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Tag: history

  • Where is our history?

    Where is our history?

    • By Austin Orette 

    We must teach our history. I cannot find any reason why Nigeria’s history is not being taught in Nigerian schools. This is a terrible mistake. What are we afraid of? Whose idea is it, that teaching Nigerian history will be unhealthy to our nation?

    This must be one of the mediocre ideas of the mercenaries that imprisoned Nigeria for more than 50 years. Our history is who we are and why we are here and where we are going.

    As a nation, we are not perfect. We have made mistakes and we have done some good things. Our history is the record of this journey as a nation. Our history should give us constant hindsight so that we don’t repeat mistakes. If we take the good and bad and give a proper account, it will be discovered we have made some great strides as a people.

    We fought wars and we have managed to win the peace. Out of the cacophony of our existence, we have produced the Nigerian character. The Nigerian is the product from this blast furnace. It is this character that is under attack throughout the world. Nigeria does not have the monopoly of criminality. What the West is attacking is the virility of Nigeria. If we know this, it will give us the fortitude to persevere.

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    We cannot know who we are if our history is not made known to us. Knowing who we are will give us the ammunition to fight in a world that has become hostile to the Nigerian. We will be able to define ourselves instead of letting others define us. We must tell our story if not others will tell it and unpalatable by using our least common denominator. We are Nigerians and we are not more corrupt than any other group of people.

    The western press can make you hate your friends and make you love your enemies. As Africa is waking up from its doldrums, the West is beginning to recalibrate their positions. They have chosen Nigeria as the bogeyman because the Nigerian represents everything they fear about the awake African.

    For centuries, they used their instrument of coercion and education to tell the lion that it can only survive by stealing food from the hyena. A few Africans and the Nigerian never accepted this. The lion within was never slayed. It roamed without a purpose and it used its strength to attack its own kind and listen to the tails of the gazelle. It wondered in self-doubt. Every now and then, there is a glimpse of the glorious past which appeared as hallucinations. The dreams became more vivid and took on a reality of real life. He is the lion and must not wait for the meals provided by the hyena. He is the lion and must make his own kill and establish his pride. This is the Nigeria from Slavery to Colonialism and Neo-colonialism.

    We lost our way. It is this awakening that the world is fighting. They have made the Nigerian a pariah because he wants to stand on his own two feet. The attack on the Nigerian is the attack on the manhood of Africa.

    From wars, coups and disrespect, we have survived what the world has thrown at us.  Out of this crucible, we have created a citizen who believes in himself and his people. This is what the world is attacking. Every one of these attacks tries to gain legitimacy by using our own against us. In South Africa, the black South Africans blamed the Nigerian for his problem. In West Africa, the Ghanaian blamed Nigeria for their problems. In America, the black America blamed Nigeria for their problems.

    When Trump started his orgy of deportation, the black Americans were celebrating the deportation of Nigerians. When the world and our own are against us, we have to rely on each other and our history. Due to the lack of this history, we cannot tell the world what Nigeria has done for the freedom of all black people in the world. If we have history, we will tell the South African that we paid heavy price to fight for their freedom. Western companies like Shell, Barclays and others were nationalized due to their relationship with apartheid South Africa. Nigeria spearheaded and funded the anti-apartheid committee that negotiated the final phase of apartheid.

    If we have history, we will tell the Ghanaians that the stability they enjoy in West Africa today was made possible by Nigeria. When Sierra Leone and Liberia caught fire, Nigeria became the fire fighters. America that created Liberia was nowhere to be found. People were dying in thousands and they were preaching human rights to those who were dying. Nigeria created the peace and did not ask for their land or their gold. Nigeria brought the soldiers who died in that war to be buried in Nigeria. We did not even ask for a place to bury our dead. We did not ask for their diamond or their gold. Nigeria did not impose any system of government on them. America or Britain will never give that kind of selfless service.

    My country Nigeria did that. We did that.

    If we have that history, we will tell the black Americans that during the oil embargo of the 1970, a certain American president visited Nigeria to request for energy. The price of energy was prohibitive. Americans were losing their homes and could not afford to mitigate the brutal winters. Nigeria helped America by supplying them fuel at a very reasonable price, and also donated fuel to various foundations in America who were helping the poor to survive those brutal winters.

    To top it all, Nigeria took an unprecedented step to assist Historical Black Colleges in America who were in danger of closing due to serious financial crisis. Nigeria seized this opportunity. Nigeria awarded scholarships to many Nigerians to further their education at these Historical Black Colleges.

    This is the beginning of Nigerians moving to the United States for education. The presence of Nigerians in those colleges brought a new lease of life to them. Today the Black American and the South African and the rest have joined the league of those who hate Nigeria with passion.  Out of our difficulties, we have created a unique individual we call the Nigerian. He may be beaten but his head is unbowed. He is not bound by geography. His identity is justice, enterprise and fair play. We may tear at each other from North to South, East to West; let us never forget that the strength of our fabric will stand the test of time if we learn to understand that we are one people bound by a common identity that seeks justice and fair play in our common struggles. This struggles, created this individual we call the Nigerian.

    When the World tugs at us, we remember that we are more than the sum of our differences. The Nigerian is not bound by geography or race. The Nigerian has a keen sense of justice and knows that we are more than the sum total of our differences. He is indefatigable. The Nigerian is the hope of the African renaissance. The world is beginning to recognize this Nigerian and they all want to be members of this tribe. All that is needed to be members of this tribe is a keen sense of justice, agape love and fair play. Indeed, love of service and enterprise. Let us be this Nigerian. The world is waiting.

    •Dr Orette writes from Houston, Texas, United States

  • ‘Proper documentation of history will prevent extinction’

    ‘Proper documentation of history will prevent extinction’

    The Afinni family of Lagos State has called on the state government to create an avenue for the aborigines to tell their story so it can be archived as a piece of history.

    This, the family said, would help preserve history and prevent any untoward displacement of the original lagosians and their ancestral history.

    The family took this stand at a news conference to celebrate the 110th death anniversary of their progenitor, Alhaji Buriamoh Afinni. The current head of family is Dr. Oluyomi Finnih, a member of the Lagos State Governance Advisory Council (GAC).

    According to Dr. Finnih, the family waited for 110 years to celebrate their ancestor because it took this long to conclude the research on his life and times.

    He said: “The late Buraimoh Afinni, our progenitor, was a colossus of his time and there is a lot to be said about him. He was of Benin origin and very deep in the Islamic religion. He also contributed a lot to the construction of the Lagos Central Mosque. To this end, he was given the Otun Balogun title, which has now become a family title sort of. Alhaji Ajibola Finnih is the current Otun Balogun.

    “To celebrate his life and time, the family will be launching a book on July 25.”

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    Chairman of the planning committee Dr. Sola Labinjo, said the family is coming up with the historical book to ensure that the real history of Lagos is not eroded and the people lost.

    He said: “If you go to Australia today, you will ask where the real aborigines are because they have gone into extinction. It’s one thing to say you are a Lagosian, but it’s also important to have it documented because most cosmopolitan cities or commercial centres stand the risk of its population being diluted.

    “So, to avoid the disaster of extinction, we need to document our real history. The popular one is that written by the colonialist from their coming, but people lived on this land before the colonialists came. That is what we need to put right, and also urge the Lagos State government to key into this initiative by commissioning an official documentation of this history as told by the original Lagos families.”

  • History, January 15, 1966 coup and tribute to our fallen heroes

    History, January 15, 1966 coup and tribute to our fallen heroes

    Nigeria is the only country in the world in which history is not taught.

    This policy has done us much harm and represents perhaps the greatest, most savage, most brutal and most destructive blow to the pysche, confidence, knowledge, intellectual acumen and mental health of our people.

    The consequence of this egregious and unbelievable error and grave oversight is the fact that we are now having to contend with a vast population of over 220 million people who are essentially ignorant of their own past, that have no knowledge of their noble historical heritage and that predicate and rationalise their nation’s existence on lies, misinformation, disinformation, falsehood, folklore, fairy tales, fantasy, self-serving and selective clap trap and a more than heavy dose of intellectual distortion and historical revisionism.

    This is precisely why we are, in the main, essentially a conflicted and confused people who have no idea where we are coming from, where we are today or where we are going tomorrow.

    This is why we, more often than not, view, discuss and debate our nation’s history with an emotional bent and from a thoroughly subjective, unintelligent and unintellectual prism rather than an objective, plausible, logical, level- headed, factual and intelligent one with strong primary sources and unassailable empirical evidence.

    We have little or no regard or appreciation of the heroic deeds, monumental struggles, historical achievements and extraordinary sacrifices that our forefathers made in the struggle against British colonial rule, the fight for independence, the struggle against military rule and the challenges and obstacles that our politicians from the First, Second and Third republics faced, surmounted and overcame to get us to where we are.

    This is our reality and frankly it is pitiful.

    I say pitiful because without any knowledge of our history we are nothing.

    Worse of all is the fact that, having learnt nothing from our past mistakes and numerous historical challenges because we have no idea about precisely what those mistakes and challenges were, it becomes inevitable for us to repeat them.

    Permit me to tickle your collective fancies by asking the following questiins.

    How many Nigerians know who Alafin Aole Arogangan, Sheik Usman Dan Fodio, Bishop Ajayi Crowther, Rev. Emmanuel Adelabi Kayode (my great grandfather), Herbert Macauly, Sapara Williams, Rev. Suberu Fanimokun, Isaac Boro, General Murtala Mohammed, Alhaji Ali Akilu, Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, Colonel Gideon Orkar and Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim were?

    How many know anything about Ernest Ikoli, Alhaji Aminu Kano, Chief Joseph Tarka, Owelle Nnamdi Azikiwe, Justice Daddy Onyeama, Chief Philip Asiodu, Chief Allison Ayida, Chief Hope Harriman, Chief Godfrey Amachree, Alhaji Adamu Attah, Alhaju Adamu Augie, Chief Solomon Lar, Alhaji Saleh Jambo, Alhaji Saleh Hassan, Oba Adesoji Aderemi and Alhaji Adamu Ciroma?

    How many know much about General Hassan Katsina, General Ibrahim Babangida, General Shehu Musa Yar’adua, General TY Danjuma, General Sani Abacha, Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, Dr. Olusola Saraki, Chief KO Mbadiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Adetokunboh Ademola, Chief FRA Williams, Justice Atanda Fatayi-Williams, Oba Okunade Sijuwade and the Black Scorpion, Benjamin Adekunle?

    How many know anything about the Black Victorians of the old Lagos colony or Sara Forbes Bonneta who was the god-daughter of Queen Victoria of Great Britain.

    How many have ever heard about Sara’s distinguished and well to do husband, Captain James Pinson Labulo Davis, a wealthy  businessman and philanthropist from old Lagos.

    How many know anything about the politics and history of Nigeria in the 1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s, 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s?

    How many knew that it was only in the 1950’s that Nigerians were allowed to live in the area of Lagos known as Ikoyi and that this came about only as a consequence of the long and bitter struggle and great and irresistible agitation of the proud and noble Nigerian leaders of the old Lagos colony of that day.

    Up until then Ikoyi was a residential area that was the exclusive preserve of the European settlers and colonialists!

    How many have heard about Justice Victor Adedapo Kayode, my Cambridge-University trained paternal grandfather who was one of the leading criminal lawyers of his generation, who was the third Nigerian to be appointed as a Magistrate (in those days all our judges were white) and who landed a dirty slap on the face of a British colonial officer in broad daylight outside the front door of the old Bristol Hotel in Lagos for his insolence, impertinence and overtly racist remarks!

    The following day the matter was reported in the newspapers and it created quite a stir!

    How many know about what really happened during our civil war and what led to it?

    How many know about President  Shehu Shagari and the Second Republic and how many have any knowledge of Chief MKO Abiola in the third?

    How many know about military rule in Nigeria and who the main players were and how many have any idea about the coups and attempted coups we have experienced since independence?

    Sadly most Nigerians, particularly in the Gen Z generation, know NOTHING about their nations past and its major players and even when they do that knowledge is sparse, scanty, shallow and, more often than not, minimal, inconsequential and obscure.

    It really is a tragedy and one of the reasons that yours truly has written this contribution about the relevance of January 15th in our calender is to at least attempt to enlighten those that are intelligent enough to appreciate the importance of history and that have no idea why we even have or celebrate an Armed Forces Remebrance Day or where our seemingly unending troubles and turmoil really started.

    Consider the following.

    Today is Armed Forces Remembrance Day and it is a day that we are constrained to rembember our fallen heroes.

    Many in the younger generation do not know why this particular day was chosen to commemorate those that fell and the tragic events that led to their brutal murder.

    Permit me to enlighten those that know no better and to share the facts.

    58 years ago today, on January 15th 1966, a bloody, vicious, merciless, unrelenting and violent mutiny took place in our Armed Forces in which many of our reverred, respected and beloved political leaders and senior military officers, together with some members of their respective families, were humiliated, tortured, mutilated and finally murdered in cold blood.

    Those that were killed were Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the Prime Minister, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of the old Northern Region, Chief S.L. Akintola, the Premier of the old Western Region, Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari, Colonel James Pam, Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun, Colonel Ralph Sodeinde, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, the Minister of Finance, Colonel Arthur Unegbe, Colonel Kur Mohammed, Lt. Colonel Abogo Largema, Mrs. Hafsatu Bello, the wife of the Sardauna of Sokoto, Zarumi, the bodyguard of the Sardauna of Sokoto, Mrs. Lateefat Ademulegun, the wife of Brigadier Ademulegun, Ahmed B. Musa, Ahmed Pategi, Sgt. Daramola Oyegoke, PC Yohana Garkawa, PC Musa Nimzo, PC Akpan Anduka, PC Hagai Lai and PC Philip Lewande.

    Two others were also abducted by the mutineers from their homes that night and brutalised. Thankfully they both managed to escape with their lives.

    The first was Chief Remilekun Adetokunboh Fani-Kayode KC, SAN, CON, the Balogun of Ile-Ife and the Deputy Premier of the old Western Region (my beloved father).

    I personally witnessed some of the events of that night when, led by one Captain Emmanuel Nwobosi, they came to our home and official residence in Government House, Ibadan and abducted him.

    Thankfully he was rescued later in the day by loyal troops led by Lt. Colonel Yakubu Gowon (as he then was), Captain Paul Chabri Tarfa (as he then was) and Lt. Takoda, who stormed the officers mess in Dodan Barracks, Lagos where he was taken and was being held by the mutineers and freed him after a prolonged and bloody gun battle which resulted in deaths on both sides.

    The second was Sir Kashim Ibrahim, the Governor of the old Northern Region who was rescued and freed by loyalist forces in Kaduna.

    Both of these men were delivered by divine providence and went on to live for many more years and make their contributions to national development.

    The coup was led by Major Emmanuel Arinze Ifeajuna and Major Chukuwemeka Kaduna Nzeogwu and 90% of the officers involved were Igbo.

    The allegation that it was an Igbo coup is accurate and factual regardless of all attempts to revise and re-write history, often by the murderers and mutineers themselves, in a futile attempt to make it look otherwise and portray themselves as patriots and heroes.

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    They were far from either of the two and the bitter truth is that they were nothing more than a bunch of  cowardly, treacherous, self-serving, ungrateful, over ambitious, power- hungry homicidal maniacs and murderous butchers who attempted to take power through the barrel of the gun and impose an ethnic and religious agenda.

    The assertion that it was not an Igbo coup is patently false and we owe it to those that lost their lives on that terrible night to at least speak the truth about what happened and who killed them.

    I commend the historians, commentators and writers, including individuals like @renoomokri, who have collectively continued to pronounce and enunciate this sacred truth despite the insults and threats which they are often subjected to by those who are blind to the reality, who have no knowledge of history and who have been misguided and brainwashed into believing otherwise.

    The cycle of violence that the unprecedented amount of violence and bloodshed that took place that terrible night unleashed was horrendous and not only did it lead directly to what has rightly been described by historians as the “Northern officers revenge coup” 6 months later in July 1966 in which 300 Igbo officers and the Igbo Head of State, General Aguiyi-Ironsi, was murdered but also to the infamous pogroms in the North where up to 100,000 Igbos were murdered by angry mobs and finally the civil war in which up to 3 million Igbo civilians and Biafran soldiers (including 1 million Igbo children) were butchered alongside hundreds of thousands of Nigerian civilians and gallant Army officers.

    My prayer is that we never witness or experience such bloody events in our history again but if anyone is interested in knowing where, how and why this terrible series of events and cycle of brutality started they must consider the events of January 15th 1966 when the murderous barbarians that called themselves young Army officers unleashed mayhem on our leaders and killed so many of them in the most beastly and cowardly fashion.

    History records all those that were murdered that night as heroes and we shall never belittle, forget or undermine the supreme sacrifice that they made for our beloved nation.

    They live on in our hearts and we resolve to soldier on regardless and make Nigeria an even greater and better country than they sought to make it and to honour their memory by building on their great and noble heritage and legacy.

    May their precious souls continue to rest in peace, may the Lord continue to protect, comfort and bless those they left behind including their families and loved ones and may God continue to guide and lead our great nation Nigeria.

    Happy Armed Forces Remembrance Day!

    • Chief Fani-Kayode, the Sadaukin Shinkafi and the Wakilin Doka Potiskum, is a lawyer, a former Minister of Aviation and a former Minister of Culture and Tourism.

  • ‘Why study of history is important’

    ‘Why study of history is important’

    • By Abimbola Asawande

    Octogenarian retiree, Prince Emmanuel Ajewole, yesterday explained why the study of history is critical to human progress and advancement.

    He spoke with reporters in Lagos at the unveiling of a book: ‘The history of Ahun Ekiti’, to mark the first year anniversary of granting autonomous status to Ahun Ekiti by the Ekiti State Government.

    Ajewole, son of the late Alahun, Ojo Ajewole Akosile, said he wrote the book, based on the account of his father and grandfather, Okanlawon Omonuku 1, relayed to him at a tender age.

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    The 125-page book details the history of Ahun leadership, their journey from Ile-Ife, cradle of the Yoruba, their peaceful coexistence with Efon community and agitation for autonomy.

    Ajewole described the book as insightful, saying “it took me nearly 15 years to put together the facts contained in this book.”

  • History as Kuti Heritage Museum is born

    This year’s edition of the African Drum Festival was unique in many ways. It witnessed the unveiling of Kuti Heritage Museum in Abeokuta; the launch of Adire Ogun seal and the celebration of 12 Ogun State-2born musical icons such as Chief Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi, Haruna Ishola, Ayinla Omowura, Fela Sowande and Hubert Ogunde at an exhibition tagged:Masters of the rhythms, Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME reports.

    •Gombe State emerges overall best

    For many years, the twin buildings that was home to the father of the late Afrobeat legend Fela Aniklulapo Kuti, Oludotun Ransome Kuti, in Isabo,  Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, were in a deplorable condition. The structures, which were failing and not habitable, became an eyesore to residents and tourists to the rocky city. Part of the premises became a refuse dump site and public toilet. Now, the ancient buildings have also been transformed by Ogun State government into a living museum, housing vital archival materials on the life and times of the Kuti family.

    Last Friday, Governor Ibikunle Amosun unveiled the Kuti Heritage Museum, saying the ceremony was part of his administration’s efforts at celebrating iconic Ogun indigenes as well as preserving the state’s heritage.

    A statue of the couple – the late Mr and Mrs Oludotun Ransome Kuti – is erected in front of the main house. While Israel Oludotun is seated, Olufunmilayo stands behind her husband on the left side. Expectedly, the couple are dressed in full Yoruba attire. The sculpture mounted on a raised white top platform is close to the garage that houses an old white car belonging to Olufunmilayo, who was the first Nigerian woman to drive a car.

    As a prelude to the ceremony, a drama sketch telling the life and times of the couple’s educational career, activism and marriage was presented by Gangan Cultural Troupe. The performance, which was more of narration, offered the guests, especially the foreigners, the opportunity to know the family beyond what they had read. Olufunmilayo’s many battles, such as her struggle against taxation of women in Egbaland,which resulted in the banishment of the then Alake, Oba Ademola, her contributions to the formation of the National Council of Nigerian Citizens, Commoners Peoples Party, and the Federation of Nigerian Women Society, among others, were highlighted in the performance.

    Few hours before the unveiling, a large crowd of men, women and youth stormed the premises of the new look Kuti home, singing, dancing and waving to Amosun in appreciation of the government’s efforts at upgrading the facility.

    Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka, who was at the ceremony, said the strict discipline he got as a child growing up with his uncle, Oludotun Ransome Kuti, the  Fela’s father, shaped his life.

    Soyinka recalled with nostalgia how tough it was to have spent two years as a student at the Abeokuta Grammar School where his uncle, Fela’s father, was the school principal. The Nobel laureate,an extended family member of the Kuti family, relived his two years stay at the school last Friday during the ceremony. Soyinka recalled that the two years he spent with his uncle were enough to have shaped his life and made him who he is today. He later left for Government College, Ibadan.

    “I remember my uncle. I remember that he wielded a heavy cane, that was what made us. He was a disciplinarian, a leader and a great educationist. That education came in many ways, the more painful part, which I remembered. Unfortunately, I was able to escape to another school after these two years, from Abeokuta Grammar School to Government College, Ibadan.

    Two years were more than enough to tune me up. I spent two years at Abeokuta Grammar School before I escaped to Government College, Ibadan, which to him, was an “Ajebutter” school, a school for spoilt children,” he said. He noted, however, that irrespective of the campaign against child abuse, parents shouldn’t  spare the rod when necessary to use it.

    Soyinka, who commended Ogun State government for the refurbishing and upgrading of the Fela’s familyhouse in Abeokuta, however, said it was long overdue.

    Unveiling the Kuti Heritage House, Governor Amosun said the event was part of his administration’s efforts at celebrating Ogun sons and daughters, and preserve the state’s cultural heritage.

    He noted that heroes and icons do not die as their homes will be turned to museums and a Mecca that future generations and scholars will use as research centres.

    “This house has a lot of history. This is the house where all the Kutis were raised. From Mama Dolupo to Prof Olukoye, Fela and Beko, who were giants in their own right. When you are writing the history of Nigeria, all of them will have a pride of place. For us, we cannot allow all these giants to be unsung. We don’t want their memories to die and we don’t want our young ones to forget them. Once upon a time, there lived a couple, Mr and Mrs Kuti”.

    Senior Consultant to Governor Amosun on Culture and Tourism Yewande Amusan described the Kuti Heritage House as a well thought out idea and investment to preserve the legacies of Ransome Kuti’s family as a befitting museum put up to tell the story of the family as a whole.

    Speaking on behalf of the Kuti family, Yemisi Kuti noted that integrity, human values, hard work,selflessness, and patriotism were invested up by her family in national development in various fields of human endeavour. These translated to what the government and people were celebrating and not material wealth or position.

     

    Drumming the future

     

    This year’s African Drum Festival with the theme:Drumming the future…drums of life, rhythms of development, attracted seasoned African scholars and master drummers, who  charted fresh paths to making drumming attractive to the younger generation. Chaired by founder/director, Le Kolatier Music Market, Mr. Luc Yatchokeu, a Cameroonian, the roundtable session of the festival held at Olumo Rock Complex, Abeokuta examined among other issues, how the young generation can use new technology to promote the African drum. Participants were drawn from Algeria, Mali, Senegal, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Trinidad and Tobago, Kenya, Ghana, Benin, Cote D’Ivoire, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Morocco and DR Congo.

    In the drumming competition held at Olumo Rock Complex and the new Amphitheatre Complex (under construction) at the city centre,  Gombe won the first position followed by Kwara and Ondo states in second and third positions respectively. No fewer than 26 states participated in the festival. Ekeme Group from Akwa Ibom State won the overall best and cash prize of N2million in the independent category.

    For international category, Ghana won the first position and a cash prize of $5000, while Chad and Benin Republic won second and third positions and cash prizes of $3000, and $2000 respectively. But, in individual category (international), Morocco came first with a cash prize of $3000 while Cote D’Ivoire and South Africa won second ($2000) and third positions ($1000) respectively.

     

  • 15 interesting facts about Nigeria you should know

    Nigeria is officially known as Federal Republic of Nigeria. The name which was taken from the Niger River running through the country was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British journalist Flora Shaw, who later married Baron Frederick Lugard, a British colonial administrator.

    Although it is internationally recognised as the giant of Africa, it may not be known to many that Nigeria has many interesting facts.

    Here are a few of these facts:-

    1800 – Sokoto caliphate established through jihad; goes to war against the Yoruba states.

    1845 – The first building in Nigeria was built in Badagry, Lagos State.

    1846 – Christian Missionary Society (CMS) sets up mission at Abeokuta.

     

    1861 – British annexes Lagos, with status of Crown Colony

    1914 – Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria were amalgamated into Nigeria. British Crown gained monopoly rights over mineral extraction

    1959 – The new Nigerian currency was introduced.

    October 1, 1960 – Nigeria gained independence from Britain.

    October 1, 1961 – Southern Cameroon ceases to be a part of Nigeria and became a part of Cameroun, following the UN-organised plebiscite of February 11, 1961.

    October 1, 1963 – Nigeria became a republic.

    1965 – Cocoa house in the city of Ibadan, Oyo state was once the tallest building in tropical Africa.

    1973 – National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was introduced.

    1973 – Naira was introduced

    1975 – Cars were sold for N2000

    1975 – An airplane ticket to London was sold for less than a hundred naira (N100)

    1976 – 75 Kobos exchanged for one British Pound Sterling and 60 Kobos for one US dollar.

    Up until 1984, A Travel Visa was not required to travel to the United Kingdom.

    Credit : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Nigerian_history

  • Ooni names Adegbola aide on history, culture

    The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, has appointed Prince Adelegan Adegbola as his Special Assistant on History and Culture.

    In a statement the Ooni’s extolled Adegbola as a cultural scholar and custodian of Yoruba heritage, who has done well in the preservation of culture through his publications and research works.

    “It is my pleasure to appoint you as a Special Assistant on History and Culture to House of Oduduwa, Ile-Ife. You have proven to be a selfless individual, who has gone to great length to protect the history of Yoruba culture. It is my belief that you will handle this role with utmost care and protect the integrity that comes along with the office. I charge you with noble appointment to do more in creating awareness about the Yoruba culture as well as protect our heritage and advocate for its sustenance,” Oba Ogunwusi said.

    Prince Adegbola is an author, communicator of history and tradition, founder and president of the Oduduwa Cultural Foundation (OCF), a centre for the Yoruba Cultural, History, Tradition and Documentation. He is also the publisher of a monthly magazine called Oduduwa Heritage Magazine, a production of the Oduduwa International Communication, which focuses on culture reports and events in Nigeria and the Diaspora.

    The cultural scholar has been in the forefront of promoting and propagating Yoruba cultural identity and African values as a cultural researcher for decades. He described the appointment as an “honour” and “well-received”, adding that establishing the magazine and centre were driven by the desire to create an enduring legacy as the mouth piece of the Yoruba people.

    Prince Adegbola said: “I am very happy that I have been recognised today by a foremost traditional ruler in Yorubaland, the Ooni of Ife for my effort in promoting our cultural heritage. It is a welcome development and this will further push me to do and go beyond what I am currently doing in propagating Oduduwa cultural heritage to the world.

    “Beside magazine and book publishing, the Oduduwa Cultural Foundation will be engaging in various programmes to actualise this mandate. Interestingly, the foundation, my books and magazines are meant to make Yoruba culture a source of pride to all Yoruba people all over the world and spread Yoruba enviable culture of honesty, integrity, equity, accommodation and sense of justice all over the world, and showcase Yoruba culture as a point of reference all over the world.”

    His books include “Ile-Ife: The source of Yoruba Civilisation, launched in 2012 by the former Ooni of Ife, the late Oba Okunade Sijuwade and the recent one, Ooni Obalufon  Alayemore: The father of Efon-Alaaye Kingdom published in 2017

     

  • History as Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line is test run

    It was a mere 50-minute ride, yet it was historic in many ways.

    The first standard guage rail line between Lagos, Nigeria’s business headquarters, and Ibadan in the heart of the Southwest was test run.

    The 36-kilometre journey was the result of a project that began in June 2017.

    Leading the group of select passengers was Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi. The 150km per hour speed will be realised early next year when the job is completed. It is comfortable inside the rail car.

    The minister had, during his routine visit on December 4, insisted he must ride a rail car on the tracks by December 18.

    With him on the 36-kilometre journey were members of the House Committee on Land Transportation, led by its chairman Abdulmumin Jibrin, officials of the ministries of Transportation and Works, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and representatives of the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), as well as a consortium of engineers and consultants.

    Amaechi said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and other members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) would ride on the track in the first week of January, next year.

    He dedicated the success of the project to the media, who according to him, kept a tab on the project since it started in June 2017.

    The minister commended the contractor for bringing the project to fruition within 18 months. He challenged local engineers to rise to  salvage the nation from  foreign domination.

    Amaechi said: “While praising the Chinese for their engineering prowess which has turned a rain forest into an emerging city, our engineers must see this as a challenge and save Nigeria from the clutches of foreign domination in the area of construction.

    “This project is nearing completion. Right now, work has advanced and we are six kilometres away from Abeokuta. The contractors have assured me that we would be able to ride from Iju in Lagos, to Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital by the first week of January, 2019. The idea is to bring the vice president and some ministers to join in the ride.”

    He said that once the track is flagged off, the route would be opened for passenger traffic, while efforts would be doubled to ensure that the standard gauge be taken to Ibadan.

    He said work would begin on the construction of stations immediately the project gets to Ibadan.

    The minister said: “I directed that they should stop work on the stations and concentrate on the tracks. They should thereafter return to the project once the tracks have been laid to Ibadan.

    “If the train gets to Ibadan by January, the government would continue to run free train ride from Iju to Ibadan, whether or not election is on, in line with presidential directive.

    “We will start putting passengers as we test the tracks and they can stop anywhere they want to stop on the corridor up to Ibadan.”

    He disclosed that the NRC would mobilise locomotives and coaches from the Abuja-Kaduna line, while the government awaits the delivery of the coaches from China.

    Amaechi said the government already anticipates heavy traffic on the Lagos-Ibadan Standard gauge, a fact he said was responsible for requests by his ministry for the purchase of more locomotives and coaches to service the corridor.

    Jibrin told reporters that the Transportation minister deserve commendation from the Federal Government on behalf of Nigerians for the extent of work achieved within the short period of time.

    The lawmaker, who expressed excitement at the speed and pace of the project, wondered why the project has been under-reported, promising to personally make his impression known to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Jibrin said his committee was happy to have acceded to the minister’s invitation to witness the test run of the tracks.

    “We want to assure the ministry and Nigerians that we would continue to support this project and do everything within our powers to ensure it comes to fruition,” Jibrin said.

    Project coordinator Leo Yin said the CCECC had been working round the clock on the track.

    “Since November, we have been working more at night, to ensure we meet the demands of the government,” Yin said.

    He disclosed that the Chinese firm already employed over 9,000 workers among whom are engineers, and artisans on the project.

    The minister stopped the tour at Odeda, Section III, Ogun State, where he went into a closed door session with the technical committee that went far into the evening.

  • Ekiti: History, tragedy and farce

    With Governor Ayo Fayose’s latest theatrics in Ekiti, you cannot but recall how apt is the Karl Marx famous quip: history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.

    The slight exception here is that Fayose’s current theatrics, of grave allegations of some presidential order to kill both himself and his deputy, Prof. Kolapo Olusola Eleka — as hare-brained as they come — is a double turbo-charge: tragedy and farce all rolled into one; and dramatically and forcefully served, with more than enough cant and crocodile tears to spare.

    Instructive: the Ekiti Mobile Police unit is central to the whole drama — which brings back the ghosts of 2014, a friendly apparition now turned infernally fiendish, from which Fayose now flees in blind panic. Poor guy!

    Roll back to 2014. It was Fayose’s triumphant re-entry, when he strutted around in DSS bullet-proof vests, the toast of the Goodluck Jonathan-era security personnel, from the Army, DSS to the Police, who waited on him: just snap your fingers, our emperor, and we would jump at your bidding!

    Aside from the security regulars, illicit flexing of muscles wasn’t left behind, as some suspected Niger Delta militants, camouflaged as regular security personnel, were alleged to be on the prowl, ready to strike. President Jonathan was determined to “capture” the Southwest, using Ekiti and Osun as opening gambits.

    It was a period of high madness. The Jonathan security apparatus banned even partisan governors and other party heavyweights from accessing Ekiti, to attend Kayode Fayemi’s campaign rally, turning them back at Ikere-Ekiti.

    At the climax of this brazen power show, the commander of the Ekiti local MOPOL declared, to a harried Fayemi, though a sitting governor, and Ekiti’s chief security officer: he knew of no governor. He only took orders from the IGP!

    Fayose would later go on to win 16-0! That was a time, if there was any, when Wole Soyinka’s famous tongue-in-cheek became dire reality: the end justifies the meanness.

    Four years later, change — which Heraclitus the Greek says is the only permanent thing in life — has shown itself. Those security apparatuses have changed hands. The friendly and enabling ghosts of 2014 have suddenly turned, for Fayose, fiendish and disabling ones.

    To be sure, the change of sides could be real, given Nigeria’s sociology of power. But for a dramatist and soulless demagogue like Fayose, it could well be a case of the guilty fleeing, when no one pursues them.

    Still, why would any president, whose party is going into an election, order the summary execution of Fayose (sitting governor) and his deputy (governorship candidate) — to what end?

    But then, imagine the troubled soul that rot was coming from — that, in the middle of high delirium, “ordered” the president of the Federal Republic, come to campaign for his party’s candidate, to get out of Ekiti, where Fayose, in his own words, was “commander-in-chief”!

    It was a classic case of high underdog rascality, in an insane gallery play. Well, it turned out, from Fayose’s tearful drama, that the so-called Ekiti commander-in-chief could command nothing but pitiful tears, which genuineness you can’t even vouch for.

    Besides, did the other party crowd the streets with counter-partisans when Fayose’s PDP was holding its own mega-rally? Did anyone try to induce transporters to ground the state, for an alleged exchange of N10, 000 each, which alleged non-consummation reportedly resulted in the fracas, which the Police had to break up with teargas, in Government House precinct?

    Whatever happens tomorrow, Ekiti should have learnt its lesson not to ever again vote a cur as governor. A gubernatorial cur is a curse to all. That summarises Ekiti’s situation today.

     

  • History will vindicate the just

    Emmanuel Macron visits the African Shrine

    It has been a very good summer for heroes, and a bad time for villains. Nobody erects memorials for villains. No matter how long they live or rule their memory is covered in the weeds of shame and obloquy. History eventually rewrites the wrongs it has visited on society. Snooper is in a very chirpy mood this morning. But let us not jump ahead of the story.

    It was alleged that when Moshe Dayan, the legendary, one-eyed Israeli general and war-hero, was flagged down for speeding on a high way, the great man looked at his interloper and then wryly noted. “Sir, I have only one eye, so which one do you want me to concentrate on, the road or the speedometer?”

    He got a compassionate discharge. At any point in time, no human being can have a full view of the twists and turns of history. No ordinary observer of unfolding events, however sharp-eyed and keenly focused, could take in the totality of events at any point in time. We are all one-eyed viewers when it comes to the great dramas of existence.

    So, just when you are about to give up on history and humanity as a whole, something or some events happen which serve to reinforce your faith in humankind and which vindicate one’s hunch that no matter how long it takes evil will not triumph over good. Let us begin with a poser which has appeared before on this page. Is there something fundamentally and immanently rational about human nature which allows nations and societies to correct or reverse themselves no matter how long it takes?

    Nations and societies may torture, imprison, exile and murder their true heroes and heroines, while allowing scoundrels and villains to thrive and prosper, but in the long run, justice and balance are restored. Injustice may fill the vacuum that nature abhors as a short-time stop gap, but it is a matter of time before justice reasserts itself. History must eventually vindicate the just.

    It is not entirely fault of society. Those at the frontiers of thought in any society and at the vanguard of consciousness must be ready to pay a stiff price. If you think what has never been thought before, or do what has not been done before, you must be prepared for what nobody has gone through before. Genius is a great disruptive force because it questions the status quo and demobilizes the society with its seeming irrationality.

    Paradigm change cannot occur every day or there will be no paradigm to change anymore. It is mediocrity that stabilizes the society and guarantees order. New insights and novel ways of doing things are often so threatening that human societies resist change for a long time and eventually succumb only after massive historic sweeteners and tranquilizers. When society eventually catches up with those at the political frontiers or its intellectual vanguard, the locus of struggle would have shifted again.

    For any society to survive, then, it must cultivate a cult of heroism, so that the labours of past heroes and heroines will never be in vain. As Louis Althusser famously stated, only the production of new heroes keeps old heroes alive. So, when the time for rectification and restitution comes, society must roll out the drums and cymbals to celebrate its heroes. When the time to celebrate heroes comes, let us joyously sing the praises of our departed heroes.

    So, it has been a good summer for heroes, a summer of restitution. What will Fela Anikulapo-Kuti , Nigeria’s great musician and hell-raising cultural icon, be thinking as he watched the young visionary French president visit the shrine? Derided, denigrated and finally decimated at home by the powers that be, Fela is finally receiving the badge and seal of international approval. The shrine has become a global shrine of culture and self-validation; a major tribute and totem of the brotherhood of humanity.

    For close to thirty five years after he returned to the country from a sojourn abroad, Fela fought the Nigerian society and political authorities with everything he had and eventually fell in action, his body completely ravaged and his mind impossibly tortured. But twenty two years after his death, the civilized world is returning to pay him homage in his shrine and on his own terms, too. If a man stands firm on his beliefs, it is the world that must come round to him.

    Once again, it has taken the international community to compel Nigeria to pay attention to one of its most talented offspring. The building block rejected has become the cornerstone of the edifice. Implacable ironies abound. Impeccably westernized and swankily turned out in his earlier incarnation, Fela could easily have been mistaken for a well-mannered English public school fellow.

    But Fela was no minion or starry-eyed satrap of western civilization. In fact his entire life and that of his illustrious family stretching to three generations can be described as a grand decolonizing project. As narrated by Soyinka in his epic autobiography, Ake, when Fela’s father, the Reverend Isaac Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, famously tumbled off his bicycle, he had vowed to make the white-man pay for the infraction. Yet the lot fell on the same western civilization to rescue his most famous son from the Blackman’s inhumanity to the Black person.

    As the name implies, the shrine is a place of pristine traditional worship and libation to the ancestors, a ringing affirmation of African identity redolent of native mysteries and mystifications. But a science-suffused west needs its mysteries and mysticism, too. There is still a Black hole somewhere and humankind cannot survive on science alone.

    By returning to Fela’s shrine which he first visited as a callow intern in the French Nigerian embassy in 2004, the French president was paying a glorious tribute to the ineluctable force of genius and African civilization. It has taken an African musical “rebel” and not a military Caesar to make this possible. Cultural ambassadorship has proved superior to physical warfare.

    To be sure, there would have been a lot about the activities at the old shrine which would not have been sweet music to the authorities. The conservative military junta would have been irked by reports of deviancy, anti-social posturing and the whiff of freewheeling criminality. Particularly irksome would have been the attempt to conduct a Kalakuta Republic within a Nigerian Republic. To nervous soldiers barely recovering from the trauma of a civil war, this would have been tantamount to another declaration of war.

    But rather than resorting to arson and mayhem, the situation could have been better managed as the inevitable waste product of genius. When he was asked to put Jean-Paul Sartre away for disorderly conduct, Charles de Gaule, the great French military genius and literary avatar, famously retorted that Sartre was also France.

    Great statesman and great writer joyously detested each other, but they both knew that the nation is supreme and there is a line never to be crossed in complementary devotion. Now, it has taken another French president to remind us that our own Fela was Nigeria and Africa. History will rehabilitate the great indeed.