The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Still on APC’s directives to NASS members

    SIR: Democracy is no doubt the best form of government because’’ it is a government of the people for the people and by the people’’ But given the human nature, there is always this tendency by those in the driving seat to take the people for granted and behave as if they are there for their selfish interest and the people matter less.

    The tendency to take the people for granted thrives more under a one party system or a near one party situation, the type Nigeria has been through under PDP until the emergence of the All Progressive Congress (APC) recently. The high commendation the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) received from patriotic Nigerians over the registration of APC was predicated on fact that, at least a vibrant opposition party emerged to put the ruling party in check and also provide a credible alternative for those who yearn for true democracy based on respect for the fundamental rights of the citizens, the rule of law, fairness, accountability and above all their freedom of choice.

    The call by APC to its members in the National Assembly to block the 2014 Budget and other executive bills until, the impunity being committed against the people of Rivers state stop should be seen from this perspective.

    One of the reasons given by APC is that, if the situation in River State is not arrested on time, it is capable of being replicated in other states which may eventually engulf the whole country. Nothing can be more true than this. The first military intervention in Nigeria in 1966 was not unconnected with the crisis in Western Region and the Tiv Riots, 1963-1964.

    So, it beats imagination that the P.D.P through its spokes person, Metuh Olisa and other paid agents of the ruling party should call APC’s directives anti-people. It clearly shows that either the PDP lack intellectual depth to understand what democracy is all about, what the people need and should enjoy under a democracy, or have deliberately chosen to hide under democracy to pauperize and dehumanize Nigerians using state apparatus that should be used to enhance their security and the general well being. Come to think of it: between security and peace of the citizens and the budget, which one precede the other? Any discerning mind should know that without life, what are you budgeting for? Without peace, how can you carry out economic activities that generate funds for the budget? So between the person who is advocating for peace and stability in the land and the one causing insecurity and the breach of peace in the land, who is anti-people?

    All the APC is saying is: end the impurity in Rivers state or face the consequence from our members in the National Assembly. We all owe this country a duty to fight for the enthronement of true democracy. All patriotic citizens of this country should rise and join forces with APC to end the tyranny and corruption-ridden rule of the PDP that has brought misery, poverty, disease and hunger in the midst of abundance. The time to act is now.

    Jimmy Adams

    Garki Abuja.

  • Stop hide-and-seek on Lagos-Ibadan expressway

    SIR: Much like other Nigerians, whose livelihood makes it inevitable for them to commute frequently on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, I have always followed with keen interest every bit of news and reports on this road, which President Goodluck Jonathan once, correctly, described as “an important economic artery”.

    It is, indeed, for this reason that I have become extremely worried since news of plans by the federal government to re-concession the road broke out about two weeks ago.

    Besides, there have been reports of government’s insincerity in handling issues relating to the road. These range from accusations that some powerful forces within the current administration deliberately sabotaged Messrs Bi-Courtney Highway Services Limited, which won the initial concession agreement for reconstruction of the expressway, to provide a seemingly valid ground for hijacking the project, while pretending to be serving our common interest.

    And the facts adduced by the proponents of this argument eminently justify the notion. They have observed that since November 19, 2012, when the 25-year Design-Build-Operate-Transfer concession agreement, won by Bi-Courtney, was unilaterally revoked by the federal government, the company had consistently maintained that it was as much a victim in the shenanigans surrounding the concession as fellow Nigerians, who are being made to suffer severe hardship on the road.

    And Bi-Courtney’s stand seemed to have found support from no other than the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the government’s most authoritative voice on concession matters, when it reportedly said in a 2011 report that the approval for a final design was granted Bi-Courtney on May 10, 2011, “two years after the concession agreement was signed”.

    Some commentators have also queried the government’s failure to offer Bi-Courtney the kind of confidence building support it is now offering the present arrangement, vis-à-vis the pledge of an irrevocable payment guarantee, which would have enabled the company raise the required capital.

    Other issues raised by the plethora of commentators, include the unexplained jerk up in the value of the contract by almost 100 per cent, from the N89.53 billion, which Bi-Courtney was to spend on the project, to the current N167 billion, as well as the desperate attempt by government officials to deny the planned re-concession of the road, a fact that had become very obvious to the public.

    I have no doubt that more issues will come to light over the coming weeks, until the government comes clean with its real intentions for the much abused expressway.

    As for me, the summary of all these is that President Jonathan and his lieutenants knew exactly what they wanted with the expressway all along and were merely taking Nigerians for a ride. Or what could explain the kind of false hope the government gave, on July 5, last year, when the president bragged that arrangement had been put in place to mobilise the funds needed to deliver the road in 48 months?

    It will now seem like the entire flagging-off ceremony, with the needless pomp that accompanied it, and the current flurry of activities on the road, were all part of a grand design or smokescreen to shield government’s ultimate intentions from the populace, which is the backdoor re-concession of the expressway to a favoured bidder.

    It is most disconcerting to me that any government could take the citizens so much for granted, as to subject their welfare, indeed their very lives, to the whims of some vested interests. It is even more painful to realise that the road may not be completed in several years to come, no thanks to the government’s seeming determination to make as much money as possible for some private pockets from the contract.

    That aside, there is also the imaginable legal challenges that could dog this clearly illegal and surreptitious approach being adopted by the government.

    • Andrew Kuku,

    Abuja.

  • On INEC’s 2015 election timetable

    SIR: The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) commends the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the timely and early release of the 2015 electoral time table. We particularly welcome the gaps provided in between each strand of elections which we believe will offer the commission ample space to make necessary adjustments in the event of any unforeseen developments.

    While we commend INEC for this feat, we hereby remind politicians that the early release of the timetable is not aimed at tempting them to embark on premature campaign activities but to guarantee the commission more time to address all cases of litigation that may arise from the electoral exercise in a timely fashion before the swearing in of the potential winners. This is in the spirit of the Uwais panel recommendations which envisages that all cases relating to election tribunal matters should be concluded in good time ahead of swearing in exercise.

    On the sequencing of election time tables, TMG is aware that the INEC has the constitutional powers to fix election dates as well as determine when and how elections are to be phased. Thus we urge Nigerians to be concerned about the preparedness and capacity of INEC to deliver on the over-flogged promises of credible elections across the country rather than dissipating energy on the sequencing of elections.

    We do not believe that the conduct of the 2015 general elections has anything to do with the proposed national conference. If anything, TMG is aware that both exercises are crucial in the life and existence of Nigeria. While the constitution has stipulated that regular elections must be conducted every four years, the same constitution has empowered the president to make pronouncements or proclamations in the interest of the Nigerian people.

    Finally, we urge all stakeholders to bother more about cogent issues that will enhance the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in 2015 General Elections

     

    • Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi (Chairman)

    Eddy Ezurike (Publicity Secretary)

    Transition Monitoring Group

    Abuja – Nigeria

     

  • TA Orji: Much ado about senatorial endorsement

    Ahead of the 2015 general elections, the political atmosphere across the country is becoming tense. Politicians are busy jostling for political relevance and are already doing everything possible to run down anybody who poses a possible threat to their ambitions. Already manifesting in this direction was the recent media attacks and campaign of calumny by some politicians and cynics against Abia State governor, Chief Theodore Orji and his family members, after he was reportedly adopted by major stakeholders in Abia Central senatorial district as PDP consensus senatorial candidate for 2015.

    One of such critics is one Chuks Akamadu who in his article in one of the national dailies recently launched an attack on the governor and his family. Instead of dwelling on issues, legalities and facts concerning the endorsement of the governor, Akamadu took on the governor’s wife, Mercy Odochi Orji, and son, Chinedum Orji levelling all sorts of unfounded allegations against them. More of such frivolous and malicious attacks sponsored against the governor by those envious of his personal success as a renowned technocrat are expected in the days ahead. This is against the background of his achievements, rising political profile and endorsement by various groups in his zone.

    The truth is that Governor Orji is not the only governor that has come under such orchestrated attacks in the media ahead of the 2015 general elections. His Akwa Ibom and Delta states counterparts, Godswill Akpabio and Emmanuel Uduaghan are being attacked in the media by some forces in their respective states for legally nursing senatorial ambition in 2015. It is quite clear that the forces behind the attacks are failed politicians who have lost relevance and touch with their people, while still living in delusion that election could be contested and won on the pages of newspapers. No wonder they have not advanced any superior arguments backed by any constitutional provision to buttress their reasons for being against the senatorial ambitions of these governors. Sincerely and legally, every Nigerian knows that there is nothing absolutely wrong in Orji’s endorsement by groups in his zone.

    Instead, the endorsement should been seen as true manifestation and confirmation of his wider acceptance by his people because of his performance and track record right from his days in public service till date. After all, how many politicians today, including Governor Orji’s contemporaries, had enjoyed such early endorsement and pressure from their people to contest for senatorial seat in 2015? Some of those who tried their luck at the polls in the past against the people’s wishes were rejected by the people. The likes of Akamadu should kindly advise his paymasters to brace up for the challenges ahead by trying their luck at the polls in 2015, instead of engaging in cheap blackmail and campaign of calumny against possible contenders or potential winners. There is no doubt that such exercise will surely end up in futility in 2015 because the gimmick is not new to Nigerians especially the people of Abia State. Despite media propaganda by some failed politicians in Abia State to run Governor Orji and his family down, the people will definitely speak through their votes at polls and not on the pages of the newspaper when the time comes.

    On Akamadu’s attacks on the governor’s wife, Mercy Odochi Orji (Osinulo), it is a calculated attempt to rubbish the integrity and personality of the woman of substance for no just cause. Mrs. Orji unlike got married to Governor Orji when he was in secondary school. Like Siamese twins, they grew together, bore children and have built a united family blessed today with humble and dedicated children and grand children. Since his husband assumed office as governor of Abia in 2007, she has been a major pillar behind her husband’s success in all direction. She is and has always been there as a wife, mother and comforter, because the governor, being the only child of his parents has no other person, except his immediate family. That has been the common bond binding the family together from inception, and it has not changed.

    As the first lady of the state, Mrs. Orji has been quietly touching the lives of the less privileged ones in the state, especially the widows whom she has been putting shelters on their heads. That was not case in the state before Orji came into office.

    Also, their son, Chinedum Orji, a first class graduate of Engineering is an example of a good and well-trained son who has never allowed himself to be carried away by his father’s position. Apart from his generous support to the non-governmental organisation, Ochendo Youth Foundation that collaborate with the state government and other public spirited individuals and organisations to empower the teeming unemployed youths in the state, he has no direct or indirect involvement in the business of governance in the state. This is because the governor has always drawn a line between family and business of governance even if there is nothing wrong or illegal in appointing his son as a government functionary in his government. After all, heaven has not fallen in Plateau State since August 2011 when Governor Jonah Jang appointed his son Yakubu Jang as Special assistant on Special Duties, a position he is still occupying till today. After serving as governor of Yobe State for eight years, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim and his wife have been in National Assembly since 2007 till date. The people of the Yobe and Plateau have not taken to the streets for that and they have not been sponsoring spurious media attacks against Jang or Abba Ibrahim.

    Akamadu’s postulation in the article that the present government in Abia is a family affair is therefore a barefaced lie because the government unlike the immediate past one is not only accessible and people-oriented, it is transparent and accountable to the people of the state. For sure, the government is not under probe by any anti-graft agencies; neither Orji, his wife, son nor any member of his family is under investigation for any alleged criminal or civil offence. Those who tried to drag their family name in the mud before now under any guise have always been exposed and shamed. Those unsettled or worried by Orji’ senatorial endorsement should do the needful by getting ready to challenge him at the poll if he accepts to run instead of lazily casting aspersion on his government and family members on the pages of newspapers.

     

    • Dr. Uwa, a medical practitioner wrote from Aba, Abia State

  • Jega’s contraindication

    Jega’s contraindication

    There is no art to find the mind’s construction on the face, says William Shakespeare in his epic drama, Macbeth. But that may not be true for Professor Attahiru Jega whose mien is benign, even saintly. And those who know him have attested that he is a soul perhaps closer to the celestial realms than we dusty earthlings. He is most soft of speech, innocuous of demeanor and unencumbered of heart. But do these qualities make him the perfect fit for the most sensitive job in the land today as the head of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC); the chief umpire of national polls in Nigeria?

    Well, last weekend he affirmed his impeccable personal qualities during an interview on the Kaduna-based Liberty Radio. He told the world that nobody had ever (dared to) compromise him: “Maybe I am lucky, but I can tell you categorically that nobody has ever intimidated me; nobody has ever attempted to influence me to do something wrong and nobody has ever attempted to bribe me… whether they do it to some lower officers (I don’t know), but where we have substantial evidence, we make them face the law.”

    This statement is a testament to the quality and substance of the Jega persona. The last time we had an electoral chief who could beat his chest as to his integrity was Justice Ovie Whiskey who claimed he would faint at the sight of one million naira and well, maybe Professor Eme Awa too.

    Albeit, Jega would need some deconstruction but let us hear him some more: “The formidable challenge, the general tendency among the Nigerian political class, not all of them, is that of winning elections by hook or by crook. They want to persuade the electoral commission, the officials to do them favours. If persuasion and paying fails, they want to intimidate or harass or threaten them. And obviously that mentality of do-or-die, or winning by hook or crook is a dominant tendency in the mindset of politicians in Nigeria and that has to change. Because if it does not change, no matter what adequate and efficient preparation of the commission the integrity of the election will always be undermined.”

    Contraindication: Prof. Jega is like good medicine, which is quite efficacious but has dire after-effects. This is the object lesson in the Jega persona and his leadership of INEC as he himself has unwittingly admitted above. Jega’s first major test, the 2011 national election was a near logistical debacle but was allowed to pass because it was his first. But subsequent elections have been merely passable having been dogged by the same set of ills. Anambra was however, unacceptable and raises questions about Jega’s managerial skills and leadership qualities.

    Jega misses the point sorely when he says he does not know whether his subordinates are compromised or not; he capitulates when he whines about the crooked mindset of the Nigerian politician which must change lest the integrity of (INEC’s) elections will always be undermined. Jega must simply rise to the occasion and build a viable and self-sustaining institution that has adequate integrity to sufficiently checkmate subordinates and deter the politicians. For instance, why has he not deployed some tried-and-tested rigging-proof technology in use elsewhere? Why have riggers and manipulators gone unpunished? How come electoral officers become stupendously rich and no questions asked?

    It is not about Jega’s integrity but INEC’s institutional integrity which is the legacy he would be remembered by. He must brace up lest all his current exertions would be just that – exertions!

  • How not to be a Senator

    As the jostling for positions ahead 2015 heightens, it would be patently unpatriotic and downright insensitive on the part of stakeholders in the Edo North project to gloss over the reported schism between the senator representing the Edo North Senatorial district in the National Assembly, Senator Domingo Obende and constituents from his Akoko-Edo local government area, one of the six council areas which make the district. Most national dailies reported last Monday the story of how a meeting of his party, APC, leaders and stakeholders in his local government area called by Senator Obende was shunned by the party leaders.

    As reported by one newspapers: ‘’In what looks like a vote of no confidence, prominent leaders from Senator Domingo Obende’s local government area of Akoko-Edo, weekend in Benin City, shunned an Elders’ Forum meeting  of the All Progressives Congress (APC) scheduled to hold in his residence.’’ The story, which is of significance to the other five local governments of Etsako East, Etsako Central, Etsako West, Owan East and Owan West, said the ‘’meeting was boycotted by 90 per cent of the leaders of the local government’’.

    Political watchers and followers  know what it means for leaders, described as ‘’political living ancestors’’, such as Bayo Adams, Joseph Arogundade, John Bello, Stephen Amineshi, L.P. Okogun, J.A. Alao, Jolly Ashore, E.O. Omozuanfo, Veras Ashefor, A Adesunloye, House of Representatives member representing the local government area,  Hon. Peter Akpatason, the two state House of Assembly members from the local government area, Honourables Dele Oloruntoba and Kabiru Adjoto, Segun Oseh, Anselm Agbabi, Honourable Commissioner for Arts And Culture, Jemitola Anena and Olu Dania among several others, shun, boycott or collectively fail to attend a meeting called by a senator, especially one who has made known his ambition for a second tenure in 2015.

    Simply put, the boycott of Senator Domingo’s meeting by party leaders from his council area is a definite vote of no confidence and, coming from his home local government area, should serve as notice to the senator that his name has thus been added to the list of ‘’those who will stay at home in 2015.’’ The leaders, without holding their brief, would have their reasons for their action which, in the main, can be summarised as the Senator’s inability to meet the yearnings and aspirations of Akoko-Edo people. His representation at the National Assembly has come under scrutiny as the tenure winds down and the report card shows a poor rating for the senator. It is no surprise, therefore, that there appears to be a determination by Akoko-Edo political leaders to teach the Senator,  a church Deacon, a lesson or two in how not to be a senator.

    Last December, I received a copy of Senator Domingo’s REPORT CARD 2013 in which he enumerated the bills he either solely sponsored or co-sponsored with other senators, those constituents he had placed in employment in federal agencies, those he had assisted to undertake religious pilgrimages to either Mecca or Jerusalem, those he had provided training in skills acquisition and start up materials as well as federal projects he attracted to the senatorial district since he was elected in 2011. It would appear to me, like the leaders from Akoko-Edo, that our Senator Domingo Obende has not done enough especially in the area of physical and infrastructural development.

    An analysis of his report card as prepared and presented by him shows that the senator attracted only three federal projects (a model primary health centre, a community town hall and a community centre and sports facility) to Etsako Central local government area. Other local government areas in the senatorial district fared better with federal projects attracted by Senator Domingo spread as follows: Etsako East (four projects), Etsako West (10 projects), Owan East (six projects), Owan West (five projects) and Akoko-Edo (18 projects). Aside the disproportionate distribution of the projects, Senator Domingo attracted projects which are clearly in the competence of the local government councillors working in close harmony with their community leaders.

    For example, what pride would a senator derive from attracting a federal government financed hand pump borehole to Ikhin and Ihievbe-Ogben in Owan East or Okpella in Etsako East or Iyuku in Etsako West? These are certainly projects that are within the financial capabilities of local councils. Why is the Senator unable to attract road construction, industrial borehole construction or rural electrification projects to Edo North? While other local government areas had hand pump boreholes, not one community in Akoko-Edo was provided with a bore hole. Of the 18 projects in Akoko-Edo, half are community hall /sports centres. The others are either classroom blocks, model health centres, or electricity transformers, placing the local government far ahead of others both in number of projects as well as quality and impact of projects on constituents.

    It is instructive to note that everywhere our senator has gone recently in Edo North, he has been received with passive indignation or polite aloofness. In Etsako East and the Owan local governments, Senator Domingo got the “we have been seeing you on television” treatment, signalling a total lack of connection with the grassroots constituents. He was either bombarded with questions which embarrassed him or ignored totally.

    Where the senatorial seat goes in 2015, in my view, is known to those in Akoko-Edo and the other five local government areas who have turned their backs on Senator Obende. It is pedestrian to pontificate, as Senator Obende’s agents have sought to do, that ‘’Etsakos have had it twice and Owan once. Now that it is Akoko-Edo’s turn, they think they can arm-twist us to it. They should wait for their turn’’, without considering the goodwill squandered by them since 2011. No one requires a soothsayer to see that the light shining on the Edo North senatorial seat is coming from the east, not the east of those seeking promotion from the Green Chamber of the National Assembly to the Red Chamber but the east of a political giant whose credentials in learning, character and practical application of same have assumed gargantuan heights not only in Edo State but Nigeria as a whole. Interestingly, APC leaders, elders and faithful of Owan extraction have endorsed the Secretary to Edo State Government, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, as their choice for the seat. It is a case of ‘’the voice of the people is the voice of God’’.

    • Comrade Jamgbadi, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Benin City.

  • Keshi is the best coach Nigeria ever had!

    SIR: We were three goals down; hope was already lost. Our chance of winning was slim. Many even thought that a defeat was inevitable for us.

    But here comes the equation changer, a coach with a high intellectual ability. Despite the poor performance of his team in the first half, he took the bull by the horn and incredibly, the Super Eagles displayed their dexterity and showed to the whole world that they are round pegs in round holes.

    The Super Eagles came from behind to equalize and eventually win the match. The Moroccans couldn’t believe what happened. Had someone told them during the half time that they will lose the match when they were already leading by three goals to nil, they would have dismissed the person as a joker.

    Honestly, Stephen Keshi has done it again; let’s give kudos to him for he has put smile on our face. He made his team do the unthinkable. What can I say about the fantastic Ejike Uzoenyi? In my opinion, the wonderful lad has already booked a place in the World Cup.

    Now, Nigeria is on the verge of winning the third trophy on South African soil within one year. This includes the AFCON cup, Mandela challenge cup and hopefully the CHAN cup.

    Even though impunity and corruption rules and rot permeates every sector of the economy, this is still one of the best times for Nigeria’s sports.

    • Jamiu Idowu Esho,

    Eruwa, Oyo State.

  • The snake on the roof!

    SIR: Many consider the lion as the most powerful animal because of its fearlessness and aggressiveness; this probably explains why it’s mythically tagged the king among other animals. But I consider snakes as probably the most dangerous animal in the world. It slides and creeps unannounced and attacks its prey without notice. Nobody leaves a snake on his roof and go into sleep. It is suicidal.

    The house, Nigeria, left a rattle-snake on its roof in the 1960s and went to sleep completely. The politicians ignored the snake balanced delicately on the roof watching all events, calculating and waiting for the best time to strike. The political spectators were aware of how precarious the situation was and therefore were not surprised when the snake finally crept in and struck in the wee hours of January 15, 1960. The landlord and tenants of the house were not to be seen again until October 1, 1979.

    The same mistakes made in the First Republic were repeated in the second Republic in 1979. The politicians neglected the agricultural sector, bastardised the economy, and ruined our education sector. They forgot completely about the snake until the snake came in again, pretending to be working towards the interests of the spectators and refused to vacate the house until 1999 when the house became democratized again.

    However, 14 years of uninterrupted civil rule, Nigeria has not shown that we’ve learnt any lesson from the mistakes of the past. In fact, the situation in the 1960s was not as bad as they are now. The 1999 general election that brought in Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the rest was neither free nor fair. That of 2003 was globally condemned. The election that brought in Umaru Yar’dua was worse. In spite of Prof. Maurice Iwu’s abracadabra and claims that the election was free and fair, the chief benefactor of the poll (Yar’adua) himself rubbished the exercise.

    President Goodluck Jonathan brought in Professor Attahiru Jega to bring some level of sanity to INEC. Virtually all Nigerians applauded Jega’s appointment as INEC boss because he was well known for his principles and uncompromising stand, especially with the reputation he earned during his term as ASUU chairman in the early nineties. Nigerians were at least hopeful that Nigeria would have a change of scene in 2011 general election. He conducted the election and the rest is history.

    As 2015 approaches, we are all aware of all the present political shenanigans and the “roof-rofo” fights characterizing the political landscape. Politicians had better beware! The snake on the roof is still alive.

     

    • Comrade Abdullateef Ishowo

    Ilorin.

  • Ijaw chief does not know what he does not know

    “No psychologist should pretend to understand what he does not understand… Only fools and charlatans know everything yet understand nothing.” – Anton Chekhov

    One of the most profound observations now becoming a cliché is: “you don’t know what you don’t know”.  How true this is of Chief Edwin Kiagboro Clark’s recent observation and conclusion that the Yoruba nation does not have leaders?  Obviously, the Ijaw chief has a limited worldview of leadership and, having searched through that limited and flawed prism, failed to find among the Yorubas a persona or personae fitting his own concept of leadership.

    But, alas, he does know what he does not know.

    The Yoruba concept of leadership is clearly alien to the Ijaw chief’s worldview. He started out as a headmaster and has gotten used to being the man in authority who lords it over all others, commanding obeisance and dictating what should be and what should not be.  Advancing early in life after opportunities to occupy prime government offices, he is held in awe by his people and, being the loquacious and vociferous type, his people have donated to him their collective voice to agitate and advocate for the perpetuation of their kinsman’s hold on power.

    That is the type of leader the Ijaw chief was looking for among the Yorubas. But, he does not know what he does not know:  the Yorubas are not so!

    First, the Yorubas, being politically, culturally and educationally sophisticated do not need to have one seemingly ‘all-knowing’, ‘all-wise’ headmaster as leader.  It is only those who are pupils, who are not disciplined, who are at the rudimentary stages of cultural and political development who require such leaders.  Historically among the Yorubas, the acknowledged and acclaimed political leader is merely a primus inter pares.  If the Ijaw chief would so re-condition his concept of leadership (admittedly, a no mean task given his advanced years), he would surely and clearly identify the present leaders in the fold of the Yorubas.  But if he continues to search for the equivalent of his headmaster-style leadership among the Yorubas, he will not find it.  And, God forbid that the Yorubas regress to that level of de-sophistication where they would need a headmaster to lead them.

    Second, the Yorubas have always been led more by ideas and principles than by men such that anyone who courageously, prominently and steadfastly advocates for commonly held and cherished principles and ideas is acknowledged as aleader among them.  Given the Ijaw chief’s background, this may be difficult for him to comprehend since there is no equivalent of philosophy from where he stands.  We know he is the appointed ruler of his people, but we also know that dead silence will meet any question seeking to know the philosophy driving his leadership.  Beyond the fight to keep the spoils of office for his kinsman and his people, what is his leadership about?

    On the other hand, the people that the Yorubas have acknowledged as leaders have been men who espoused and made great sacrifices for lofty ideas, ideals and values that are way bigger than them and their people.  That is why Israel Oludotun Ransome Kuti did not need to be selected or elected as the leader of an elders’ forum to be recognized and acknowledged as a leader among the Yorubas; his devotion to the cause of the education of his people earned him that.

    That is why Olayinka Herbert Samuel Macaulay did not need to have a kinsman installed or preserved as President to find his voice as the leader and advocate for the ordinary peoples of the colonies.

    That is why social change advocates like Dr. Akinola Maja did not need any ethnic or parochial motivations to lead the crusade for social rights and emancipation. That is why people like the late Chief FRA Williams became acknowledged as leaders among the Yorubas, not for their lordship over the people, but for the distinction they achieved in their professional pursuit and the application of those distinctions in the service of their people.

    Were he a Yoruba man, the Ijaw chief would have no prominent place in leading the Yoruba people even if he had more wealth and had occupied higher offices that he has.  This is because the Yoruba people would not tolerate an opportunist and a hypocrite.  He is a leader to the Yoruba people who would fight the cause of the oppressed whose election was annulled even if the cheated candidate was not one of his own political leaning.  He is not a leader to the Yoruba people who would nurse an unconstitutional third term in office.  However, when that same man finds his voice in condemning an incompetent, corrupt and self-serving government, he becomes the darling of the principle-cherishing people of the Yoruba race.  The Ijaw chief should be reminded that the leaders of the Yorubas are those who led their people to fight the cause of a certain Vice President from another tribe when the powers that be attempted to deny him his constitutional right to ascend the Presidency.

    Given the above attempt to describe the concept of leadership among the Yorubas, the Ijaw chief should now understand why Chief Obafemi Awolowo is eternally regarded as a leader among the Yorubas, nay, among the entire people of Nigeria.  It was not because he rose to high offices.  It was for his courage in fighting for high and lofty ideas at the expense of his freedom, health and reputation.  His sacrifice for the educational advancement of his people and for good governance earned him an enviable place in history.

    The Ijaw Chief may now understand why the late Chief MKO Abiola, after years of being in the minority section of the political class among the Yorubas became a leadership symbol when he displayed the courage expected of Yoruba leaders to fight for democracy and the rule of law.

    The Ijaw chief may now understand that it was not only their advancement in age that earned the likes of Chief Adekunle Ajasin and Chief Abraham Adesanya their leadership epaulets; it was their readiness to sacrifice for their people, to be the courageous voice during a brutal military dictatorship, to identify the right and support it and to spot the wrong and condemn it.

    The Ijaw chief may also now understand why Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is now a hero to his people.  For, in spite of political differences, he has displayed the character and courage expected of leaders in condemning a federal administration being run in such a clueless and corrupt manner to the detriment of the people.

    Does the Ijaw chief think that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s claim to leadership is simply that he was once elected to the Senate of the Federal Republic or that he performed as one of the most conscientious governors of Lagos State in recent years?  No!  It is because of his profile in courage! It is because of his sacrifice for the greater good in good times and bad times.  Who was in the forefront of the global assault on the regime of General Sanni Abacha?  Who was the rallying point and strategic voice for all the opposition figures in the dark days following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential elections?  Who was the governor that redefined governance after years of mismanagement by the military? Who was the governor with the courage and vision to fight all the way to the Supreme Court to establish the fiscal rights of states in the federation?  Who is the politician with acumen and endurance to organize the political opposition that a democracy surely needs to survive? If the Ijaw chief would answer these questions truthfully, he will find the leaders of the Yoruba people.

    Indeed, Chief Edwin Kiagboro Clark’s role in recent affairs can only be honestly described as the antics of an otherwise intelligent and respectable elder blindsided by bigotry and ethnic loyalties.  Chief Clark and his other mischief makers belong to that class of men who, in honour of present favours, mischievously distorts history, maligns otherwise honourable men, saying “…with our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?”

    To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg address, the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what we do.  Aside the ignominious desperate struggle to maintain the hold of his kinsman on power in the face of glaring incompetence, what is this Ijaw chief doing today worthy of historical remembrance?

    • Omolewa writes from Benin, Edo State

  • A different view on gay marriage

    SIR: President Jonathan’s recent signing of the law making gay marriage illegal in Nigeria and the general glee that greeted this unconscionable legislation are as sad as they are an expression of a nation’s lack of defining character and values. Apart from an unfounded fear that gay practice will signal a decline in procreation, the defenders of the legislation against gay marriage have touted arguments on a practice that they feel is immoral, bestial and unnatural. They go even further to label gay practice a Western culture that must never be permitted in Nigeria. On this subject, old political and religious enemies have united and the inefficient government of Goodluck Jonathan has succeeded in throwing an uncouth red herring to divert attention away from its corrupt and incompetent handling of the country’s resources. This is a country which has remained silent over the legislation of child marriage, yet it finds it ethically unjustifiable to have homosexual people realise their own sexual fulfilment.

    What is wrong with gay marriage? We must recognise first that all marriages are basically products of social constructs and a contractual agreement between consenting people who want to live together towards certain ends. And marriage is not destined for procreation. Otherwise, human sexual organs should have remained deactivated until a priest decides to activate them by joining qualified persons in marriage. That way, we would all understand that marriage was primarily destined for the production of children. But we recognise that not all married people (homosexual or heterosexual) wish to produce children. That choice does not make their contractual union any less of a marriage from those who produce children.

    Importantly, to encourage some forms of marriage and outlaw other forms will not make people who prefer the outlawed forms to follow the legalised forms. Rather, it defeats even the very purpose of the marriage institution, which is to create a socially recognisable means of relating and regulating human contractual relationships. Outlawing gay marriage is a way of endorsing its covert practice. I am yet to hear how gay marriage harms Nigeria or how it harms what Nigeria represents. If we find the need to condemn autocracy in favour of democracy, then democracy has to be made to count by tolerating, not coercing people who want to do things differently for themselves. Societies with character and vision make laws that liberate, not laws that polarise, restrict and exclude some of its component groups.

    To further show how counter-effective this law is, it is common knowledge that homosexual practice is pervasive in prison yards. Assuming many people fall victim to this unjust law and get sent to prison to spend 14 years there, they will ultimately come out perhaps better gay people than they have been before they are thrown into the prisons. How corrective is this law then when it will in the long run imbue gay people with stronger homosexual experience?

    Obviously, this law is an expression of national folly. But I am not really surprised. A country whose president was as witless as to tell the American president that the problem of the world is Nigeria and that to fix the world will be to fix Nigeria. What do you expect, if not legislations that will perpetually send its populations to live elsewhere because the government lacks the competence to govern? And to imagine that this same government has been grandstanding that America should not impose its principles on Nigeria, even when Nigeria’s president wants America to fix Nigeria.

    What this laughable legislation will end up doing is to open new doors to many Nigerian émigrés to flee the country. Now, more Nigerians will have to declare themselves gay and run to the American embassy to seek asylum. So, the legislation is not entirely out of place. Since the US has decided to exclude Nigeria in its annual immigration visa programme, Nigeria has decided to open another door for its citizens to flee to the West. President Jonathan may be right after all: Nigeria needs serious fixing and fixing by the West.

    • Arthur Anyaduba,

    University of Manitoba, Canada.