The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday Magazine

  • Northern leaders missed their mark on Boko Haram -Ex-Anambra Governor Mbadinuju

    Northern leaders missed their mark on Boko Haram -Ex-Anambra Governor Mbadinuju

    Former Anambra State Governor, Dr. Chiwonke Mbadinuju, has expressed serious concern over the worrisome state of insecurity in the country. In this interview with INNOCENT DURU, he speaks on the attitude of Northern leaders to Boko Haram and bares his mind on other burning national issues. Excerpts:

    When President Goodluck Jonathan declared state of emergency in three northern states, the menace of Boko Haram died down for some time but later came up again after the President felt the country was winning the war against terrorism. What in your opinion is actually the problem?

    One hardly finds the President of a country who says it is easy job ruling his people. President Jonathan may not be an exception, more so when he is not only saddled with problems of infrastructure, security and welfare and so many other needs then from nowhere he was suddenly confronted with the war of insurgency of a most vicious type as was never seen in Nigeria.

    I believe Nigerians never bargained for what we are witnessing today in the form of a war of attrition imposed on us by Boko Haram insurgents without warning, and even took unawares our well trained army, navy, air force, police and other security agencies.

    President Jonathan came into office from one crisis to another: from acting president to a “doctrine of necessity” to become President. I don’t know if Jonathan has in fact enjoyed the office of the President since his ascendancy. But he can take solace in the saying that ‘uneasy lies the head that wears the crown’.

    Having seen Nigeria gradually being over-run by insurgent Boko Haram and quickly took control of three states of Bornu, Yobe and Adamawa, Nigerians immediately knew that the game was up and that we must be able to match the invaders one on one and out run and out class them, at least so we thought. It easily became an internecine warfare and none could predict when and how the end would come. Nigerians were dying in their hundreds in churches, mosques; army and police headquarters not exempted. The die was cast.

    Jonathan must have decided to take the bull by the horn and without further equivocation, he quickly declared state of emergency in the three states mentioned above. Thereafter, there was a sigh of relief, Nigerians greeted Jonathan for the masterpiece steps he took as many foreign countries began sending him congratulatory messages while many thought the worst would soon be over. It was not.

    The Northern Elders were bewildered and consistently called for amnesty. The President hesitated a bit but obliged them their request and immediately set up a committee headed by the Hon. Minister for Special Duties, Turaki, (SAN). Everyone thought that the solution had finally come but the euphoria was short-lived.

    Not much came out of this. But even wives and children and relations of Boko Haram were released from detention in the hope that this would assuage the feelings of parties on both sides, still killings continued. The JTF did the best any trained security group could do to achieve good and lasting result, but with not much result in terms of the objectives of government.

    Even when the ‘Civilian JTF’ volunteered their services to complament the efforts of JTF, hundreds of the young people were massacred in the war front and in cold blood. It was a good gesture and good effort but not the type government had in mind for a lasting solution. That dream died faster than it was conceived.

    In the final analys, is no one could sincerely blame Jonathan or his government for having not done enough. Even America, both at home and in the middle-East, Britain in Northern Ireland, Turkey, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, and other countries fought insurgents but failed even till today. This nevertheless is a passing stage all over the world. Nigeria did not deserve anything like this, more so when true Nigerians were never insurgents. Our problems were rather imported from abroad and they were meant to destabilise our country.

    The beginning of the solution to this big problem is to first of all trust our President and his administration that they are doing their best under the circumstance, knowing that this is a wide-world phenomenon.

    Do you think the problem is being fuelled by anything the northern elite and leaders ought to have done but have left undone?

    It is good you mentioned Northern elite and leaders in respect of the problem of Boko Haram in Nigeria, particularly in the North East of the country. Why I seem to like the Northern elite and leaders is mainly because they seem to know their destination and how best to get there. They are not like men who are in a hurry but choose a longer route. They often try to hit the nail on the head.

    But the only time they seem to have missed the mark is on the issue of this Boko Haram. The gravine had it that some people actually encouraged Boko Haram in their bid to stop President Jonathan’s second term bid.

    Some of the Northern leaders have opposed almost every move Jonathan has made to carry out his programme of tranformation. Thus, when President Jonathan declared state of emergency in the three North Eastern states, even foreign nations commended him but the Northern leaders rebuffed it and opposed him. The Northern leaders furthermore called for amnesty for Boko Haram as was done for the South-South militants. But surprisingly when President Jonathan bent backwards to appease them and granted Boko Haram the amnesty, they were the same people that turned round and rejected amnesty; even a faction of Boko Haram turned round and rejected amnesty, saying it was the government that needed it. This cat and mouse game did not show seriousness on the part of some of the Northern leaders.

    It is this prevarication that delayed the full implementation of government’s programme for full eradication of the hideous Boko Haram sect. As it is now, only few people will believe that it is not the Northern leaders that are in a way fuelling the activities of the sect.

    I recently read President Jonathan’s statement in the press that the Boko Haram is giving Nigeria bad name. So the question is, when will this be over? But for me, and majority of the good people in this country, I say that it shall surely be well with us. Indeed we will wait and see the magic wand the Northern leaders will use in driving out Boko Haram from Nigeria when it is the turn of the North to rule Nigeria.

    What is your take on the Nigerian Governors’ Forum crisis? Why has it degenerated to the point it is now?

    Indeed, the ‘Nigerian Governors’ Forum’ (NGF) is a good thing and a good concept for Nigeria’s political and economic development as the governors activities complement those of the National Assembly (NASS), as well as the policies of the President. But as we know, absolute power corrupts absolutely, which is the sad aspect of the NGF today. In fact, I was in the first set of governors that started the NGF in 1999 smoothly without the hiccups we have noticed recently.

    Still, we don’t throw away the baby with the bath water. If the present governors know ‘from where they had fallen, they should repent and do the first works’ as in the Book of Revelations 2:5.

    In governance, the co-operation of the three arms of government is absolutely necessary. No one arm can govern alone under our constitution: not the Executive, neither the Legislature nor the Judiciary. The wheel of the nation’s administration cannot run smoothly without the three in motion. It seems, therefore, that while the Legislature has constitutional oversight function over the Executive, the Governors Forum does not have such function or powers.

    The governors in their forum tend to keep penetrating into the activities of the Executive, tending to pry deeper and deeper beyond constitutional limits. Where this happens, the Executive is bound to kick and to complain, leading to frictions as each branch continues to guard its powers jealously. An example is the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF). The fund is an innovation that would benefit all Nigerians, but the governors politicised it. I often use the analogy of the children who were hungry and their father wanted the whole yam in the house cooked so that children would feed well for that day. But their mother objected and proceeded to cook only some and kept the rest for the rainy day. The mother here taught a good lesson that we should not consume all we have, and all at the same time.

    Let us immediately look at the face-off between the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the First Lady,Dame Patience, and the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, on the one hand and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, on the other hand? What do you think is amiss?

    It is, in fact, revolting to me and to all right-thinking persons to lump together President Jonathan, his wife, and a Minister of State (Education) and squared them up with Governor Amaechi of Rivers State. We must learn in this country to give honour to whom it is due. We as people must learn to respect our leaders and not use foul language against them. If we are not able to respect our President and leaders in this country, then we should not expect foreigners to respect them, or even respect Nigeria for that matter.

    Finally, if I were Governor Amaechi, I will not wait for the Presidency to approach me for settlement of any rift. Rather I will seek audience to see the President and apologise and ask him what I would do to restore the former good relationship. What I am saying is not theory. It happened to me as governor when our great party leader ‘single-handedly’ stopped me from my second-term bid. Not only that, I was blackmailed and wrongly accused of a crime I never committed and the same party leader believed the accusation against me by my opponents; I was nearly killed for a crime I knew nothing about.

    But after I was set free, I took time to visit Baba twice in his hill-top mansion, Abeokuta Ogun State, and slept in his room the two days I visited him and was well received with sumptuous meals. Furthermore, my said leader also allowed me to give ‘words of exhortation’ to worshipers in his Chapel at Abeokuta. At the end, he told the congregation that the problem was from my people and that he had forgiven me over all that was done to me. Everyone in the chapel rejoiced.

    A friend I told of this encounter asked: Who should forgive whom? Should it be my leader who wronged me or me who was wronged? We laughed over it, as I told him that I could not be greater than my leader and master. That was how we reconciled. Things like that should be examples in similar situations. At least, I am alive today, healthy and still being politically relevant. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

    The PDP has been enmeshed in series of crises in recent times. Why is the house divided against itself?

    For PDP, the house has not quite divided. Don’t forget that PDP has built and maintained a very large empire for all and sundry to take shelter under the umbrella. When it is said that PDP is the biggest party in Africa, it makes sense. The bigger the party the bigger the trouble. But the PDP’s trouble does not affect winning in election. The party knows how to close ranks when the chips and down. The PDP house may have divided but not against itself as your question seems to suggest. As for the party and its electoral gain, I say that the taste of the pudding shall be in the eating.

    Even from the so-called ‘noise’ emanating from the camp of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), it should not worry anyone. The ‘noise’ represents activities like in a factory, if there is no noise as you approach a factory, it means there is no production going on, and the factory is dormant. But if there is noise, it shows factory is at work and producing. In fact, for a factory, the louder the noise the better for it and so it is with the NGF. Noise- making is not always a bad thing.

    From all we are seeing, the polity appears to have been heated up ahead of the 2015 elections, what does this portend for the country and our democracy?

    They are the politicians that try to over-heat the polity by their actions and utterances. If politicians play according to rules of the game, it will be seen that politics can be an interesting game, but shifting the goal post in the middle of a match is nothing but stealing.

    When once politicians discard the rule of law, equity and due process and begin to carry ballot boxes and writing results and heaping cash at the door steps of voters to entice them, it means the voters have deviated from the norms of democracy. The 2015 elections may be different, even if better than the earlier 2011 election adjudged to be the fairest as was promised by President Jonathan himself. However, we hope is not lost.

    Some sections of the North have demanded for the return of the presidency to the region in 2015. Do you share their sentiment?

    You talk of the presidency ‘returning’ to the North when the South East has indeed not tasted the office at all. I am not saying the North won’t take their turn but it will be at a due time. I believe in one thing at a time. Let Jonathan complete his second tenure first; then the South-South will know they have taken their due share. The next issue will be between the North that has had three civilian heads of state and several military heads of state, and the South-East which has not tasted the office for the first time. Between the North and South-East, where will equity and fairness lie? Will equity be in favour of those who have produced the President and several Heads of State, or will equity be in favour of the South-East that has not had even one President? There is no need assuming that immediately the South-South finishes, it will rotate to the North. To such an assumption, Zebrudaya would say emphatically, ‘Fa-fa-fa-fa-foul o’! When the time comes to decide, all the six zones shall come together and discuss the merits and demerits of which zone shall get the slot. Let it not be said that it is a forgone conclusion that the rotation will go to the North. Suppose it goes to South-East? So what?

    Do you think the choice of Dr. Umaru Dikko as the chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the PDP is a welcome idea?

    Umaru Dikko is one of the best politicians and administrators produced by this country and nurtured by former President Alhaji Shehu Shagari of the Second Republic. I worked as and Assistant to the then Vice-President, Dr. Alex I. Ekwueme in Shagari’s Administration and I had occasions to interact with Umaru Dikko who was the Minister of Transport and who ably handled the distribution of rice and other scarce commodities made available through his office to all the needy in all parts of the country.

    For the PDP to appoint Dikko to head the disciplinary committee and for him to accept to chair the committee is a plus for the party. I only pray that his health is good enough to handle the tedious assignment.

    I know Dikko to be fair-minded and dedicated to whatever assignment was given to him, he discharged them creditably. So he is indeed a ‘fit and proper’ person to do the job and do it well without fear or favour.

    Recently, Senator Arthur Nzeribe said the South East has nothing to show for the support it gave to President Jonathan. Do you feel the same way?

    My good friend, the distinguished Senator Arthur Nzeribe is an enigma. Even out of government, he is still quite in touch with everything happening around him. Like Zik of Africa, Arthur maintains a library of files of ‘who is who’ in many spheres of endeavour. If you mention a person, or bring up a topic, Arthur will give you a rundown of the person or of the event and its chronology. At a time his health was somehow, but now he is rejuvenated. One can understand when I described him as an enigma.

    Recently, he gave an interview in which he advised the Igbo to forget the 2015 presidential election. Arthur says his mind not minding whose ox is gored. A debate between Arthur and my other good friend, Orji Uzor Kalu, also another enigma, will be interesting.

    A debate of these two accomplished politicians on the plight of Igbo and how they can come into the main stream of Nigerian politics will be in order. But Orji Uzor Kalu believes that Igbo deserves to be given the chance in 2015, while Arthur felt that Igbo deserve the presidency but not in 2015. The debate shall go on as it has been every four years. One of these days, it must be the time of the Igbo to take their turn, and when that time comes, no human being can stop the move.

    As for whether President Jonathan deserves further support by the Igbo and whether he has done enough for the South East to vote for him again in 2015, that will be a matter for further debate. But for me, it is fate that brought Jonathan in as President of this country. When he was Deputy Governor in Bayelsa State, little did he know that he would be governor, and from being governor, he became Vice-President, and then Acting President; and finally President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, whoever assisted him to succeed must have been used of God, and should not boast.

    Would it be in the interest of the region to support him again if he wants to go for a second term and what would that mean for the chances of the region to have one of his own to occupy the nation’s number one seat?

    Actually, President Jonathan has not declared that he would run for second term, though he kept saying that he will reveal his plans in the year 2014. So, we need to respect his decision and wait; 2014 is just around the corner and he will tell Nigerians why he wants second term, whether it is by the constitution or by virtue of his accomplishments in office in the first term of four years. The time is at hand. He already presented his mid-term accomplishments. To me, it will not be fair for the Igbo to abandon Jonathan if he decides to run for second term, but we’ll wait and see what happens or develops.

    What is your take on the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State?

    There are major political parties competing for the office of Governor of Anambra State. APGA is the present ruling party. It is followed by the PDP, the Labour, and APC (not in a particular order). As a PDP stalwart, I will do all I can to make sure the PDP candidate wins back Anambra State, which I first ‘captured in 1999, and it got lost through political intrigues and inordinate ambition. This is the much I can say now, but I sincerely believe that the bones shall rise again. It is well.

     

  • Younger artistes should learn from my ugly fate – Nollywood actor Emma Edokpayi down with amnesia for 13 months

    Younger artistes should learn from my ugly fate – Nollywood actor Emma Edokpayi down with amnesia for 13 months

    The Father’s House, a Pentecostal church in Akute, Ogun State, is a Mecca of sort for the celebrities that live in that community and its environs. Popular actor, Emma Edokpayi, is one of them. He maintains a front seat in the church and his almost completely grey beard and hair stand him out in the congregation.

    On this particular day, the reporter’s attention was drawn by Edokpayi’s animated responses to the preaching of the pastor, Dr. Richard Udoh. Until he ran into a health crisis a few years ago, things were really looking up for Edokpayi as an established cameraman and an A-list actor. He was easily one of the golden boys of the era when cinema was just becoming a culture in Nigeria.

    Until the ‘Benin boy’ began to experience the other side of life, he never thought that life could be cruel. In August 2004, he suffered a stroke while shooting a documentary on an oil field. He was down and out of circulation for years on account of the ugly incident.

    He said: “I came to realise that the stroke affected me not only physically but mentally. It affected my mind. I lost almost every memory. I was brought back to Lagos and I remained in my house. I could not remember my friends. I could not remember any phone number. People came to see me but I could not recall their faces.

    “I was more or less hiding from people. I was just a different person from what I used to be. Before then, if you gave me a script, I didn’t need to spend hours studying it. All I needed to do was to read a line and I would get the whole picture and get ready. I stopped seeing people. I didn’t want anybody to pity me.

    “At the time I had stroke I had N6 million. I told my wife that by the time we finished this money, I would bounce back. By the time it was six months, the money had been exhausted but I was still not okay.”

    At the height of his predicament, he dwelt in self-pity and he became impatient with people. Stringing sentences together became a problem.

    “In an attempt to correct it, I messed up. I was avoiding people. People felt my wife was hiding me, whereas I was the one that did not want to see people, because when people were talking, I would not be able to talk, my contribution would be nonsense. I could not articulate. I could not piece two sentences together so that at the end, everybody would just keep quiet.”

    Since he resumed from the unsolicited sabbatical, he has participated in a film called Alero, but he recalled that it was a painstaking experience. “They knew that everybody had to relax for me. Most of the lines were patched and towards the end, my brain started grabbing things,” he said.

    Edokpayi may not be very active in the entertainment industry right now, but people like Wale Adenuga, the producer of popular TV series, This Life, still recognise his acting dexterity and gave him a role in it.

    It is not as if he does not want to act in movies. The problem, he said, is that he no longer gets invitation from producers. He said: “I don’t really select movies. It is just that I’m not sought after by producers. Maybe I don’t go out or frequent the environment or maybe they don’t know about me. If you don’t know where to find this man, you may not look for him when you have production.

    “It is a question of producer looking for me and fixing me for a role. I’m living more of a quiet life now. But living a quiet life does not mean that I’m not willing to act. It is a question of me going out again. If I’m beginning to circulate, I will find roles.”

    The two-seater cane chair inside his compound is where he spends his time enjoying fresh air and reading the Bible. And he counts himself lucky that he lives in his own house, because many of his colleagues are not that lucky.

    “Most of the people find themselves in the industry of glamour and the glamour takes away from them the consciousness of what they should do. In the industry, you find glamour. Everybody hails and patronises you. If you are not careful or God-fearing, you may not realise that you are losing out in life. You have to build for tomorrow,” he said as a matter of warning to other artistes.

    Of course, he is well positioned to counsel the younger generation of artistes. He was once like some of the wealthy ones among themcomfortable and rich. At a time that many of today’s A-list artistes were still struggling, Edokpayi could boast of more than four state-of-the-art cars like Mercedes Benz Concorde and SUVs. He recalled that at a time as far back as more than a decade ago, he had started earning between N100,000 and N300,000 per week.

    “When the money comes, you want to go high to the top. You go partying and drinking. And because it is a thing of glamour, you want people to see you at your best, even when it is not the best of times for you. You always want to show yourself in the best form and mood so that people would not see you as not living quality life.

    “Most times, even the little money we made, instead of using it to build the future for ourselves, we use the money to live in glamour. Even the business itself is glamour. You drive in the best car, you live in the best house that is not yours and in the end, if you go to the innermost recesses of people who live this kind of life, you will see that they are just doing window showing of themselves.

    “At a time, I was at my peak and suddenly it crumbled. Events will overtake you and you begin to see that you are not the kind of hot kid you used to be. You find that the flow is not there and you had not prepared anything for yourself. You had not built anything that will sustain you. So, you begin to die. I’m not saying clinical death, I mean spiritually.”

    Edokpai said the house he lives in today was built in error, as he never wanted it. But he is full of thanks to a good friend he said “cajoled” him to build it because he never saw himself as one that would live in the backwaters of Lagos. But that is where fate has put him and he is thanking his star for making the right choice of friend.

    “I lived like many of the present crop of artistes. The luck I had was a very wonderful friend named Dayo Ojo. He was working at Mobil at that time. He used to tell me: ‘Emma, go and buy a land. But I was always looking at land as a problem,” he said.

    He said it was even his friend that made money available to buy the land. The land, valued at about N10 million today, was bought for about N550, 000. He said he did not want to have anything to do with the house until the reality of life forced him to live where he would not have lived.

    He said: “When you are blindfolded by glamour and the worldly pleasures that accompany stardom, a life of idolism or idolatory, it takes you away from reality, which is the path to God, the road that leads you to everlasting peace. Before I knew it, he said ‘old boy, come and stay in the house.’ Before I knew it, I bought a 35KV generator. I did suspended borehole. Everything was in the house, but I still didn’t want to come to the house.”

    After his experience, Edokpayi now speaks like a preacher. And he believes that although he can no longer carry the camera the way he used to do, this is the time he is more useful to the society because he can teach drama and language as a graduate of English and Literary Studies.

    In his neighbourhood in Akute, he is known as both an artiste and a pastor. As he was seeing the reporter off, a commercial motorcycle operator stopped and offered to take him to wherever he was going. That, he noted, was a testimony to the benefits he enjoys. But he says he would feel more fulfilled if he is able to help others too.

    Explaining his seemingly deep knowledge of the Bible, he says it did not just start today. He was brought up by strictly religious parents, especially his mother. Fortunately or unfortunately for him, his mind was tilted towards the theatre. He said although he was not leading his class as a student, he was one of the best.

    “My mother would send me to the market to go and buy something. On the way, I would watch Ajasco. Those things attracted me. At the time I told them that I wanted to do drama, they asked me if it was a job, because nobody saw drama as a job then,” he recalled.

    He said he embraced Christianity because his mother was a fervent Christian. He was taught bible stories and he still knows them very well, and that is why it is convenient for him to preach. “Even when I was following women, drinking and walking round the town, I knew all these but did not realise that all they were being controlled by the Spirit of God,” he said.

    Twice he gave his cars out because God instructed him to do so. The first was a Mercedes 230 he gave to a pastor who had just got married. “God told me to give it to the pastor. He was not my friend. God told me to give it to him but I did as if I didn’t hear. I refused to give the car to the man. But my ear was pricking me until I gave the car,” he said.

    The second car, he said, was a Pathfinder. “I drove to church in a Pathfinder and went home in a taxi. Since then, I have been here, no car. They were contributing money to the church and I had no money to give, so I gave that car.”

    Right now, jazzing up Christian drama is uppermost in his mind as he plans to replicate what he is doing in the church outside of it. “I foresee an explosion of this type of production,” he said with confidence.

    Since the stroke he suffered had led to amnesia, he enrolled for a leadership course at Daystar Church in order to regain lost memory. “In the school, everybody knew me. They would see me and say good morning sir. I would sit at the back. I could not write, so I would sit and listen. And immediately I left there, I would not remember anyone.

    “But I kept going to school. I was changing the cognitive intake. My brain was now trying to take in things. I was not talking to anybody. The lecturer would think I was hearing well.”

    The fighter that he is, he drove himself to school while a part of his body was still paralysed. Explaining why he had to do so, he said: “I had a driver but he left suddenly. I entered my car and everybody started shouting. I normally left home at 5 am, because if you came late thrice, you might not graduate. When my driver did not come, I entered my car and drove to Daystar. I also drove back home and the second day, I drove too. That was how I started driving. The amnesia lasted one year and one month”.

    He is still passionate about a project he started with the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC). But he doubts if he would be able to make the dream come true because “the people who were working with me at that time messed a lot of things up”.

  • Jonathan has been ambushed by non-politicians – Mantu

    Jonathan has been ambushed by non-politicians – Mantu

    Senator Nasiru Ibrahim Mantu was Deputy Senate President from 2003 to 2007. He was Director-General, defunct National Republican Convention Presidential Campaign, 1993; National Chairman of the defunct Peoples Democratic Alliance and National Publicity Secretary, defunct United Nigerian Congress Party, UNCP. He was also Chairman, National Assembly Committee on Constitution Review. Senator Mantu, in this interview with Assistant Editor, LINUS OBOGO, went down memory lane on his alleged role in former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s botched third term project and expressed his views on President Goodluck Jonathan, among other issues. Excerpts:

    One of the harshest criticisms today against your party, the PDP, is that it is heading a government that has elevated corruption to an art and as a cardinal principle of governance. Just like insecurity, is it not also a serious challenge to governance?

    My friend, please say it louder. Indeed, let me say that it is corruption that has given birth to the insecurity in the country today. If we had not been corrupt, we would have been able to manage our resources very well, and in turn, provide social security to the nation’s teeming populace. It is this absence of social insecurity that has consequently given rise to the various agitations across the country.

    Corruption, like you rightly stated, has been the foundation of all our problems. If we are able to fight corruption, and I can tell you that even if we are not able to solve all problems immediately, we will no longer have the kind of crisis that we are having today. If we sincerely and judiciously channel all our money that is being cornered by corrupt political officials, we will be able to have good roads, hospitals, schools, electricity and potable water as well as put in place social security for our people and make life worth living.

    Sincerely speaking, anyone who is enjoying good life will not like to die. It is the absence of good life that is pushing the people to the wall to act the way they are acting. Corruption is the basis of everything that is happening to us today. No government has been able to successfully fight corruption to a standstill. It is only in Nigeria that when you are fighting corruption, corruption fights back. In fact, they have just been scratching the surface and paying lip-service to the war on corruption.

    There is no denying the truth that today, every facet of our society is corrupt. From the judiciary to the executive and the legislature, corruption is pervasive. People have lost faith in the judiciary because of corruption. Why will you run to the judiciary when you know that the man whom you are taking to court will engage a SAN who is going to be given certain privileges by the judge simply because he is a SAN? The entire country is engulfed in various dimensions of corruption. It is so endemic in our system and I am of the opinion that we have not really got our act together to fight corruption.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), an amalgam of four opposition parties, has finally become a reality after the initial confusion that threatened its registration. With your party, the PDP, literally becoming a “Fuji House of Commotion”, how much threat does APC pose ahead of 2015?

    For someone like me who has been around the political terrain for over three decades, I hope and pray that the emergence of the APC or the merger itself becomes a reality after all. I have witnessed three failed mergers in this country, and I pray earnestly that this latest merger does not go the way of others before it.

    Recall that in the First Republic, the opposition came together to wrest power from the NPC which was the ruling party then, but when the time came to choose their candidate for the prime ministerial position, everybody wanted to be the candidate. When they could not agree on a consensus choice, the merger crumbled like a pack of cards.

    The same scenario played out again in the Second Republic, and what appeared then like a foregone conclusion failed woefully. So, this time around, I am praying for them to succeed so that we can have a formidable opposition party as an alternative to the ruling party. I feel strongly that Nigerians need an alternative party to put the PDP on its toes.

    The emergence of a viable alternative party will nudge the party in power from its slumber. That is the culture all over the world, and Nigeria cannot be an exception. Nigerians will have a well informed choice, if there is a credible and viable opposition party in the country.

    But the only way an opposition party can be successful is to put national interest above personal and narrow interest. But I hope and pray that this time around, the merger arrangement works. Nigerians need an alternative party, especially when they are tired of the PDP.

    Would you also subscribe to an alternative to President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, as Nigerians are tired of what they consider as his leadership failure, nearly three years in the saddle?

    I want to answer your question by saying that Jonathan’s presidency is divinely ordained. Today, nobody can say with all sense of conviction that he was responsible for bringing President Jonathan to power. Only God can take that glory. Power is from God and not from man. If it was not the will of God, nothing any man or woman would have done to install Jonathan as President.

    Frankly speaking, as I said before, Jonathan is a good man and he has a good heart. But people are taking advantage of his good nature by not carrying out some of the fantastic programmes he has laid down for implementation as he would have had them executed.

    Part of the problem I have identified in the system is the fact that Jonathan is surrounded by ministers and aides who are not politicians. A lot of people are of the wrong notion that it is only when you go and bring those in the Diaspora in the name of technocrat to form your cabinet that your government can succeed. If I were an engineer and I have been practising in Nigeria, does that not qualify me as a technocrat? And if I were a lawyer and I have been practising in Nigeria all through the years, am I not a technocrat? Does the fact that you have been holed up in America or one European country confer on you technocracy? My answer is no. An economist in Nigeria and an economist in Britain are economists. The two are economists.

    These are some of the problems that Jonathan is actually facing because he is surrounded by people who are not politicians and do not know how Nigerians live and survive beyond Abuja. The greatest problem of Jonathan is that he is surrounded by people who are supposed to implement his policies and programmes, but who are not doing that because they are not politicians. I really do not have any problem in bringing experts into the government, but they can be brought in as advisers. You will agree with me that not many of his ministers or advisers went out with him during his campaign for his presidency. So they may not be bothered whether he wins the next election or not because they are not politicians in the real sense of the word. Many of them do not seem to appreciate the fact that they owe the electorate an obligation to deliver on the President’s promises. But if these people were like politicians, they would know what it means by making promises to the people and not fulfilling them. As election is drawing nearer. I think the President must have learnt his lessons, and I am sure he is going to address some of these issues because we still need him.

    Some of your staunch critics who think they have watched keenly your brand of politics tend to pass you off as one they jocularly would refer to as “Any Available Government in Power” or “Any Government in Power”. They cite your alleged role in the adoption of the late General Sani Abacha for the presidency and former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s botched third term, among others. While the label of “AGIP” may be untrue, would you be available for President Jonathan, should he need you as one of his foot soldiers in 2015?

    Let me say that the greatest perpetrators of ignorance in this country today are the media. The media are expected to be better informed than any other segment of the society. It is only in Nigeria that the media will write anything and go scot-free. It does not happen anywhere else except in Nigeria.

    Some media have accused me of going to Ota to lobby Obasanjo to contest election in 1999. It is not true. I was never in the PDP, rather I was in the ANPP where I contested for the Senate and won. So how would I have been part of the lobby group to bring Obasanjo to contest election in 1999? In 1999, we had our own presidential candidate. Therefore, there was no way I would have canvassed for Obasanjo or anyone in the PDP for the presidency.

    With regards to the alleged third term bid, I will come to that presently. But of note is, when have I ever been in government in appointive or elective position in this country in my 35 years in politics? I have only been in government for once from 1999 to 2007 in an elective capacity. So, how many governments have I actually participated in to deserve the label, “AGIP”? I am asking you. If I were like my friend who has served so many different military and civilian regimes and is still serving, I would not take offence at the appellation.

    My only presence in government has been the legislature which is elective and not appointive. Now you can understand that I have been in government only with the mandate of my people. Throughout my political career, I have never been appointed into government.

    During the time of the late Sani Abacha, I remember forming my own party, the Peoples Democratic Alliance, PDA. Later we merged and became the Nigeria Centre Party( NCP). After the merger, I was elected as the National Deputy Chairman of the NCP. Three days later, I told them thank you and left the party. The NCP was not formed by Abacha. It was an amalgamation of 23 political parties.

    So if you are following someone’s track record, you should follow him correctly in order to analyse him in correct perspective. That is what I expect of the media. For instance, if you had not come to interview me, you would have viewed me as “AGIP “. If you had not come here to interview me today, you would never have got my own side of the story.

    I have been in politics since the First Republic. This was when Abacha had not dreamed of becoming the head of state. Even when he became the head of state, I was not a member of his regime. I have always followed my path as a politician, seeking elective office. I won an election as a senator during Abacha’s regime. In 1990, I also won an election as senator. I have never been minister or commissioner throughout my political career. I have always done it the hard way, contesting and winning elections so that I can open my mouth as wide as I want and talk on behalf of the people who offer me their mandate. I prefer to toe that path.

    Now, on the issue of me going to Ota, the only time I went to Ota to ask Obasanjo to contest was during his second term bid. Again, this is one area that Nigerians have got it wrong and I blame the media in particular. In case you have forgotten, I was the Chairman of the National Assembly Joint Committee on the Constitution Review. In case you may have also forgotten, I took over that assignment from somebody. I was not the pioneer Chairman, may be people thought I assumed that position because of my perceived relationship with Obasanjo at that time.

    Nigerians are quick to forget that in the entire National Assembly, nobody attacked Obasanjo the way I did. When I was Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information, Obasanjo was my breakfast, my lunch and my dinner because I was always attacking him. My attack on Obasanjo was so fierce that former President Nelson Mandela was in this house to beg me to soften my attack on Obasanjo who was his friend. As if that was not enough, former President Jimmy Carter personally invited me to Hilton for a dinner with him where he pleaded with me to reduce my attack on his friend, Obasanjo.

    When I was attacking him, nobody was clapping for me. No one remembers that. It is only when it comes to the issue of the third term that people are quick to remember. I became close to Obasanjo after I was elected Deputy President of the Senate. My election as Deputy Senate President was based on the fact that the National Assembly wanted somebody who was anti-Obasanjo. They wanted someone who hated Obasanjo with passion. To a very large extent, my perceived hatred for Obasanjo became part of my qualification for the Deputy Senate presidency. Owing to my position as Deputy Senate President, we were meeting with the executive weekly and that was the closest I came in contact with Obasanjo. For the first six months of our closeness during those sessions with the executive, both of us maintained our hostility to each other. But after a while, he came to appreciate the fact that I was criticising him objectively and not out of hate. One day, he called me and said to me that we should reconcile our differences. Nobody initiated it. It was Obasanjo’s own idea. He told me that even if I did not agree with his ideas or policies, it was good that I respected his age and office, and I agreed with him.

    As Deputy Senate President, I was also the Chairman of the National Assembly Joint Committee on the review of the constitution. My duty was to collate the views of Nigerians on the clauses of the constitution we wanted to amend. The Speaker of the House of Representatives was my deputy.

    The clauses we wanted to amend were based on the views expressed by Nigerians regarding them. By this time, people refused to differentiate my relationship with Obasanjo and my role as Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee. There were those who felt that Obasanjo must have appointed me. But Obasanjo had no power over appointment in the Senate or the entire National Assembly.

    After collating the views of Nigerians, one of the committees headed by Senator Ham Batsa came back with a report to the effect that some Nigerians were of the position that instead of two terms of four years, we should have three terms of four years in the constitution. According to them, Nigeria was on the same economic pedestal with China, India, Singapore and Malaysia. And since these countries have leaders who have stayed so long in office, much longer than Nigeria’s, they have been able to make tremendous progress, while we remained where we were. They felt that we should give more time to our presidents to be long in office in order to fast-track our developmental strides.

    We conceded to them as Nigerians to hold and express their views. There was nothing wrong with that. So we included that aspect under “Tenure Elongation” clause. After collating all the reports from the various sub-committees, I presented a report to the Senate, and it was accepted. From the moment my report was accepted, I had finished my job. The document presented became that of the National Assembly.

    When I had concluded my assignment, many people felt that I was actually behind Obasanjo’s third term ambition. I have said this time and time again and for the umpteenth time, I will love that this be presented factually. Obasanjo did not tell Ibrahim Mantu that he wanted to continue in office. But in the course of my job as the Chairman of the National Assembly Constitution Review Committee, I received a report from one of the sub-committees on tenure elongation which I presented to the National Assembly public hearing. The assignment of my committee was to collate views of Nigerians, whether bitter or sweet. I was just a mere umpire or referee. And as a referee, if you scored or committed a foul, I blew the whistle. But my assignment terminated the first day I collated all the views of Nigerians and submitted same to the National Assembly.

    The issue was that some people did not want Obasanjo to elongate his tenure, and so they started using the press. But in a democracy, no one has the right to deny another from expressing his own views. That is why I still describe the third term issue as a mere storm in a teacup. It was amplified by people who were more interested in going to Aso Rock than Obasanjo. People who were burning with the desire to occupy Aso Rock and at the end, they made us to throw away the baby with the bath water. One of our recommendations was to have two vice-presidents, one from where the president hails and another from the vice-president’s zone. The thinking was that if the president dies, the vice-president from the president’s zone will be sworn in as his replacement to complete his term.

    What was wrong in anybody saying he wanted Obasanjo to continue? Even after saying that, was that enough to have made Obasanjo to continue after his second term? If Obasanjo wanted a third term and he subjected himself to the due process of the constitution, what was wrong with that? As long as anybody subjects himself to the constitution to seek for what he or she wants, as far as I am concerned, I have no axe to grind with that person.

  • Joburg City festival holds maiden edition

    The Joburg City Tourism Association will host the very first Joburg City Festival scheduled for the week between Joy of Jazz and Arts Alive, meaning the inner city will come abuzz with activities for 3 weeks straight.

    The Joburg City Festival was launched on 17 – 19 May 2013, where the Joburg City Tourism Association, along with their members and partners JDA; Gautrain; Joburg Tourism Company and Gauteng Tourism, invited and hosted 76 journalists from stretches as far and wide as Botswana to Cape Town, to give them a taste of what the official festival in August will display.

    The festival will run over 9 days and the official programme will offer something for everyone! From art and cultural activaties; tours; music; dance parties; street sports; fashion and lots more.

    ”We are excited about the very first festival as it is ideally scheduled to link the two big cultural festivals, Joy of Jazz and Arts Alive, giving tourists, city dwellers and suburbanites an opportunity to explore their city. We hope that in future these 3 weeks of festivities will put Johannesburg on the map as a destination for winter breaks. The city has been undergoing a massive rejuvenation and the Joburg City Tourism Association endeavours to promote this and the city’s heritage through the festival,” said Margeaux Swartz, JCTA Director and spokesperson.

  • Virgin Atlantic in new market campaign

    Guests were treated to a red carpet reception, a cocktail before being led into Silver Bird Cinema, handed soft drinks and pop corn then the action began. It was a very dramatic way of introducing the new marketing campaign to the audience. After two takes of the classy advert as classy as all things Virgin seem to be, guests sat back and enjoyed a screening of Wolverine, the movie. The stars of the movie seem to have been cut out of the virgin advert.

    About special people:

    Virgin Atlantic Airways recently launched its new campaign in Nigeria. It is a new global brand promo it called Flying in the Face of Ordinary (FITFOO).

    Speaking on the new brand promo, Rachel Coffey, the Country Manager, Nigeria of the airline said: “Our staff hold the keys to the future of Virgin Atlantic, they work so hard and we are delighted to dedicate this new advert to them. I believe it takes a special kind of person to work at Virgin Atlantic and we’re always on the lookout for gifted young people to take our business forward”

    “Over the last few decades, flying has become a common feature of everyday life – whether for short breaks, holidays in exotic destination or business trips within Nigeria and around the world. As flying has increased, so too have expectations. Virgin Atlantic provides the alternative that consumers need, setting us aside from the rest of the industry.”

    Rachel added: “We wanted to capture the essence of Virgin Atlantic with this new campaign and bring the glamour and fun back into long-haul travel. “Flving in the Face of Ordinary” is more than a marketing campaign; it is a powerful brand proposition and long term platform that will be reflected in all areas of the business from communications and marketing to product and service.

    “The advertisement is based upon the lives of real people who work at the airline today and traces the lives of the gifted youngsters born with special skills, and how they later use those talents to become outstanding employees at the airline.

     

     

  • Celebrating heritage of oranmiyan

    Celebrating heritage of oranmiyan

    The ancient town of Ile Ife in Osun State, is  one place that relishes its history as the cradle of the Yoruba race. According to Yoruba cosmogony, Ife was where the world began through the progenitor of the Yoruba race, Oduduwa.  The myth says Oduduwa  descended from heaven  through a chain with three items of creation. He  threw a handful of earth on the water, put a cockerel on the ground to scatter the earth to create the present  Ile Ife from where the world originated.

    The town has a rich culture with world renowned artefacts that date back to more than 500 BC.  A tour of the town affords one the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate its rich heritage. Starting from the palace of the Ooni at Enuwa area of the town, one sees monuments and artefacts that reinforce this history of Ife and by extension, the Yoruba race. It is in appreciation of the heritage bequeathed to them that the Ife people have decided to bring together tourism cum cultural activities that would increase the number of local and foreign tourists that visit the town. One of these festivals the town is currently working to bring the town to international prominence, and in the process, attract tourists and income, is the Oranmiyan festival (Odun Oranmiyan).

    The festival, which is being marketed and co-ordinated by Flabsy Travels and Tours, will hold from  September 26 to 28, 2013, in Ile-Ife.

    Speaking on the festival, Alhaji Bashir Awolorebo, a former federal minister, who said  Odun Oranmiyan is a cultural rebirth that will rally all Yoruba nation to promote the heritage of their forbearers, added that the organiser has taken the right step, and called on all and sundry to give the desired support to make the festival a success.

    The Lufe of Iremo-Ife, Oba Solomon Omisakin, said, “Ife is the source of all Yoruba nation and Oranmiyan, a war lord and king, played a dominant role at building a great empire within and beyond the Yoruba kingdoms.” He urged tourism  and culture promoters  to work together as one nation in order to promote the richness of Yoruba heritage.

    The Olu of Famia, Obalufe of Iremo-Ife, Akogun, described  Oranmiyan as a king and warrior of many kingdoms before ascending the throne of his father as the fourth  Ooni of Ife.

    He said:  ”Oranmiyan’s place is second to none in the history of Yoruba race.”

    The head of Flabsy said the Ooni has mandated him to  develop a sustaining concept for the festival. He mandated us to promote and let the world know that Oranmiyan deserves to be celebrated as a legend who expanded the Yoruba dynasties from Oyo to Benin and beyond.”

    According to him, “Our history is supposed to be a unifying factor and should not divide Yoruba people. Hence, Oranmiyan festival should be a bond to project our cultural diversity as derivable from a source and for a purpose ordained by Olodumare.

    “Therefore, Yoruba dynasties and the people are one and should be seen as one and totally committed to the sustenance of our cultural values, which is the vision and mission of the Ooni of Ife to see that we foster unity among the Yoruba dynasties and nation through her history.”

    Addressing the royal fathers present, he said: “Our royal fathers, we are here because you are there. The festival is your festival.  You are the owners of this land. We are to support you and make you happy by  sustaining and celebrating our heritage of which you are the custodians.”

    Talking about the Oranmiyan festival,  Mr Olabampe of Flabsy Travels and Tours, said that to make the event more coordinated, registration of participants for the traditional drumming competition and Ayo olopon will start on September 25, at the Ooni’s palace, Ile-Nla.

    “We are expecting 20 participants for the drumming and Ayo olopon competitions, with five finalists to go home with different prizes for their skill, cultural knowledge and promotion.”

    On the second day of the festival (Thursday September 26), chief priests and their family members will be in their white robe regalia to pay obeisance to the Ooni of Ife, Oba Sijuwade.

    However, the homage to the palace of the Ooni of Ife by the Chief Priests (Eredumi/Akogun) along with their families, will move in a procession for the opening of the grove.

    According to Olabampe, “this year’s celebration is coming with a special festival lecture, with theme, ‘Oranmiyan: What is in a name?’, to be delivered by a guest lecturer, Oba Adedapo Tejuoso, Osile Oke Ona,  Egba at Oduduwa Hall, OAU, Ile-Ife.

    “Later in the day, the participants would be entertained at the frontage of the palace where the kick-off of  the traditional drumming competitions and Ayo olopon will take place with the competitors slugging out with one another.

    Proposed judges for the drumming competition, according to Olabampe, include King Sunny Ade, Mr. Jimi Solanke and Chief Durojaiye Aremu, who are expected to select the best five drummers for the final round.

    “On Friday 27 September, we will be opening an exhibition of traditional wares, costumes and artifacts, which will be rounded off with the grand finale traditional drummers and Ayo olopon competitions.

    “On September 28, there will be a procession, led by Eredumi and Akogun around the town from the Oranmyan Staff to Lagere through Iremo to the palace and back to the Oranmiyan grove where different traditional groups and chiefs will pay homage to the Ooni of Ife,”Olabampe added.

    For the ancient town of Ile Ife, this is the time for cultural rebirth and time to make the world to stop, listen and experience their culture. For them, with the Oranmiyan, the fourth Ooni of Ife’s legacy all over the town, it is just proper that a festival in his honour should be put in place for the world to come and see.

     

  • The 1 trillion Naira shopping list

    One trillion naira is a lot of money in any currency in the world. Except perhaps in Zimbabwe where it’s said, you will need a trailer load of banknotes to buy a loaf of bread. That must be one very expensive loaf indeed.

    Anyway, for a developing country like Nigeria facing serious challenges and is crying out for development, that kind of money would have come in really useful. Just imagine for a moment what the country could do with 1 trillion naira. Let’s pick just three areas of the economy. It could fix some of our very bad roads, we could invest some of it in education so our students don’t spend more time outside the lecture halls than inside due to incessant strikes by their disgruntled teachers and buy some much needed equipment and life-saving drugs for our hospitals so our people no longer die from treatable ailments. There could even be some ‘change’ left after all that expenditure for some boost to the power sector so our towns and cities can be lit up at night instead of the dense jungle-like darkness all around us daily.

    But like a fool and his money, what does our country do with that mouth-watering sum? We spend it on just a very select and exclusive set of citizens, our lawmakers who must be the most pampered in the world. Indeed, if a former Minister of Education and ex-World Bank Vice-President, (Africa Region), Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, is to be believed, our House of Representative members (360) and Senators (109), are the highest paid in the world. According to her, that huge amount of over 1 trillion was spent on salaries and allowances of these legislators between 2005 and 2012 alone.

    Now I’m not an economist and I was not very good in Maths back in my school days. But even with my limited calculation abilities, I can tell that there’s something seriously wrong in this sort of situation. How can a developing country struggling with serious socio-political and economic problems with one of the lowest per capital income in the world ($1,500), with a poverty index of 112 million people (out of a population of about 170 million) spend so much money on just 469 people? What special work are they doing that we should spend so much of our hard-earned resources on them to the detriment of the remaining millions of others.

    I know a lot of things don’t just make sense in this country but this is one of those senseless things we are doing in this country that is seriously holding us back as a people. As Ezekwesili noted, most of the nation’s income from oil, taxes and other sources are spent on recurrent expenditure- a whopping 82 per cent of its budgetary appropriations- leaving a mere 18 per cent for capital projects. Now, you see why nothing works in this country and like an intoxicated masquerade, the nation keeps moving round in circles with occasional steps backwards for variety’s sake. In sane countries, capital projects take the lion share of budgetary allocations as such money is sorely needed for infrastructural development and to service other areas of the economy. But here, we spend most of our money on the over pampered lot at the National Assembly whom many Nigerians don’t even understand what they do in the first place.

    We don’t even get value for money for all the investments in them. How many laws for instance have been passed in the past five years that have impacted positively on the lot of the long suffering masses of this country? If they are not debating on how they can increase their already bloated allowances and salaries, they focus on such depressing issues as child marriages.

    Obviously, we are all hungry for change in our country and a better deal for our people who have suffered so much at the hands of those at the helm of affairs. But all that desire for change will be meaningless if areas that drain our resources are not plugged. So, something needs to be done about these lawmakers and their pay.

    The military in 1999 bequeathed to the nation a very costly presidential system that is draining the nation of already scarce resources. We simply cannot afford to continue running such an expensive system. Perhaps, the time has come for the country to adopt a more cost efficient system of lawmaking that will not milk the country dry.

    Ezekwesili advocated this much when she advised that the job of local, state and National Assembly members should be a part-time activity rather than a full time job.

    Maybe this will arrest the abnormal situation whereby the more money the nation earns, the poorer the people become with the poverty index rising in geometric proportions from 17.1 million Nigerians living below poverty level in 1980 to a frightening 112.47 million people today.

  • ABTA, ACTE to hold events in Nigeria and other countries

    The African Business Travel Association and the Association of Corporate Travel Executives have announced an alliance to collaborate on educational programs and other events commencing with the Johannesburg executive forum on 15 August 2013. According to a joint statement issued by ABTA Founder Monique Swart and ACTE President Suzanne Neufang, the two associations will collaborate on a number of future events emphasizing the role of Africa as a crossroads of global travel.

    “Having  a 13-year history with ACTE, I am delighted our two associations have forged a closer partnership to deliver quality travel management education across the African continent. ACTE’s membership will benefit from ABTA’s expertise in the African business travel industry, while ABTA and its members will gain access to international trends and opportunities through ACTE’s global footprint,” said Swart.

    “ACTE and ABTA have similar priorities in addressing travel management issues and in fulfilling membership needs. Common objectives, shared vision, and realistic expectations  guarantee joint educational endeavors with potent content,” said Neufang. “ACTE has an outstanding reputation for working in concert with other international and regional associations, with full respect for local business cultures and customs. We look forward to working closer with ABTA.”

  • A tenant’s dilemma (2)

    Shortly after Vero left school, we got married. In fact, she took part in the mandatory NYSC programme as a married woman. By the time the service year ended, Vero was already pregnant with our first baby. Unfortunately, the baby, a boy died when he was three months old. It was a terrible time for us. I felt so devastated by the loss as I had so looked forward to seeing my son grow up into a strong healthy boy.

    I blamed my wife for what happened. I had left for work on the fateful day, leaving a fine, healthy baby behind only to see his corpse on my return.

    According to the house girl, she had been left with the baby all alone at home as Vero had gone out with her friend. Some time in the afternoon, my son had developed a fever. On calling my wife to inform her about the boy’s condition, Vero had told her to give him some baby syrup.

    A few hours later, my son was dead. For the first time since our marriage, I felt like hitting my wife. But I was restrained by my younger brother, Joe who lived with us.

    “Brother, calm down. Beating her won’t bring Junior back,” he cautioned as I made to beat Vero up for her actions. I believed it was her carelessness that caused our son’s death. How could a woman nursing a baby leave home in the morning and not return till late in the evening, leaving her baby in the care of an ignorant maid?

    My son’s untimely death caused a rift between Vero and I. We later made up though and before long, she conceived again.

    This time, she had a girl whom we named Oluchi. I didn’t want anything to happen to this baby so I brought my mother from the village to help take care of her.

    By then, two of my younger ones and a cousin of Vero were living with us. My apartment grew too small for all of us so I got a bigger three bedroom flat in a nice neighbourhood.

    We settled down in our new place and for a while, things went well for us. When the baby was six months old, my mother returned to the village as my father was beginning to complain about her long absence from home.

    “Others who went for omugwo at their daughters’ homes at the same time as your mother have long since returned. Or does she want to become a city dweller now, like all those city women who rub pancake and wear trousers like men? Doesn’t she know she is now an old woman? Agadi nwanyi!” my father said teasingly when I had gone home for a brief visit.

    ***

    Some months after, something terrible happened at my work place. The Chairman of the company, who had founded it several decades before died. Most of the staff expected the only son, who was already a director in the business, to take over the reins of the company. But to our shock, the irresponsible young man sold it to some foreign investors, took the money and relocated out of the country!

    All this was done without carrying the workers along or even considering their welfare. We resumed work one morning to see a notice at the locked gates that a new management had taken over and all the workers had been made redundant. It was a big blow to everyone. The vague promise that we could be recalled some time in the future did not reassure any of us.

    I stood with the rest of the workers at the gate, feeling dazed as if I was in a dream. The thoughts going through my mind were confusing ones; how was I now going to take care of my family, pay my bills and take care of other things as a responsible family man now I had no job? I had been in the company for about six years and enjoyed working there.

    So, I felt really bad at being tossed into the uncertain labour market without warning. Worse still, I had just bought a new car and a plot of land in the suburbs of the city. My plan was to start developing it so we could move there in a few years’ time. All those plans were now on hold.

    My wife was supportive at first of the situation. She kept reassuring me that something would turn up soon and I should not worry. But one year later and still no job, I began to worry. As an accountant, I had thought it would be easy enough to get another job. How wrong I was! While I still had a job, I never knew how saturated the market was with job seekers.

    I wrote many applications but none were successful. But I never gave up. I kept writing, hoping and praying that a good offer would come. A few professional colleagues I knew gave me a few private jobs to do on the side to make some money. This helped a lot at least in feeding the family.

    Things went this way for a while with me continuing my job search. At a point, my financial situation became so tough that paying the rent on my apartment when my rent expired became a problem. I went to my landlord to explain my situation to him, promising that once I secured another job, I would pay. I had had a good relationship with the man since I began living in his house and he was understanding at first. But when a year passed with no rent, he gave me quit notice.

    I didn’t know what to do. Where would I move my family to if the landlord enforced the quit notice, I kept thinking worriedly.

    Then one day, I returned home from my usual job search to meet my landlord, the caretaker and a few others standing by the door of our flat. My wife and other members of my family were there too and it looked as if they had been pleading with him. The man was holding court papers which he waved in my face.

    “You have till the end of the week to move out else I will throw your things out! Did you give me money to build my house? So, why do you want to live here for free?” he queried belligerently.

    My wife knelt down and began to beg for more time to pay. I joined in too. But the man was not ready to listen.

    Flinging the papers at me, he threatened:

    “You either pay me my money or don’t let me see you here when I return later in the week!”

    Since I didn’t have the money to pay him, I began making alternative arrangements. I had spoken to a very good friend of mine, Mike concerning my accommodation problems. He told me about his younger brother who had travelled abroad, leaving his small flat empty.

    “His rent has not expired. You can move in and even take it over if you like the place,” he stated.

    But my wife was against the idea.

    “A mini-flat with just two rooms?” she stated incredulously when I told her about the flat. “It’s too small for all of us. Besides, what will my friends say? They will laugh at me if we move from this big place to a tiny flat like that!”

    I tried to reason with her that because of the situation we were in, we did not have much choice.

    “It’s only for a while till I can get another job,” I stated reassuringly.

    But she was adamant, insisting that she was not going to live in that ‘match box’ as she called the flat.

    “I’m going no where! You are the man in this house! You go and get the money for the rent or look for a way to appease the landlord!” she declared.

    I shook my head, thinking how unreasonable she was being…

    Then a few days before the deadline given by the landlord for us to pack, Vero told me on my return home one evening that the landlord had changed his mind and that we could stay.

    “He said we should not move again. That we can stay till you have the money to pay,” she announced, looking excited.

    “How come? Did you go and beg him or what?” I asked. I felt relief, as if a big weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

    But if I had known the reason for my landlord’s change of mind, it would have been a different feeling indeed…

    •To be continued

     

    •What made the landlord change his mind on the quit notice? Details next week!

    •Names have been changed to protect the identities of the narrator and other individuals in the story.

    •Send comments/suggestions to 08023201831(sms only), psaduwa@yahoo.com or psaduwa007@gmail.com

  • Joburg City festival holds maiden edition

    Joburg City festival holds maiden edition

    The Joburg City Tourism Association will host the very first Joburg City Festival scheduled for the week between Joy of Jazz and Arts Alive, meaning the inner city will come abuzz with activities for 3 weeks straight.

    The Joburg City Festival was launched on 17 – 19 May 2013, where the Joburg City Tourism Association, along with their members and partners JDA; Gautrain; Joburg Tourism Company and Gauteng Tourism, invited and hosted 76 journalists from stretches as far and wide as Botswana to Cape Town, to give them a taste of what the official festival in August will display.

    The festival will run over 9 days and the official programme will offer something for everyone! From art and cultural activaties; tours; music; dance parties; street sports; fashion and lots more.

    ”We are excited about the very first festival as it is ideally scheduled to link the two big cultural festivals, Joy of Jazz and Arts Alive, giving tourists, city dwellers and suburbanites an opportunity to explore their city. We hope that in future these 3 weeks of festivities will put Johannesburg on the map as a destination for winter breaks. The city has been undergoing a massive rejuvenation and the Joburg City Tourism Association endeavours to promote this and the city’s heritage through the festival,” said Margeaux Swartz, JCTA Director and spokesperson.