I Cannot Forget 2013

I Cannot Forget 2013

Remember not to forget!

Anon

As we step into this new year, I recall that the British, having conquered the southern and northern protectorates of what has come to be known today as Nigeria, on the 1^st day of January, 1914 (which is, by the way, the very day the first commercial air flight took place in the US), officially cobbled this country together, thus making it a centenary yesterday. Therefore, it is only fitting to wish Nigeria and all of us Nigeria a happy centenary, inspite of the gloom that hovers over the nation and the reticence with which many Nigerians, and even non-Nigerians, are wont to view this milestone for very real reasons. Indeed some quarters have submitted that why Nigeria has failed to forge as a nation during these hundred years of existence is easily traceable to that event, a century ago, when peoples were forced into cohabitation without their consent. Reasonable as that sounds, it has proven to be rather simplistic in the light of the fact that many other countries with similar credentials have navigated the initial inconveniences and stand strong and tall today. Very few nations can beat their chests and claim that they naturally evolved, without any such forced human interventions as wars, conquests, colonialism, forced subsumption and “forced marriages” like ours. The difference is that while others decidedly decided to forge ahead with nation building, some, like ours, threw away their common humanity and humanness to the dogs, thus, our lot today.

For any individual, institution or nation to make progress in life, they cannot afford to ignore their past, advertently or inadvertently. If they do so, it is at their peril. Nigeria has continued to do so. Events continue to happen in this country that we, our leadership in particular, should learn from in order to more properly order our nationhood journey, if not for ourselves and today, for our children and tomorrow, but we keep going on like a fool with his brains in his stomach. We go the polls and still allow the travesties that we have seen to continue to happen, Anambara State, for example. We do same things and expect different results.

But we must not forget. I, for one, will not forget 2013, for the good, the bad and the ugly. I will not forget that in 2013, the PDP, a party that has had privilege and bounteous grace to lead this country into the bright future hoped for but has severally failed and with impunity, is gradually beginning to sing its swansong owing to self-inflicted wounds. I will never squander gracious opportunities. I will not forget that in 2013, a possibly real opposition is finally threatening the PDP. Yet I will not forget that so far, this opposition, the APC, is not proving to be any much different from the ruling party given the fact that they are yet to offer Nigerians anything else but the desire to upstage their rival. Good as that in itself might be, I see many who plundered and riddled this nation moving into the APC in droves and I can’t help but conclude that they are only changing garbs.

I will not forget the cowardly slaughter of innocent students in the College of Agric, Yobe State, by the Boko Haram insurgents in September, 2013. Whatever their cause is, I will never sympathize with such groups whose actions show them as not recognizing God in fellow human beings. Yet I will not forget, in May of 2013, the state of emergency declared on the same insurgency. In my little sphere of influence, I will not allow injustice to fester to the point of de-robing man of dignity, for it to bring out the animal in him only for me to in turn fight.

Tertiary institutions were on strike for the most of 2013. I will not forget that for the sad implications to every facet of our national life. Nor will I forget the mess that our aviation sector churned out: the air mishaps, the ghastly shame that is little Daniel Ihekina’s trip in the purported tyre compartment of an Arik airplane from Benin to Lagos, and the brazenness that is Oduah-gate. All these speak to the insensitivity of leadership to the reality and future of the nation.

How can I forget the hypocrisy that followed Oshomole’s encounter with the widow or the hypocrisy that is Obasanjo’s letter to Jonathan, true as the content may be? I will seek to be true to myself at all times and always seize the moment.

Finally, I will not forget the 20^th day of December, 2013, when right in my car at about 9:00am, my father breathed his last enroute hospital. Three days later, we interred him, thus, effectively rendering me the living patriarch of our Zwahu lineage.

May we never forget for good.

A prosperous and happy new year is my wish for you.

(Published on BLUEPRINT Newspaper, Thursday Jan 2, 2014)

Emmanuel, God With Us!(?)

Emmanuel, God with us!(?)

In Christian cosmology, the birth of Jesus Christ, which is celebrated at Christmas, manifested the incarnation of God to the entirety of humanity; an event which actually took effect when the Angel Gabriel visited the Blessed Virgin Mary with the news that she had found favour with God and was to be the mother of God the Son on earth. Mary, after the initial shock and apprehension, considering the fact that she was a virgin and had known no man, submitted herself totally to the will of God, inspite of what the society would think of her being pregnant before wedlock, with those profound words: “behold I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to Thy word”. From that moment of declared submission, the Word of God became incarnate – in other words, took flesh – in her womb. He was named Emmanuel, which means God with Us, for He was God physically amongst men. Today, His presence is real in a special manner that only faith can percieve, accept and believe.

Living in today’s world poses a great challenge to the fact of Emmanuel, God with us. With all the crises that have come to define this age, sometimes one is tempted to really question the existence of God: wars are ravaging different corners of our earth, and these wars are quite senseless. Man has redefined the concept of truth to pursue his self-seeking motives, challenging natural laws and order thus, pushing the concept of the divine even further into abysmal recesses.

Inspite of the apparent and professed commitment to religion and faith, Nigeria is probably one country where God has has been so compartmentalised such that one looks around and wonders if it is really still Emmanuel. This reality has so taken hold of the Nigerian society to the extent even the Christian Church has dethroned the very God that it has set out to proclaim – whether it realises it or not remains another question. One only needs to switch on one’s TV to watch the many a man of God who has turned the pulpit into some circus of sorts, seeking to impress viewers and followers alike. These men of God have totally enthroned mammon and use every means possible to feed from the trough of this god. The name Jesus is employed to further this end and this end only.

Because of listening to these preachers and being daily bombarded with their messages, many Nigerians have lost their sense of social justice, if they ever had one, and many yet are growing up without any. People have become so concerned about the self and nothing more. The Christian vocation to solidarity with the rest of humanity, especially the less priviledged and those in need, no longer makes sense and so one hears such slogans as “it’s my year of abundance”, “it’s my turn to shine”, “ it is my… it is my… it is my…” and so on. People never pay heed to the extent of damage that such messages inflict on their Christian calling subliminally and before they know what is happening, they have been disembowelled of their humanity. No wonder we have the kind of politicians that we do today in Nigeria. No wonder we have the kind of leadership that we have had in this country. It is now all about the self and, tragically, the Church whose purview it is to provide the moral compass out of this morass lacks the standing because, now more than ever, it has depleted that precious capital by feeding from Mammon’s trough. Indeed one cannot be faulted for asking if God is still with us; if it is still Emmanuel.

But all hope is not lost. Did Isaiah the prophet not say of the birth the Messiah “the people that walk darkness have seen a great light”? Did the heavenly host of angels on the night of Jesus’ birth not burst forth in glorious singing “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to PEOPLE OF GOODWILL”? No matter how few they are, these people of goodwill will have the final word. As hopeless as the situation looks, the people of goodwill only have to stand up and talk the talk and the walk the talk; that way this country will be redeemed. It can be as simple as trashing your rubbish properly or as taking your civic resposibility seriously. It can be as simple as struggling not to shunt traffic in hold-ups: simple as it is, this can test one’s calling to human solidarity and justice, for you will stick to your lane and feel very stupid that you are doing the right thing; but that is the cross one is called to bear.

As we celebrate this Christmas, may we be reminded that any life that is not conscious of and responsive to the reality of the other is not worth living. That is the only way that we can bring to manifestation the fact and truth of Emmanuel, God with us.

Merry Christmas

 

(Published on BLUEPRINT Newspaper, Thursday Dec 26, 2013)

The Verdict of Posterity (?)

The Verdict of Posterity (?)

Ex President Obasanjo’s letter to President Jonathan has generated quite a bit of furore, as expected. By yesterday’s morning, a rather caustic letter to the ex president, credited to Iyabo Obasanjo, his very own daughter, emerged in the public dormain, thus adding panache to the unfolding drama. Last year I did a piece, which appeared on the Sunday New Nigerian of November 18, 2012, on comments by Obasanjo at an event a week earlier. I think it is apt reflection on the drama we are witnessing today. It is reproduced below.

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“The future is the past, coming in through another gate.”

-          Arnold H. Glasow

“The future that we study and plan for begins today.”

-          Chester O. Fischer

Last weekend, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ), was in Dakar, Senegal, to attend the West African regional conference on unemployment. At the event, this former president made a remark on this country he once (or twice, if you like) governed. He was reported as having said that “Nigeria WILL witness a revolution soon unless government takes urgent steps to check growing youth unemployment and poverty.” – Daily Trust, November 12, 2012 (Emphasis mine).

The import and the criticalness of this submission by OBJ can only be lost on the most foolish and foolhardy of persons, at whatever quarters, of the Nigerian nation and structure; for even he, himself, underscored it thus: “I’m afraid, and you know I am a General. When a General says he is afraid, that means the danger ahead is real and potent.” He was reported to have added that “inspite of what he called the imminent threat to Nigeria’s nationhood ‘there is ABSENCE OF SERIOUS, CONCRETE, REALISTIC, short and long term solution’ to youth unemployment” (emphasis mine). OBJ could never be more correct on this issue in the light of the trajectory this nation has decided to take – the word “decided” is most advisedly employed here. Indeed elder statesmen like OBJ should and must be seen to be the guiding light in the task of nation building.

But this piece today is probably not about what elder statesmen, like the OBJs, the IBBs, the Gowons, should be doing for nation building as much as what leaders should be doing especially when they are in positions. This then raises questions as to what such leaders as mentioned above did when they were in power and clearly had the capability, capacity and wherewithal to nudge this nation in the right direction but, for reasons the rest of us can only guess or might never know, blew their chances; actions or inactions which impinge on our realities today that speak to the real and portent danger that hangs on the neck of this nation like the proverbial sword of Damocles, as even OBJ noted.

Revolutions do not just happen overnight; they brew over time... years, decades and even centuries. As the world witnessed very recently with the Arab Spring, the self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi was just an action which provided the tipping point for the revolution in early 2011. These peoples had been living under regimes of injustice, repression and suppression; denied of the freedom self-expression and self-determination. The storm had long been brewing for decades. The world only noticed it when it started to rage. It is still raging.

This OBJ-predicted revolution, therefore, is not any different. While it might be true that there is absence of serious, concrete, realistic, short and long term solution to youth unemployment, the ingredients for this impending doom – which, by the way, are not limited to unemployment – did not come about just now. With all its successive claims to idealism and the fight against corruption, military rulership under some of these statesmen of today has served to provide the most fertile of grounds for this real and potent danger that lies ahead of this nation. What with all the deception, injustices, arrant impunity, indescribable corruption and wanton profligacy. Even when military/dictatorial rulership – antithetical as it may be to the concept of government in a modern world – elsewhere, as in Ghana and Malaysia, was used with “fear and trembling” to midwife modern and stable economies and societies, ours remained a sad commentary as it could never muster the much needed courage against self for the good of the nation.

But Nigeria has had some golden opportunities to redefine her journey into the future. The first was in 1993 when Nigerians trooped to the polls to take charge of their common destiny. They did so with zest and high expectations, only for the government of the day under IBB to dash their hopes. This is not to mention other decisions of that same regime inspite of evident capacity, capability and right reason. That opportunity was squandered. The faultlines deepened and widened. Nigerians, youths, watched on. The same IBB would rise up in 2010 to declare the “ineptitude” of the young in Nigeria!

May be, the best opportunity, yet, for Nigeria to indeed change the course of its destiny came in the year 1999. Probably for clearly no way out for the Nigerian military, they handed power to the Nigerian people. Nigerians indeed were set to make a clean break with their sordid past when they did not just vote for OBJ, but they gave him their clear mandate to lead them in forging a new national narrative for posterity. They were ready to cooperate with him in all fronts. Nigeria brimmed with hope and mirth. The evidence of that goodwill is probably the kind of talent and ability that disposed itself at the service of the OBJ led government. For he himself alluded to that when, at the same Dakar event, he said youth unemployment which stood at 72 percent in 1999 was reduced to 54 percent by 2004 but would skyrocket to 71 percent by 2011. He didn’t say the level it was when he left in 2007, may be that would say something as to how he himself handled the overwhelming mandate of the Nigerian people. How he handled the hopes and aspirations Nigerians is left for him to judge. But it is clear that quite not unlike the military regimes that preceded him, his was characterized by almost unprecedented levels of impunity, wanton disregard for the rule of law, and corruption that can only be bloodsuckingly second to what we are seeing today. Add that to the brazen and callous subversion of the will of the people as marked by his party’s conduct under him at elections; and to boot, the fact that this government today is directly traceable to his actions in 2007 when he made a do-or-die electoral war cry and had his way, both in his party and the nation at large, one gets an admixture, potent for any revolution. Nigerians, youths, watched on.

So, true as OBJ’s prediction is; statesmanly as his comments may be, he had the chance, his chance, to make Nigeria better. The question is, did he rise above himself and his (like any other human’s) base instincts? Those who find themselves on the corridors of power in Nigeria, whether positional or otherwise, must, therefore, have a rethink and approach their opportunity, roles and duties with the needed reverence and sacredness. For when you must have mounted down the saddle of power, tomorrow will surely place a demand on you to make comments. And speak you must. You may only be speaking to and about your very own failures.

 

(Published on BLUEPRINT Newspaper, Thursday Dec 19, 2013)

APC, Festina Lente!

APC, Festina Lente!

The journey toward 2015 is becoming more interesting by the day: the intrigues in the PDP and poaching and scooping by the APC. One should want to see how things pan out. To more circumspect observers, however, it is a journey that fills many with trepidation owing to the landmines that lie buried along the way.

The All Progressive Congress (APC) has been hard at work to unseat the ruling PDP from power and she has seemed to throw away everything, including the proverbial kitchen sink, in its quest. But therein lays a major minefield that, if not well navigated, will end up marring and miring her in manners she may never have anticipated inspite of her very high spirits now. This same scenario has played out before during the 2011 elections with one of the party’s forebears, the CPC. We shall come back to that shortly.

In the first place, the APC has so far been so blinded with the quest to topple the PDP that she doesn’t seem to see anything else. She so far has not started to make clear the options she has on the offer for Nigeria and Nigerians save to get the PDP out. The problem is that the PDP’s hold on power has slipped out of the realm of substance to that of emotions; and as educated and exposed as one considers oneself, one has not yet seen any clear articulation of ideas emanating from the APC that can steer Nigerians to that realm of reason necessarily needed to help them make the right decision, whether or not, to maintain the status quo, depending on informed judgement. This is a critical factor in determining how peaceful and manageable the 2015 elections and their aftermaths might turn out to be. Sonala Olumhense’s piece on last week’s Sunday Trust captures quite aptly this cart-before-horse situation of the APC.

Back to the 2011 fate of the CPC that now seems to begin to loom over the APC. The stage had long been set for the danse macabre that was to happen with the PDP’s rotation formula for the office of president; therefore, when President Yar’adua took ill and was flown out in November, 2009, the show effectively began. The President, apparently, was in no condition to be able to constitutionally transmit his powers to his Vice when he was flown out. This provided a means for a certain few to hold the entire nation hostage; the Federal Executive Council did not – or was it “could not”?  – summon the courage to communicate to the Senate, as was within its constitutional purview to do, and transmit acting powers to the VP. It was clear for all and sundry to see the amount of humiliation that the VP underwent. The polity became overheated and the status quo could not be sustained, the National Assembly had to device a certain Doctrine of Necessity to resolve the quagmire which Nigerians jump at, despite its questionable constitutionality. All this while, the CPC was only in its very formative stages, Gen Buhari was still only an aspirant and not yet a candidate.

With VP Goodluck Ebele Jonathan made Acting President, the real bone of contention came to the fore: he would not be eligible to contest for president in 2011 as it was the turn of the north. He should therefore just serve out his principal’s term and give way. Nerves had been frayed with the treatment meted out on him which had deepened sectarian trenches. Therefore, even if Jonathan had wanted to give way in 2011, he would not have dared as his Niger-Delta folks would have burnt him on the stake. The in-fighting in the PDP deepened between northern politicians and the rest. The Nigerian streets became charged.

All the while, CPC was taking shape. But it failed to capitalise on the PDP’s crisis. Infact when the PDP primaries took place and it was clear that the northern politicians with presidential ambition had lost out, the angry core northern muslim streets trooped on to support the CPC. Buhari and his Party did not construe the situation for what it really was; they gleefully went on without interrogating the under-currents and finding ways to handle the potentially combustible trend. The elections came and left trails of blood behind, and many, for either the lack of the ability or the incentive to disambiguate, blamed the mayhem on Buhari and the CPC. Note that the CPC never touched the PDP with even a 24foot pole. Infact, when asked on the rotational presidency crisis, Gen Buhari clearly stated that it was a PDP problem and that he and his party were being guided by the nation’s constitution.

Right now, the PDP is in similar crisis; even worse. The government of the day by itself cannot be said not to be a bit jittery judging by its very own performance so far. Some PDP governors have rebelled and the APC has wooed and swooped in on them and five have somewhat jumped ship. The APC has gone about this poaching without heed to any principle it might profess to hold, thus giving the impression that it only wants to get to power, probably by all means possible. This is grievously fast eroding any confidence that many a Nigerian probably hitherto held that the new party would bring any meaningful change to the nation’s affairs should she be elected. What is more? The CPC, without touching the PDP in 2011, got badly scalded. What can be the lot of an APC that even went into the PDP’s own lair to advance her chances? Only time will tell. The streets are again shuffling and reshuffling, mostly for the wrong reasons.

He who pays heed to memory and is rightly guided will surely proceed into the future with confidence; informed confidence, that is. Therefore, one can only say to the APC, “Festina lente!” Make haste slowly!

  
(Published on BLUEPRINT Newspaper, Thursday Dec 12, 2013)