The Nation Newspaper

Tag: conscience

  • A matter of conscience!

    Inherent contradictions in some of the issues relating to the current increase in fuel price from N86.50kobo to N145 were last week, brought to the fore by frontline rights activist, Senator Shehu Sani.

    In a statement, Sani had condemned in very strong terms what he perceived as orchestrated campaign of calumny by the federal government against the Nigerian Labor Congress NLC for speaking out the minds of poor Nigerians against the fuel price increase.

    Commending the NLC for leading mass protests against fuel price increases in the past, he argued that it would be hypocritical to condemn the labour body for its principled stand on the issue now. “Our quest for justice and equity must not depend on the government or persons in power but must depend upon the matters of principles at hand. Those who stood against increases in the price of petroleum products yesterday and stood for it today have betrayed the very principle which they claim to represent”, he further contended.

    Sani’s thesis is quite unassailable. And it is at the heart of the plethora of policy failures that have been the sad tale of governments on these shores over the years. Because of the dangerous politics we play in this country, many very well intentioned policies and programmes of the government have not been allowed to see the light of the day. Most often, criticisms of such policies are based on the quarters they are coming from rather than their larger heuristics for public good.

    Thus, it is not strange to find a policy option which attracted trident opposition during one regime being hailed shortly after a change of guards even with the objective conditions remaining the same. That has been the uncanny dilemma thrown up by the recent increase in fuel price by the Buhari regime. Curiously, the prevailing conditions and arguments for such a price regime have remained largely the same.

    When in January, 2012, the Jonathan regime came up with an increase of N141 per litre of fuel, hell was let loose. The nation was virtually brought to a standstill as organized labour, opposition political parties and diverse civil society groups mobilized to oppose such increase given the deleterious consequences it was bound to have on the lives of the toiling masses that are usually at the receiving end of such policies.

    That government was forced to drop the astronomic price increase despite the weighty arguments on which it had premised the adjustment. Before then, both Jonathan and Obasanjo had variously spoken of the looming danger of a revolution, if no conscious efforts were made to create job for the teeming army of the unemployed.

    Jonathan went further to predict that the nation would be broke in the next one and a half years if fuel subsidy was not removed. He justified the removal on the grounds that it will open up vast opportunities for Nigeria’s school leavers and population of unemployed graduates in the new refineries and petrochemical industries that will emerge after deregulation.

    He also sought to take responsibility for his action when he said “even if we deregulate and I am shamed; posterity will be there to judge me, that I did the right thing and I will be vindicated when Nigerians start enjoying the benefits of my decision”.

    In an article in this column shortly before the price increase of January 2012, this writer had taken up the arguments canvassed by Jonathan to persuade the public to accept the price increase. His prediction of the possibility of a revolution coupled with the financial mess the nation was inevitably heading to, were issues that came under serious focus.

    For a man that was rather considered weak to have spoken in such strong terms on the imperative of deregulation, with a promise to embark on a programme of carefully selected social relief interventions to ameliorate its pains, I had argued that the scenario presented a game situation with two options- to deregulate or not to deregulate. And since it was a matter of rational choice, rational calculation, the choice Jonathan should opt for is that which will minimize his losses in the event of the worst outcome. The scenario was that of a choice between going broke with the prospects of a revolution on the one hand if we fail to deregulate and excruciating hardship for the vulnerable population on the other if we deregulate. Given the above, the rational option for Jonathan then was to deregulate. If he deregulated, he would have saved the nation the pains of bankruptcy and revolution. Thereafter, he could sit back and put in place all those social intervention palliatives that will reduce the pains of deregulation.

    We then concluded that irrespective of the genuine reservations we had on fuel subsidy removal, Jonathan should be allowed to take responsibility on this singular issue if he is so convinced and rise and fall together with its outcome. These issues have been brought to focus given the furore generated by the recent fuel price increase and the defence of same by persons who hitherto opposed the idea.

    Today, the policy has received endorsements even from those who hitherto opposed it. Those who were known to have hailed organized labour for stridently opposing such increases in the past are now either equivocating or inventing subtle way to frustrate extant agitations against the current price increase.

    The same arguments are being recycled with nothing new to add. We have now been told by the government that the price increase or subsidy removal is inevitable because the nation is broke; the same prediction Jonathan made out four years ago. Issues like this are not likely to go down well with people of principle. That is the matter the likes of Sani have found difficult to contend with, his political leaning notwithstanding.

    He finds it hard to reconcile why the labour body is now being divided just to cripple the momentum of their opposition against the price increase even when the masses will be worse for it. He cannot find sufficient justification why those who stood against the price increase yesterday will today be singing a different tune.

    It is an issue of conscience; an issue of morality we must fight hard to justify. And the degree of success made in this direction will be a pointer to some of the systemic dysfunctions that have over the years held this nation down. It is the sincerity or lack of it in the way the political class perceives policies and programmes of a government that may not be in their good books, for whatever reasons.

    So at what point should national interest come in? For how long shall we continue to pander to the selfish predilections of a political class that says one thing today and entirely another tomorrow? For how long shall we continue to sacrifice issues of national interest and principles on the altar of some selfish, parochial and ill-defined exigencies?

    These were some of the issues that pricked the conscience of Sani. And in this, he is with many. Sani is an apostle of conscience; a man of principle. He is the type of man this nation direly needs. He may not really be against the arguments being put forward to support the current price hike. But his worry is that they are issues that have before now been copiously canvassed and rejected. Why all of a sudden, they have become a matter of popular appeal is what he needs to be convinced of.

  • Corruption of conscience

    How much of it was extravagant exaggeration when Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Acting Chairman Ibrahim Mustafa Magu spoke against corruption in the boardroom of The Nation on January 20?

    “The impunity is too much,” he declared. Then he painted a picture of personal pain. He said:”Sometimes I shed tears in the morning before I go to the office. It is just unbelievable; the rot is terrible.”

    When the arrowhead of the anti-corruption agency is overwhelmed to the point of tears by the sheer scale of confirmable corruption, it is a telling statement about the place of conscience in the anti-corruption war. The fight against corruption is ultimately a fight for conscience.

    It is a corroboration of the conscience dimension of the anti-corruption battle that Magu said: ‘We need to let people know that corruption is bad because some people don’t seem to know.” He continued: “What I am saying is that people who know they have stolen our commonwealth should bring it back…They have taken our money and are bold enough to say they are not going to return it. The money belongs to the people; they should return the money quietly; let there be voluntary compliance. Let them voluntarily come out to say ‘this is what I have stolen’ and the government will take it. I think that is the best thing to do.”

    There are concrete consequences when conscience is corrupted by corruption. The established mind-boggling official corruption in politically powerful places during the Goodluck Jonathan presidential era prompts a reflection on the possible connection between corruption status and conscience status.

    At the core of the corruption complication is a failure of conscience. But what is conscience?  The simple idea of a sense of right and wrong can be complicated by the complexities of perception and perspective. But conscience is more than a concept; it is a confirmation of humanity. More corruption suggests less conscience; and more conscience should suggest less corruption.

    It is very likely that the corrupt politicians and their ilk who are responsible for the country’s present plight are ethically challenged, which is a way of saying they probably have a deficient conscience. Pauperisation of the people cannot be an act of conscience.

    Political governance should be concerned with the operation of “the Greatest Happiness Principle.” There is no doubt that the ethical principle of working for “the greatest happiness of the greatest number”,   promoted by Jeremy Bentham in his 1776 book, A Fragment on Government, is eternally relevant in the context of politics in particular. It is lamentable that individuals in the structures of power robbed the country blind, and demonstrably trivialised this pivotal principle.

    It is noteworthy that the EFFC chief described corruption as “deliberate and calculated wickedness” against the country’s existence, meaning against the people. To appreciate the comprehensiveness of this wickedness, it is useful to consider the definition of poverty by the United Nations and its deep political dimension: “Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity.”

    For a picture of the political element, the World Bank’s definition is clarifying: “Poverty is an income level below some minimum level necessary to meet basic needs. This minimum level is usually called the “poverty line”. What is necessary to satisfy basic needs varies across time and societies. Therefore, poverty lines vary in time and place, and each country uses lines which are appropriate to its level of development, societal norms and values. But the content of the needs is more or less the same everywhere.”

    The institution continued: “Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom.”

    This clarity should clear any doubt about governmental responsibility when the issue is the correction of poverty. Clearly, the poor deserve opportunities that would raise them above penury, and the provision of an enabling environment should be a major purpose of political power.

    Corruption is not corrective and cannot correct poverty and underdevelopment. Evidence that corruption is “a denial of choices and opportunities” resulting in underdevelopment was highlighted by Prof. Yemi Osinbajo before his election as Vice President last year. He showed the country’s pathetic level of development in a lecture he delivered in Lagos to mark the 73rd birthday of the General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye.

    In his talk titled “Harmonising virtues to gain heaven and earthly prosperity,” Osinbajo said: “Our challenges are poverty – 112 million extremely poor despite being the largest economy in Africa. We are one of 33 of the poorest countries in the world; infant mortality – 3.9 million children have died between 2009 and 2014; maternal mortality – 55, 000 women die every year; diarrheal diseases – 110,000 yearly deaths; literacy – 10.4 million children out of school; 80 per cent graduates jobless; corruption; missing funds – N2.6 trillion NNPC petroleum subsidy scam; $7 billion kerosene subsidy scam; $1 billion missing excess crude fund; 400,000 barrels of oil stolen everyday…”

    Of relevance is the observation by the World Bank President Jim Yong Kim that Nigeria is among the top five countries with the largest number of the poor. Scandalously, the country ranks third on this unflattering list behind India (with 33 percent of the world’s poor) and China (13 percent). With 7 percent of the “wretched of the earth”, the country is ahead of Bangladesh (6 percent) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (5 percent). Together these countries are home to nearly 760 million impoverished people. It is easy to see the role of corruption in Nigeria’s tragically disappointing poverty ranking, which is ironic and inexcusable for an oil-rich country.

    In the country, corruption-related news here and there not only illustrates the fashion of corruption but also the failure of containment. When official corruption becomes fashionable, it is a corruption of fashion that should be made unfashionable. In the final analysis, the question is: How did conscience become inconsequential to the corrupt?

     

  • All the way: Serving with conscience (4)

    All the way: Serving with conscience (4)

    The public presentation of my memoir has come and gone. I thank everyone that contributed to the success of the programme. I am especially grateful to all the leaders and members of the progressive group of activists and politicians who graced the occasion with their presence. They included Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (Chairman), Chief Pius Akinyelure (Chief Presenter), Kunle Ajibade (Book Reviewer), Senator Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, Chief Adebisi Akande, Aremo Segun Osoba, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, General Ipoola Akinrinade, Dr. Amos Akingba, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, Honourable Olawale Oshun and Afenifere Renewal Group members, Femi Falana (SAN) and others too numerous to mention.

    My colleagues in Egbe Isokan Yoruba, Washington, DC and Egbe Omo Yoruba: Professor Ropo Sekoni, Dr. Olu McGuinnis Otubusin and Engineer Kunle Badmus were there just as my former colleagues from Obafemi Awolowo University surprised me with a large contingent.

    The keepers of Yoruba tradition were generous with their time: Kabiyesi Oba Rilwan Osuolale Akiolu, the Oba of Lagos, Kabiyesi Oba Alani Oyede, the Olota of Ota and Kabiyesi Oba Rafiu Osuolale Mustapha, Onjo of Okeho. The Chief Imam of Okeho and the Pastor of First Baptist Church, Okeho were also there.

    Debola Williams of Red Media and his team introduced a novel idea with a panel discussion that focused on the subject of the book. I applaud the brilliance of the panelists.

    In this final excerpt from the book, I discuss the next phase.

    “My good aburo, Sola Yussuf had a signature sign-off greeting as she concluded her reading of the news on Radio O.Y.O. in those days of yore: “A na gbara, a na gboro, a tona koko a si dona jijin.” Simply put, I have gone far and near, literally and figuratively, and now it is time to round off.

    As I mentioned in the preface (to the book), this is not an ordinary autobiography in which I present a summary of my life so far. I have done that and more. I have presented some of the fundamental issues that predated my birth but which have somehow persisted and contributed in no small measure to who I am and has provided the motivation for my actions. I have interrogated old ideas and I have introduced some new ones. I have shown how a purposive leadership can change the conditions of existence of a people in both professional and social life. I am confident that I have accomplished what I set out to do in (the book) and I feel fulfilled.

    Figuratively, I have opened a window into my life from childhood to adulthood for the world to have a glimpse. I am certain the reader has some idea now about what I have been through and how providence has helped me in many ways in the battle against all odds. From professional to social and political engagements, I have seen the glory of the Lord “all the way.” I am sure that I can do more, but there is always some other time or some other person. In this regard, then, I can say with confidence that I am satisfied as I retire from active professional life.

    I have never been a politician, only a politically conscious animal engaged in the normal routine of contributing to the evolution and progress of my motherland in the tradition of my ancestors. This is not something that one retires from. But one can slow down and allow others, especially the young ones, to make their contributions. It is for good reason that the elders suggest that the baby elephant does not announce its presence at the same time that the mother does. What this means is that the mother elephant must know the appropriate time to retreat to allow the baby to take over.

    Finally, then, I have travelled far and near in the journey of life. All the way, my saviour has led me. There is nothing I can ask beside. I cannot doubt his tender mercies. Through life, He has been my guide. Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith, in him I dwell. I know that whatever befalls me, He knows best. He is always right and can never be wrong. In fact, He has done everything right.

    Yet there is more to do and there is a new phase that I must now explore. Professionally, I am fulfilled. But I cannot afford to rest because of the proverbial blood-stain on the finger-nails created by the occurrence of lice on our national, regional and local clothing. As long as these destructive lice endure, and the stained fingers remain the evidence of their endurance, neither I nor any human being with a conscience can rest.

    I hope therefore to continue to intervene at various levels. First, since 2007, The Nation has been an effective avenue for me to add my voice to those of well-meaning individuals. I intend to continue to use it as a forum for intelligent discourse on matters of national and regional significance. In the relaxed climate of retirement from active professional life and from social and political activism, I hope to continue contributing to the interrogation of issues that confront us locally, regionally and nationally.

    Nationally, we still do not have a true federal structure that is capable of unleashing the creative energy of the teeming masses of our people. The realisation that without such a structure we cannot expect an effective resolution of the issues that confront us is the beginning of political wisdom.

    While writing and analysis are important for the clarification of issues and proposal of new ideas, there is more to do at the level of practice. For instance, at all levels, we are inadvertently managing to entrench a dangerous system of inequality with our educational system in which the public education of our children is fast becoming a relic of the past, while we enlist the services of private institutions and agencies and we seem to relish the idea. From pre-school to college, private institutions have become the vogue. The impact of this shift on citizens could be serious, with the poor and middle class being more adversely impacted than the wealthy. We cannot allow this to continue and I intend to do my part towards the cause of promoting public education.

    On this score, I am fortunate to have compatriots at all levels—local, regional and national with whom I can collaborate on meaningful projects. However, I intend to start this at my local base in Okeho where there are committed individuals who have ideas and are determined to make a difference. Okeho Strategic Development and Economic Foundation (OSTRADEF) was established by fellow compatriots whose sole objective was to give back to the community. When Moyo Ajekigbe contacted me about the initiative and invited me to be a part of the group, I was honoured and I did not hesitate to join. I see it as a continuation, in a new century, of the labours of our heroes past in Okeho, some of whom have featured in (the book). Many of them have passed on but the contributions they made to the development of human talents cannot be forgotten. I will support the cause for which they laboured and sacrificed.

    I benefitted from the sacrifice of the generation before me, including my parents. I have also tried my best in giving back in various ways. Fortunately, my own children, as the next generation, have, without prompting, reflected on their own experience, and have collectively decided that my entire family should be involved in giving back some more. Though they are just starting their own families with the responsibility for the education of their children staring at them, they have come up with a Foundation to support the educational and health needs of our people, starting with Okeho and Eruwa. This initiative, The Segun and Adetoun Gbadegesin Family Foundation (SAGFF), will take up most of the time and energy of my wife and me in the foreseeable future. But I am thrilled at the prospect of doing something to make a difference.

     

    And so, to Okeho I return!

     

    Merry Christmas!

  • All the way: Serving with conscience (3)

    All the way: Serving with conscience (3)

    Today I bring some more fragments from my memoir which comes up for public presentation on December 21, 2015.  The formation of Egbe Omo Yoruba, North America in 1995 was, for the Yoruba Diaspora, the tipping point in the struggle against military dictatorship and for the restoration of democracy in Nigeria. The meaning of that struggle for those who participated in it, its impact on the events that eventually led up to the return of civil rule, and the modest contributions that others and I made to it, is a significant part of the book.

    Egbe Omo Yoruba Presidency, 1997-1999

    The 1997 Houston convention (of Egbe Omo Yoruba) ended with the election of new officers. I was elected President with an executive comprised of Tokunbo Marcarthy, Vice President; Banji Ayiloge, General Secretary; Olu McGuinnis Otubusin, JD., Legal Secretary; Haziz Adekunle Ajayi, Treasurer; James Oni, Financial Secretary; and Harrison Akingbade, Ph.D., Publicity Secretary.

    At the end of the convention, Egbe Omo Yoruba had the following 15 local chapters as members: Yoruba Community Association, Toronto, Canada; Egbe Omo Yoruba Kansas City; Yoruba International Union, Dallas; Egbe Ilosiwaju Yoruba ni Kolorado; Yoruba League, Long Beach, CA; Egbe Isokan Yoruba, Washington, DC; Egbe Omo Oduduwa, New York City; Egbe Omo Oduduwa, Chicago; Kiriji Movement-San Francisco; Oduduwas, Houston; Yoruba Community of Massachusetts, Boston; Egbe Omo Yoruba, Philadelphia; Egbe Omo Yoruba, London, Ontario, Canada; Oduduwa Unity Club, Greensboro, NC; and Yoruba People’s Congress, Chicago, IL.

    The new National Executive Committee, having carefully read the mood of the association and listened attentively to the messages conveyed by speakers at the convention, knew that they had a marching order and wasted no time in getting down to business in pursuit of the mission of the Egbe.

    The convention ended on Sunday, April 27, 1997. First thing in the week of April 28, I sent a package to every chapter president. The package included the convention communiqué, my prepared address, contact information for the newly elected officers of the association, and a cover letter.

    In the letter, I thanked all the members for their sacrifice of time and money to the convention and the confidence they placed in the executive committee. I reminded them that the association was only as strong as its membership especially at the local chapter level. In reference to the grievances of some members and a few chapters, I assured everyone that if they trusted us with the fate of the Egbe, they should also give us a chance to give our association a new lease of life and nurse old wounds.

    On behalf of the executive, I promised that we would make extra effort to rejuvenate the interest of existing chapters and provide a big tent that can accommodate various interests. Finally, I charged member chapters to be cognisant of our goals and aspirations and what we will need to realise them, most important of which was funding. Therefore, it was important for us to put our money where our mouths were. I welcomed fundraising ideas and initiatives and assured chapters that the national executive will collaborate with them effectively on the matter of fundraising.

    Following my message, I received a large number of heart-warming messages of congratulations and promises of cooperation from chapter presidents and individuals. One of these was from Mr. Remi Saseun, one of the strong advocates for a strong national organisation. Based in California, he was one of the pillars of the Yoruba League, which hosted the 2nd National Convention in January 1995. Mr. Saseun was also the Chairman of the Political Action Committee that had been set up at the convention of which I was also a member. On account of this, we had been close and had a mutual respect for each other.

    Part of his note to me read as follows: “I think that we finally got things right this time! I am particularly heartened that you agreed to serve, knowing that what our organisation needs most now is CREDIBILITY (emphasis supplied in original), which I have no doubt you will bring to the organisation.” He went on to give excellent suggestions on dealing with and consolidating chapters, setting up action committees, open door policy on finance and effective communication lines.

    I took seriously Mr. Saseun’s advice and ensured that I communicated regularly with local chapters. Unfortunately, the ugly side of human relationship took a toll on the Yoruba League and not being able to resolve the organisational issues, the chapter withdrew from the Egbe not long after the Houston convention. In fairness to him, my friendship with Mr. Saseun did not suffer on account of his chapter’s withdrawal and we met every now and then when the association’s convention or other events were close to his base.

    The hard work had just started. The association had just made its debut. Its official communiqué had been widely disseminated and received with a mixture of approval and denunciation. Yet, the association existed mostly on paper. There was no physical office location as of April 1997, two years after its constitution was ratified and its first officers elected. So we had to run, not walk. Perception is always dangerously ahead of reality by miles.

    We determined that we had to have an office in Washington, DC, the headquarters of the association. Since the executive officers were not in one location, we had to rely on the assistance of local chapter members who were always ready and more than happy to help. Chief among these were my colleagues in Egbe Isokan Yoruba: Ropo Sekoni, Sola Ogunbode, Hakeem P. Fahm, Mumini Adekunle Badmus, Adeleke Adekoya, Samuel Ayodele, Kayode Adenaiya, Mobolaji Aluko, Dauda Jolaoso, Abiodun Adepoju, Adeniran Adeboye, and a host of others too numerous to mention here.

    We scouted the city for good locations for a befitting office space. By this time, two exiled NADECO members, General Ipoola Akinrinade (rtd) and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu had relocated to the Washington metro area. They were fully involved in our efforts. Incidentally, their generous donation to the Egbe at the Houston convention was the seed money that we relied on to commence our search for an office space.

    On the day that we found an office space, both Senator Tinubu and General Akinrinade were on our search team. I recall that as soon as we pulled up at 7600 Georgia Avenue, NW, Senator Tinubu gave an approving shout: “Yes, this is it!” he exclaimed in approval. We all agreed. We applied for Suite 405 and signed the lease with Capital Building on June 27, 1997 with a down-payment of $2400.

    For the next seven years, the office served as the headquarters of a most celebrated or reviled organisation depending on which side of the appraisal you stood. For our compatriots who understood the cause for which we struggled, Egbe Omo Yoruba made them extremely proud. For our detractors whether they were military apologists or partisan ideologues, our members were simply a bunch of rascals seeking attention.

    Once we secured an office space, the enthusiasm of our members was unparalleled. Banji Ayiloge, the General Secretary, lived in New York City. He secured his own key to the office, and before I woke up every Saturday morning, Banji was already in the office on Georgia Avenue, working for the Egbe. He drove four hours each way. Sometimes, when he chose to let me know he was coming, I insisted that he stop by the house for breakfast, which my wife generously prepared. We would then head together to the office.

    Members of Egbe Isokan Yoruba, the Washington local chapter of Egbe Omo Yoruba, also made 7600 Georgia Avenue, NW their after-office retreat venue. There was always something going on, and our folks were eager to offer help whether by stuffing envelopes for mailing, or searching the Internet for news from home and disseminating same to members. Chief Enahoro had also then relocated to Alexandria VA and was offered an office space in the suite that Egbe Omo Yoruba occupied. Therefore the suite served NADECO and World Congress of Free Nigerians (WCFN) as well.

  • All the way: Serving with conscience (2)

    All the way: Serving with conscience (2)

    Today, I bring another relevant excerpt from my memoir coming up for public presentation on December 21, 2015. The point of this entry is to underscore the shaky foundation on which the pillars of our national structure were built. Even when the enormity of the task of national rescue was so glaring and so demanding of an unadulterated unity of purpose, age-old pettiness of spirit and self-centredness crept into the gaping holes in the walls of the nationalist struggle.  It sounds very familiar even in contemporary struggles.

    Background to Life: War, peace and the struggle for self-determination

    My ground zero was 1945, one of the most eventful years of the 20th century. Among other significant world events, 1945 saw the end of the Second World War fought by what is called the greatest generation.

    It was the war of freedom, we were told. However, my parents, grandparents and their generation of Africans, two levels removed from the back alleys of the First World that dictated the terms and conditions of war and peace in our common terrestrial globe, were drawn into that war without the slightest idea of what it was about. It did not matter that they were also victims of an unjust imposition of Western imperialism; they were also being co-opted to fight a war of freedom thousands of miles away with its assurance of economic hardship and loss of life and limb.

    As events unfolded, it was clear that the war-time economic condition was becoming unbearable for the people. Severe inflation had impacted the real income of public sector workers, whose fixed salaries cannot cope with runaway inflation, and peasants who had no luxury of regular salaries, but still had to pay through the nose for regular needs such as salt.

    On the basis of the reality of inflation, government had granted a cost of living adjustment to salary earners in 1942. However, by 1945, the condition had deteriorated drastically with cost of living rising more than 200 per cent without any further salary adjustment since 1942. At the same time, there had been an intense activity on the part of labour organisations due to the formation of the Nigerian Trade Union Congress as the rallying point for all labour unions from the different sectors of the economy.

    In June 1945, workers from 17 unions, representing some of the most important wings of the economy, including railway, post and telegraphs, and civil service, went on a strike that lasted about five weeks and effectively crippled the economy and governmental activities. It was significant that the strike was effective despite the fact that the labour leaders had revoked the order to go on strike before it was to take effect. It meant that the workers, and not their union leaders, deserve commendation for the success the strike recorded. This sounds familiar.

    In spite of the hardship that Africans encountered with the wartime colonial economy, however, there was a redeeming aspect of the war and the involvement of Africans in combat. It was a self-reassuring experience as well as an eye opener to what could be. Africans not only had stories of courage to spread around the village squares back home, but they also had words of encouragement concerning the prospect of freedom for Africa. If Europe used Africans to fight their war of liberation, Africans can now ask for their liberation from European imperialism. Three events contributed to this upsurge of hope.

    The first event was the establishment of the Atlantic Charter, following a meeting in 1941 between the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The Atlantic Charter caught the attention of African nationalists in general and Nigerians in particular, and re-energised them for the struggle. Article 3 of the charter expressed “respect (for) the right of all peoples to choose the form of Government under which they will live; and (the) wish to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them.”

    The second event that sowed the seeds of hope was the 5th Pan-African Congress held in Manchester, Great Britain, which as George Padmore shows in The History of Pan-Africanism, “unanimously supported the members of the West African delegation in declaring that complete and absolute independence is the only solution to the existing problems.” This resolution galvanised the activities of the nationalist movement in Nigeria and elsewhere, including Ghana and Kenya.

    The third event was the June 26, 1945 Charter of the United Nations Organisation (UNO), which reaffirmed “faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small” as contained in Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations, 1945. While nations under colonial rule were not parties to the formation of the United Nations, it was important to them that their colonial masters were. There was therefore a moral burden for the latter to discharge and the intellectual and educated elite of the colonies did not fail to hold them to account.

    Nigerian political elite and the educated class were not unaware of the developments during the war and the external initiatives that affected their condition as colonial subjects. They took up the fight for political and economic liberation in style and, because of the events highlighted above, 1945 was a special landmark in the struggle. While the war propaganda had not prevented the agitation for liberation from colonial imposition, and while nationalists had turned the propaganda of Allied Forces to their side in some cases, the end of the war gave them a greater latitude and justification to put pressure on the colonial government without the danger of being accused as saboteurs of the war efforts.

    It was of course easier said than done and the doing part was hampered by what has become even a more glaring malady in contemporary nation-space: personal ambition and ethnic suspicions that mar organisational effectiveness. As James Coleman succinctly narrates, a new movement named the Lagos Youth Movement had been founded in 1934 by Ernest Ikoli, Samuel Akinsanya, J. C. Vaughn and H. O. Davies as a rallying point for nationalist agitation, and in 1936 its name was changed to the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM). Unfortunately, not much later, its promise had been eclipsed by pettiness and economic and professional considerations by the key players.

    The collapse of the NYM left a bad taste for many of its members and observers such that many recoiled into their shells and subsequent efforts to organise on a national level proved abortive.

    The prospect of success finally emerged when young students, including those from secondary schools in and around Lagos took the initiative and pressured Herbert Macaulay and Nnamdi Azikwe to provide leadership. The result was the formation of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), which held its Constitutional Convention in January 1945 with the objectives of struggling for the extension of democratic principles, advancing the interests of colonial peoples and imparting political education to the people of Nigeria with a view to achieving self-government.

    This was the political climate in Nigeria when I made my debut on this terrestrial globe. The peace that marked the end of the Second World War did not really matter for Nigeria because her journey towards independence was to be marked by war of words between nationalists and colonisers. The struggle for freedom and independence, which others took for granted, had just begun.

     

     

  • All the way: Serving with conscience (1)

    All the way: Serving with conscience (1)

    In grateful commemoration of the 70th anniversary of my arrival on mother earth, a public presentation of my new memoir, All the Way: Serving with Conscience, is scheduled to take place at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs on December 21, 2015. Based on my considered judgment that my discussions in the book may be of interest to my readers, in the next few columns, I plan to release excerpts from the book. Today, I start with the preface titled “The Bondage of Conscience”.

    “On Monday, June 27, 2005, I departed Washington Dulles Airport for Lagos to spend about three weeks with my children and grandchildren and attend to some business. The Air France flight from Washington had a late departure because the incoming aircraft was delayed due to bad weather. So, instead of leaving Washington at 6:45 pm, the plane did not take off until 9 pm. We landed in Paris about 10:00 am on Tuesday, but because we had to be transported by bus from the aircraft parking lot at De Gaulle airport to the terminal, we missed the Lagos-bound flight. The plane took off as we were being bused to the terminal. Naturally disappointed, there was nothing we could do. We had to wait until the following day.

    “As I lay on the bed that night at Campanile Hotel, pondering the whole situation, some thoughts kept running through my mind. Why did I and other Nigerians have to go through Europe to get to Nigeria? Why could we not fly directly to Lagos from either Washington or New York? Why do we not have a national carrier? Why are we at the mercy of foreign airlines? Why? Why?

    “Although I had some idea of the answers to my questions, this was not what came to my mind as I lay on my bed. Instead, I found myself wanting to engage more purposefully in philosophical reflections on many of the issues that I have contemplated over the years: the mystery of birth, the excitement of childhood, the responsibility of adulthood and some landmarks in the checkered history of a nation.

    “This is not a typical memoir of recounting personal actions and involvement in matters of local, national or professional importance. There is some of that; but this is meant as much more than a diary of events.

    “My personal story of involvement up till now in issues that require action has a backdrop in events that predated my birth. The trauma of the Middle Passage and the indignity of colonisation are both significant landmarks that impacted fatherland and the trajectory of its fortunes. The condition that my grandparents and their peers faced was not of their making. Neither were my peers and I responsible for those conditions that we had to engage and confront.

    “In the life of a nation as in that of individuals, there are such unplanned, undeserved and undesirable intrusions. The mark of our humanity is the inbuilt devices that enable us to confront these intrusions and supersede them. For the nation, however, unless we subscribe to the idea of a national soul, which in my view is a chimera, it is the individuals that make up the nation who have the responsibility, through their inbuilt devices, which they may (or may not) choose to unleash at the appropriate times, to save the nation from unwanted intrusions and cultivate it to the highest level attainable. Needless to add, in so doing, the individuals also cultivate themselves to the highest level of their potentials. And when they fail, they short-change themselves irredeemably.

    “I had a childhood that oriented me in the direction of positive action. I had an education that prepared me for activism in support of just causes. I was morally wired and politically activated.  Therefore, it was not difficult for me to commit my professional life to the struggle for the uplift of motherland. Surely I was free to live my life in peace without getting involved in any form of activism. I could focus on my professional life and shun the urge to confront evil and social injustice. And I could justify such a course by reference to the futility of any such engagement or confrontation. I did not choose that course because I felt palpably the pang of conscience with its incessant taunting and challenge to action.

    “Bishop Joseph Butler was the pre-eminent authority on the supremacy of the principle of reflection and conscience. Of the 15 sermons that the Anglican Bishop preached in the 18th century, two were on conscience and more had discussions of the principle sprinkled all through them. He argued that the highest principle in human beings and that which is designed to guide morals and actions is the principle of conscience. Since conscience belongs to our nature, it is absurd for us to act without the reflection of conscience. If we do not allow the intrusion of “interest and passion”, then it is certain that “reflection and conscience” will always prevail and in prevailing will lead us to always approve “an action of humanity rather than cruelty.”

    “Animals are governed by instincts and passion. Humans also have instincts and passions. However, in addition, we also have reflection and conscience and this is the distinguishing mark of our human nature. It is what separates us from brutes. Therefore to the extent that reflection and conscience guide our actions and overrule our instincts and passions, we behave true to type. The human being, whether Christian, Muslim, Atheist, or Orisa devotee, has written in his or her heart a natural disposition to “kindness and compassion”, provided other “interests and passions” do not interfere and “lead him (or her) astray.” But there are always those competing interests and passions and they could be as strong as the natural disposition to “kindness and compassion.” The problem is that we have no way of knowing and determining which of them is placed in us by nature!

    “The predisposition to inflict harm on an innocent person, or the instinct to annul a free and fair election on the basis of personal interest or animosity is as strong and as natural as the disposition to honesty and patriotic magnanimity. The disposition to corruptly enrich oneself from the common treasury is as strong as the conscientious determination to act honestly.

    “What principle then is there in us to offer a judgment on which of the “natural dispositions” is right? It is the principle of reflection and conscience. It is there in everyone of us. It enables us to distinguish between good and evil. It taunts us as it passes judgment on our actions, prospectively and retrospectively: “What you did was wrong! You should be ashamed of yourself!” We feel it in our heart as the rebuke of conscience sinks into the veins and vessels of our being. It also urges us to certain conduct and does not withdraw until we act. If we do not, it places the blame on us and we feel a sense of shame.

    “I have always been in bondage of conscience. It is no wonder that I chose the study of philosophy. I was most assuredly attracted to the field because of its synchronisation with my pre-career convictions.

    “In Philosophical Consciencism, Kwame Nkrumah, the hero of Ghana’s independence and for much his life, the unrelenting crusader for the freedom of Africa on the continent and in the diaspora, aptly observed that for an African student of philosophy, the subject could not have the same meaning that it has for an average Western student. In the West, while the struggle for freedom and genuine democracy may still be said to be an ongoing process, in Africa at the turn of the 21st century, it has hardly begun. Therefore for its African student, philosophy must live up to its Socratic meaning as the gadfly, the conscience of humanity. If philosophy truly responds to experience, my career orientation has not been an exception.”

  • Journalism without conscience: Call for action

    I confess to a hidden pain: I miss the newsroom. I love the newsroom; its organized madness; its unconventional setup. First, the newsroom of the analogue era: the clanging and clattering of the typewriters.  But I have jumped the gun. In the morning and midday, the newsroom is serene and sane, too sedate for a restless soul. But as the mid-day gives way to afternoon, the newsroom starts coming alive.

    The foot soldiers in the endless war of gathering materials and writing history in a hurry for posterity start finding their ways into the newsroom, armed with the day’s materials meant for tomorrow’s headlines.  By now the commanders – the line editors and other top editorial chiefs have taken or are taking their seats in readiness for the day’s production battle. Yes, it is a battle, one that must be won.  For the paper must be produced and must be taken to bed and must be on the newsstands by tomorrow morning.

    During the analogue era, the typewriter is the AK47 of the foot soldier called the reporter. Oh! No I loved reporting. I loved being a reporter. Perhaps, the reason for the awards while one was in the newsroom. They remain to be cherished for life. Now the clanging and clattering of typewriter is becoming a soothing music to the ear- all hands are on typewriters. Soon editors who are on edge to meet the deadlines and cast the headlines start barking orders as if they are on the parade ground. At one corner, the big television set is blaring the latest news and a reporter is on hand monitoring development, another is sitting by the radio, yet another has a midget tape close to the ear and scribbling away- he’s transcribing a major interview that will make all the difference on the newsstands tomorrow.

    Inside a fairly large cubicle, one of the two or three doting the vast hall, that is the newsroom, some senior editorial members, call them the egg-heads, are putting their heads together- these Generals in the battlefield called the newsroom are brainstorming over the events of the day to determine the stories that will make the front page, the headlines that will sell the stories and the pictures that will be most striking and most topical.

    At another cubicle could be found the hatchet men called the sub-editors. A sub-editor is in his own world. He is the one who can put a knife (read pen) through a 400-word story written by the reporter and trim it to less than 250 words and still retains the essence, the beauty, the message and all the five-Ws and H in the story. Sub- editors are the silent and the unsung heroes of the newsroom. A newspaper that is blessed with good sub-editors is the one that is blessed with great newspaper with elegant, beautiful and cultivated language; it is the newspaper in which errors are at the barest minimum.

    If such newspaper is blessed with a first grade production team, then it has gotten it all. In another cubicle in that newsroom is the production team. These guys conceive, plan and produce the newspaper, they plan the pages– in the analogue age, it was cut and paste, before producing the films that will now be taken to the press for printing. In a daily newspaper, that was done all night and by morning the paper is ready, hot fresh with hot news and ready for the newsstands.

    In the digital age, what has changed are the technology and the tools of production and facilities for communication.  In this digital age, a reporter could actually write his story, send it online to his sub-editor and just stroll in to the newsroom.  His sub- editor could also edit from the comfort of his home and send online to the production editor.  The organized chaos of the newsroom is still there but technology has made the production process a lot easier. And much less laborious.

    For the print media, technology may have changed the phases and face of production, but it has not in any disturbing way, inflicted negative impact on content in the context of compliance with journalism ethics. For the print media, credibility remains the watchword, even in the face of stiff competition and shrinking market.

    But for New Journalism, defined by online publications and what has come to be known as the social media, it is another kettle of fish. Let’s get it right from here. This is not a general thumbs down for this latest genre of the profession. It came with a lot of advantages, one of them being its instantaneous nature- you are reading, viewing or hearing as events are unfolding.

    This is also not a blanket condemnation of practitioners of the new journalism. Many online publications and bloggers have demonstrated professionalism and commendable conduct beyond what may be ascribed to professionals working on a platform that enable you to have the news on the go.

    But this cannot be said of a whole lot of online publications, blogs and other social media users who have turned their platforms to a veritable avenue of blackmail, a tool of extortion and medium of getting even with enemies, real or perceived.

    Journalism as a profession is at a critical juncture. Practitioners and other stakeholders must come together to chart the way forward and draw up a new Code of Conduct that will accommodate the peculiarities of new journalism. I am an apostle of press freedom and anything that will tamper with that freedom must be resisted.

    But then the freedom to tell the news ends where other citizens’ rights start. As practitioners,     we owe it a duty to the society that the innocent are not injured in the course of our trade.

    The easy entry and easy exit nature of online publications makes the challenge a herculean one. Now, professional blackmailers, cub reporters who did not earntheir first promotion in a reputable media setting, and, in fact, people without journalism or communication training at all have taken over this platform  parading themselves as publishers and wrecking psychological havoc on individuals and ruining reputations that take decades to build. In the final analysis, they are ruining the integrity of citizens whose activities are capable of deepening the economy, boost employment and promote Nigeria to a higher level in the committee of nations. Many of these so-called publishers perpetrate this crime with so much impunity assured that everything in our system is configured to make them get away without even a slap on the wrist.

    This trend needs to be arrested. Press freedom does not include freedom to publish falsehood; to impugn on people’s integrity and people’s reputation without any justifiable reason(s). Nigerians deserve to be protected from the onslaught of these morally challenged persons parading themselves as publishers and inflicting harm on fellow citizens in the name of journalism.

    A fundamental way out of this ignominious and criminal conduct, I guess is to tighten the legal noose around illegal acts. Libel is a crime in our statute book, yes. But people get away with it because they know that in our judicial system, justice is often delayed and thereby denied. The judicial system should be reworked and made to deliver justice promptly and without delay. If you know that in the event that you commit a libel, you could be in jail in less than a month after the crime, you will have a second thought before setting out to do the crime.

    Also the Nigerian Press Council (NPO), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), will need to look at how they can quickly rescue this lofty profession from the hands of quacks, blackmailers and marauders before they drive us into collective infamy.New code of conduct to accommodate the peculiar modus operandi of the online publications may be desirable now.

    These professional bodies may also want to consider an enlightenment campaign targeted at members of the profession in all genres of journalism. Such campaign will extol the virtues of conforming with journalism ethics and will rail against unprofessional conduct.

    Moral persuasion through seminars, workshops and conferences could also help in the campaign to bring sanity back to the profession.

    Indeed the task of rescuing this noble profession from the clutches of the practitioners of journalism sans conscience; from blackmailers and gangsters parading themselves as professionals is one for all men of conscience, in and out of the media industry. It is what we owe this worthy profession.

     

    • Adedoyin, journalist, writer and corporate communications practitioner wrote in from Ikeja, Lagos.
  • Fed Govt’s betrayal of conscience

    Fed Govt’s betrayal of conscience

    Nigeria’s Federal Government openly traded off its dignity in what amounted to a betrayal of conscience penultimate Tuesday night (December 30, 2014). This occurred at the United Nations Security Council meeting where voting on a proposed resolution to stop the perennial Israeli occupation of West Bank area of Palestine took place.

    The proposed resolution was to be an historic anticlimax of the 66-year-old Israeli/Palestinian conflict with a view to paving way for a two-nation solution. If passed, the resolution would have ventilated a peaceful atmosphere for the Middle East and by implication, the entire world.

    In the YES or No voting of the 15 member-nations of the Security Council, nine votes were required as the simple majority to determine the liberation of the Palestinian people from the political and economic siege of Israel.

     

    Voting pattern

    Out of those 15 member-nations, eight voted in favour of the liberation while two voted for continuous Israeli siege on Palestine. The eight nations that voted for the latter’s liberation were Argentina, Chad, Chile, China, France, Jordan, Luxembourg and Russia. Those that voted against liberation were the United States and Australia.

    The five remaining countries that opted for abstention were Lithuania, South Korea, Rwanda, Britain and Nigeria. Incidentally, two years prior to this stage of determining the fate of the Palestinians (2012), Nigeria’s permanent representative at the United Nations, Prof Joy Ogwu, had glowingly supported the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and statehood and reiterated Nigeria’s recognition of the State of Palestine. That was one year after Nigeria confirmed her diplomatic relation with Palestine on October 31, 2011. And definitely acting on the instruction of her home government, Professor Ogwu at that time voted in favour of the admission of Palestine into UNESCO as a full member-state, despite a fierce opposition from the US and Israel.

    During her speech at the UN General Assembly in 2012, Prof Ogwu underscored the right of the Palestinians to live in freedom thus: “It was quite fitting that the international community had given Palestine a non-member observer state status in the United Nations. This was not only timely but also right and just.” She then went ahead to pledge Nigeria’s commitment to working towards Palestine’s admission into the United Nations as a full member state.

     

    Dramatic u-turn

    But dramatically, when the matter came up on December 30 2014, Nigeria suddenly made a u-turn that held the entire diplomatic world nonplussed. Rather than living by her words as a dignified nation, she shamelessly cheapened out and threw her conscience to the winds apparently in return for a clandestine agenda yet to be fathomed.

    Thus, to the amazement and perhaps disappointment of most members of the Security Council, including those that voted to block the Palestinian right to a home, Nigerian government betrayed that glory as its negative decision became pivotal to UN’s rejection of the long awaited resolution that would have brought peace to the Middle East.

    The implication of this is that with the blocking of peace in the Middle East in which Nigeria played a principal role, the rest of the world, including Nigeria cannot sleep with both eyes closed for now.

    This is because, the Middle East conflict especially between Israel and Palestine has been the major determinant of global peace or otherwise since 1967 when Israel, aided by the imperialist West, further occupied the Arab lands which she has since consistently refused to relinquish thereafter despite all efforts.

    Before the voting, the anxiety created by the impending abstention of certain member-states had put a global diplomatic focus on Nigeria being an African champion of liberation movements in the past. It will be recalled that Nigeria’s role in championing the cause of liberation especially for African countries before now was legendary.

    The tenacity of such role (during the cold war years) as a vital part of Nigeria’s foreign policy that aided the independence of countries like South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Algeria and others had once pitched the country against the imperialistic tendencies of some Western countries.

     

    How Nigeria broke

     relation with Israel

    It was against such imperialistic tendencies that Nigeria’s Federal Government under General Yakubu Gowon broke diplomatic relations with Israel for 19 years from 1973 to 1992 when the Military President Ibrahim Babangida restored that relation. In those years, religion was not at all in consideration as the issue of liberation was seen purely as a humanitarian affair which deserved human feeling rather than sheer political contention or religious sentiment.

    If religion had been at the front burner of Nigeria’s foreign policy, General Yakubu Gowon, a Christian, would not have taken Nigeria into the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) in observer status in 1969 and General Ibrahim Babangida, a Muslim, would not have restored Nigeria’s diplomatic relation with Israel in 1992 after 19 years of break (since 1973).

    Thus, through her consistency in human face foreign policy, Nigeria had earned tremendous prestige in the comity of nations and this had earned her the appellation of ‘Giant of Africa’ which she still enjoys today as a special privilege.

    Now, by deviating from that highly prestigious foreign policy and by pitching its tent with the imperialist countries the government seems to have sacrificed conscience on the platter of unwarranted and irrelevant religious sentiment which is a reflection of the situation at home in Nigeria under the current regime.

    This may be linked to fortuitous diplomatic visit of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to Nigeria among other African countries in June 2014 in preparation for the unfortunate betrayal for which the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked and praised President Goodluck Jonathan for a job well done.

    Nevertheless, Nigerians are urged to overlook the embarrassing diplomatic goof and wait for another chance bearing in mind that no diplomatic policy is permanently static. God bless our country!

     

    Clarification on

     published fables

    In a front page lead story (without a by-line) published in Sunday Tribune of December 28, 2014 and entitled ‘Division Within Core North Widens’, the Ibadan-based newspaper claimed that “the elite and opinion leaders among the Hausa-Fulani stock are split down the line about who to support between the two major contenders (President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari).

    The newspaper went further to state that “the elites who lined up behind General Buhari included the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa‘ad Abubakar, who is leading some northern Emirs; 11 Arewa turks, led by former minister Mallam Nasir El-Rufai; four core northern Governors led by Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State and a loose coalition of clerics said to be linked to various street groups across the northern region ……..”

     

    Fabricated news story

    Under the same news headline, Sunday Tribune came up with a sub-heading entitled ‘South-West Muslim Council Backs GEJ’, and quoted one Mallam Hakeem Adelani who it called the Secretary-General of the ‘Muslim Council’ as saying that since ‘Yoruba Muslims were not goats and rams’ they would rather vote for Jonathan than Buhari’.

    The quoted fake secretary was also reported to have said that a mosque-to- mosque campaign would soon commence in the region to sensitise the Muslim Ummah towards the clandestine political agenda of some evil politicians who want to use the name of Islam for their evil machinations.

    The concern of the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN) here is not about Nigeria’s political murky water in which some dirty elements in the society are swimming, but about the smearing tendency of some dirty minds in the region who think they can drag Islam and some highly placed Nigerian Muslims into their murky water. In view of the above, therefore, the following clarifications are necessary:

    The Role of MUSWEN

    The Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN) is the main umbrella of all the Muslim organisations in the Southwest and it does not have the so-called ‘Muslim Council’ (of no particular state) on its membership list.

    MUSWEN is the only Muslim body authorised to speak for the entire Muslims in the Southwest through its Executive Secretary, Prof D.O.S. Noibi or its Media Consultant, Alhaji Femi Abbas.

    Any other person or persons claiming to be speaking on behalf of the Southwest Muslims without the authorisation of the above mentioned duo can only be a fraudster using a Muslim name to tarnish the image of Islam in the region.

    The fictitious name called Hakeem Adelani said to be the Secretary-General of   the Council is not known to MUSWEN or recognised by any of its member organisations in the region.

    MUSWEN is neither a political body affiliated to any political figure or party in the country nor is it involved directly or indirectly in Nigerian partisan politics.

    As a credible religious body which fervently believes in freedom of expression and association, MUSWEN has never and will not be involved in partisan politics let alone influence the electorate’s voting rights along religious line.

    The frivolous statement published by Sunday Tribune in the name of the Southwest Muslims is therefore a mere fabrication by enemies of Islam aimed at subjecting the name of the highly revered religious body to ridicule.

    Consequently, MUSWEN calls particularly on all Muslims in the Southwest and the country in general to ignore the insensitive and irresponsible statement reported in the cited Sunday Tribune and credited to a fictitious Mallam Hakeem Adelani who may be non-existent in reality.

    Meanwhile, MUSWEN hereby calls on the Federal Government once again to urgently address all forms of insecurity in the land with particular attention to the socio-economic sources of unrest by taking bold and practical steps towards stamping out corruption and indiscipline through the leadership’s personal examples and thereby strengthen God’s consciousness in all Nigerians.

    Finally, MUSWEN admonishes all Nigerian politicians to refrain from heating up the polity through incendiary utterances and public actions in their campaigns towards the elections that will begin in February 2015 and remember that there can be a Nigeria to be called their country only if there is peace. God save Nigeria!

     

    The ranting of a dubious cleric

    “A man who does not wear dignity as a dress cannot proclaim dignity by demand through sheer bravado” By an Arab poet.

    Self-respect is like a glass house. Anybody who values it will surely not throw out a stone from it. And when a pig decorated with a valuable ornament takes it to a refuse place it must not be a surprise. Refuse bin is the natural habitat of the pig.

    Nigerian Muslims should not be bothered by a recently published ranting of a so-called Nigerian cleric leader of the Christian faith whose antecedent is very well known. In the two parts publication in a Nigerian national newspaper last Friday and last Monday, the self-glorified irritant turned himself into a Mr. know all and quoted the Qur’an copiously out of context giving it a drunkard’s interpretation to incite Nigerian Christians against Nigerian Muslims.

    The megalomaniac wanted Nigerians to believe that the only way of ‘curbing insurgency’ in the country is to either wipe out the Qur’an from existence or edit it to suit his own satanic thinking.

    In his devilish search for a solution to insurgency, after a long, unwinding rigmarole typical of an evident ignoramus, he concluded that unless the Qur’an is edited to suit his own parochial way of amassing devilish wealth in a typical capitalist manner, the world would not know peace. To him, Qur’an (which has been in existence for over 1400 years) is the main cause of the five year old insurgency in Nigeria.

    Such an evil conclusion by a criminally avaricious agent of devil cannot surprise any sane person. Some recent exposures about his clandestine activities have confirmed his satanic tendencies.

    Rather than compounding a fundamental national problem like insurgency with a satanic solution this self-appointed public tutor should have explained to Nigerians his own role in the recent illegal currency trafficking that caused a face-off between Nigeria and South African.

    The total amount of money said to be involved in that devilish deal was $15 million. This is not the right time for any diversionary tutoring. But since people who are not related to relevance often recourse to irrelevances as a proof of their existence, the diversionary tactics can be understood even as the commercial cleric needs to be pitied. However, for the benefit of relevant information and knowledge about the divine Book called the Qur’an, a full reaction to that provocative, inflammatory outburst will be published in this column in a foreseeable future, in sha’Allah.

  • 2015: Where’re politicians of conscience?

    2015: Where’re politicians of conscience?

    ‘The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard’ ————Gaylord Nelson

    Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was that quintessential English philosopher who is best known for his political thought on the problem of social and political order. He wrote about how human beings could live together in peace so as to avoid civil conflict through his advocacy of obedience to an unaccountable sovereign that could be a person or group empowered to decide every social and political issue; failure to do this according to him, could lead to what he called a “state of nature” that is anarchical. The consequence of this, in his view, is that the life of the people under that state of nature becomes ‘brutish, nasty and poor.’

    But looking at the past and current situations in the country, it is doubtful if Hobbes contemplated human beings, especially the developing countries’ politicians, as purely particularly egoistic. This riddle has been the speck on the theory of this founding father of modern philosophy because it gives no reverence to the need for good ethics, morality and conscience as parameters for leadership obedience by the governed.

    The afore-stated adumbrated intellectual scrutiny of Hobbes’ works is informed by last week’s blanket approval of President Goodluck Jonathan by all the directing minds of ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as the party’s sole presidential candidate for the 2015 general elections. The PDP governors led by its forum’s chairman, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, its Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman, Tony Anenih, Adamu Muazu, PDP national chairman, Olisa Metuh, its national publicity secretary; Senate President David Mark and members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) that serves as its highest decision-making appendage recently adopted Mr. Jonathan as the party’s consensus candidate in next February presidential election. That game, obviously an exercise in impunity, made mockery of the well-espoused principle of internal democracy of political parties. And quite presumably, the hearts of most discerning Nigerians have since not ceased bleeding!

    The way and manner that otherwise men of honour “regurgitated” superlatives about the president and his leadership style at the event compelled yours sincerely to wonder if they were talking about the same man whose tenure has put the nation in the worst turmoil than any past leadership of the country. One wonders if these adults truly mean that Jonathan should continue after 2015. The mind went on peripatetic adventure and accompanied by surging questions: Could it mean that they, who are mostly serving top officers of state and from the ruling party, are indifferent to the plight of suffering Nigerians and debilitating state institutions? Are they unaware that five months after, the over 200 Chibok abducted girls are still in the bondage of the Boko Haram insurgents? What about the corruption of subsidy surrounding the management of crude oil proceeds by this administration? Are these supposed party chieftains saying that the odious exportation of $9.3million government money in privately owned aircraft where the president’s close pastor friend has residual interest is in order?

    Again: Could they be saying that one of the reasons for reposing confidence in the president is because South Africa seized Nigeria’s hard-earned illegally transported funds to her territory? Or could it be because of the abysmal human rights record of his administration as depicted by Amnesty International through the illegal torture of Nigerians by the police/military institutions? Does President Jonathan deserve a re-election for spending over a trillion on a Boko Haram war that is far from being won due to the nation’s military that is witnessing its greatest low and de-motivation under his administration? Could the president be deserving of another term for hobnobbing with alleged sponsors of Boko Haram? Could this wobbling handling of the Boko Haram criminal nuisance be the reason why the Senate hastily approved $1billion loan for the president to fight the insurgents while people are generally aware that the loan will eventually be deployed by the commander-in-chief to prosecute his 2015 re-election ambition? They could not even be bothered that the president has not accounted for the trillion already spent on the battle against the Boko Haram rebels.

    Based on the fore-enumerated necessary questions and several others not asked owing to space constraint, this column wonders if morality has any impact on a politician’s decision to run or pursue a re-run for office; or whether such is pertinent before endorsing anybody seeking to contest an election. The impunity against morality and character that is going on in especially the ruling PDP has underscored the fact that conscience as the inner voice that warns us in our overt conducts that somebody may be looking is lacking in the ruling party—and perhaps in other parties too. The directing minds of most parties, especially as depicted by the nauseating endorsement of Jonathan have shown, quite vividly to groaning Nigerians that character, which means the doing of things that one would not want to do but is conscientiously and morally right to do, is lacking in the country’s embattled polity.

    This column winked at the phoney and incongruous epithets used to describe Mr Jonathan as if he is inimitable, just to save their daily bread. These are historically insincere politicians, pretenders, interlopers, charlatans and irredeemable impostors that ended believing themselves by fooling the undiscerning public. They did same to Ibrahim Babangida, the despot who was ignominiously forced to step aside. They cajoled late tyrant Sani Abacha; and few of them despite their old age called former president Olusegun Obasanjo ‘baba’ just to ensure that he got to their well orchestrated disgraceful end in the saddle. One will perhaps be unduly alarming to state that Obasanjo ended abysmally with the ultimate collapse of his Third Term agenda through which billions of state funds were reportedly disbursed as alleged gratification to politicians perceived to be strategically positioned to help in fructifying that satanic ambition.

    What Jonathan might not easily remember also is that these same choristers helped Obasanjo to change the party’s constitution to allow former president unfettered access as the leader of the party and to have a say in who becomes future president. But quite ironically, it is instructive that the same Obasanjo, though alive, was not at the venue where the current ‘who-is-who’ (his former allies in mis-governance) in PDP converged to endorse Jonathan. What a lesson to the incumbent! Is it proper to describe these PDP politicians and others like them in the other political parties as politicians with conscience? The answer is absolute NO! For not upholding sincerity of purpose, truthful justice and realistic reliability in this odious blanket endorsement of an inept “ruler” in Jonathan, it is almost certain that the words of the presently suffering Nigerians and the future generations will not be kind on these political jesters in PDP.

  • Soyinka is conscience of our nation, says Tinubu

    Soyinka is conscience of our nation, says Tinubu

    Former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has said Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka is the conscience of the nation.

    In a statement yesterday in Lagos by his Media Office, Tinubu said: “No word can describe what you have achieved as a professional  and a patriot. You are one of a kind. You have become the conscience of our nation, pricking us and alerting us to the dangers ahead. You have not stopped there; you have gone further to proffer solutions in a timely and comprehensive manner on how to move things forward. Your words and interventions continue to resonate here at home and globally.

    “You remain one of the few  truly celebrated Nigerian icons and a solid and powerful voice. Indeed, one of the very few powerful voices who continue to speak up against injustice, inequality and creeping fascism. The more they try to diminish you, the more your status rise in distinction to their incoherence and verbiage. Each time they try to silence you, your voice rings out louder and clearer. You have always said: ‘The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.’ And you  are being proved right with our experience. We take instruction in these words of yours.

    “Nigeria’s search for true democracy remains on course because of your unrelenting and lucid interventions. Through the years, you have demonstrated a fierce commitment to the Nigerian project and worked assiduously with different groups and organisations in the singular effort to ensure that Nigeria’s democracy survives and we achieve an egalitarian society.

    “I identify with you in this struggle for a better and greater Nigeria and stand side by side with you in your condemnation of the impunity of the present administration and the demand you have made that the current Nigerian government has a case to answer for all the unconstitutional acts it is perpetrating.

    “I celebrate with you today. May you grow in wisdom and knowledge. May you find peace and remain in good health. Happy birthday.”