The Nation Newspaper

Category: Thursday

  • Kalu and the Igbo plight

    Kalu and the Igbo plight

    It baffles that leaders who had every opportunity to better the lots of their people, but failed to do so would still have the audacity to hoist themselves as true Igbo leaders; this is particularly when those who had done pretty well as leaders to uplift the Igbos remain in the background while working assiduously to do more. Since he left office after eight years as governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu has been in desperate search for relevance and recognition ahead of 2015 general elections. He has since deployed all strategies including media hypes, rumours and peddling of lies to draw attention to himself.

    Latest of such desperation was the staged outing by his allies in London at the British House of Commons recently. Shorn of his typical penchant to grandstand, Kalu’s speech at the event was as usual lacking in any substance. In the bid to arrogate to himself the true champion of Igbo cause, he merely dragged the Igbos to the mud just as he did not proffer solutions to what he claimed to be the marginalization of the Igbos in Nigeria.

    Here is Kalu’s summary of the plight of the Igbo: “unequal allocation of resources, unequal voice at the Federal Executive Council, unequal representation at the National Assembly, unequal participation in the administration of justice in the federation, unequal participation in the federal civil service and adjunct bodies and unequal representation in the armed forces and para-military organisations.

    He also added; “unequal representation in the diplomatic corps ensuring incapacity in showcasing the Igbo culture as part of a pan-Nigerian culture in our foreign missions and embassies, fewer primary, secondary and higher education opportunities for our children.”. And then he added: “These structural disparities are constitutionally entrenched, thus their grave implications for Ndigbo are beyond the primary questions of inequity and marginalisation.”

    But one question the hired audience and journalists at the event failed to ask was his contributions towards addressing the plight of Igbos, while in office as executive governor of Abia for eight years, and what is he doing now also to tackle the problem. They did not ask Kalu on what capacity he was addressing Igbo plights in Nigeria, since after he left office as governor, he has not attended any meeting convened by the Igbo socio-cultural organization Ohanaeze Ndigbo or Igbo stakeholders where issues affecting Igbo interest are being discussed.

    So how can he be on the fringe and pontificate on the plights of Igbos instead of presenting such to National Assembly members as they are in process of amending the constitution? Igbos have not forgotten in a hurry his role in scuttling of Chief Alex Ekwueme’s presidential ambition in 1999 and 2003 in collaboration with his ex-military godfathers from the North on whose back Kalu rode to limelight. People of Abia will also not forget how he left the state indebted, destabilized and underdeveloped after controlling their collective resources for eight years during which he arm-twisted the management of the state university to issue him a degree certificate he did not merit.

    Kalu’s greatest problem is that he talks too much and in the end contradicts himself. He believes he knows more than any other person. When he accused the security agents of being responsible for the spate of bombing and was taken on by the Minister of Information Labaran Maku, Kalu, he went on a laboured defence without facts and figures and without a shred of evidence.

    His position and action in the past and present has not helped him to talk of Igbo cause, rather it has worsened it. The Njiko Igbo platform which he now uses and claimed to have formed to advance Igbo interest in Nigeria was originally formed by Alhaji Yahaya Ndu, the younger of brother Senator Ben Collins Ndu in 1983 at Enugu and was formally inaugurated on April 20, 1989 in a ceremony witnessed by many prominent and regular Igbos from all walks of life. Kalu was never a member of the group, even when he became governor of Abia State in 1999, he never identified with or supported the group at any point in time. Prominent Igbos who know about the group including Yahaya Ndu are alive and are quietly watching Kalu and his antics that will take him nowhere.

    If Kalu is a good student of history as he would want people to believe, he should know that the Igbos have been the beneficiary of no less than 35% of federal appointments made by the Jonathan administration and his state Abia has also benefitted a lot courtesy of the cordial relationship between the state government and federal government, a situation that was not obtainable throughout Kalu’s eight years of governance. Offices held by Igbos in the present government include those of the deputy senate president, the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, finance minister, as well as the chief economic adviser to the president. Others include the special adviser on project monitoring, the special adviser on the subsidy re-investment and empowerment programme, Chief of Army Staff, the executive vice chairman of the National Communications Commission, managing director of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria, managing director of the Nigeria Sovereign Wealth Fund and the Ministers of Power, Labour, Aviation and Health.

    Other high-ranking Igbo officials serving in the present government include the chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, the director-general of the Bureau for Public Procurement, the director-general of the Debt Management Office, the director-general of the Securities Exchange Commission, the Special Adviser on the National Assembly and the head of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission. Igbos got a number of strategic ambassadorial postings, including the heads of the missions in Canada, the United Nations, India, Switzerland, Spain and Singapore.

    So what is Kalu trying to achieve by his belated pontification and gospel on the plight of Igbos in Nigeria? He is not and has never been the right person to speak on the plight of Igbos because when the opportunity was there for him to act in Igbo interest, he failed to so. Kalu should better concentrate on his acclaimed business empires to expand them and create jobs for teeming Igbo youths if he truly loves the Igbos. But the problem is that we are yet to see the business empires anywhere in the country talk less of Igbo land.

    • Dr. Omeneogor writes from Toronto, Canada.

  • Congratulations Shetima Ali Monguno, my friend

    Congratulations Shetima Ali Monguno, my friend

    Like most Nigerians I was shocked to hear that Shetima Ali Monguno, 92-year old elder statesman was kidnapped by the Boko Haram insurgents and taken to unknown hideout. Like most Nigerians who know Shetima Ali Monguno, I prayed and prayed for his eventual release and God answered our prayers. For those who don’t know this man intimately, he was just another statistics in the number kidnapped or killed by this murderous group calling themselves Muslims and as many have said, a true Muslim would not commit murder, kidnap or harm another person, but particularly, old men, women and children even in the time of war. The Boko Haram says that they are fighting a Jihad and even if in their warped ideology, they have divided the world into two namely; abode of Islam and Abode of War; there is no way Shetima Ali could have belonged to the Abode of War as a true Muslim. His place of birth, Monguno had been in contact with Islam as far back as the seventh century, less than a hundred years that the Prophet Mohammed walked the earth and his family has been Muslims since that time. When in the 19th century, the Sokoto-Fulani Jihadist, particularly, the son of the Shehu Usman Dan Fodio, (Uthman bin Fudi) Muhammad Bello wanted on the pretext of purifying Islam to overrun Borno, they were resisted by Muhammad El-Kanemi, a Shua Arab Cleric who saw imperialism camouflaged as Islamic Jihad. Although Mohammed El-Kanemi eventually displayed the 2,000 years old Seifawa Dynasty, the integrity and independence of Borno was preserved. In order words, since about 700AD, Islam had thrived in Borno well before it got to Hausa land and other parts of Nigeria.

    These preambular statements are necessary to place Borno in the heartland of classical Islam where it had been for many centuries. Of course I am aware of the fact that a religion could manifest syncretistic tendencies which would need to be cleaned out in order to go back to the original religion. But whoever is leading the cleansing must himself be clean and holy. This was the case of Muhammad Ahmad, the grand Mahdi in the 19th century Sudan who styled himself the “Imam of the age” sent by God to return Islam to purity in the Sudan. His legacy still remains even up till today and at one time, one of his grandsons became Prime Minister of the Sudan.

    What we have in the Boko Haram is something like the Maitasine rebellion in Yola and Kano and its Bulunkutu counterparts in Borno in the 1980s. It was clear that the leaders of this revolt were not really true Muslims but people who mixed Islam with traditional African beliefs and were quickly suppressed by the Armed Forces of Nigeria. The Sultan of Sokoto has dismissed the Boko Haram and their murderous campaign as unislamic, the reason therefore, of the persistence of insurgency can be found not only in any Islamic ideology, but in the poverty occasioned by the corruption and oppression of the Talakawa, by the ruling elite in many parts of the North.

    Unfortunately, innocent people like the grand old man, Shetima Ali has had to suffer. It is common knowledge that Shetima Ali has held many important positions in Nigeria since the mid 1950s. He was a young minister in the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Federal Government and for several years minister in the Yakubu Gowon government; he was Pro-Chancellor of the University of Calabar at one time and for many years, a member of Nigeria’s delegation to the United Nations’ General Assembly. I got to know him very well as a man of integrity, purity and honesty. When I was Director of the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) in Washington between 1979 and 1982, I welcomed him many times to the United States in my official capacity. He overwhelmed me with his simplicity. He usually travelled without luggage but with a small briefcase which he would check into the plane and inside the small briefcase would be a long dark Kaftan and that would be it. When everybody would be waiting for their luggage, he would simply walk out with his briefcase to our waiting car. And when asked why he had no luggage and his reply would be “as soon as he checked into his hotel, he would remove the long Kaftan he wore, send it to the laundry and replace it with a clean one in the briefcase and alternated this until he went back to Nigeria. He would hardly claim his tour allowance. He ate very sparingly which explains his slim figure of over six-feet. He spoke English beautifully and still speaks it beautifully and as a Muslim, who could marry four wives, he only had one wife, an English woman after he had divorced his Kanuri wife.

    As Minister of Petroleum during the Gowon years and President of OPEC, he could have become stupendously rich as many of his successors. He was so clean that in 1975, the University of Lagos wanted to give him an honorary degree for his exemplary life, but the young Turks including myself opposed it in Senate on an erroneous ground that nobody in public service in Nigeria could be clean. I later discovered that we were wrong and that our Vice Chancellor who nominated him, Prof. J.F. Ade-Ajayi was absolutely correct.

    Several years later, I had the privilege to discuss with Shetima Ali and he told me the story of his life, how the then Minister of Lagos Affairs, Musa Yar’Adua gave him a plot of land in Victoria island and didn’t know what to do with it for years until a friend told him he could develop it by contractor finance, and this is the only material thing he has to show for all those years of his national service. I used to visit him when I was a Professor in the University of Maiduguri in his simple and frugal house where he would sit on an arm chair in front of the house either reading or reciting the Quran. He would graciously offer me tea which was the only drink he ever offered me. This abstinence from any drink except tea probably explains his health and longevity. Even though his eldest daughter, Fati, was married to one of the members of the Supreme Military Council during the Buhari, Babaginda, and Abacha years; he never used that connection to enrich himself as many would have done.

    I have had occasions to discuss with him the problems of Nigeria when I was in Washington, United States and Bonn, Germany and he always appeared as an idealist who feel that if the leadership is right and exemplary, the country would do well. It is therefore a sad irony, that in his evening years he should be a victim of kidnapping and terrorism. I am sure the Boko Haram released him not because of any pressure on them, but because of the purity of the man in their captivity. They probably felt his death in their hands would undermine and erode the sympathy or tolerance that some people still have for them. Let us hope that the release of this saintly man would usher in the opportunity to dialogue with the Boko Haram and other insurgent groups, so that there can be peace in our time.

    The title Shetima which Alhaji Ali Mogunu bears is the recognition that Kanuris give to their men of learning. It is from the same Arabic root like Sayyid or Said or Sheikh. Other forms of the same word occur in Hausa land and even Borno as Shehu and among the Malinke as Shekhu or Sekou; all meaning “leaders”. Shetima Ali has been for many years recognised as a leader among the Kanuri, he was first identified as a young man by Sir Kashim Ibrahim, the Governor of the Northern region, who himself used to bear the title Shetima and one hopes that a man so recognised by his people would be listened to by the Federal government for his ideas which he had previously made public in settling this Boko Haram problem.

     

  • The Saka sensation

    The Saka sensation

    FORGET the lyrics. They were not meant to inspire. Don’t mind the boisterous choreography; it is not meant to be the main attraction. Concentrate on the message and its delivery – short, sharp and arresting.

    A man backs the camera, a ray of green light comes up behind him and, suddenly, the man faces you, amid a flood of yellow light. He begins to fling his hands and shuffles his feet, singing and screaming: “I don port o! I don port o! I don port o!”

    The message is simple and clear. He says he has – thanks to the new number portability – moved from one mobile service provider to another. That simple message – and its purveyor – has been the subject of a massive debate in social, business and intellectual circles. Everything has been thrown into the fray. Expediency. Professionalism. Expertise. And more.

    Was Saka wrong to have dumped Etisalat? How are the marketing experts at Etisalat feeling now? Should Saka have gone the way he did, telling the world that his marriage – was there any? Experts insist there was none – to that network was over? Why the divorce? Cash? What mileage for MTN?

    Nigerian comedians have come a long way. Consider Moses Olaiya Adejumo (aka Baba Sala) with his plywood bow tie, oversized sun glasses and expansive trousers. The colonial master’s hat, the table clock strapped onto his wrist and the ubiquitous umbrella in his hands. He made everybody laugh and laugh until our eyes turned red with tears. Baba Sala gave comedy his all – his youthful days, intellect and energy – and lost it all in the course of pursuing this all-consuming passion. He invested all he had in a movie, which got pirated. He lost all, ending up in penury.

    Today’s comedians are in a new world. No funny costumes and faces daubed with some black powder. They are decked out in sharp Oxford Street suits. Ali Baba. Holy Mallam. Tee A. AY. Basket Mouth. Julius “the genius” Agwu. Teju Babyface. The witty and immensely talented Gbenga Adeboye of blessed memory.

    There are also Sunday Omobolanle (aka Papiluwe), master of repartee, rambunctious Babatunde Omidina (aka Baba Suwe), the one who got the drug agency issuing bulletins every time he moved his bowel after being wrongly held for peddling drugs, and Bolaji Amusan (aka Mr Latin) and his friend Yomi King (aka Opebe) who insists on being an auto mechanic despite his bad hand. Nkem “Osofia” Owoh, Gringory and Chuka Okpala (Zebrudayya). And many more.

    Of them all, none has recently sparked a huge debate like Hafiz Oyetoro, popularly known as Saka, the face of the MTN mobile number portability campaign. The contentious issues are as intellectual as they are moral. Saka was the lead act in an Etisalat campaign. Then the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) introduced number portability – another controversy on its own – and the networks mounted a huge marketing drive to keep their subscribers and/or get more.

    The handlers of the Etisalat advertisement have said that when they were working on the script, they were looking for a character. Saka walked in for the auditioning and he was found to be fit for the role. In the MTN campaign, it is a different matter. A celebrity was needed; an easily recognisable face. Saka fitted the bill, having been a well known face on television.

    The rumour in town is that MTN paid Saka in millions. Etisalat, said those who claim to know, paid in thousands. Saka simply showed that there is a difference between a comedian and his jokes. Jokes apart, a comedian is no joker when it comes to cash. The cash was right and Saka “ported”. Isn’t there a Saka in all of us?

    Nobody should begrudge Saka his success. He has worked hard for it. A man who studied and teaches Theatre Arts, he never looked for a banking job, like many of today’s graduates. He simply practised what he learnt. He is excited doing his job.

    Now, many other professionals are envious of Saka. When will doctors begin to earn millions –and some respect from nurses who claim that they are on a par with them? Will policemen ever be well paid for their exertions? Will teachers get their due? Will reporters ever get a good – and prompt – pay?

    The world of comedians is a strange one. They work hard to keep us all laughing. And how hard it is to make people laugh in Nigeria, a country that is, ironically, blessed with frontline comedians, even in high places. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, writing a foreward to Ali Baba’s book, wondered why the comedian would malign people who pay him to entertain them. To him, Ali Baba is an example that democracy is working.

    The former President recalled a meeting with Zimbabwean Robert Mugabe, who complained that a Nigerian said when he (Mugabe) was asked by the BBC what the damage was after a fire at the electoral commission’s office, he replied by saying “ apart from the structural damage, the only thing that was lost was the result of next year’s election”. Obasanjo said he assured Mugabe that the man, whom he was sure must be Ali Baba, meant no harm.

    An Egyptian television satirist, Bassen Youssef , was recently charged to court for insulting President Mursi. The United States issued a statement, saying it was worried about “disturbing trend of growing restrictions on freedom of expression”. Can we then say Obasanjo is tolerant? I dey laugh o!

    How do you make people laugh in a country where many go to bed without food, where youths pound the streets looking for jobs that are not there, where insurgents have seized some parts of the country by the throat, where leaders do not serve but only expect to be served and where armed robbers waste lives daily.

    American comedians and their European counterparts are lucky; they do not need to work too hard. It is easier to make people laugh in such climes where hunger and disease have been conquered, the moon is within reach and life expectancy is high. Electricity, water and good roads are taken for granted. Why won’t they laugh?

    Where is the inspiration for jokes in a country where fraud has become a way of life? Billions of pension funds are gone for good, stolen by criminals in official circles who are backed by men in the corridors of power. The President has said the corruption stories are exaggerated. Is that to be taken as a joke? A presidential joke? A gaffe?

    For Nigerians, the inspiration for jokes could come from overseas and any subject, including soccer. Consider this that a friend sent to me by telephone:

    “Crusade!Crusade!!Crusade!!

    “Dortmund Christian Ministry, in conjunction with Bayern Church of God, invites you to a two-day power packed crusade tagged “Destroying all Spanish Giants &Goliath (Part 2) Featuring: Breaking of curses (EL Classico); Freedom from powers Platini); .Humiliation of pride (Jose Mourinho);.Overpowering principalities (Lionel Messi); Achieving your destiny and reaching your goals (Wembley).

    “Host Pastor: Rev. Robert Lewandowski.

    Ministering; Pastor and Elder Arjen Robben, Apostle Thomas Mueller, Pastor Marco Reus& other anointed men of soccer.

    Ushers; Bro Messi and Bro Ronaldo.

    Come for a power packed display as all giants will be knocked out of your life forever.

    “Come one, come all!”

    Do ritual killers and armed robbers enjoy jokes? Have Boko Haram leaders ever found an occasion for laughter? Do kidnappers, who snatch kids, women and nonagenarians, ever share jokes? If they do, how do they laugh? Loud and clear? Guffaw? Or they just cackle like demented birds? Or with a gruff, like a hemp smoking motor park tout?

    A comedian’s life is a study in complexity? How does he create jokes? Doesn’t he have family problems that could take his minds off those rib crackers? In other words, how does he fall into the right mood to deliver those lines that keep the audience reeling and rolling? How?

    Just how many Nigerians, dazed by the vicissitudes of life in an Orwellian setting like ours – poverty, disease, hunger, insecurity, illiteracy and all such headache – still find that inner sensation that triggers laughter.

    How we all wished we could laugh always, considering laughter’s benefits as a stress reducer and a kind of anti-depression therapy? Is the atmosphere – the looting and killings – conducive to laughter? In other words, dear reader, be honest, when last did you laugh?

     

     

     

  • From Baga to Bama

    From Baga to Bama

    We are talking of peace, but they seem more interested in violence. Everything is being done to make them toe the path of peace and reason, but the Boko Haram elements seem set in their ways. To make Boko Haram see reason, the Federal Government raised a committee to dialogue with the group. The panel has since started work, but Boko Haram has so far not taken its place at the roundtable.

    We are talking peace, they are beating the drums of war. Nobody knows what Boko Haram is up to. The group strikes at will, catching the security operatives unawares. Anywhere they strike, they leave sorrow, tears and blood. They have hit Bama in Borno State again. This is the second time in less than one week that they are invading the community, which first made the headlines when former Petroleum Minister Prof Tam David-West was jailed there in 1990.

    Bama is a far-flung place from other parts of the country. It is a border town close to Chad, Niger and the eastern part of Cameroon. It is 70 kilometres away from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. Those who know also say that it is quite a distance from Baga, another border town which is about 180 kilometres from Maiduguri. Baga was the scene of a bloodbath last month which shook the nation to its foundation. We are still trying to unravel the circumstances that led to that dastardly act in which 185 persons were said to have been killed by the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF), only for Boko Haram to hit Bama in the wee hours of Tuesday.

    Boko Haram invaded Bama in a big way. No fewer than 500 members of the sect riding in 10 Toyota Hilux vehicles were said to have invaded the town, wreaking havoc on army and police barracks, the prison, where David-West was kept, the magistrate’s court, revenue office, primary healthcare centre, and the local government headquarters, among other places. No fewer than 55 persons were believed to have been killed.

    The group was also said to have set free over 100 inmates of Bama Prison. Was the invasion carried out to release the prisoners, some of who may be members of the sect? Why has the sect stepped up its operation at a time when the government is looking for a way to appease the group through amnesty? With the way things are now, those against the granting of amnesty to Boko Haram may have a point. Should the nation still be talking of giving the group amnesty when it seems to have shunned all entreaties to cease fire and embrace dialogue?

    Let us say the truth, Boko Haram has gone too far in killing, maiming and destroying public properties. It is acting as if it can match the government in combat. That is a fatal error of judgement. Nobody, no matter how powerful they think they are can match the government’s might. If the government decides to take on Boko Haram, the consequences will be disastrous as we saw in what happened in Baga last month. Many don’t want a repeat of the Baga massacre, that is why they have been prevailing on the government to take it easy with the group.

    But for how long will the government allow Boko Haram to run rings round the country as if it is law unto itself. The government has tolerated Boko Haram long enough and this is why the group seems to think it can do anything and get away with it. With its murderous actions, Boko Haram keeps on testing the government’s will, yet its sympathisers keep saying that the group should be handled with kid’s glove. The question those people should answer is that having applied the carrot without any meaningful result, shouldn’t the government adopt the stick?

    Because of the undue sympathy for Boko Haram’s cause (which many of us don’t know anyway), we have tied the government’s hand. The government cannot act decisively to stop the group’s menace in order not to be accused of highhandedness. But see the havoc that Boko Haram is causing with its ‘lowhandedness’. We just must put a stop to this madness one way or the other. We cannot allow Boko Haram to continue to enjoy a free rein of killing households and destroying public properties without making the group to account for its deeds.

    Boko Haram has been given an opportunity to come to the roundtable for talks. So, what else does it want? Is it that its grievances cannot be resolved by dialogue? No matter how difficult a problem is, it cannot be resolved through the use of a knife or a gun. It can only be resolved through dialogue and the earlier Boko Haram and its backers realise this, the better for them. Or else, they should be prepared to pay for their action, if not now, but certainly in future.

     

    Failure of leadership

    In every society, government provides infrastructure for the well-being of the people. Where the private sector and individuals come in, it is to complement the government’s efforts. This is why some companies and individuals build roads, power plants, state-of-the-art schools and hospitals to relieve government of the burden of being the sole provider of these facilities.

    That these organisations and individuals embark on these projects do not make it their responsibility. But what do we see these days? These groups and individuals are being saddled with this duty, which governments elsewhere discharge faithfully. Despite its enormous resources, our government is finding it difficult to carry out these simple tasks.

    Isn’t it a shame that the government cannot provide us good roads, potable water, hospitals, houses and schools? These are basic infrastructure essential to the day-to-day living of the people, which they are today paying through their noses to get because government has abdicated its responsibility to rich organisations and individuals. These corporate bodies and persons are making a kill from the provision of these facilities.

    In our respective homes, we provide our own power through generators and water through boreholes or wells, depending on the person’s resources. Yet, we say we have a government. Government, my foot. Can we say we have a government when we cannot feel its impact on our lives? Whether rich or poor, neither can say that they feel the impact of government except those fortunate to participate in the looting of our patrimony.

    Now, they are carrying their incompetence too far. Of the 1.7 million candidates for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), only 520,000 stand the chance of being admitted and this in a society, which is already grappling with the problem of graduate unemployment. What does the government want the over one million remaining students to do in a society which places so much emphasis on paper qualification?

    As a way out, Education Minister Prof Ruqayyat Ahmed Rufa’i is calling on the private sector to invest in education. She is not saying anything new. There are already so many private investors in education, not only at the tertiary level, but also at the primary and secondary school levels. We know how much they charge. The poor cannot afford to send their children to such schools. Mrs Minister, your suggestion cannot be the solution to the problem.

    The Boko Haram, Niger Delta militants, and other ethnic militias and kidnappers we have today are all the by-products of a decadent society occasioned by the failure of leadership. We will remain at these people’s mercy except the government devises an ingenious means of meeting the citizenry’s needs instead of always relying on the private sector. Why don’t we then privatise governance? Won’t that be the one-stop solution to all our problems?

  • Nation hostage to peddlers of hope

    Teacher and Healer of Nazareth’ detested the hypocrisy and the evil intrigue that defined the essence of the temple of Jerusalem, the priests, elders, and the Pharisees of his day. He once drove out those who had converted the temple into a market for their wares. He was later to tell the murmuring self-conceited priests and elders that he could destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.

    Jesus, as a friend of sinners, insisted the temples under Judaism, was no more than a business centre ‘where sinners seeking God’s mercy only got robbed by the priests’.

    And before his final betrayal, Jesus admonished his disciples saying ‘Neither in the mountain, nor in Jerusalem shall ye worship the father. God is a spirit and they that worship Him, must worship in Spirit and truth.”

    The Acts of the Apostle also told us that the Hellenists in Jerusalem after Christ crucifixion rejected the temple and took the message of God’s unconditional love for sinners to the Samaritans. They also in the First Letter to Timothy warned the congregation to “shun the teacher who is morbidly keen on mere verbal questions and quibblers’ because ‘God is to be contemplated about in the silence of the heart’. They therefore laid down a tradition of “prayer amidst poverty, faithfulness amidst suffering and of heroism capable of rising to martyrdom”.

    But 2000 years after the death of the Great Teacher and Healer of Nazareth, miracles seeking Nigerians and their jet age quibbling orators, like the Jews, their high priests and Pharisees have voted for temples. Massive churches of different architectural designs dot our land. The clarion call on Sundays and during special events such as burial ceremonies, by pastors is for generous donation in aid of new church buildings or for the renovation of existing ones. The fad among retiring civil servants, law makers and ex-governors is to build bigger churches for their communities. Even our president after collecting a gift of a small church for his community came to Lagos to rake in close to N7b to build a bigger church and recreation centre for his rural Otuoke fishing community. And for the multitude of jobless and poor miracle seekers, the bigger the temples, and the more loquacious their pastors, the greater the seduction their promises of hope and of miracle of ‘reaping without sowing’.

    And this perhaps explains the usual chaos and anarchy that is often associated with weekly migration of miracle seekers to Bishop Oyedepo’s 50,000-capacity temple where three services are held every Sunday, or to Pastor Temitope Joshua’s 15,000-capacity Synagogue of all nations every Sunday. And of course for over a decade, it has often been an agonizing experience for motorists passing through the Third Mainland Bridge, Ikorodu road towards Berger end of the Lagos-Ibadan Express way every first Friday of the month when Pastor Adeboye celebrates his Holy Ghost night. And for motorists coming to the commercial nerve centre of the nation, from other parts of the country, it has often been share misery.

    Last Friday, I spent over five hours between the University of Lagos and Berger end of the express road, a journey which will ordinarily take less than two hours in spite of the usual gridlock associated with Lagos roads. This situation which is said to be worse for other motorists coming to the nation’s economic nerve centre from other parts of the country has defied solution due to lack of political will by the federal government. It has often been lost on successive federal administrations that as a multi-religious society, Christians’ freedom of worship, must not impinge on the liberty of adherents of other religions including non believers. It is also often forgotten that even among us Christians, there are many who are not miracle seekers and that have chosen to abide by God’s injunction that man must live by his sweats.

    The number of miracle seekers has grown several folds in the last 13 years in the absence of a coherent employment policy by successive PDP administrations in the country. The Pentecostal churches and their prosperity prophets have become the only beacon of light providing hope for the hopeless and jobs for the unemployed.

    While ex-President Obasanjo, Vice President Atiku and other leading members of PDP and their sympathizers have built private universities charging outrageous fees, the churches and their owner pastors have also built institutions of higher learning solely as business endeavours, to cater for the needs of those that the government cannot cater for and their members that have the capacity to pay.

    The exploits of our pastors as successful entrepreneurs and employers of labour were late last year celebrated by Forbes which identified those it described as the richest pastors in Nigeria with diverse businesses interests in the hospitality, aviation, media, publishing and television.

    While government owned publishing outfits sold to favoured friends and sometimes crooks, have collapsed as a result of what the House Committee that probed privatization and BPE, described as ‘asset stripping,’ Oyakhilome’s publishing output is said ‘to churn out two million copies of his ‘Rhapsody of Realities,’ a monthly devotional which sells at $1 apiece.’ While Babangida, Abacha and Obasanjo sold Hamdala, NICON NUGA, Sheraton and Federal palace hotels in Kaduna, Abuja and Lagos, our pastors are running their own hotels as profitable ventures employing thousands of Nigerians.

    We can therefore say the churches and their jet age pastors have only come to fill a vacuum created as a result of government failure to meet its obligations to the people. And these churches and their prosperity prophets will continue to be relevant because if ‘religion is the opium of the poor’, as Karl Marx says, our market is huge. The will to survive by the desperate unthinking poor will continue to drive them to the embrace of con artists and quibblers who promise hope. And with abundance of unearned free money at their disposal, financial/oil fraudsters as well as thieving ex-governors and law makers protected by the state will continue to buy grace. The fortunes of private jet owing prosperity prophets will continue to rise.

    And today as it was in the old Jerusalem, in the last days of Jesus, some of our big churches both Pentecostals and orthodox, remain homes of intrigue where multi billion business deals are made, and havens for unapologetic vindictive ex and serving presidents.

    I think all we can do apart from reminding the state actors and the powerful pastors of the warning by ‘The Teacher and the Healer of Nazareth’ to the effect that, ‘repentant prostitutes will enter the kingdom of God before the Pharisees, is an appeal that the pastors take a cue from Jesus Christ, the true friend of sinners and his disciples who chose to move around taking the message of salvation and forgiveness of sins directly to the poor. They did not stay inside the Jerusalem temple to sell grace.

    Our pastors are after all better now equipped for true evangelization than Christ and his appointed apostles. They have access to technology, social media, and internet facilities. They own publishing outfits and television stations. They also have bullet proof limousines and armed security guards provided by the state. Some have even been credited with having as many as four private jets. Why must prosperity prophets, after robbing the poor, take a whole nation hostage in order to sell their invincible wares? These are after all mere promises of hope.

     

  • Useful idiots (1)

    Useful idiots (1)

    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 shall 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 Nigerian youth pronounce with emphatic pessimism and relish that “This country is doomed,” and “Nigeria is finished.”

    The Igbo youth laments his persistent marginalization from the scheme of things/bounties. 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 inalienable right to statutorily and heavenly accorded rights to reign supreme and lord it over his peers irrespective of 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.

    Every youth desperately perpetuates his sense of victimhood and entitlement. The idea is to keep whining until he gets lucky and corners 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 irredeemable ruin. But that spell of hopefulness has dissipated now. Our “wasted” elders have seen through the swollen belly of our pride. 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 mature.

    It takes courage and an enormous reserve of decency to evolve a humane ideology and establish it. We haven’t the courage and 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 relatively easy to join a picket line and tirelessly 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 will not resolve ills of fraudulent and impatient youth, perverted values, greed, racism, disillusionment with study and substandard education.

    A broad wave of disillusionment and darkness persists above the silver linings we desperately wish 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 might yet change, for better.

    It shouldn’t hurt to evolve faith and be steadfast in it. If we could discard our sentiments about the lifestyle of Tuface Idibia, we would find in the musician some worthy anecdote about the quality of faith. Tuface Idibia believed in his dream of stardom. And he relentlessly pursued it through the stark streets of Festac, the wilderness of hunger spasms and institutional adversities to become whoever he is and whatever he is today. If I had used Soyinka, or Late Babatunde Jose, many would claim they grew up when Nigeria neither smothered dreams nor murdered hope. Hence my choice of Idibia, the minion who managed to become a poster icon for generations of Nigeria’s music hopeful.

    Yet many would read this and consider it “Pollyannaish.” To this lot, any hearty lunge at hope or belief in a brighter tomorrow manifest 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.

  • My wife Abiodun in my thought

    It has been 10 years since the cold hands of death took my beloved wife away and there is no way life can be the same. Marriages are made in heaven; this from my experience is the truth. I met the young lady who later became my wife in a multitude of people at Apapa Port when I and other members of my family went to welcome one of my brothers who was returning from the United Kingdom in 1963. As soon as I saw Abiodun something told me she was going to be my wife. I was a very shy person when I was young and in my generation boys and girls were educated apart unlike what operates today. Most of us boys were indoctrinated to feel that it was unethical and a waste of precious time that should be devoted to our academic work for young boys in secondary school to begin to fantasise about girls. So young people in my generation were rather shy and uncomfortable with girls. Unless it was absolutely necessary we did not relate with people of the opposite sex and when we did, it was most of the time adversarial. We also felt that only bad boys had girlfriends at least at secondary school level and somehow most of my classmates in Christ’s School Ado-Ekiti who had girlfriends did not do well either because they wasted precious time writing love letters instead of studying or they were just not smart enough.

    So even as a university student and at 21, we were still quite shy and uncomfortable in the company of ladies. So when I met the young lady who was to be my wife, I had to summon up courage to approach her. Her initial response was to say no and to put obstacles in the way of the relationship but I knew she was going to be my wife and the Almighty approved and six years later I married her. She brought a lot of joy to my life and also gave me four children, three girls and a boy all doing well in the profession of Medicine, Engineering, Psychology and Banking.

    The purpose of marriage from my own experience is three fold namely for procreation, and without sex there can be no procreation and thirdly for companionship in that order. When one is old the children will go away and have their own families, the desire for sex will wane and what would be left is companionship. This is the divine order because when God created Eve, he told Adam that he was giving him a helpmate. A helpmate is also probably the same thing as a companion. Someone who complements another person is a helpmate. The bible also says that a man shall leave his family and shall be joined to his wife and both of them shall become one. When a man loses his wife or when a woman loses her husband, half of the person is gone and the one that is left is like an eagle that is flying with one wing. It will certainly not be able to fly high and it may not be able to feed itself; what it will be able to do is continue to soldier on. This is the nature of things. No couple no matter how much they love each other will pray that they should die together. But it is usually easier for the woman to survive the man than the other way round. Who can query God? God in His omnipotence does whatever He wants to do and His decision is final.

    It is very hard to live alone especially when you have lived with someone for over 30 years and it does not make sense to me to want to start all over again with another person. Somehow one gets used to loneliness and being alone. What has helped me all these years since my wife’s transition is to bury myself in my work. But then no one can work for 24 hours, one still has to go to bed and sleep at night and then it hits you when it seems you are holding somebody but then you wake up and there is nobody and it is just in your mind. There is immortality of the soul no doubt and one knows even if one is not a Christian that the soul never perishes. But as a Christian, I believe my wife is in another realm and that all the pains of this life can no longer touch her but she will always continue to live in her children and grandchildren and in the love that I had for her and I still have for her.

    Diamonds are forever and love is imperishable. There is a sobering thought in all these that all men and all women have their appointed time. My wife was only 54 years old when she passed on. The consolation is that she had accomplished her mission. She was an ordained Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and had founded two parishes one in Europe and one in Nigeria and she has been engaged in the labour of love for God and man and God never forgets and my prayer is that she will have her just reward before God Almighty.

    Life for me has been full of ups and downs since her demise, more downs than ups but I have kept on in spite of the vicissitude of life because I have faith that my mission on earth will be accomplished. This piece is written to solicit prayers by all those who read it and to give comfort to all those who may be in the same position with me that all will be well. If Biodun had lived, she would have been growing old gracefully along her grey headed husband sharing with me my ups and downs. Finding someone to share your inner feelings, fears and hopes of the future and your children and children’s future is the big absence in my life. But the memories of what we shared, the laughter and the joys of husband and wife would linger in my mind until the end and until the heavenly divide separating me and my wife is eventually lifted as it is the lot of all humanity. It is well.

  • Before police bungle Funsho Williams case

    Before police bungle Funsho Williams case

    The public outcry against his murder was awesome. The public was aghast that he could be killed right inside his bedroom with his police aides not too far away. Where were the policemen when their charge was killed? Were they in the know of the dastardly act? Who could have done it and why? These were some of the questions people asked. We also asked the same questions in this column on August 1, 2006, five days after Funsho Williams was killed in his Ikoyi, Lagos home.

    We warned then that the case should not be allowed to go the way of similar murders like those of Chief Bola Ige and Dele Giwa, to mention a few. Seven years down the line, what we are now hearing about the case from the police is not edifying at all. Despite our warning six years ago, the police may fail to bring the suspected killers to book, going by the latest development in their trial. On Monday, the police told Justice Adeniyi Adebajo of the Lagos High Court that some evidence vital to the prosecution of the case had been destroyed. How?

    Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Ovie Oyokomino, who is in charge of forensics at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, told the court: ‘’The perishable evidence such as blood samples as well as the vitreous humour of the eye went bad due to interrupted power supply in the course of refrigerating’’. What a way of prosecuting a case. The police like every other establishment in this country know that we don’t have a reliable power system. This is why organisations rely on generators in carrying out their operations. So, the police should have looked for alternative means of preserving this vital evidence. Why rely on the unreliable public power system when they could have used generator 24/7 to preserve this proof?

    What the police have done shows that they are not serious about unmasking the killers. They are just paying lip-service to the matter so that the world will see them as working. For God sake, this is a murder case, which should be proved beyond all reasonable doubts. The police should not give room for any doubt, because any iota of doubt will be resolved in the favour of the accused. If tomorrow, the court frees the accused, we know who to hold responsible. As if we knew, we warned against toying with this case in this piece entitled : Who killed Funsho Williams? Seven years ago :

    The outrage against his assassination is understandable. In his lifetime, Funsho Williams, an engineer and politician, was a gentleman to the core. He was one of the few politicians around who played the game according to the rules: no hard tackles and no mudslinging. His disposition made many wonder what he was doing in the shark – infested pool of Nigeria politics. Williams was always cool, calm and calculated. Where many were losing their heads, he usually kept his. He was a perfect gentleman who gave a lie to the claim that politics is not for refined people.

    A well – heeled gentleman who reached the apogee of his career as permanent secretary in the Lagos State Ministry of Works before he retired, Williams’ ambition was to govern the state. But each time he tried to achieve this dream, he failed. These failures did not deter him, rather they emboldened him to pursue his ambition with renewed vigour. His passion to govern the state of his origin knew no bounds. Williams was not ready to allow any other post stand between him and the office of governor. No other office mattered to him. Because of his passion for the gubernatorial seat, he rejected offers of senatorial seat and ministerial appointment. That was the extent of his love for the governorship post.

    As a patient person, Williams was ready to wait for God’s appointed time to be governor. This was why when he lost the governorship ticket of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in 1999, he refused to accept any form of compensation when elders of the party locked both men up in a room and asked them to resolve their differences. Where some in his position would have come up with a long list of demands, Williams reportedly asked Tinubu for nothing. He was said to have maintained that the only thing he wanted was to become the governor of the state. When Tinubu reported the outcome of their meeting to AD elders, they advised that he should make some of Williams’ supporters commissioners. And this was how Dr. Leke Pitan and Mrs Kemi Nelson found their way into Tinubu’s cabinet.

    Another politician who benefited immensely from his relationship with Williams was former Works Minister, Mr Seye Ogunlewe. Williams had after losing to Tinubu been offered a senatorial seat. Expectedly, he turned it down and asked that Ogunlewe should take up the offer. In 2003 when he again lost to Tinubu in that year’s governorship election, Williams was offered ministerial appointment. Again and not quiet surprisingly, he rejected the offer.

    The lot again fell on Ogunlewe to pick up the job. Williams’ was not prepared to allow any other position distract him. Perhaps his dream might have come true in 2007. Nobody can say. Suffice to say now that this is not going to be as Williams was killed last Thursday in his Ikoyi, Lagos home.

    His assassination falls into the same pattern of killings that we have witnesssed in the country in the past five years. Bola Ige. Marshall Harry. Aminasoari Dikibo. Barnabas and Amaka Igwe. A common thread runs through the way these people were killed. Their killers finished them off and just vanished into thin air. Up till today, the killers remain at large and these assassinations remain unresolved. Will Williams’ case go the same way? The police are in a better position to answer this poser. This, however, should not be another unresolved murder case.

    The only honour we can do the memory of Williams is to find his killers and the earlier this is done the better. By October 19, this year, it will be 20 years that Dele Giwa was killed by parcel bomb and we are still asking: who killed Dele Giwa? We hope we will not be asking who killed Williams 20 years after?

    Jonathan vs governors

    May is going to be an interesting month. It is the month we have been waiting for to see how President Goodluck Jonathan and the governors will resolve their differences. Jonathan wants a change of guards at the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) led by Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State. The president is not hiding the fact that he no longer wants Amaechi in the saddle.

    He has some governors with him, but they don’t have the number with which to achieve the president’s aim. Many of the governors are with Amaechi, at least, up to this moment. Amaechi enjoys the confidence of his colleagues, whether of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or of the opposition parties. For now, the president is finding it difficult to get all the governors, especially of the PDP on his side.

    The opposition governors have made it clear that they are for Amaechi, come what may. The president is not relenting. So, it is going to be battle royale if the NGF election holds. Will it hold or will Amaechi be allowed to serve a second term without standing for election just as his predecessor, former Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki? Well, we wait to see what happens. Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu has given us an insight into what to expect.

    He was quoted by a paper as telling his colleagues who are backing the president to remove Amaechi that : ‘’Let me tell you, 10 of you, even 20 of you cannot remove Amaechi. Go and tell him’’. You and I know who the him is. It is no other person than the president. As the adage goes, if you wish to talk to the deaf, you do so through his child, just as Muazu has done in this instance. But will the governors walk the talk or will they chicken out when the chips are down?

  • Reflections on OATUU @ 40

    Yesterday was May-Day. It offered an opportunity to assess the working and living conditions of the working people globally. But also importantly, on the occassion, we are encouraged to critically examine the performance of trade unions, organisations formed by workers with the main aim of ensuring dignity of labour at national and global level. Organisation of African Trades Union Unity (OATUU) is a pan-African organisation of African workers. The inaugural congress of OATUU held in Addis Ababa in April, 1973 under the auspices of the OAU and chaired by Nigeria’s diplomat Peter Onu. Delegates were drawn from 31 countries in the continent including Nigeria. OATUU’s formation was a product of legitimate ideological contestations as well as cooperation between African trade unionists dating back to 1940s. The premier continental labour movement, marked its 40th anniversary recently .

    The formation of OATUU brought to the fore the significance of trade unions in Africa. In contemporary Africa, some anti-democratic governmnents take delight in keeping labour at arms length and even dare to undermine unions as a whole. For instance, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) executive was illegally dissolved by Nigerian military dictatorships in 1988 and 1994 for resisting arbitrary fuel price increases and for demanding democratization. Just last year, in Swaziland, the only national trade union centre was outlawed by government for demanding for multi-party democracy. Africa history however reveals different dispositions of post-colonial African governmnents towards trade unions. Irrespective of their ideological persuations, Africa’s founding fathers (and mothers too!) appreciated the role of labour in anti-colonial struggles. They saw unions as valued patners in post-colonial development agenda.

    Remarkably too, scores of nationalists and patriots who fought for independence were tested trade unionists in their own rights. Notable historic figures included late Ahmed Sekou Toure of Guinea, a trade unionist turned a political activist. He singularly mobilized the Guinean people for independence and terminated French colonialism in 1958 in a French Referendum. That was a heroic feat given that the likes of the late Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Ivory Coast voted for continued French rule. The late President Julius Nyerere and former President Kenneth Kaunda, were all unionists who fought against British colonialism in Tanzania and Zambia respectively. Late Tom Mboya led Kenyan Trade Union Movement but was also in the fore front of the struggle for Kenya’s independence. Late President Modibo Keita of Mali, President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Hamani Diori, the founding President of Niger, late Nnamdi Azikwe, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Mallam Aminu Kano and of course, late Pa Micheal Imoudu were all union organisers who brought to bear their respective trade unions skills in contestation and negotiation to lower the British Union Jack. Even in later day liberated territories of Nambia and South Africa, trade unions were the touch bearers in the battle for freedom.

    In recognition of the historic positive roles of African Trade Unions in 1973, OAU enouraged and consumated the formation of the OATUU. The government of Osagyfo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was even exceptionally appreciative by building a six-storey-building, “Hall of Trade Unions” for the Ghana Trades Union Congress. It is not by accident that OATUU has it’s secretariat in Accra until recently headed by Alhaji Hassan Sunmonu, the founding President of NIgeria Labour Congress, NLC.

    The selling point of OATUU is the unity of Africa’s trade union centres. African workers had always desired a continental organization as countervailing force to governments and employers who were equally organised at continental levels taking decisions that impact often negatively on jobs, wages and pensions among others. Trade unions were not immune from the ideological divisions of the Cold war era. Indeed they were ideologically opposed into the defunct All-African Trade Union Federation (AATUF), the African Trade Union Confederation (ATUC), and Pan-African Workers’ Congress. OATUU is an offshot of these centres.

    Sadly none offered discernable perspectives on OATUU at 40. Not long ago, African media uncritically downloaded the mantra according to President Barack Obama: Africa needs strong institutions not strong men. How can we build strong institutions in Africa, when we even lack knowledge of our institutions? OATUU with its secretariat in Accra (interestingly where the American President delivered his sermon in 2009) had been a strong and tested institution with committed selfless working men that included, Denis Akumu of Central Organisation of Trade Unions COTU (K) in Kenya, Hassan Summonu of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) among others.

    OATUU, despite challenges of governance (military dictatorships in many countries until the latest democratization) and unfavourable economic climate (SAP) had made positive impact on the lives of African working men and women. Proudly African, it has helped affliates ( South Sudan reportedly being the newest 55th member) to build capacity, especially in economic literacy. We must credit OATUU and other progressive organisations with the African debt cancellations and debts write-offs at the turn of the century. As far back as late 80s, at a time it was fashionable for SAP imposed military regimes to outdo each other in slavish diligent repayments of dubious debts (even as they denied minimum wages and employment at home!) to it’s credit, OATUU, called and pressured for the unconditional and total cancellation of Africa’s debt. It has also been counted on the labour market institution building in the continent. OATUU played a decisive role in the transfromation of hitherto top-down OAU Conference of Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs into a more participatory present day tripartite OAU/AU Labour and Social Affairs Commission. Structural Adjustment programmes (SAPs) of the 80s collapsed due to the great struggles of OATUU’s aflliates notably NLC of Nigeria and TUC of Ghana. In particular NLC since 1988 had been resisting incessant fuel prices increases and leading “SAP riots” even at the risk of the illegal dissolutions of it’s executive twice under IBB and Abacha dictatorships.

    With the support of the Chinese, OATUU has also built a Labour College in Ghana. Many would question the independence of OATUU if African workers and governments cannot build it’s infrastructure. If OATUU’s affliate unions independently built their offices, why not OATUU? There must certainly have been some disconnect!

    OATUU should avoid the pitfall of the dependency mentality of African leaders who preside over capital flight and corruption in the continent yet still rely on the Chinese government to rebuild AU secretariat in Addis Ababa. Let’s us copy the OAU founding fathers who, based on self-reliance, built the old scretariat on African resources. Let’s us copy not ape China. Cooperation and partnership, not servitude! In the next 40 years, OATUU must consolidate on unity of actions in defence of rights of African workers. OATUU must also deepen it’s internal democracy. It’s last Congress in Algiers recently was more of hear say and murmurs compared to the open democratic contestations and participation that characterised the election of Comrade Alhaji Hassan Sunmonu in late 80s. OATUU that was loud in the struggle for enthronement of democracy in the continent must reduce it’s own internal democracy deficits. Brinkmanship, alien to trade union movement, must give way to comradeship and continental solidarity. Long Live OATUU!

    • Comrade Aremu, is Vice President and Chairman, International Committee of NLC

     

  • A battle plan for 2015

    A battle plan for 2015

    Politics is in the air.

    Despite its resolve to address some topical issues – the Baga bloodshed, kidnapping of prominent citizens (for cash) and ordinary people (for rituals), armed robbery, unemployment and corruption as well as other ills that ail the nation – Editorial Notebook succumbs today to the pressure of politics. Why?

    There is a flood of inquiries on how to run and win the 2015 race. In particular, a fellow, who claims to be a close pal of a man who is an uncle to an aide of the Oga at the very top (pardon the colloquialism), has asked me to design a strategy that will guarantee the big man his party’s ticket and victory at the subsequent election. This, says the fellow, who pleaded that his identity should be shielded because of what he called the security implication of the matter, will end the incumbent’s hem and haw, giving him the confidence to proclaim his political future. Here is the handbook for electoral victory, which was compiled after a 12-month rigorous research. It is guaranteed to work.

    The first point is for you to admit that an election is a war. Tell your party chairman to mount a road show, highlighting this and rallying supporters. People will accuse you of beating the drums of war. Never mind. Isn’t that the reality? What else do you call a contest of daggers, axes, cutlasses, bullets and bombs?

    Remember, it is not enough to defeat the opponent; he must be crushed. Your statesmanship and magnanimity end when you have allowed others to run. That is democracy. Running, for you, is winning. Others can simply run.

    Many will grumble and accuse you of using state machinery to rig the election. They will threaten to go to court. Do not panic. It is normal here. It is their right, especially in these rule of law days. Ever seen an incumbent of your stature being asked to quit? Never.

    Keep shouting that you are yet to take a stand on your political future amid speculations that you are getting set to run. There will be posters of yours, smiling excitedly and waving like royalty, in some major cities; tell the world that you know nothing about them. They may not believe you, but that doesn’t matter. How many of our leaders do we believe? Warn that those behind the posters should stop their shenanigans and that you will brood no distraction because the execution of the present mandate is your priority.

    A few busybodies will even go to court to demand a pronouncement on your eligibility. Relax. These are party people goaded on by your genuine admirers who are trying to ensure that no legal obstacle is allowed on your path. Besides, should you care about such distractions?

    There will be so much noise in town about corruption. Many will shout that the menace has an official stamp and that the anti-graft agencies have fallen off. That is their opinion. Yours is clear: corruption is being fought as never before. In fact, you will say, when there are such protests, it is corruption that is fighting back.

    They, the uninformed critics that is, will cite some unproven cases, such as the one that fetched a civil servant a bench warrant the police chief had perfected a grand strategy to execute before a court of competent jurisdiction stepped in to stop the show. That official, who got away with a slap on the wrist after admitting to stealing billions of naira in pension cash, will also be cited. Fair enough. But the pertinent question is: Are you the judiciary? When will people learn to place their complaints in the right box? Why didn’t those crying now stop the thieves? Do not be distracted. Keep your eyes and mind on the goal.

    Look around for people who can drive your ambition. Unleash a flood of contracts. Roads. Canal dredging. Pipeline protection for ex-militants and loquacious ethnic militia chiefs. Some elderly critics, without any research whatsoever, will deride your action as mere chop chop. The euphemism is clear but it is not your business to reply to such distractions. Your goal is as clear as day. Develop a pertinacious resistance to such irritants.

    It is true that the electricity problem has assumed an emergency height, with artisans snoring away their days because they have nothing to power their machines. Factories spend a fortune on diesel to run their generators. Manufacturing is losing its attraction, unable to contribute to your genuine intention to create jobs for our teeming youths. Your opponents will latch on to these to lash you. Reporters will badger you about such problems. Do not fret. After all, all these were there before you came into office. No president or governor or council chief or traditional ruler or family head can solve all the problems in one term or in one fell swoop.

    Keep reminding the public – the listening public that is – that before the end of the year, there will be a surge in power generation to no less than 10,000 megawatts. The insincere ones will say: “All we’re saying is, give us light; we are tired of hearing about megawatts.” Ignorance. Anyway, you need to forge ahead. Such distractions are the hallmarks of a vibrant democracy, such as ours; the salt that enriches the system.

    There may be some uprising in some states. Boko Haram . Criminals posing as ex-militants. Kidnappers. Oil thieves. And so on. Plead with them to stop. Urge them to pull off their masks and show up for dialogue because yours is an administration that listens. There will be so much criticism of your style. Employ a carrot-and-stick approach, some will say. Others will counsel you to be decisive, send in the military and smash the insurgents.

    Be careful. You have a lot at stake. Should you decide to send in soldiers, know that they will raze the place. Children and women will die. Homes will be on fire. Bloodshed. The world will cry genocide. Do not panic. Tell the military to go in there and investigate. You will discover that the casualty figure has been ballooned. Stay firm. Remember, all that matters is your goal.

    In some states, there may be some suspicion between you and the governors. Never mind. Tell your strategists to set governors against one another. Encourage a new association of governors. Get a prominent politician – Abuja politician the opponents will derisively call him – to challenge such a stubborn governor. In no time – and thanks to our ever dutiful judiciary – a new party executive will rise. It is the new executive that will begin to dictate the pace of events, organise some lawmakers (no matter how few), import a mace and organise a sitting of the minority lawmakers to impeach the governor. Victory. At last.

    You can also use the OBJ formula; seize the state’s allocation. If it is an oil-producing state, especially one that may have been involved in a dispute with another, losing some oil blocks may not be a bad idea.

    As governors and politicians fly up and down, attending graduations and funerals and book presentations and weddings and chieftaincy ceremonies, they use such occasions to talk not just politics, but 2015. Direct the authorities to audit all private aircraft. Anyone without an updated paper should be grounded. No grace period. If you, despite the pressure, have refused to talk 2015, why must anybody do so?

    People will call you a dictator and label you an intolerant ruler. Those are the people who do not know you. Those who really know you are sure that you are no Nebuchadnezzar. Neither are you a Pharaoh. In any case, such distractions are to be expected as 2015 nears. What is important is that you keep your eyes on the ball.

    As success beckons, the opposition will gang up –again, this is to be expected – and form a party to fight you at the polls. Send confusion into their midst, erect an obstacle for them at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and ensure that a group of people with no visible political colouration comes up to claim the same name as the opposition’s new party. The thinking, you should realise, is snatch the name and kill the party. To a party, an unpopular name is like Barcelona without Messi; it won’t help.

    Amid the din, continue to shout that all you care about is service delivery. Keep your joker close to your chest as your opponents exhaust themselves. Remember, 2015 is a marathon.

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