The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • The courage of governance in osun

    For people of all political persuasions, governance courage as manifested in urban renewal plays an undeniably important role in the history and demographics of cities around the world. Urban renewal is intended to reduce sprawl, improve the global economic competitiveness of a city’s centre, improve cultural and social amenity, and improve opportunities for safety and surveillance. Its potential value as a process was noted by those who witnessed the overcrowded conditions of 19th century London, New York, Paris and other major cities of the developed world affected by the industrial revolution.

    However, the people in the present day Osun State have not been privileged to enjoy the benefits of governance courage manifested in urban renewal after the great promises the cities in the area had showed in the golden era of Awoism in the old Western region was truncated. No thanks to the dark days of military authoritarianism.

    In the dawn of this current democratic dispensation in May 1999, the people of Osun State like the other sister states in the old Western Region certain of their destination rallied support for a progressive party, the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to chart a roadmap for their development. Between 1999 and 2003, the political investment of the people was beginning to pay off. But, the progress made was shortened in 2003 by the then Aso Rock garrison commander and his co-travelers on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). The PDP deceived electorates in the pretence of being Awoists and in addition manipulated the machinery of Federal Government during the infamous 2003 elections to bungle themselves into the Osun State Government House. As political investors whose preoccupation to make government part of their private estate, the inglorious reign of the PDP between 2003 and 2010 stalled the development strides that had started in the wake of the Fourth Republic. Expectedly, during the PDP’s reign, as a party noted for its deliberate imperviousness and insensitivity to complaints of the citizens, the state and its people utterly suffered neglected.

    In my own part of the world, there is the aphorism that, “the lives and destiny of the deprived people cannot be sacrificed on the altar of personal greed without some redeemers emerging one day”. This aphorism was confirmed again in 2010, when Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola after almost three years of legal fireworks defeated the PDP government. With Aregbesola’s retrieval of the people’s stolen mandate from the impostors and glorified body of PDP rulers, the people’s hope for a reincarnation of the golden era of Awoism was again rekindled.

    Since 2010, Aregbesola as the governor of Osun State has redefined the role of government as a promoter and facilitator of interventions and initiatives to raise the standard of living of the average people of the state. The governor has recorded remarkable successes in the construction, reconstruction and rehabilitation of moribund infrastructure in all sectors. Also, the Aregbsola administration has taken giant strides toward banishing unemployment, poverty, and hunger with various programmes such as O’ Reap, OYESTECH and Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES). In fact, the youth development programme, OYES, has been adjudged as the most effective by the National Bureau of Statistics. The same Bureau has held that Osun state has the lowest rate of unemployment in the country. In addition, Aregbsola administration has recorded groundbreaking strides in dredging erosion-prone areas in state.

    With a view to improved sustained security and peaceful atmosphere in the State of Osun especially at the urban centres, the governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, inaugurated a quick response security apparatus called Swift Action Squad (SAS). Furthermore, the Governor has been committed to upgrading tourist sites such as the Osun Oshogbo Groove to make them conducive for devotees, artistes, well-wishers, dignitaries and other visitors.

    At a glance, the giant strides in all sectors throughout all the 30 Local Government Areas in the state speak volumes of the Aregbsola administration’s untainted commitment to fast-tracking the development of the state. Indeed, courtesy Governor Aregbsola, the hitherto quiet, lowly and subordinate rustic ancient cities in Osun state are rapidly and steadily being transformed into modern metropolitan grandeurs.

    The PDP, as a party deeply entrenched and rooted in the pockets of some individuals, rather than applaud the uncommon transformation of the Aregbsola administration is nakedly bent at assisting to extinguish the light in the political tunnel. The stone-age PDP has cried wolf over the expansive governance style of the Aregbsola administration. Just recently the members of Osun PDP resisted attempt by the state government to demolish their state secretariats for urban renewal purpose. They vowed to make the state ungovernable if the demolition took place. Quite expectedly and certainly disturbed with its waning popularity and relevance as the 2014 governorship election fast approaches, the members of the PDP brandishing assorted weapons and chanting anti-government songs interpreted the planned demolition in bad taste. Reportedly, a member of the PDP who pleaded anonymity declared; “when they saw our weapons and our battle readiness to combat them, all

    their policemen and OYES cadets ran away”. Also, another member of the PDP in the state reportedly said “we are not ready to allow them demolish our secretariat. The ACN is afraid of our popularity and location of our secretariat. We will defend our secretariat with our blood.”

    But, these paranoid and perhaps myopic PDP thugs little realized that Aregbsola administration had sacrificed large part of the governor’s campaign secretariat situated along the Gbongan-Osogbo road quite little distance from the PDP secretariat for the purpose of the ongoing urban renewal.

    Notably, urban renewal has been seen by proponents as an economic engine and a reform mechanism, while critics perceive as a mechanism for control. Also, it has been assessed by politicians, urban planners, civic leaders, and residents as pivotal to economic growth and development. Elsewhere in particularly in other ACN-controlled states like Lagos and Edo where urban renewal is ongoing, the phenomenon has been acknowledged as expansive style of governance, which involves the relocation of businesses, the demolition of structures, the relocation of people, and the use of eminent (government purchase of property for public purpose) as a legal instrument to take private property for city-initiated development projects. In particular, the great Oba of Benin in appreciation of the ongoing urban renewal in Benin City, the Edo State capital, reportedly indicated readiness to sacrifice any part of his palace that may constitute encumbrance to the expansion of Airport road in the city centre.

    Let there be no mistake here, the good people from every corner of Osun state except for the PDP thugs overwhelmingly keyed into the ongoing urban renewal in the state by doing everything to maintain peace, shunning provocation of the enemies of peace and giving them no chance to disturb the prevailing tranquility in the state.

    Curiously, why is the PDP thugs political grandstanding and constituting themselves as enemies of peace and progress by insisting on plunging the state into anarchy, when from every corner of the state the other people have demonstrated their goodwill, faith, support and cooperation for the ongoing urban renewal? Clearly, the evil plans of the PDP thugs to spill blood in order to frustrate and stall the forward march in the resumed forward march of building Osun into a land of hope and plenty is a testimony to the party’s naked vanity and consuming ambition borne out of anger to reclaim the state and continue to rip off the people’s common patrimony

    This kind of animosity, anachronistic revolt and atavistic overtone of the PDP thugs is clearly a character of a pool of imbeciles whose platform is waning in popularity and seeking relevance at all cost. Thank God that unlike during the 2003 general election, the people can never again allowed themselves to be politically deceived by these enemies of development, peace and progress. Now, the people more than ever have become increasingly aware of the danger of hobnobbing and pitching tent with these scallywag and retrogressive elements.

    Yes, the people from the nooks and crannies of Osun State today who are celebrating the victory of the forces of light over the forces of darkness have more than ever strongly resolved to stay with the forces of light as symbolized by the Aregbesola led Action Congress of Nigeria (ANC) government. The people are thirsty and hungry for development, and are also strongly concerned with their future and that of their children. They are strongly not willing to allow any obstacle, human or otherwise, to stand in their progressive ride to true greatness championed by Aregbsolsa administration. Only the PDP thugs should be allowed to wallow in their evil plans. Enough is indeed enough!

    Alaba is a social commentator.

  • The Good Homes Estate

    I refer to the article on Good Homes Estates Limited published in your popular newspaper on Sunday, 4th of August, 2013 by one Mrs Jill Okeke. The writer asked the question, “Good or Bad Home Estate?” The answer is “Good Homes has good estates.”

    The writer is the brother of a well known resident of our Estate in Isheri Olofin area of Lagos State, Mr Simon Ejike Okeke, who has been in the estate since 2001. Simon bought a 3-Bedroom detached house (12 years ago) and has a balance of N25,775.00 to pay. There are 270 houses in the estate and Good Homes Estates Limited is on good terms with the residents and their associations.

    It is blatant falsehood for Jill Okeke to say that Good Homes Estates limited did not “deliver on its promises or abide by the details of agreements reached with the residents of our estate”. It is totally untrue to say that Good Homes Estates does not respect court orders or decisions of the Lagos State House of Assembly.

    The Good Homes Estates Limited attaches the greatest importance to the welfare and comfort of the residents of its estates. Problems arise from time to time as in any community but it is the policy of our company to solve them amicably for the benefit of all concerned.

    Yours sincerely,

    For: Good Homes Estates Limited.

    Soji Boluwaji

    Managing Director.

    From our own independent finding, Jill Okeke’s brother does not live in the estate. We stand by our story.

  • Do we want school or education? (2)

    Many other suppressed feelings are similarly stored. If you had the power, what do you wish had been your childhood now? What do you want for our children?

    I wonder, therefore, if we might not usefully take some time to reconceive our concept of education and how it might be delivered in the world that must now rapidly emerge, so that education might play a useful role in shaping that emergence.

    So here is my idea. First, I am going to assume that each child has the potential to achieve self-realisation and to define this, simply, as the capacity to reach its full potential. To do this, it will need to develop a powerfully integrated mind in which mental functions such as sensing, thoughts, feelings, memory and conscience work together seamlessly so that the child can act with initiative, conviction and courage. And, of course, this can only happen in an environment in which the child is nurtured as a whole person. This child will be able to engage in a deep critique of society and to then courageously participate in the nonviolent struggle to renew human civilisation in accord with our highest ideals however these manifest in each society, given its unique history, ecological foundation and set of cultural relations.

    ‘This is ambitious’, you are thinking pessimistically. Of course it is, if you are still trapped in that childhood classroom. But let’s get out of it!

    Each child is genetically programmed to be highly functional: able to sense an enormous amount from its surroundings, to feel, to think, to use memory and conscience as necessary. And to learn at an incredibly rapid rate; for example, children in many parts of the world learn several languages simultaneously at a very young age (without going to school to do so). But, mostly, we get in the way of children learning, without meaning to do so. How? Simply by not listening when a child tells us what it needs and wants. Given a choice, I believe that no self-aware child would go to school for more than a day (unless it was doing so to escape a more dysfunctional environment at home).

    If we lived in communities, rather than nuclear families, that nurtured each child by listening to it, provided it with opportunities to learn knowledge and skills that enhanced individual and community self-reliance relevant to its future (such as permaculture, participation in group decision-making and conflict resolution processes), and which gave it the chance to learn contextually (whether reading, writing, relevant mathematics, geography, agricultural practices, political economy, tool-making, healthcare or anything else) as it participated in community activities, then each child would be spared the boredom we suffered and have the opportunity to realise its ‘true self’. Moreover, by living in a wider community, our own shortcomings as parents and teachers (including any tendencies to be violent) would be diluted by the immediate presence of other adults/teachers. And we would dilute any shortcomings of theirs.

    Do you think your street and neighbourhood could be a community? If you would like to consider one model for this type of future, which takes into account ecological imperatives, you are welcome to consider participating in ‘The Flame Tree Project to Save Life on Earth’ –

    The tragic reality of human life is that few people value the awesome power of the individual Self with an integrated mind (that is, a mind in which memory, thoughts, feelings, sensing, conscience and other functions work together in an integrated way) because this individual will be decisive in choosing life-enhancing behavioural options (including those at variance with social laws and norms) and will fearlessly resist all efforts to control it or coerce it with violence.

    •Burrowes is the author of ‘Why Violence?’

    http://tinyurl.com/whyviolence. His email address is flametree@riseup.net and his website is at http://robertjburrowes.wordpress.com

    Concluded

  • Fallacies of Adamu Adamu and his cohorts

    When I read Adamu Adamu’s Friday column of August 9th, 2013, captioned “Is the North a lip? (111)”, in one of the national dailies, my first thought was to dismiss the write-up as yet another pretentious crusade for which Islamic columnists are known. But having read a couple of write-ups and the tricky styles of these essayists, especially now that they appear to have unrealistically high opinion of themselves, it became inevitable that the exaggerated claims, characterised by the excessive criticism of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, and past presidents, must not go unchallenged.

    This is so because the discerned motive of Adamu is to tip over the conducive atmosphere now existing, to bring about an intended result for Christians in this era of Islamic fundamentalism as represented by Boko Haram – a sect with strict view of doctrine that is based on a twisted interpretation – in order to return Nigeria to the former days of Othman Dan Fodio.

    An avid reader of the columnists in question will not fail to notice that Islamic religious considerations have always been the inspiration for their write-ups. This is why they will not see anything good in Christianity, Christians and their leaders.

    I will classify their essays as always lacking intellectual rigour because an intellectual is someone who follows the basis of logic and whose principles do not betray sound judgment. That being the case, Adamu cannot lay claim to being one because those who involve their mental processes in abstract thinking and reasoning will not put their pen to paper without evidence.

    For instance, what evidence has he that CAN is the spiritual arm of the Presidency? An intellectual does not base his statements on rumour or hearsay but on empirical evidence. Sound writers try hard to achieve harmony and balance in their write-ups. But what is contained in this piece by Adamu is a blend of passion and irrationality.

    It is funny how the thoughts of their religion can warp the judgment of supposedly intelligent writers. For me, Adamu’s thoughts in this write-up are legitimate and constitutionally guaranteed rights. But no matter how important the freedom of expression guaranteed by the constitution is, he cannot impose the failed system of Ja’amatu Nasril Islam (JNI) and the practice of his religion on CAN and its leadership.

    His analyses, like this one under review, have always been a mixture of erudition and fanaticism, a trait that always betrays a complete lack of reason. Yet to core northern Muslim dreamers and pretenders, his analysis can never be faulted; the same way the leader of JNI and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar 111, a man who acts as though he can never be wrong.

    If you doubt me, compare the era of Sultan Muhammadu Maccido of blessed memory and that of Sultan Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar 111. Maccido was, peacefully, a man of conviction who believed that true religion preaches love, open-mindedness, compassion and many other values that lead not to the kind of doctrines we have today under the present Sultan of Sokoto and leader of JNI.

    Now, let us take the offending points one after the other. Adamu holds the view that Christian leaders, beginning from the time of His Eminence, Francis Cardinal Okogie to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, have been combative and unpredictable, respectively and that “either because of opposition for opposition sake or because of genuine fears, Christian leaders have often fiercely opposed any Muslim project even if it held no prospect of adverse effect on Christians or their interests.”

    He mentioned the case of the OIC and noted that “the fact that Nigeria’s entry into that organisation would draw this type of Christian opposition was indicative of a level of Christian intolerance that had not abated to this day, but which could not be excused on the altar of ignorance of the nature and role of the OIC, or the fiction that it was being turned into an Islamic state.”

    This kind of reckless submission by Adamu, who believes that the position of Muslims on the OIC palaver must be swallowed by all, is a towering representation of the assailing culture of impunity with which JNI leaders act in a bid to satisfy the interests of their members. Why would CAN leaders fold their arms and shut their mouths when their members are opposed to issues that are not in their interests? OIC means Organisation of Islamic Conference. Would JNI and the Sultan remain quiet were it Organisation of Christian Conference?

    If being vocal against OIC qualified the years of His Eminence Francis Cardinal Okogie as the President of CAN to be combative and the outspoken nature of the current CAN leaders about the evils of the violent sect demands name calling, then JNI leaders should have kept quiet now that worshippers are being gunned down after praying in mosques.

    If Boko Haram ends up impelling the north to accept Sharia and it moves without direction or purpose into an Islamic state, then these defenders of the Boko Haram doctrine would be going out of the fundamental calling of rationality.

    Apparently referring to the Boko Haram insurgency, Adamu remarked that “instead of sympathising with Muslims in the north over an existential national tragedy, the leadership of CAN, especially Pastor Oritsejafor, its chairman, appeared more interested in stoking the fires of a totally different conflict of its own making.”

    Whereas Christians in the north are at the receiving end as their churches and adherents are the primary targets of the evil sect, Adamu writes as though the areas affected are populated by Muslims alone. This is the myopic assessment of situations in the north by columnists like Adamu which is gradually resulting in loss of unity in the north. What is wrong if Oritsejafor opposes any form of dialogue with Boko Haram in so far as their demand is the imposition of Sharia and extermination of those he leads from Nigeria?

    What Oritsejafor, as the leader of Christians in Nigeria, has done, and is doing, is to state a fair summation of the opinions of Christians, whether in the north or south. Unlike those who promote feudalism and dictatorship in the northern part of Nigeria, Christianity advances the growth and development of democracy. It rejects systems that do not encourage rotation or contest as the basis for leadership.

    Come to think of it: a system that produces terrorists is urgently in need of a review. By extension, therefore, the leadership of groups that adopt such a system has failed because just as they have used everything evil to undermine Christianity and divide Christians for their selfish ends, they have exploited Islam and used it for despotic rule. They have erected official clerical hierarchy and systems that are alien to Islam. That is why peace thrives in the southern part of the country. In the south, there is harmony because there is the combined effort by both Muslims and Christians to achieve the results that is greater than the sum of their individual effects or capabilities. So who is stoking the fires of conflict?

    The deeply offensive intentions of Adamu and the message they seek to convey are evident to the extent that the write-up was not only contrived but was also calculated to create a greater wedge between the Catholic Church and other denominations. That is why he can afford to name the Catholic Church as one denomination that opposed CAN and led to the impression that Christians have not been speaking with one voice.

    He branded CAN as “merely a spiritual arm of a ruling party”. Again no evidence was provided to prove the point. But Nigerians know those who are only interested in hanging out in the corridors of power for selfish reasons.

    Adamu wants a new leadership for CAN and is not happy with the support of northern CAN for Pastor Oritsejafor. For his information, a new election has just been conducted and Oritsejafor won overwhelmingly and will be in the saddle for another three years. What a pity! Adamu and his fellow anti-CAN and anti-Christian columnists should strive to blend their faith with reason and do what would advance the growth of Nigeria.

    These columnists should realise that religion should be an inward experience and felt phenomenon, one mostly related to life’s permanent aspect. People like Adamu may also see their religion as a philosophy and a set of rational principles. The problem is that they have difficulties in rationalising the true intent of Islam. Therefore, they see it as purely political, sociological and economic system of ideologies.

    If we situate Islam in its proper context and compare it with today’s modern liberal democracy, we will understand the position of Islam and democracy with respect to each other. For now, the JNI and its leaders have perverted the fact that Islam establishes fundamental principles that orient its members’ general character, leaving the choice of who leads them to democratic ideals according to time and circumstances. After all, there are credible, trustworthy Muslims with the means in the southern part of Nigeria that can head the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA.

    This is why I will call on persuasive purveyors of cheap blackmail who engage in patently mischievous and blatantly ignorant analyses of what CAN stands for, what it does and how it is being administered to involve the psychological processes of thinking and reasoning rather than religious emotions.

    – Olaniyan, a banker, writes from Ajegunle, Apapa, Lagos.

  • Soniran Sowemimo, a tribute

    Had he lived, Soniran Oluwole Sowemimo would have been 71. But the way of man is not the way of God.72 hours before he turned that curve of his life, the end came most unexpectedly. It seems only yesterday when he rolled out the drums to celebrate his 70th birthday, many of us totally unaware that he was warning us his time was nigh. How I wish we had known then.

    SOS, as he was fondly called by his professional colleagues and friends, was a jolly good fellow in the true sense of the word. And I should know. His path and mine first crossed 37 years ago, that was in 1976, in Lagos when I transferred my service to the then Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) from the defunct WNTV/WNBS. He had just returned from the United States of America (USA) and was a Senior Sub-editor at the NBC Headquarters in Lagos. It was just a matter of time before we struck a strong bond. He was a gentleman. Quick to make friends; full of wits. With SOS you could never be bored, be it in the Newsroom or outside of it.

    However, I was posted back to Ibadan later that year. Even before I could settle down in Ibadan, SOS himself was transferred to Ibadan and our relationship could only get stronger. Following the re-organisation of broadcasting in Nigeria by the then military government, Chief Sowemimo opted to transfer his service to the Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation (OGBC), Abeokuta. And that served a double purpose: as a thorough Egbaman he was back home to live among his own people and help in the development of the community. He was also now well positioned to make his little contribution to the then young state.

    On both fronts he did not disappoint. Appreciation of his worth in his profession of journalism and of his contribution to the Egba Community and Ogun State came in rapid succession. His colleagues elected him Chairman of the State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in 1979 serving until 1981. Incidentally, this was also the period I served as Chairman of the old Oyo State Council of the NUJ. He rose to become the Director of News and Current Affairs in OGBC until 1982 when the first civilian governor of the state, the late Chief Victor Olabisi Onabanjo, himself a distinguished journalist of all time, appointed him his Chief Press Secretary. It was a case of the deep calling to the deep as the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo would say.

    By the end of 1983, the military once more took over power in the country. But, the man who succeeded Chief Onabanjo as governor, the then Colonel Donaldson Oladipo Diya, could not resist retaining SOS as CPS, as did others that came after him –Col. Oladayo Popoola, Col Raji Rasaki, etc. That was the situation until he was made a Commissioner, serving at different times in the Ministries of Social Development, Youth and Sports; and Information and Culture.

    The Egba Traditional Council had also taken note of Chief Sowemimo’s contribution to the community and aptly honoured him with a chieftaincy title. Ibadan, the town of his wife also honoured him with the title of Baarohin of Ibadanland.

    His ability to break the barrier of prejudices knew no bounds. Little surprise that in the highly unpredictable political environment in our country, he kept friends across the political divide. He was very much at home with former Ogun State governor, Aremo Olusegun Osoba as he was with the immediate past governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, both of whom spoke highly of him as a man of integrity.

    Even after his retirement, he never gave up lending his assistance to the state such that he was, at different times, Chairman of the Gateway Radio and Chairman, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic.

    Even until his death, he kept learning and imparting knowledge as his rich library and books authored by him can bear testimony.

    My condolences to his wife, children, numerous colleagues, friends and admirers.

    SOS, ara Oba, Omo Porowa, Omo tagbata, Omo olekole, May the good Lord rest your soul.

    By Bode Oyewole,

    Veteran journalist and media consultant,

    Ibadan.

  • De-registration: Jega’s fresh battle

    De-registration: Jega’s fresh battle

    Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves
    – Abraham Lincoln

    The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,Prof. Attahiru Jega has made good his promise to appeal the judgement of an Abuja High Court  that voided the deregistration of Rev Chris Okotie’s FRESH and 27 other political parties on Monday, July 29, 2013. The Commission wants to overturn this historic verdict by all means in order to keep these parties out of contention in the 2015 general elections. Clearly that is the logic.

    INEC officials were apparently stunned by the verdict of Justice G.O Kolawole which they had hoped would go their way after two previous judgements on a similar case in favour of the Commission over its unpopular deregistration of  the political parties. According to FRESH party officials, the appeal was expected and the party is equal to the task. Nigerians are watching  this case with keen interest because its outcome would have  a significant impact on our political landscape.

      If need be FRESH intends to carry the battle all the way to the Supreme Court, according to its chairman, Rev Okotie, who has also declared that his party’s fight is to establish the rule of law. However, political observers are wondering why INEC is investing so much energy in this deregistration process when we have a host of pending problems revolving around our crisis-ridden electoral process.

    As a run-up to the 2015 general  elections, one expects the ruling PDP  to  fully carry out the electoral  reforms recommended by the Uwais panel so that we do not end up with another flawed election, which several ethnic warlords have openly claimed is a do-or-die affair. INEC itself has, unfortunately not been able to discourage this primordial mindset; rather it is busy wasting tax payer’s money pursuing an appeal on a case that ought to be the least of its headaches, considering the enormous weight of problems now hanging like a sword of Damocles  on the electoral process.

     One of the major defects of the contentious Electoral Act 2012( as Amended) which Justice Kolawole’s ruling clearly addressed is the winner-takes-all mentality of our politicians. If winning a seat becomes the oxygen that keeps a party alive, elections invariably become a do-or- die contest to be fought by all means, legal or otherwise, so long as victory is secured. That ought not to be the style of the polity after all we have gone through on the road to getting our democracy to this level. Politics is not a military expedition. It is a contest of choice made in an orderly, peaceful and fair manner, devoid of intimidation and extraneous pressures.

    While nobody can deny INEC the right of appeal, the commission never gave that opportunity to the de-registered parties. The parties were tried, convicted and sentenced to death without being heard! Now, INEC is pursuing justice by this appeal forgetting that “those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves”. There was no fair hearing on the steps taken by the Commission leading to the surprise announcement on December 6, 2012, that the 28 parties have ceased to exit.

    As one of those who applauded Prof. Jega’s appointment as INEC chairman, his posture and utterances since he assumed office have been disappointing, to say the least. There’s no gainsaying the fact that the very act of deregistration which he embarked upon with vigour is an anti-climax to the euphoria that greeted his appointment as the most popular election umpire in our history. His appointment was one of those excellent decisions made by President Goodluck Jonathan into sensitive public office in his embattled administration,or so we thought.

    Coming from the radical left; a former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities. ASUU, Jega shouldn’t be the one seeking to protect the ruling cabal from competition from a new breed   class of politicians with radical tendencies. This is a matter of principle; the erudite Professor should actually have told Mr. Jonathan and his advisers that clamping down on young parties could impact negatively on our democratic experiment,and send wrong signals to the civilized world.

    I refuse to believe that Jega is one of those guys who use the ladder of radicalism to gain prominence and political office; and then upon  eating from the juicy morsel of the ruling cabal’s table, become an opponent of the very ideals they’d spent their entire life fighting  for. Our political system is notorious for its population of turncoats, hustlers, military apologists, former socialists and politicians of fortune who are as unprincipled as they come.

     What FRESH represents in this on-going battle is a change in the governing paradigm which certainly is what has been lacking in our polity since the collapse of the first republic. The old politicians or “Yesterday’s men” are still surprisingly entrenched in this country while their counterparts elsewhere have become dinosaurs that have long left the stage. In countries like Zimbabwe where such expired politicians as Robert Mugabe are still holding on to power, it is very easy to see why those countries are impoverished. Certainly, this is not the kind of scenario that Prof. Jega would like to see in  Nigeria no matter how close we are to it.

    •Dawudu wrote from Abuja

  • Enugu goes international

    Enugu goes international

    History of great proportions, will be made today (Saturday, 24th August, 2013) in Enugu when the first International passenger flight (courtesy of Ethiopian Airlines), touches down in the newly upgraded and outfitted Akanu Ibiam International Airport.

    The event will certainly go down as one of the most significant in the history of the entire south east region since after the civil war. The journey to today’s event has indeed been a long and arduous one. The upgrading of the Enugu Airport to international status had constituted one of the most persistent and strident agitations of south easterners over the past four decades.

    Unfortunately, successive federal administrations had paid either deaf ears or lip service to the demand, preferring instead to play politics with and around it despite the glaring fact the airport is generally acknowledged as the fourth busiest airport in Nigeria after Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja and Port Harcourt International Airport.

    The fact that the Enugu was the capital of the region which houses the biggest commercial centres in the country such as Onitsha, Aba and Nnewi with businessmen from the area constituting the majority of international travellers annually seemed not to make any difference to the powers that were.

    Light however finally appeared at the end of the tunnel when, following a visit by Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State and his then brother Governors of the other South East states to canvass the matter along with other need of the region, late President Yar’adua approved the upgrading of the airport to international status and promptly included it in the budget for that year before sending it to the National Assembly for approval.

    When President Goodluck Jonathan assumed the office following the death of Yar’adua, the governors again visited him and sought his support for the full implementation of the project. The President not only offered them his firm promise followed up his words with concrete action that soon culminated in his commissioning of a new runway at the airport designed to accommodate bigger aircraft. It was during this ceremony that the President and caused the name of the airport to be changed to Akanu Ibiam International Airport. The development expectedly, earned him effusive praises from south easterners around the world who understood that their situation was about to experience a radically positive change.

    The then Minister of Aviation, Mrs Fidelia Njeze, who had brilliantly superintended the early phases of the project, while highlighting the obvious advantages accruable from the new status of the airport correctly observed that a large proportion of businesses in the region were “of international proportions”. She had pointed out and quite rightly, that with the new development, international travellers from Enugu and neighbouring states would no longer have to endure the added cost and hardship of going to Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja in order to travel.

    Fully aware of the enormous economic and social benefits the completion of the project will bring to the entire region and Enugu in particular, Enugu State governor, Sullivan Chime had quickly moved to mobilize and supply all the support necessary to bring the project to a speedy fruition. The governor instantly rehabilitated both the access and internal roads of the airport thus giving it the required initial facelift

    Along with his colleagues in the other governors of the South East states, Chime had also helped to keep up the pressure for the timely completion of the project.

    Mention must also be made of the zeal and unbridled energy deployed by the current Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Odua, in ensuring that the project became a reality.

    The activation of the international arm and service of the airport has indeed become another very important step towards the full modernization nay, internationalization of the once sleepy city of Enugu.

    Governor Chime had set the stage for this with the unbelievable transformation he had brought to the city and other parts of the state. Apart from creating a safe and secure environment for all residents, the had embarked on a massive infrastructural development of the state resulting in the construction of an impressive network of roads complete with street lights, traffic lights, pedestrian walkways and an effective drainage system. He also created an efficient public transportation and waste disposal system and an effective fire service among many other things etc-all reminiscent of cities in the advanced countries of the world.

    Earlier in May this year, President Jonathan answered yet another prayer of the Chime administration when he announced his approval for the establishment of the Enugu Free Trade Zone. The President incidentally, made the announcement during his visit to Enugu to perform the ground breaking ceremony of the international wing of the Akanu Ibiam airport.

    All these, coupled with the location of one of the largest shopping malls in the country in the city, the steady influx of foreign investors and the rapid development of a modern hospitality and tourism industry, have in no small way, come to confirm Enugu’s modernity and international appeal.

    It is certainly evident that the city has been set on firm and irreversible course to reclaim its previous status as a leader among contemporaries and the people of the state and indeed of the entire South East, could not be more thankful.

    •Achife is the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Sullivan Chime

  • Dame’s downer

    Some fellows who go by the title, protocol officers in high public offices can take their jobs to derisive lengths sometimes. This observation is more so with those who serve governors, presidents, ambassadors or even in great royal courts who appear sometimes comical when they are in full flight. I have seen for instance, a protocol man pointing out to a governor the path to veer or the exact spot to step on when he arrived at a public function as if the governor was blind. Protocol, by the way, is a system of rules about the correct way to act in formal situations especially by public officials and modern world has made a wonderful vocation of the art of managing protocol.

    Because high public officials are prone to blundering at public functions – of course not because they are stupid but because even the most gifted of us are bound to commit errors should we rely on our spur of the moment judgment – they must be chaperoned and guided through the delicate moments when they are under intense public glare. The whole exertion of the protocol officer is to avoid a breach of protocol which does not only have the portent to mar a state function for instance but one bad breach could ruin an entire political career or worse. The story is told of how an erstwhile Nigerian president who was in the company of foreign dignitaries and ex-heads of state at his farm house, had veered off to a corner of the vast complex to, strike a pee-pose and proceed to wet the grass the natural way to the utter discomfort of his guests. Some have wagered that this singular protocol hara-kiri may have made a big blot on this leader’s quest for a top UN job. Though that is difficult for Hardball to determine but the scene must have remained lasting memorial for those visitors.

    A more recent protocol debacle was as enacted by the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers State, last Sunday. Dame Patience Jonathan was visiting her home state and a motley crowd of government officials had thronged the airport to welcome her as it is the practice in this corner of the world. Among the reception team included the Rivers State deputy governor, Mr. Tele Ikuru and the secretary to the state government, to mention a few. However, Ikuru and his team could well have been an ugly installment, an unsightly artistic impression of a welcome band, for all Dame Patience cared. She decidedly ignore them, her security details shielded them while her protocol officers veered her toward the preferred column headed by the wife of the Bayelsa State governor in the company of whom Dame drove off the scene leaving Ikuru and company chagrined and wooden footed.

    If Dame’s action was a downer, her responses to it were even worse. First her aides denied that Ikuru was snubbed. A few days later, they made a release which suggests that Ikuru was shunned because no official of the Rivers State government had paid the president’s wife a condolence visit on the demise of her mother. “It should be noted that while several groups and individuals from across the country came to condole the First Lady and Mr. President on the death of her mother, no official of Rivers State Government deem it fit to pay the first family condolence visit, yet they claimed the First lady is a daughter of Rivers State,” according to a statement from her office.

    But even if the above claim were true (even though we know it is not entirely so as the wife of the Rivers’ governor had paid a condolence visit), shunning Ikuru in public was utterly indecorous; a protocol gaffe that can only diminish the status of the president’s wife; it’s a downer for her.

  • Life and times of Norman W. Manley

    This year marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of Norman Washington Manley, a world-class high school athlete, Rhodes Scholar, decorated First World War military hero, prizeman of Gray’s Inn in 1922, acknowledged as the Caribbean’s finest legal mind, and the first Jamaican to appear before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

    Manley, a bi-racial Jamaican, was born on July 4, 1893, in Roxborough, Manchester Parish, Jamaica. He attended the famous Jamaica College, Kingston, and later, as a Rhodes Scholar, read law at Jesus College, University of Oxford, where he took a first and was second on the list in 1921. He saw much frontline fighting in Northern France and Flanders (including at the Third Battle of Ypres, 1917, the First World War’s bloodiest battle), and was awarded the Military Medal for bravery.

    Manley entered politics in 1938 when he formed the People’s National Party. A moderate democratic socialist, he spearheaded the fight for universal adult suffrage, constitutional reform and self-government, and the establishment of a West Indian federation. He also sought to infuse a sense of national consciousness and unity into a Jamaican society bitterly divided along class and colour lines. He lost the first election under the new constitution of 1944, which he, more than anyone, fought so hard to bring about. He therefore remained in opposition between 1945 and 1955, as his cousin and chief political rival, Alexander Bustamante, and his Jamaica Labour Party (a party that had, despite its name, a conservative philosophy), formed the government.

    Manley’s opportunity came in 1955, when he won the general election by a slim margin, and became chief minister of Jamaica. He was re-elected in 1959, when Jamaica attained full internal self-government, and was re-designated the premier of Jamaica. His period in office was characterized by progressive social change, of the type seen in Western Nigeria under Chief Obafemi Awolowo; in India under Nehru; and in Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew as he created instruments vital for planning. Under him, the indigenization and training of the civil service took on an unprecedented pace. By 1958, he was spending 15% of government funds on education, the result of which was an unprecedented widening and diversifying of educational opportunity. His agrarian reform saw, through the Land Bond Law, a more equitable distribution of land among Jamaica’s poor and landless. However, his attempts at increasing agricultural production by offering incentives and facilities for soft loans yielded disappointing results.

    Manley was more successful in skilfully renegotiating the rates of royalties and taxes paid by foreign multinationals mining bauxite in Jamaica, as revenue from bauxite mining grew six fold by 1960. Manley’s strategy for economic development called for government intervention, and in some cases, direction, in order to increase the productive powers of the country.

    Like so many Third World countries, Jamaica did not have the resources to finance its development. It was without capital. The process of internal capitalization and of re-investment had to be started. Manley tried “industrialization by invitation,” as his National Plan for 1957-67 aimed at providing incentives for private investors and offering as many inducements as were reasonable to attract as much capital as possible. This policy produced such results that the people gave Manley and the PNP an increased majority in the general election of 1959.

    Manley, a long time advocate of a West Indian federation, had always linked the economic and political development of Jamaica with the establishment of this federation. Unfortunately, the pursuit of this ideal was to be his undoing. He was forced by Bustamante’s opposition to agree to a referendum in 1961 on the issue of federation. He made a tactical error in agreeing to this, and lost the referendum, which weakened him and contributed to his narrow defeat in the general election of 1962. He therefore lost the opportunity to Bustamante, who was described by Harold Macmillan, the British premier, as “old and ruthless, and the most attractive demagogue in the area” of leading Jamaica to independence, which was attained only six months later.

    It was a sad and ironic end to an illustrious career, as he had done more than any man to lead Jamaica to Dominion status. He continued to serve as opposition leader till he relinquished that office in 1969. He died a few months later on September 2, 1969. His second son, Michael Manley, subsequently took over the leadership of the PNP, leading it back into government and serving two terms as prime minister of Jamaica between 1972-1980 and 1989-1992.

    Manley was a man who tended to be reserved and formal, and did not suffer fools gladly. Former Gleaner editor-in-chief, Theodore Sealy, described him as, “Gamin and genius, shy yet arrogant, coldly analytical yet given to much emotion.”

    He was also quick-tempered and could be combative. His greatest legacy to Jamaica, the Caribbean, and the Third World, was the nobility that he brought to the art of politics. He was a high-minded and very honourable (he had the opportunity of coming to power in 1949, when five members of the government approached him and opted to cross the carpet on the condition that he gave them ministerial positions in the government he formed. An agreement had been reached and all was set for the announcement, but Manley changed his mind at the last minute and said it would be wrong to come to power by such trickery.

    Sir Arthur Richards later Lord Milverton, an exceptionally able colonial administrator who later became Governor of Nigeria, 1943-48, after serving as governor of Jamaica, made the following observation, in a letter to the Colonial Office, about Manley, with whom he had a difficult relationship: “…I wrote him a private note offering to see him and talk over privately the possibility of his co-operation with this administration unless he felt it per se to be impossible. He accepted readily and stayed from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. It was a brilliant performance. He is a very complex personality and he talks on such occasions with all the ascetic aloofness of an Indian saint. The highest principles and the loftiest motives, with no mundane flaws to stain their radiance….Talking to him it is difficult to feel anything but admiration for the selfless patriot who has given up everything that makes

    life worth living….No wonder he fascinates all comers….”

    Harold Macmillan, the British prime minister between 1957-63, described him, in his memoirs, in the following terms : “…In the afternoon we flew to Jamaica, where there were the usual receptions and guards of honour, followed by a formal dinner in the evening. From the political point of view, by far the most interesting experience was my hour’s talk with Norman Manley. I had heard much about him from Stafford Cripps, who had a great admiration for him, but I was hardly prepared to meet such a remarkable figure….He is head and shoulders above any other politician in the West Indies.”

    Sir Philip Sherlock, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, recorded the following about Manley in 1962: “….Manley happened to be in Trinidad on business with the federal government, and he came out to see my wife and I. I knew that he had spent everything he had in supporting the People’s National Party, but I was moved beyond words when, on leaving, he turned to me and said quite simply, without a trace of bitterness, ‘I am practically bankrupt. I must sell Drumblair.’ It was his true home, and Edna’s (his wife) also; the place where she began her creative happy life in Jamaica.” And this was in 1962, when he had just relinquished the office of premier of Jamaica! Such integrity and selfless sacrifice would be unthinkable today in many Third World – particularly African – countries! Unfortunately, Manley, who was Jamaica’s leading lawyer between 1922 and 1955, when he entered government, was never able to recover his former pre-eminent position at the Bar. In my opinion, the greatness of Manley’s political leadership outstripped practically that of any other political leader that emerged in the 20th century from the Third World. The greatness was wider and based on firmer foundation than that of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Lee Kuan Yew, or Obafemi Awolowo. I would assert that even amongst leaders of the industrialized Western nations in the 20th century, only Franklin D. Roosevelt, Clement Attlee, and Konrad Adenauer (the West German chancellor, and architect of his country’s miraculous post-war recovery) challenge comparison. May his great soul continue to rest in peace.

  • Re: History, Civil War and our haunted house

    SIR: Reviewing the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s book Tactics and Strategy of People’s Republic in the New Nigerian some 40 years ago, the late Dr Ibrahim Tahir grandly declared the work “a welter of muddle and confusion.” I did not get to read the book then, so what I learnt of its contents came from the intense exchanges Dr Tahir’s irreverent conclusion set off among members of the country’s vibrant intellectual community. I have however perused The Nation’s In Touch column of Monday, August 22, and have no hesitation in applying Tahir’s pithy put-down, quoted above, to the viewpoint canvassed therein.

    A lament on the absence of history in the current curriculum of Nigeria’s secondary schools became the occasion for another excursion into the “scatological details” of the Nigerian Civil War. The write-up, liberally spiced with quotations, neglected to make a case for the re-introduction of the teaching and study of history, but veered into familiar territory, tearing into the reputations of some of Nigeria’s finest soldiers – and statesmen.

    The interview with Major Iluyomade ran by The Nation a fortnight ago was a mix of the tragic and the comical. The tragedy was in the brazen effort of the panel of interviewers to put words into Iluyomade’s mouth by asking leading questions. The comical part was in the follow-up answers the interviewee gave in response to further prodding. The old war-horse’s expatiation would negate the one-liner answer he gave to the original question.

    Asked for his views on the killings of Igbos during the civil disturbances in the North in 1966, Iluyomade naturally condemned the tragic events. Pressed further by the interviewers, the Major questioned why such a reaction should not be expected from a people who had witnessed the decapitation of their political and military leadership. In not exact words Iluyomade conceded that January 15 was the original sin. It is appropriate here to ponder what the reaction would have been in the Western Region had Awolowo died in Calabar prison before his release by General Gowon in 1966.

    The Battle of Ore was not won by the motley group of cooks and other tradesmen in the army mustered and flung into the fight. They had the decisive support of “Hausa troops” hurriedly withdrawn from already very short training into what must be seen as the Nigerian equivalent of the Battle of Britain in its impact on the course of the conflict.

    What was the point of listing the battles in which Federal forces were defeated or suffered severe reverses? All great armies have had their fair share of reverses and defeats; the important thing is that they ultimately, mostly prevailed. The failed crossing at Asaba and the disaster at Abagana for the Nigerian Army had their earlier echoes in the British Army’s disastrous Gallipoli campaign and the string of defeats before El Alamein. Or even the American misadventure in Vietnam. The animus against the trio of Generals Gowon, Murtala Muhammed and Shuwa and the constant effort to rubbish their reputations are clearly the product of personal prejudice.

    The last time out Gowon was portrayed as a bumbling commander – in chief, ignoring the maxim that one can’t argue with success. For the umpteenth time, Gowon was not a compromise Christian candidate for head of state. The indaba that convened impromptu at the Ikeja military barracks that fateful weekend of July 29, 1966 was not about the headship of the country but whether the North would remain part of Nigeria.

    And those who took part in those pivotal discussions were, to re-phrase JFK, “all Northerners.”

    Gowon exercised the same level of control over Murtala and Shuwa as he did over Col Adekunle. The negative fixation with the “strategy and tactics” of Shuwa’s 1 Division is simply ludicrous.

    Like it or not, Gowon is Nigeria’s Abraham Lincoln. He fought a war to prevent the disintegration of his country and quashed attempted secession. He strove to achieve reconciliation and reconstruction. “Cunny” is not part of Gowon’s psyche. He is a Wusasa gentleman for goodness sake, their dominant character trait is earnestness.

    The unwaning interest in history in the West is the product of the stock their societies place on their past, on what could be learnt from it and how it places them in the comity of nations. In the euphoric period before independence and shortly after, the study of the history of African societies was an urgent necessity in order to debunk Western theory about Africa’s lack of history before the arrival of the White Man. That was the era of prodigious output from the pioneers in the study of African history: Professors Adu Boahen, Kenneth Dike, J F Ade Ajayi, Tekena Tamuno, and Dr Robert Adeleye. Their successors were Professors Obaro Ikime, Osoba, Yusuf Bala Usman, Mahdi Adamu and many others.

    Perhaps governments in Africa thought the work was done so they down-graded the study of both history and geography to general studies. The need for a return to old certainties in Nigeria’s education system is never more urgent than now, and a campaign in that direction is a worthy undertaking.

     

    • Mohammed Tukur Usman <aboumahmud@yahoo.com>