The Nation Newspaper

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  • Presidential anarchy

    Presidential anarchy

    Can the president of the Federal Republic levy war against a state and get away with it? From the conduct of President Goodluck Jonathan’s henchmen and women in the Rivers contrived crisis, that appears the case.

    It is nothing short of criminalising the presidency. But how much of this impunity can the civil order bear before something terrible gives?

    The especial tragedy of the Jonathan Presidency is, with reckless regularity, it repeats history as farce.

    But neither the first Nigerian president to boast a PhD, nor his hyper-educated aides, seems fazed by this roller-coaster cascade into infamy. Such is their total gobble of the sweet poison of naked power – powers they don’t even have, had they not chosen to criminalise the presidency, if they ever bothered to read between the lines of the 1999 Constitution, warts and all!

    Take the latest trigger in the contrived crisis: the Rivers House of Assembly mayhem of July 9. Now, between the Goodluck Jonathan and Rotimi Amaechi battling camps, there is enough villainy to gift a multitude, with some left-over.

    How can an immaculate, fiery and all-conquering mace-battler, with the moral ardour of some bathetic Christ clearing his father’s house of worship of a den of thieves, morph into a sanctimonious victim, nestling in a hospital bed; and peeping at millions of sympathisers, from the vantage point of the lead photo, on the front page of a national newspaper?

    But before you condemn that battler, meet his victim: an apparent constitutional criminal, one of the G-5 renegades who, backed by some subversive federal power, felt they could impeach the Rivers Assembly Speaker and, like some tragic-comic pantomime with voice-over, were already on the subversive ritual, seconding motions, suspending imaginary legislators, voting, getting “elected” and giving “acceptance speeches”!

    Must Nigerians be assaulted by such power lunacy?

    To apologists or self-proclaimed purists, who insist “constitutional criminal” is jumping the legal gun, since no one has been tried and found guilty, this riposte: if the courts had serially voided such legislative banditry in Oyo, Plateau and Anambra states, during the Obasanjo-era presidential anarchy, can it be less culpable now because Jonathan-era legislative lunatics are repeating the farce?

    And here really lies the crux: if Obasanjo could grandstand that Nuhu Ribadu was undermining the Constitution to get rid of allegedly thieving politicians, what noble cause can the current rascals attach to their own subversive activism?

    Those who nail Governor Amaechi for “invading” the Rivers legislature to clear the mess miss the point. Yes, a governor should be a gentleman. But with a president that tweaks rules for illicit gains, that could be fatal.

    If you doubt, ask Rashidi Ladoja, the bitter-sweet former governor of Oyo State. He shunned President Obasanjo’s diktat that he surrender his gubernatorial authority to Lamidi Adedibu, Obasanjo’s beloved Ibadan garrison commander, only to holler in the cold for no less than 10 months, victim of an illegal impeachment.

    To those who still want to play the ostrich, pushing “law” without factoring in the lawless temper of its operators, the odyssey of Justice Isa Ayo Salami, under this same Jonathan Presidency, is instructive. Salami did his duty by law. But to the lawless in government, that was near-capital crime, for which the no-nonsense president of the Court of Appeal is paying.

    Yes, the Judiciary saved Ladoja; and voided the allied legislative rascality in Plateau and Anambra states. But with the Salami experience, it is doubtful if that judiciary had not melted into Heraclitus’s state of flux, no thanks to a hostile Jonathan Presidency.

    Amaechi certainly was not pretty, “storming” the legislature to nip in the bud the putative coup against his office. But he did the needful to preserve his position in an emerging presidential anarchy. For all you know, if the coup against him had succeeded, he would now be shrieking, Ladoja-like, from the wilderness, while his traducers would be mouthing “due process”! No society thrives under such cynical manipulation.

    But it is instructive how this Jonathan-era rascality empties into the Obasanjo-era mother river, even if Jonathan’s bumbling, to use Malthus-speak of basic economics, is “geometrical” while Obasanjo’s “original sins” now appear “arithmetical”.

    Talking about “original sin”, the dramatis personae of the current crisis appear to have cleanly forgotten the first outrage of 10 July 2003 (the Rivers outrage followed almost 10 years after, 9 July 2013!), when some Abuja-backed criminals tried to unseat controversial Governor Chris Ngige. It was the classic malevolent godfather’s challenge, before the plague of illicit impeachments based on “simple minorities”, which the latest Rivers jokers essayed with devastating consequences.

    What happened to the ring leaders back then: AIG Raphael Ige, the apparent Abuja viceroy in the crime, Tafa Balogun, then sitting IG, and even Obasanjo himself, the sitting president who, throughout the crisis, pushed the theory of plausible deniability?

    AIG Ige, the apparent fall guy, suffered abrupt retirement (even if his retirement time was close) and later, sudden death. Mr. Balogun suffered eventual humiliation, though his role, beyond being the Police IG was unclear; and his comeuppance was not directly linked to the Ngige saga. Even Obasanjo has continued to suffer progressive devaluation, to the point of irrelevance, since his presidential glory days.

    Do all these speak to Mbu Joseph Mbu, the commissioner of Police deep in the Rivers crisis, given his inappropriate conduct and reckless utterances? There are always spiritual consequences for political rascality that hurt the silent and innocent majority.

    Festus Eriye, editor of The Nation on Sunday, in his penetrating piece of July 14, described President Jonathan as Pontius Pilate, in a piece he headlined “Pontius Pilate strikes again”. That was a brilliant metaphor because before Jonathan, there was Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s first and only Prime Minister, and Pontius Pilate I of Nigeria’s troubled political horizon.

    Sir Abubakar launched political insurrection at the Western Region, with his suspect proclamation of state of emergency, after a contrived crisis in the Western House of Assembly, just to cripple Obafemi Awolowo.

    Jonathan, Pontius Pilate II, is doing the same, in what would have been the old Eastern Region, although this time, against a party mate; but with no less partisan bile, despite his aides’ comical denial. Jonathan court historians should check their history books and tell their principal how the Balewa gambit ended.

    Which brings us to the Jonathan denial ensemble: two “doctors”, Reuben Abati, Doyin Okupe and a Gulak, who obviously thinks everybody’s thinking faculty is, as his own, locked in Jonathan’s gulag!

    Ahmed Gulak, sounding every inch a power brat, told Prof. Wole Soyinka to be “responsible” (a counsel his principal ironically needs more than anyone!), because of Soyinka’s stance on the contrived Rivers crisis.

    Well, Gulak should check his history books. When Balewa was being led astray or even Obasanjo, Jonathan’s political creator, was leading himself astray, Soyinka was there, an ever consistent voice of reason, which nevertheless is the proverbial harsh hunter’s whistle, to the hearing of a doomed dog.

    Those who engage in double-speak, let them. But true friends of Goodluck Jonathan must tell him to withdraw from his Rivers misadventure.

    It is a wide and merry way that leads to infamy.

     

  • Who are the Yoruba people? (Part 3)

    Who are the Yoruba people? (Part 3)

    Up until 1292 BC and the ascension of King Menpehtyre Ramesses, all the Pharaohs of Egypt were black. These include some of the better known ones such as King Horemheb (who preceeded King Ramesses), King Khafra (who was depicted by the Great Sphinx of Giza), King Tutankhamun (the young Pharoah whose tomb was discovered with enormous riches and a terrible curse by a British archeologist and explorer called Howard Carter), Queen Cleopatra (whose beauty was enchanting, who captured the emotions of Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, who divided the Roman Empire and whom this writer honoured with a poem titled ‘’The Nubian Queen’’), Queen Nefertiti (who was the wisest of the wise and the most compassionate of all the Egyptian monarchs), King Piye (who was the conqueror of Egypt, the master of Nubia and the greatest of all the Cushite warrior kings) and the two Pharaoes that the biblical Moses and the biblical Joseph knew respectively and that had such a great impact on Jewish history and the fortunes of the Jewish people. All these Pharaohs were black African Nubians who were to be later referred to as the ‘’Sudanese’’. The fact of the matter is that right up until the establishment of the 19th dynasty and the coming of King Ramesses in 1292 BC the rulers of Egypt were all Nubians and not the ‘’brown and olive-skinned’’ Euroasiatics and Arabs that the Ramessesian era ushered in.

    The Nubians not only ruled Egypt for thousands of years but they also constituted the majority of those that made up the Egyptian middle class and intelligensia including the clerics, theologians, artists, writers, poets, medics, artesans, builders, architects, astrologers, mathmatecians and professionals. The Ancient Egyptians themselves referred to their homeland as ‘’Kmt’’ (which is conventionally pronounced as ‘’Kemet’’). According to the celebrated historian Cheikh Anta Diop, the Ancient Egyptians referred to themselves as “Black people’’ or ‘’kmt’’ and ‘’kmt’’ was the etymological root of other words, such as ‘’Kam’’ or ‘’Ham’’, which refer to ‘’black people’’ in Hebrew tradition. Diop, William Leo Hansberry, and Aboubacry Moussa Lam have argued that ‘’kmt’’ was derived from the skin colour of the Nile valley people, who they claim were black. And they were absolutely right. These are the facts though some western and Arab Egyptologists find it hard to accept and often seek to deny it. Yet whether anyone likes to accept it or not the fact remains that the greatest civilisation that the world has ever known, which is the Egyptian civilisation, was led and established by people of colour and those same people were the custodians of the deepest mysteries and secrets of our world and of the human race.

    The final batch of ancient Cushites that remained in Arabia for thousands of years after all the others had left and that had refused to leave those lands for Africa with their Ethiopian brothers and sisters eventually migrated to the Egyptian Nile Valley from Mecca and Medina. Thousands of years later this last wave of Cushite migrants were to be referred to as the ‘’yoruba’’. Yet for thousands of years before the word ‘’yoruba’’ was even conceived and after their arrival in the Nile Valley these same people constituted an essential and vital part of the ruling and middle class of the Sudan, Nubia and Ancient Egypt. The Cushite forefathers of the yoruba were a learned and mystical people that were well versed in philosophy, the arts, history, the mysteries of the age, science, anthropology and the secrets of the spirit realm and human existence. Their contribution to Ancient Egyptian culture and art was second to none. Most importantly the pantheon of gods that they had worshipped, guarded jealously and served for thousands of years whilst in Mecca and Medina before their migration to the Nile Valley were accepted by the Egyptian ruling elite and were fully integrated and superimposed on the Egyptian religious stratosphere. As a matter of fact those gods were not only accepted but they eventually became the cornerstone and foundation of Ancient Egyptian culture and religion. That is the level of input that the yoruba made into the affairs and development of Ancient Egypt.

    In our quest to further explore the ancient Egyptian roots of the yoruba permit me to qoute copiously from an excellent contribution titled ‘’YORUBA- THE EGYPTIAN CONNECTION’’ which was written by Olomu and Eyebira. The write-up is utterly fascinating in terms of it’s depth and research. In the section titled ‘’The Oduduwan Revolution’’. The authors wrote the following-

    ‘’In this chapter, we shall talk of a possible migration from ancient Egypt. Many traditions point to a fact that an alien group (Egyptians) immigrated to Yoruba land and mixed with the original population.Many oral traditions are replete with these stories. The Awujale of Ijebu land has shown that the Ijebus are descended from ancient Nubia (a colony of Egypt). He was able to use the evidence of language, body, scarification, coronation rituals that are similar to Nubians’ etc, to show that the Ijebus are descendants of the Nubians. What the present Awujale claimed for the Ijebus, can be authenticated all over Yoruba land. The Awujale even mentioned (2004) that the Itsekiri (an eastern Yoruba dialect) are speaking the original Ijebu language. Since the Nubians were descended from the Egyptians, the Ijebu, and by extension, all Yoruba customs, derived from the Egyptian as well. Many traditional Yorubas have always claimed Egypt as their place of original abode, and that their monarchical tradition derives from the Egyptians.

    Apostle Atigbiofor Atsuliaghan, a high priest of Umale-Okun, and a direct descendant of Orunmila, claimed that the Yorubas left Egypt as a result of a big war that engulfed the whole of Egypt. He said the Egyptian remnants settled in various places, two important places being Ode Itsekiri and Ile-Ife.Chief O.N Rewane says “Oral tradition has it also that when the Yorubas came from South of Egypt they did not go straight to where they now occupy. They settled at Illushi, some at Asaba area – Ebu, Olukumi Ukwunzu while some settled at Ode-Itsekiri,.” (O.N. Rewane Royalty Magazine A PICTORIAL SOUVENIR OF THE BURIAL AND CORONATION OF OLU OF WARRI, WARRI 1987). Since these oral traditions are passed on by very illiterate people, we can augment whatever is recorded with written sources.

    Concerning the migration of some of the Yoruban ancestors from the east, Conton says: ‘’The Yoruba of Nigeria are believed by many modern historians to be descended from a people who were living on the banks of the Nile 2,000 years ago, and who were at the time in close contact with the Egyptians and the Jews. Sometime before AD 600, if this belief is correct, these people must have left their fertile lands, for reasons which we can not now discover and have joined in the ceaseless movement of tribes west wards and south-wards across our continent.We can only guess at the many adventures they and their descendants must have had on their long journey and at the number of generations which passed before they arrived. All we can be certain about is that they were a Negro people and that one of the many princely states they founded on their arrival in West Africa…..was Ife’’- Conton.

    Although we agree with Conton that some of the Yoruban ancestors migrated from Egypt, we tend to toe the scientific line of Cheik Anta Diop, that the ancient Egyptians were pure Negroes. Aderibigbe, an indigenous scholar, also accepts that the Yorubas migrated from Egypt. He says:”The general trend of these theories, most of them based on Yoruba traditions, is that of a possible origin from “the east”. Some scholars, impressed by the similarities between Yoruba and ancient Egyptian culture – religious observation, works of art, burial and other customs – speak of a possible

    migration of the ancestors of the Yoruba from the upper Nile (as early as 2000BC – 1000BC) as a result of some upheavals in ancient Egypt”. (AB ADERIBIGBE 1976). Unlike Conton, Aderibigbe was able to pinpoint a cause for the Yoruban migration – war. Olumide Lucas did a lot of job to show similarities and identities between the ancient Egyptians and the Yoruban peoples. The date that Aderibigbe gave (2000BC – 1000BC) is much earlier than that given by Conton. Aderibigbe’s date corresponds to that of the Hyksos invasion of Egypt 2000-1500BC.

    On the possible eastern origin of the Yorubas, Tariqh Sawandi says:”The Yoruba history begins with the migration of an east African population across the trans-African route leading from Mid-Nile river area to the Mid-Niger. Archaeologists, according to M. Omoleya, inform us that the Nigerian region was inhabited more than forty thousand years ago, or as far back as 65,000BC. During this period, the Nok culture occupied the region. The Nok culture was visited by the “Yoruba people”, between 2000BC and 500BC. This group of people was led, according to Yoruba historical accounts by king Oduduwa, who settled peacefully in the already established Ile-Ife, the sacred city of the indigenous Nok people.This time period is known as the Bronze Age, a time of high civilization of both of these groups. According to Olumide J. Lucas, “the Yoruba, during antiquity, lived in ancient Egypt before migrating to the Atlantic coast”. He uses as demonstration the similarity or identity of languages, religious beliefs, customs and names of persons, places and things. In addition, many ancient papyri discovered by archaeologists point at an Egyptian origin’’ (Tariqh Sawandi: ‘’Yorubic medicine: The Art of divine herbology).

    (TO BE CONTINUED)

  • BBC said I wasn’t sexy enough

    BBC said I wasn’t sexy enough

    It was the era before Nigella, but even so Delia Smith has revealed that BBC bosses thought she was not “sexy enough” for television in the 1980s.

    Smith, 71, said she was considered “too educational” by BBC Two bosses.

    After her first series Family Fare failed to attract enough viewers on BBC One, she was later given a show on BBC Two but it did not impress the channel’s controller.

    “The next controller said, ‘I don’t think this is sexy enough. I don’t think it belongs on my channel. I think it should go in education’. Apparently I was not sexy enough. I suppose it was a blow, but you can’t be everything can you?” she told The Mirror.

    But Smith said the knock-back was the “best thing that ever happened” and inspired her to go back to basics, making her shows more popular.

    Speaking last night at a Bafta event where she was hailed as a “national treasure” and given a special award for her contribution to broadcasting, Smith said the best thing about her career was the response from her viewers.

    “I think the most rewarding and satisfying thing is meeting the people who use the recipes, reading their letters- well, now their emails- but that’s always rewarding when you realise you are actually reaching people through this wonderful medium called television.”

    She also spoke about her recently launched online cookery skills course, which she hopes will educate a new generation of cooks.

    “At the moment we’ve got Delia Online cookery school and that’s my passion at the moment, to try and teach younger people who have not had any lessons and try and teach them the basics.”

    But the much-loved TV cook admitted her online school will be her last venture into cooking programmes.

    “There is no better way to teach. When I have done this I will stop, as it will be done for ever” she said.

    Smith began her TV career in 1973 as presenter of Family Fare, following a brief spell as a swimwear model before becoming a cookery writer for The Mirror.

    Her first cookery book How to Cheat at Cooking was published in 1971 and was later made into a three-part television series called Delia Smith’s Cookery Course.

    Her most recent series have included One is Fun, Delia’s How to Cook, and Delia’s Classic Christmas.

  • Victor Adedapo Kayode— Lest legend becomes myth

    Victor Adedapo Kayode— Lest legend becomes myth

    One of the most important foundations of any civilisation is history. If we do not know our own history, who we are, who and what our forefathers were and where we came from then we are truly lost. In the film production of J. R. Tolkien’s famous book titled ‘’Lord Of The Rings’’ one of the most compelling yet tragic lines reads as follows- ‘’Thousands of years passed by….history became legend and legend became myth’’. Few words are as profound as this and the import of those words resonate nothing but the deepest wisdom. The lesson that we can draw from this insightful truism is simple. If you do not learn and continue to remind yourself of your history as a person, as a family, as a people, as a nationality, as a tribe and as a nation, the likelihood is that what is historical fact gradually pales into an intangible and unlikely legend and then it eventually turns into nothing but an ephemeral myth. And once such sacred historical facts become nothing but myth it destroys the soul and the foundation of your very existence as an individual, as a family, as a people and as a nation. When you do not know, care to know or care to learn and remember what your roots are, no matter how humble or seemingly inconsequential those roots may be, you become a nothing. It is to avoid the possibilty of history turning into legend and legend turning into myth that I have chosen to put on record the facts about one of the most distinguished and well-educated Nigerians that ever lived by the name of Victor Adedapo Kayode.

    Rev. Emmanuel Adedapo Kayode, was an Anglican priest who studied theology at the Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leonne and who graduated with an M.A.  (Durham) in 1892. He was of the yoruba tribe and came from the ancient town of Ile-Ife in the old Osun Province of south-western Nigeria. He was educated by the Anglican church from a very young age and after graduating from university and finishing at the seminary, he rose through the ranks of the church and served as an Anglican priest throughout his life. He built, planted, established and pastored some of the earliest Anglican churches in Ile-Ife itself and in Osun Province, Ondo Province and Ijebu Province as they then were. Rev. Emmanuel Adedapo Kayode married Miss Sophia Cole (the sister of the famous Lagosian Rev. M.S. Cole) and they had 13 children out of which 9 survived. The first of those children was Victor Adedapo Kayode who is the subject of this essay and who was born in 1899. Rev. E.A. Kayode’s wife Mrs. E.A. Kayode (nee Cole) came from a very distinguished and illustrious lineage. Her mother was from the famous Savage family of Lagos and her first cousins were lawyer William Akinlade Savage (who was called to the English Bar in 1906) and Dr. Richard Akinwade, who with Sir Kitoye Ajasa, Dr. J.K. Randle and Dr. Orisadipe Obasa, established the conservative People’s Union in 1909. This was Nigeria’s first political party and they were opposed to Sir Herbert Macauly’s more radical approach to political issues in the Lagos colony. Macauly later established the NNDP and cultivated the support of the largely illiterate Lagos masses whilst the elites gravitated towards the Peoples Union. The NNDP was to later metamorphosised into the NCNC, which turned out to be one of the greatest and most powerful forces in the politics of south-western and southern Nigeria in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. In 1945, whilst on his deathbed, Herbert Macauly handed over the leadership of the NCNC to a rising young and Igbo star that had been resident in Lagos virtually all his life by the name of Nnamdi Azikiwe.

    The first son of Rev. and Mrs. E.A. Kayode , Victor Adedapo Kayode, was educated at Kings College, Lagos. In 1917, he matriculated at the Selwyn College, Cambridge University and in 1920 he graduated and was awarded his M.A. degree in law. He did his masters at Cambridge as well and he graduated and was awarded his LLB masters degree in 1921. Victor Kayode enrolled at the Middle Temple and was called to the British Bar in 1922. He came top in his exams at both Cambridge University (both the first and second year tripos) and at the Middle Temple. This remarkable feat was repeated by his own son Babaremilekun Fani-Kayode approximately 20 years later when he followed in his illustrious father’s footsteps and attended both institutions.

    Victor Adedapo Kayode got married to Miss Aurora Fanimokun in Chelsea, London in 1920. Aurora Fanimokun was the first daughter of the respected Rev. Suberu Fanimokun of the Lagos Colony (as it then was) and he was the Principal of the famous CMS Grammer School, Lagos. Like his colleague in holy orders and future in-law Rev. E.A. Kayode, Rev. Suberu Fanimokun also graduated in 1892 with an M.A. (Durham) from Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leonne. After graduating Fanimokun married Miss Bucknor of the distinguished Bucknor family of Lagos. Her brother was the famous lawyer, E. Bucknor who was called to the english Bar in 1896 and who was also a friend of Sir Kitoye Ajasa. Apart from Aurora, Rev. Fanimokun and Mrs. Fanimokun (nee Bucknor) also had a son that graduated from Glasgow University as a medical practitioner in the early 1920’s. All these families constituted the cream of Lagos high society in their days. It was by dint of fate and providence that the son and daughter of Rev. E.A. Kayode and Rev. S. Fanimokun, both of whom were contemporaries and illustrious Anglican priests, ended up getting married in 1920. The first child of that marriage was Babaremilekun Fani-Kayode who was born in Chelsea, London in 1921. At that time, London was the most affluent city in the western world yet 30 per cent of Londoners were living below the poverty line. This shows that even the most developed cities and nations in the world once went through very hard times as well.

    After being called to the British bar in 1922, Victor Adedapo Kayode went back to Lagos, Nigeria where he set up one of the most successful legal practices of his day. He specialised in criminal law. He occassionally intervened in the politics of the day in Lagos Colony but his forte was law and because he was acknowledged as one of the best lawyers of his day, he was appointed as a magistrate in 1940. In those days, there were no Nigerian magistrates and judges. They were all British.

    Olumuyiwa Jibowu was the first Nigerian to become a magistrate in 1931 and then Adebiyi Desalu followed him in 1938. Adetokunboh Ademola was the third in 1939 and then came Victor Adedapo Kayode, F.E.O. Euba and George Frederick Dove-Edwin in 1940. F.O. Lucas was appointed in 1941. These were the first Nigerians to become magistrates and virtually all of them went on to the higher bench and did exceedingly well. Unfortunately in 1941, just one year after being appointed as a magistrate, Victor Adedapo Kayode died at the relatively young age of 42 whilst he was presiding over an important land case.

    A few of years after his death, Madame Aurora Kayode remarried. Her second husband was Ernest ikoli, a well-known and very prominent Ijaw man that had been resident in Lagos virtually all his life. Ikoli was a journalist by profession and he was the editor of two very powerful newspapers. He was very active in the politics of Lagos; he was one of the founders of the Nigerian Youth Movement (which later metamorphosied into the Action Group) and he was the man that was credited as being Obafemi Awolowo’s mentor and benefactor and that actually funded his education in the United Kingdom when he went there to study law. Ikoli was best of friends with Sir Adeyemo Alakija and many other Lagos elites in his days. Madame Aurora had seven children for her first husband V.A. Kayode (four sons and three daughters) but she had no children for Ikoli.

    Victor Adedapo Kayode and Madame Aurora Kayode (nee Fanimokun) were the parents of Victor Babaremilekun Adetokunboh Fani-Kayode, the former Minister of Chieftaincy and Local Government Affairs and Deputy Premier of Nigeria’s old Western Region. They were also the grandparents of David Oluwafemi Adewunmi Fani-Kayode, Nigeria’s former Minister of Aviation and former Minister of Culture and Tourism. It was as a symbol of the deep affection that Chief Babaremilekun Fani-Kayode had for his mother, Madame Aurora, that he added the prefix of her maiden name (which was ‘’Fani’’) to our surname (which was ‘’Kayode’’) and hence the name ‘’Fani-Kayode’’ was created. It is my intention to ensure that this legend does not become myth. God bless Nigeria.

  • The case for conditional amnesty

    The issue of insecurity and enormous destruction and damage to lives and properties over the past years in Nigeria is of concern to the majority. There is need for all stakeholders to proffer solutions to the problem and bring peace and security back to Nigeria in the shortest possible time. The majority of insecurity problems is attributable to mainly two categories of people.

    The first category are the plain criminals who bomb and kill for pecuniary gain. These category are to be treated strictly as criminals and need no consideration in terms of negotiations and/or amnesty.

    The second category are religious criminals comprising the likes of Boko Haram, Jamatul Islamiyya etc. The suggested approach is to further sub-categorize these groups as follows:

    1. The innocent and misguided members. This subcategory consists of those people who were lured into the group for various reasons including but not limited to deceitful and false doctrines but are yet to stain their hands with any criminal activities. This group is the most critical for the government to negotiate with and grant conditional amnesty. The government should concentrate on identifying those in this sub-category, increasing their numbers, extracting vital information on operations, logistics etc from them as former insiders and granting them conditional amnesty and protection. Conditional amnesty in the sense that they will not be prosecuted as long as they live criminal-free lifes and no past criminal activities are traceable to them.

    2.      The repentant moderates. This subcategory consists of members who may have soiled their hands with criminal activities but have regrets about their past actions and are willing to change their ways and opt out. Having been involved in some form of criminal activities before, those in this subcategory may not readily want to accept responsibility for their past misdeeds and they are likely to be large in numbers. The objective is to identify these repentant moderates who are willing to face their punishments and change their way of life to criminal free society members.

    3.      The hardcore unrepentant criminals. This subcategory of members cannot be negotiated with under any circumstances. The objective here is to identify them and bring them to justice for atrocities committed against mankind and the nation. It may not be out of place for the government to put forward incentives for individuals or groups who can assist with the apprehension and prosecution of the members of this group.

    4.      There are numerous advantages to adopting a policy of selective and conditional amnesty. Some of the advantages include:

    i. The government provides a legal and easy pathway for the innocent and misguided members and repentant moderates to renounce violence and be reintegrated into society.

    ii. The government gathers vital information from those two groups mentioned above for proper planning towards combating and apprehending the hard core unrepentant criminals.

    iii.  A policy of selective and conditional amnesty decimates the rank of members of the criminal groups thus effectively reducing resources to be channeled towards combating insecurity.

    iv.    A policy of selective and conditional amnesty may as well be the new thrust towards combating insecurity in the country. The government will need to add constructive education, gainful employment and other similar policy initiatives in the mix to have a comprehensive turn-around.

    5.      There are other pre-requisites that the government needs to provide for a successful outcome. Some of these are:

    i.The government needs to provide security and protection and some form of compensation to whistle blowers who alert government to the operations of the criminal elements leading to their apprehension for prosecution.

    ii.     The government needs to lay out concrete plans for re-integrating innocent and misguided members and repentant moderates into society

  • Language legislators’ tiff

    NATIONAL MIRROR of March 28 splashed a school-boy howler on its Education Today Cover Page: “Affected candidates demand for certificates” ‘Demand,’ when used as a verb, does not admit ‘for’—only when employed as a noun.

    The Guardian of March 26 nurtured some wrongs right from its front page: “Zambia (Zambian/Zambia’s) ex-president, Banda, to appear in court today over Nigeria’s oil deal, others”

    Yet another headline wrongdoing: “EU suspends sanctions against most Zimbabwe officials” World Report: Zimbabwean officials

    “Every year since 1999, each of the federal legislators or his or her (their) constituency has been voted millions of naira to execute projects in the said constituency.” (The Guardian Editorial, March 26)

    “UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) is a smoke free (smoke-free) environment committed to gender equality in its mandate and its staff.”

    “…immediately available to all airtel pay as you use customers” (Full-page advertisement in The Guardian under review) Amazing data deal: pay-as-you-use customers

    THISDAY of March 23 goofed in its FRONT PAGE COMMENT: “The death last Thursday in the United States of Professor Chinua Achebe, 82, has brought a tragic loss to Nigeria.” ‘Last Thursday,’ for a Saturday newspaper, will mean a fortnight ago when the publication should have said ‘on’ or ‘this Thursday.’ It has to be one of this: last/this/next Thursday. You cannot employ ‘last Thursday’ for ‘this Thursday’! May his soul rest in peace (not perfect peace!) as would soon be documented in Nigerian newspapers.

    Still on THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER: “…writes about the live (life) and times of one of Nigeria’s poet (poets), writer (writers) and public speaker (speakers)….”

    “We are committed to empower (empowering) women build sustainable business” Both sound clumsy! For headline purposes, why not ‘We’re committed to women empowerment’—let the reader find out the specific area of stakeholder engagement.

    “…as fresh episodes of the enthralling reality show continues (continue) to end in gripping suspense.”

    National Mirror of March 21 played with lexical fire: “Mother, five children die in Kaduna fire outbreak” Just end it at ‘fire’—away with ‘outbreak’ and ‘incident’! THISDAY of March 22 had a similar headline: “Army: Fire outbreak didn’t occur in Ihejirika’s office”

    FROM MY INBOX

    “THERE is no doubt that Baba Bayo Oguntunase is about 35 years ahead of me in knowledge and wisdom. In his reaction last week to my earlier submission that Nigerian writers should always hyphenate the noun ‘vice-president’, he cited several works to drive home the fact that ‘vice-president’ should not be hyphenated. Thank God that Baba, in his typical self, was humble enough to accept that even at 75, he could still be taught. It should be noted that all the works cited by Baba are all of (North) American origin. May I refer Baba Oguntunase to page 1656 of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (8th and latest edition). If that is not enough, Baba should look up ‘vice-president’ on page 1610 of the Concise English Dictionary. Space will not permit me to cite more. While ‘vice-president’ and ‘vice-presidential’ are hyphenated in these dictionaries, ‘vice chancellor’ and ‘vice admiral’ are not. Do we now say that these dictionaries are wrong? Nigerian writers should, as a matter of principle, hyphenate ‘vice-president’. I insist!  Members of Wordsworth Fan Club have asked: ‘What is the impartial Ebere Wabara’s position on the Matter?’  Let him be the umpire! I am quick to add here that the inimitable Bayo Oguntunase, and Ebere Wabara, the indefatigable defender of lexical purity, are my role models. They teach me what I teach others. If my insistence that Nigerian writers should stick to British English is a wrong assertion, they should be held responsible. I rest my case.”

    (Stanley Nduagu/08062925996)

    Stanley, the robust debate is still at the high court. When it gets to the apex court, I will intervene!

    “MY good brother, thank you for the nice job you have been doing. The problem is that those who commit these blunders do so out of ignorance, not as a mistake. So, even if they see your corrections, they would never understand the reason for the corrections. Please note that the moment you miss the rudiments from primary and secondary schools, you have missed it forever! That is why some professors write and speak very bad English language. Keep trying. God will help us.” (Ojo Okafor Esq./08055217580)

    “YOU are doing a great job. Keep it up. Though ‘nook’ and ‘cranny’ are countable, the approved British English language is ‘(every) nook and cranny’—not nooks and crannies. I know of civil society or civil society groups/organisations and not civil societies as published in Vanguard last week. Present-day grammar recognises ‘presently’ as both ‘soon’ and ‘now’—it’s authoritative. Check Dictionary of Contemporary English for instance. The Chambers Dictionary (2004) defines ‘presently’ as: at present; now; before long; in a while; directly; immediately; necessarily; inevitably; for the time being; at once. Equally, BBC English Dictionary, published by Rex Charles & Patrick Ltd., in association with Africana-FEP Publishers Ltd., agrees. Also note that ‘dual’ (a road) can function as a verb or noun. ‘Parastatal’ (agency) is an adjective and not a noun as Nigerians use it. Finally, Ebere, it may interest you to know full well that, just like Mr. Oguntunase, I also studied Latin.” (Kola Danisa/07068074257 & 08028233277)

    “MAY God bless you real good for your WORDSWORTH every Sunday in Jesus’ name. Amen.” (Tony Agbache (retd.)/Deputy Director/INEC/Asaba/Delta State/08037114150)

  • The American Supreme Court and same sex marriage

    The American Supreme Court and same sex marriage

    My the time this essay is published the Supreme Court of the United States of America would have heard all the arguements and counter-arguements about the legality and desireability of same sex marriages. President Barak Obama has openly endorsed such marriages just as the former American Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton and her husband, President Bill Clinton. According to a CNN poll, no less than 58 per cent of the American people support same sex marriages too and another poll suggests that 80 per cent of Americans that are under the age of 30 also support it. And such support is not limited to those that are supporters or members of the American Democratic Party. Even the more liberal elements in the Republican Party, which is a party after my heart and which is the traditional bastion of conservative Christian and American values, seem to have warmed to the idea. This is simply because that is what the majority of the American people want and any political party that continues to resist it may pay a heavy price at the polls.

    It is clear that the world is changing and that America, under Obama, has redefined her moral and religious values dramatically. I saw this coming and that is precisely why I have never been a great fan of Barrak Obama and that, much to the chagrin of my fellow Africans and men and women of colour from all over the world, I openly opposed his re-election last year and wrote a highly celebrated essay titled ‘’Can Barak Obama Be Trusted’’ which created quite a stir and which was widely published. The truth is that President Obama’a latest endorsement of and his stand on same sex marriage utterly appalls me.

    What is the world coming to? How come we suddenly find it so easy to turn our backs on the word of God which specifically defines marriage as a holy union between a man and a woman which was designed primarily for the purpose of procreation? Not only does Obama and 58 per cent of the American people believe in same sex marriage but they also believe in same sex couples adopting and raising children. Is this not a tragedy of monuemental proportions? This is a country whose founding father’s, known as the ‘’pilgrim fathers’’, founded and established it on God and on His Holy Word. President George Washington, the greatest American patriot and father of American independence, once proclaimed that ‘’you cannot rule without God and the bible’’.  Have the American people forgotten that?  Has America turned it’s back on the Living God? Have they forgotten the fact that God made them what they are today? Hve they rejected God and now espoused the spirit and luciferean principles of humanism? Is it not pertinent to note the fact that not one of the three great monotheic faiths on our planet, whether it be Christianity, Islam or Judaism, supports same sex marriage? As a matter of fact, they all specifically forbid it and describe it as a perversion and an abomination. All the polytheic faiths, including the hindus, the sikhs, the buddhists, the shinto worshippers, the traditionalists and even the atheists and agnostics do the same and condemn same sex marriage in the strongest terms.

    I have nothing against gays and lesbians. I believe that a person’s sexual preferences or sexuality are entirely their own business. I also accept the fact that gays should not be in any way discriminated against or subjected to hate speech. Your sexuality is a matter of choice and no one has the right to deny you the right to make that choice. This much I conceede and accept. However, I draw the line when it comes to the issue of redefining the traditional definition of marriage and allowing gay couples to enter such a union. This is because the institution and its definition was established by Almighty God Himself and it is not for man to alter or amend. Attempting to do so is tantamount to man trying to play God. It is not right, it is morally indefensible and it is a violent and unprecedented attack on the institution of marriage and our traditional family values.

    Yet America is not alone in its madness. Europe has gone crazy too. In France, the U.K, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and various other European countries, legislation to pave the way for same sex marriage has already been introduced and in some of those countries it is already lawful. The same thing is happening in Argentina, where gays are now allowed to marry, and I gather that Brazil is treading the same path. What is the world coming to? Will we ever see gay marriages in Africa and in Nigeria? I have little doubt that South Africa, the traditional bastion of liberalism in Africa, will be the first to permit it if they havn’t done so already. Should we allow Nigeria to climb this slippery slope as well? I sincerely hope not. Meanwhile, let us wait to see whether the American Supreme Court will do the right thing and shoot this abominable and morally repugnant concept down or whether they will affirm it. For the sake of God and humanity I sincerely hope that they choose the former course.

    I pray that I have not hurt anyone’s feelings by expressing these views on same sex marriage because the last thing that I would want is for anyone to describe me as a raging and ranting homophobe. I am far from that. As a matter of fact I think that it is a mark of a truly civilised society when people can tolerate and treat with love those that are ‘’different’’ from them whether it be as a consequence of their faith, culture, colour or sexuality. The call for the enforcement of the rights of ethnic or sexual minorities, including the rights of homosexuals and lesbians, is an ethos and philosophy that I wholly subscribe to. In any plural, multi-religious and multi-cultural society it is incumbent upon us all to be as tolerant and accomodating as posssible about the peculiarities and preferences of one another. I am proud to say that some of my closest friends are gay and as a matter of fact many of the young men that I went to British public school with many years ago openly experimented with gay sex and gay love only for most to later discover that it wasn’t for them. I see or feel no shame in that because for many it was simply a beautiful journey of self-discovery and love. As far as I am concerned it is each to his own but that should not stretch into marriage or the right of same sex couples to adopt and raise children.

    Our country Nigeria, as in most of Africa, is a land that is plagued with ignorance and intolerance when it comes to the issue of sexuality and gays. We are wholly intorent and we are totally insensitive when it comes to the feelings of those in our community that are gay. Gay-hunting, gay-bashing, gay beating, gay-hating and even gay-killing are favourite past time of ours and as far as I am concerened this is totally unacceptable. We have forgotten that our God is a God of love and mercy and not a God of hate and condemnation. Yet we are so quick and eager to judge others. For example how can we have laws in our land that send a man or woman to jail or to his or her death simply because he or she has different sexual preferences to the rest of us? As long as the two parties that are involved are consenting adults, what they do in the privacy of their homes or hotel rooms is surely no one else’s business. I may not approve of it simply because it offends my values as a believer and because I cannot understand what promotes or motivates it but what gives me the right to describe such people as ‘’sick deviants’’ that are ’’destined to go to hell’’.? It really is just a matter of choice. We cannot regulate people’s sexual habits or preferences but at the same time we have a duty to protect the institution of marriage as it is described and defined in the Holy Bible, the Holy Koran, the Torah and all the other divinely-inspired holy books. My position is therefore clear and it is as follows: I say ’’yes’’ to a tolerant and open society that allows individuals, if they so choose, to be gay, to explore their sexuality and to indulge in their sexual preferences without any legal sanction, prosecution or persecution. At the same time I say ‘’no’’ to same sex marriages which I believe are a step too far and a direct attack on the family and God’s purpose for a holy union that is designed and meant to lead to the procreation of children. The line is thin but the difference is clear. May God continue to guide us all in these matters.

  • The groundnut boy and his nation

    The groundnut boy and his nation

    Allen Avenue is my regular route when returning home from work. The traffic there is crazy. I have alternative routes but they are worse than Allen. On this particular day there was traffic as usual. And there was also a throng of peddlers showcasing their items: wrist watches, recharge cards, belts, magazines, garden eggs, pure and bottled water, groundnuts, pirated CDs and DVDs etc.

    I like talking to child hawkers. I want to know few things about them particularly about their education. So, this day, I saw one selling roasted groundnuts in bread-size nylon. One parcel costs only N50. He was sitting on the median with his groundnut tray beside him. I did not initially notice his mood. I asked him if he sells groundnuts after returning from school or if he does not go to school at all. He nodded his head slowly. I asked two questions in one. I did not know which of them he was nodding to. The traffic was at a standstill. I had the time to make further enquiries. It was at this time that he raised his head. I saw that his eyes were wet. He must have cried silently and wiped the tears off with the piece of cloth in his hand. I noticed it and I asked him why he was crying. Because of the pranks I had played while I was a child hawker in my childhood days, I was expecting him to say he had lost the proceeds he made for that day.

    I was shocked and moved to tears by his response. He was crying because according to him, he had not sold a single parcel of groundnuts since he came out to the streets. I did not ask him when he came out but my conversation with him was around 7.30pm. The traffic was still at a standstill. I had to quickly ruminate on what kind of kindergarten reflections would have caused the boy to cry because he had not sold one parcel out of the several parcels of groundnuts in his tray. My spontaneous response was to buy N300 worth of groundnuts from him. He was elated. You could see the smile on his face. The smile was comforting to me too. I gave him another N500 to give to his parents. The first N300 was for his emotional attachment to his groundnut business while theN500 was an unsolicited donation for the family.

    This is not a morality script or an allegorical narrative. It happened for real just few days ago on my way back from office. I want to state unequivocally that it was cruel and wicked of the government whose responsibility it is to protect the rights of the child to have exposed him to a simpatico situation that was making him to cry in the public. What in God’s name was the boy thinking that could have made him to cry: the thought that his parents would beat him if he dared come back without selling anything? The thought that the inability to take something back home would mean no food for him or even the entire family that probably was waiting for the money he would bring before they could eat their dinner? The thought that the world was wicked to him and his family for being subjected to poverty and its dynamics? The thought that God was unfair to have created or deposited him in a poor family when he could have been born in a rich family? The thought that the government is too distant from him and his family? The thought that his survival was no longer assured since the major means of achieving it is under threat? The thought that his education was going to be truncated if he could no longer play his part effectively? The thought of our politicians showing no sympathy to his plight and that of his family? The thought that his family misery and poverty could be as a result of a generational curse plaguing the family? The thought that he and his family are mere statistics in the projections of government? There could be many other reasons.

    As far back as 1923, one man called Englantyne Jebb, the founder of save the children, drafted a series of related children’s rights proclamations because he believed that the rights of the child must be protected and enforced. Some of these ideas are worth reiterating here:

    1. The child must be given the means requisite for its normal development, both materially and spiritually.

    2. The child that is hungry must be fed, the child that is sick must be nursed, the child that is backward must be helped, the delinquent child must be reclaimed and the orphans and waif must be sheltered and succored.

    3. The child must be the first to receive relief in times of distress.

    4. The child must be put in a position to earn a livelihood and must be protected against every form of exploitation.

    5. The child must be brought up in the consciousness that his talents must be devoted to the service of his fellow men.

    It is interesting to know that all these ideas were adopted by the international Save the Children Union in Geneva on 23 February, 1923 and endorsed by the League of Nations General Assembly on 26 November 1924 as the World Child Welfare Charter. This charter finally became international law on September 2, 1990 years after the UN General Assembly adopted a much expanded version of it on November 20, 1959. This date has now been declared and adopted as the Universal Children’s Day.

    It is a shame that many years after Jebb came up with the children’s rights and almost twenty three years after the adoption of the expanded version by the United Nations General Assembly in 1990, Nigeria still lags behind other civilized nations that have started enforcing this international law. What is even pathetic is the fact that the government that is supposed to enforce the law is the major culprit violating the same law.

    The notion that because most of those at the top today once went through a similar experience should not be a justification to turn poverty into a garment of inheritance or baton of relay race. How many of the children of those at the top that went through a similar experience are out there on the streets hawking items of consumption like groundnuts, popcorn and garden eggs or items of entertainment like pirated CDs and DVDs?

    The government should not simulate helplessness in solving this problem. It can do a lot. How are they doing it in other countries of the world where little boys do not go hawking on the streets? The government can design comprehensive welfare programs for different categories of its socially disabled citizens which would at least guarantee each family the basic meals per day and some form of shelter. If the government could do this, these little children would be saved the trouble of hawking early in the morning or late in the night, and sometimes in harsh weather conditions, in order to sustain or assist their poor parents in feeding the families at a time they are supposed to be busy with their education.

    The solution is not in our leaders celebrating their birthdays at the orphanages or homes of the children with disabilities nor is it going to be solved by the same leaders donating their salaries to the orphanages. I am sure these people appreciate their gesture. However, this kind of annual cultural and political fraternity is not the remedy to their physical and social disability. The government should design a plan that can provide accommodation for those who are socially disabled to have access to facility that can enhance their capacity for development. The billions of naira people are stealing and stashing in their bank accounts will go a long way in solving some of these social problems. But the truth is that the federal government is very insensitive to the social conditions of its citizens hence its unwillingness to offer any form of palliatives that can reduce the burden of lack.

    The common wealth of the nation should not be monopolized, appropriated, dominated, controlled, consumed, aggregated and distributed by an avid parasitic and occultic elite of the society to the detriment of the nation’s peasantry. The impression that the contributions of the poor into the national wealth are negligible and insignificant should be dismissed as a heresy because the cumulative efforts of all citizens are what amount to national prosperity. And of course, there is no empirical confirmation of which group or individual contributes more in view of the complexity of determining with accuracy the exact input of an individual or group into the national collective.

    I did not collect the boy’s details because I did not want attention to be focused on a single individual when I know there are thousands of them out there in the streets. Our society cannot develop if what we emphasize is selective attention for individual success and elevation and not the political will for communal hospitality and collective development. Besides, I was not ready to turn an innocent and naïve child into a national charity project with politicians and businessmen making hypocritical and unstructured donations for his upkeep and his education. My first motive was to set up the boy as a template of sort on our national psyche. And the other objective is simply to alert our leaders about the declining value and apparent diminution of juvenile humanity in our land hoping that with this they can come up with a systematic framework that will define their strategy for halting this drift.

    The Jonathan government had told us that we have every cause to celebrate 100 years of our nationhood. But methinks it is uncharitable for a nation to revel in vainglory while its citizen, a little boy of about ten years at that, sits on a median in a busy street in Lagos late in the night crying for lack of patronage for his roasted groundnuts.

    I am worried about power that is not being used to advance the cause of decadent humanity. The perception of our leaders about power is curious. They see power as a piece of furniture they have to romanticize with everlasting fascination. They forget that power is architectured on a duality: eternity and temporality. The former resides in God while man grapples with the latter. Leaders all over the world always want to play god. It is nothing but sheer foolishness that man whose control of power is ephemeral is indulging himself in the fantasy of eternity.

    Whatever power our leaders wield is at the discretion of the one who made their ascendancy to fame possible. They should act fast. They should help fast. Time is not on their side. Temporality is not eternal. There were several before them. They had been consumed in space and by time.

    •Thomas, a former Special Adviser to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is a lecturer in the Department of History and International Studies at the Lagos State University.

  • The price and prize of innovations

    The price and prize of innovations

    Ideas rule the world! Yet, only few men of ideas find it smooth to worm their ways into the hearts of the majority, at least, at the sudden emergence of their ideas. Innovations, we now have ample reasons to believe, come with their high prices. However, an innovative mind need not despair in the face of jeers, for after the price comes the prize. And some encouraging cheers! Welcome to the agony, the dilemma and the world of a man with ‘strange’ ways of doing things.

    Across the globe, it is agreed that new leadership must consider innovative solutions to the emergent social, economic and political contradictions as they toggle at the heart of social cohesion. In the inter-twining, multiform complexities of rising unemployment, dwindling resources, festering illiteracy, live-threatening diseases, natural disasters, inequity, the world has witnessed an unprecedented rise in social disorder characterised by insurgencies, robberies, militancy, kidnapping, blood-sucking rituals, and all manners of acts that have considerably and depressingly reduced the worth of living.

    These and many more are the challenges that face the new leadership the world over. Inability to find creative solutions to these challenges represents calamitous failure of leadership. Indeed, elections are won and lost by incumbent mostly in credible electoral climates due to the ability or otherwise of the sitting powers to demonstrate novel ideas to take their people out of quagmires.

    Given these scenarios the world over, credits must go to any visionary leadership that think out of the box in the backwaters of the world, which appears to have been left behind by the rest of humanity in all indices of development.

    Unemployment is a global phenomenon. Yet, the degree and the pang with which it bites in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general calls for some forms of ingenuity if the whole of the country or continent would not go down with it. This goes for all other shades of problems that confront us as a people in illiteracy, diseases, militancy and insurgencies and other forms of criminal manifestations.

    Innovations in governance! This is what has been elevated to an art in Osun and has tremendously moved the state up the ladder of consideration in the scheme of affairs in this country. In a determined move to change the course of the journey; change the orientation of the people; change the living standards and enthrone an egalitarian society where life is worth living, the current administration’s six-point agenda represents an innovative dialogue at solving the bulk of the problems listed above.

    However, none of these innovative moves has come without its heavy prices. For instance, at the onset of the administration came the move to change the orientation of the people through a conscious re-branding strategy to give the state and her people a new fillip. Because the citizenry had become despondent; with morality driven to the background as a result of lack of justice, arrogance of those in power and a wide gulf between the ‘leaders’ and the led, the entire solid foundation upon which a good society should rest had been eroded.

    In the thinking of the administration, the best way out of this depressing state of affairs was to rejuvenate the value system and remind the people that they had a beautiful, past.

    That process brought about the state anthem, the flag and the crest; all aimed at creating a new identity of Omoluabi (The Virtuous). With the value system of the society restored, it was expected that the citizenry would be amenable to all strategies aimed at social rebirth.

    But in agreement with Richelle Mead’s assertion in Shadow Kiss that “Throughout history people with new ideas—who think differently and try to change things—have always been called troublemakers,” it is history today how mere promotion of a new identity for Osun was simply turned to an instrument of political victimization in which the initiator was labeled a “trouble maker” working to take his land-locked state out of the Nigerian federation.

    Never mind that political kinsmen of those behind the destabilising, odious campaign were later to learn from Osun as they eventually fell over one another to give their states fresh identities. Osun paid the hard price for that innovative move.  But we won the prize for an innovator.

    In the same manner were other programmes of the administration wickedly labelled. In a country with millions of jobless youths, a well- structured youth engagement scheme such as the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) ought to have won accolades only from all. Save for those who know the meaning and path to true development like the World Bank, shenanigans were out to kill a laudable project meant to give succor to a totally depressed segment of the society who had lost all hopes of positive engagements as a result of fruitless search for jobs.

    That the volunteers of the OYES were recruited as election rigging soldiers, foot soldiers for secession and other forms of criminal intentions were imputed to the rationale behind the setting up of the intervention programme. But then, with the first batch of 20,000 cadets out of the scheme after two years, the scheme has become a solution in many states that now consider the opinion of the World Bank that had recommended it as a panacea to complex youth unemployment problem. Another prize after the price!

      History has it that Chief Obafemi Awolowo, whose achievements still resonate till date, found it hard to sell the free education initiative to the peasant farmers of the mainly agrarian Western Region. Today, that visionary step is believed to have given this part of the country its edge in virtually all spheres of human development.

    The revolutionary intervention of the current administration in Osun in the comatose education sector is again faced with the noise of the worrywarts. Innovative moves to restore functional education through restructured physical infrastructure and reengineered system to produce educated citizenry as against the hordes of illiterates being churned out of our schools have equally attracted sneer comments especially from those who want to use religion, sectional and other primordial sentiments to thwart the initiative.

     Robin Sharma therefore could not have been wrong when he wrote that “Dreamers are mocked as impractical.”

    While pessimists only see impracticability in the horizon, the innovator sees only a brighter future through commitment to transformations even when they bring some pains, dislocations in the process. “The truth, as Sharma concludes is that “they (innovators) are the most practical, as their innovations lead to progress and a better way of life for all of us.”

    The point is this! Human beings desire glittering changes in their conditions. And the people of Osun cannot be exceptions. But then, selfish political interests especially of the elite political class often essay to taint otherwise commendable, live-changing policies with disdain to pave the way to foist their political ill-winds on the hapless citizenry.

    What has definitely put Osun on a pedestal of national and international reckoning is the tireless introduction of new ideas to surmount the various problems in which our people had actually resigned themselves to fate. The Aregbesola administration would not agree to it that fate is it that makes flood sweep away humans and materials every year. Human carelessness and the insensitivity of the leadership must be blamed when canals are blocked before rains come and no government considered it crucial to clear waterways of all forms of debris before they wreck havocs of alarming proportions.

    For early proactive environmental measures, it took only the Nigerian Meteorological Centre, on behalf of the Federal Government, to commend the Osun government over its visionary step lack of which led, in many other states of the federation, to ecological tragedies of immeasurable dimensions.

    It is within the confines of these scenarios that discerning minds must examine opposition’s sensational cries at every move of the Aregbesola administration in Osun.

    What with the hullaballoo generated by the declaration of Hijrah holiday for Muslims? What with the introduction of calisthenics to imbue youths with sense of cooperation, concentration and collaboration? What with the recognition given to traditional religions worshippers in state affairs? What with school uniforms and other innovative steps of the administration?

    So far, the government has recorded landmark achievements in education, agriculture, health, youth development, job creation, security, the environment, urban renewal, special welfare for the elderly, the needy, the physically and mentally challenged, to the extent that those genuinely committed to true development must consider the Osun paradigms as case studies in modern development stratagem.

    Not only was the Senate, as represented by its Senator Unche Chukwumerije-led Committee on Education impressed by Osun’s educational re-engineering formula, the World Bank minces no words on the viability of the OYES model as an intervention route towards solving the biting unemployment question throughout Nigeria.

     In the same vein, other initiatives of the government such as school uniforms, school feeding programme, creative contract financing, and other forms of human development efforts have been commended by development-oriented global organisations who know that emerging socio-economic headaches cannot be solved by the routine strategies of the old.

    Of course, to collapse under the weight of these prices is to double the pains. Without looking back, more innovative ideas are in the offing as the administration dismisses the antics of naysayers. The impending rolling out of Opon Imo, the Tablet of Knowledge, first of its kind to be introduced by any government, will definitely sweep pessimists off their feet. But for those given to naysaying, Osun concedes to them the right to be blind to bright ideas. The administration knows the prices to be paid for ideas. But the prizes are also worth the energy.

    •Okanlawon is the Director, Bureau of Communications and Strategy, Office of the Governor, Osogbo, Osun.

  • Aregbesola’s quiet revolution in Osun

    Thomas Kanza insists that revolution in Africa must be a revolution in thinking. Revolution is not always about gun-wielding militants and fire-spitting ideological demagogues. There are men and women who changed the course of history by making their environments a better place to live in. Others simply showed the light for others to follow. According to Machiavelli’s two lessons in policy and strategy, first, a ruler can always learn and be more effective; second, a ruler can learn to be more effective in the use of resources. It takes only those rulers who understand the nature of policies and master the principle of strategy to truly appreciate that strategic management demands both effectiveness and efficiency in the use of scarce resources.

    A quiet revolution started in Osun State on November 27, 2010 with the inauguration of Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola as fifth democratically elected governor and the eighth chief executive since creation. It was Max Depree who once said, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” There is no gainsaying that Aregbesola has done this with deep commitment and selflessness. Since he came on the saddle 27 months ago, he has sufficiently demonstrated that he has the resolve and determination of a work-horse. And this is the attitude he is deploying to take the state of Osun to greater heights. This perhaps, informed his foreign trips to attract foreign investors, which have started yielding desired results.

    To state that his administration has substantially institutionalized a vibrant economic roadmap to lift the people of the state of Osun out of poverty and build a society which embodies peace, social harmony and economic empowerment is merely underscoring the obvious. The essence of good governance is to institute policies and programmes that would seek to fast track the socio-economic development of the society and thereby ensure the welfare and economic well-being of the people. According to one time U.S Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, the task of a leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been. Also to former U.S President, Thomas Jefferson, “The overall objective of any government is to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of its citizens”. The good and long- suffering people of the state of Osun can now compare two eras: The era of Oyinlola led PDP government when people are pauperized, as compared to the era of Aregbesola led ACN government when they are empowered. Under the Aregbesola-led administration, the state of Osun is undergoing manifest social and infrastructural transformation that has never been witnessed in the state since its creation. One refers here to construction of roads, urban-renewal, and provision of electricity and water supply, effective housing and healthcare delivery, agricultural and industrial development, grass roots development and above all, educational empowerment, a major plank on which the success or failure of any well-meaning administration will be measured in the new knowledge-based world economy.

    Today, the rank of the unemployed has been decimated through Aregbesola’s ingenious job creation initiative which has received both national and international accolades. The state has also latched on to the Information and Communication Technology revolution. A new crop of competent farmers is emerging through various farm institutes and settlements that have been resuscitated. Tourism is also featuring prominently in the scheme of things. My admiration for Aregbesola is informed by my conviction that he is a man of destiny, who has excellently acquitted himself as a visionary leader and statesman. Even some objective key members of the opposition like former President Obasanjo and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, had during their visits to the state of Osun agreed that the success story of the state under Aregbesola’s watch will soon become a reference point in developmental strategy.

    Nigeria that has failed over the years because it has been saddled with leaders that can at best be described as accidents in our political firmament. Arguably, the paucity of qualitative political leadership in our country, Nigeria tended to be a consequence of our collective inability to celebrate quality leadership, due to myopic and parochial considerations. The question that has been agitating the minds of right-thinking persons and every neutral political- observers is: why is quality leadership a virtue that is not much in abundant supply amongst members of the PDP as demonstrated by the lacklustre performance of its ambassadors in states controlled by it and the centre but virtually abounds amongst members of the ACN as demonstrated by the sterling performance of its ambassadors in states controlled by it since the inception of this democratic dispensation 14 years ago?

    Not a few will agree with this writer that the only legacies PDP can claim to have bequeathed to Nigerians are profligacy and ineptitude. The foregoing explains the present socio-political and economic woes of the nation, despite the stupendous amount of petrol-dollars it has made in the last 14 years of its administration. In our own country, PDP has turned us to hewers of wood and fetchers of water. As the race to 2015 inches closer, is it not about time we, the Nigerian electorates take our destinies in our own hands by pitching our political tents with coalition of progressive political parties that has merged to challenge PDP dominance? It is in our own interest and that of our children to embrace the All Progressive Congress (APC) that parades the likes of Adebisi Akande, Muhammadu Buhari, Nuhu Ribadu, Bola Tinubu, Segun Osoba, Raji Fashola, Adams Oshiomhole, Rauf Aregbesola, Kayode Fayemi, Abiola Ajimobi, Ibikunle Amosun, Rochas Okorocha, Nasir El-Rufai and others too numerous to mention as members. If we all believe that we are not comfortable with the status quo in our country. A word, they say, is enough for the wise.

     

    • Aminu is Head, Media and Public Relations, Awo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo