The Nation Newspaper

Category: Thursday

  • Unbidden offering on the altar of vultures

    An Ivy League education without ethics makes a trust fund ‘baby’ an expensive toy without batteries. Substandard education makes the middling youth even worse. It moulds him into a broken toy without appeal. They are both disposable but they enjoy patronage anyway – by the ones Wole Soyinka eloquently described as the wasted generation.

    The Nigerian youth is a breed with all the personality of a paper cup. Thus like paper cups, we are used and disposed by men and women unfit to be elders. Yet whatever callousness we are forced to endure, our elders are not to blame. They should not be blamed, for we made ourselves unbidden offering on the altar of vultures.

    It is the malady of this age that the youth are too busy preaching that they have no time left to learn. In Nigeria, we are too busy dumbing down that we barely have time left to grow. It is a sad manifestation of stunted growth that we evolve into foetal adults and spend the rest of our lives seeking the comfort of debilitating “life boats.”

    It is even more disheartening to see us adopt as a favourite past time, the pillorying of our elders and the rapacious ruling class. Many a Nigerian youth love to prophesy the worst about our fatherland thus it is never surprising to hear the average youth pronounce with emphatic pessimism thus: “This country is doomed” or “Nigeria is finished.”

    The Igbo youth laments his persistent marginalization from the scheme of things. He believes Nigeria is skewed to work against him and fellow Igbo because his peers from other ethnic groups are wary of his towering acumen, industry, courage and political savvy.

    The Hausa youth believes he has the right to inexplicably reign supreme and lord it over his peers without resort to merit. And the Yoruba youth, goaded by sentiments of his higher wisdom, towering depth in diplomacy, culture and politics believes that he is entitled to the best the country has to offer, on a platter of gold.

    The contemporary youth frantically perpetuates his sense of victimhood and entitlement. The idea is to keep whining until he gets lucky and corner an immense portion of the proverbial national cake, with minimal exertion and at no cost.

    We used to be regarded as the promising youth, the gifted generation that would rescue Nigeria from the brink of ruin. But that spell of hopefulness has dissipated now. Our “wasted” elders have seen through our noise and bluster. They know we are increasingly handicapped by greed and lack of creed. By creed, I mean a coherent and specific set of goals, a consistent series of norms according to which society is to be remade.

    Since we have learnt to blame the ruling class for everything, what is it that we want from the ruling class? We don’t need their permission to make something of the world where they have failed but we still live our lives seeking their permission to evolve positively and maturely.

    It takes courage and decency to evolve a humane ideology and establish it. We haven’t the courage and the will, and this interferes with our ability to accomplish progressive change. More worrisome are our violent attempts to be radical; eventually they resonate too feebly as a kind of rudderless activism.

    We identify all that is wrong with our society but we are never specific about what must be done to correct them. It is easy to join a picket line and castigate our elders and ruling class for everything that is wrong with our lives but these actions, while they demonstrate frustration, in some instances even heroism, deal generally with symptoms of· our problems and not the solutions.

    All the picket lines in the world would not resolve the maladies of fraudulent and impatient youth, perverted values, greed, racism, disillusionment with scholarship and substandard education.

    A broad wave of disillusionment persist above the silver linings we seek to succeed our darksome clouds. Yet with precision and unfaltering devotion, we work ourselves up into such a state that we can only see the volcanic flare of our destructive acts as glitters of grandeur.

    We have perfected the art of standing on barrel-heads to spout and be seen, while we engage in pursuit and acquisition of mostly unearned wealth and greatness. Eventually, we luxuriate and spread out like a green forest with sour fruits and severed roots.

    Apparently, we suffer a throwback to the 70s – the era that launched a trend in which Nigerians became preoccupied with themselves more than the survival of the nation. Self preservation has become an inexorable obsession of many youths seeking to escape the slow, steady path with its craters of mishap and socio-economic vagaries.

    What Joshua Lubin identifies as the “Me” decade has indeed, recoiled inward rather than concern itself with crucial national issues, like national progress and ethical rebirth. Therefore, popular culture attracts dubious labels such as “narcissistic” and “decadent” from critics and the “wasted” older generation.

    The Nigerian youth has become so self-involved that almost every action and train of thought perpetuated by him serves as an instrumental resource to situate this generation in historical context, as perfect illustration of the much-hackneyed and over-exploited “Lost Generation.”

    Our inordinate quest for self-fulfillment further establishes us as the worst that could possibly happen to a heavily endowed nation like Nigeria.

    But we aren’t actually so bad. If we could look inwards to summon latent will and channel it towards the rejuvenation of outdated mores of morality and simple decencies, our lot could change for better.

    Yet some gothic rabble would read this and consider it “Pollyannaish.” To this lot, any enthusiastic lunge at hope or belief in a brighter tomorrow, manifests as blind optimism and a pathetic attempt to be patriotic even while it’s absolutely idiotic to do so.

    They would love to see the nation ruin in order to justify their inordinate cynicism and yearnings about the pointlessness of the Nigerian dream. They continually affirm their ill will and prayers of doom for the nation by tirelessly projecting separation and insurmountable bleakness on the Nigerian state.

    Individually, their contribution towards nation building is virtually non-existent or abysmally low, they are amazingly adept at sowing seeds of doubt and disillusionment amongst their peer and younger generation. But they love to be seen as heroes of truth and the new world.

    These are company to be scorned and avoided by progressive youth.

  • Mugabe’s disGraceful end

    Mugabe’s disGraceful end

    For Robert Gabriel Mugabe, it all ended on Tuesday as he left office in disgrace after losing the opportunity to go with dignity. For one week, he held his country up as he rebuffed the army’s entreaties to bow out.

    The army, which struck last Wednesday,  has behaved responsibly so far in order not to give the world any excuse to condemn it. The army struck to restore law and order because Mugabe was running the country like his personal fiefdom. Ironically, it is this same Mugabe, who with other revolutionaries, fought the British imperialists to free the then Southern Rhodesia from the colonialists’ grip.

    When Zimbabwe became independent in 1980 and Mugabe took office as its first prime minister (PM), it was the dawn of a new era for the country. Hopes were high that things will look up for Zimbaweans. They were no longer under any overlord but were being governed by their compatriots. Unknown to them, Mugabe had a different agenda and that was to perpetuate himself in power.

    From PM, he became president in 1987 and in the series of elections that have followed since then, he was always returned to power. He was planning to elongate his tenure by making his wife Grace his successor when the military intervened. His plot backfired because he tangled with another veteran revolutionary, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who knows all the intrigues surrounding power. If Mugabe had not moved against Mnangagwa, he probably may not have run into trouble. Anyway, you do not toy with someone called “the crocodile”, which is Mnangagwa’s nickname,  without paying the price.

    Following his sack by Mugabe as vice president, ‘’the crocodile’’ retreated to plan his return in a bigger way. He, Mugabe and the army chief Gen Constantino Chiwenga have known themselves since their revolutionary days. The freedom  fighters had grown from guerrilla warriors to political leaders. They saw their country as their personal kingdom and they prevented others from smelling power.

    Their compatriots got a raw deal from them. Mugabe, 93, became power drunk and he did not want to leave office again. His cup became full when he moved against Mnangagwa, the 75-year-old former security chief. Mnangagwa’s constituency would not allow the slight to go unchallenged. Quietly, the ousted vice president moved to South Africa to plot his return, with the Chiwenga-led army on his side. Mugabe suddenly found himself all alone as his erstwhile allies turned against him. Not even Gucci Grace, the power behind the throne,  who he was propping up to succeed him could save him when the time came for him to go.

    The military has been playing it cool with Mugabe because first he is a comrade (in the struggle for Zimbabwe’s freedom) and second because coup is no longer fashionable in Africa. The soldiers have been restraining themselves from doing anything to incur the wrath of the world. But one thing is clear the world is united on the need for Mugabe to go. He has not lived up to the mark of a freedom  fighter. He was a freedom  fighter who ended up as a dictator. It is so, so unfortunate.

    Out of respect, the army asked him to resign, but he refused, insisting on hanging on to power. But he suddenly threw in the towel when moves to impeach him were initiated. The people trooped out to celebrate his long overdue exit on Tuesday. To them, it was good riddance to bad rubbish. May his likes never be seen on this continent again.

  • The Mugabes in our midst

    The Mugabes in our midst

    Zimbabweans dancing excitedly in the street. Kids climbing up armoured vehicles to be carried by smiling soldiers. Strangers hugging one another. Songs of victory as if the national team had just won a crucial match. Elders shedding tears of joy. They never knew it could ever happen in their lifetime.

    It was a moving spectacle in Harare. The euphoria was remarkable. Robert Mugabe surrendered power after days of hide and seek. The cunning old man delivered a rambling speech expected to announce  his  resignaion. But he did not on Sunday. Then the ball was in the court of the lawmakers, who issued an impeachment notice. Suddenly Mugabe, who had shunned entreaties from the legendary Kenneth Kaunda and a respected cleric, surrendered on Tuesday.

    As soon as Mugabe’s letter of resignation was read by the Speaker, there was jubilation across the land. An era – of brutality and sheer madness – ended.

    Mugabe ran the country, which was one of Africa’s richest, like a motor park. He brooked no opposition. He clubbed his challengers, smashing their heads and breaking their limbs. He ruled with an iron hand, rigging himself into office all the time to clock 37 years in power.

    Zimbabweans were cowed. They feared him. But the 93-year-old did not start as the monster he later became. He was an altar boy, a devoted Christian and a  freedom fighter. His ascendance to power in 1980 brought so much hope, but in the end, hope turned into ashes. Mugabe  lost his way and became a tyrant who listened only to his wily and reckless wife, “Gucci” Grace, whose taste for luxury goods put her on the same pedestal as Imelda Marcos. She used to be Mugabe’s secretary and mistress. She became the First Lady after the death of Mugabe’s wife.

    So obsessed with power was Mugabe that he planned to hand over to Grace. Thankfully, Zimbabweans will no longer have to endure that insult. The evil empire has fallen, never to rise again.

    As Zimbabweans danced in the street, Nigerians were joking about their fate. Suddenly, caricatures of a sleeping Mugabe strapped onto Grace’s back, like a baby, her Gucci glasses on her terrified face, appeared on the social media.

    And these: “Mugabe has resigned… Arsene Wenger over to you.”

    “Breaking News!!! Arsenal fans in talks with Zimbabwean Army for help in getting rid of Arsene Wenger.”

    “What soft landing are you providing for Arsene Wenger like Zimbabwe has just done for Mugabe?”

    “A new word in the dictionary, Mugabe. Mugabe means ‘to refuse to go’.  The one who refuses to go is a ‘mugabee’. To have refused in the past is to have ‘mugabed’. The act of refusing to go is ‘mugabing’. So if you refuse to do anything for me you are a ‘mugaber’.”

    Even as we joke and laugh over this typical African tragedy, we should realise that Mugabe is not the only one who has failed his people. What do we make of 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)?

    Here was a party that was formed at a critical time in our history by some of our leading lights. It promised a new day and delivered a bad day. For 16 years, it took Nigerians for a ride – to nowhere. A roller coaster.

    The PDP threatened to rule Nigeria for 60 years; it took it just 16 years to ruin everything, making a huge bonfire of all the values that we cherished. Corruption became a national past time to be defended by those who always promised to check it. We were sent back to the classroom to learn the difference between “stealing” and “corruption”. There was a big national debate on that.

    Just as in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, the police became a tool in the hands of the ruling party to be used to thwart the people’s will. Opponents were locked up on the eve of crucial elections. The electoral system was corrupted with cash. Winners were turned into losers and losers became winners overnight. All in the name of a grand larceny branded Transformation  Agenda. The tragic joke went on for 16 years, until Providence supervened.

    The treasury was looted on a scale beyond comprehension. The dollar became the unofficial currency of the elite. Apartments were to be paid for in dollar. Hotels charged in dollar. The naira became an orphan. Factories were shut down. Jobs were lost.

    When it all became unbearable, the government came up with all manner of dubious programmes. SURE- P, You Win I Win and such deceitful stuff. Cash was  dished out to the well-connected. Inflation ran riot.

    The more the people grumbled, the deeper the tricksters dug into their bag of tricks and whipped out inventive ideas. At a point, with Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala  presiding, the government juggled some facts and figures and announced with incredible relish that the economy was Africa’s largest- courtesy of some abracadabra called “Rebasing”. It celebrated the strange feat in an elaborate manner and kept on referring to it in public speeches. Ah. Among all the lies ever constructed by any government anywhere, this must rank the biggest. And unleashed without any shame. Nor regrets.

    Nigeria became the ultimate dumping ground for all manner of goods. Toothpicks, eyelashes, eye shadow and eye pencils. Fake tyres and fake drugs. We imported everything under the sun, including champagne and choice wines to nurture the elite’s delicate palate.

    Oil, the mainstay of the economy, sold for more than $100 a barrel. We made no savings.

    Our presidents carried on as if they were the state. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had a large ego, fuelled by a messianic disposition. As his eight-year stay in power neared its end, he launched into an illegal scheme to extend it – he keeps denying doing that, stressing that  if he had wanted to stay on, he would have asked God to help him and God would have obliged him.

    The late Mallam Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, a good man, honest and humble, was hobbled by ill-health. He could not do much.

    Dr Goodluck Jonathan, another fine fellow, was a victim of his own success. A former teacher, he became deputy to the late DSP Alamieyeseigha, the governor-general of the Ijaw nation who governed Bayelsa State and left in cloudy circumstances. Jonathan later became Yar’Adua’s deputy and eventually his successor. He could not cope, perhaps because of his dizzy ascension to power.

    A man who had no shoes suddenly became the number one citizen, with shoe manufacturers at his beck and call. He later confessed that he was caged.

    It is to his credit, however, that when it was all over, he simply stood up and went home. Now he is on the lecture circuit. The world is begging Dr Jonathan to write his memoirs. Will he? When?

    Mugabe will be succeeded by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the 71-year-old former vice- president, who he sacked for insubordination. He is nicknamed ‘Crocodile’ for his alleged brutality as Mugabe’s Man Friday.

    Mugabe’s fall has sent a clear message to other tyrants. Nothing lasts forever. President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and his Rwandan counterpart , Paul Kagame, should be troubled.

    The Gabonese should be hopeful that someday they will be free. Jacob Zuma has been accused of corruption. For how long will he hang on?

    Despite the fact that his human rights record is awful, Mugabe will not be going into history as the worse dictator of our time. Idi Amin murdered 300,000. He fed many opponents to crocodiles. Jean-Bedel Bokassa, ‘emperor’ of the Central African Republic, who seized power in 1966, killed 100 pupils for not buying uniforms from his shop. He was said to have kept human skulls in his refrigerator.

    Haile Mariam Mengistu, a Russian–trained Marxist, deposed Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in 1974. Many of his opponents were killed and his economic policy impoverished the people.

    For 32 years, Mobutu Sese Seko ran Zaire like his personal estate. He was corrupt and brutal. He had a vast fortune stashed overseas. There was also Charles Taylor who used kids to fight the wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone. He is cooling his heels in a British jail after being convicted by the International Criminal Court.

    Back to Zimbabwe:  The new authorities  were getting set yesterday to hand power to Mnangagwa. What fate awaits the people, considering that Mnangagwa  had served as Mugabe’s right-hand man for close to a decade?

  • Zimbabwe:  Soldiers who couldn’t shoot straight

    I have visited Zimbabwe twice in my life. I also once in 1988 met President Robert Mugabe whose people referred to as “Comrade Mugabe” as a way of identifying with him and his revolutionary and socialist pretensions. His Ghanaian wife Sally, a modest lady had unfortunately  died and he then married one of his typists, Grace Mugabe who is now derisively referred to as “Gucci Grace” on account of her love for shopping in high-end shops all over the world and buying designer products while her compatriots were suffering in the backwoods of her country. I was part of Nigeria’s delegation to the meeting of the Liberation Committee of the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU) followed by a meeting of the Commonwealth Foreign ministers committee which involved the foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, Guyana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania. This latter committee was set up to mobilize financial sanctions against apartheid South Africa as part of pressures on the then racist regime to embrace democratic principles of non-racial majoritarian government. Nigeria operated on three fronts in its worthy leadership of black Africans against white settler regimes in Southern Africa. First, Nigeria was a frontline state along Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and later Mozambique even though Nigeria was thousands of miles away from Southern Africa. This was a mark of recognition of the role Nigeria was playing in the nationalist wars in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa itself not to mention the role the country had played in Zambia and helping stabilize Tanzania after a military rebellion in that country after independence. Secondly, Nigeria majorly funded the budget of the Liberation Committee of the OAU based in Dare salaam which was responsible for training military cadres of the various fighting forces of the liberation movements  in Southern Africa. Thirdly, Nigeria was a member of the Commonwealth Foreign Ministers Forum that sought to tighten the financial screws on South African businesses and government with the purpose of bringing down the economy of South Africa.

    As for Zimbabwe itself, the role of Nigeria was decisive in its independence. The African nationalist movement there had been led by the Ndebele patriot, Joshua Nkomo, leader of Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) who physically towered above his contemporaries and the Reverend Ndabanigi Sithole, founder of rival Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) which was largely a party of the majority Shona people. Nkomo came from the minority Ndebele an offshoot of the South African Zulus who under their leader Lobengula ruled over the Shona majority before the adventurer Cecil Rhodes took over the country in the 1880s and named it Rhodesia after himself. So right from the beginning, Zimbabwean politics was plagued by tribal divisions. Sithole was later edged out by the much more ruthless and more educated Mugabe who had initially trained as a catholic priest. All efforts to unite the two rivals failed. In the meantime their adversary, Ian Smith declared what was then Southern Rhodesia unilaterally free from British control. The military government of Murtala Muhammed/Olusegun Obasanjo between 1976 and 1979 was right in the thick of events which eventually culminated in independence for Zimbabwe. Obasanjo once invited Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe to Dodan Barracks in Lagos and locked up the two combatants in a room to a shootout apparently jokingly saying whoever survived will lead Zimbabwe to independence. The two gentlemen formed what is now ZANU (PF) which was a union of Nkomo’s and Mugabe’s forces. But it was the decision of the Obasanjo government to nationalize British Petroleum and Barclays Bank in Nigeria in 1979 that forced Margaret Thatcher to concede independence to Zimbabwe under majority black rule with entrenched minority rights protected by the constitution in 1980.

    Mugabe soon showed his ruthless hand when he accused the Ndebele of wanting to seize power. He unleashed his North Korean trained special forces on the Ndebele killing more than 20000 people and virtually destroyed Bulawayo the main town in Ndebeleland. In 1987, Mugabe did away with the constitution and proclaimed the country a republic with himself as president with wide array of powers. To wide jubilation, Mugabe seized white owned farms which was 90% of arable land in the country and distributed them to his party supporters who knew nothing about commercial agriculture. Agricultural production virtually evaporated and a country that exported agricultural produce suddenly became an importer. The mining sector producing cobalt and diamond was mismanaged with billions of dollars of revenue stolen. From that point on, the economy went down the slippery slope of collapse with the currency becoming worthless. At a point the currency in an unsustainable fashion was replaced with the American dollar becoming legal tender. This in a way exposed the total dependence of the country on external influence which was very hostile.

    The European Union under British pressure applied sanctions on the country and the EU was later joined by the United States. This drove the country into the hands of China which could only do just enough to precariously prop up the country. Zimbabwe does not have oil, timber or copper which are the things China looks for in Africa. The suffering of the ordinary Zimbabwean has led to a quarter of the country’s population migrating largely to South Africa and the western world where like all immigrants in recent times have become victims of xenophobia. While this was going on Mugabe’s family particularly his wife Grace and their young children have amassed huge fortune which they exhibited on expensive jewellery and champagne parties in South Africa. Mugabe himself to the embarrassment of his people and other Africans has always turned up at every International Organisations’ summit including the UN to read speeches and sometimes missed his lines or dozed off while on the podium. He junkets annually to Singapore for weeks for medical check-up while millions of his people at home die of AIDS.

    He has run a police state for 37 years and the people had no way of getting rid of him until now. He had wanted his wife, Grace to succeed him as president. The only obstacle to that scheme was his wily vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa who had been cabinet minister in several portfolios including finance before becoming chief of security and vice president. Mnangagwa was also responsible for Zimbabwe’s military promenade in to the free-for-all fight in the Congo during which time he allegedly made good for himself vast amount of looted diamonds. Mugabe summarily dismissed him as he had done to others before him. This time around things went awry. Mnangagwa mobilized his own supporters in the defence forces who moved in and detained the president.  In a typical coup, the military would have announced the formation of a new government but this army which couldn’t shoot straight prevaricated and their overfed and old officers marched around griming with the bedraggled old president as if they were acting a stage play. It was really an embarrassing sight. The army strangely claimed they had not staged a coup d’état but simply moved to arrest people around the president creating problems for the country. The veterans also said the old man was being taken advantage by a young woman. Everybody expected Mugabe to go. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans demonstrated against him. They were promised the president would broadcast to the nation. A day before the broadcast ZANU (PF) expelled Mugabe and his wife and threatened an impeachment move against him in parliament.

    After prevaricating for four days and following the beginning of impeachment proceedings in parliament, the old geek finally resigned. The hope of many of us Africans is that his successor Emmerson Mnangagwa would have learnt a lesson and he will not overstay his welcome.

    As for me, my memory of Zimbabwe is that the country is an ungrateful country. At independence, Nigeria bought at 10 million pounds sterling, the only white owned newspaper, the HERALD as an independent gift. Since that time they have used the paper to ridicule and attack Nigeria. They always led opposition to any Nigerian candidate running for positions at international community. After all Nigeria did for her, there is no street in their capital named after a Nigerian leader or Nigeria itself whereas names like Kaunda and Nyerere are to be found. I remember the Babangida regime giving the country millions of dollars to host one important summit or the other in the 1980s. Now we have a joke of a military afraid to throw the blighter out and saying a coup is not a coup for fear of western or African criticism that are already fed up with Mugabe and ready to say good riddance to bad rubbish!

  • Adieu Ekwueme

    Adieu Ekwueme

    If there was a gentleman in politics, Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme was the one. He was cut of a different cloth. He was not your typical Nigerian politician whose stock-in-trade is to line his pockets. To Ekwueme, Nigeria came first and he did everything to enhance the Nigerian project. He took to politics at a time it was not fashionable for professionals to play the game and he acquainted himself well. Meek and soft spoken, Ekwueme’s geniality was not weakness. Rather, it was munition for winning people over. Those who came across Ekwueme always spoke about how strong will he was once he had made up his mind on something. As simple as he was, he trod where angels feared to walk. In the Second Republic during which he served as vice president, he assisted President Shehu Shagari tremendously and shone like a star. He did not come into politics for what to eat. He came to serve and to make a difference. Ekwueme was a dove in the midst of the hawks that made up the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) on which crest he and Shagari came to power.

    His four-year tenure as vice president was enough to launch Dr Ekwueme to political limelight. His harsh experience in prison after the 1983 coup led by then Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari did not deter him from playing a prominent role in the nation’s political evolution on the return to democracy in 1999. He was among the founding fathers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which held power between 1999 and 2015. But he would be remembered most for standing up to Gen Sani Abacha when many politicians were falling over themselves to endorse the dictator to transmute to civilian president and remain in office for life. Ekwueme and some like minds rejected Abacha outright. It still remains a miracle how he survived the Abacha horrendous years This great man passed away on Sunday in London during an illness. He was 85. Nigeria has lost a great man, the likes of who, are rare to see. Like all legend, his epitaph was written long before he died. Former Supreme Court Justice Samson Uwaifo whose tribunal tried him and Shagari after the 1983 coup said of him: “Dr Ekwueme “left office poorer than he was when he entered it, and to ask more from him was to set a standard which even saints could not meet”.

  • Yerima and his many detractors

    Ahmed Sani Yerima who before joining politics in 1988, had a successful career in both Sokoto and Zanfara states civil service where he rose to become the Director of Budget in the Ministry of Finance, and Director-General of Lands and Housing and later Permanent Secretary at different times has been at the receiving end of all types of diatribes especially in the social media since he successfully launched Sharia courts as a governor in 2002. He is derisively referred to by his political detractors as ‘Sharia advocate’, ‘child abuser’ and an ‘extremist who uses religion to serve his own purpose”. He has denied all the charges insisting he is a moderate.

    There can be no greater evidence that his people have no problem with him and his ‘sharia’ than the fact that they did not only reelect him governor in 2003, but went on to elect him senator representing the Zamfara West Senatorial seat in 2007 and 2011 on the platform of ANPP and in 2015 on the platform of APC.

    But critics who weep louder than the bereaved hardly see anything good in Senator Yerima. When his son got married few months back, the focus of the media was on the shoe worn by the bride which they claimed was sourced from ‘Ralph & Russo’ at a cost of $2,150 (N784, 750). Yet leading members of ruling APC have been arranging intra-cultural and cross-cultural marriages for their siblings within and outside the country without any one telling us the cost of the shoe worn by their brides.

    Yerima’s recent declaration of his readiness to fly the APC presidential flag in 2019 is going to be another source of nightmare for his political detractors.  After seconding the failed motion by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of APC for the president to run for the 2019 election, he has declared that while he “will support the President if he decides to run in 2019, nobody will blame him if he decides to come out if the president does not contest”. His decision not to contest against the president however cannot be a sign of weakness as Yerima trounced President Buhari when they both contested in the ANPP presidential primaries in 2007 before deciding to step down.

    Yerima however has no regret for his sharia advocacy. In an interview with the BBC at the height of the sharia controversy, he had insisted that because “Islam is a faith, no non-Muslim had the right to determine sharia’s legitimacy and  punishments  which included stoning, amputation and flogging which were legal under the constitution”.  Since Zamfara people have no problem with sharia as indicated above, if there were social dislocation elsewhere among the 12 other Sunni-dominant Islam northern states including Kano where over a hundred people lost their lives to anti-sharia protests and Kaduna where scores also died, Yerima cannot be sanctioned for the inadequacies of governors who jumped into the ‘Sharia band-wagon’ when it was obvious they were not in total control of their states.

    Besides the support of his own people, an important variable in participatory democracy, Yerima also had the constitutional backing. His critics who challenged him in court, all lost. All that the Justice Minister, Kanu Agabi  could do was to send an appeal letter to northern states pleading that Muslims should not be subjected to more severe punishments than other Nigerians.  As for President Obasanjo, his hands were tied not just by Yerima’s judicial victory but by his lack of political base having been rejected by his Yoruba people where he lost even in his ward’s election but overwhelmingly voted into power by the 12 northern states. His tame response even  as Nigeria became a centre of world attention following Safiya Husseini’s conviction for adultery and sentenced to death by stoning by an Islamic court for being impregnated by a man who she said promised to marry her but later changed his mind  was ‘Yerima’s political sharia will soon fizzle away’.

    Unfortunately, Ahmed Sani Yerima is currently standing trial for allegedly mismanaging N464, 820,189.24 out of N1billion loan meant for the repair of Gusau Dam in 2006. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has already tendered 25 exhibits and called six witnesses against him for charges which among others, include giving N20m to INEC; sponsorship of government officials to Hajj; donations on behalf of his state; Ramadan feeding; school feeding; purchase of 200 motorcycles; purchase of four Peugeot vehicles and settlement of leave grants to teachers.

    But Yerima’s supporters who are ready to openly identify with his advocacy of a gender discriminatory judicial system that punishes women victims of predatory males are nonetheless asking to be shown one ex-governor who has not at one time or the other tried to influence INEC officials through what ex-governor Donald Duke of Cross Rivers described as logistics to help INEC officials who often had their allocation slashed or confiscated by government officials and party stalwarts. They also want to know if there is anyone in Nigeria who does not know that state pilgrim boards did not survive Awo, its initiator.  Governors, both military and civilians have come to regard them as source of patronage to party officials, relatives and girlfriends. It is on record that Saudi Arabia not too long ago came up with a policy that forecloses entry of unaccompanied underage Nigerian girls into Saudi Arabia.

    They also want to know when donations to all sorts of causes ranging from marriage of celebrities, setting up of newspapers and television stations by buddies which became a fad widely criticized by the London Economist magazine during Babangida era have become a crime. Yerima is by no means the most generous giver among his fellow former governors-turned senators.

    They are also wondering why anyone would expect Yerima to dig his political grave by deviating from a long entrenched practice of feeding government children during Ramadan with government funds. They have also reminded those who pretend not to remember that it was not too long ago that procuring second-hand motorcycles in their hundreds and ferrying same along with jobless northern youths to Lagos became northern governors’ answer to PDP mass unemployment policy.

    And how can diversion of money by governor to pay civil servants and teachers’ allowances become a crime? Could they have suddenly forgotten that the late Admiral Augustus Aikhomu as Babangida’s deputy settled that issue a long time ago when he chastised journalists for misleading the public by referring to what their government regarded as misapplication of government funds as misappropriation of government funds?

    Finally let me reassure Senator Yerima that not all of us suffer from collective amnesia. If he by chance emerges as his party’s presidential flag bearer in 2019, we will, God willing, call attention of voters to some of his northern ex-governors who sponsored some of their youths to acquire training and receive indoctrination under Bin Laden while taking political refuge in Sudan.

  • Parable of Nasir El-Rufai’s competency test

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai is a man of the gallery. Oftentimes he becomes spectacle to his tailored audience, an assemblage of haters and sycophants peopling his courtier and political courtesan class. El-Rufai’s recent exploit evokes a fable; a divisive meme of leadership and professionalism.

    The two concepts clash in the arena of El-Rufai. Posturing as the hardnosed disciplinarian, the Kaduna governor butts head with about 22,000 teachers and the Kaduna State chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).

    The reason is not farfetched. Having watched with dismay as teachers in the state flunked competency tests, the Kaduna governor did the needful by approving the dismissal of affected teachers. Predictably, the diminutive governor’s move generated buzz in the social space as mainstream and new media sensationalised his measure on the wings of protest and articulated vitriol by labour union and political opposition.

    Trust Ayodele Fayose, Governor of Ekiti, to never miss an opportunity to throw darts at perceived shortcomings of colleagues in the All Progressive Congress (APC); Fayose accused the Kaduna governor of sacking teachers with the support of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “I’m warning Nigerians again, the agenda of the APC is to sack workers. They are sacking teachers in Kaduna and Buhari is supporting them,” he said on Twitter.

    The tweet triggered a debate which saw some in favour but others against Fayose. The latter’s spokesman, Lere Olayinka tweeted: “In Ekiti, we did not conduct competency test for teachers, we still made first position in NECO in 2016 and 2017. El-Rufai can come and learn from us.”

    The Kaduna governor, replied Fayose thus: “Your Excellency Sir, we are not sacking teachers in Kaduna. Rather, we are replacing unqualified people who are unfit to be called teachers to save the future of the next generation.”

    El-Rufai’s retort is instructive. It addresses the conundrum of ‘the next generation.’ Of course, the governor talks a good game and he has done what ex-governor of Ekiti, Kayode Fayemi, attempted to do via his defunct Teachers’ Development Needs Assessment (TDNA).

    Now the minister of mining, Fayemi reportedly helped El-Rufai by introducing him to the consultant that conducted the controversial assessment of Kaduna teachers. The competency tests, which were based on Primary 4 level examinations, were failed by over half of the primary school teachers who sat for it, implying that they are unfit to teach at the foundation level.

    El-Rufai didn’t goof by his latest deed. The Kaduna governor is undoubtedly on good course but among other things, he needs to cushion the adverse effects of his actions by employing qualified replacements for the unqualified teachers.

    He also needs to evolve a process to identify those that could be retrained and re-employed into the teaching service.

    Then El-Rufai has to admit truths related to the reality of Kaduna’s incompetent teachers. The latter, like millions of Nigerian graduates are victims of the incumbent ruling class, to which El-Rufai, sadly belongs.

    El-Rufai in a recent interview admitted thus: ”Unqualified teachers entered the system because the recruitment of teachers was politicised. The local government council chairmen and other senior politicians and bureaucrats saw teaching as a dumping ground for their thugs, supporters and other unqualified persons.

    “Teachers were employed at local government level without adherence to standards. In many instances, no examinations or interviews were conducted to assess the quality of recruits. Political patronage, nepotism and corruption became the yardsticks, thus giving unqualified persons a way in. Teaching jobs were given as patronage to those connected to politicians and bureaucrats.”

    The governor’s admission speaks to the decadence and regression of his ruling class. It echoes the wound-like rawness of Fayemi’s jarring speech to recent graduands of the University of Lagos (UNILAG). Fayemi told the graduands:  “quit whining and start doing — for ourselves and for our country. If something angers you so much, instead of whining, think hard about possible solutions and do something about it.”

    Thus within El-Rufai’s privileged bulk too, lurks a humane realist. But can El-Rufai divorce himself from the insensitivity, sloppiness and entitlement mentality characteristic of Nigeria’s ruling class?

    What has the Kaduna governor done to establish himself as a deviant from Nigeria’s decadent political culture; after all, he was part of the system since the past regime of ex-president, Olusegun Obasanjo.

    The afflictions of Nigeria’s educational system certainly exceeds competency tests and the scourge of bungling primary school teachers. The country’s political machinery and civil service need reforms too.

    At the moment, cult of self dominates Nigeria’s cultural and political landscape. This cult is responsible for plaguing the country with what El-Rufai identified as a culture of “political patronage, nepotism and corruption.”

    It advances what Hedges identifies as the classic traits of psychopaths: superficial charm, lavishness, and utter conceit. El-Rufai’s ruling class is hindered by masturbatory ego, insensitivity to electoral woes, persistent duplicity, and incapacity for remorse.

    It is about time that the Nigerian electorate sacked this ruling class, comprising public officers who educate their wards abroad even as they devastate the nation’s education system by their ineptitude.

    Several governors, senators and traditional rulers educate their children abroad and travel overseas to celebrate their graduation while schools in the country are shut down for over 10 months as in the case of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) and the host state’s bungling governor.

    This brings to mind again, the competency test. While some have applauded the move, others have frowned at it. However, President Buhari, on Monday, declared his support for El-Rufai’s replacement of the incompetent teachers.

    To justify the decision to sack the teachers, the state government released some answer scripts from the competency test, revealing how many could not answer questions set for primary four students. The state government lamented that about two-thirds of primary school teachers in the state failed to score up to 75 per cent in the examination.

    This no doubt requires urgent corrective measures. But if subjected to the same test, how many senators, governors and presidential staff would excel unassisted? If El-Rufai and peer are so particular about establishing quality education in Kaduna and neighbouring states, would they kindly extend similar passion to the anti-corruption campaign and establishment of competent leadership across the country?

    There is a joke in public circuits that the country’s incumbent ruling class would fail a 1, 000-word essay on ‘My Politics.’ This joke affirms the gruesome reality of Nigeria’s corrupt, bungling ruling class. Yet they gleefully score cheap points via El-Rufai’s significant measure.

    As you read, El-Rufai’s ruling class afflicts children of the electorate with substandard education while they educate their wards abroad.

    Sound bites and statistics electrify them as fermented grape excites the lust of the habitual drunk. Little wonder they deploy statistics in the same way that Andrew Lang’s drunken man uses lamp-posts – for support rather than illumination.

  • Of leaders, legends and laggards

    Of leaders, legends and laggards

    A Convoy of SUVs and cars rolls out of the airport and heads for the city on a sunny day. All is smooth. The occupants of the vehicles are chatting. The guards among them are on their guard, watching out for any unusual movement. Suddenly, some security agents appear . In a commando manner, they block the convoy. A shootout. Commotion.

    Other motorists, seized by fear, are watching – and praying – as bullets fly in the air. In minutes, it is all over. The smoke from the guns fired by both sides has cleared.  On the ground are empty shells of bullets. Some bloody faces and broken heads. Men are moaning and groaning. Tears. A gun was missing.

    An action-packed American movie?  No

    That was the scene last Saturday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital where Minister of Transportation Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi’s convoy and Governor Nyesom Wike’s clashed.

    After the guns fell silent, the verbal war began. Each side tried to defend its position. Newspaper reports quoting the main actors became the subject of jokes, such as this: “I narrowly escaped assassination–Wike”.

    “I narrowly escaped being shot–Amaechi”.

    Everytime I hear “narrowly” from politicians, I narrowly believe them”.

    The police have launched a probe.

    But this is not about who fired the first shot or who woke up on the wrong side of the bed. It is not about who had the right of way. Nor is it about the failure of intelligence that allowed the clash. Nor the foolishness of those fuelling such animosities that led to the street fight.

    The incident symbolises the low level into which leadership has sunk. We keep crying about the fall in Naira value; how about the fall of all those core values which we used to cherish?

    When leaders pull off their shirts and launch into a brawl right on the street in the full glare of ordinary folks, including the mentally challenged who will be wondering why some well dressed and apparently normal persons should be pummelling themselves,  then we should go back to those basic lessons in leadership.

    How did we lose it? Why are our leaders redefining leadership as a weapon to be acquired at all costs, deployed selfishly for self-preservation and other sinister motives? Why the song, self, self and self?

    The late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was an all-rounder who surrounded himself with intellectuals and people of ideas. He was studious and reserved. Many years after his departure, his signature remains bold in many areas of our lives, especially education. Most of our leaders today are surrounded by thugs and dubious intellectuals who have sold their souls to the devil.

    Instead of books, we hand our youths okadas and  Keke NAPEP, which are symbols of poverty and the failure of leadership to tackle the menace. Ironically, such tools, which are meant to break the cycle of poverty,  ensure that the cycle remains open.

    It was celebration time in Kano the other day. Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje bought N208m noodles, eggs, tea bags, sugar and others to empower mai shai (tea vendors). For how long can this endure? Will tea making now become a state industry and symbol of a hardworking people?

    A journalist once told of how he had a life time chance of meeting Nelson Mandela (of fond memories) for an interview. On the appointed date, he got to the old man’s home. No elaborate security. No metal detectors. No soldiers. No drummers singing the old man’s praise.  He was at the door personally to welcome his guests. The reporter and his photographer joined Mandela in the living room.

    “Where is the third person?” he asks the visitors. “I welcomed three persons.”

    “Oh, my driver. He is in the car,” the reporter replied.

    “Please, bring him in.”

    And  so it was that the driver had the unforgettable experience of being photographed  with Mandela after lunch. He thanked his boss for that chance, which he was sure his family would cherish for ever.

    The boss merely nodded his head. He had learned a great lesson in humility.

    How many of our leaders are humble? How many have Mandela’s forgiving spirit (he was jailed for almost 30 years). Some even deride old age and mock men old enough to be their father.  Some will even say unprintable  things about their own mothers.

    Do our leaders spare a thought for the common man? Their guards kick innocent people off the road for their convoys to move. Their sirens shatter the peace of the environment and create a fake atmosphere of an emergency. If you are unlucky that your vehicle breaks down while a big man is passing through, you are expected to carry the mass of steel on your head or simply disappear and watch your prized vehicle being pushed into the gutter to make way for the oga.

    I always see pictures of many of our so-called leaders taken in offices with book-lined  shelves in the background.   Do they read? If they do, what do they learn? Do they read biographies and autobiographies of legendary figures? Have they ever heard of Mahatma Gandhi and his policy of satyagraha, or non-violence, his love for knowledge, his confidence and resilience?

    What vision do they have for this society? Do they really care about what will be said of them after they must have quit the stage? Are leaders always right? At what point should a leader look back at his followers to see if his actions are truly in accord with the wishes of the people?

    The other day, Imo State Governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha dismissed contemptuously questions about the statue of South African leader Jacob Zuma which he caused to be erected at a fortune in Owerri.

    “I have no apologies,” he was quoted as saying. Such arrogance and insensitivity to public feeling, even when he is right, is no hallmark of a good leader.

    What was meant to immortalise a benefactor and beautify the landscape has turned into an object of ridicule, which many derisively refer to as Zuma’s “erection”.

    How many of our leaders are compassionate? Pensioners are dying and workers are crying to be paid. The huge Paris Club refund and bailout from the Federal Government have not been enough to address the plight of workers who have gone on unpaid for several months.

    Why would a governor divert part of his state’s share into the payment of his mortgage? Why will another throw part of the cash into building a hotel? All this, in a world where Bill Gates and several other men of character are spending their fortune on helping the poor.

    China is a world power today –  largely on account of the vision of its leader Mao Zedong. He rallied the people to challenge Japan during World War II. He planted the seed that has today become an industrial oak tree, feared by many and respected by all, including the United States.

    Britain -and the world – will remember Winston Churchill for his determination, courage and boldness. He led Britain against the Nazi Germany during World War II, teaming up with allies to stop Hitler. That was when Britain  truly deserved to be called “Great”.

    Inspector – General of Police Ibrahim Idris has instituted a probe into the Port Harcourt incident. He should be getting ready for more of such futile exercises, especially as we approach the election year 2019.

    What happens when Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s convoy and former Governor Rashidi Ladoja’s head for the same direction; when Ganduje’s and Musa Kwankwaso’s, Willie Obiano’s and Peter Obi’s, Ali Modu Sherriff’s and Kashim Shettima’s clash?

     

    Mugabe: End of a shameful era

    Many Zimbabweans and their friends must be mightily relieved that the Robert Mugabe burden has been lifted off their neck – at last. For 37 years, they endured it all – brigandage, rights abuses, corruption and sheer demagoguery .

    The longest running show of impunity and tyranny stopped yesterday. Mugabe, 93, and his wife Grace  to whom he planned to hand over power were taken into custody after a night of unrest, which was seen as a military coup. But the soldiers insisted it was a “bloodless correction”.

    Mugabe is the typical African dictator – brash, brutal, cocky and arrogant. Famous for off-colour jokes, he is witty and a master of repartee.

    Among the quotes attributed to him are:

    “Dear ladies, if your boyfriend didn’t wish you happy mother’s day or sing Sweet Mother for you, stop breastfeeding him.”

    “If you are ugly, you are ugly. Stop talking about inner beauty because men don’t walk around with X-rays to see inner beauty.”

    “It’s hard to bewitch African girls these days. Every time you take a piece from her hair to the witch doctor, either a Brazilian innocent woman gets mad or a factory in China catches fire.”

    Asked by a journalist when he planned to go, the old man replied brusquely: “Where?”

    Now he knows where.

    May the ranks of the Mugabes of this world continue to shrink.

  • Great Lagos

    The veteran legal luminary, political and community leader, and national elder, Chief Femi Okunnu, intervened during the past week in the sometimes puzzling debate on the origins, history and status of Lagos. He was reported to have said that Lagos is a Yoruba city, and that no amount of mouthing of history can change that fact. Of course, that fact is fact; but, in the circumstances of these days, it helps that a Lagosian of Chief Okunnu’s caliber affirms it with such authority.

    Personally, the foremost thing that I keep saying about Lagos is that Lagos is a phenomenally great city – a city meant by God to be great. I like our youths calling it the “megalopolis”. It is the greatest city on the African continent, one of the greatest cities in the world, and as it is growing today, a city with limitless promise.

    In a mood of intense admiration for Lagos many years ago, I sat down one morning in a faraway country and wrote a short poem for Lagos – a poem with lines such as “Africa’s jewel of the coasts”, “School of life and wisdom”, “Drinks full of small lagoon and large ocean”, “Equips to cope with the shifting sands”, “Springhouse of fashion”, “Wiggles her waist like none else can do”, “Merchant queen of all”, “Bestrides the continents and seas”, “Gathers great wealth from far and near”, “Bestows rich fortunes with her gilded hand”.

    Much of the roots of the perpetually growing greatness of Lagos is its gorgeous cosmopolitanism. Lagos is home to large numbers of folks from all the countless Yoruba subgroups with their countless dialects of the Yoruba language. Lagos is also home to people from virtually all the nations of Nigeria, almost all the nations of the West African sub-continent, and people from more of the nations of Africa than one would find in any other city on the African continent. Lagos is also home to folks from all continents of the earth.

    Lagos simply loves to welcome and include more and more people, more and more cultures, more and more variety. From what our historians tell us about the history of this wonderful city, the love of welcoming and including people from all directions was in its character from its very beginning. It is a character trait that it shares from the Yoruba ethnic nation to which it belongs. European colonialism hid the true characters of Black Africa’s ethnic nations from the world; but the world is now discovering that a Black African nation called the Yoruba are one of the most welcoming, one of the most hospitable, one of the best places to come and prosper, in the world. Of the hundreds of Yoruba cities and towns, there is not a single one that does not boast of significant families, lineages or chieftaincy holders with origins traceable to other parts of Yorubaland, or other nations of Nigeria, or even other nations of Africa. Some trace even their kings likewise.

    The earliest ancestors of the Yoruba people somehow discovered the truth that a land that is open and hospitable to all comers attracts prosperity towards itself. In the ancient compendium of Yoruba knowledge and wisdom, the long corpus known as Odu-Ifa, rendered in 400,000 poetic verses, this truth is stated emphatically in one of the verses. The verse says, “A stranger or foreigner is coming. There are benefits coming with the stranger or foreigner. Receive and take good care of the stranger or foreigner, lest the benefits be missed and lost”. An obvious corollary to this fundamental philosophy of Yoruba community and national life is that, if one’s ancestry happens to contain some foreign strand, one must wisely harmonize it with the whole community and nation in ways that beautify and glorify the whole; one loses much by seeking to cause offence with it. In my understanding, that is what Chief Okunnu was saying this past week.

    Chief Okunnu is also supported by the history. Here is some outline on the history. Among the videos in my archives, there is a recent one in which the narrator makes the statement that “Lagos was founded in the 16th century by the Edo”. It is obvious right away that this statement was made with little or no knowledge or thinking behind it. What does this narrator mean by “founded”? Does he mean founded as a human settlement, or founded as a kingdom?

    We know definitively (thanks to studies by archaeologists, scholars of historical linguistics, and historians) that Lagos was one of the early primitive settlements created by the Yoruba people in very ancient times. The evolution of agriculture in about 10,000 BC in the Middle Niger territory made it possible for humans to cease wandering for food and begin to live as settlers. Settling resulted in the gradual evolution of groups with languages and ethnic cultures – such as the Nupe, Yoruba, Igala, Igbo, Edo, Gbagyi, etc.

    The Yoruba started off as a group with many subgroup dialects, and spread roughly westwards and southwards. Between 2000 BC and 1000 BC, their southernmost thrust had reached the Atlantic coast, with their Awori subgroup in the forests and islands which are now Lagos, Iseri, Otta, etc; the coastal Ijebu further to the east; the Ilaje further still to the east; and the Isekiri in the easternmost coastal reaches. The Edo group (a non-Yoruba group) settled in the forests to the east of Yorubaland, the Igbo group east of the Lower Niger, etc.

    Millennia later, in about 900 AD, a very major change began in the political life of the Yoruba people. It began when the small settlements in the Ife forest area in central Yorubaland, after many years of conflicts among them, finally coalesced together to become a single town, Ile-Ife, under one single crowned head known as an Oba. (The idea of a crowned ruler known as an Oba was simply adopted from the political practices which the old small settlements had evolved). In the six centuries following that event, having kingdoms like the Ife kingdom and towns like Ile-Ife became somehow very popular among Yoruba people. A brave and adventurous prince from Ife would go into the Yoruba forests, find a clump of different settlements in a location, and proceed to make them coalesce and become one town like Ile-Ife, with himself as the Oba. From some of the kingdoms founded like that, adventurers went out in later years and founded kingdoms too. The Yoruba thus became a people living much in large towns – an urbanized people, indeed the most urbanized people in all of Black Africa. According to some Edo and Yoruba traditions, a warrior prince went from Ife in the same era and helped the Edo to create a kingdom of their own in the Edo forests. In the Awori forest, an adventurer said to be from Ife came to Otta and founded the Otta kingdom; and another came soon after to Iseri on the Ogun River and founded the Iseri kingdom.

    Centuries later, in about the 1470s, European explorers came to the coast of West Africa. Trade between Europeans and Africans developed along the coasts. On the Awori coast, the islands slowly became important in the trade with the Europeans. To share in the trade, the rulers of the Iseri kingdom moved the centre of their kingdom nearer to the coast – first to Ebute Meta, then to Ido Island, and finally to Lagos Island, welcomed by the pre-existing Awori settlers. A kingdom of the Awori thus emerged here. Over time, it became known as Eko among some traders, and as Lagos among the European traders.

    By about 1600, both the Lagos kingdom and the Edo kingdom of Benin had become very important centres of trade with the Europeans. The Benin kingdom had become rich and powerful.  Lagos was also rich and regularly flooded by Ijebu, Benin, Ilaje, Ijaw and Adja traders trading with the Europeans and with one another.

    In a political development whose details still remain unclear, the Edo became involved in conflicts in the politics of the Lagos kingdom in about 1602. Some traditions seem to indicate that this was probably a succession dispute between Awori princes, a dispute in which one of the parties won the support of the Edo trading community. In any case, part of the outcome seems to be a Lagos king with some Edo blood – or with Edo endorsement and support. This happened in about 1602 – based partly on Edo and Lagos traditions, and partly on what a German trader in Lagos wrote in 1603. In the 1800s, Lagos was blessed with streams of returnees from Sierra Leone and the Americas.

    Yes, Lagos is part of the Yoruba nation – as ethnic subgroup, early settlement, kingdom. And yes, Lagos encapsulates the world. Both ways, Lagos is a great beauty in our lives – a great beauty deserving responsible conduct by all concerned. Lots of thanks again to Chief Okunnu.

  • Growing personal insecurity

    There is no doubt that the economic decline in Nigeria and the general lack of accountability on the part of our leaders have created a disconnect between the various governments and the generality of the people. The ease with which people misuse or exploit their offices as if there were no checks and balances amazes reasonable and thinking people. The humongous looting of the treasuries by individuals demonstrate the breakdown of bureaucratic and government control system. This is undermining the integrity and legitimacy of the governments and their officials and consequently creating a vacuum in governance space which anti-social people and hoodlums are filling. The result of this is that those who can afford to hire personal security guards are doing so and those who cannot are resigned to prayers and luck that they will not be victims.  Even as we all know, one can hire policemen if one has the resources whether one is in government or out of it.

    Kidnapping has become so lucrative that those previously involved in armed robbery have shifted to kidnapping. People are routinely kidnapped on their way home from work or while sleeping at night or travelling between cities. Once kidnapped, those who are not killed in the process are traded as commodities and prices are put on their heads and if lucky after successful negotiations and payment of ransoms, they are released to their relatives while the police will issue dishonest statements that no ransom was paid. The situation is so bad that there are no longer sacred places that are respected by kidnappers. Churches and mosques now routinely hire guards and policemen whose loyalties cannot be guaranteed.  Our church in Ibadan has two layers of security, one by the police, the other by private guards. While praying to God for our security, we keep our eyes half closed in case we have to bolt away if we hear “fire on the mountain”. This is really sad. In the past, old people are spared but not any more; in fact they are increasingly becoming easy targets because of their cash value and the ease of catching them since they can neither fight nor run when accosted. The result of this is that those who live in cities cannot visit their villages where their ancestors are buried!  The environment is poisoned with fear; mere greetings by loud youngsters can lead to people running for dear lives.

    I once went home to Okemesi and as I was driving out of town, I was stopped right at the boundary between Okemesi and Esaoke by two middle aged men who had put across the road a barrier of a long stick full of nails to puncture the tyre of anyone who refused to stop.  I was very angry because I was rushing to Lagos. When I asked what the problem was, I was asked to show my tax clearance. I asked which kind of tax clearance? I was told that of Oriade Local Government. I told them I was a teacher at Redeemers University in Osun State and paid “pay as you earn” tax. They refused to budge. Then I felt, let me speak my local dialect to these people and that perhaps that would do the trick. When I spoke, I was shouted at and asked to speak English and that they did not understand Yoruba, my language. It then turned out that the people were non-Yorubas hired by the local government to force money out of anybody they could find by terrorizing them. At that point, I bluntly refused to be robbed. Suddenly I saw a solitary mobile policeman standing a few meters from where my driver and I were. I called him and introduced myself. His response was – “oga you are an old man, pay them their money and go away”.  I was shocked. I became deadly stubborn saying “the only way you will get money from me is over my dead body”. Eventually one of the boys knew the game was up and said “old man go away”.

    For a long time afterwards, I never visited my home town. Our compound at home where we had celebrated many Christmas parties and where the larger family congregates often when occasions demand has been robbed many times. So has the First Bank that serves my town Imesi and our sister town Imesi-Ile been robbed and the policeman guarding it killed thereby shutting down banking operations of the two towns. Sometimes we are told the young people robbing my home town come from a nearby polytechnic which I refuse to believe. But who knows? We are really in trouble!

    A friend of mine living in Abuja but who comes from the north-east told me a story that early in January 2016 he was driving to Bauchi from Jos and a policeman stopped him and asked for his papers. He assumed it was one of those “oga give us something now”. He brought out his wallet and attempted to offer something for the boys. To his surprise, the policeman said “oga don’t you know Buhari is the president?” He was pleasantly surprised and happy and drove off. President Buhari’s integrity matters to many of us who support him. As my nephew has clinically examined the coalition that brought Buhari to power in his write-up in Thisday, the southern intelligentsia was critical. This support was based on the confidence we have that Buhari is the only politician among the current ones who can clean the Augean stable of corruption in Nigeria.

    He must do everything possible to maintain this integrity and those around him, if they love him, must not do anything to undermine the confidence people have in him. Perception can sometimes be stronger than reality. There must be no room for doubts and if any assistant or ministers appear to undermine his campaign against corruption, such a person must be shown the way out and must be swiftly dealt with.

    The insecurity in the country is intricately linked with the corruption. If there is money in the coffers of government, we would have excellent infrastructure and with this the country will be open for businesses. But if it is a free for all kind of situation, then the insecurity will increase and the country will descend into warlordism where brigands carve up the country and reach some concordance with security agencies to fend for themselves. Unless something is done quickly, the Boko Haram insurgence will be replicated in other parts of the country not in form of religious rebellion but in form of criminal gangs that would be laws unto themselves.

    It is an open secret that people from the north-east living in Abuja can no longer drive through Plateau State to Bauchi for fear of being killed. They now have to go through Kano to Bauchi if they survive ambush in some parts of Kaduna State. Thus a journey of a few hours becomes a full day’s journey. South-easterners are marooned in Lagos and the South-west and hardly go home any more, not even at Christmas for fear of kidnappers. Even the peace in the South-west has been shattered by people from outside the area who have brought their nefarious business of kidnapping to the region.

    This among other reasons is why we have been calling for local or zonal police recruited from the local environment who know the place and speak the local languages of the people. This is no brainer! It is commonsensical. We cannot and must not wait until we are killed or kidnapped before we speak out because self preservation is the first law of nature. As presently configured the security agencies have failed and people do not feel safe any where any time whether in the night or in the daybreak, at home or at work in the city or in the country!.

    Unfortunately this insecurity has economic and foreign policy dimension. Investors are shying away from Nigeria, even our young ones are running away to foreign countries through indescribable and dangerous routes and means and our counsel and collaboration are no longer sought by those who hitherto were our partners. Our problem has gone beyond party affiliations. It is a matter of life or death and we must all stay here in Nigeria and find solutions to our problem.  Those of the opposition who gloat when something goes wrong in government should bury their heads in shame. As some people have said, 50 percent of the so-called APC government are from the PDP with the same buccaneering attitude to governance. So how can we expect fundamental change when only the president appears to be fighting a solitary battle and he is being pulled by the instincts of survival or self sacrifice in an environment laden with political mines?