SENATOR EWHERIDO AND HIS LOVE FOR URHOBO LANGUAGE

More than ever, Nigerian indigenous languages face a clear and present danger of extinction. For a lot of us from minority ethnic groups, we thought the problem was that of minority indigenous languages only, but a UNESCO report which listed the Igbo language among indigenous languages facing the threat of extinction within the next 50 years, has brought to fore the enormity of the problem at hand.

Urhobo, the fifth largest ethnic group in Nigeria, faces an even bigger problem. By the 70s and the 80s while growing up, speaking of Urhobo in homes in Warri had started disappearing, but Urhobo was still the main language of communication in towns like Ughelli, Agbarho and other towns and villages in Urhoboland. But the trend is changing fast. Pidgin English has taken over in Ughelli and is taking over as the main means of communication in other Urhobo towns and villages. But that is not even the danger; the real danger is attitudinal. If you speak Pidgin English fluently with all the latest slangs, manufactured with alarming rapidity, then you are the happening thing. If your fluency ends only with Urhobo without Pidgin English, you don’t belong.

The other danger is that in recent times, I have not seen any Urhobo family in Lagos or Warri, where the medium of communication is Urhobo and that includes families where husband and wife are Urhobos. At best, both parents communicate in Urhobo while they speak English when talking to their children. Today, only one out of every 10 Urhobos under 40 years (who grew up in cities) I come across in Lagos, Warri or other cities speak Urhobo fluently. The others either do not understand Urhobo or understand but do not speak or speak very little of the language. This is worrisome. The situation is better in the villages, but we do have a big problem on our hands.

It is in this light that the Senator Akpor Pius Ewherido Urhobo Language Competition comes as a huge relief. Senator Ewherido started this competition last year with an encouraging 984 entries. Surprisingly, 162 and 42 of those entries came from Lagos and Port Harcourt, respectively.A breakdown of the entries from all the eight Urhobo local government areas is as follow: Okpe, 61 candidates; Ughelli North, 105 candidates and Ethiope West 55 candidates. Others are Udu, 138 candidates; Ethiope East 167 candidates; Ughelli South, 143 candidates; Sapele, 77 candidates and Uvwie, 34 candidates. Preliminary rounds were held in five designated centres: the three federal constituencies in Delta Central and Lagos and Port-Harcourt Zones. Nineteen finalists emerged from the preliminaries. The 2012 edition was eventually won by Miss Eguono Sagbodje from Agbarha-Otor in Ughelli North Local Government Area. She smiled home with a brand new Kia Cerato and a Scholarship award to cap it up. All the 19 finalists in the 2012 competition were also awarded scholarship by the Senator and they have since received their cheques for the 2012/2013 academic session.

The 2013 Edition of the Senator Akpor Pius Ewherido’s Urhobo language Competition has been scheduled to commence with collection of participation forms this month. The 2013 edition will be in three categories: Students category for those within the age bracket of 6 to 18 years, youth’s category for those aged between 18 and 40 years and senior category for those, 40 years and above.

The categorisation is to improve on last year’s competition, where some people who were over 40 years were disqualified, while much younger people were in a disadvantageous position competing against young adults. Ewherido therefore decided that nobody should be discriminated against on account of age in this year’s competition. One gladdening thing about this year’s competition is that it has caught on like wild fire and tends to give the impression that those of us worried about the demise of Urhobo language are alarmists, going by the large number of people who are collecting forms. The enthusiasm is soothing. The forms for this year’s competition are available in all Ewherido’s constituency offices and designated collection points in Lagos and Port Harcourt.

As part of his efforts to promote the Urhobo language, Senator Ewherido also recently awarded scholarship to three students studying Linguistics/Urhobo at the Department of Languages and Linguistics, Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka. At the presentation, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Eric Arubayi described Senator Ewherido as a worthy son and a true representative of the Urhobo nation. These scholarships are part of the special scholarship scheme Ewherido instituted for students studying the Urhobo language in tertiary institutions, such as Delta State University and the College of Education, Warri to deepen the study of Urhobo language.

Laudable as the Senator’s gestures are, they are not enough to save Urhobo language from extinction. We must as a people do a lot more to save our beloved Urhobo language from an avoidable death. One, I am not suggesting that we stop speaking of pidgin English, but we must cure ourselves of this pidgin English pervasiveness and “oppression” and speak more of Urhobo.

Secondly, we must as a deliberate policy, communicate in Urhobo with our children. When we do that, we must insist they talk to us too in Urhobo. There are too many Urhobo young sons and daughters who understand but cannot speak Urhobo. You cannot preserve a language that way. There are a lot of languages that have gone into extinction that way. If people can only understand but cannot speak a language, then the death of the language is already knocking on the door. Our children will always learn English in School but nobody will teach them Urhobo except us.

Thirdly, we need attitudinal change. I remember how one young lady referred to me as “ogburhobo” (bush boy) in my university days and my only crime was that I spoke Urhobo fluently. That must change. Speaking of Urhobo must become a thing of pride and any Urhobo person unable to speak the language must be made to realise that something massive is missing from his life.

Fourth, today a lot of the young Urhobo chiefs cannot speak Urhobo. How can a custodian of a tradition be ignorant of the tradition he is supposed to take care of? I submit here that as a policy, no Urhobo son or daughter, who cannot speak Urhobo, should be given a chieftaincy title henceforth. People must understand what they are getting. Some of these chiefs cannot even pronounce their titles correctly. Our traditional rulers need to be sensitised in this regard. Titles should be given to those who know the value, not the rich and the mighty.

Five, we should lobby state government to make the study of Urhobo compulsory in primary and secondary schools in Delta Central. But I want us to go beyond that. I had an interesting encounter in India, a country that was colonised by the British like Nigeria. You will assume that English will be taken for granted in India, but that is not the case. A lot of Indians cannot speak English fluently. I sought to find out why some educated professionals (doctors, nurses, bankers, politicians, civil servants, police, etc.) struggle to speak English. That was when my guide explained to me that in the Tamil- speaking part of India, as in other parts of India, the educational system is two-fold. You have schools where Tamil is the medium of communication and English is just a course and schools where English is the medium of communication. People who went to schools where English is the medium of communication speak fluent English while a lot of those who went to schools where Tamil is used to teach struggle with spoken and written English. What lessons do I want us to draw from this? Schools in Delta Central should not only make study of Urhobo language compulsory but it should also sometimes be used to teach other courses, at least to secondary school level. That way, our children’s written and spoken Urhobo will be strengthened. I am not suggesting anything that will also make our children struggle with English on the long run; I am sure this suggestion can be worked on and fine-tuned to strike the right balance.

Six, a Centre for study of Urhobo language should be set up within the department of Linguistics, Delta State University, Abraka and such centres should be encouraged in other non-technical higher institutions within Delta Central.

Seven, there should be aggressive investment in and production of more Urhobo literature. The Urhobo Progressive Union can be the chief driver of this initiative. We must find a way of publishing those beautiful folklores they used to tell us in those days, our traditional medicine and other parts of our traditions and practices. So, much has been lost already. We need to stem the tide.

Finally, I do realise that Delta is a multi-ethnic state and my suggestions are not exclusive to the Urhobo language; they can be replicated for other ethnic groups.

Oje Odifeh writes from Lagos

After the Mau Mau decision … how about the Aba Women?

Much of Nigeria’s media in an error of judgment, unfortunately under played the importance of last week’s decision on Kenya’s Mau Mau freedom fighters. The oversight is regrettable, for it affects us.

Last week, in a remarkable departure from the past and all that it implies, British Foreign Secretary William Hague in a statement to Parliament stated that Kenyans tortured during the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950’s are to receive compensation payments from the British government. It is a significant victory. For while the Mau Mau uprising was raging, the British was actively implementing not just coercive but brutal policies which in the opinion of Caroline Elkins writing in the UK Guardian online “left indelible scars on the bodies and minds of countless men and women suspected of subversive activities.”

We are in full agreement with Ms Elkins’ position. What is decisive here is that for the first time, a British Foreign Secretary has acknowledged that Kenyans had been subjected to ‘turture and other horrific abuses at the hands of the colonial administration during the Mau Mau emergency’.

He also expressed his “sincere regret” that these abuses took place, and announced payments of £2,600  for each of 5,200 vetted claimants, urging that the process of healing for both nations begin. Although the amount to be paid for atonement is pathetic even demeaning, we are delighted that there are still hundreds of Mau Mau veterans still alive 50 years on to accept vindication in person for the liberation struggle in which they played a decisive part. Their role led to a shot being fired which reverberated around the world. Indeed, they broke the mould and became an inspirational force.

In Nigeria, there is every reason to note this significant outcome. For with it, Britain has jettisoned its appeal of the Mau Mau reparation case which had hitherto been in the High Court. Filed in 2009, the case was the first of its kind against the former British Empire. The key issue now is that it should open a re-examination of “The Untold Story of Britain’s Gulag” to adapt the title of Caroline Elkins’ mea culpa.

As she has pointed out “Britain’s acknowledgement of colonial era torture has opened as many doors as it has closed. Kenya was scarcely an exception. British colonial repression was systematized and honed in the years following the Second World War. First, in Palestine, and then Malaya, Kenya. Cyprus, Aden, Northern Ireland and elsewhere, British coercive counter-insurgency tactics evolved, as did brutal interrogation techniques. The Mau Mau detention camps were but one site in a broader policy of end-of-empire incarceration, torture and cover-up”.

There will obviously be claims from across Britain’s former empire and there should be. For it is the only way to get closure based on real justice. For this reason, here in Nigeria we must re-open the file on our colonial experience now that there is a convergence of opinion that British colonialism is not as benevolent as the propagandists have made it out to be.

We must now look at the brutality used to squelch for example the Aba women’s riot and the Enugu Coal Miners strike. In the case of the former, Abia state’s can-do ‘Ochendo’ for example can be motivated to lead a re-examination of the use of excessive force against the valiant nationalist women. Other such examples of brutality and excessive use of force in the colonial era must also be taken up across the nation.

Unfortunately, virtually all of these liberationists and freedom fighters have passed on. Nevertheless, justice must be done and their offspring’s compensated. They fought for de-colonisation and we must honour their patriotic memories. They deserve it.

I AM NOT A “POLITICIAN”

Politics is defined as activities associated with governance of a country or area. From etymological enquiry, the word politics derives from the Greek word “politikos”, which means “of, for, or relating to citizens.” Thus, Wikipedia defines politics as “an art or science of influencing other people on a civic or individual level. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance.” Politics, therefore, is about the people—exercising power or influence in such a way that there is equitable allocation and management of limited resources, opportunities, and privileges for the happiness, peace, security, good health, and general prosperity of the people.

In Nigeria, the word “politics” has been misused and abused in a manner that this noble art and science now connotes everything that is evil with human relationships in the country. Accordingly, puritans are hateful of being referred to as “politicians”. They would say, “I am not a politician.” Therefore, a “politician”, in Nigerian lexicon, is perceived as someone who is dishonest, corrupt, and of very low moral rating. A study of the holy bible informs any keen student that God takes leadership or governance of nations very seriously. And if politics is about governance of a country or area, then the quality of people involved in it should be highly essential. God calls leaders his avengers, sword-bearers, and ministers. It is only reasonable that leaders must be on the side of nobility, ethics, empathy, and sympathy. Politics is a noble and high calling. God needs noble and highly disciplined people to get involved with politics for survival of society—its morals, values, and endowments.

Nigerians of very high moral discipline have been deceived and scared away from the art and science of politics by those who have come to give it a false meaning. As they watch with horror from a distance, society is being destroyed with insidious consequences that shall eventually consume even those puritans and their offspring.

Some pastors and preachers even preach that politics is evil. Those need to study their holy books more closely and repent of this falsehood. Some of us scholars are either cowardly or selfish in our display of pathological hatred of and disgust for politics. We are either afraid for our lives at the hands of hijackers and abusers of the art, who falsely call themselves “Politicians”, or we are too selfish, thinking only of “building our careers” and “securing the future of our children” to be “distracted” by “politics”. So, some of us remain in our universities until we grey away. And when we are old and very senile, we find “politics” a convenient pastime and a waiting venture until our passing. This then is our national tragedy.

Those of us who write about our common national tragedy, who dream of providing good leadership, should search our motives, heart, values, abilities and calling, and come out of hiding and cowardice. I am also speaking to myself. We have yielded the ground for too long to pretenders and thugs. Yes, a few true politicians have slipped through the narrow cracks into public governance; yet, they are too few to make the kind of difference our people need. Nigerian scholars should be touched by gruesome available data on Nigeria. In less than 5 years Nigeria’s population shall exceed 200 million, at the growth rate of 3 per cent. And if this growth is sustained or exceeded, the population shall exceed 300 million in less than 30 years and exceed 500 million before 2050, when many of you readers shall be alive and active.

Where is the requisite carrying capacity in our public schools, recruiting industries and companies, health institutions, public transport infrastructure and the supporting energy sector, public housing, and the food industry? Don’t we need true politicians in the state and national assemblies, who are moved by statistics? This is not the time for fruitless prayers without plans and relevant actions. God has given Nigerians a country to manage; some even doubt if we must remain together as one country. But this is beside the point. I am talking of active involvement in managing our societies no matter how small. We must be involved in the governance of our wards, local governments, states, and the nation.

Now is the time to start. Determine in advance which public offices possess the kind of influence you may require to provide good governance for your people, and research the requirements and responsibilities of such offices. Choose a political party, not because it is populated by angels, but because you need one, and, in your genuine estimation, it is the best vehicle within your area to accomplish your goal. Do not allow the thought, “Let other people get involved and improve the welfare of my people.” Think as if there is no one else. If you are a man or woman of valour, why should your people suffer? Always link your present prosperity to the prospective prosperity of your people. Then, find a model politician (in Nigeria or abroad; living or dead) whom you admire, and begin to study their forays into the noble art of politics—the challenges they faced, the errors they made, how they were helped and why, the methods they applied to win over enemies and retain friends, how they communicated vision, and most importantly, how they used power.

In conclusion, permit me to say this. We have fake pastors and prophets, but this does not make Christianity a “dirty game.” We have fake Muslims who perpetrate crimes in the name of Islam, but this does not in itself make Islam a “Dirty game.” Some teachers have raped their students and done so many immoral things at their schools; but this does not make teaching a “Dirty game.” Why should we, with our intellectual power of reason, buy into this false propaganda against politics to such an extent that we have allowed the science and art to be corruptly misrepresented by those who don’t know its meaning, who have turned it into lasciviousness to satisfy their lusts?

It is like a man who stumbles on a foreign currency note on the road. His co-wayfarer tells him that there is no use for the currency in their country. Seeing the fruitlessness of taking home the money, he leaves it on the road side only for his co-wayfarer to return after and take the note home. By the time this man discovers he has been deceived, the note has been changed and spent. It is time to re-educate ourselves about politics and to re-introduce it to the electorate the way it really is.

Written By Leonard Karshima Shilgba

If Buhari Becomes President - BY MINABERE IBELEMA

For a long time now, the voice of General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) has been a constant buzz on the Nigerian political scene. Actually, for a while — after the election of 2007 — the erstwhile autocratic military head of state rescued himself from the political scene, complaining bitterly and implausibly that he had been cheated out of presidential election victory.

Then, propelled by his unfulfilled appetite for power, he re-emerged soon after. It is entirely understandable that he couldn’t stay away for long.

Any observer of the Nigerian political scene in 1984 has to know that Buhari is a man with an imperial bent and an oversized ego. During his short-lived tenure as Nigeria’s military head of state, he imposed his will as no other had done before or after.

His War Against Indiscipline (or WAI) permeated every aspect of Nigerian life, for better and for worse. He brooked no dissent. His Decree No. 4 was as draconian a law as Nigeria has ever witnessed. Under the decree, many a journalist was imprisoned for questioning Buhari’s policies or even inveighing against military rule.

Some pundits have claimed that many of the dictatorial excesses of Buhari’s tenure were actually attributable to his second in command, the late General Tunde Idiagbon. I am more inclined to believe that Buhari was the ideologue behind the policies and Idiagbon was his strategist.

Not that it matters that much. Buhari was the head of state, and whatever happened under his watch should duly be credited to (or blamed on) him.

The important point now is that Buhari’s tenure was too short to quench his appetite for power. And that’s why, even after publicly shedding tears in 2007 and vowing to leave politics, he came back with more doggedness than ever before.

While Buhari was the flag bearer of the All Nigeria People’s Party, he had little chance of being elected president. His political fortunes improved somewhat when he bolted from the ANPP to form the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2010, but it was not enough to hoist the presidential banner.

That’s why Buhari’s claim of being cheated out of the presidency in 2007 and 2011raised serious questions about his political astuteness.

Then Buhari started to push harder for the merger of parties that could challenge the PDP. He must have realised at last that his losses in previous contests had little to do with being rigged out and much to do with his narrow electoral base.

Now with the merger of the CPC and the Action Congress of Nigeria and two other parties to form the All Progressives Congress, Buhari has overcome the problem of a narrow base. And for the first time since his overthrow in 1985, he has a better-than-realistic chance of becoming Nigeria’s president.

Problem is that while Buhari has solved the problem of his narrow electoral base in terms of party formation, he has not shed his narrow political ideology. Rather than truly reaching out and positioning himself as a healing force in Nigerian politics, he is demonstrating ever so convincingly that he is too provincial to be president.

If the APC nominates Buhari for the presidency in 2015, it would be opting for someone who is anything but progressive. And the party is likely to lose the very advantage of its prospective size by the fact that Buhari continues to be divisive and alienating.

There is no better evidence of this than his interview last Sunday in Kaduna with Liberty FM’s Hausa Service Programme, ‘Guest of the Week.’

In the interview reported in the Punch, Buhari blasted the ongoing military campaign against Boko Haram, claiming that they are getting harsher treatment than the Niger Delta militants. Moreover, he attributed the rise of Islamic militancy to the Niger Delta insurgency.

Perhaps, Buhari is not aware that the Joint Task Force that was deployed in the Niger Delta to combat the militancy there used jets, naval gunboats, and armoured vehicles. Perhaps, he has not heard of the razing in 1999 of Odi village in Bayelsa State by the Nigerian military and many more such communities since then.

Buhari rightly points out in the interview that the arming of Niger Delta youth by politicians who were running for office played a major role in the militarisation of the region. What he doesn’t explain is how that gave rise to the ethno-religious campaign being waged by Boko Haram.

The Niger Delta militancy arose in support of a negotiable demand for a more equitable sharing of revenue from the region. And so the militants focused their military campaign against the oil industry and infrastructure. They did not target Muslims or Northerners.

In contrast, Boko Haram is demanding the un-negotiable: the Islamisation of all of Nigeria. And they are bombing churches and killing Christians to advance that cause. How do such demands and atrocities compare with the activities of the Niger Delta militancy?

From his current and previous utterances, it seems certain that Buhari will be a disaster for Nigeria if he becomes president. His apparent disregard for the need for equitable redress of the Niger Delta’s grievances will certainly precipitate a titanic clash in the region.

Significantly, it was during the presidency of fellow Northerner, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, that an amnesty agreement was reached with the Niger Delta militants, resulting in the beginning of a draw down in their insurgency. If Buhari becomes president, the opposite will happen: he would stoke the militancy by words and action.

Buhari’s evident sympathy for Boko Haram also suggests that he would use his power to push Nigeria ever closer to a theocratic state (in the Muslim mould) than a secular one.

Yet, as is evident in the uprisings in Egypt and Turkey against theocracy-leaning regimes in those countries, Nigerians, including Northerners, will revolt en masse against theocratic encroachments on civil liberties. And so a Buhari presidency is certain to unleash a level of civil unrest that Nigeria has not witnessed in a long time.

In external relations, a Buhari presidency is also certain to damage Nigeria’s relations with the Western world, especially the United States. In fact, it is not an overreach to speculate that Nigeria could become listed as a terrorist state.

The US recently announced a $7 million bounty on Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau. If Nigeria elects a president who cuddles the group, the bounty would in effect be on the country.

In the interview with Liberty FM radio, Buhari said that he didn’t join the APC because he wants to be president.

“If APC fails to give me the ticket, I will remain in partisan politics and in the party,” he said. “Anyone the party picks as its candidate, I will support him because I will remain in the APC.”

Buhari is, of course, being coy about his presidential ambitions, and it is hard to take him seriously. What with his early and intense campaigning — with posters all over Abuja, I understand. Buhari does indeed belong in partisan politics, but not in the presidency.

Power Reps shouldn’t have

It is not in the democratic spirit for the lawmaker to unilaterally kick out a President or Vice President

Majority of the members of the House of Representatives seeking to make it easier to impeach a President or the Vice President are clearly on a frolic of their own. Despite their claims that they are acting in the public interest, it is clear that the protagonists of the proposed amendment to the constitution are merely on a self-seeking adventure to garner more powers for the Legislature, at the expense of the health of our democracy. In my view, the process of impeaching a President or a Vice President, as provided in section 143 of the 1999 constitution (as amended), is just rigorous enough, and should not be made easier for a misguided cause.

It is surprising that the bill was able to scale the second reading, despite the succinct arguments of the leaders of the majority and minority parties in the House, during the plenary. To show how jejune the reasons adduced for the proposed amendment are, one lawmaker, Mr. Emmanuel Jime, had posed what he considered a constitutional quagmire: ‘how can the Chief Justice of Nigeria, who himself is an appointee of the President, be the one to set up a panel to investigate the allegations?’ The sponsor of the bill, Mr. Yakubu Dogara compounded the irrationality thus: ‘the essence of the bill is to hold the Executive accountable so that checks can be created, and it is not meant to target this term but rather to make the process less ambiguous on grounds of misconduct’.

With these puerile arguments, the House accepted to subject this reckless bill to further legislative action. If we may ask, is it not elementary knowledge that the presidential system of government is built on the doctrine of separation of powers based on the tripod of the legislative, executive and judiciary arms of government? Again, is Mr. Jime, by his argument suggesting that he is not aware that the Legislature shares constitutional responsibility with the President in the appointment of the Chief Justice? By accepting the reasoning questioning the impartiality of the head of the Judiciary, is the House suggesting that Nigerians should regard as prejudicial, all judgments of the highest court of the land, in any matter involving the Executive arm of government?

The reason offered by the sponsor of the bill is indeed very self seeking, and a dishonour to his competence as a legislator. He had talked about checks, when by the contents of the proposals, the sole aim of the bill is to locate all powers over the impeachment of the President or his vice on the Legislature, while excluding the Executive and the electorate represented by the eminent panel of seven as provided in section 143(5). If the bill were to become law, then the Legislature will be the sole determinant of a misdemeanour by the President or his vice, the prosecutor and the judge, all by themselves; and that in the opinion of Mr. Dogara and his co-travellers will amount to checks.

Except for purposes of misguided publicity, why would the proponents of the bill seek to amend the constitution on their own terms, shortly after the 360 members of the House had publicly interacted with their constituencies, on the pending proposed amendments to the constitution? It is such conducts like the current one that give the impression to the public that most of our legislators are ill-equipped for the onerous responsibility placed on their shoulders by the constitution. For, if the proponents of this bill know their onions, will they not appreciate that such divisive bill like the one they are proposing will not be approved by a majority of the states, or even the upper chamber; or are they hoping to also exclusively amend the bill all by themselves, as they also wish to single-handedly sack the President or his vice without any other authority looking into the genuineness of their conduct?

For the purposes of emphasis, the possibility of a misguided Legislature sacking an Executive President elected by the entire electorate in the country must be made very stringent. Tragically, at the state level, the removal of the state governors and their deputies had been thoroughly abused, and we hope the House members are not wishing for such possibility at the federal level. Indeed, there have been clear cases of the National Assembly straying into the territory of the Executive, or even abusing their privileges; and if Mr. Dogara’s wishes were to be realised, then for every time the Executive resists legislative interference, Nigerians may be gifted a new President. What even stops the Legislature from turning the presidency into a circus, if they get the powers they are seeking, as they could always impeach the President and his vice, to have one of their own take over, even if on an acting capacity?