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Tag: write

  • Write, get clearance before procession, police tell IMN

    The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has urged members of the Ibrahim El-Zakzaky-led Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) to write and get a clearance from the police before embarking on any procession.

    The police also assured FCT residents of tight security, following the proposed procession by the group.

    They said security measures had been put in place to protect lives and property of the residents and ensure free flow of vehicular movement in and out of the FCT.

    A statement yesterday in Abuja, the nation’s capital, by the command’s spokesman Anjuguri Manzah, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), reads: “Following trending social media messages that the El-Zakzaky-led Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) is planning a major procession into the Federal Capital Territory, the FCT Police Command wishes to reassure the public that it has deployed uniform and plain-clothes police operatives at strategic points to forestall any breakdown of law and order in the FCT…”

  • Write to correct wrongs, Mrs. Fayemi charges writers

    The first lady of Ekiti State, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, has charged Nigerian authors to write to correct the wrongs in the society.

    Speaking during the opening ceremony of the 37th edition of the annual international convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors [ANA], in Lagos at the weekend, she charged them to extend the frontiers of knowledge with their talents.

    According to Fayemi who is an author herself, writers should write to express themselves and to attack the ills in the society and encourage and envision a better society.

    The first lady noted that books must be written to ex-ray the economy and facilitate the social transformation and development of the society.

    “There is no better time to do this than now. We need to look at issues of leadership, the ecological and environmental situations in our country and be creatively involved in our efforts to make them better.”

    Making reference to Ekiti State where Governor Kayode Fayemi has vowed to restore the fortunes of education forthwith, she said “What I see around me makes me to write. It gives me joy to write for I want to be heard. Indeed, I write to bear witness and I feel that is what most of us should be doing so that our volumes of works will give us the worldly reward we envisage.”

    In his opening remarks, chairman of the occasion and a former president of ANA, Professor Femi Osofisan, commended writers but advised them not to always convey negativisms in their works, “Yes we have terribly bad leaders who kill and maim, yet we have those who do good works. Let us not be negative so that our younger ones will not continue to run away from home.”

     

  • How to write your Will

    How to write your Will

    Preamble

    One of the obligatory Islamic duties which most Muslims take for granted is the writing of will. For every Muslim adult, male or female, writing a will is not a matter of choice. It is incumbent on all Muslims. But not many Muslims know this. And the few who know it do not seem to be comfortable with it.

    The general thinking is that writing a will is only for old people who are close to death or those who are very rich. This does not only contradict the concept of Islam about death, it also contravenes the principle laid down in Islam about will writing. No one knows when death will come. An octogenarian may continue to live while a man or woman of twenties or thirties may die. The healthy may die while the sick lives. The circumstances of life which cause death particularly in this age of technology are very unpredictable. Thus, death may come to anybody at any time.

    One of the advantages of Tafsir (the exposition of the Qur’an) is to disseminate knowledge especially on sensitive but fundamental issues often over-sighted by most Muslims. Writing a will is one of such issues. Will in Islam is called wasiyyah. It is a very significant means of providing a flexible instrument of transferring estate or a fraction of it to those who are not heirs. It is also a means of leaving a permanent instruction for one’s children, wives and siblings on how to conduct life after the legator might have demised.

    Wassiyyah basically means a bequest of assets and debts to others after one’s death. It depicts the differences between hibah which means a gift in one’s life time and wirathah (inheritance). Wasiyyah is a voluntary gift delivered to the intended beneficiary after the death of the giver.

    In Islam, writing a will is not about bequeath of wealth alone. It is rather more about the explanation of certain things in the life of the will writer which were not known to his or her family members, relatives and close associates.  For instance, if the concerned will writer did not pay Zakah when he was able to pay it, or if he was indebted but did not disclose it to his/her relatives or if something was entrusted to him/her without involvement of witnesses. Also, if he/she made a promise to someone without the knowledge of his/her relatives, it is incumbent upon him/her to include such matters in his/her will. This is to clear any possible ambiguity or doubt about his/her relationship with other people while alive.

     

    Contents of the Will

    The contents of such a will are never disclosed until after the death of the writer. A Muslim will can be in written or oral form. And it is forbidden for anybody to alter such a will in any way. Altering it is a crime punishable in Islam.

    Writing of will by Muslims is ordained by the Almighty Allah in Q.2:180 thus:

    “It is decreed that when death approaches, those of you that leave wealth shall bequeath it equitably to parents and kindred. This is a duty incumbent upon the righteous. He that alters it (the will) after hearing it shall be accountable for his crime. Allah is all-Hearing, all-knowing.” Prophet Muhammad was also reported by foremost Hadith experts (Bukhari and Muslim) as saying that “Any Muslim who has something to bequeath should not pass two nights without writing his will”. And Ibn Majah (another Hadith expert) also reported a narration from Jabir quoting the Prophet as saying those who die leaving will behind died in the path of truth and righteousness and they shall receive the forgiveness of Allah”

     

    Sharing Properties

    Ordinarily, in Islam, a Muslim has no right to share his/her property among his offsprings or relatives by his own whim. The Islamic way of bequeathing inheritance has been divinely spelt out clearly in the Qur’an. And that is a different topic entirely not to be lumped with the issue of writing will on this occasion.

     

    Qualification of a Will Writer

    If a will must be written according to Islamic prescription then the writer of such a will must be a Muslim. He/she must have attained the age of maturity. He/she must be sane. He/she must use an understandable language and clearly identify self in his/her will. He/she must also append his/her signature to every page of such will with a clear indication of the date of the signature. There must be witnesses to the writing and signing of the will and those witnesses must also identify themselves clearly and duly sign the space left for them as witnesses in the will.

    But if the will is to be orally recorded, the voice of the will recorder must be identifiable and audible with understandable language.

     

    The Executors

    The executors as well as the trustees of the will must be clearly named and if necessary, described to avoid any confusion that may arise from similarity of names. In that case,   four original copies of a written will must be produced. And one copy must be given to each of the four appointed witnesses. No one of the witnesses must know another and no photocopy should be produced for any reason. All available copies must be original. This is to prevent any possible leakage or connivance that may lead to betrayal of trust. Every appointed witness must be an acknowledged trustworthy person of integrity. Ditto the executors.

     

    Contents of the Will

    An Islamic will should contain the following facts as a matter of necessity:

    1. Listing all the children if there are
    2. Listing all the available assets
    3. Listing all liabilities including debts, unpaid Zakah, promises made but not yet fulfilled, entrusted property as well as illegal acquisition in the writer’s possessions
    4. Listing the wives and relatives including parents, siblings and other beneficiaries who are alive and are qualified as inheritors

    All these must be clearly spelt out without mentioning the amount or share due to each beneficiary.

    1. Listing any special bequest, testamentary transfer and endowment as well as the names of the beneficiaries. All these must be clearly spelt out.
    2. Appointing a guardian or trustee for minor children until such children attain the age of maturity
    3. Specific sections of the will may be addressed to the wife/wives and children about their expected conducts and attitude to life after the demise of the legator
    4. Any written will must be updated from time to time and each latest copy must be given to the witnesses and the trustees while the old ones are withdrawn for destruction.
    5. The executors must not know the trustees. And the trustees must not take part in the execution of the will. Their duty is to ensure that the executors comply with the letters of the will.

     

    Outside the Will

    Some facts not to be included in the inheritance aspect of the will of a Muslim are as follows:

    A non-Muslim child of a Muslim will-writer or an illegitimate child or a murderer (one who kills his parents) should not be included in the list of those to inherit because they are not qualified to inherit a Muslim parent under Islamic law. If, however, the will writer feels strongly about giving his non-Muslim child something from his estate, this may be contained in the aspect concerning testamentary transfer. Ditto the non-Muslim wife and illegitimate child. But the total aggregate of what a Muslim can will out to those not qualified for inheritance should not exceed one third of the entire estate after the deduction of debts.

    The idea of one third of total assets as gift came about from a conversation between Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and Sa’d bn Abi Waqqas. The latter had sought the Prophet’s permission to bequeath his entire estate to certain people and groups. The Prophet said ‘NO’. He, (Abi Waqqas), then said what of half? And the Prophet said ‘NO’. Then he (Abi Waqqas) said what of one third? The Prophet at that stage reluctantly gave a go ahead indicating that even the one third was too much concluding that “it is better to leave your heirs richer than poorer”. Thus, the final approval became a Prophetic tradition which Muslims must abide by. This means that one third is the maximum a Muslim can bequeath to anybody in his will outside the inheritance bracket.

    Islam does not allow Muslims to bequeath or make special provision in their will for those who are legitimately eligible as heirs. Therefore, anybody who is qualified to inherit cannot be included in the will for any gift after the demise of the legator. Any such gift must have been handed over to the beneficiary while the legator was alive.

    The copies of the will may be given to banks or any other corporate institutions like courts in confidence for safe keeping without the knowledge of the beneficiaries. However, such copies must be accompanied by covering notes. But there must be witnesses to the keeping of such a document in the bank or the court.

     

    When to write Will

    A Muslim must not wait until death approaches before writing his/her will since he/she does not know when death would come. Neither should he/she wait until he/she becomes rich before doing same since he/she does not know if he/she would ever become rich. For a genuine Muslim, writing a will must begin as soon as he/she marries and starts raising a family.

  • Why writers like me write on governance and reform

    From the moment I commenced my work as a public servant in the late 1980s, it already dawned on me the kind of challenge that will confront my intellectual temperament. I see myself as a writer, a commentator and an administrator, and therefore knew from the very beginning thatI could not be the typical civil servant who must only be seen but never heard; someone who works from behind the scene and holds his or her critical political and development opinions in check, but only within the ambit that public service rules permit. This picture of the public servant is meant to service one of the famous dichotomies of public administration, the politics-administration distinction. This dichotomy differentiates the politician’s function from that of the administrator. In other words, while it is up to the politicians to outline policies and programmes that define what governments do, it is the duty and responsibility of the public servants to only advise about the policies, and eventually implement them.

    But I was coming to the public service from a lifetime aspiration to become a university scholar with the intellectual capacity to dissect realities for understanding. I was coming from a background of terrible politicalexperience which already opened up series of critical questions about Nigeria itself and its governance dynamics. How then could I be right in the middle of the policy architecture of governance, and not be heard but only seen? In what ways then would I be able to facilitate the optimal functioning of the policy architecture if I could not offer critical interrogation of its flaws and fault lines? How could I as an expert-insider not be able to apply the insider perspective to the reform of an institution that is meant to deliver the gains of democracy to Nigerians?

    All these were not questions I formed antecedent to my entry into the public service. They were questions that were forced into my consciousness as I gradually confronted the dysfunction of the institutional dynamics within which the Nigerian public service system operates. But the question of why I write about reform now has an added poignancy now because of two fundamental feedbacksfrom my readers and those around me accentuated by comments of a number of revered elder statesmen lately. The first set of “commentators” wonder why I keep writing when it seems no one really appreciate the deep insights that my advocacy and public education bring to the governance equation in Nigeria. “If those who constitute the primary target audience which could fruitfully engage with the ideas and recommendations you push are more concerned with maintaining and sustaining their power base through networks of patronage, why take the enormous trouble to push reform ideas?” This is a valid response, more so when those in government seem not to care evidently, about fresh and innovative ideas and strategies that could radically challenge orthodox practice. The other group of “commentators” has actually asked when I would roll out my political ambition! It would seem to these sincere readers that the whole essence of engaging the public at this fundamental level of reform thinking is to facilitate political support.

    I am definitely not a politician.And I do not write because of some instrumental reason, like securing a political base from which to launch a future political aspiration. However, I cannot run away from the necessity of getting my expert knowledge into the right heads and those that matter. Since it is public education and advocacy on matters that concern Nigerians themselves, other discerning readers have challenged me on the technical level of the information I pass to the public. The challenge therefore is: If there is a crucial problem of a lack of a critical reading public, what do I stand to benefit if my writings fail to get across to the leadership and the people? And, it has been suggested from various corners, why don’t you deploy other approaches that leverage development and strategic communication, for example?

    These are all critical issues that go to the very heart of why anyone writes and especially why anyone will want to write in a place like Nigeria. NgugiwaThiong’o, the committed anticolonial Kenyan writer, gives us a sense of what is involved in this hazardous endeavour: “Write and risk damnation. Avoid damnation and cease to be a writer. That is the lot of the writer in a neo-colonial state.” Nigeria is not only a difficult place from which to write, it is even more difficult to write about transforming Nigeria. The Nigerian condition is defined by a serious lack of institutional framework that could be used to make development serve Nigerians. As it stands now, Nigeria is not working, and this is sufficient disincentive for anyone with any modicum of patriotic sentiment.

    I consider myself a patriot. But patriotism is a serious matter. I remember the agony I went through on first encountering the dysfunction of the Nigerian bureaucracy. The agony became compounded with the series of commentaries and anxieties expressed by those who fear that the civil service is not a place to commence a good career. In 2003, a New Zealand public service expertand senior colleague observing me in the forefront of reform management asked me to prepare for war! According to him, thinking one might be a change agent or reformer in a conservative bureaucracy, especially the one in a third world state like Nigeria must be tough luck. It did not take me too long to realize how apt he was. Bureaucratic politics is a significant part of the condition that has crippled the institutional stability and dynamics that democracy requires. It eventually dawned on me that such dysfunctionality hides the key to Nigeria’s greatness. And this is not only the reason I eventually decided to stay on, but also to commence writing for public educationwhen I became a permanent secretary, through a rigorous process of public education and advocacy about reform and its complexity and benefits.

    I took my inspiration to write, despite the enormous difficulty involved in writing as a bureaucrat in Nigeria, from three significant sources—Plato’s Republic, Thomas Moore’s Utopia and Martin Luther’s “95 Theses.” These three sources introduced me to the urgent need to undermine the status quo and reconstruct its institutional foundations in order to achieve a difference, of favourable circumstances, that could serve good governance and development. These three writers were united in their concern with social change and empowerment, both politically and spiritually. I encountered Plato first, and as a secondary school student with a curious mind always searching for answers. Reading the Republic gave me my first sense of the urgency of reform, and the troubles involved in challenging the status quo. When I eventually got round to reading Martin Luther, I understood immediately what role leadership plays in directing and leading people either right and wrong; and what could be gained in fighting for institutional reform. Luther was a reformer, par excellence, and he suffered for it. Yet, he did not back down. His experience introduced me to the strong passion that stands behind the knowledge of reform. Thomas Moore defines for me the boundary of what is possible if one is ready to push reform to its limit.

    However, my favourite of these three is Plato. And this is simply because his reform programme, outlined in the Republic, combinedthe radical institutional challenge of Martin Luther and the fresh breath of newness contained in Moore’s Utopia into a revolutionary reinvention of the state into a projection of what human will and institutional balance can transform the government into. Plato began from the declining situation of ancient Athens, and then moved on from there into what Athens could be transformed into. Ancient Athens and contemporary Nigeria are certainly and distinctively different. But they share significant institutional failure in the sense that the government was already disconnected from the aspirations of the citizens; and democracy was no longer empowering. It is worse for Nigeria because democracy needed to work in order to facilitate the transformation of the lives of Nigerians. And how best can democracy become optimal outside of the institutions that are its nuts and bolts? This is the very juncture at which my public service credentials reinforce my philosophical temperament.

    Writing must always serve a purpose, as far as I am concerned. And the purpose in my own case has to do with Nigeria’s complicated struggles with national integration, national development and democratic governance. For more than twenty five years, I have attempted to weave a reform philosophy around these three frameworks in a way that could serve the purpose of good governance. I have written essays andjournal articles; I have given lectures and talks; I have travelled across Africa and outside of it; I have written monographs and books. But in the final analysis, my greatest challenge has come from my advocacy and public education engagements.How best to communicate the challenge of institutional reform in Nigeria? How do I communicate with the public and even with those few who have been engaging my public commentaries on the complexities of public service reform in Nigeria? If development is about the Nigerian people, then a large chunk of them need to be made aware of the stakes involved in development, and the limiting factors.

    Nigerians, in order words, need to understand the dynamics of institutional reform, so that they can adequately participate in democratic governance.

    When I began my public administration reform campaign particularly, I had a lot to fall back on in terms of intellectual and practical understanding of public administration, first from Adebayo Adedeji,LadipoAdamolekun, A. D. Yahaya, M. J. Balogun, Alex Gboyega, and Humphrey Nwosuto Dele Olowu, Victor Ayeni. I thoroughly immersed myself in Simeon Adebo’sThe Unforgettable Years that detailed his revolution of the Western Region Civil Service. I also ardently followed the career trajectory of Chief Jerome Udoji, Ali Akilu, SuleKatagum and those of the super-permanent secretaries – the Ayidas, Asiodus, Ebong, et al, as well as those in the forefront of policy work, the Okigbos, Aboyades, Claude Ake, Mabogunje, Elaigwu, etc. What is obvious to me, in my reform campaign, is that there is so much passion to reform the public service as the most germane institution of democracy in Nigeria. This alone is obvious from the historical analysis of administrative reform in Nigeria. At the administrative, technocratic and political levels, successive Nigerian governments, from independence till the dawn of the democratic dispensation in 1999 have attempted to transform the Nigerian public service into a world class institution delivering democratic services to Nigerians. However, passion is not enough to innovate and transform institutions.

    The core of the problem is two-fold. On the one hand, the passion displayed by governments is undermined by a significant lack of reform knowledge that displays a glaring disconnection between what we need to do and how to carry it through the complex landmines, especially of reform execution. On the other hand, reform thinking is often carried out outside the purview of those for whom it is meant. When democratic governance is eventually optimized, is it not for the empowerment of Nigerians? Why then must they not be actively involved in the transformation of the institutions that will serve them? This is why making the public service technologically savvy constitutes one of the major plank of the reformdynamics. For reform to succeed there is the need to achieve reform ownership in a way that will enable both the government and the governed to buy in into the reform process in all its complexities. This is the very core of the reason why I have dedicated myself to public education and sensitization about the public service and why it must work.

    I have been retired now for close to two years. While I may have lost my high ground as an expert-insider, I have equally gained perspective as an expert-outsider striving to facilitate reform through the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP). This is a think tank that was founded to raise the bar of reflection on how government can work better through research and executive education.While I speak through my public commentaries to varieties of Nigerians, ISGPP speaks institutionally to the core of the experts and government officials who need to know what reform involves and how it can be facilitated through the merging of passion and knowledge deployed to the execution of policies.

     

    • Tunji Olaopa,

    Executive Vice Chairman

    Ibadan School of Government and Public

    Policy (ISGPP)

    Ibadan

    tolaopa2003@gmail.com

    tolaopa@isgpp.com.ng

  • Write, Jonathan, write!

    Write, Jonathan, write!

    He started off as a young, promising political reporter in the journalism profession which he cherishes a lot. By dint of hard work, perseverance, consistency and intellectual prowess, he has meticulously and meretriciously risen, through the years, to the pinnacle of his profession. Today, Olusegun Adeniyi, is the chairman of the Editorial Board of Thisday newspapers. A one- time presidential spokesman, Adeniyi has featured at several academic and professional fora within and outside the shores of Nigeria. He is also an author with many titles to his credit.
    Adeniyi surely knows when and how to arrest the attention of the public after major events that need to be put in historical perspective for both the living and unborn Nigerians in particular and the larger humanity in general. Last Friday, April 28, was yet another eventful day for Adeniyi as he brought together some heavyweights in the nation’s political firmament at the launch of the latest addition to his repertoire of intellectual works.
    His new book, a 204-page treatise titled: Against the Run of Play, chronicles, blow by blow, the account of contemporary political developments in the country that culminated in a gargantuan disgrace for a hitherto formidable political party that had all along prided itself as the biggest party in Africa. Not only this. The behemoth of a party had openly boasted to high heavens that it had the capacity to rule Nigeria till eternity. But, in spite of this confidence and boisterous assumption, the party was roundly defeated at the presidential election of 2015, after only 16 unbroken years in power.
    This well-choreographed book which has since become the topic of major discourse everywhere has revealed the roles of most of the major political actors and dramatis personae in the build-up to the 2015 presidential election. It also laid bare, the intricate factors, human and institutional, that led to the defeat of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in his bid for re-election in 2015. The experiences of some of the major actors at the time which form part of the author’s narrative helped in no small measure to give the book a good mileage in authority and credibility.
    But then, as they say, success has many friends while failure is an orphan. For Jonathan, a man whose good luck was shattered by the 2015 presidential election and was left to leave Aso Villa like an embattled hare with its tail tucked behind its hind legs, the memory of the loss still haunts till date. From his recent utterances, he is clearly still very bitter that those he trusted to make it happen at the presidential election, actually worked against his interests, accounting for the colossal failure at the polls.
    Even before the book was launched and following the launch, the former President had been in the news. Jonathan has not hidden his discomfort over the account given in the book about events that led to the 2015 presidential election that sacked him from the formidable fortress of Aso Rock Villa. The former President has blamed everybody, with the exception of himself, for his failure at the polls.
    He also blamed certain foreign governments and personalities including David Cameron, former British Prime Minister and Barrack Obama, former American President, for removing him from office. Jonathan believes that the narrations of some individuals in the book were distorted. And in order to put the record straight, he said that he will come out with a true narrative of what really transpired during the electioneering period.
    He reinforced this by posting a series of tweets on his Twitter handle. Part of the tweet read: “I have just read Segun Adeniyi’s new book, ‘Against the Run of Play’ which has so far enjoyed tremendous reviews in the media. My take on it is that the book as presented contains many distorted claims on the 2015 Presidential election by many of the respondents”.
    “There will obviously be more books like that on this subject by concerned Nigerians. However, I believe that at the right time, the main characters in the elections including myself, will come out with a true account of what transpired either in major interviews or books.”
    This is the crux of the matter. It is obvious that nobody can tell the story of how Jonathan and his octopodal party, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, were uprooted in the 2015 presidential election by the alliance of four major political parties, namely; Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; Congress for Progressive Change, CPC; All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP and part of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, which all came under the umbrella of the All Progressives’ Congress, APC.
    Like Jonathan rightly observed, many players in that election will surely come up with various accounts of that election. Many of them will write to justify the position they took during the election. In that case, there could be some additions or subtractions, whatever the case may be, to achieve desired results. Now that he has hinted that he might put pen to paper to narrate his own experience, we must encourage him to do so. Doing so will afford the reading public the rare opportunity to hear directly from the horse’s mouth.
    Although they say those who watch football matches see much more of the pitch than the actual players on the field of play, it will be a good thing for Jonathan to document for posterity not only his experience during the 2015 presidential election, but also his tenure as Deputy-Governor, Governor, Vice-President, acting President and President, spanning many years. This will afford him the opportunity to explain his contribution in governance (if any), the type of decisions he took, why he took them and why some decisions were not taken even when they were absolutely necessary and all that.
    However, an unsolicited advice for Jonathan is that he should be mindful of the type of wishy-washy biography recently written by General Ishaya Bamaiyi. Instead of promoting his image, the book ended up soiling him. He simply wrote an autobiography to denounce himself. Therefore, in putting together his own memoirs, Jonathan should stick to the truth and nothing but the truth if he is to extricate himself from the cobweb of doubts about his capacity to govern a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious and politically pluralistic society as ours.
    As things stand now, many people within and outside Nigeria believe the former President’s tenure as President was riddled with endemic corruption, visionlessness and like a two-time governor once put it in a private conversation I had with him, “Jonathan was bedevilled by lack of capacity to rule”, even though he was the first PhD holder to ever rule Nigeria.
    As somebody who closely observed him right from the time he was Deputy Governor in Bayelsa State‘ to his exploits in Abuja, Jonathan comes across as someone who is very nervous, jelly and easily makes enemies or is quick to tag someone as an enemy once all the flotsam and jetsam of people around him concoct any story against anybody they perceive could easily outsmart them. This was probably why he lost the confidence of many of those who could have helped him to succeed as the first minority President in Nigeria while he pandered to the whims and caprices of political entrepreneurs and commercial friends that ran rings around him at the Villa. And of course, Patience, his audacious wife, also contributed a fat premium to his ouster.
    Jonathan’s major undoing was that in 2015, he entrusted his campaign more in the hands of political scavengers, charlatans and known rogues. They were pariahs in their various communities who succeeded in hoodwinking him to believe that they were capable of delivering the votes, even though they knew quite well that they were not credible mainly because of their ignoble past.

  • I began to write at ten – Chris Abani

    I began to write at ten – Chris Abani

    Chris Abani is a Nigerian – born author, with a multiple citizenship.  He is an American and British citizen, although he now resides in the United States of America where he writes, publishes and teaches literature.  He is the author of the following books: The Secret History of Las Vegas, There Are No Names for Red, Song for Night, The Virgin Flames, Hands Washing Water, Becoming Abigail, Graceland, Dog Woman, Daphne’s Lot, Kalakuta Republic, Feed me the Sun, Masters of the Board and lots more.  Edozie Udeze encountered him in Abeokuta, Ogun State, during this year’s Ake Book and Arts Festival

    Chris Abani left the shores of Nigeria about 30 years ago.  He was being hunted by the military because of the urgency of some of his works which did not spare the cabal.  This being his first visit since then, Abani has not lost any of his glamour, grandeur and vibrancy as a writer, critic and commentator.

    Today, he is not only a world citizen, his works and ideas are daily being sought by those who know his worth.  He began to write when he was just ten years old.  “Yes, at that time, not even my father could trust me enough to allow or encourage me to be a writer.  But then at 16 years, I had just written and published my first book of literature titled Masters of the Board.  By then Dilibe Onyeama had just returned to Nigeria to become a publisher.  He was based in Enugu and it was he who first published my book.”

    He related how his early exposure to education lured him on to become a writer.  “Yes, education, my upbringing, everything fired me on to become a story–teller, a lover of fiction.  Even demographically, most novelists in Nigeria tend to be Igbo while most poets are Yoruba.  And I think it has to do with the fact that the Igbo have this socialist system, based on age-grade system and stuffs like that.  That tends to give room for stories, for there, everything, everybody comes together.  But then in Yoruba tradition you have the Oriki, the praise songs and stuffs.  This as you know is spectacular in the West.  This is basically why the story-telling thing became a big part of me way back”, he said.

    Born in Afikpo, Ebonyi State of a Nigerian father and a British mother, the early contacts with missionaries in Afikpo thus became a huge plus for him.  “The environment itself exposed me to stories, local stories of my own age-grade, my playmates both at home and in schools.  And having to speak two languages fluently does not hurt or does it?” he asked, grinning effusively.  The stories told by his grandmother and other elderly people, stories of warriors, of brave people who fought to keep his people together, all fired his imagination.

    From Afikpo where his father was a teacher, they were transferred to Nsukka.  “Yes, most of the time, I was in the rural areas and in those days people had plenty of stories to tell.  You’d even encounter so much yourself with the rural people.  I was a curious person naturally and this helped me to gather a lot of ideas in my head.”

    With his father’s profession as a school principal and his closeness to the people, Abani could not help but be a repository of stories.  Too many people to encounter, a lot of ideas to share with his mates and those who came close to his folks – all these combined to give him an edge over his contemporaries.  His father was also at a point a parliamentarian, a superintendent of education and therefore generally traversed the nook and crannies of Igboland.  The more they moved from place to place, the more Abani was exposed to new and fresh ideas.  Gradually, these materials began to build and cluster in his head.  And when they got matured, Abani then began to piece them together to have his fictions and other forms of the written word.

    Today, he is not only an acclaimed author, Abani’s most recent novel The Secret History of Las Vegas is a brave book on certain strange themes in his immediate society.  A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the PEN/Hemingway Award, he also received the PEN Beyond the Margins Award, the Hurstan Wright Award and a Lannan Literary Fellowship, among other numerous honours and recognitions.  He is at the moment a board member of trustees of Professor of English at the Northwestern University, Chicago, USA.

    Back to his cradle in the 1970s, Abani gave credit to great people like the Late Dr. Akanu Ibiam who braved all odds to give early exposure to Afikpo.  “You know we are close to the Cross River areas which had early contacts with the Europeans.  Ibiam had his own vision for the Afikpo people, just like Awolowo and Zik had for their own people.  All these played their own role to shape our ideas and contacts.”

    Even though Abani comes from a very minute ethnic group in the Afikpo area, he was nostalgic about his people and how they were almost exterminated by their more powerful and numerical neighbours.  His great grandfather was almost the last remnant of this group.  He married into the Aro people, known for their vastness in commerce.  The Aro then gave him all that he needed in terms of protection and recognition for, in Igboland, your in-law is your brother.

    “Oh, in Afikpo we were already a displaced people and we needed some of our powerful neighbours to survive.  All these indeed affected the direction of my novels and the ferocity imbued in them.” he explained.  Abani’s parents met at the Oxford University in the 1950s where his father went to have his first degree.  “Oh yes, both my parents loved the way I took to books that early.  They were proud of me and wished me the best of luck.”

    He explained that the existing scenario of writing in Nigeria long begun by the likes of Cyprian Ekwensi, John Munonye, Gabriel Okara, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and others, has made it easier for the younger ones to key in.  “Today a whole generation of Nigerian authors, those who came after them, has disappeared.  Now, we need to fill that yawning gap; that vacuum and that is why the likes of Chimamanda Adichie and others have to come in to continue to write.  Now, we are the visible link between the disappearing generation and what we have at the moment.”

    In his career, Abani said he has been pro-works.  He hardly attaches himself to controversies around individuals but to their works.  This is why I’d say that the works of Wole Soyinka have had more impact on me than those of Chinua Achebe.  Both the Igbo and Yoruba came out of the Nok culture.  You see, Igboukwu and Ife are so similar in terms of culture and traditions.  Today, even how I write, how I see the world, have been pre-recorded in my head here before I left.  So it cannot be erased, it cannot go away from my memory.  While I was growing up in Afikpo there was nothing like you are Igbo or Hausa or Yoruba.  We all grew up as kids and that still remains in my mind up till today.  The motor park in Afikpo where we watched those Indian and Chinese movies were peopled by Nigerians from different parts.  And we loved it so, yet I am Igbo whether I come in American or British accent.”

  • TBWA concept introduces Write Mothers

    TBWA concept introduces Write Mothers

    To give mothers the opportunity to express their creative spark, TBWA Concept, a creative advertising agency, has unveiled five creative mothers who emerged the overall best in what the agency described as a ‘disruptive’ initiative, Write Mothers.

    According to the agency, the women will be engaged to work for the TBWA from their homes or wherever.

    TBWA Managing Director Kelechi Nwosu said the advertising industry had always experienced a dearth of women.

    “The initiative was, therefore, an opportunity to motivate, stimulate and challenge our mothers who are outside of the industry but who, nonetheless, are specially talented to write for us from wherever they are. And, you all know we are looking for copywriters in the (advertising) industry,”Nwosu said.

    He said the initiative is flexible so that it draws from the multi-tasking capabilities and skills that women are known for and that his agency opted for mothers because “that itself, brings a particular perspective that is missing from the  experience of motherhood,” adding that the profiles of several mothers across our land reveal women who are well-educated, skilled and talented but who, perhaps, because of the challenges of society and motherhood, are not working.

    On the selection of the women, he explained that his agency placed an advert on some online platforms which requested mothers to simply “Tell us two interesting things about you” and that they (TBWA) opted for on-line platforms because they wanted women who are on-line savvy.

    Meanwhile, a Co-founding Partner of LTC/JWT advertising and first female president of the Association of Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria (AAPN) now Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) Mrs. Bola Thomas urged the selected women to remain strong in the face of obvious challenges.

    He said the society tends to under-estimate women but women with great zeal will surely break the seal. She, however, urged women to trade cautiously while aspiring for greatness.

    Mrs Thomas urged them with the inspiring story of her successful  life, assuring them that in spite of the challenges, women can be the best in their career.

  • Rangers write to CAF on Raja

    Rangers write to CAF on Raja

    A top Enugu Rangers’ official has told SportingLife that the Flying Antelopes have officially written to CAF through the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as they begin the recall of their former striker, Igholador Christian Osaguona from Raja Casablanca of Morocco.

    Rangers have given Raja series of ultimatum to pay the transfer fees of the striker who joined the Moroccan side from Rangers in December last year but all correspondences to have the money paid have fell on the North African side’s deaf ears.

    To this development, Rangers Director of Media and Publicity, Foster Chime said that Rangers have officially notified CAF of their desire to have Osaguona recalled after Raja’s breach of contract and that they are awaiting the reply of the continent’s soccer ruling body.

    Chime told SportingLife that the response of CAF will determine whether they would take up the case to FIFA as they go in search of justice.

    Raja signed Osaguona in December and the player has been scoring goals for the Moroccan club but the club reneged on the mode of payment of the transfer fees of the Nigerian which they promised to have paid up before the end of March.

    Chime told SportingLife that no dime has been collected from the club till date on the player and that they have run out of patience.

    “We have written to CAF and we are awaiting their reply. If we are not satisfied with judgement we will take the matter to FIFA,” Chime said.

  • Kashamu should write his own book

    For a book that is so explosively controversial, the reviewer, Patrick Okigbo, was correct in describing My Watch, the new three-volume autobiography by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, as “thought-provoking and revealing,” although he probably never intended certain meanings.  To start with, it is remarkable that a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Southwest pillar, Prince Buruji Kashamu, moved to legally restrain Obasanjo from publishing his book. Also, it is striking that Obasanjo on December 9, despite a restrictive court order, unveiled the book at the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja.

    Interestingly, there was a dramatic continuity as Justice Valentine Ashie of the Abuja High Court, in reaction gave Obasanjo 21 days “to show cause, via affidavit, why he should not be punished for contempt committed by publishing and distributing for sale to the public, the book, My Watch, in plain disregard of the pendency of the substantive suit and the order of this court made on December 5, 2014, restraining him from doing so.”

    Still dramatically, Jusice Ashie ordered the Inspector General of Police (IG), the Director General of the Department of State Services (DG,DSS), and the Comptroller of Customs to recover the published book from all book stands, sales agents, vendors, the sea and airports, and deposit them with the court’s registrar pending the determination of the substantive suit. It is not clear how far this particular order has been carried out, and whether the mentioned officials may also be eventually accused of contempt.

    It is noteworthy that the pending substantive suit in question is a libel case brought by Kashamu, relating to Obasanjo’s public letter to President Goodluck Jonathan in which he alleged that Kashamu is a fugitive wanted in the United States. Also, it is worth mentioning that Kashamu’s action to stop the publication of Obasanjo’s book was based on his fear that it would contain a reproduction of the allegedly libellous letter. So, his anxiety was a product of anticipation.

    The developing drama expanded when the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), in a statement by Mr Vitalis Ortese, said: “Chief Olusegun Obasanjo wishes to state that the media report which conveyed the impression that he intended to “dare or confront a judge or the judiciary” is highly misleading. Far from this, on the contrary, the former president is a law-abiding citizen, who will only pursue his rights within the law and will not “dare” a judge or knowingly flout an order of a court of competent jurisdiction.” The spokesman further said: “The former president wishes to make it clear that in the first instance, no formal order from Justice Ashie was served and received by either himself or by proxy regarding any injunction restraining the publication of the book, “My Watch” which from the records was already in circulation.”

    More importantly, however, Obasanjo himself said at the ceremony to release his book: “The book had already been published and printed three months ago, only for the court to be asked to put a stop to it. Buruji went to a court to stop the book from being published and the hearing was fixed for yesterday (Monday). When that was not enough, he went to another court by 5pm on a Friday and got an injunction, saying the book should not be published. Unfortunately, the book was already completed three months ago. Secondly, I want the judge that gave such an injunction to be penalised.”

    Against the background that Obasanjo has challenged the “contempt of court” charge, and indicated his intention to seek a suspension or stay of execution of the court’s orders, it is clear that the unfolding show is far from a finale. Indeed, there may well be even more fascinating twists and turns before the denouement.

    Of course, the thought-provoking quality of Obasanjo’s book is not limited to these extra-literary gyrations. In content, the book is a veritable trigger of contemplation. To illustrate this point, it will suffice to concentrate on Obasanjo’s pictures of his immediate successor, Umaru Yar’Adua, and the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan who succeeded him.

    Obasanjo wrote in his book: “I was heavily involved in the transition and exit process that saw me leaving office for my successor, Umaru Yar’Adua, as recounted in Chapter 37, the ninth chapter of the second volume of this book. The unprepared and unplanned transition from Yar’Adua to Jonathan was a more difficult exercise in some respects. One reason was the ‘cloak and dagger’ manner in which Yar’Adua’s illness was handled.” He continued: “The illness of a President cannot be regarded as private. His health has implications for the security and wellbeing of the nation. For the president and those around him to have attempted strenuously to keep the fact of the severity of his illness from public smacks of ignorance of the enormity of what the job entails and the level of provinciality of their understanding, attitude, and approach.”

    On Jonathan, Obasanjo wrote: “Jonathan is lacking in broad vision, knowledge, confidence, understanding, concentration, capacity, sense of security, courage, moral and ethical principles, character and passion to move the nation forward on a fast trajectory.”  He added: “Under Jonathan we seem to have gone from frying pan to fire. If in the past corruption was in the corridors of power, it would seem now to be in the sitting room, dining room and bedroom of power. If what is called ‘corruption’ is stealing, under the watch of Goodluck Jonathan, then government has become legalized and protected robbery.”

    There is no doubt that these portraits have revelatory features, but not only concerning the portrayed characters. In a profound sense, they also represent a self-portrayal by the portraitist, who is fixated on the canvass and cannot appreciate that he may need to remove the log in his own eyes, which suggests a hypocritical hypnosis. Obasanjo was fundamentally, and perhaps culpably, the prime puppeteer in the plots that produced Yar’ Adua and Jonathan; and so he may, with believability, make magisterial pronouncements on their political careers. However, he cannot offer these insights in order to achieve self-exculpation.

    It is conceivable that others have their own stories too, which they could tell by writing books. Sadly, an enduring minus of the country’s political class is the poverty of mind that prevents many of its major players from documenting their experiences for whatever it may be worth.

  • Educationist to pupils: read, write, explore

    The Chief Executive Officer, Association of International School Educators of Nigeria, Mr Ola Opesan, has said pupils can only distinguish themselves if they read, write and explore.

    Opesan spoke as the guest speaker during the Open House programme of Lead Forte Gate School in Ogudu, Lagos.

    He said that any pupil that reads and engages in extensive research would be different among his peers because of the experience and in-depth knowledge he would gain.

    He praised the school for going beyond academics to inculcate entrepreneurial skills and knowledge of various cultures in the pupils.

    He made reference to the likes of Mungo Park, Lander brothers, Socrates and others who excelled through self-inspired exploration and research that have been of significant assistance for years.

    In his remarks, chairman of the School, Tunde Lemo, underscored the importance of the Open House as one of the core values of the school aimed at establishing relationships among pupils, parents, teachers, and the community at large.

    He implored parents to complement the efforts of teachers in grooming their children into role models and future ambassadors of the school. He advised parents to always be at par with their wards possibly by assisting them in their home work.

    On his part, the Principal of the school, Dr Ben Greyling, said the school focuses on enriching the minds of the pupils with the right knowledge.