The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Police and Rivers’ crisis

    In any democratic society, the police are the organ of government used for enforcing the law or maintaining public order or preventing and solving crime.  A major instrument or strategic devise that the police use to realize its law enforcement goals is its investigative powers.  The investigative powers of the police enable them to pry into any criminal matter, real or imagined.

    Equipped with its investigative powers, the police can invite anybody for questioning in matters related to the commission of crime.  The powers of the police to invite citizens for questioning are not even limited to cases directly reported to it.  The police can invite a citizen for questioning even for the mere suspicion of being a party to the commission of, or intention to commit, a crime. In fact, in Nigeria, the constitution grants the police the powers to investigate public officials who are even protected from criminal prosecution under the immunity provisions of section 308.

    However, just like every other thing in life, the investigative powers of the police are not absolute and open-ended. The police, for instance, do not have the right or power to investigate citizens on matters that border on their civil liberties which include the right to free speech and expression. Section 39 (1) of the 1999 constitution (as amended) maintains that, “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference”. What this means is that an invitation to a citizen for questioning by security agencies on the basis of what he or she published in a newspaper is tantamount to an assault on the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    For the avoidance of doubt, the phrase “Civil liberty” is “a person’s right to say or do what he or she wants provided it is within the law.”  Of course, when a citizen says or does (writes, etc) something outside the bounds of the law, the issue becomes a libel case.  Now, the word “Libel” means “a false written or printed statement that damages somebody’s reputation or to harm somebody’s reputation by publishing a false statement”. Yes, once a published material slanders anybody or institution, it becomes a libel. However, a libellous material, cannot under any circumstances, become a criminal matter for police investigation.

    The truth is that in spite of the enormous investigative powers of the police in crime matters, the police cannot investigate a libel case. An aggrieved party in a “libel case” can only sue for damages, if the offending party refuses to retract a false statement or tender an apology to the party offended by a publication which veracity cannot be vouched for.  The position canvassed here holds because libel cases which originate from the interpretation given to a published statement or opinion by an aggrieved party can only be decided by the courts, not by the police. There is no provision anywhere in our statutes for the police to criminalize libel cases and investigate them.

    The issue in contention here is the published statement by the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly that appeared as an advertorial in The Nation of Wednesday, May 15, page 12, titled, “Disruption of Democracy and Rule of Law – Anarchy Looms in Rivers State,” addressed to the President. Amongst other things, the advertorial pointed out that “the situation in Rivers State has reached a fever-pitch, as there are strong indications that the Governor; Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the legislators and prominent government officials have been marked for assassination, following series of reported nocturnal meetings held in the neighbouring state and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory  (FCT)”. This quoted paragraph of the advertorial probably captures the essence of the matter for which the Rivers State Commissioner of Police decided to invite the Rivers’ Speaker for questioning.

    However, a critical appraisal of the headline, including the phrases used in the advertorial, indicates that the Speaker was only drawing the attention of the public to the activities that have the potential of engendering anarchy in Rivers State and disrupting democracy in Nigeria. For instance, the use of the phrase “strong indications” in the advertorial only means a “suggestion that such incidents are possible or likely to happen” whenever the security details of the affected officials are withdrawn. There is nothing in the statements to suggest that the advertorial was reporting a definitive plot by some people to assassinate the Governor of Rivers State or other government officials, to warrant an investigation by the police.

    From the arguments made so far in this discourse, it should be clear, even to the uninformed that the advertorial in question was just an opinion expressed by the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly on the deteriorating state of security in Rivers State. It was not a report to the President or the police about the commission of, or intention to commit, a crime by some Nigerian citizens. It must therefore be the height of duplicity for Joseph Mbu, whose activities in Rivers State should be the subject of a presidential inquiry, to turn round and invite the Speaker for questioning, as if the published advertorial, on its own, is a criminal matter for police investigation.

    It is difficult to see how any rational mind could fault the contents of the published advertorial and successfully pursue a libel case.  For instance, where the advertorial suggested that there where plans to withdraw the security details of prominent government officials in Rivers State, as a prelude to their possible elimination, the evidence was all over the place with the reduction in the security apparatus of the Speaker and the withdrawal of the police guards attached to the Chief of Staff to the Governor and some local government chairmen. Who does not know that once the security details of government officials are withdrawn from them that they may be prey to violent attacks from criminal elements or even prone to assassinations?  And this was the point the Rivers State Speaker made in the published advertorial for which Mbu wants him investigated and prosecuted.

    Now, if the police that has the constitutional duty to provide security so that the state assembly can carry out its responsibility to the people have refused to do so, who does not know it may have to do with the fact that the Rivers State police command may be a party to the grand plan to ground activities of the state legislators until they recall the suspended Nsirim-led leadership of the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area? And this, again, was the point the Rivers State Speaker made.

    In all honesty, the advertorial is simply an opinion expressed by the Speaker on the unfolding political and security drama in Rivers State.  It was not even a report to the President of Nigeria to investigate a matter.  In this wise, the police cannot deploy its investigative powers to invite the Speaker for questioning over a publication that he simply used to exercise his right to free speech or expression.

  • Wande Abimbola, the Ifa corpus and Yoruba culture

    Wande Abimbola, the Ifa corpus and Yoruba culture

    Any discourse of Yoruba culture in today’s global world of cultural flux generates both awe and worries. On the one hand, the Yoruba culture constitutes one of the significant international cultures. Yoruba culture is diasporic in terms of substance and influence. Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico, the United States of America, Benin Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, and even unusual places like Italy, Germany, and Japan host not only people of Yoruba descent, but also Yoruba music, religious practices, dance and arts, etc. The awe of the Yoruba culture therefore derives from its multifactorial yet unique manifestations all over the world. However, the same Yoruba culture faces a serious dynamics of national and religious dissonance aggravated by the dominance of Christianity and Islam in national and global affairs.

    Yet, we live in a world taken over by terror and pain and war in which the function of religion has been critically bastardised and very little credible space seems left to hang on to. Any talk of religion is usually met with a loud rebuff of scorn and doubt that doubts the possibility of religion contributing anything but discord to human affairs. This is especially so within the Nigerian context which is torn apart by religious strife that has taken many lives and further damage the fragile national project of national unity.

    Yet diversity is for us no more a slogan, its reality. Indeed, even to be able to harness the value of transformational leadership, we require team spirit and teamwork. To realize this strength, it should be obvious; we have to demonstrate respect and tolerance towards the opinion and beliefs of others while holding on to the good things in us. We however cannot respect a belief that we do not have even modicum of knowledge about, a measure of ignorance which breeds suspicion and distrust which is at the root of terrorism and murder in the name of faith. If we are to teach tolerance to our children, they must know and appreciate the views of other people. In fact, every religion teaches man to be good and therefore, has its positive aspects. Our education system must take a lead in this regard.

    It is within this confounding context that Prof. Wande Abimbola—scholar, teacher, administrator, author, founder of the Ifa Heritage Institute, Nigeria and pioneer historian of Ifa—wants to inject the therapeutic message of the Ifa corpus, the core of the Yoruba culture, as the spiritual panacea for a humanistic reconsideration of our unity.

    However, a certain concrete and persistent apprehension remains. On the one hand, the Yoruba culture, in spite of its diasporic strength and achievements, is fast declining due to the lack of pedagogical and curricula backstopping of its relevance. On the other hand, any attempt at pursuing what seems like an ethnic project in Nigeria today remains vastly unpopular. Yet, like Francis Bacon, Prof. Abimbola would argue that “All colours will agree in the dark.” In other words, for him, since Nigeria faces a dark time in which the national project confronts its worst fear since the Civil War, all plausible national remedies should be considered. Abimbola’s remedy is simple: the Ifa corpus contains a cultural/religious dynamics that could inject a spiritual elixir into the embattled national project?

    Cultures generally serve an anchoring function that enables a person to cope with the vicissitudes of one’s human condition within the context of familiar cultural experience and those who make it happen. In this sense, we become who we are by virtue of some form of cultural moulding. Any culture therefore serves a two-fold purpose—as a framework by which we perceive events, and as a compass for navigating the future. For Amiri Baraka, “‘culture’ is simply how one lives, and is connected to history by habit.” For most people today, however, religion seems to be taking over as the prism through which we perceive and orient ourselves.

    I understand the dynamics of a cultural and religious interface, having grown up in Awe—with its own unique place in Yoruba history—at the intersection of the Yoruba cultural and Christian religious upbringing. In fact, I benefitted from the mutual toleration which allowed me not only to go to church or follow my grandmother to the mosque (and participate in all the ceremonial and religious exercises demanded by the two religions), but also to be educated in a deep cultural training rooted in the very essence of Yoruba heritage, for which reason I celebrated Ali Mazrui’s Triple Heritage concept. I learnt and practice a social reciprocity which excluded no one. Hence my worry about the impending demise of a cultural heritage that has so much to contribute to our sense of belonging as one people in Nigeria.

    The religious and philosophical dynamics of the Yoruba culture constitutes its resilient core in a world of cultural flux. The core can be specifically located in the migratory element that is intrinsic to Yoruba cosmology itself which links its diasporic spread to its unique history. For instance, the founding of the world is a function of a migration of the deities from Olódùmarè to the earth and their consequent dispersion all over the world. Furthermore, there is also a historical rendering of a myth which sees Aláàfin Aólè (c. 1789-1796) placing a legendary curse on the Yoruba: “the Yoruba people will be taken as slaves all over the earth”. This was followed by the firing of an arrow each to the four corners of the world.

    The challenge of this cosmological and historical fact of migrating Yoruba cultural values is essentially our ability to harness their utility for a Nigerian renaissance which facilitates a tolerant framework presently missing in the national project. Professor Abimbola’s entire life is dedicated to the enunciation of the intrinsic worth and relevance of the Ifa Corpus as a philosophico-religious panacea for religious and national harmony in Nigeria.

    The Ifa corpus lies at the heart of the Yoruba thought system. It contains not only the ground for validating Yoruba cosmological beliefs, social norms and cultural practices, but also serves as the basis for pathological, emotional and pharmacological diagnosis for the body and for the society. In this regard, there are two senses of Ifa which Wande Abimbola’s reputation as a sound scholar has lend credence to as a veritable framework for resuscitating a sense of unity for Nigerians. The first is Ifa as a body of knowledge and wisdom incorporated into the Ifa literary corpus established on historical, cosmological and mythological bases, and Ifa as a divinatory process that feeds on this body of wisdom. Thus, apart from its intrinsic value as a repository of traditional knowledge among the Yoruba, the Ifa literary corpus also serves, according to Prof. Wande Abimbola, as a pragmatic framework for rethinking the moral vacuum that has endangered politics as a noble profession in Nigeria: “Our indigenous ideas, values and religions are beautiful. And they work.”

    Wande Abimbola would recommend the tolerance principle or cognitive openness embedded in the Ifa corpus as a genuine indigenous cultural property which could stimulate the diversity project in Nigeria. We are many people attempting to be one. For instance, the Òtúrá Méjì poem illustrates Òrúnmìlà’s openness to his children becoming Muslims. Thus, for Abimbola, Ifa recognises the possibility of many people united in their respect for the individual humanity and collective destiny. In spite of my religious affinity as a Christian and avowed belief in God, I am still willing to recognise and celebrate the immanent humanism underlying the Ifa cultural framework, its deep well of values and classic wisdom gems as well as the significance of a well-founded cultural upbringing. It serves as the basis for relating and tolerating our multidimensional humanity within the context of the Nigerian state.

    We are therefore immediately alerted to the necessity of a pan-Nigeria consciousness springing from a sense of reciprocal spirituality that sees the humanity in another first before getting a glimpse of their differences. That is the sole message that Wande Abimbola preaches through the Ifa literary corpus. Just as his 1997 book states, Ifa Will Mend Our Broken World—the deployment of the wisdom gems contained in the Ifa corpus possesses the capacity to serve as one of the spiritual dynamics of tolerant accommodativeness we can call upon in a world dominated by terror, heartbreak, poverty, religious hatred and ethnic jingoism. If I am asked about the ultimate value of the Ifa corpus which Prof. Wande Abimbola preaches, I will say with conviction: It is the search for a spiritual bond of oneness.

    – Dr. Olaopa is Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Youth Development, Abuja. tolaopa2003@yahoo.com

  • Probe Kogi flood relief fund

    When last year flood ravaged some states in the country, many Nigerians lost their lives and properties worth billion of naira, things are no longer the same for this unfortunate Nigerians.

    The federal government and some notable individuals donated fund for the relief of those affected by this incident, hence to bring succour and mitigate whatever they might have lost during the flood.

    Recently the Taraba State government had to sack some top government officials due to their unwholesome acts as regard the fund for the victims of this flood in their state.

    The Taraba State House Assembly did right by constituting such committee to unravel what happen to the fund made available to the victims of the flood in their state which led to discovery of such mismanagement of the fund.

    I would like to call on Kogi State House of Assembly to constitute such probe to know exactly who benefitted from the relief fund for flood victims in the state.

    The state happens to be one the worst affected states that was ravaged by the flood and the federal government categorised the state as A in the position of those to receive high amount of fund.

    It’s well known fact that many people whose houses were damaged were given some token to compensate for the damage to their household. Many sons of the states donated millions of naira and relief materials including an industrialist Dr Aliko Dangote whose donation was the highest in the country.

    Although the state government said is planning to build houses for the flood victims, whose houses were damaged, what is required is for the house of assembly to investigate the distribution of the relief fund, who gets what and who benefits from such distribution, including the relief materials that find its way to open market.

    Kogi House of Assembly would be living up to its responsibility to its electorate if it could set up such committee to bring to public knowledge. It’s an irony seen some states who did not suffer much like Kogi State been shown through various media been distributed with this relief materials.

    We hope this probe would go a long way to have firsthand knowledge of what happened to relief fund for the flood and bring to book all those who mismanaged any fund meant for the benefit of those who suffered untold hardship during the last flood.

    Bala Nayashi,

    Lokoja, Kogi State

  • Sule Lamido: The issues and the realities

    Aso Rock seems to have again opened up another controversy because of struggle for who to occupy the seat come 2015. Politics, they say, is indeed, unpredictable. That is why those who analyse it would warn that, nobody should come to any conclusion until the last word has been spoken or action has been taken on any political development. Alhaji Sule Lamido, the Jigawa State Governor, is one of the unique, indisputable, experience and expert politicians in the present day Nigeria.

    To be candid, I may not be erroneous if I say Lamido is the most successful of all governors that held sway in Jigawa State since the creation of the state in 1991. Lamido possesses all the experience, qualities, exposure, maturity and credibility to hold any political office in the land.

    In various interviews granted by Lamido, he did not at all for once deviate from his word (stand) on Jonathan’s candidacy. In Daily Trust of Thursday, December 23, 2010 page 4. Lamido was quoted as saying “Yes, we resolved as a party to uphold our victory of 2007 by further supporting the Goodluck ticket in 2011. he is our own and we can’t disown him, if anyone feels he has a candidate, let it be, but we in PDP, our own is Goodluck “. It was published in Sunday Tribune of 30 January, 2011 with caption on the front page “Nigeria should break up… over Jonathan” In page 5 Lamido was branded by northerners as anti-north and the one who doesn’t like Muslim and Islam, that he has gone astray all because of Jonathan.

    Another issue that was allied to Lamido was the allegation that, he wanted to leave the party. This accusation of Lamido leaving PDP is something anyone can ignore, this is because, he is one of the founding fathers of the party also for, his contributions and stand on the party, one can disapprove the insinuation . In an interview he granted with People Daily of Saturday 27-Sunday 28, November 2010 page 15, Lamido stated it clearly. He was asked about G3 counterweight to both the Chiroma’s group and the Jonathan team? “I do not know what you refer to as a G3, it is your coinage. Ours is a union of friends, brothers and people who believe in PDP……….. Therefore, we are very much concerned for the wellbeing of our party.”

    On the issues of love for the unity of Nigeria, he also stated in many occasions, one of such is the interview during Barewa old Boys (BOB) which was published in Sunday Trust of February 20, 2008 page 59. “As a foreign minister, I have dined, but not wined, with the high and mighty all over the world. There is nothing I have not seen, so I can say I am now a fully mature person. I will keep on working for Nigeria to become efficient and great. This is the kind of culture we imbibed at Barewa College, and I am not going to depart from it.”

    At this juncture, I appeal to everyone to give Lamido a breathing space. Please let him be. Sule Lamido has made a lot of sacrifices for this country, Nigeria. His contributions have re-united and re-awakened Nigeria. I must conclude with Nelson Mandela words: “There is nothing which makes people more appreciative of a government than that it should be able to deliver services.” He also said, “ The important thing is to give happiness to people.” In his speech at Dublin Castle, Republic of Ireland, the U.S President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963), once said: “Democracy is a difficult kind of government. It requires the highest qualities of self-discipline, restraint, a willingness to make commitments and sacrifices for the general interest, and it also requires knowledge.” May God guide our leaders right and bless Jigawa and Nigeria as a whole.

    Adam Muhd Usman

    Kafin-Hausa, Jigawa State

    amu3333@yahoo.com

  • A nation of perverts and paedophiles

    A nation of perverts and paedophiles

    Senator and former Governor Ahmed Sani, the Yerima Bakura, has finally had his way. The Nigerian Senate has bowed to his will and agreed to be silent about the age that young girls can get married in Nigeria.

    What this means once it is followed through and enshrined in our laws and constitution is that girls that are as young as 9 years old, providing they are deemed as having been ‘’physically developed enough’’ by their suitors, could be lawfully bedded and married in our country.

    That is the sordid level that we have now, as a people and as a nation, degenerated to. I weep for Nigeria and, perhaps more appropiately, I weep for the Nigerian girl child. Yet we have no choice but to live with this new reality and to accept it as it is.

    After all, our representatives in the sacred halls of the Senate were not sensitive enough or ‘’man enough’’ to shoot down the whole thing, to stand firmly against the unholy agenda and to say boldly and firmly that ‘’come what may’’ our children must be protected from sexual deviants and reprobates.

    And since the Senate, in its infinite wisdom, has now endorsed the “Paedophile Charter” which essentially seeks to make it lawful and constitutional for very young girls to get married and to have sex, it is my view that we have now become a nation of perverts and paedophiles.

    Every Nigerian should bow his or her head in shame as from today because what the Senate did yesterday, and seeks to do in the future, by beginning the process to amend our constitution in order for it to cater for the filthy appetite and godless fantasies of child molestors and sexual predators is sordid, ungodly and unforgiveable.

    Surely we ought to be seeking to protect our children and not seeking to bed them. Yet it appears that not everyone shares our outrage and collective sense of shame. One Uche Ezechukwu made the following contribution which went viral on the social media networks and which I think speaks volumes. He wrote-

    “Those who are railing against ‘paedophile’ senators, like Yerima Bakura, must be told that a Muslim can’t go wrong while imitating the examples of the Apostle of Allah himself and the founder of his religion, in the same way a Christian cannot be criticised for following the examples of Jesus Christ. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) married Aisha at the age of six and consummated the marriage when she was nine. So, why are we judging Muslims by our own standards?”

    I am appalled by these words. The truth is that I have never heard such a self-serving and specious argument in defence of the philosophies and beliefs of the Ayatollah of Bakura, Senator Ahmed Sani, the practising paedophile who married and bedded a 12 year old Egyptian girl, as this one.

    Ahmed Sani himself could not have argued it better. Yet I think that it is an utter shame. And this is more so because the individual that is putting the argument is supposedly a Christian. The Old Testament of the Holy Bible prescribes ‘’stoning’’ for adultery but that does not mean that Christian countries, or indeed secular states like Nigeria, should stone adulterers.

    Neither does it mean that we should preserve the institution of slavery or crucify petty thieves simply because the Holy Bible endorsed both practices in the Old Testament. We must accept the fact that the interpretation of biblical and koranic provisions are evolutionary and are ever changing. Jesus Himself said ‘’laws are made for man and not man for laws’’.

    The suggestion that paedophilia has any place in any modern and decent society simply because it was once practised in the distant past is not only a despicable argument but it also does not make any sense. After all, cannibalism and child and human sacrifice were once widely practised and were held as being perfectly acceptable throughout the world as well, but that does not mean that we should practice any of those terrible vices today.

    The man, Uche Ezechukwu, who appears to be defending child rape in the name of Islam, should either let someone lay with and ‘’marry’’ his own 6 or 9 year old daughter or he should seal his lips forever and stop trying to defend the indefensible.

    His assertions, and I daresay those of Senator Ahmed Sani and anyone that shares their primitive views, are not only utterly immoral and reprehensible but they are also intellectually dishonest. I say this because the truth is that there is NO Muslim country in the world that has adopted the “paedophile charter” where 6 or 9 year olds can marry and be bedded except for possibly Saudi Arabia and Iran.

    Every other Muslim country in the world, including Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Egypt, Jordan, Senegal, the Sudan, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine, United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Qatar, Bahrain, Dagestan, Albania, Bosnia, Somalia, Algeria, Libya, Mali, Azerbijhan and Syria have specifically banned child marriage, paedophilia and child rape in their various constitutions and laws and some have declared it ‘’repugnant’’, ‘’unacceptable’’ and ‘’un-Islamic’’. Are these people not Muslims too?

    Like Christianity and Judaism, Islam is a noble, pure, honourable and ancient faith that seeks to protect the weakest and most vulnerable in society, including children. No-one should use the misinterpretation of its provisions to try to justify or rationalise what is essentially depraved, shameful, disgusting and barbaric behaviour and the most sordid and filthy expression of sexual deviance and perversion. Even animals do not marry or bed their own infants. The bitter truth is that paedophiles have no place in any civilised society.

    I am constrained to say that in the light of their “yes” vote to child marriage and their green light to paedophilia, every single member of the Nigerian Senate should bow their heads in utter shame and they should be compelled to offer their own infant and under age daughters for marriage. I repeat, they have turned us into a nation of perverts and paedophiles. I say a pox on all their houses.

  • Counting the cost of insecurity

    Counting the cost of insecurity

    Mali has made a peace deal with the Tuareg separatist rebels which hopefully will pave the way for lasting peace and order to return to the troubled country. In Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan has made overtures to the Boko Haram insurgents to end the three-year war they have levelled against this country, but the insurgents have rebuffed every olive branch dangled by the federal government.

    So, now the question: What does Boko Haram want? This question becomes pertinent after they resumed their attacks in a more ruthless fashion, when the government’s military offensive against them abated. The insurgents have invaded primary schools, killing scores of children and their teachers in savage attacks that must not escape the radar of the International Criminal Court, ICC, which someday may summon these guys to answer for their crime against humanity. Terror groups elsewhere do not target children or schools the way Boko Haram is doing.

    Apart from the estimated 5,000 deaths recorded in attacks by various terror groups, including the military offensive, the cost to our already dysfunctional economy is unbearable. The Nigerian led African intervention force spearheaded by France when Mali was about to fall to advancing Tuareg rebels, to save that country from being seized by the Al-Queda back rebels.

    The Nigerian government made that timely move because it was reported that the Boko Haram insurgents were involved in the broad coalition of terror groups in the Islamic Mahgreb, who were helping the Tuaregs to try and topple the Malian government. The French-led rescue force arrived to push back the rebels when they were about to storm the Malian capital, Bamako.

    The Nigerian military operations in Mali cost this country millions of dollars. This is no wasteful spending considering the pre-emptive nature of the intervention. The anti-terror war against Boko Haram , MEND and other armed groups is taking a heavy toll on our finances. Just recently, the Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, advised the Jonathan Administration to resist the temptation to overspend on the current military operations in Yobe, Adamawa and Borno states because of its dire implications for the economy.

    Sanusi said: ”The committee noted with caution the high gross domestic product growth projection in view of the extant risk factors such as widespread insecurity, weak infrastructure and probable flooding from the projected heavy rains in some parts of the country.”

    The state of emergency in the North-East and the accompanying military operations in that axis have the potential to adversely affect economic activities generally, including agricultural production and food prices as well as consumer demand. The economy of the north has virtually collapsed because of Boko Haram activities.

    Let us pray that the Mali peace holds together. But there’s the larger threat of prolonged instability in the entire Sahel region, where Al-Qaeda’s influence appears to be growing. Though seriously weakened after the killing of Osama Bin Ladin and some of his key lieutenants by U.S forces, the terrorist network appears to be regaining capacity with the enlisting of regional terror groups like Boko Haram, the Tuareg islamists and Al-Shabbab of Somalia into its ranks.

    The Arab Spring has created a new wave of instability in the Middle East. Several splinter groups fighting in Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, Syria and Egypt are now in possession of heavy weapons. With the war not fully over in places like Libya where remnants of pro-Gaddafi forces have retreated to the deserts and villages up north, there are chances that Al-Qaeda could infiltrate those guerrilla forces and launch terror wars in vulnerable states of Sub-Sahara and East Africa.

    Therefore, beyond our successful peace-keeping efforts in Mali, the federal government must begin to fashion out a comprehensive long-term anti-terrorist strategy to checkmate likely extension of an international terror campaign to Nigeria. We cannot be sure that the peace process in Mali will last, given the experience of Egypt where the Muslim Brotherhood government was toppled. To this end, President Goodluck Jonathan must begin to think outside the box concerning our country’s long-term security because ultimately, we can’t depend on foreign super powers to protect our territory.

    Although no one doubts the belligerence capability of the Nigerian Armed Forces, its track record in the local fight against Boko Haram shows that they do not have the expertise in this highly specialised, sophisticated war against terrorism.

    Unlike Mali and the Ivory Coast which still enjoy some political affinity with France, we have no such strong defence ties with Britain or the United States that could prompt a direct military intervention from them if our country’s security is in such a grave danger.

    Even though the commander of the U.S African High Command, AFRICOM, Gen. Carter Ham has visited this country twice in the last twelve months in the wake of the Boko Haram insurgency, nothing concrete has come out of those visits beyond some feeble pledges to help Nigeria. AFRICOM, meanwhile, is based in Stuttgart, Germany, not on African soil.

    Like Paul Collier of the Oxford University said: “Europe is still willing to kill for Africa, but its militaries have no appetite to die for Africa”. President Jonathan must find a way to benefit from America’s know-how in counter-terrorism warfare either through technical assistance, training of our forces or direct military cooperation without compromising the sovereignty of our country.

    •Rev. Okotie, a pastor-politician, wrote from Lagos.

  • All the President’s jets

    Nothing underscores the epicurean and wasteful tendencies of this Presidency than the growing fleet of jets at its disposal. With ten aircraft and two more in the offing, Nigeria’s president probably boasts of the largest fleet in the world. As if to take a cue from their president, the Nigerian rich have managed to earn the record of owning more private jets than their counterparts in most other countries. Starting from the African continent, Ghana president reportedly has only one jet, same for South Africa.

    In Europe, the British prime minister and the and the queen fly chartered British Airways planes thereby eliminating the cost of purchasing and maintaining official jets; the Netherlands has only two, Japan, Malaysia to name a few, all have seen the need to run a lean presidential fleet. These are not only rich, developed countries of the world, they manufacture different calibers of jets or essential components yet prudence in governance and a culture of fiscal responsibility ensured that their heads of state do not engage in such whimsical public expenditure.

    The story is told of how President Joyce Banda of Malawi had been invited to one of such banal summits organised by Nigeria’s First LadyPatience Jonathan in Abuja last year. When it was discovered that Mrs. Banda may not honour the invitation due to inelastic travel logistics, a jet was dispatched from the presidential fleet to fetch her from the East African country to Abuja and back. President Banda, prudent, wise and accountable to her people had sold off the only jet in her fleet because it was not in the interest of Malawi’s economy for her to continue to run a jet. She chose to put the economic well-being of her country above her personal comfort.

    Nigeria’s obdurate leadership has no such national consciousness. Many airlines across the world do not boast one dozen airplanes. It must be one reason Nigeria’s national carriers never work: our president has jets at his disposal to shuttle to the ends of the world and back. The Nigerian aviation industry is in turmoil, it doesn’t matter; billions of naira is spent annually to service the first family’s reckless lifestyle, it doesn’t matter. Oil revenue is dwindling and government revenue projections fall short; it doesn’t seem to matter. Nothing seems to matter here so long as the presidency is taken care of.

    Perhaps all these may not have mattered if the economy is being properly managed and driven down the path of growth. If power, the backbone of modern economy, had been fixed; if infrastructural development is in high gear and government institutions are primed for sustainable development, one could live with a bit of executive expansiveness. But Nigeria is passing through a phase of acute political turmoil, social upheaval and economic uncertainty. With the discovery of viable alternative energy, crude oil revenues will only fall in the years ahead and it is predicted that oil will increasingly become less significant in the near future. With no industrial base, derelict infrastructure, shambolic education and R&D, what will be the fate of Nigeria in the next decade?

    These are the kind of strategic thoughts one would expect Nigeria’s leadership to address its mind to and steer the populace in that direction. The Presidency’s obscene opulence and fiscal recklessness of acquiring jets for his personal use is writ large in other spheres of governance and public service – junkets, elaborate ceremonies with no value to the economy, worthless seminars and workshops, characterise our public life. What glorious fantastical life; what fairy tale life of jet-set bohemians! Hardball fears that we shall wake up from this infernal somnolence one day only to find ourselves in a cheerless place, a dank planet all of our own.

  • Lines, space in human affairs: Minorities and marginals

    The same reluctance to accept equal deal for all ethnic groups, irrespective of size and population, was echoed in 1976 by a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee of Hausa/Fulani extraction in expressing objection to the adoption of ethnic or linguistic criterion of state creation:

    I would not say equal … because I would not want my group of 10 million to be given equal treatment with any other group of one thousand. In fact, they are not equal … I am sure members of the major ethnic groups, medium ethnic groups, and minor ethnic groups have all agreed to the fact that we should live together happily, peacefully, in unity, faith and progress. In that spirit, while safeguarding the interests of the minority, this does not detract from the right of the majority.

    Secondly, constitutional safeguard has very little chance of succeeding in Nigeria unlike India and other places. To start with, the option was widely rejected when the Willink Commission touted it as a viable option. Even if special provisions were to be inserted into the Nigerian Constitution for ethnic minorities, virtually every Nigerian group will claim to be a minority in one sense or the other. The struggle of the states in the south-east to be included in the political definition of the Niger Delta is a case in point. Besides, the elastic nature of the concept is bound to raise some problem as Alhaji Tatari Ali noted in his contribution to the debates in the Constituent Assembly in 1977:

    Mr. Chairman, lastly I come to the question of minority. For the last 18 years I have been hearing of minority. Why should people think of minority? Is it because of size or population? At district level also they talk of minority and at village level also they talk of minority and where do we stop… even in the so-called minority area you will find that within themselves there are minorities.

    The pervasiveness of the problem made him to argue that no special provision should be made for the minorities.

    The Way Forward: An Unfinished Business

    Mr. Vice-Chancellor sir, the question we should ask ourselves at this stage is, why has the Minority Question remained unresolved? In Peace and Conflict Studies, we know that some conflicts can be resolved while others can only be managed. Have we then been trying to resolve a crisis that can only be managed? Our experience with the states creation exercises suggest that minority problems can never be eliminated but can be managed to a level that it would not pose a serious threat to the political stability of the country. This is because the multi-ethnic composition of the Nigerian Federation has created a necessary condition for the development of minority consciousness. The degree of manifestation at any time, as we have earlier noted, depends on the dynamics of intergroup relations. I wish to recall the argument of the Ibo State Union, while admonishing the Willink Commission to exercise restraint on creation of states in Nigeria. The observation of the Union has an eternal ring of truth about it:

    … for as long as humanity are sorted into races, tribes, clans etc… there must always be majority and minority elements since mathematical equation cannot be applied to such human affairs.

    Below are some of the suggestions to reduce the problem to a manageable level.

    Moratorium on States Creation

    There are those who still believe that states creation is the only way to solve minority problems in Nigeria. They are quick to argue that this will promote even and accelerated development, thereby eliminating the material basis of minority agitations. This was the position taken by the National Association of State Movements in a paid advertisement on March 8, 2010. The reality on the ground no longer supports this conclusion. To start with, more states have been created in the North than in the South. Yet, the North has continued to lag far behind the South in terms of development. Not only that, Nigeria has a population of about 150 million people and an area of 923,768 sq kilometers. Yet, it has more states than China and India with 34 and 28 states respectively. Even Cameroun and Kenya have not progressed beyond ten states or regions. The United States, with its huge size and population has only 50 states.

    Admittedly, the number of states in a federation is always a reflection of the balance of political and social forces operating in a country at any point in time. Evidence suggests that the creation of new states would be a cog in the wheel of progress of the country. The creation of states has diverted attention from real growth and development to the duplication of offices and political appointments which many people mistakenly equate with development. It is common knowledge that more than eighty percent of the existing states are not economically viable. Hence, their dependence on the federal government has distorted the practice of true federalism. Additional states would mean the appointment of more state governors, more senators, more advisers without portfolios and more first ladies with the profligacy that goes with such offices. If the main purpose of the creation of states is to create more development centers, Nigeria’s interest can be better served by adopting the existing 774 local governments as units of operation. Besides the problem of sharing of assets, which will aggravate the indigene/settler crisis, Nigeria should also brace up for intractable boundary disputes. The level of complication is illustrated in the comment of E.C.M. Akamobi on the nature of the state agitations from the South-East zone. He noted that:

    The scenario being peddled for a new state is a situation where some local governments would be carved out from three or four adjoining states to create a new state without minding their affinity and cultural background.

    Elsewhere, I have shown that inter-state boundary disputes have adverse effects on the unity and integration of the country. Mr. Vice Chancellor sir, I sincerely believe that majority of those actively campaigning for the creation of new states are merely looking for power and position that had eluded them under the existing arrangements. The only way to curb this is to impose a ban of at least 20 years on the state creation business in Nigeria. This moratorium will compel Nigerians to learn to live harmoniously together. The hollowness of the argument of those still canvassing the state creation approach to minority problem is further demonstrated in the case of the Ekitis of Northern Nigeria.

    In the early part of this lecture, we have seen how the Ekiti group agitated for a transfer from the Northern Region to Southern Nigeria from 1901 to 1936. Some were transferred, others were not. Yet, when the opportunity came for the rest of the group to join their kinsmen in Ekiti State that was created in 1996, they chose to remain in Kwara state where they believe they have a comparative advantage. Whether the “Ekiti Kete” of Ekiti State refers to these other Ekiti as Igbomina Ekiti or ‘Ekiti Taiwan’, the point has been made that they would remain where their bread is buttered, the factor of cultural affinity notwithstanding.

    Federal Character

    It has already been noted that various communities rejected the option of constitutional safeguards in 1959. The closest to this in the Nigerian Constitution is the principle of Federal Character introduced in 1979. The original intention of the government for introducing it was to ensure that the affairs of the government and its agencies at any level is not dominated by a few people from a particular group or a section of the country. When the implementation of the principle began to generate concern during the Babangida Administration, the Political Bureau recommended that the Federal Character Principle should not be implemented in a way to “convert historical accident into a permanent advantage.” To prevent this, it recommended that the implementation should be strictly monitored and the policy abandoned as soon as the gap narrows to a point when such a decision could be taken. Although the Federal Character Commission, created by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, has the power to monitor and enforce compliance, even to the point of prosecuting offenders, the Commission, appears to be the least visible of all the federal government agencies. One watches in vain for the periodic publication of employment figures that the implementation requires. And to the best of my knowledge, no one has been prosecuted for deliberately flouting the provision. Today, it appears that the post of the Chairman of the Federal Character Commission has been reserved for conservative Northerners. The implementation of the Federal Character Principle will continue to provoke crisis until the Federal Character Commission wakes up to its responsibilities. The Commission can borrow a leaf from the implementation of the Affirmative Action in the United States.

    Power Sharing

    Studies have shown that minorities that are excluded from political participation are likely to adopt extreme measures to seek redress. In Nigeria, rotational presidency and zoning of political offices are recognized as a strategy to prevent sectional domination of the country. Although the formula was included in the Draft Constitution of 1995, it was not inserted into the 1999 Constitution. Nevertheless, the different political parties have since adopted zoning as an “article of faith”. The implementation has become a big issue.

    We would recall that in the Second Republic, the National Party of Nigeria [NPN] had implemented zoning in a way that emphasized the political supremacy of the North. In November 1978, the party divided the country into four zones – North, West, East and Minorities. Not only did the Minorities become subsumed under the East, the party eventually dumped the formula when it allowed President Shehu Shagari to run for a second term of office. Similarly, the genesis of the current political crisis in the North is not totally unconnected with the difference of opinion on whether President Goodluck Jonathan should have been allowed to contest the last election.

    Therefore, the constitutions of the political parties should clearly specify the posts that should be rotated, the order of rotation and the duration to prevent unnecessary controversy in the future.

    Purposeful Leadership

    The issue of leadership is also crucial to the search for a solution to the minority question in Nigeria. This is because government policies can reduce or accentuate minority fears. Purposeful leadership in plural society should entail the building of bridges across ethnic and religious divides to foster the spirit of togetherness. General Ibrahim Babangida expressed the point succinctly in a lecture:

    Our role as Nigerian citizens, particularly of the leadership category, is to work relentlessly to trim down the sharp edges of divisiveness and retrogression and to increase (social and national integration) by expanding and deepening the economic, political and cultural spaces so as to foster the ingredients of growth, development, progress, unity and good governance.”

    Ironically, Nigerian leaders habitually pay lip service to the unity of this country but indirectly fan the ember of disunity when their sectional or regional interest is threatened. A newspaper columnist recently condemned this hypocrisy in strong terms:

    The leadership of this country is a dishonest bunch. They preach the gospel of unity; they discourage ethnicity and tribalism; condemning the activities of ethnic militia and cultural nationality groups. They even put down their feet on the territorial integrity of the nation. But when it comes to distributing the benefits of political associations such as ministerial appointments, they think zonal, each trying to get the choicest portfolios for their zone or state nominees. No one then thinks of what is good for the country.

    Nigerian History

    The only cure for the lack of a national leader is History Education .This is why the ancient Greeks believed that the best education for a statesman is History. In the recent past, some of the political appointees have made inciting and inflammatory statements that betray a poor understanding of the pre-colonial pattern of inter-group relations and the history of the nationalist movement in Nigeria. This is why I have suggested that an orientation programme should always be organized for new legislators and political appointees, many of whom sing the ‘labour of our heroes past’ without adequate understanding of what these heroes actually did.

    Mr. Vice-Chancellor sir, the orientation programme should include lectures on Nigeria history with special emphasis on Nigeria peoples and cultures, and constitutional development. This will help to project the similarities among the different ethnic groups, instead of the current revisionist history promoted by state agitations.

    At the same time too, Nigerian historians should be encouraged to go into the areas of Contemporary and Administrative History for them to be of greater relevance to the task of nation building. If Nigeria is not making progress as it should, Nigerian historians should take part of the blame. This is because they are suitably placed to study events that are likely to influence public policies. While I do not subscribe to the positivist doctrine that historians should end their research in universal laws, I believe that a research that is problem- driven and ends with policy recommendations would be of greater value than a mere historical narrative that contains no lesson that can be harnessed to solve basic societal problems.

    Prayer

    Vice-Chancellor sir, in addition to the foregoing, I also believe that Nigeria requires divine intervention to overcome the myriad of problems confronting the country. Not only do serving presidents repeatedly call on Nigerians to pray for the peace and development of the country, the “Nigeria Prays” programme of General Yakubu Gowon (Retd.) indicates how central prayer is to the Nigerian project. Mr. Vice-Chancellor sir, but can we remain in sin and expect God to continue to bless us? This is why I have remained fascinated by the prayer of repentance by a concerned Nigerian, Ike Nwejike. It is titled “Prayer for Nigeria in distress”. Although published in one of the dailies on 8 March 2009, I leave this distinguished audience to judge its contemporary relevance: It reads: All powerful and merciful father, you are the God of justice, love and peace. You rule over all the nations of the earth, including our dear country Nigeria. You have blessed our country Nigeria with rich human and natural resources for the well being of every Nigerian. Power and might are in your hands, and not in the hands of our corrupt leaders, who loot our treasury to develop the white man’s land.

    No one can withstand you, not even President Yar’Adua or Baba Iyabo. We present the numerous problems of our dear country, Nigeria, before you, including the current administration, which is still groping in the dark two years after, lacking in focus, direction, commitment, will and strategy. We pray for our dear President Yar’Adua who has decided to fill his government with some sycophants, political jobbers, and great grand fathers with questionable democratic credentials.

    We praise and thank you for you are the source of all that we have, even the oil that is now a nightmare, and we are sorry for the sins we have committed, including the sins of our leaders, and for the basic things our leaders have failed to provide like water, electricity, roads, housing etc.

    In your loving forgiveness, keep us safe from the punishment we deserve, and forgive our past leaders like Baba Iyabo, Baba Aisha, and other Babas that have ruined, pardon me I mean ruled Nigeria.

    We confidentially turn to you in these times of our needs, oh God of infinite goodness, our strength in adversity, our health in weakness, our comfort in sorrow, be merciful to us and our corrupt and insensitive leaders.

    Spare this nation, Nigeria, from the hands of the PDP which has vowed to rule for 60 years and also from the armed criminals who have made us sleep with our two eyes wide opened.

    Save us from chaos, anarchy and doom and bless us with a nation where justice, love and peace prevails like what we have in America..

    Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, with this supplication for divine assistance, I believe we can look forward to a better future.

     

  • When language matters

    To grasp the meaning of the world of today we use a language created to express the world of yesterday. The life of the past seems to us nearer our true natures only for the reason that it is nearer our language”.

    By Exupery, from his book: ‘Wind, Sand and Star’, (1939).

    Language is not just a means of communicating and understanding ideas and experiences. It is also an instrument of documenting and relating the events and occurrences of the past to the future via the present. Language is the prima-facie of any culture. A tribe or community without a language lives without a culture.

    Every language is primarily spoken either by words of mouth or by gesticulation but becomes converted into writing for the purpose of recording sounds and preservation of history. It is the foundation of all civilisations in all human eras. It is man’s greatest invention without which all other inventions, including scientific and technological inventions would have been impossible.

    Whether in spoken or written form, language serves as the main intermediary among the races and tribes of mankind. It served the same purpose yesterday as it does today and will do tomorrow. The birth and death of humans; the rise and fall of nations; the emigrations and settlements of tribes and clans are all announced or chronicled in languages. Even some inanimate objects sometimes speak onomatopoeic languages to the admiration of man.

    Nature of language

    It is with language alone that every human thought germinates and is turned into reality from dream. Not only that, language is also the cultural law that governs the wild life be it agro or aqua. The nature of language, its importance, its complexity and its role in human life are such that, this world would not have been meaningful without it.

    Allah tells us in Qur’an 49:13 thus: “Oh people! We have created you from a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that you might interact with one another. Surely the noblest among you is the most righteous of you. Allah is all-wise and all-knowing”.

    Misconception

    The idea of this topic arose from a question posed to yours sincerely sometime ago by a Lagos Muslim socialite. He postulated thus: “rather than observing Salat in Arabic language which we do not understand why not do it either in English or vernacular, which we understand very well?” He cited the example of Churches where Christians worship in various but understandable languages and then concluded that such an innovation might bring more converts to Islam and more people to the Mosque. He did not stop there. He went further to advocate for reduction in the number of times we (Muslims) observe Salat daily saying that such might be ‘more realistic’ and ‘more convenient’, especially for busy and travelling people. From that question, you can see the extent of naivety which ignorance is capable of conferring on its victims. Or how else will you judge a mortal being who wants to amend the constitution of his Immortal Creator? And our brother is not the only one with such a parochial idea. There are some others like him.

    In my response, I asked the enquirer to tell me why Islam remains the fastest growing religion, especially in the West today despite worshipping in understandable languages in the Churches in that part of the world. I made a particular reference to Britain where citizens are trooping into Islam in scores and asked him to tell me any religion he knew that was ever revealed in English language.

    I did not stop there. I also went further to ask him whether it was reasonable to let his employees work for only three days in a week instead of six days while he pays them fully for the whole week.

    Origin of English Language

    I then took advantage of the glaring evidence of confusion on his visage to put fervour in my burner as a student of English language and tutored him a little on the fact that English which he parochially perceived as an ideal language was neither natural nor original. I narrated to him how England was colonised severally for centuries by various European countries and empires including France, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia. I went further to tutor him that English emerged as an adopted language from a combination of the languages of England’s colonial masters only in the 10th century (CE). I pointed out to him that not only about 9,700 words of the modern English language were borrowed from French and Anglicizsed but also that most of the clustered consonant words in English are either German or Scandinavian in origin. I cited examples of such words as ‘acknowledgement’, psychology, knight, pseudo, gnash, rhythm, solemn etc. There is also a great influence of some other Indo-European languages, especially from the Upper and the Lower Germanic on English language. Besides, I pointed out that the country called Britain today, which is a combination of England, Scotland and Wales, is not a monolingual country as sometimes misconceived by most people. Other languages like Celtic and Welsh are still very much spoken in that country today, though restrictedly.

    Faith and language

    I then settled him down to religion proper and called his attention to the original common language of revelation of the ‘Tawrah’ (Talmud) of Prophet Musa (Moses), the Zabur (Psalms) of Prophet Daud (David) and ‘injil’ (Bible) of Prophet Isa (Jesus) which is Aramaic. The Jews only developed Hebrew from that language as a language of worship in the 19th century.

    In countries like China, Japan, Korea and India, where religions such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto and Hinduism are in vogue, the languages of worship by the adherents are Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Hindu. And, in terms of numerical strength, no religion in the world today enjoys so large following as Buddhism which is closely followed by Hinduism because of the huge populations of China and India. Yet the worship in those religions does not go beyond their countries of nativity.

    In the West where Christianity holds sway, no single language was adopted for worship after the death of Latin which was the official language of the Roman Empire. Today, as in the past, the Germans worship in German, the French, the Spanish, the British, the Americans, the Italians, the Swedish, the Danish, the Russians, the Poles, the Norwegians, the Portuguese and others, all worship locally in their respective languages.

    This means that no French or Russian man can worship with understanding in a Portuguese Church except he understands Portuguese language. This is not the case with Islam. The fulfilment of Allah’s global will for mankind is a universal reality today. That will is contained in Qur’an 21:107 thus: “We have not sent you (Muhammad) forth but as a mercy to the entire world. Say it is revealed to me that your God is one God. Won’t you submit to Him?”

    Unifying Factor

    It is only in Islam, of all religions, that adherents from Brazil, Finland, Nigeria, Pakistan and Australia can easily walk into any Mosque in China or Japan or Saudi Arabia and worship jointly behind an Imam without any fear of language discrimination. And that is what makes Islam the universal religion that Allah wills it to be. This is made possible by Arabic language which is the language of the revelation of the Qur’an. In all other religions of the world, adherents, irrespective of their populations, do worship only locally according to their languages.

    To call for the abandonment of Arabic language in Salat, therefore, as did by my interlocutor is to call for the reduction of Islam from a universal religion into a local one. Not only that, such a call is a way of advocating for the dismantling of global Muslim unity.

    What our pitied socialite brother does not know is the fact that worshipping in Arabic which is the language of the revelation of the Qur’an is the main cause of antagonism against Islam by those who have lost the originality of their own religion. That “Allah is all-wise and all-knowing” as quoted above is not in vain. All divine religions were deliberately revealed in the languages of their ‘Messengers’. And no Messenger was sent to the entire world except Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

    Cultural Vehicle

    Arabic, as a language, has become assimilated into Islam as a culture. And as a matter of fact, it is with that language that the Muslims imbibed the formidability and courage of resistance which enabled Islam to survive all intrigues, aggressions and intimidations of many empires through the centuries.

    As a culture, Islam remains irrepressible for two main reasons. One reason is that it is a spiritual rather than a physical nation with an everlasting ideology. Even if its adherents are conquered, the idea that makes that religion a nation can never be conquered because it is invisible. The other reason is contained in Qur’an 15:9 thus: “It was ‘We’ (Allah) who revealed the Qur’an and it is ‘We’ (Allah) who will certainly preserve it”.

    Formidability of a culture depends very much on the tenacity accorded its language by the speakers of that language.

    Sometimes, a culture may get absorbed into another culture without losing its accompanying language. Sometimes, a language may be assimilated into another language even as the culture is retained. Islam has resistance for both. The early Muslim Arabs did not take Islam alone to all conquered nations, they took along with it Arabic, the language of the Qur’an. Countries like Iraq, Syria , Lebanon , Egypt , Morocco , Libya , Algeria and Tunisia were not Arabic speaking until Islam spread to them.

    We have similar example here in Nigeria. The Fulanis, under the leadership of Sheikh Uthman Dan Fodio who re-introduced Islam in its purified form to the conquered areas now called northern Nigeria, had to compromise their language in favour of Islam which was their culture. The Hausas, on the other hand, preferred to sacrifice their pagan culture in favour of their language. Thus, the combination of both has come to give the northern Nigeria a foremost cultural veracity that is almost second to none in Africa. Not only has Hausa become an international language spoken in the media of most civilized countries, Shari’ah has also been imbibed as the Islamic cultural law of that region.

     

    Comparism

    Today, while most parts of the Southern Nigeria have enslaved themselves irredeemably to foreign cultures, the north gives a new hope of cultural renaissance to Nigeria and even Africa. From the cultural way the northerners dress and eat, from the way they insist on speaking Hausa language irrespective of where they find themselves, it is becoming clearer that adoption of that language in the UN is just a matter of time. Already, virtually all the countries that matter in the world today have Hausa programmes on their radio and television stations. And far from the self-deception of the southern people who want to eat their cake and still have it, the long expected African civilization may start from northern Nigeria. The numerical strength of that region is also an added advantage.

    It is rather unfortunate that the southern Muslims have had to join non-Muslims in replacing their cultural language with the colonial language. The tragedy of this development is that while they are losing their own language, they are unable to grasp the foreign language for which they are craving. In both ways, they are the losers not only today but tomorrow as well.

    Though, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) counselled Muslims on the need to understand languages other than their mother-tongues he never for once preached any abdication of one’s own natural language. Yoruba tribe in particular has a lesson to learn from this.

     

  • Omisore’s farcical election petition

    SIR: The Yoruba people have a saying that when an elephant dies, knives of varied hues and shapes are bound to show up, ready to slice off a huge chunk of flesh from the beefy creature. In Osun, the proverbial elephant is falling and we are beginning to witness the emergence of different types of knives. The metaphoric elephant I speak of is the 2014 gubernatorial election and the knives showing up are the aspirants from the different political parties.

    One of the politicians who have indicated interest in occupying the Oke-Fia Government House is Senator Iyiola Omisore of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). But what I find very displeasing about this Ile-Ife politician is his infernal capacity to reel out outright disinformation. The ever-present possibility of his bilious untruths being revealed doesn’t even daunt him. In recent interviews he granted to some newspapers, he maintained very gravely that he didn’t lose the National Assembly election conducted in 2011. Everywhere he goes, he continues to assault his audience with the falsity that he was the winner of the Osun East senatorial seat. To further misinform the unsuspecting members of the public, he adds injurious icing to his cake of falsehood by claiming that a suit challenging the result of that election is already before a court.

    Yet, when the claims of the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation are flicked through on the screen of irrefutable fact, their true nature as deception aimed to hoodwink comes clear. From all available evidence known to the people of the Senatorial District and beyond, Omisore won only in the polling booth where he cast his vote. So unwanted was he that voters in his ward, local government area and Ile-Ife voted against him. If there is one fact that this so-called powerful politician finds hard to accept, it is that he clearly lost that election. It is a ringing defeat that further reveals till date that he is no more than a politician whose influence and popularity weigh the same as a waver biscuit. And it is in the nature of such diluted politicians to concoct dessert of misrepresentation in order to paint a different picture.

    But the implication of the result of the 2011 election is that Senator Omisore cannot even be a councillor, with all the vaunting and false air he puts up.

    What is more, Omisore doesn’t have any pending case arising from that 2011 National Assembly election. The case in court has to do with the status of the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Osun, Oluwatoyin Akeju. Osun PDP alleged he was a card-carrying member of ACN. They went to court then. The court ruled that INEC should stop recognising Akeju as its REC and ordered his replacement before that election. But INEC appealed the verdict and Akeju stayed. After the election PDP went to court again, this time asking for the invalidation of the election. Till today the two cases are still at the Appeal Court. But Omisore is no party to neither of them! He has no election petition before any tribunal.

    Assaulting the people of Osun with doctored tale as against what the truth is will not improve the electoral fortune of Omisore. He should stop defacing the pages of newspapers with misinformation.

    • Adekunle Oyelade,

    Ile-Ife, Osun State