrace us, you never can tell. Sleep well Anthonia.

  • Terrorism, politics and the law

    The bombing of a church in a military barrack in Kaduna

    in Nigeria and the placement of a bounty of 50m naira by the army on leaders of the terrorist group Boko Haram highlight Nigeria’s intractable and messy problem with terrorism. Unlike Nigeria, however Egypt faces a new problem from the use and misuse of power from its new president Mohammed Morsi, who recently issued presidential orders granting him powers that are not challengeable in any court in Egypt.

    In Nigeria again, in a strange concoction of politics and finance, the nation’s Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi, the Champion of Islamic banking in Nigeria asked the Federal government to sack 50% of its civil servants because it is spending 70% of its revenue on paying the salaries of these civil servants. In far away New York, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon asked the UN Security Council to approve the sending of an ECOWAS force to Mali to rescue that nation from invaders both Tuaregs and religious militants but asked the UN body not to provide the funds said to be worth $50m.

    The issues highlighted above raise issues of terrorism, authoritarianism, economic planning and finan ce, national, regional and global stability and I intend to highlight these issues in that light and context today. Let me stress that it will require a huge balancing act to do this and it is in that regard that I will make reference to an article by Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyii titled -‘A Sense of Balance‘in The Economist which stressed that both peoples and nations will need to balance their acts to make the world a peaceful place to live in.

    In that fine article Suu Kyii noted that the end of authoritarianism is not synonymous with the end of dissent or the demise of fundamentalism. Dissent she said should be channeled towards concensus and compromise while she stressed that fundamentalism, which can be volatile in times of change and uncertainty, is in reality the natural enemy of balance. Suu Kyii identified terrorists as those people lacking in self respect who are incapable of compassion and restraint when they have an opportunity to deal with those who they think put them in a state of incapacity to attain what they perceive as their deserved niche. Such people who lack self respect are incapable of respecting others. The terrorist mentality she concluded is spawned by intellectual and social influences that widen to an extreme ‘the gap‘ between the terrorist and others – and this destroys the essential balance that promotes a common bond of humanity.

    It is in the light of the wisdom of the Burmese and Nobel laureate that I take on the issues raised first on terrorism in Nigeria and the resurgence of authoritarianism in Egypt in the wake of President Mohammed Morsi,s surprising and bold move to concentrate power in his hands. In Nigeria terrorism is waxing stronger as terrorists this week bombed the headquarters of the special police unit in Abuja where terrorists are being kept and some were said to have escaped. There have been reports that some suspected terrorists were found round the State House in Ekiti State while Members of the National Assembly are said to be apprehensive that the Assembly could be the target of Boko Haram terrorists.

    It is my considered view that no government should allow terrorists to operate with such impunity as this weakens respect for constituted authority and casts aspersion on the sovereignty of the state. It is ironically to protect such sovereignty that President Mohammed Morsi in Egypt seized the powers of the courts and decreed they could not be used to challenge him in his bid to control law and order in Egyp. In Nigeria’s case it is apparent that the state is lax in tackling insecurity and terrorism for reasons best known to the authorities. But human lives should not be treated with levity and nonchalance by the rest of us because we have not any relatives killed by terrorists. It is dehumanizing to see churches bombed on a weekly basis while Christians elsewhere and those not directly involved just pause for a moment and move on while the state wrings its hands in futile admonitions and does nothing to deter the terrorist against the next attack.

    In Egypt where there is no such terror as in Nigeria, President Morsi has seized power ostensibly to forestall such state impotence in the face of expected terror. Morsi is acting proactively in anticipation of spurious litigations to hamstring the state even though his anticipation and actions are decidedly undemocratic. The difference between the Nigerian and Egyptian situation is that the party of President Morsi, the Islamic Brotherhood is a Fundamentalist Party and secular Egyptians are afraid that Morsi and his party will use the power he has seized to introduce Sharia Law in Egypt, to the detriment of opposition parties and other religions in Egypt. Whereas in Nigeria the terrorist is rampant and running amok as it were.

    Yet, there is still some caution and restraint in the way the stakeholders and politicians in the Egyptian state deal with each other. When the demonstrations against Morsi started, the Muslim Brotherhood planned its own counter one for last Tuesday. But it cancelled this to avert bloodshed when it saw the turn out at Tahrir Square against the president’s usurpation of the power of the Egyptian Courts.

    Such restraint is barren in the way Boko Haram bombs Churches killing and maiming Christians and passers by in Nigeria. Worse still the business as usual stance of the security forces as well as the ‘not my turn yet‘ attitude of the rest of us has portrayed Nigeria as a nation of people thick skinned to murder and mayhem in their midst. Which simply means that human life is cheap here as in the Hobbessian theory that says that in a state of terror, where might is right, human life is violent, brutish and short. Surely that is a sad and unfortunate image for any nation not enmeshed in America’s war on terror like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq where suicide bombing has made a mockery of the sanctity of human lives.

    Again, it is in that light that I consider the call by the CBN governor to sack half the work force of our civil service as well as the posture of the UN not being ready to spend money on rescuing Mali. The CBN governor’s call reminds one of ‘the shoot the messenger‘ syndrome while the UN parsimony on Mali’s survival reminds one of the proverbial cat that would eat fish without getting its paws wet. What the CBN governor has said is the correct thing for any government spending 70% of its revenue on salaries to do but even he knows that no politician or government in Nigeria will do that and survive.

    Even the host governor at the venue where the CBN delivered his stricture said it was not possible. So the CBN governor was just barking at the moon even though every one knows that sacking of civil servants was never part of his schedule of duties and that makes the civil servants happy as they plan his downfall in the full Nigerian retaliatory syndrome. Anyway, the CBN governor is as impervious to criticism as the politicians in the way he carried through his Islamic Banking agenda which is in tune with his Master’s degree in Islamic studies from the University of Khartoum. Really what is good for the goose should be good for the gander.

    Lastly, Ban Ki Moon has shown that he or the UN does not understand the gravity of the situation in Mali. ECOWAS states alone cannot fund the reclamation of Northern Mali because they all have financial problems of their own .They mostly rely on Nigeria as the father Xmas of such military adventures. But Nigeria has problems of its own such as the one pointed out by the CBN governor, the oil subsidy theft, the huge allowances of its legislators as well as the fight against Boko Haram to which huge funds have been committed.

    The UN should not turn the proposed Mali ECOWAS force into another laughing stock like the blue beret UN Congo troops who stood by and watched unconcerned as M23 rebels seized the town of Goma from government forces in the DRC recently. Mali is a member state of the UN that is in trouble because of regional problems stemming from the growth of militancy and fundamentalism on the northern part of all ECOWAS states and needs help, especially the financial type to maintain its stability and sovereignty.

    If Mali falls there will be a wrong signal to militants in the Sahel that they can simulate the situation in Mali in any state in ECOWAS. That is one message that is lost to the UN Scribe for now. Not funding the military rescue of Mali can be counter productive and very costly for the UN in the short run not to talk of in the long. A word is enough for the wise.