Category: Soji Omotunde

If anything, Ekiti State will be on national spotlight this week. This is the moment of an instantaneous challenge for all Ekiti citizens at home and abroad as Saturday’s gubernatorial election will be another vista that will determine the future of their state tagged as Land of Honour. The decision will either continue to move the state forward or dump it back into the valley.

Will Ekiti people preserve the reformation of their state or will they permit reversal to dreadful governance? Will they prefer their tomorrow to be totally rescued from deficiency and rundown worth or allow themselves to be used through meager spurious hand-outs by external forces for fruitless self-seeking leadership?

Who indeed is the man of integrity that should lead Ekiti State to higher ground in the next four years? Will people’s vote be allowed to count? And are the voters also set to defend their votes? Questions upon questions!

Ekiti is a place where character is the honour and pride. People in wisdom are those who know the different characters running to be the next leader of the state – who they are, what they have done and what they can do – especially the ones who had been tested with power given to them and the one presuming to have the honour that he does not have. Not that Ekiti has a contestant that is perfect, as in the word of Abraham Lincoln, “nearly all men can stand adversity. But if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

Ayo Fayose was once given power for close to one term before he was extracted out of office over harassing validations that were debunking the peace and glory of the state. When he sought to be senator of his district, his own people denied him of the aspiration so that they will not be replanted in dishonour and shame. Now, in desperation to retain the power being misused, he is picked as war tool to capture the Land of Honour by any means, not minding the will of his people.

Opeyemi Bamidele is another aspirant. He was once considered loyal and committed to the source of his blessings. His resentment was the endorsement of the incumbent governor affirmed of fine performance. Bamidele’s deflection to another party might have been motivated by the same power now enforcing Fayose to deny Ekiti of further transformation and progress. Maybe he was anticipating a PDP support same way it occurred in Ondo and Anambra states when the party that couldn’t see itself winning, engaged in electoral manipulation to block the main opposition.

Then, why should the incumbent desiring to stay on in power? Governor Kayode Fayemi who came to office with good agenda which he executed wants to finish what he has started. Fayemi’s activism is on ground, starting with exposition of his integrity. When sworn in as governor, he declared an eight-point agenda which he promised would be pursued with vigour so that the life of his people can become better.

Although perfection would still not be asserted, actualization of his promises can today not be denied. In hardwork, dedication and, above all, integrity, he has undoubtedly recreated the image of Ekiti. His agenda placed value at the heart of the state’s projects.

With his reputation as a civil society activist, it was not surprising that Fayemi’s opening achievements were to push the enactment of laws and upholding good governance beyond earlier administrations. Immediately he assumed power, he and his deputy declared their assets with the Code of Conduct Bureau in conformity with Federal Government’s directive to all public office holders. He became the first leader of Ekiti to have made public his worth in cash and assets. He also remains the first governor in Nigeria to sign into law the Freedom of Information Act. He has also enacted the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Public Private Partnership law. The Southwest Regional Integration agenda is his concept.

Beyond all these, Fayemi has made practical efforts to begin re-drawing the map of Ekitiland. Today, whoever enters the state from any angle will see undeniable infrastructural transformation, not only in the state capital, but in all the local government areas. He has moved beyond rant or mere talk to sensibly and prudently touch the state’s populace. He was not going into the street to eat plantain or corn to impress the poor, or join okada riders pretending link with the downtrodden.

Remarkably, he took off from where he met his predecessor, Engr. Segun Oni who laid the foundation for some road projects. He has ensured quality rehabilitation and construction of many roads across the state. In Ado-Ekiti, he completed several road projects in dualisation, positioning traffic lights for traffic control and with consistent street light making the capital city a place of pride to those who value goodness. He is turning former Ado-Ekiti prison into a Civic Centre which is being structured to have an art gallery and a modern library.

Fayemi has also touched the citizenry in other ways besides infrastructure. A remarkable scheme in human capital development is the regular monthly payment of N5,000 to no fewer than 25,000 indigenes who are 65 years and above. This has considerably helped empowering otherwise less-endowed elderly citizens.

Apart from rebuilding structures in schools, provision of solar-powered laptop computers to at least 33,000 students and many teachers has been building up the computer literacy skills of the younger generation and already positioning Ekiti as the ICT capital of Nigeria.

The schemes of the administration have been facilitated by the reinvigoration of the internal revenue generation base. At initiation, monthly internally-generated revenue was estimated at about N100 million. Now, through the blockage of leakages and other corrupt devices, the administration pushed the generation beyond N600 million, targeting about N1 billion monthly. This is why some civil servants are agonizing.

Ekiti tourism infrastructure has been revived. Whoever visits Ikogosi Warm Spring will see global tourist attraction, with further accessory of good lodging and conference facilities. Many more infrastructural restructuring and ongoing projects will ultimately boost the state’s economy.

Now, must the good works of a trustworthy leader be truncated and the state downgraded under hoodlum and agitator unable to accomplish what would develop the state beyond individual gifts? Why must it be Fayemi alone that has an agenda being implemented for the state? He is the man of integrity that should be chosen by Ekiti people with wisdom and desire for progress.

 Feedback

Re: Who really is Fayose?

Your piece on “Who really is Fayose?” is thorough, well researched and blunt. The people of Ekiti know the kind of peace and the level of infrastructural development they have been enjoying for the past three and a half years. They, like other Yoruba race know who are their authentic leaders and would spill with their votes on election day. However, my fear is that INEC should avoid another phantom ‘landslide victory’ a la 1983 governorship of the former Ondo State which plunged the state into crisis. From Dr. Tunde Obaoye

The real question is how did Fayose got to power? If Obasanjo in his bid to control power in Southwest did not care about the character of people he rigged into power, then he and the obas, and indeed Ekiti elites deserve the treatment Fayose gave them.From Fadare Ranti

Thanks so much for your well-informed write up. God will always be with you and your family. PDP decided to use criminals and murderers for their candidates in Ekiti and Osun gubernatorial elections. Simply they want to win by all means like Vice President Sambo has said that they are going to war in Ekiti and Osun elections. The likes of Fayose and Omisore have no good place in our history. From Tayo Tola Agbaje, Abuja.

Your views are as truly as they are – undeniable. Thank you for reminding Ekiti people of the evil claiming to be popular like Satan. From Oluwadare 

Only ignorant people who want to steal the glory of Ekiti State will support Fayose. Let the election be free and fair, Fayose will be a grand looser. From Peter G

The answer is straight forward. Fayose is a noted liar, a thug and a first class 419. From O. Daodu

Who knows that without June 12, 1993, Chief M.K.O Abiola would still have been alive today? It was an unarguable day when Nigeria experienced the freest and fairest national election. Abiola contested and when he was to be declared winner as President of the federation, the devil stormed in to use vessels of darkness to extirpate the desire of the people.

Eventually, MKO gave his life and everything in him for the sake of all and peace in this country.  The day of his victory is not being honoured. Rather, it is May 29, 1999 when the military went back to the barracks that is today being tasked as democracy day.

Last year when the pathetic episode struck 20 years, President Goodluck Jonathan admitted that MKO won the election and declared appreciation on June 12 as a unique day that has changed the political history of this country in one way or the other. He described the day in which a presidential election, widely adjudged as the pre-eminent in Nigeria’s chronicles, was annulled, as an outstanding day in the nation’s history that should be acknowledged.

As his pronouncement made good sense, the president attempted to honour MKO with renaming the University of Lagos as Moshood Abiola University. Many saw that as a mere token to a winner who was accepted across the country. It was regarded as a premeditation to mock the memories of MKO as the name of the institution was changed to his name without changing the law.

Perhaps, this is why that token – re-naming UNILAG to MAULAG – which did not even go through due process, squandered like a cube of sugar in an ocean. Today, UNILAG has not become MAULAG and Mr. President no longer says anything about it. That means, MKO has remained denied of honour under successive political administrations.

While some appreciative states, in considering the actual concept of true democracy, had declared June 12 as a public holiday to celebrate the remarkable electoral event, the central authority seems failing to recognise it as the real democracy day when election was carried out inimitably the way it should.

To avert doubt, the June 12 1993 presidential elections were emblematic in many ways. Apart from being the most peaceful, freest and fairest elections ever held in Nigeria since independence, the man who won and his running mate were both Muslims unlike how religion is being used to politicize the nation today. It was an event celebrated and adorned by local, national and international observers as it discarded both ethnic and primal sentiments to elect a leader of choice. It remains on record that there was no witness of violence, intimidation, snatching of ballot boxes, multiple voting, rigging as we are being scared to enforce in elections these days. Indeed, there was no protest from any part of the country until IBB and his cronies started wielding ethnic tags to impede the unvoiced insurrection.

Yet, whether it is acknowledged or not, June 12, 1993 was a watershed in the history of Nigeria. The day the voting happened still remains fresh in the reminiscences of those who witnessed it or were informed. Nigerians experienced robust election campaigns and mobilization of the electorate to participate in the process.

But at the same moment, Senator Arthur Nzeribe-led Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) started doing the bidding of IBB administration key figures to mobilise against the transition to civil rule. The association went to court to seek the stoppage of the June 12 election. But a Lagos High Court had to declare at the last moment that ABN was not even properly registered.

Notwithstanding, the elections took place. Abiola beat Bashir Tofa in his electoral ward to prove his level of acceptability across the nation. No sooner had National Electoral Commission began a state-by-state announcement of election results, that General Ibrahim Babangida (IBB) announced the annulment of the election.

IBB who might have thought it ‘wise’ to annul the elections that were so free and fair and in which MKO evidently won in the home state of his opponent must by now in his heart be seeing the inanity of the unworthy step he took. He gained nothing from denying MKO of the will of the people. Thinking he was stepping aside for a while, he never dreamt of Sani Abacha’s tyrannical rule that eventually took over to plunk the glory of the nation.

Invalidation of the June 12 election trembled the nation, and since then, we have been witnessing many changes – more for worse. The crises that emanated from the annulment brought to the fore the fundamental political cracks in Nigeria’s polity.

As once stated by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, “when Abiola won the June 12, 1993 election, we thought we had put electoral fraud behind us; many years after, we are still grappling with it.” According to him, “INEC has not witnessed any serious structural change, but vast results of fraud that forced progressives to go to court. The court exposed the fraud and gave back the people their mandate, especially in the South-west and Edo State. Elections in the 21st century are made to reflect the technology of today.”

Although IBB is still alive, he is surely not whom he thought he should be today. He is barely more than an ordinary citizen, not esteemed and privileged the way he should be as a leader. The same with other leaders who took the wrong steps.

Last week, Mrs. Hafsat Abiola-Castello, daughter of MKO and Kudirat said her father is greater than former President Olusegun Obasanjo. She was responding to a recent acknowledgment by Obasanjo, and declared that her father never needed OBJ’s recognition, because “MKO was a greater man” through his dedication to the cause of the common man and a better Nigeria.

Talking at a rally, Hafsat said: “If he (Obasanjo) wants to recognise MKO Abiola now it is good for him, but MKO was always the greater man and you cannot recognise somebody that is more than you. MKO Abiola did not require President Obasanjo to recognise him. He required Nigerians to see his heart and they did. That was why they rewarded him with the June 12 election, an election that was so free and fair that no Nigerian leader can claim that kind of mandate till today.”

Beyond the declaration of June 12 as public holiday as being done in states in the South-west and the naming of monuments after the acclaimed MKO, analysts believe that our leaders need to take a cue from MKO’s life of sacrifice. Many of today’s politicians rose to power on the fall of him who paid the supreme price for democracy. Instead of being a democracy day, May 29 is self-esteem. Meanwhile, June 12 is a pan-Nigerian mandate as it is not about MKO or Yoruba race. It is more about the communal yearning of Nigerians from various walks of life and political divides to say no to martial domineering and absolute rule, and yes to egalitarianism and social equality.

June 12 is noteworthy because it was a match changer and an exemplar shift that ruined the mould clearly and decisively on such a scale that it became necessary to modify conjectures and pigeonholes about the electorate.

It was a day when all Nigerians came together, forgot about sentiments, be it ethnic or religious, and came mutually to proceed as one. If only this, the Federal Government must be overwhelmed to make June 12 celebration a national event. For an administration truly desiring to transform this country, it is time to learn from June 12 and imbibe all the ideals of it.

What are these ideals? They include ballot integrity; freedom of choice; farewell to poverty and standing for justice. Fairness and equity have eluded Nigerians, which is why there is now insecurity of lives and property in quantum.

The people of this nation can only unite under an umbrella of righteousness, fairness and equity. We need leaders who have integrity and are selfless in service. It is then that Nigeria will ascend and never plunge again, and will manifest admissibility on the world map.

Each time I ponder on on-going political struggles in Nigeria, God often draw my attention to scriptural parallels. The consequences are becoming so scary that people of goodwill cannot afford to cease interceding for Divine intervention in the affairs of this our beloved nation.

One of such odysseys I’m led to is the story of Babylon with its King Nebuchadnezzar. For those who might not know, geographically, Babylon of old is much of the Iraq of today; and its story might need re-telling to enable us draw the useful interferences God is placing at our disposal.

Babylon, a city that had rebelled against the Assyrian empire, was destroyed by Sennacherib in 689BC. When Sennacherib died, his son, Esarhaddon, foolishly rebuilt the city of Babylon. Assyrian, whose rulers as at that time were weak, allowed Babylon much opportunity to recover and gather new strength. So, as the Assyrian army marched off to conquer and oppress faraway lands, the city of Babylon was growing and expanding into the nation. Before long, it became strong enough to rebel again; it eventually crushed Assyria and soon became the next world power.

The Babylonian policy for taking captives was different from the Assyrians who moved most of the people out and resettled the land with foreigners. Rather, they took only the strong and the skilled, leaving the poor and the weak who were thus elevated to positions of authority as their loyalty would have been won.

As it were, Babylon’s gains and riches were from the misfortune of others, even if ultimately, this would only become the fuel for the fire to come – because the victims and their cities would sooner or later cry out against their oppression. Caught up in the pursuit of power and spoils of power, Babylon believed in its own greatness and claimed to be only superpower on earth. It felt completely secure and deluded by the myth of self-efficiency. Its people also became invulnerable as they had snatched total control, such that they saw no need for God or for anyone else anymore.

In capsule, Babylon became a combination of an evil city and an immoral empire – a world centre for idol worshipping. Rather than appreciate the God who gave them the victory being savoured, the people began to seek advice and help from astrologers and stargazers; forgetting that like all idols, astrologers are more like fixers who never able to deliver themselves from what was to come from the hand of God.

Of course, King Nebuchadnezzar, having won crucial battles had believed that it was all made possible by his own sagacity and self-effort. He could not understand that the captive exiled in Babylon were being cared for by God who was in control of every situation.

Indeed, the ways in which God worked on Nebuchadnezzar were that he was allowed the victories because it was through them that he was accomplishing God’s purposes. For instance, when God allowed him to conquer Judah, he not only took their lands and robbed their riches, he also controlled their lives. He absorbed their best young brains to fortify his kingdom. The brightest of the young Jews became his palace servants.

Foolishly, Nebuchadnezzar failed to appreciate that the God of the subdued people was the same God who made him what he became. Rather, he started seeing himself as a god and refused to acknowledge the true God. Hence, when he attempted roasting three of God’s children, God allowed the failed attempt just to demonstrate to him that he did not really have power over life and death.

Severally, God warned Nebuchadnezzar of the danger of pride and obstinacy to no avail. Prophet Jeremiah who spoke the painful truth of hope and consolation, as well as trouble and gloom, became unpopular, while the likes of Hananiah who spoke comforting lies, urging him on against God’s will were eulogized as the faithful and the loyal.

But in the fullness of time, the true God taught Nebuchadnezzar a powerful lesson by taking everything away from him – including the glory of his office. He was made to live through seven years of insanity before restoration after God had shown him who really was in charge.

The symbolism of Babylon in our polity today is increasingly becoming manifest. We seem to be unguardedly treading on political values that are incapable of standing the test of what is fair and just. The dominant spirit now is drifting towards the complacency, invulnerability and delusion of self-sufficiency of the Babylonians of yore. The danger is that as attention begins to shift to personal egos, laced with scheming and machinations, it will become difficult seeing how God is working.

From the adventure of Nebuchadnezzar, it was evident that leader’s success – or otherwise, could be affected by the quality of his advisers; and that uncontrolled pride is an express to self destruction.

Today, our President Goodluck Jonathan, in the manner of his ‘mentor’ and predecessor, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is being lured to seize the nation’s political jugular. When the present republic commenced, many Nigerians were encouraged that the potentials of democracy will transform the declining nation. But by means, fair and foul, power in the ruling People’s Democratic Party was changing hands, not for effectiveness in service to the people, but for personal attainments. The once reluctant political draft has grabbed the soul of the party, and its heart firmly tucked inside shapeless wears. By the same stretch, intact democracy is being polarized and devastated, with exploitation to render potentially virile alternatives to become castrated, thereby degenerating the nation’s politics back to pathetic prostrate position.

The desperate hallucination under the Obasanjo regime to clutch Nigeria to a one-party polity – in the pocket of a poorly-performing political party, is similar to the distraction now staring the nation in the face. The unresolved internal political indications within crisis-ridden PDP, based on power struggle are becoming frightening scenarios. Since the leadership is spilling, will desperation on self-centered office-occupancy end up installing – or re-installing, a maximum clueless leader that will begin to see himself as another god in the mould of Nebuchadnezzar?

If so, of course by then, the hawks that are now in control of the manipulations will pretend to be mourning the consequent failure of Babylon. No doubt, the political wheeler-dealer would mourn publicly because, as the behind-the-scene overseers of Babylon’s affairs, they might have used their fixing position to enrich themselves greatly – the grand-standing against such act notwithstanding. The merchants too would mourn because Babylon, the greatest customer for their goods, would have gone.

The truth of all this is that life full of an evil system will not affect those who enjoyed and depended on it only. The pity is that no one would remain unaffected by Babylon’s fall.

…INEC and Anambra polls ahead of 2015

Yes, for now, political manipulation of the will of the people might be manifesting. After all, the ‘opponents’ are evidently being stripped and decimated politically as a prelude to the grand onslaught that will firmly put the final nail on their coffins.

With token elections coming up, administrative hawks are evidently taking over Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the core polls coming forth in 2015 that will determine the destiny of the nation. What happened in Delta State Senatorial election few months ago was being repeated in Anambra State yet-unresolved gubernatorial election. INEC boss Attahiru Jega himself has admitted the failure of his commission.

Because of 2015 desperation, the revelation is that Bamanga Tukur’s PDP had to ditch the party’s candidate to work for APGA – the same way it was done for Labour Party (LP) in Ondo State earlier in the year. In other words, supporting a one-state APGA through electoral manipulation is also like the vision to acquire the one-state LP for Jonathan. The support of the APGA candidate referred to as the treasurer of the outgoing Anambra Governor is not for patronising a qualitative contender that will transform the life of the people in the state, but more because of desired back-up of the 2015 desperado.

With that, we can now see ahead of time why Tukur’s PDP is lobbying another desperate stalwart in Ekiti to LP for next year’s guber polls in the state. Not that they want the peoples’ votes to certify good performance, it is just to hinder and manipulate the will of the people as done in Delta and Anambra to fulfill personal purposes.

With all these, it might just be a matter of time for falcon not to hear the falconer any longer. When the chips are down, and all mute – or speculated agenda revealed – for ill or for good, a Nebuchadnezzar would have emerged.

Last week, the Senate Committee on Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) revealed the kind of enduring corruption that has not made Nigeria to move forward.  It exposed that at least N500 billion of the fuel subsidy savings raised by the Federal Government since 2012 till September 2013 may be missing. The sum is derived from calculable amount that should have accrued to the SURE-P for the implementation of its projects.

How was this exposed? The committee requested from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources the quantity of fuel it supplied for consumption for 21 months since the inception of SURE-P. It was said that that the ministry responded that 25 billion litres of PMS (fuel) was supplied. Since N32 was SURE-P’s component of oil subsidy, the committee multiplied 25 billion litres of PMS the ministry supplied by N32, which gave about N800 billion.

At a meeting with the leadership of SURE-P, the committee discovered that SURE-P was receiving N15 billion monthly for its activities, implicating the total amount released was N300 billion. This then means that N500 billion that should have accrued to SURE-P was not being accounted for. Beyond this, the committee is still eager to know how the amount made available to SURE-P was being utilized, much so as the programme’s implementation has not been encouraging.

This issue of about N800b coming up when the yet-unresolved Oduahgate scandal of N255m purchase of two bulletproof cars by Ministry of Aviation is another revelation of serial wastage of public resources.

Fact: Nigeria is rated the 7th largest producer of oil in the world, with a population above 140 million citizens, offering a rich source of cheap and enterprising labour, and the largest market in Africa. The country’s non-oil mineral resources which are global revenue spinner remain largely un-utilized.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has been earning billions of dollars yearly on oil receipts alone. Yet, over 70% of Nigerian citizens live below the poverty line, with the nation ranked 156th out of 187 countries in the world, using the Human Development Index.

The anti-corruption Transparency International has consistently ranked Nigeria among countries most riddled with corruption. It once depicted Nigeria as a Gangster’s Paradise where “…you pay a bribe to see a key official in many an establishment. You pay a bribe to get a job. You pay a bribe to get the passport that is yours by birthright. If you do not give or collect bribes, you remain poor and an object of scorn despite your several degrees and cognate experience until providence intervenes for you.”

Nigeria has been seen as the only country where as a general rule, people are wrong and strong at the same time. Indeed, if the nation had effectively and efficiently utilised just only 25% of all the oil money being earned, she would have graduated from the membership of under-developed nations to become a member of the developed nations.

In reality, Nigeria has produced more billionaires within the past 30 years than most other countries in the world; yet Nigerian governments are not able to take good care of their workers and meet obligations of the people. To finance educational systems has rendered institutions in the nation static such that public universities have been on strike for about five months. Most public officers now prefer sending their children to schools abroad or to expensive local private institutions.

It is distressing that Nigeria’s giddy over-indulgence in defrauding is yet to let up – more that 50 years after the attainment of political independence. Successive governments have hardly been resolving the national affliction of corruption genuinely. This is why today, the cookies seem to have crumbled and the dreams have turned into a nightmare. Check the social systems: they are fraught with inequity; the economic policies a sham and the human development catalogues nose-dive daily.

The change that overtook Nigeria’s finances since oil discovery made many in government in Nigeria really drunk and heady. With focus on personal riches, most of values of public sector management of the early days were lost. As corruption became resilient, no ingenuity of system of values could inspire truthfulness, loyalty, efficiency and dedication in the nation’s bureaucracies.

Hardly had any of the successive administrations succeeded in restoring the moral tone of the fraudulent public officers and inducing them to commitment, honesty and greater productivity in order to restore the nation on the path to greatness. Not that the challenge with Nigeria had ever been the absence of good laws, good manifestoes or even good intentions.

The problem has always been with accomplishment. And at the hub of the letdown of implementation is the failure to apply deterrence to expunge the spiteful intensification on the nation’s upper body. Afterall, when the Obasanjo civil administration came up with Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), it was the wrong motive of the leadership that never allowed the anticipated impact to manifest.

Initially, when the two commissions were to take some strides to address the moral decay in the society, the nation’s leader started using the supposed anti-corruption agencies to display his dictatorial power and please his self-centeredness rather than allow them to resolve economic frauds depleting the nation. This caused the commissions to merely exist just for the sake of continued existence. Corruption kept escalating while the nation continues declining morally and economically. Notwithstanding the number of Nigerians that have been brought to the courts on fraud charges, how many still have any discredit whatsoever hanging around their necks? Are we not seeing people with track records that ought to spell doom for their careers instead going on from strength to strength? Even in instances where official reports indicate that some individuals are societal risks, they have been known being lionized as celebrities in their communities.

Today, fraud has penetrated the bones of the Nigerian society. The manager and his messenger, the police chief and the officer, the classroom teacher and his student, the political leader and the voter, the judge and the lawyer, the professional and the artisan – name it, none remains untainted by the discredit of showing love for money.

Two main factors have played upon each other in destroying the moral fibre of the nation: malicious greed and abject poverty. The greed of the ruling class plays upon the poverty of the larger majority of the people to perpetuate the scourge of fraud and corruption. Sadly, keeping on with such kind of life cannot lead any society up.

The lessons from Nigeria are innumerable. Fundamental solution for systemic corruption demands that the individual be changed, the system be changed, and the foundation of society and community life be changed. Besides, whoever would prosecute the war against fraud must be moral conformists; they must not be tainted with the stigma of unrighteousness and fraudulence. Furthermore, unless the present set of leaders gives way to some breath of fresh air, there will be no future for the nation.

In other words, unless and until a new generation of Nigerians emerges to give way to fresh blood, there is no hope in the battle to wipe out obvious cases of greed and rout unrighteous nation. This is why this nation needs a complete intervention for righteousness to drive public life. The old foxes must take a rest and allow an infusion of a breath of fresh air. Political accountability and realistic democratic transformation hold the key to victory in the fight against corruption. Otherwise, moving forward will remain inevitable.

Nigeria can go no way with an inglorious profile. The need is for the politics of service, of true commitment to public good and of personal and costly sacrifice for the common good. The need is for a new breed of leaders in governance that are not desperate for power; leaders with idealism, standards and convictions, who will serve as beacons and role models for the next generation; leaders who will bind our wounds and reconcile our broken ranks, and restore our land to the path of true greatness.

The way out may not be a short-range, but it must address the root causes of fraud in the polity and galvanize and orchestrate those measures that will herald the emergence of honest leaders with the political will to truly combat corruption. The nation’s leadership must demonstrate the willingness to track down and punish corrupt officials and citizens, even when their own friends and relations are involved. It must also create a beneficial economic climate that would raise the standard of living of the populace.

 

When in 1980/81 I was in Plateau State for National Youth Service, the authority in power in the state made moves that inspired me. As a member of our set’s media team, I saw physical developments and also the commitment to actualising government’s strategy of emancipation. After service, when I became a full-time journalist in Newbreed Organisation, I utilised the opportunity to return to the state to report the reality of the then Solomon Lar’s administration’s transformation.

An interview interaction with Governor Lar in 1982 became memorable. Just as he mentioned multiple successes of his administration’s visions, he also admitted failures. I reported the story with the opposition party’s assaults the way it was without attempt to please him. He read it but was not displeased by the negative attacks. Rather, he appreciated my professionalism in the published balanced lead story.

He drew me closer and our relationship became that of a family. When he was turning 70, I started putting together a book on him. He provided most of the contents about him that are yet untold. We eventually agreed its public presentation when he turned 80. But by then, his health had already been taking him out of the country.

Today Baba Lar is gone at his official age of 80. (Not long ago, he told me he knew he was more than that official age). Today, people are eulogising him worthily. Below are some by notables – which I regard as exactness about who he was:

President Goodluck Jonathan: “He was a much of beloved, charismatic and inspirational political leader.” The President said Lar lived a long and most fulfilled life, and that his immense contributions to communal state and national development had assured him of a place amongst the eternal heroes of the Nigerian nation.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo: “a noble statesman, a lover of peace, a firm believer in the Nigerian project.”

Senate President David Mark: “a different kind of leader. He put the people and the nation first before self. He was an easygoing man; he was a calculative, gentle and result-oriented leader.”

Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal: “Lar would always be remembered as a man of integrity whose forthrightness and wisdom stood him out among his peers.”

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu: “When the history of the development of Middle Belt politics is told, nay that of Nigeria, Solomon Lar’s name will go down as one of the political juggernauts of our generation. He was a progressively-minded politician upon which the soul and the rise of Middle Belt was anchored… He was a colourful politician, yet principled. He was grassroots, yet urbane in his approach to issues. Even in the twilight of his political stewardship, he remained a reference point and a fountain of political knowledge and wisdom… He remained a progressive at heart and never abandoned the principles of democracy and good governance.”

Below are extracts from the yet-to-be-published book, “The Emancipator: Life and Politics of Solomon Lar” put together along with me by Olakunle Abimbola:

“What’s your name?”

The boy, for a moment, paused without an answer. He was among a throng of hopeful workers for the new Langtang-Wase road, passing through River Nyanmlor, seven miles from Pongaa, his village. It was 1948 and he had just left primary school. The only name he knew himself by was Daushep, the family totem of Dau to which he was dedicated, and on whose shrine his father would wish the boy would become the chief priest.

Saying Daushep was his name was out of the question. Daushep means priest of Dau. To his fellow job seekers, many of them from outside his native Langtang (indeed many were from southern Nigeria), he would appear a ‘bush’ boy should he declare Daushep as his name. Besides, a year earlier, he had been converted to Christianity; so he needed a Christian name to crystallize his conversion.

Indeed, a ‘civilized’ foreign name, apart from his native one, would earn him some prestige, even among his fellow natives, many of whom claimed they were Phillip, Thomas and other English names. As he thought hard on these, ‘Solomon’ jumped into his mind.

“Solomon”, he replied the interviewer. “Solomon Daushep.”

Solomon! The Langtang boys in the crowd roared with laughter, while throwing themselves knowing looks: how did he arrive at that? But the boy insisted he was Solomon. That name has since stuck.

For Daushep Lar, Solomon might indeed be a name on impulse, but it would appear the young lad had much in common with the Biblical family whose lineage produced the wisest king in human history. Like Benjamin, the youngest of the twelve sons of Jacob (later renamed Israel), Solomon Daushep was the last of the twelve children by his own mother, who was second wife to the patriarch Lar…

Daushep may have been the youngest in the family, but the patriarch Lar made sure he was the centre of everything.

Old man Lar was certainly taking no chances. It is true Daushep was his last born. But he was one out of the six precious males in a brood of seventeen. Of course, when there was a male child, there was always hope that the family lineage would continue forever. Besides, the eldest Lar as the head of the family, felt it was his ancestral duty to initiate little Daushep into every communal and kindred rites available.

Lar, by the way, is an ancient name meaning life – everlasting life. But what is everlasting kindred life if it did not conform to the ways of the ancestors?

One of those kindred rites was always held every October, in any case, between October and November. Then every son and daughter of Kwalak, one of the Langtang clans, would travel far away to a particular grove in the jungle to offer sacrifices to the ancestors. It was a yearly pilgrimage during which each family sacrificed cockerels and there was great feasting and prayer. After these religious rites, but before the families depart to their homesteads, the boys, in small age groups, would wander off, some five kilometres into the surrounding wilds, with the elders not as much raising eyebrows. Their destinations were in the dark and dank surrounding caves, many of them home to dangerous reptiles – species of snakes, pythons and the like.

Daushep first took part in this character-building exercise when he was between six and eight years old. But it was not peculiar to him alone, since the boys wandered in age groups, and every family made sure its offspring were fully represented. Daushep remembered his group splitting up at the entrance of the extensive caves, and alone, entered.

“It was so dark inside,” he recalled, “we never saw a thing. Some birds, probably bats, started making some eerie sounds while flapping their wings, which scratched against the dry rock.” As these sounds echoed in the cave, there was also the perpetual fear of innocently stepping on some dangerous reptiles – which surprisingly did nothing in reaction to the dreaded touch. “Sometimes, you touched reptiles – you touched animals with scales. Perhaps they thought we were one of them,” he explained; “it was so dark.”

But as all these went on, the boys made contact by shouting intermittently over to themselves. The voyage started around ten in the morning. By five in the afternoon, the exercise would wind down and the children would start leaving for home, their parents proud and satisfied that they had gone through a toughening test.

Looking back, Solomon Lar thought the adventure into the cave was a worthwhile character and courage-building exercise, particularly in those days when the fear of the Wase Hausa was palpable, and the determination to wipe off the stain even so. But he doubted if parents of today would let their children go through similar ordeals.

His vision for PDP:

At the Jos Special National Convention to pick the PDP presidential and National Assembly candidates on 14 February, 1999, Lar spoke glowingly about love, brotherhood, democracy and patriotism.

“…I, Solomon Daushep Lar, a simple, quiet, father-figure, with a glazing love in his heart for our dear beloved country have seen Nigeria in chains under the British and then became free.”

Then he launched into other contrasts in the county’s political odyssey, particularly under the, military: “I have seen Nigeria rise and Nigeria brought low. I have seen Nigeria fight and seen Nigeria capitulate under interventionists. I have seen Nigeria walk tall and I have seen Nigeria grovel.”

But he submitted that the democracy entrenched in the polity, all the needless vicissitudes of the military years would soon be a thing of the past. “I am honoured, fellow Nigerians that, in our life time, we have truly begun to lay the proper, lasting foundations for the government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

Lar then called the attention of his party mates to the sacred covenant with Nigerians: “We have a covenant with them. We have asked them to trust us, that we shall deliver. We intend to keep faith with that covenant.”

On national question:

To Lar, every section can find accommodation in the country – with a little bit of adjustments and compromise here and there. Therefore, there cannot be a Middle Belt without Nigeria since, in his words, the Middle Belt interacts “with both northern and southern people. The Middle Belt is always in the position to interpret the North to the South and the South to the North.

“Not only do we serve as glue for the country, our privileged location enables us to best measure the temperature of the nation… This role places enormous responsibility on our shoulders; and also requires that both the North and South must listen to us anytime we speak on contentious issues.”

Will Nigerians listen to Solomon Daushep Lar in the on-going contentious issue of the national question and the subsequent clamour for a sovereign national conference?