The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Paradox

  • Paradox of liberal democracy

    The turgid gaiety and a frenzy of cross – carpet hysteria a few days to the 2019 general elections reminds me of the most morbid nationalistic fantasies and the darkest moment of our democratic journey. Nigeria remains a divided polity, although united in elite power- play above the national interest and the common good!

    Only the wilfully blind can ignore the shenanigan in the political space and governance arena in the last three years or so. The political atmosphere is very tense and unusual political realignment is taking place at the expense of citizens. Some of the infamous politicians are changing political parties and urging their supporters to switch over their support to their new parties. Given this development, governance and legislative representations suffers. Further, the mischievous statements and overdrive of some political parties’ existential warlords in support of their candidates smother a prognosis of violence and chaos if caution is not brought to appear across the divide!

    Indeed, it has been the telling of pain, poverty, brutality, murder, mass extinction, every form of venality and cyclical horror ever imagined in our nation building efforts. The sub-national political system that worked before and after independence was based on rules and traditions that promote social harmony, order and sense of community. The current presidential style winner-take-all method and dictatorial democracy among the so-called elites and the larger political class has made nonsense of social order and the sense of community ownership of the political system has become elusive.

    Evidently, there is too much government, but too little in performance and result at the state and federal levels has created strong agitations which has always led to anarchy, tyranny and most times politicians, their cronies, jobbers and institutional representatives becoming too powerful and potentially destructive in their quest to cling to power at all cost. The existential illusion of progress inflicts a particularly damning strain of despair as we witness the disillusioning and undoing of triumphs of liberal democracy and rule of law in Nigeria.

    Interestingly, the flight of the imagination of our nation as an entity existing beyond actual individuals, should constitute the fundamental political ideology of our time. As a people, particularly with 2019 general elections, we must provide a collective solution in order to eliminate pathogenic microbes from within the body politics, thus removing the source of Nigeria’s disease and enabling the nation to survive beyond clannishness that pervades the landscape.

    While the current movements across political parties are morally repugnant, we must constantly draw our attention to a fundamental theme at the heart of nation building, namely the human tendency to reify and idealize nation-states; to relate to our nation as if real entities that exist separate from the individuals who constitute them. Indeed, many are frustrated by the in-fighting within the APC government, the unending drama in the surrogate PDP and the implicit failure of the current leadership at the centre to take decisive action on its promises with regard to security, anti- corruption and economic prosperity. This has given the space to those appointed to various government bodies to make their decisions without clear direction.

    Regrettably, the public perception is that the government is ineffective and not doing much, which in my view is an accurate description of reality. Opposition leaders on the other hand, are giving dire warnings about the betrayal of the country by the Buhari-led government fill the media space with statements. There continues to be pressure on the government to follow rule of law in the management of its affairs particularly in the handling of the herdsmen wreaking havoc on innocent citizens without prosecutions which inevitably make nonsense of the state responsibility to protect within municipal and international law.

    Going forward, the best course for the government would be to improve on the executive-legislative nexus with a view to finding a common ground in political and social engineering. While democracy itself guarantees nothing, nevertheless, it offers the opportunity for every citizen to succeed as well as the risk of failure.

    For the avoidance of doubt, democracy is both a promise and a challenge. It is a promise that gives freedom to every Nigerian, that working together, we can govern themselves in a manner that will serve their aspirations for freedom of choice, social justice and indeed economic prosperity.  On the other hand, it is a challenge because the success of any democratic enterprise rests squarely upon the shoulders of the operators particularly the legislature, the media and vigilant citizens.

    One of the most important hallmarks to democratic practice throughout the world has been the development of a system of checks and balances which is federalism and separation of powers with a view to ensuring that political power is isolated and decentralised.

    Indeed, liberal democracy is more than the sum of its institutions. Therefore, as evolving democracy with an overhang of military dictatorship and charlatans masquerading as leaders, we must as a people and a nation cultivate a democratic civic culture, which is shaped by freedom of choice to pursue various interests, exercise rights and taking responsibility for actions.

    In contrast, to authoritarian regime being displayed by the executive branch that seeks to instil an attitude of passive acceptance, the object of sustainable democratic culture is to produce leaders and citizens who are independent, questioning and analytical of their government.

    Conversely, we must recognise that contradictory political desires are healthy indicators and democracy in my view is in many ways nothing more than a set of rules for managing conflict. At the same time, political conflict must be managed within certain limits and result in compromises, consensus, or other agreements that all sides accept as legitimate.

    The current over-emphasis on the power – play of majority and minority in the National Assembly and political equation between the APC and the PDP can threaten the entire political undertaking. Therefore, the executive, the legislative branch, and the political warlords need to accept the inevitability of conflict as well as the necessity for tolerance. Now, it is important to recognise that many conflicts in a democratic setting are not between clear-cut right and wrong but between differing interpretations of democratic rights and social priorities.

    Lastly, as we move close the 2019 general elections, Nigerians need the media to inform and educate us so that we can make intelligent decisions about public policy options. The media itself should constantly hold itself as the watchdog over the government by upholding to a standard of uncommon independence and objectivity. However improperly, the traditional and social media can expose the truth behind the claims of the various branches of government particularly the executive-legislative rascality and hold public officials accountable for their actions and inactions. Therefore, as a people we get the government we deserve!

     

    • Orovwuje, is founder, Humanitarian Care for Displaced Persons, Lagos.

  • Anti-corruption paradox

    It is as paradoxical as it is mystifying. President Muhammadu Buhari’s greatest assets are his much admired integrity, prudence and asceticism that played key roles in his ascendancy to the country’s apex of political authority in the 2015 election. In accordance with the electoral pact of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) with the electorate, he has made confronting the monster of corruption a cardinal priority of his administration in addition to containing insecurity and rejuvenating the economy.  His government cannot be accused, despite certain operational, procedural and systemic lapses, of having been derelict or remiss in its commitment to its anti-graft offensive over the last three years. Yet, even though many Nigerians will place him on a higher ethical pedestal than most of his predecessors, Buhari ironically shares similar behavioural features with the government of the duo of President Shehu Shagari and Vice President Alex Ekwueme that his military regime superseded in December 1983. To borrow from the Ghananian novelist, Ayi Kwei Armah’s ironic imagery, Shagari and his deputy hated the faeces of corruption but they found no disgust or displeasure in being found in the company of aides and advisers who gorged on maggots.  The same affliction may imperil Buharfi’s anti-corruption war if the Daura-born General does not act fast.

    By all accounts, the Buhari administration can point to impressive gains in its onslaught against corruption resulting in the recovery of humongous amounts of stolen loots as well as scores of physical assets both within and outside the country since its assumption of office. For instance, briefing the House Representatives on the loot recoveries when he recently defended his agency’s 2018 budget before the legislators, the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, gave an indication of the staggering funds raked into government coffers from thieving public office holders between January and December, 2017. This amounted, according to him, to N473 billion, $98 million, 7 million Euros, and 294,000 Pounds. A breakdown shows that this included the final forfeiture of N32 billion and $5 million to the coffers of the Federal Government by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, the recovery of N449 million discovered at Legico Plaza in Victoria Island, Lagos, as well as the final forfeiture of more than $43 million discovered in an apartment in Ikoyi area of Lagos.

    Magu also disclosed that withholding tax of over N22.7 billion supposed to have been paid into government coffers was retrieved from banks while more than  N329 billion of ill acquired funds was recovered for government from petroleum marketers in Kano. Mention must also be made of the dramatic increases of revenues paid into the government’s coffers by such public agencies as the Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and even the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) compared to their remittances in the past all due to the blockage of leakage opportunities by the Buhari administration. There is no doubt greater fiscal discipline, accountability and transparency in the management of public resources under this administration than was the case at any time over the last 16 years of PDP rule. Even those in positions of public authority today lament openly that there is less latitude now for unimpeded public spending than used to be the case in the past.

    Against this background, how do we explain the finding of the 2017 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) just released by Transparency International, which indicates that corruption is perceived to have grown worse in Nigeria between 2016 and 2017 under the Buhari administration? Of course, we know that perception is most times stronger than reality. Perception of the country’s corruption status will no doubt have implications for foreign investment to cite just one instance. Using a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 representing highly corrupt and 100 virtually zero corruption level, the CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their assessed levels of public sector corruption as perceived and experienced by experts and business sector operators. In 2015, Nigeria was ranked 136 out of 168 countries having scored 26/100 percentage points. For 2016, the country scored 27 percentage points out of 100 and was again ranked 136th most widely perceived corrupt country in the world. As for 2017, Nigeria scored 28/100 percentage points but with a ranking of 148 out of 180 countries thus dropping 12 points below her position last year in terms of perceived level of corruption.

    The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) reports that Nigeria ranks 32nd position in Africa out of 52 assessed countries for corruption perception while she is also perceived as the second worst corrupt country in West Africa in 2017 second only to Guinea Bissau. Can it be that the CPI is jaundiced and biased against Nigeria? I hardly think so. If we accepted their ratings of past administrations’ corruption perception, why should their integrity be questioned when it comes to the Buhari administration which has fighting corruption as its flagship policy plank? One area I think we should look at is the strategy of prosecuting the anti-graft war. At every opportunity, locally and abroad, high ranking public officials decry and proclaim the high level of corruption in the country. But shouldn’t we at the same time be projecting and celebrating the thousands of quiet Nigerian icons of integrity, incorruptibility and honest industry who abound within the country and in the Diaspora? Would that not have some positive mitigating effect on our global corruption perception ranking?

    Again, as a war-tested General, it is surprising that President Buhari would commence such a critical war against entrenched and formidable corruption forces without a proper and thorough reconnaissance of the terrain, an assessment of the systemic constraints, cultural nuances and psychological predilections that allow corruption to flourish. The administration clearly engaged the forces of corruption without adequate preparation and have been virtually tactically and strategically, strafed, checkmated and frustrated at every point. Consequently, as CISLAC put it, “Since the current administration has come to power on the anti-corruption ticket, no significant politically exposed person has been duly sentenced on anti-corruption charges”. The lack of convictions for widely publicized cases of gargantuan fraud is another reason why corruption is widely perceived as flourishing in Nigeria despite the Buhari administration’s best efforts.

    Of course, President Buhari is no lawyer. He cannot be blamed for the abysmal incompetence exhibited so far in prosecuting anti-corruption cases. But it is his responsibility to search for and appoint a competent attorney general of impeccable integrity since the incumbent occupant of the position, Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN), has consistently demonstrated questionable capability for the job professionally and ethically. The intellect, integrity and proficiency of the occupant of the office, is critical to domestic and international public perception of the state of the anti-corruption war in Nigeria. Two other reasons have been cited for the poor performance of Nigeria in the CPI in 2017 compared to 2015 and 2016. First is the perception that the Buhari administration tends to treat its top officials and kitchen cabinet members accused of serious malfeasances with kid gloves.

    This has been most evident in the hesitancy, reticence, reluctance and haphazardness with which fraud allegations against former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, D-G, Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ayodele Oke, and, of course, the utterly embarrassing and inexplicable, controversial reinstatement into service of dismissed civil servant and fugitive from the law for alleged embezzlement of pension funds, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, before being fired by an angry President Buhari.  Key members of the administration implicated in this travesty continue to occupy their powerful offices. There is also the pending issue of the controversial unilateral reinstatement into office by the President of the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Professor Usman Yusuf, who had earlier being suspended from office by the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, after being indicted by an inter-ministerial investigative panel for alleged fraud.

    The second reason is that it would appear that credible international organizations like TI, do not limit their definition of corruption to financial embezzlement or fraud. Acts of nepotism, favouritism and sectionalism for which the Buhari administration has been widely criticized in many quarters are also perceived as no less virulent strains of corruption. The administration should see the 2017 CPI Report of TI as a wake- up call to go back to the drawing board and make the vital strategic, tactical, personnel and structural changes that will positively change public perception of its anti-corruption war and ensure a much better performance for Nigeria in 2018 even as the country prepares for next year’s crucial elections.

  • Plateau’s perpetual paradox

    Plateau’s perpetual paradox

    •The Home of Peace has become a state of war

    As news of yet another attack by suspected pastoralists on villagers in Plateau State hits the jaded sensibilities of a traumatised citizenry, the need to halt the killings, punish the perpetrators and address the underlying causes of the unrest has become critically important to the continued survival of Nigeria.

    The latest outrage occurred along Rim in Riyom Local Government Area of the state. It followed the lamentably familiar pattern of similar mass murders in the past. A group of villagers in a vehicle returning from a weekly market were attacked by armed men allegedly dressed in military uniforms. Eleven persons were killed and four were injured.

    As usual, administrators and security officials have promised to get to the bottom of the incident and apprehend the attackers. A manhunt has been launched by the Special Task Force (STF) set up to maintain security, with troops combing the hills and forests surrounding the area.

    Plateau State has been at the vortex of the inter-communal clashes that have so comprehensively disrupted peace in the country’s middle belt and elsewhere in the last two decades. Since 1994, the state has witnessed increasingly brutal violence mainly between its Berom, Afizere, Anaguta and Hausa-Fulani communities.

    Long-standing disagreements between indigenes and settlers have been aggravated by similarly entrenched disputes between farmers and pastoralists, and further worsened by a sharp rise in attacks by alleged Fulani herdsmen.

    Plateau endured extensive inter-ethnic violence in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2010 and 2011. In more recent times, some 135 people lost their lives and 12,000 were displaced in eight attacks spread across six local governments and perpetrated between March 17 and April 8, 2013. About 22 people were killed in December 2015 in Kwata. In October this year, 75 people were killed and 23 were injured in suspected herdsmen attacks in Irigwe, in Bassa Local Government Area of the state. Five weeks prior to that incident, Irigwe had been attacked twice.

    The virtual civil war which is threatening to consume Plateau State is also an existential threat to national unity and stability. It exemplifies all the fault-lines – ethnicity, religion, indigene-settler status, access to resources – which constitute the gravest challenges to continued nationhood.

    This is why it is vital that the country’s leaders transcend their stubborn adherence to the ostensible non-negotiable nature of Nigeria’s unity. The history of the world, especially the turbulent post-Cold War era, has shown that national cohesion can never be taken for granted, but must be consciously and constantly negotiated if it is to be maintained.

    Applied to the Plateau crisis, this means that there must be determined attempts to end the bloodshed and punish impunity once and for all. Pious declarations of everlasting unity are meaningless in a situation in which innocent villagers are gunned down by heavily-armed attackers for no crime other than their ethnic identity and vocation.

    Perhaps the most important element in stopping these needless killings is the insistence upon equality before the law. Communities on all sides of the conflict complain that their assailants are rarely caught, much less prosecuted in court.

    Some attacks are reported to have taken place in areas ostensibly under military surveillance, and the use of military uniforms and weapons by the attackers has raised the suspicion of military complicity in these murderous assaults.

    It is when parties to communal disputes feel that the state is helpless or complicit that they resort to self-help. The Rim attack is widely believed to be an attempt to avenge the murder of six Fulani herdsmen in October.

    Instead of organising ineffectual peace conferences, the federal and Plateau State governments must ensure that the law is upheld. Criminal activity must be properly investigated and punished, regardless of the ethnicity or religious belief of those who commit it.

  • Paradox of corrupt opposition party in power

    SIR: The All Peoples Congress (APC) gained the Nigerian presidency on an enchanting mantra of change, particularly change from the tide of an endemic corruption that characterized the 16-year reign of the People Democratic Party (PDP). Unfortunately, however, over one and half years after it lost power, virtually all structures of government have remained in the firm grip of the PDP, the opposition party. Not surprisingly, the hope for the much-anticipated change is gradually becoming a pipe dream.

    A vast majority of the agencies under the executive branch are controlled by the opposition. The parastatals, for instance, remain dominated by the appointees of former President Goodluck Jonathan. The Foreign Service is sadly similar. With the undue delay to appoint substantive diplomats; the embassies and consulates, which typically help to promote the president’s vision abroad, are still in the hands of the very PDP apologists that tainted the convex lens through which the world views Nigeria.

    The paradox at the legislature has grown old but obviously worse. In short, the change agenda of the current government took a nose dive when the opposition swayed the election of the Senate President to a pliable member of Nigeria’s corrupt oligarchy. Still, that is practically nada when compared to the fact that the opposition has continued to hold fast the position of the Deputy Senate President.

    The situation at the third arm does not exude hope. Infamous for frivolous delays of corrupt cases at the courts, it did not shock anyone, therefore, that the judiciary would quickly collude with the legislature to obstruct the vision of the executive arm.

    The objective fact, if it is not already manifest, is that a virally corrupt opposition party is dictating the nature, character, and pace of the Nigerian national agenda. It goes to say, thenceforth, that the opposition confederates are also the ones relishing the spoils of the current government.

    Blaming the opposition for Nigeria’s current woes, as above, will always attract a captive audience for obvious reasons, but President Buhari’s style has become a perplexing quotient. Fresh from the euphoria of a historic victory, many thought the president had a unique clue when he proclaimed to “belong to no one” and thence begged our indulgence to single-handedly change Nigeria by himself. Alas, we are all finding out the hard way.

    What we have found out thus far is a meticulous approach to governance and, by consequence, a slow pace of the change. This pattern, coupled with a seemingly lack of transparency as well as skewed political appointments, had ignited a public outcry which, in essence, spurred the lees of the corrupt past regime to creep back in all spheres of political power. More painfully, any good intention notwithstanding, Buhari’s uneven attempt to prove that he belongs to no one might have painted a picture of a one-man show, thereby alienating the APC intelligentsia that would have ordinarily placed the opposition squarely where it belongs.

    The solution, though, is self-evident. Instead of continuing to rest on the oars of the victory of 2015 with a small clique of leeches or waiting to fully recover from an unfortunate health setback, Buhari might as well consider that the battle for 2019 is almost here. A ready route is to broaden and embolden the change agents. Besides a much-needed cabinet overhaul, it is about time the president finally embraces his party structure across the country to help him fill, without any more delay, the thousands of positions still in the hands of a party opposed to change.

    To regain the trust of the APC main thrust, however, is not expected to be easy. Even the purest of the paragons of virtue would feel used and abandoned. But there is every reason for the change family as well as the masses to remain steadfast. Any thought to officially surrender power back to the PDP or its makeover is a hellish proposition.

     

    • SKC Ogbonnia,

    Houston, Texas.

  • The Obasanjo paradox

    SIR: That Nigeria is a country full of paradox is not in contest. Indeed, it is a truism. One paradox that had been bedevilling the country before and since the return of democracy in 1999 is Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

    How else can one describe the phenomenon in which the major beneficiary of our return to democracy is no other fellow that the same one who did not hide his contempt and disdain for that cherished institution? For more than two decades that various political pressure groups, whether in the name of NADECO, G-18 etc., he never disguised his resolve to undermine them. Even in the days of prodemocracy coalition to fight Abacha dictatorship, he was with Abacha until he overstretched his luck with Abacha, only to discover that Abacha was a no nonsense man.

    But by some inscrutable mystery or the other, he became the first President, thereby sowing without planting any fruit.

    Now fully armed with executive presidential powers, he now saw himself fully equipped for his battle to destroy democracy and replace it with a kind of dictatorship. It was therefore no wonder that for the eight years he ruled, he undermined all the pillars on which true democracy should rest.

    He started with the political party that provided the platform for his emergence as President. The bruises that the PDP suffered from the series of his punches have refused to heal, even up till now. It was either you did his bidding or he frustrated you out of the party.

    The major landmark of such bruises was the notoriety of the frequency with which he changed the leadership of the party including some at gunpoint.

    As if that was not enough, he moved to the other constitutionally enshrined tiers of government in the legislature or judiciary. Although, the position of the Senate President was zoned to the South-east by the PDP, he never allowed the Igbos enjoy the fruit of that office by the frequency of the change of leadership according to his own whims and caprice.

    The South-west was the worst hit in his fight against democracy. Whereas in other zones, it was a kind of battle, to the South-west however, it was a war.  Traditional rulers had to meet him cap in hand or he humiliated them. The major political institution of the Yoruba of that time was Afenifere, symbolized by the then Alliance for Democracy. Through his treacherous political manoeuvring, he made sure he killed the AD, thus throwing the South-west into political orphanage, turning himself into an unsolicited guardian with his PDP.

    The Mother of all battles however turned out to be the Third Term agenda. In halting that heinous agenda, kudos must be given to his then Vice President, Atiku Abubakar and the then Senate President Ken Nnamani. That was apart from the then leadership of the apex judiciary, especially in his desultory and arbitrary battle against Atiku. However, he became so inveterate in his hostility against those who stood against his third term dream whether living or dead. That explained why he could not issue a word of condolence on the death of the then governor of Niger State, Abdulkadir Kure not to talk of his visiting his family.

    If there was anything he put into practice, it was his maxim that election was a game of ‘life and death’, which he pronounced in the build up to the 2007 presidential election against Atiku Abubakar.

    But so far, I cannot see anybody who has paid dearly for his defence of democracy in the iron hand of Obasanjo than his Vice, Atiku Abubakar. If only to make sure that Atiku never became President, he is always ready to substitute merit with mediocrity.

    How else can one explain the phenomenon that not sooner that he got his stooge in that office than he started describing them as mediocre? To him, Yar’adua was a failure and Jonathan was a catastrophe to the nation. Even now, he is already shopping for a replacement to Buhari in 2019.

    Nigeria is indeed a country of paradox and myth where a one-eyed sees the optically fit as blind.

     

    • Agboola Sanni,

    Ibadan.

  • Paradox in modern Yoruba history

    Last Friday, September 23, at the University of Ibadan, I delivered the keynote speech at a very important Yoruba memorial event – the 130th Anniversary of the Peace Treaty which ended the Kiriji War on September 23, 1886. That Peace Treaty is a major landmark in Yoruba history. It ended nearly a century of intra-family wars among Yoruba states. It also marked the beginning of modern Yoruba history – because it opened the door to British colonial rule that ultimately led to the inclusion of Yorubaland in a country called Nigeria.

    Therefore, the celebration of last Friday was offered by the planners (the Yoruba Academy) not merely as a celebration of a treaty that ended a war, but as a Celebration of Yoruba Past, Present and Future. In the present situation in Nigeria, what the Yoruba nation needs most is to dig into the deepest meanings of its historical experiences, and to derive from there the kind of clear wisdom that will enable it to step out of today’s gloom into a new era of strength, success and prosperity.

    By the time of the 1886 Treaty, Yorubaland was still a free country. Only the small coastal Yoruba kingdom of Lagos was under some sort of British colonial influence, which had started in 1861 when the Oba of Lagos had signed a treaty of cession with British officials. For more than 20 years after that British annexation of Lagos, no European power showed any imperialist ambition in Yorubaland – or in most of Africa. That suddenly changed in the mid-1880s, when the European countries held a conference in Berlin (1854-5) and started the scramble for territories in Africa.

    Preoccupied with their own affairs, the Yoruba paid no attention to all that the Europeans were now beginning to do to seize territories. In fact, many influential Yoruba rulers, as well as important Yoruba leaders in Lagos, wanted so much to see the wars in Yorubaland ended that they appealed to the British administration of Lagos to help broker a peace. The British administration of Lagos, joined by some Christian missionaries and influential Lagosians, helped to broker the 1886 Peace Treaty. After that, many important Yoruba rulers (the Ibadan chiefs, the Ooni, the Alaafin, and the kings of the Ekitiparapo) felt safe to sign with the British the harmless-looking “treaties of friendship and commerce” that would later be construed as British title to sovereignty over Yorubaland. Some notable Yoruba kingdoms that did not sign such treaties were later attacked and conquered – Ijebu-Ode in 1892, Itshekiri kingdom in 1894, Ilorin in 1897.  By 1897, then, all of Yorubaland that is now in Nigeria had come under British control. Abeokuta doggedly held on to a negotiated quasi-independence until 1918.

    Here now is the great paradox in all this. By the years 1886-97, the Yoruba commanded more than enough capability to protect their homeland from European imperialism. Militarily, all the well-armed and war-seasoned armies that various Yoruba states owned at that time, if they had worked together, were more than enough to warn off, or defeat, any European imperialist invaders. Ibadan had an army numbering 80,000 near Igbajo, another numbering about 40,000 near Abeokuta, another numbering about 30,000 at Oru in Remo, and yet another numbering about 30,000 near Ife and Modakeke. The Ekitiparapo had an army numbering 50,000 near Imesi-Ile, and another numbering 25,000 near Ile-Ife. Ilorin had an army of about 15,000 near Offa. Beyond the immediate war fronts, Ife had an army of about 30,000 in the Ifetedo and Oke-Igbo area, and Ondo an army of about 35,000 near Oke-Igbo. The Ijebu-Ode kingdom had a main army numbering about 50,000, another numbering about 35,000 near Oru, and another numbering about 20,000 near Ile-Ife. Abeokuta’s army numbered about 50,000, Owo’s about 40,000 and Ketu’s about 30,000.  Thus, together, the Yoruba nation commanded over 500,000 seasoned and well-armed troops – a much stronger force than was owned by any other African nation at the time, and a much stronger force than the European invaders encountered anywhere in Africa. But these forces never acted together and, as a result, inferior armies commanded by European agents took hold of parts of Yorubaland, while most Yoruba rulers signed treaties of “commerce and friendship” with other European agents.

    Moreover, Yoruba capabilities at the time did not end with military power. Unlike the rest of Black Africa, the Yoruba nation already had a substantial and fast-growing class of highly educated citizens – lawyers, doctors, engineers, writers and journalists, teachers, surveyors, etc. Some among the Yoruba clergy belonged to the highest levels of Christian church leadership in Africa. Some leading Yoruba cities already had newspapers owned by Yoruba proprietors and employing Yoruba journalists. Furthermore, some of the large commercial companies in Lagos were owned by big Yoruba businessmen, some of whom even possessed shipping lines of their own. If war ensued between a unified Yoruba national   army and the European invaders, the Yoruba merchants were in a position to import and sell highly sophisticated weapons to their people.

    In short, the Yoruba nation commanded many potent means, and had many knowledgeable, resourceful and influential people, that could have shielded their homeland from becoming part of any European possession.  These Yoruba elite were nationalistic enough to create a powerful movement of Yoruba Cultural Nationalism in the 1890s for the protection of the cultural integrity and pride of their nation, and for promoting researches in the history and culture of their nation. But, at the same time, they did not seek to protect the political sovereignty of their nation. Even when the British purposed to include Yorubaland in the scheme of amalgamation of different territories to create Nigeria in 1914, these knowledgeable, resourceful and influential Yoruba elite did not resist – even though, from the way the British were conceiving, directing, and speaking about the amalgamation, it must have been obvious that Yoruba inclusion in it was likely to be a kiss of death for the Yoruba nation. That is the paradox.

    But the great question is: Why is this important today? The answer is not difficult at all to see. Since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the persons (the Northern Hausa-Fulani elite) to whom the British manoeuvred to hand Nigeria at independence, and who have predominantly controlled Nigeria’s affairs since then, have never hidden the fact that their principal purpose is to hold on to the powers of the Nigerian federal establishment and to use it to weaken and subdue Nigeria’s various peoples, and thereby make themselves the perpetual rulers of a Nigeria ultimately too crushed to offer any resistance.  Towards this end, they never cease popping up their strategies and schemes – disruption of the fast-developing Yoruba Western Region in 1962-5; massive pogrom against Igbos in 1966 (resulting in Igbo attempt to secede and the further loss of millions of Igbo lives); a long succession of coups by Northern military officers, and of Northern military dictatorships; destruction of the integrity of democratic elections; a general reign of impunity; a perpetually running jihad; attempts to declare Nigeria a Muslim country and make Nigeria a member of international Islamic alliances; influential sponsorship of Islamic terrorist groups (of which Boko Haram and the murderous Fulani herdsmen are now the most prominent); perpetual striving to concentrate all power and resource control in federal hands and reduce all sections of Nigeria to impotence; routine employment of military force against dissent; obstruction of state and local development efforts; federal seizure and destruction of the assets of various Nigerian peoples; endless plots to destroy the quality of education; imposition of development uniformity on all; frequent brutalization of various small nationalities of the Middle Belt, etc. Altogether a history of disaster after disaster for most Nigerian peoples.

    The Yoruba nation’s share in this disastrous history is very big. Altogether, at Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the Yoruba led in most aspects of development in Nigeria and in Africa. But the Yoruba have been made to lose ground steadily in all directions. The Yoruba are experiencing today a depth of poverty alien to their history, and the danger of Yoruba youth revolt grows daily.

    Today’s Yoruba elite are mighty. But, like the Yoruba elite of 1886-1914, we are not employing enough of our enormous capabilities to set our nation free for progress and prosperity. We do not mount a credible resistance to the efforts of others to subdue our nation.

    So, the old paradox reigns in the affairs of our Yoruba nation today. But we can, and we will, change the picture. My keynote speech of last Friday is a clarion call to the whole of the Yoruba nation, irrespective of political orientation or parties.  I hope all will read this note from it, ponder it, and respond to it in their hearts, minds and deeds.

  • Rio 2016 (The Nigerian paradox)

    Rio 2016 (The Nigerian paradox)

    Nigerians watching the Rio Olympic Games have been asking one question: where is “the Nigerian Spirit”?

    We have a way of rising from the lowest rung of the ladder to survive and triumph when the world has written us off. It is not just in sports; it is in all areas of our unique life. Politics. Busines. Academics. Wars. And more.

    With the seeming gradual disappearance of that never-say-die spirit, many are being forced to wonder: why the Nigerian paradox? Why should a country be so blessed – to the envy of many – and yet so poor – to the consternation of all? This is the question that sociologists have been battling for long. The mystery of a country blessed by nature and wrecked by the very hands that should nurture it like a rare flower tendered by a master florist.

    Is it all in our gene as some, without iron-clad proof, have derisively suggested? Is it poor leadership? Why poor leadership when we have men who can hold their own among the world’s best in any trade? When and how did we miss it? Can we regain our glory? When? In this generation?

    My apologies for the seeming digression. It has been a great time at the Rio Olympics. Against all odds, Brazil has staged an extraordinarily classy show that has kept the world singing its praise. Just before the games, the country was embroiled in social and political upheavals that kept many wondering whether it was ready to host the world. Life was tough for the man in the street and Zika virus was a big challenge. Petty thieves ruled the streets and politicians slugged it out in a do-or-die battle for the presidency.

    But, all that has been elbowed out by the Brazilian “miracle”, the world has fallen in love after seeing a great spectacle of an opening ceremony – enchanting and gripping – and some of the structures that are arguably the highest exhibition of architectural prowess. Indeed the land of samba has proved the bookmakers wrong.

    It is an exciting love affair. Records are being shattered and legends are being made.

    Jamaican sensation Usain Bolt has become the first man to win the 100 metres dash three consecutive times, breaking his own record. As he flew onto the finishing line, he raised his forefinger, obviously to tell the world that he remains number one. Of course, the world rose to hug a true star, the fastest man on planet earth.

    Michael Phelps of the United States became the world’s most decorated Olympian of all time, taking his 21st Olympic career gold. Fondly called “The Baltimore Bullet”, Phelps  carted home six gold medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, eight at the 2008 Games in Beijing and four at the  2012 Olympics in London. He returned to the pool in April 2014 after retirement to qualify for Rio where he has sunk his own records.

    South African star athlete Wayde van Niekerk smashed United States’ Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old record in the 400 metres when he did it at 43.03 seconds.

    Team Nigeria  has shown  only sparks of high class performance. We are yet to hit the medals table. But the sparks have indicated clearly that we do not lack the talents to excel on the global stage. No. The truth is that talents alone do not make success. The other key elements, such as right environment for training would-be champions, facilities, motivation and quality leadership, are missing.

    The soccer team, for example, has shown some strength of a champion. After a botched travel arrangement, it arrived in Brazil hours before its first match in which it beat Japan 5-4. It lost to Colombia 0-2 and beat Sweden 1-0, before humbling Denmark 0-2. It lost last  night 0-2 to Germany.

    “It was very difficult. We struggled to get here. But there is a oneness, a team spirit and a willingness to overcome,” coach Samson Siasia was quoted as saying. He was recalling the team being stranded in Atlanta.

    The story remains unclear. Some said it was cash palaver. Others said it had to do with currency conversion and transfer problems – transferring.money out of Nigeria could sometimes be like breaking a rock, according to knowledgeable sources.

    The team’s performance so far has rekindled sweet memories of 1996 when Nigeria beat Brazil after being down by three goals. It overcame another two-goal deficit to humble Argentina 3-2 in the final.

    Sprinter Blessing Okagbare did not make it in the 100 metres. The popular thinking is that our athletes run themselves out of the medals dais by participating in small races in which they get burnt out before getting to the big stage. All because they need cash for their upkeep.

    Table Tennis star Aruna Quadri did not get a medal but he made us all proud when he smashed his way to the quarter finals, the first African to make that feat. He beat Timo Boll, the former world number one and the number 10 seed in Rio. He was stopped by the world number one, Chinese Ma Long. His team mate Segun Toriala was honoured for his seventh Olympic  Games appearance.

    Chimerical Ukoga, the rower, reached the quarter finals, after putting her medical school on hold to represent Nigeria. Hers is a worthy story of patriotism. The first Nigerian representative in rowing schools in the United States.

    Boxer Efe Ajagba, Nigeria’s sole representative, lost in the quarter finals. He knocked out Trinidad and Tobago’s Nigel Paul in the first round. Nigeria has not won a medal in boxing since 1996 when Duncan  Dokiwari got a bronze in Atlanta. Ajagba won a bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, 2014 and gold at the All Africa Games, 2015.

    These Nigerians and many others, who emblematise the Nigerian Spirit, surely would have done better in Rio, if they had been physically and mentally well prepared for the Games. Such preparations take at least four years, not the crash programme and emergency projects we do here. Not the kind of preparation in which more players are taken overseas than the number needed, with hotel bills sparking rows about who owes what and who pays.

    Winning at the Olympics is no 100 metres dash. It is a result of marathon preparations, guided by a foolproof policy geared towards producing champions and not carpetbaggers.

    Britain did not do well in 1996. They returned home and set their hands to the plough. They won the bid to host the 2012 Games. Now they are third on the medals table.

    The Asians are fast on the heels of the Jamaicans and the Americans in athletics. They are the undisputed champions in table tennis – a game that has its original home in England – thanks to years of sweating. There will be little surprise if they start dominating track and field.

    At the 1996 Olympics, Jamaicans were struggling to do well. They returned to the drawing board to build champions. They sent people to understudy the Americans and take advantage of the world class facilities there. Now there is a new generation of speedsters. Three Jamaicans ran in the men’s 100 metres finals.

    American greats have returned to colleges to raise new world beaters. Their focus: the 2020 Games.

    Here in Nigeria, every Olympic is a jamboree. We are the only country who still live in the past when “the important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part” as the father of the modern Olympics, French educationist Pierre de Fredy, Baron de Couberlin (1863-1937) said.

    Our governments are blind to the great potential of sports to generate employment and revenue. The private sector knows its role in this, but there seems to be no plan to rally business for sports.

    Schools lack facilities. Even those exotic neighbourhoods that are the homes of the rich and powerful have no facilities. Little wonder most of our stars are from poor homes. Imagine somebody encouraging those kids who run after moving vehicles to sell mobile phone recharge cards and other items to take to sports.

    Sports Minister Solomon Dalung is quoted as saying he would not leave Brazil without a medal. “Let him seek asylum there, na im sabi,” a youngster said cynically.

    A fellow questioned why Sports and Youth should be lumped together in one ministry . Besides, he scorned the minister for, according to him, dressing like a retired soldier turned door man and a Civil Defence recruit awaiting his first set of kits. “That is what you get when you hire a lawyer to run sports in a country of many former great sportsmen,” he said dejectedly.

    How do we use the Nigerian Spirit to tackle the Nigerian paradox of a rich nation stricken by the Zika of poor leadership? Our leaders see – even if they do not, don’t they feel ?- how united Nigerians are when the national soccer teams are playing. Can’t they use this to close the yawning gap that has created the crisis of suspicion that has created such scary belligerents as Avengers, pro-Biafra activists and Boko Haram?

    How do we tackle the Nigerian paradox?

  • The paradox of a country

    SIR: For many people around the globetoday, the mention of Nigeria do not stir up an image of an emerging economic super-power on the continent but of insurgency, poverty, criminality, pervasive corruption and mounting social ills.

    With vast arable land and good climatic condition, plethora of mineral resources, oil and gas, Nigeria would have become the South Korea of Africa today but for ineffectual utilization of these resources, coupled with brazen looting and lack of commitment to the course of our fatherland by successive leaders. The country can best be described as African Tragedy.

    Unfettered by the rule of law and goaded only by the lure of personal interest, Nigeria’s political class have become vanguard of unbridled self-aggrandisement and frenetic looting, leaving the masses swinging between hope and despair even under a so-called democratic dispensation.

    Mass unemployment, poverty, failed educational system, virtual absence of power supply, insurgency and diseases are evidential signs of a country where leaders have failed to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the electorates.

    In the presence of the mounting challenges, the government has resorted to esoteric economic theories of rebasing that makes the country the largest economy in Africa even as millions groan in abject poverty. Today, insurgents daily snuff the lives out of defenceless citizens just as applicants in their millions pound on one hundred vacancies and farmers unable to access agricultural credit. We are at the highest level of economic confusion as a nation.

    The federal government should do more to combat the Boko Haram insurgency through active participation of local governments across the country. Given that most of the attacks being recorded are actually carried out at the local government levels and in remote villages, the federal government should create a Special Security Intervention Fund for local governments. With such fund, they should be able to host police units and aid vigilante groups for effective security operation.

    The world’s biggest power plant built by Chinese in China at the cost of $22.5b is generating 22,500MW of electricity. I am bewildered at Nigeria’s level of power generation of 4,100MW after over $25 billion have been poured into this sector. We have the water and we have coal but we cannot generate power just for local consumption as the emerging largest economy in Africa; who is fooling who?

    Our leaders clearly have not done enough to justify their positions; posterity will remember them if they choose to lead in the way of God for the betterment of the general public in fulfillment of their campaign promises.

     

    • Onogwu Muhammed

    Lokoja-Kogi State.

  • The police paradox

    The police paradox

    •The sharp disparity in the compensations for fallen police and SSS men is a sad testament

    The paradox of the Nigeria Police Force is that it is the most important institution for maintaining peace and order, and even for the security of lives and property. It is indeed the inexorable steely arm of the judiciary which in tandem, keeps the society sane, safe and orderly. The police is arguably the most important organ of the modern state, yet in Nigeria, it is the least regarded. The Nigerian state carries on as if it could do without the police. In fact, the Federal Government, having shambled on fairly well without a proper police for so many years, today sees the police as an irritant only to be tolerated.

    Two recent incidents corroborate this mindset. Reports last Monday (which have not been refuted) show how families of men of the Department of State Services (DSS) who were killed on duty in the recent ambush in Nasarawa State were promptly handed an initial compensation of N10 million each, while the families of their police counterparts still awaited a paltry N500,000 compensation. The fallen State Security Service (SSS) men’s family members are also to enjoy a bequeathal of a befitting house each.

    The Inspector –General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, was reported to be so aghast at the demeaning disparity in the compensation packages of the two services that he immediately increased his men’s take to N1 million. But there still remains a most demoralising difference.

    Another pointer to the status of the police in Nigeria is the rehabilitation work going on at the Police College, Ikeja, (PCI) Nigeria’s premier academy for the training of the force. The institute went to seed as a result of government’s indifference to the police in the first place; until January , PCI was unfit to be a pig sty and that is not an exaggeration. PCI was in such a scandalous state that when a television station reported its dereliction, it was an award-winning scoop of international magnitude.

    What was the Federal Government’s response after some days of huffing and puffing? It drafted the Nigerian Army Corps of Engineers to embark on the massive makeover of the police college, including the procurement of wardrobes, classroom desks and beds.

    This unthinking and blatant vote-of-no-confidence on the police establishment is not the most act of morale-killing ever meted out to the police, but it is quite significant with deep psychological imports. Ironically, the Federal Government is inadvertently abating the curse and damnation imposed on the police by the military hierarchy. Recent history shows that it was successive military governments that rendered the police impotent and almost worthless, to satisfy their dictatorial tendencies. At a point, the tag, ‘force’ was yanked off the Nigeria Police.

    That was the story of the police in Nigeria and the force’s troubles have not abated. No police unit would be allowed into a military barrack to do army work or contract. A military officer’s pay is miles apart from his police counterpart’s. A brigade commander’s office is a world apart from a divisional police officer’s office. When the police became so under-funded and crushed under the boots that it could not perform some of its basic functions, successive federal government simply created other organs like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC; the Federal Road Safety Commission, the National Security and Civil Defence Corps and even the WAI Brigade. When there is a breach of the peace that required the mobile police force, government mobilises military troops, on and on and the police as constituted today, is a damaged replica of the real thing.

    Again, we urge the Federal Government to borrow a leaf from some advanced countries of the world and restore the police to its status-quo ante. The police is a sacred institution of state that must be pristine in its very nature and be positioned as the bastion of any modern state. The police is not subordinate to the military class or even the political elite. The police is the state.

     

  • Paradox of faith-based institutions

    Paradox of faith-based institutions

    A few months ago, the media was awash with the report that the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) has completed its university – Mountain Top University. This is somewhat cheery news for Nigeria, especially the Christian population. The burgeoning youth population is in urgent need of more institutions to satisfy the desire to acquire tertiary education.

    It is often argued that many faith-based universities are better equipped than public institutions. Backed by churches with deep pockets and sincere commitment to improving the society, no expense is spared in the bid to acquire state-of-the-art equipment and facilities for the universities. The efforts have paid off as some universities are now ranked higher than many government-owned schools.

    Faith-based universities are also unique from another perspective. They profess to focus on the simultaneous development of the mental, spiritual, moral and physical make up of students – setting themselves apart from secular universities, which have no business catering for spiritual needs of their students.

    However, in the long run, this emphasis on spiritual training may prove to be their undoing. Public universities are training schools in moral and mutual respect. Apart from providing academic training, students – many of whom have lived with their parents all their lives – are brought in close contact with people from diverse backgrounds and belief systems.

    Sharing rooms and bunks with Christian northerners and Muslim southerners, for instance, facilitate a better appreciation of the diversity that exists in Nigeria. It creates room for respect and integration of people with strict backgrounds into society.

    Students in public schools are exposed to the many challenges of time and finance management, which help them to see how their choices directly affect the quality of their lives and how their choices affect their grades.

    However, this, to a large extent, is not the case in many faith-based universities. In a bid to ensure spiritual and moral development, the administrators of these institutions have taken over the business of making personal choices for their students. Young adults, who should ordinarily be left to decide how to spend their time and to take responsibility for their choices are made to live regimented life.

    Students in some of these universities only have access to school-controlled phone lines; they do not dare to be seen talking to ladies or holding hands in public. Exit from school premises is strictly controlled, and some of them attend up to seven services a week.

    This, in my opinion, defeats the very purpose of university education. University graduates are expected to have learned some wisdom by themselves in order to live independently in society. They must be balanced people, who can tolerate and live with people of different backgrounds and beliefs. They must be responsible people, who can make informed choices and live with the consequences.

    There is a need to strike a balance. The desire to provide faith-based qualitative education must be balanced with a healthy appreciation of the need to train responsible and tolerant graduates. Until this balance is reached, faith-based institutions will continue to contribute to the imbalance in the society.