On Saturday, 4th October, this year, actor, singer, composer, activist, and gentleman, Uncle Tunji Oyelana was 75 years old. The former leader of the defunct Benders Band whose popular numbers include Agbal’ode, Alaaru to nje buredi, Guguru perere, epa perere, among others, is a great achiever with an humble disposition. In 2009, when Uncle Tunji clocked 70 years, his wife, Kikelomo, and a journalist / media consultant, Mr. Segun Fajemisin, published a commemorative book titled, “70 –plus cheers for 70years of Tunji Oyelana”. I contributed to that book and my piece was adapted for some national dailies (for ease of reference the Sunday Tribune issue of October 11, 2009) with the above title. My 70th birthday tribute of 2009 is reproduced below to celebrate Uncle Tunji Oyelana at 75. Please savour it. “First, I congratulate Uncle Tunji on his 70th birthday. I consider it a privilege and a right to have been invited to contribute to this commemorative publication in celebration of the 70th birthday of our affable uncle. Please allow me to explain. “ A privilege in the sense that one has been considered worthy to join notable contributors which include Uncle Tunji’s family members, relations, colleagues, admirers and as I am bound to be correct, his world-famous wordsmith ‘Oga’. “It is also my right, as a long time (over 40 years) admirer and aburo of the world-class theatre and music icon – TUNJI OYELANA (Yeepa, my mouth deep inside ‘orunla’ soup pot!) Need I explain that Yoruba culture considers it a taboo for anyone to call his/her elder or senior by name, hence, my exclamation in bracket above. E jowo, e fori jin mi. “My early contact with Uncle Tunji dated back to the early 1960’s and the nexus was the now defunct Western Nigeria Television Service (Africa’s First Television Station) and Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service (WNTV-WNBS) both in Ibadan, where he and other talented artistes, actors and actresses, under the leadership of Africa’s first Nobel Laureate, Professor ’Wole Soyinka, gave immeasurable pleasure to the viewers and listeners vide the Armchair and Ori Olokun Theatres. “My beloved late father, Pa AbdulRahim Oladosu Alabi alias ‘Right Time’ played a major role in my connection with the arts, radio and television. Besides engaging his senior friend, the late Yusufu Olatunji alias ‘Baba l’Egba’ and his Sakara band to play at my naming party in Ibadan in November 1950, he also bought me a Panasonic transistor radio set in 1963. “Father’s wise decision liberated his PYE radiogram and Gerrad record changer from my regular invasions. It also gave me unfettered freedom to listen to the many stars paraded on WNTV-WNBS channels, Uncle Tunji inclusive. “By 1968, I had become a regular attendant at WNTV’s “Come, let’s dance show” compered by the late talented broadcaster/lawyer, Auntie Toun Adeyemi, “Any Question” quiz programme hosted on TV by the late Uncle Yinka Johnson and Chief Dipo Babalola on radio. I hold the record of winning WNBS highest quiz prize of 100 guineas in 1969. “My regular participation on WNTV dance show especially led to my admission to the prestigious circle of the late Chief Afolabi Majekodunmi, alias ‘King of Boys’. His train of jolly men, women and boys would move from the Television House, Agodi after each show to Kongi Club, Adamasingba where Uncle Tunji’s the Benders was the resident band or to any other social party of the “King of Boys” picking. It was indeed a rollicking era. “At the Kongi Club, the Benders thrilled us to the hilt. I recollect some members of the band such as; Uncle Daodu, Haastrup, and Gbade Sanda. Uncle Tunji, the leader of the band is the toast now as he celebrates his graceful entry into the enviable septuagenarian club-Agba l’o de! In the 70s, Uncle Tunji’s Benders Band entertained us with soul music with the African folklore flavor. He, Fela, Victor Uwaifo, Segun Bucknor, Joni Haastrup etc contained very well the surge of Western soul/pop music. His hit, “Agba l’ode” remains evergreen. He was and still is, versatile as a singer and actor. You need to see him perform at his EMUKAY CLUB in London. “Uncle Tunji has always been down-to-earth, accommodating, witty, cheerful and respectable. He obliged, gratis, with his band performance at my 40th birthday party in Ibadan in October 1990, one of my book launches at Premier Hotel, Ibadan in 1994 (the late Eddie Okonta also performed), and at my 30th wedding anniversary dinner at his Emukay Club in Camberwell, London, United Kingdom in August 2008. At my 40th birthday party, Uncle Tunji handed over to me all the money sprayed him by my guests! Iyen ga ju, Sir. A pointer to his magnanimity. But, I need to recall how Uncle Tunji brought his band to entertain my guests, pro bono in 1990. “I wish to, through this tribute, not only wish the great musician many happy returns, but reciprocate (not retaliate a la the late President Idi Amin of Uganda) his kind gesture vide the surprise 40th birthday gift to my humble self in 1990. “Of course, many people will recall how the late Idi Amin was swept off his feet by the sumptuous dinner hosted by the Queen of England in his honour in London in the 1970s; prompting him to utter in his post-dinner speech that, “We are fed up by the Queen, and I promise to retaliate when she visits us in Uganda”. So, this piece is not an Idi Amin style retaliation as stated earlier. What gift did Uncle Tunji present to me in 1990? I had sent invitations to my guests including Uncle Tunji and his wife, Kikelomo, weeks before the October 27th date, engaged the services of caterers and the Ebenezer Obey – led Inter Reformers Band from Lagos to entertain. The day was heralded with prayers and as we got ready to receive our guests, the gateman came into the house to inform me that an advance crew of the band was at the gate. Surprise, it was not Obey’s crew I was expecting from Lagos, but that of Tunji Oyelana!. “I asked the manager if he understood Uncle Tunji’s instructions well before heading to my Jericho GRA Ibadan residence, as I had invited the maestro and his wife, as my guests and not as entertainers. The manager confirmed Uncle Tunj is instructions and within minutes, they chose a spot and the crew started arranging their instruments and seats. Before the commissioned band could twang its guitars, Uncle Tunji and his men had started blowing away our minds softly with their soulful songs. Besides playing gratis on that day, Uncle Tunji handed over to me all monies sprayed him by my guests. What a great soul he has! “There was a repeat performance by him at my book launch in 1994 at the Premier Hotel, Ibadan while the icing on the cake was the superlative performance by him and the very warm hospitality by Kike at our 30th wedding anniversary dinner at their EMUKAY Club on Camberwell Road, London, United Kingdom on August 17th last year. By the way, EMUKAY is derived from Mrs. Oyelana’s initials (Malvis Kikelomo). “Once again, I congratulate our cheerful Uncle on his 70th birthday and wish him many more seasons of good health, joy and peace. I also extend my felicitations to his lovely and loyal wife, Kikelomo, our dear aburo and the children. As Uncle Tunji sings in one of his albums “Awon omugo po nile yi….” (Fools abound in this land) little wonder Britain now enjoys the warmth of the talent hounded out of his own home. O mase lara awon omugo yi o. “Please I have a request, can I be allowed to sing at the 70th birthday party like I did at his 50th birthday party at Bodija, Ibadan? I will love to render a Baba l’Egba’s number for the newly emerged Baba from Egbaland, even though Uncle Tunji’s roots are from Irolu, Remo Division of Ogun State. He was born at Abeokuta on October 4, 1939 to the late Pa. Zaacheus Oyenuga Oyelana and Mama Eunice Ope-Oluwa Oyelana, nee Afinsulu. Talking about legacies, Uncle Tunji pioneered ‘small’ bands in Nigeria, whereby musical bands of three or four members, entertain at parties satisfactorily as an ensemble of twenty or more members will do”. Like many fans of Uncle Tunji do, my visit, whether on vacation or business, to London is incomplete without a night out at Emukay where Kike is the empress. I remember a particular outing at Emukay in 2006 in company of my Aremo (eldest male child) Olayemi and his friends. As Olayemi and his friends needed to depart Emukay early, I went to bid Uncle Tunji and Kike goodbye. “Why are you leaving so early?” was Uncle Tunji’s reply. I explained that my hosts (Olayemi and his friends) were ready to return home. “Let them go, Kike and I will drop you home later”, was the kind offer I got from Uncle Tunji. Who would miss such a great offer? I stayed back enjoyed myself thoroughly and enjoyed the promised free ride home. May God spare Uncle Tunji’s life for more creativity and hospitality to the world. Amen.
Category: Opinion
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Insurgency: What shall we tell our children?
LET us take our mind back to that fateful day in Abuja when our children danced and thrilled the gathering of “who is who” in Nigeria. The occasion was the launching of the appeal fund for General Theophilus Danjuma led committee on Terror Victims Fund. It was indeed a great day when our children made up of various tribes in a group took us back the memory lane recounting the adversities that continue to hunt the smooth existence of this great country of ours. Whether we like it or not, they told us the good, the bad and the ugly with regards the happenings in the nation.
As leaders of tomorrow, they had the opportunity that fateful day to express their anguish about what they had observed in the drifting nation and they refused to let go the chance by doing and saying what needed to be said. Apparently disenchanted by the worrisome state of the country, the children said a lot and asked a series of questions. Whether the children were coached or tutored to say or ask those questions is immaterial. The fact remained that their disposition and demonstration this time was timely, instructive and soul searching. In what appears like giving credence and endorsement to the feelings of the young ones on the occasion, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’aad Abubakar stated unambiguously that the children had spoken and must be listened to. Indeed anyone could read between the lines.
The questions they asked were thought provoking, pricking, prodding, down to earth and demanding explanation. Here, I crave your indulgence to delve briefly into two of such questions. The children asked the then striking doctors of what had become of their morals and professional ethics that relate to saving of lives more so with the outbreak of Ebola threatening humanity. Turning to the current Boko Haram insurgency in the North-Eastern part of the country in particular and the attendant holocausts, the children asked: “Are there no sponsors? It was indeed an inundating question.
Except this question is answered and convincingly for that matter, all efforts or attempts to contain the insurgency might be an illusion as we may be putting the cart before the horse. It would amount to just pouring water in the basket which remains an exercise in futility.
Before now, there have been accusations and counter ones by groups or individuals as regards the alleged sponsors of Boko Haram insurgency. Starting from the North East Borno state to be precise, both the state bench of the People Democratic Party (PDP), the opposition party in the state and the state government have been accusing one another of sponsoring the Boko Haram sect.
On one of such occasions, the then State Commissioner for Information and Home Affairs Mr. Inuwa Bwala accused the PDP of masterminding the crisis in the state insisting that most of the victims of the crisis were APC members. The PDP in turn told Mr. Bwala to look into his party, the APC to find the culprits.
Similarly, some groups in the state accused the former Governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff of aiding and abetting the crisis in the state. According to them, most of the time he came to Maiduguri, there was never any violence but the moment he left, violence would erupt. However, the supporters or some groups loyal to Senator Sheriff rejected the tag of violence attributed to them. Rather, they pointed out that some mischief makers were out to tarnish his reputation. According to them, this was the case of giving a dog a bad name with the intention to hang it.
Even at the centre, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive Congress (APC) have continued to trade words over the alleged sponsors of the Boko Haram crisis. While the APC has accused the Jonathan’s administration to be the mastermind of the insurgency, the PDP exonerated the party and told the APC that just as it pointed accusing finger at the party, it (APC) should note that by the same measure, the APC is already pointing four accusing fingers at itself. However, of recent, the allegation over the sponsors of the insurgency by one group or the other took a more worrisome dimension with the allegation by one Mr. Stephen Davis who alleged that the former Governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and the former Chief of Army Lt. general Azubuike Ihejirika were the sponsors of the Boko Haram sect.
This weighty allegation no doubt sent shockwaves to the entire nation and there were reactions for and against. Some groups or individuals called for a probe on the allegation while others dismissed the same as mere propaganda. One of the groups that called for a thorough investigation is the APC, the opposition party. However, in reaction to the allegation of Stephen Davis against Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and Lt General Azubuike Ihejirika, the Directorate of the State Security (DSS) exonerated former while it pointed out the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff would be investigated. However, before we could say Jack Robinson, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff threw a bombshell alleging that the Borno State government hired Stephen Davis to accuse him of sponsoring the Boko Haram sect. Senator Sheriff who had earlier pointed out that he was being hunted by the APC ever since his defection to PDP, also accused the Borno State government of instructing the state owned Borno Radio and Television (BRTV) to air the allegations against him by Stephen Davis for four days to portray him in a bad light. Senator Sheriff indicted the state government in Maiduguri while speaking to journalists after his visit to thousands of displaced people in some camps in the state capital. He added: “The purported video clip and allegation against me by Davis was hatched here in Maiduguri to smear my reputation for political gains. And the truth is that if I am a sponsor of the Boko Haram as claimed, it means 90 percent of those in government at present that are mounting the campaign of calumny against me are also sponsors of the Boko Haram because they were part and parcel of my government,” he said. Responding, the Borno State government through the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Ambassador Baba Ahmed Jidda, said: “ Just two weeks ago, Sheriff told the world at a media briefing in Abuja that he was taking Davis to court in London or so and in reaction, the Nigerian media reported Davis saying he was ready to provide evidence in court in Australia or so. On the other hand, the SSS said it was probing Sheriff over the allegation and President Goodluck Jonathan said last weekend through Reuden Abati that the security agencies were probing the allegations against Sheriff and findings would be made public. The question now is, why is Sheriff putting the cart before the horse? Why can’t he pursue his case in court, defend whatever evidence that was brought by Davis and clear his name? Also, why wouldn’t he wait for the findings of the Nigerian security agencies that said they are probing him as confirmed by the President? Since he said he is innocent, all he needs to do is to wait for the outcome of the court case and security probe. It is that simple. For the record, let me say that it is a big embarrassment for the state government, the governor, myself or any citizen of the state for that matter that a Borno indigene is being associated with that grievous allegation because it stains our name as a state and as a people. Borno people are the worst hit by the Boko Haram activities. To say a Borno man is partly responsible is a big embarrassment that all of us condemn in totality because of the stigma it leaves on us. This is how far the mystery surrounding the sponsorship of Boko haram sect has gone. It has remained as mere accusation and counter one and regrettably, our children’s question has not been answered. The question once more is: “Are there no sponsor of the Boko Haram sect? This is what our children want to know. Except, the sponsors are located and dealt with, attempts or efforts to bring the insurgency to an end might be futile. •Victor Izekor writes from Maiduguri.
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Triumph of hope
For the Dominiques, quadruplets to a 44-year old, after 18 years’ wait, are a triumph of hope
For those who believe in divine intervention, it must be reinforcing news that a 44-year-old woman, Mrs. Clara Dominique, was delivered of quadruplets in Benin, the Edo State capital, after an 18-year wait for a child. Even for those who are perhaps not so trusting in the power of faith, the event may likely prompt a sense of wonder about the inscrutability of nature.
Interestingly, the ecstatic woman at the centre of the thought-provoking drama interpreted the happening in supernatural terms. Mrs. Dominique, who has been married since 1996, was quoted as saying: “I am happy that my husband and I were able to stay together till this day to witness the blessings of the Lord. My husband has been encouraging me that God would do it for us.” Against this background, it may be considered fitting that the babies arrived at Graceland Medical Centre, a name highly suggestive of the proverbial grace of God.
It is unsurprising that the prolonged expectation came with cultural and social challenges, which Mrs. Dominique and her husband thankfully overcame. According to her, “My husband’s cousins tried to take up the matter but he silenced them. My parents were also there to encourage us. That was what kept us together because the family pressure was not there. They knew we were Christians and nobody could come between my husband and me.” It is commendable that her husband demonstrated such an impressive degree of devotion in the face of subtle and not-so-subtle pressures.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that she herself displayed admirable stoicism in the manner she endured the long years of waiting. There is no doubt that the period of patience must have been mentally and psychologically exhausting for her, particularly given the role she reportedly played in connection with the birth of other children by members of her church. She said: “I was the one dedicating children at our church every last Sunday of the month. I was the first to visit anybody that gave birth so that I could give them what I had. I am not the envious type.”
It is likely that, even in her wildest dreams, she did not imagine that she would in one moment become the mother of quadruplets, three girls and a boy. “I was happy when the scan showed it was four,” she said. “Sometimes I thought of how I would carry the four of them. I have not seen somebody else who was delivered of four babies.” The question may be asked: Was this nature’s way of compensating her for such a disheartening delay? By the look of things, it was worth the wait.
It is noteworthy that Mrs. Dominique was not the only one who had a new experience in this striking tale. For the hospital also where the babies were delivered through a Caesarean section, quadruplets were novel. “This is the first time we had a set of quadruplets in this hospital. They are okay,” a doctor reportedly said. It was a positive development, especially considering that the operation was successfully handled, which is a plus for the hospital’s personnel and facilities.
Indeed, Mrs. Dominique’s experience deserves publicity and reflection not only on account of the unusualness of quadruplets, but more importantly, because of the tortuous and torturing path she had to take. She may well be a symbol of patience, endurance and optimism. Hers is an inspiring story of hope and possibly infinite possibilities. In the final analysis, couples who may be going through what Mrs. Dominique and her husband experienced before the miraculous quadruplets came ought to draw strength from the happy ending.
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Kwankwasiyya as national ideology
“. . . Amana. That Hausa word which means trust is paramount to us because you can’t be a Kwankwasiyya while stealing public trust; you can’t be a Kwankwasiyya and you are destroying your state and country. You have to be honest. You have to be hard working and you must ensure that whatever you are doing is not just beneficial to you and your family, but more importantly to the society at large. That is the meaning of Kwankwasiyya.”
These are the very remarkable words of the Governor of Kano State, Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso on his leadership philosophy and convictions. And beyond the symbolism of the ubiquitous red caps on many heads around him and elsewhere in the city of Kano, Kwankwasiyya as a leadership cum political ideology is worth paying a deeper attention to even in our national politics because the impact is real.
To any development-minded observer, the Kwankwaso feat in Kano will naturally raise consciousness about the mind of this humble man at work, particularly the meticulous prioritization of the projects and shrewd implementation viz-a-viz the basic interest of the people. Of course having education, urban renewal, road construction, housing, empowerment and sports as top priorities of the government was not by accident. It was a well thought-out agenda designed to address pressing development challenges.
With a population of 9.38 million (2006 census), giving education such a huge attention is forward looking. The ultimate objective being the need to further build requisite manpower, boost mass literacy, self development and actualization. Thus the educational develoquent initiative has been a comprehensive one. Education is made free at all levels, many schools built with relevant infrastructure, various incentives provided for both students and teachers and qiute diversified to cater for many cadres thereby expanding opportunities to have a fair shot at life.
Basically, education in Kano State is functional and this speaks to the sense of purpose and commitment of the leadership. Kwankwaso, who reckoned that his lift in life has been a product of education justified the establishment of the Northwest University, the second state-owned university, after the Kano State University of Science and Technology, as avenue to have many more of the young people educated since placements in the federal institutions are limited compared to demand. The permanent site for the former is gradually taking shape with the Senate building ready and construction of various faculties nearing completion in what can rightly be described as an architectural masterpiece. This is aside those students on state scholarships in the various secondary, tertiary and professional institutions locally and abroad. Interestingly, government is also keen on the girl child education. A moving story was told of how the gigantic edifice hitherto known as the Magwan Water Restaurant was transformed into the First Lady College, among others in consonance with the Amana doctrine. Enrollment in the primary, secondary and higher institutions has soared and this is critical to the state’s future overall development. As a mark of responsibility, the Kwankwaso administration further took a major leap forward by banning street begging, the use of child labour and abolished and reformed the Almajiris which is spectacularly good for social sanity, harmony and our common humanity.
Urban renewal is also a significant achievement of the state government. urbanization in the ancient city has created squalor and congestion which got the government working on creative ways of decongestinng the city.This has necessitated the reconstruction and expansion of several roads, dualized with sidewalks. Even at a huge cost, Kano skyline in the night is inviting as the streets are lighted up, reinforcing the strive at modernisation. In the process, many houses were demolished though not without due compensation. Similar imaginative step at decongesting the city equally finds expression in the construction of flyovers. The magnificent 24-kilometre Kofar Nassarawa flyover, one of the longest in West Africa, the Murtala Muhammed flyover (two kilometres) and the Obasanjo flyover (half kilometre) and others around the city are noteworthy. The underpass at Gadan Kaya, akin to the Independence Tunnel at Maryland in Lagos is sheer creativity just as the Wuju Wuju way redesign and reconstruction is a fitting answer to the traffic menace along that corridor. The massive road construction is also affecting all the 44 local governments where 50 kilometres are being built in each of them.
Yet it was clear to the governmrnt that a far-reaching approach would have to be devised to address congestion by moving many people out of the Kano metropolis, building satellite towns and cities. This was how three modern cities namely, the Kwankwasiyya City, Amana City and the Bandirawo City were designed and built. The massive estates in exquisite four, three and two bedroom duplexes and detached bungalows are modern with all basic infrastructure and conveniences. There will be schools, banks, modern markets, telecoms, and every necessity to guarantee comfort of residents. The concern, however, would be that the sale of the houses is not hijacked by powerful government officials through multiple ownership as we had in similar housing projects in other states and those of the federal government in the past. It is a beautiful idea if the targeted objective is strictly adhered to for the purpose of credibility.
Although over six thousand graduates were employed into the civil service as at 2013, and about 2000 others employed under the state employment committee in various federal and private institutions, government was very aware that it cannot employ everybody. Thus a proactive poverty alleviation and employment generation modality was instituted by training and empowering over 300,000 youths in various trades now running their small scale businesses. Still, government went ahead to establish 44 garment industries in addition to 37 micro finance banks it created to facilitate entrepreneurship in all the 44 local government areas in the state.
To boost commerce and economic activities and indeed lighting up the state, the government also developed two Independent Power Projects (IPP) at Challawa and Tiga Dams, thereby generating some 35 megawatts of electricity.
Similar strides are also evident in agriculture, rural development, health, science and technology, environment, administration of justice and of course sports development. The story was told of an expansive land at Kofar Na’isa which represented choice lands to the Kano elite to build their mansions and was consequently distributed for that purpose. But to Governor Kwankwaso, a more befitting enterprise would be a sporting village (academy) and today major sporting activities go on there to raise professionals and the youths are happier for it with modern hostels to cater for tournaments. The same sense of commitment to sports development is replicated at the Institute of Sports, a technical arena to fashion out how to move sports forward and no wonder Kano Pillars is now the winner of the Glo Premiership League for the second time running. And there’s more to come with relentless support of the government.
In all of these monumental achievements, it is tempting as an inspiring enterprise to interrogate the substanstive values in the Kwankwasiyya leadership model as a national legacy. What has been the magic wand? What can we learn from it? What could be the implication if it is adopted and practised in every government nationwide? Even as corporate policy?
For a government which inherited N77 billion debt, now almost fully repaid and without borrowing a Kobo to finance the various projects in the state, Kwankwasiyya as a leadership philosophy deserves a second look. In an environment where corruption thrives at all levels including the family microcosm, where cronyism is the rule rather than exception, the nation can learn something new in Kwankwasiyya: vision, integrity, transparency, hardwork, selflessness and a huge sense of community. Yes, this is the symbolic narrative of the red, white and black dress code as handed down to Kwankwaso by the great Mallam Amino Kano which distinguishes a true servant of the masses (talakawas) from the elitist disposition of governance largely serving a few privileged interest. Without doubt, Kwankwasiyya is a moral force reinventing ethical leadership.
Thus for a man who wants to be president, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has a solid credential to sell to his party and members and by extension the Nigerian people on why and how Kwankwasiyya could be the missing link in the cause of national regeneration.
- Olutomiwa, wrote from Lagos.
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Ouagadougou as a metaphor
After 27 years in the saddle, former Burkina Faso’s imperial ruler, Blaise Compaoré, was recently forced out of power by a popular uprising against his aspiration to extend his reign over the landlocked country. As it is usual with sit -tight rulers like him, Compaoré fled the capital, Ouagadougou, to an unidentified destination. Before his abrupt fall from power, excluding the years he spent as a military dictator, Compaoré had served two seven-year terms before a change to the constitution allowed him to serve another two five-year terms. It will be recalled that on October 15, 1987, Compaoré seized power in a coup that led to assassination of his former friend and one of Africa’s most charismatic leaders, Thomas Sankara.
The event in Ouagadougou is, once again, a sad reminder that African leaders don’t learn from history. Between 1960 and 1976, 45 percent of African leaders were either assassinated or exiled for exhibiting despotic tendencies. The years after 1975 saw the emergence of more ruthless African tyrants such as Charles Taylor and Mumur Ghadaffi. After years of inflicting pains on the very people they were meant to protect, the duo were disgraced out of power in a most ignoble manner. Taylor is currently serving a jail term for war crimes while Ghadaffi was brutally hacked down while fleeing from a NATO backed local revolt against his government.
The tragedy of the African continent is that most of its leaders, especially those with little or nothing to offer the people, have continued to tow the ignoble path of authoritarianism. It is puzzling that majority of them would rather prefer to die in power rather than giving opportunities to others with fresh ideas to rule. A good leader should know when to quit.
Other African leaders that had shamelessly perpetuated themselves in power are Félix Houphouet-Boigny of Cote d’Ivoire who ruled for 33 years, Gnassingbe Eyadema who ruled Togo for 38 years, Mobutu Sese Seko who reigned for 32 years in Zaire, Kenneth Kaunda who ruled for 27 years in Zambia, Daniel Arap Moi who was in reigned supreme for 24 years in Kenya and Mathieu Kérékou who ruled for 19 years in Benin Republic, just to mention but a few.
The African poverty situation is further compounded by the failure of governments across the continent to properly harness human, natural and material resources for the common good of all. This is why Nigeria, a famous world oil exporter, is ranked among the poorest nations of the world. Sadly, rather than making concerted efforts to address the deadly poverty situation in the continent, most African leaders’ only concern is how to devise callous strategies that would keep them in power.
In his famous book, ‘1984’, English novelist, essayist and critic, George Orwell was, perhaps, inadvertently referring to the power perception of the average African leader when he stated that: “the Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. Power is not a means; it is an end. The object of power is power.” How awful! Ironically, this is the attitude of a large number of African leaders. Majority of them are attracted to political power for the wrong reasons. This eventually results into the reign of aberration and impunity that have since been part of governance in the continent. Not a few of them fumble while in power because they are ignorant of the ultimate purpose of power. They are only interested in the grandeur and magnetism of power as opposed to the sacrifice and other selfless responsibilities which are basic obligations of power. This explains why they often use power to spite their people.
Perhaps, more baffling is the docility of Africans to tyrants. Why, for instance, would a people sit back and tolerate an irresponsible leadership for 27 years? What magic did Ghadaffi, Mugabe, Compaoré and their likes used to lord it over their people over such a long period? This, perhaps, is the real fairy-tale from Ouagadougou. Part of the lessons from Ouagadougou is that followers should frequently ask questions of their leaders. Government does not exercise power; rather, it is the concept of government, upheld by law as put in place by the people, which exercises power.
Democracy will be endangered, when followers naively permit their leaders to get away with brazen acts of impunity. This is the time for the African people to stand up and demand accountability, transparency and integrity from their leaders. This is the time for Africans to ensure that our leaders uphold the right concept of power for the good of the society.
– Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.
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Evidently, Nigeria is broken
Many would contest the declaration conveyed in the head of this article. They would see it as a stretch tinged with politics. I wish there was a way to order human affairs sans politics, which is more often dishonourable and utterly unworthy of regard by men of culture.
But my declaration that Nigeria is broken is no politics. It is born of the evidence of my eyes and the fact of verifiable information available to me. There is no metaphor more graphic, more emblematic of Nigeria’s brokenness than the state of our roads. Forget about what you see in political advertorials and what you read in PR editorials. Do what CNN advertises in their programme promo, “Going there.” Don’t read about it; don’t hear about it. Just pack your bag and go there. Get on the road and see that truly, evidently, Nigeria is broken into enclaves not accessible one to another because they have been cut off by lack of roads.
About three weeks ago I did just that. I packed my bag and got on the road from Lagos to Asaba in Delta State, to attend the inauguration of my friend and business partner of 15 years, Hon Emmanuel Egbabor, as chairman of Isoko North local council. I had not made long trips by roads until recently, the trip to Delta State being one of them. Before I got to Benin bypass the treacherous sections of the Ore-Benin ‘highway’ had taken a toll on my car. It cost a bomb to fix it.
Once I was done with my friend’s ceremony, I headed for Akwa Ibom to see my mother. After the Niger Bridge at Onitsha, I detoured right through Owerri because I could not go straight through the shorter PH-Enugu-Onitsha ‘expressway.’ A key road linking Rivers, Abia, Enugu, Anambra, and a prime passage to the North and West, the PH-Enugu-Onitsha ‘expressway’ had been in a state of disrepair for a long time. It is now virtually impassable. The journey was insufferably nasty, to say the least, until I got to Aba in Abia State. Aba is a story for another day; for now just take it as a byword for decay.
I was to find out that my journey would end in Aba. There was no way, try as hard as I did, to access Akwa Ibom either through Iwukem or Ikot Ekpene, neighbouring towns in Akwa Ibom, about 45 minutes away either way. I was out of touch with reality, not having travelled home by road for more than a decade. I never knew that what used to be federal highways could literally cease to exist without alternative routes for citizens who depend on those roads to get by daily.
On enquiry I was told the way out was to go through Umuohia to Ikot Ekpene, with the warning that I could spend the night on the road because even that road is in a terrible state too. The next option was to go through Port Harcourt, but in October I went through Port Harcourt Airport on account of a cancelled fight to Uyo and had such a hard time getting out of the city because of a traffic snarl caused basically by bad roads.
I was stuck. But thanks to the locals, I was able to get out of Aba to Akwa Ibom through their help. They guided us through bush paths, by which we meandered and zigzagged around the labyrinth of a ghoulish countryside, gnawed all the while by the ever present fear of kidnapping in the wilderness of Osikanku country.
Roads best represent the nation’s broken state. The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has been under repair forever; Ibadan-Ife Road, which I took in June to attend a friend’s father’s funeral near Osogbo, is in a state of disrepair. Calabar-Itu Road, the only link between Cross River and Akwa Ibom by land, and the only access to the Calabar Port from the eastern states and the North is in such bad shape that travellers from Calabar to Uyo, a journey of about one hour, often spend a whole day on the road. The East-West Road, over which spin doctors had had a field day, is a tombstone to non-performance. The story of Nigerian roads is similar in virtually all parts of the nation, and is a tale of decline and of failure and brokenness.
But Nigeria is broken in more ways than one. Its sovereignty has been broken by a band of terrorists, with no air force, artillery unit of any description, no naval power-just light weaponry-against a country that boasts the largest army in black Africa. The occupation of Nigerian territories by Boko Haram is no metaphor. It is a practical fact that this country is broken, its sovereignty questioned and successfully challenged.
The physical facts of the nation’s broken state pale into insignificance placed side by side with the grotesque, all-is-well swagger of its leaders in the face of humbling, even humiliating circumstances. How do you resolve in your mind the pomp and panoply of a presidential declaration amidst the occupation of parts of the country by terrorists, with daily slaughter of children and adults even as the presidential declaration was going on? The body parts of the children blown sky high by a terrorist’s bomb in the Potiskum high school in Yobe State had not even cascaded down to earth when the leaders of the nation gathered at Eagle Square, Abuja to celebrate a President and Party, without as much as a minute’s silence to the memory of the slain children. That is a clear sign of brokenness. Our collective sense of decency and right judgement can’t be said to be intact with that kind of insensitivity and grotesqueness.
The swagger in the carriage of our leaders does not square up with the reality of the time, another indication of brokenness. It is hard to find sense in the lavish displays everywhere in the face of plummeting oil revenue, which even presents a far less grim picture than the prognosis going forward. Recently in Akwa Ibom State, a sport stadium was commissioned with the kind of celebration that should be expected only at the opening ceremonies of the World Cup finals or the summer Olympics. There were three sitting presidents, one former president, an international friendly by two national teams, more than a clutch of international sports icons, all of them imported with the tax payers money. Imagine the expense and the message, that money is not a problem, and that such extravaganza and the artefact it celebrated meant more to the state than alternative investment in completing the international wing of the state airport, or in resolving the issue of transmission and distribution of power generated at the state’s 191mw power plant, or in completing the various hospitals that look likely to be some of the uncompleted projects that will be handed to the next administration in the state.
We can push the imagination. Let us imagine what stable power would do for industrialisation and job creation and therefore wealth and security for the state if the resources on the stadium were invested in the capacity to fully evacuate electricity from Ibom Power and make it available to homes and factories. Imagine what the spin-offs would be if the money were invested to complete the hanger at Ibom Airport, its international terminal building for cargo operations and the taxiway. We can imagine a host of other alternative investments that would actually translate into true development for the people.
The point really is about true development. If a government subsidises gate fee to a cinema, does that translate into development? If the nation is left disarticulated because communities are not linked with roads, is government promoting development? Development is not just about Abuja, or Uyo or Ikoyi. Development is about empowering the entire states, whole communities with infrastructure and amenities that enable people to make best of the pursuit of happiness. When this doesn’t happen, the consequence is dislocation.
Evidence of dislocation is everywhere; Nigeria lies broken, much like dropped china on a rock.
• Otongaran is CEO of Reference Nigeria
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A lawless presidency
•President Jonathan exercised impunity by allowing the police to try to deny the speaker access to the premises of the National Assembly
It is not the sort of theatre that the quiet mien and the meek diction of our president presage. Few kilometres from the Aso Rock Villa where President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan resides, the police over which he presides as commander-in-chief committed havoc Thursday.
The National Assembly wanted to sit to deliberate over the president’s bill to extend the state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. It was also an emergency sitting since the House had adjourned any activities until December. The deputy speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, was ushered into the premises by the police authorities. But the speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, was barred any access. This sparked off a sense of outrage among Tambuwal’s colleagues who wondered why the speaker, who constitutionally had every right to walk in, was denied his fundamental right: freedom of movement, especially the freedom to perform his duty as a senior officer of the realm.
This outrage propelled the fellow members of the House to lift the speaker physically, in defiance of police tanks, guns, teargas canisters and the hoods of the armed men, onto the premises. The speaker gained access in spite of the security barricade.
The nation is still smarting from the impunity that happened in Ekiti State barely a week ago where the same sort of tanks and policemen cordoned off the state house of assembly and seven lawmakers decided to elect a so-called protem speaker among themselves and decided to conduct affairs of the legislature. They contravened the constitution and planted a sense of constitutional defiance and lawlessness in a state that had slipped steadily into a halcyon air only four years earlier.
The president has not condemned the Ekiti act of lawlessness and kangaroo temperament of his party members. The state governor, Ayo Fayose, has confirmed his brutish ways not only by indecent language but also by serial acts of primitivism.
Now with what happened in Abuja, it has become clear that the Ekiti State episode of shame was a PDP template with a clear and unblushing presidential stamp. Now, two important issues impugn the office of the president in this matter.
One, the House of Representatives had to be summoned to deliberate over a matter at the behest of the president who sent an emergency bill over the trouble of insurgency that has turned the northeast into a cauldron of hate and death, and where pious zealots were humiliating the Nigerian state and armed forces, lapping up territory after territory. Was it not in the interest of the president to facilitate the deliberations over the emergency? From the theatre of the foolish that happened Thursday it is tempting to believe that the president was not interested in the bill and that he merely threw it up as an excuse to torpedo the legislature’s apple cart and cast a slur on the authority of Tambuwal, the speaker. This is, to say the least, cynical, un-presidential and reckless. It is out of sync with the high office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Why did the police supervise the easy access of deputy speaker Ihedioha and bar Tambuwal? Were they trying to reenact the familiar drama of overthrowing the house hierarchy by turning a minority to majority by subverting not only the letter and spirit of the constitution but also overturning simple mathematics? They tried this in Rivers State where the timely vigilance and intervention of Governor Rotimi Amaechi frustrated the efforts. Such foul air has been unleashed in Nasarawa and Edo states just as it happened recently in Ekiti State.
It also shows that the president prefers the politics of personal scores and party triumph over his constitutional duty to Nigerians, especially his preeminent duty as the chief security officer of the state. Many people are dying, livelihoods are lost in priceless scales, Nigerian territories are falling, yet his overriding interest is his ability to win meretricious victories.
The president and the chiefs of his party did not hide their displeasure when the speaker announced his defection to the All Progressives Congress APC). That announcement was followed by an act of lawlessness by the police on the president’s watch. They recalled all his security privileges as the number four citizen in the realm without recourse to the provisions of the constitution that required a court of law to give such order, if it was necessary.
The matter was, after public expression of disapproval, taken to the court of law. Even up till now, the court has not ruled on the matter. Rather than wait for the court process to take its course, the president and his men took the law into their hands and allowed the police to commit the acts of impunity before the full glare of Nigerians.
It is also important to note that the nation is a far much shrunken landmass today than when President Jonathan took office in 2011 with an oath to defend all lives, property and the corporate integrity of the country. He has declared serial emergencies in the north, but they have not blunted the fury and ferocity of the Boko Haram sect to the extent that the Chief of Defence Staff could not defend his village from falling to the hands of the evil marauders. He quickly rescued his family before the invaders who played havoc with the other villagers arrived.
President Jonathan keeps flexing the muscles of the police where vulnerable citizens carry out harmless daily chores. In the Ekiti and Osun state elections, hooded men were deployed to harass innocent voters and residents. But in the northeast, while he is cutting his precious birthday cakes, Nigerians rely on hunters to free towns and villages from the stranglehold of the Boko Haram insurgents. It is a shame that the same president was frozen in Aso Rock Villa by so-called militants in Niger Delta from visiting Delta State to commission the Export Processing Zone. He became hostage to ethnic politics and to a militant that he put in charge of peace in the country.
The president has turned governance upside down. Where he should uphold the law, he has lofted the torch of lawlessness. This is a president that has placed his role as a raw and uncouth politician over the polish and dignity of his office as president.
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Hunters sweet and sour
Local hunters’ liberation of Mubi, where the Nigerian military failed, is both cheery and scary
It is cheery that citizens’ outrage, not the might of the state, just saved Nigeria its honour in Mubi and Maiha, Adamawa State, with local hunters reportedly kicking out Boko Haram.
No matter the reservations, it is tribute to courage, patriotism and citizens’ outrage to save motherland. It was about time too — with Boko Haram running rings around our military: demoralised, near-demystified, and wracked with alleged high-scale sabotage.
If the military, with their superior armoury and even supposed better discipline capitulates, and an elementarily armed local hunters triumph against Boko Haram, that suggests an apparent military house divided against itself. That is not strange, though it is sad: for Nigeria too appears a country divided against itself.
Still, there are some positives the military authorities must take from the Mubi hunters’ triumph — if their clearly hurt pride would let them, from a scary report that the chief hunter of an Adamawa community was arrested for leading his guild against Boko Haram.
The first is the indispensability of sound intelligence in a military campaign — and the bastion of intelligence is the local people. If hunters armed with Dane guns — and charms, as many claim — triumphed over Boko Haram, it is logically because the locals are masters of their environment.
If Nigeria must reverse the disgraceful Boko Haram victories, the military must incorporate the locals into the army: not as a militia, as they are now, but as fully trained members of the armed forces. Their knowledge of the environment, coupled with discipline and better arms from the Army, is more likely to help halt the Boko Haram advance; and stop its cruelty, its dehumanisation of citizens and clear humiliation of our country.
Now, to the dire tales. Local hunters coming to the rescue show the terrible state the country has sunk — and the terrible condition of the Nigerian military. Trite: a state unable to secure its own territory is no state. Nigeria, sadly, is nearing that meltdown, with the parlous state of things in the North East, and the creeping anomie, plaguing the whole of the North, what with suicide bombing all over the place.
Many have said the demoralised military literarily melt in front of Boko Haram because many of them don’t feel any cause to fight for. Local hunters, on the other hand, prevailed because they had a deep and strong urge to protect their culture, their environment, their heritage, and even their basic human dignity, daily rubbished by a band of crazed Islamists.
But that local outrage, no matter how deep it runs, does not necessarily translate into a cause to fight for Nigeria, beyond the liberation of local territories from the Boko Haram nuisance. If that comes to play, a worst-case scenario could well emerge: the local warlords, after unhorsing Boko Haram, could challenge the very state itself — and why not?
With the security meltdown, to many of the locals, Nigeria is after all, no more than an abstract — and a hated one at that! Putting it differently: the hunters’ success of today could well be the foundation of tomorrow’s insurrection, especially if the military is further demystified.
To fend off this looming tragedy, the Nigerian authorities must first regain the military initiative and secure these far-flung territories and their tormented denizen-citizens. Then, after decades of ruinous over-centralisation, it is high time Nigeria returned to productive federalism.
With that, government would be nearer to the people; would be better placed to maximise their talents because it is close enough to appreciate and utilise them; and the country, by the activities of its component parts, would reinvent itself as a caring and efficient state — far from the bumbling nuisance that balks from its basic duty as security, yet demands fanciful loyalty, because it feels it has the means to bully people into submission.
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Commendable example
Other clerics should learn from Catholic bishops’ intervention on nation’s security
In a marked departure from the widespread and disturbing tendency of religious groups across the country to associate without discrimination and hobnob uncritically with political office holders, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, last Thursday, visited President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa in Abuja to speak some home truths to power on the state of the nation. The group’s president, Bishop Ignatius Kaigama, told the press after their closed-door meeting with Dr Jonathan that their message was simply that all was not well with the country.
According to Bishop Kaigama, “We feel that things are not right. Territorially, our land is being taken away; the people we look after are displaced, their homes, their villages and towns are captured and they are internally displaced, being refugees in their own land. We thought this is not right. We have families that are just stranded. We thought that the president should know. As Catholics we have laid a good structure for relief and taking care of such situation, we want the government to collaborate with us”.
This kind of constructive engagement between the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria and the Federal Government to find solutions to critical national problems is most commendable. It is the way to go. If the church and the state at all levels are to be genuine partners in progress, they must cultivate a healthy relationship predicated on truth and not sycophancy or hypocrisy. We are not surprised that the Catholic bishops are showing a positive example to others in this respect. The Catholic Church had acquired a reputation for speaking in defence of justice, human dignity, the rule of law and good governance even during the dark and dangerous years of military rule. It has retained its integrity in this dispensation, thus largely fulfilling its scriptural mandate of being the salt of the earth.
Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said particularly of the relationship between many Christian groups and the Jonathan presidency, which has not hesitated to exploit religious sentiments in a divisive manner for partisan ends. Under the leadership of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, for instance, it has become difficult to distinguish between the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). CAN therefore, suffers from a pathetic paralysis of being unable to offer any constructive criticism of the Jonathan presidency. Only recently the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, conferred a curious Primatial Award of Excellence in Christian Stewardship on President Jonathan at the Presidential Villa. The award, said to be in acknowledgment of Jonathan’s fair distribution of the nation’s resources, clearly has no logical, empirical, scriptural and moral bases.
All too often, various denominations have made their altars available for unscrupulous politicians to make partisan pronouncements. This kind of behaviour devalues the integrity and credibility of the church. It has become imperative for the Nigerian church to regain its voice. Like the biblical John the Baptist, the voice of the church must be heard loud and clear in the wilderness of impunity, corruption, inequality and recklessness that Nigeria has become. The Catholic bishops have taken the right step in sensitising the Jonathan presidency to the seriousness of the security challenges confronting the country.
However, the church has a responsibility to do more. She must speak up boldly and uncompromisingly against the incompetent, irresponsible and immoral governance on which insecurity thrives. It is important for our clerics to know that what is at stake is the corporate existence of Nigeria. A church that compromises with a venal state in condoning iniquity will be destroyed along with the country.
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Overwhelming support or groundswell of deception?
At last, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has responded to the overwhelming and outpouring of goodwill from fellow countrymen. He got off the fence to beat his party’s deadline on Thursday, September 30 to pick the Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms to vie for the presidency next February.
Many thanks to Nigerians, especially PDP governors and the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) who contributed N22 million each and other groups that donated their widow’s mite to raise about N98 million that made it possible for a man who had no shoes to defray the forms’ N22 million price tag. It is interesting that the PDP Governors’ Forum mobilised the funds notwithstanding that its members groan under paucity of funds and go cap in hands for handouts from the federal government to pay the salaries of workers in their domains.
But can 17 million endorsements in a country where more than 70 million have been captured as eligible voters pass for an overwhelming or a groundswell of support to which the President has responded to? This can only be taken as a groundswell of deception reminiscent of the one given to the Elephant who was tricked into the ditch believing that the decorated path led to the throne.
The architects of this deception went to the extent of raising N98 million from undisclosed sources for the President to buy the forms. At the Wadata House national headquarters of the ruling party, the President in turn said he was overwhelmed by the gesture of his party and Nigerians, especially the PDP Governors’ Forum, led by combative Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio that raised the funds to procure the forms. In return, President Jonathan promised to justify the confidence reposed in him. What a melodramatic support from patriots, who all along have been complacent to the abduction of more than 200 secondary school girls from their hostel in Chibok.
Simple arithmetic clearly shows that a support from 17 million in a population of more than 170 million people cannot in anyway be said to be outpouring, as eloquently painted by presidential spokesman Dr. Reuben Abati on the eve of his principal’s response to the wishes of his ‘teeming’ supporters. The endorsement represents less than a quarter of the registered voters and a 10th of Nigeria’s estimated population.
The TANs of this world and the PDP members at their zonal rallies, where signatures were gathered to endorse the President to run again have only succeeded in reliving the One Million Man March of the Sani Abacha era. The late military dictator manipulated the democratic process until he became the candidate of the five registered parties that participated in the political transition that ended nowhere. As it was in the Abacha days, so it is now and so ever shall it be forever and ever.
How on earth can 1.7 million endorsement be described as overwhelming for the President in the Southwest, where the electoral umpire – Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) put the figure of registered voters at 14, 298, 356? Nothing could be closer to deception!
Now, Dr Jonathan has not only waited till the 11th hour to honour the clarion call and overwhelming support to pick the forms on the bills of donations from concerned compatriots, it can be safely concluded that the President is an unwilling candidate but dragged into the race by some characters, whose existence depends on the Jonathan presidency. Those behind Neighbour to Neighbour, the campaign platform for Jonathan’s election in 2011 got handsome rewards for their efforts.
Only time will tell if what the President got from 10 per cent of the population could actually pass for an overwhelming support, or a groundswell of deception from the Central Working Committee (CWC) and National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP, where democracy is approved by the leadership by party leadership, now that he has taken the plunge as the sole candidate of Africa’s largest party.
The frustrations as expressed by the duo of Dr Abdul Tafawa-Balewa and Akosoba Duke-Abiola, who were denied the PDP nomination form have rubbished claims by the party CWC that no aspirant openly challenged Jonathan, who himself never showed interest – at least publicly – until the September 30 deadline set by the party leadership.
Whether another term is Jonathan’s second of his third is a matter for the court to decide. The argument of party leaders that the only form printed was for Dr. Jonathan, who was adopted as the flagbearer because of the dearth of challengers no longer hold water with the interest shown by at least two aspirants on the platform of the ruling party before the window closed on September 30.
That Jonathan is the only man that has the key to fix Nigeria and that he is the only person with the charisma and pedigree to lead the country to the Promised Land casts aspersions on millions of others in a party that prides itself as the largest in Africa.
- Ogunmodede writes from Lagos