The Nation Newspaper

Tag: bell

  • In Rome, the search for world peace rang a bell

    From the beginning of time, the search for peace has been a major headache afflicting creation as stronger individuals impose their will on weaker neighbours, the same with strong and weak nations.

    One of the greatest teachings of Jesus Christ was the Beatitudes, which was delivered on the Mount, where he laid out the central facets of the way of life expected of those who follow him which should be characterised by peace, rather than its direct opposite, violence or even war. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God,” he had told his listeners (Mathew 5:9). Years later, Apostle Paul re-echoed the significance of peace when he wrote that Christians should do whatever possible to “live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18).

    Apart from Christianity, all other known religions and faiths preach the need for humanity to live in peace without which adherents are less likely to make meaningful contributions to existence. The need for peace has equally bothered governments of nations, communities and families, because the world has witnessed and still living with avoidable conflicts, violence and wars that have combined to ruin lives, destroyed thousands of cities and rendered millions of people homeless. In spite of these, the search for peace is still of paramount importance to all men of goodwill.

    It is perhaps for this relevance of peace to human development that brought obvious excitement and joy to the Catholic Pontiff and sovereign of the Vatican, Pope Francis to welcome with open hands a delegation of 80 members of “Religions for Peace” who paid him a visit in the Vatican following their meeting in Rome on October 19, 2017. Among the delegates were the Catholic Arch Bishop of Abuja John Cardinal Onaiyekan and the Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle Communications Limited, Sir Babatunde Lucky Omoluwa who is a member of Board of Trustees of the world body.

    The Pope told them that “Religions, with their spiritual and moral resources, have a specific and unique role to play in building peace,” adding that “They cannot be neutral, much less ambiguous, where peace is concerned.”

    “Peace remains an urgent task in today’s world, where so many people are scarred by war and conflict. Peace is both a divine gift and a human achievement. This is why believers of all religions are called to implore peace and intercede for it. All men and women of goodwill particularly those in positions of responsibility, are summoned to work for peace with their hearts, minds and hands. For peace has to be “crafted. In this effort, peacemakers and the pursuit of justice go together,” Pope Francis said.

    “Religions for Peace (RFP),” is a Global Network and the world’s largest and most representative multi-coalition which advances common action among the world’s religious communities for peace. The organisation works to transform violent conflict, advance human development, promote just and harmonious societies and protect the earth. The Network comprises a world council of senior religious leaders from all regions of the world, six regional inter-religious bodies and more than 90 national ones. The Global Women of Faith Network and the Global Interfaith Youth Network are also part of the RFP. Its international trustees are made up of lay individuals from 14 different countries that personally support RFP work through the provision of needed competences, networking and resource mobilization. Sir Lucky Omoluwa is a member of the Trustees of this world body.

    Domiciled at the Church Centre for the United Nations in New York, RFP is committed to building consensus on positive aspects of peace as well as concrete actions to stop war, help eliminate extreme poverty and protect the earth. The actions of the organization are not fashioned after religious sectarianism but are multi-religious and “public” in character. The various groups that make up RFP are led by representatives of diverse religious communities and designed to provide platform for cooperative action throughout the different levels of these religious communities from grassroots to the senior-leadership. They also serve as bridges between different religious communities that can help build trust, reduce hostility in areas of conflict as well as provide platform for common positive action.

    Some of the unique features of RFP method of operation are practicality and openness to continuous creativity through which it assist religious communities to correlate or work out a connection between their capacities for action and specific challenges such as violent threat to peace. This approach helps to disclose large, often hidden or under-utilized capacities for action that lie within the proximity of religious communities as well as identify the unique advantages of multi-religious cooperation while working out the kinds of capacity building needed for effective multi-religious action.

    Founded in 1970, the vision of the organization is to see the world religious communities co-operate effectively for peace. It is committed to leading efforts to advance multi-religious co-operation for peace on global, regional, national and local levels while ensuring that religious communities organized on these same levels and exercise appropriate leadership and ownership of such efforts. To achieve its set objectives and goals, RFP ensures that in addition to dialogue, concrete actions are taken when and where necessary towards the transformation of violent conflicts, promotion of just and harmonious societies, advancement of human development and protection of the earth.

    The organization operates on five principles which are, Respect for religious differences; Act on deeply held and widely shared values; Preserve the identity of each religious community; Honour the different ways religious communities are organized; and Support locally led multi-religious structures.

     

    • Bonaventure Melah is an Abuja based journalist, author and public analyst.
  • When bell rings twice

    When bell rings twice

    Not many thought the first year of Muhammadu Buhari would look like this. The price of pump price at 145, the naira at 350 to a dollar, not a single road tarred, the 2016 Budget in baby steps, no minister has received a tranche for work, salary backlogs now a routine, herdsmen as killer squads, Biafra on the rampage, Niger Delta brigands reborn,  a labour strike, the President has only visited one state on official trip, his plane has landed on four continents, the change mantra muted.

    Yet, if you go to the streets, there is no rage or less rage or impotent rage, but a sense of paralysis. The average Nigerian, including those who did not vote for Buhari, are not willing to pelt indignation. They feel poor, even poorer. Power that spewed out radiance in the first few months of his administration has returned to its habitual epilepsy. Jobs? Where are they? The welfare scheme and food for students? Not on the cards today. Many cannot pay rents, many squeeze out meals, wards cannot face their principals for lack of fees. Patience is tested everywhere. Those who are asking for it are also being asked for it. Yet, Buhari is Teflon, rising somewhat above popular anger.

    Much of it, ironically, can be attributed to Buhari himself. The people at the hem are not yet angry with the man at the helm. For two reasons, mainly. One, his biography has proved compelling, even in office. No one thinks him a thief. No one thinks him contemplating thieving. Added to that, he turned the EFCC into a vault of revelations. This man stole that, that smaller man stole that bigger sum. The newspapers became headlines of statistical horror of billions of naira and dollar. All the peacock men in the Jonathan era, who suffused us with righteous rhetoric, of brokered ethnicity and marketed shoelessness, have become the fingers of impunity or retreated into priestly or pastoral silences.

    Perhaps for the first time since independence, we have an elected president whose finger is not suspected of pecuniary mischief. He might have flown to Asia, Europe and the United States, and slept in the luxury of jet and high-flown hotels. He is not in any suggestion of a narrative of stealing.

    We also know that integrity is good, but no matter how good, it will not put food on the table. There lies the moral dilemma of the Buhari era so far. We pine for holiness; we want the sort of character that John Milton painted of the Christ in Paradise Lost. But Christ can be boring if he does not change water to wine or give us fishes that defeat the appetite. The alternative is to call for Satan, and the sins multiply. Hence, Satan was a more colorful and majestic character in Milton’s epic than the beautiful blandness of his Christ. We had a lot of Satan of greed in the last dispensation. That accounts for the Buhari appeal.

    This is perhaps the first time that the war on corruption is fought with palpable sincerity. Paradoxically, it is also the first time it is pursued with epic naivety. The battle seems more about the optics so far, about the stunning figures, about the pruned dignity of the culprit in court, of the stories of vomiting and chewed statements, of court orders ignored and obeyed, of a puffing Eleyinmi as Senate President and a bragging Fani-Kayode clutching the air of the moral superior. Of course, a stooping former soldier is almost numbed over charges that he played charity with government money. Money to save lives in battle was diverted to save the office of the shoeless maestro.

    But then, Buhari wanted to roll back Boko Haram, and he has. Once the pious upstarts planted righteous flags and choked cities and towns and its shadow threatened Kashim Shettima’s position as Borno State governor. Shettima told us more than anyone was ready to say about the ragtag army of bigots, that they were better armed and motivated. Now, Boko Haram is a puny blood fest, harassing only intermittently with suicides. It is a mark it cannot hold out for too long.

    So, Buhari governed gravely, and he changed the moral tone of government. He also nipped the greatest existential threat to our nationhood in the past three decades. For one year, we can say he did well and, some may say, even very well.

    But very well does not put food on the table. It does not seem now that many know well what the blueprint is for the economy. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo articulated this at The Nation newspaper’s First National Conference on the Economy.  Since then though, he has made references to it in snippets.  But, it will not resonate until we start seeing steps.

    No matter the high moral tone of the economy, and a sense of tranquility, if the economy is not handled with deliberate urgency, the austere image of the president will get a beating from the hungry and disaffected. This may be the flipside of the election that brought George W. Bush to office. Bill Clinton was credited with the biggest economic expansion in U.S. history with many jobs available. But his party’s nominee Al Gore, who was his vice, lost out because of Clinton’s moral baggage. The people chose character over prosperity. Of course, when they lost prosperity under Bush, they gave a black man, Barack Obama, the task to carry both the moral and economic burdens. Just like Larry Mamutry’s novel, Lonesome Dove, where the black man serves as the moral restraint for the white man, Obama becomes what sociologists have called the “magical negro.” He takes the fall for the Caucasian predatory excesses. Buhari should learn not to be a fall guy of his own integrity.

    As noted last week, he can take advantage of bellwether minister Babatunde Fashola (SAN), whose ministry can galvanise activity with works and housing and power projects. That was how FD Roosevelt jolted America with the New Deal, which some critics called the “raw deal” then. Other ministers, too, can follow suit at various levels.

    His first year is noted for some notorious silences. The Agatu-Fulani herdsmen saga, Ese Oruru, labour strike, pump price hike. He has visited many places, but only Cross River State in Nigeria for business. His voice roared over Biafra agitation, Niger Delta Avengers and the Shiite group up north. No problem with that if the same decibel of rhetoric flogged the herdsmen. He has clutched endlessly for reasons. A leader is empty without empathy. He needs to connect on an emotional level, especially at a time when many are hurting. Life and death, says David, are in the power of the tongue.

    The second year often is time to settle down to substantial work. As John Donne wrote, ask not for whom the bell tolls, Mr. President, it tolls for thee. A year from now, the bell would have rung twice, where will his tenure be?

  •  Okada : Will Ambode bell the cat?

    It was sometime in 1989 and the defunct Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) was having a workshop in Bauchi State. Participants were expected from all parts of the country. Those of us coming from Lagos gathered at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Ikeja, as directed, for our flight to Jos enroute Bauchi. Getting to board our flight was a fight as it was in the days of the almighty Nigeria Airways, the nation’s  sole carrier then. At intervals, following announcements, we rushed to board flights going our way as we used to rush for that contraption calledmolue, the once-upon-a-time popular commercial bus in Lagos

    There was chaos at the airport that day because hundreds of us – university teachers, members of the diplomatic corps, military personnel, captains of commerce and media men, among others – were going to Bauchi, but there were no flights. We eventually left the airport around 5pm. On arrival in Jos, the Plateau State capital, we were conveyed by buses to Bauchi, which is about 40 minutes drive from the Tin City.  In Bauchi, Gbenga Ayeni, then of West Africa Magazine, Kudo Eresia-Eke, then of Sunray, and I struck a bond as we explored the town together. Since Jos, Bauchi and Gombe are coterminous, we moved from one town to the other. And our means of transportation was motorcycle.

    It was in Bauchi that I first saw motorcycle being used as means of transportation. And as young reporters then, Gbenga, Kudo and I had fun riding on achaba, as motorcycle is called in the North, to our destinations. Whether going to Zaranda Hotel, where the workshop was held, or to Awalah Hotel, where we lodged, we enjoyed taking the achaba as the operators were stationed in strategic corners of the town, waiting for passengers. To us, it was strange seeing motorcycles being used as commercial buses, so to say, because in Lagos we were used to danfo and molue.

    Years later, the achaba landed in Lagos, but under a different name,  okada. The coming of okada changed the face of transportation in Lagos. From the remote and innermost parts of the metropolis, where commercial motorcyclists started their operation, they found their way into the heart of the city, competing with motorists on the highway. Since okada became means of transportation in Lagos, though illegally, things have not been the same in the megacity. With it came a steep rise in crime, fatal accidents and frequent clashes between okada riders and other road users. Okada riders see themselves as lords of the road. They fight for the right of way with motorists; take one way; jump traffic light and ride without helmet.

    Okada is not recognised as means of transportation in any part of the world because it is not safe to use. Yet, we have people who take okada from Ikotun, one end of the city to Lekki, another end of the metropolis,  because, according to them, ‘’we are in a hurry’’. In a hurry, on a machine without any safety measure with the passenger exposed to the element! Though okada business may be  thriving , that should not be the reason for retaining what has become the major cause of crises in the state? Moreover, it adds no value to the economy. To check the excesses of okada riders, former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola restricted their operation to 492 of the 9200 roads in the state.

    They are complying with the restriction in the breach. Up till today, there is no part of the road where you do not find okada despite the restrictions contained in the Lagos Road Traffic Law 2012.  For how long will we tolerate the crudity and lawlessness of okada riders?  It is high time the traffic law 2012 was reviewed to ban okada operation in the state.

    The buck stops on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s desk to decide the fate of okada. It has become urgent for his administration to do something about okada operators before they turn the state upside down with their violent streak. Okada riders operate on short fuse. Whenever there is trouble on the road or in a market, look well, an okada rider will be at the centre of it. No administration will watch and allow a bunch of people to throw its state into anarchy. This is what okada riders are trying to do in Lagos, if they are not stopped now. It is where there is no law that offences are not committed.

    Lagos State has laws; so why should okada riders break them at will and go scot-free? Their operations have been restricted, yet they keep operating as if they have the freedom to run around in every part of the state. If restriction cannot stop them, a ban will surely do the magic so that we do not witness again the kind of incident that happened at Agiliti near Mile 12 about two weeks ago.  What happened in Mile 12 on March 3 was uncalled for and that was not the first time okada men would behave like that.

    An okada man hit a woman and his refusal to take her to hospital led to a riot. The okadaman is Hausa and the woman, a Yoruba. In the twinkling of an eye, the story had changed to Hausa fighting Yoruba. Injustice is injustice anywhere; it has no colour, religion or region. What the okada man will not accept was what he wanted to do to his victim. Some of us would have been witnesses to how they block the road over minor accidents involving their colleagues, harassing the ‘offending’ motorist and other road users. We have also seen how okada is used to rob in traffic, banks and other places.

     

    What good does okada serve? None; whatsoever.  Its patrons may say it eases their movement, but should that be at the expense of the larger society, which is at risk of its operation? There is nothing good about okada.  Many of the riders use their okada to rob, kill and kidnap and they want the government to look the other way. No serious government, which has the public interest at heart, will do that. What is more, many orthopaedic hospitals are full of victims of okada accidents. It is not a business to invest in.

    Thank God, Ambode has created Office of Job and Wealth Creation. Okada operators can approach the agency and see how they can fit into its programmes because whether they like it or not, the days of okada riding are numbered. It may be a hard decision for the governor to take but history will remember him if he takes it because it will be in the overall interest of this megacity. Heavens will not fall if okada is banned and the public will surely find alternative means of movement after its abolition.

    To ban okada is a task that must be done and the House of Assembly must be prepared to play its role in amending the traffic law 2012 to make commercial motorcycling illegal in the state. By so doing, it will be helping Ambode in pushing forth his mantra : itesiwaju ipinle ilu  Eko lo jewa logun. Yes, the progress of Lagos should be the desire of its true residents, no matter where they come from.

  • Saved by the bell

    •Had the FG not changed its mind, 102 officers and 2,500 soldiers could have been sacked unjustly

    News that the Nigerian Army has recalled 102 officers and some 2,500 other ranks, hitherto sacked for alleged desertion, would greatly please the victims. But every thoughtful Nigerian should break into a cold sweat: this massive miscarriage of justice could have stood, had President Goodluck Jonathan won a second term.

    That would have been well and truly tragic. For a country battling the dire challenge of Boko Haram, the security situation would probably even have worsened. If Boko Haram had thrived on citizen alienation and dissonance from the state, sparking fearsome terrorism, one can imagine what such cavalier injustice could have turned the victims into. That reinforces the point that any order that thrives on injustice only digs its own grave.

    The Boko Haram crisis, and the military personnel caught up in its web, is explosively emotive.  The Nigerian state, under President Jonathan, seemed to have no answer to the Boko Haram menace.  The army high command faced near-demystification; and was set to lose its martial swagger. In panic, it would appear to have sent poorly armed soldiers to the war front. But these supposed lions soon turned jelly, faced with superior fire power.

    Should they then have stoically committed avoidable suicide? Or beat some retreat, no matter how untidy, which could have saved their lives but nevertheless opened them up to the charge of desertion — or even, the ultimate disgrace of a soldier being branded a coward?

    But if the state did not provide a soldier all he needs for combat, can the same state morally — and even legally — turn round to charge the victim with desertion; or brand protests that result from such systemic anomalies, “mutiny”?

    That was the grim situation under President Jonathan’s military high command, headed by Air Marshal Alex Barde, former chief of defence staff.  That clear systemic rot was not helped by Marshal Barde’s crass insensitivity, when he declared himself irritated by all of the fuss, since the soldiers could easily have been quietly tried and shot.

    Besides, he added, what the army owed its men were just the uniform and a rifle! But the same Barde, at his pull-out after retirement, admitted the arsenal of the Nigerian military had suffered wilful depletion, over a period of time.

    It is thanks to the majesty of the Nigerian electorate, that voted out President Jonathan, that these service men were virtually saved by the bell — for this verdict reversal would have been near-impossible under the ancien regime.

    Worse: many would have faced the firing squad, leaving their loved ones devastated, with pain, anguish and shame, for it would have been claimed they were cowards rightly shot for bolting, when they should have fought to save fatherland.

    That dire verdict would have been impunity bordering on cold-blooded murder. Yet, the Barde military high command would have spun it as due comeuppance for contemptible deserters, undeserving of the valour and glory of the Nigerian military.

    The grim moral? Offices and laws must be put in the hands of responsible and fair-minded people. The army high command under President Jonathan would appear the direct opposite of such an ethos. That is why the Buhari Presidency should look into ways to officially reprimand that reprehensible conduct, even if each of the involved officers cannot personally be called to account and punished.

    This review is welcome and praise-worthy. But the new military authorities should not stop until every soldier and officer unjustly treated in this saga gets justice. That is the least we can do to restore morale in our armed forces, and recharge our soldiers’ heroic covenant with the Nigerian state.

  • Saved by the bell

    Saved by the bell

    News that scores of soldiers sentenced to death, life imprisonment or dismissal may soon be given a reprieve by the army authorities is indeed welcome, not only to the soldiers’ families, but to Nigerians at large. The case which had been handled by human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, at the Court of Appeal, caught the attention of the international human rights community as the men were considered victims of circumstances.  As the Army Public Relations Director, Col. Sani Usman, disclosed last week, the authorities have now realised that the men were innocent. This is one of the major arguments against the capital punishment. Had the men been executed after their conviction, what would have happened? Could they be brought back to life again?

    This case is one reason why the statute books should be reviewed to drop capital punishment. It is also one reason why the court-martial process that had been abused many times in the past, especially when battles were being fought, should be reviewed. The immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, was so furious following the outcry over the conviction that he told the press that they made a mistake making the court-martial  trial open. He said the soldiers could have been tried, sentenced, executed and buried – “all within five minutes” in the bush before questions could be raised.

    The military top brass should realise that the Rule of Law is the underpinning principle of all activities in a democracy. Military laws are also subject to the same doctrine. Any law whose provisions contradict the constitution, directly or indirectly, is null and void, at least to the extent of that contradiction.

    It is the more surprising that the same former Chief of Defence Staff confessed at the pull-out exercise organised for him last week that the armed forces had been underfunded over the years. He acknowledged that political considerations informed the decision to demobilise officers and men and deny the forces of needed weapons. He also said countries that were normally friendly had, for political reasons, become hostile such that purchase of weapons became difficult as the war grew fiercer. He attributed the heavy casualties suffered by the Nigerian military to these challenges.

    These were the same reasons that had been adduced in defence of the convicted soldiers, but dismissed by Badeh and the military board when the matter came up. The media pointed out that morale was low among the other ranks that bore the brunt of the battle as heavy losses were being recorded daily. As Marshal Badeh has now confirmed, too, there were fifth columnists in the officer ranks who leaked information of plans to the terrorists, thus exposing the men to avoidable deaths.

    At a point, realising that this was the case, some of the men on the battle field fired at their commanding officer who they felt had been compromised or was condoning the practice. At another time, wives of officers deployed on the battle field demonstrated against the deployment of their husbands because of poor welfare provisions and the inexplicable loss of ground by the federal troops.

    ‘As the Army Public Relations Director, Col. Sani Usman, disclosed last week, the authorities have now realised that the men were innocent. This is one of the major arguments against the capital punishment. Had the men been executed after their conviction, what would have happened? Could they be brought back to life again?’

    It is surprising that Marshal Badeh saw no contradiction in his undue vilification of the media at his valedictory speech. On the one hand, he was confirming media reports; and on the other, abusing the reporters. It is the pastime of leaders, military or civilian, to blame their failure on the media. This should change. They should realise that Nigerians are intelligent people who could see through whatever games being played.

    The Buhari administration should look into the statute books and forward executive bills for overhaul of the justice delivery system. A halt must be put to needless shedding of human blood in the country. A major question that Marshal Badeh raised, even if inadvertently, was the need for us to probe the trillions we budgeted for defence, especially in the past few years that the Boko Haram insurgency escalated. If weapons were not bought for the soldiers, then what happened to the trillions?