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?

A PEOPLE IN DENIAL

"Boko Haram has not committed any wrong to deserve amnesty. Surprisingly the Nigerian government is talking about granting us amnesty. What wrong have we done? On the contrary, it is we that should grant you (government) pardon"- Abubakar Shekau, the spokesman and leader of Boko Haram speaking to the French News Agency AFP. 
 
Whilst our President is still busy offering amnesty to those who have rejected it and whilst the Nigerian people and intelligensia are involved in a barren and futile debate about the merits and demerits of granting amnesty to terrorists, Boko Haram continues to kill, maim and destroy. It is clear to me that our people are in denial and that our government is deluded, irresponsible and insensitive. As we are busy debating about amnesty or no amnesty for Boko Haram, the Niger Delta terrorist organisation known as MEND have quietly given us notice about their sinister plans for our country. After killing 14 policemen in a ruthless attack just last week they have told us through their spokesman, one Jomo Gbomo, that it is their intention to "start killing muslims and attacking mosques as from 31st may, 2013 in order to protect and save christianity in Nigeria". This warning and statement of intent was published and reported in the American website magazine called Bloomberg.com on the 14th April 2013. 
 
Yet despite all these troubling signs and signals the Nigerian people and the Nigerian Government, in their usual manner, are still napping and pretending as if all is well. Perhaps we all deserve what is coming. A people that do not even have the guts to courageously demand that their government rise up to the occassion and do their job by protecting the lives and property of its citizens deserve prayer and pity. When Boko Haram and MEND finally face one another in a terrible war of reprisal killings and bombings that is when our people will understand the implications of tolerating a government that is incapable of doing its job and confronting terror with a firm and decisive hand.
 
 Meanwhile Nigeria continues to bleed and die as many of her citizens are bombed to pieces, maimed and have their throats slit open every day by islamist terrorists who do not know, or care to know, the meaning of peace, restraint, decency or dialogue. President Goodluck Jonathan has handed our country over to a bunch of butchers who have no value for human life. Under his watch our people continue to die and die whilst he sits in the Presidential Villa and drinks champagne.
 
Worst still is the sheer irresponsibility and shameless behaviour of one or two of our northern governers who, instead of attempting to provide more security for their people in their respective domains, are besides themselves trying to either get on the lucrative gravy train known as the Boko Haram Amnesty Commitee or are actually speaking for Boko Haram and explaining their actions. If the latter were not the case how do you explain the illogical and frankly absurd contribution from my old friend Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi state who said that ''the real Boko Haram will accept amnesty'' and that ''it is their criminal and political sect members that are rejecting the offer?'' (Leadership Newspaper, 15th April, 2013). 
 
I have three questions here. Since when has a democratically elected governor of one of the largest and most important states in northern Nigeria and a man that was a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under President Obasanjo's government for almost eight good years become the official spokesman for Boko Haram? How come he appears to know who is who within that terrorist organisation and the attitude and nature of each of it's factions and why does he seek to absolve his preferred faction of the evil that they have collectively visited on the Nigerian people in the last two years? The third question is this- since when has any part or faction of Boko Haram not been criminal and political? I daresay that every part and every faction of this wicked organisation of heartless men and women is not only criminal but they are also political and religious.
  
Boko Haram is an islamist organisation who are dedicated to imposing and establishing an islamic fundamentalist state in northern Nigeria through the use of violence. They also wish to wipe out christianity and true islam in the north and they reject the idea of living in a country where christians can take any position of leadership let alone be President. Yet these are the type of people that Governor Isa Yuguda and a number of other northern leaders is now speaking for and trying to absolve? A vicious group of people that have slaughtered no less than 4,200 Nigerians and non-Nigerians in the last two years and that have burnt down and bombed virtually every church that existed in some commiunities and states in the north? If anyone doubts that they should find out from the catholics what happened to 50 of the 52 churches that they established in Borno state. 
 
The implication of Yuguda's contribution is that there is a faction of Boko Haram that is wholesome and righteous. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Every single person and group that is a part of or is in any way associated with Boko Haram is evil, is destructive and has blood on their hands. And anyone, no matter how highly placed, reverred or distinguished, that tries to rationalise their actions or absolve them of their murderous ways is equally evil and equally guilty of murder. Nigeria is a country in denial where leaders are always ready, willing and able to rationalise, defend and forgive the actions of beasts. Yet this has not always been so. Remember the public beheading of Gideon Akaluka in Kano in the 90's by an irate mob of islamists for allegedly using a page of the koran as toilet paper and General Sani Abacha's decisive response to such madness?
  
When Abacha was in power he knew exactly how to handle the islamist tendency that plagued Kano in his time, including those that organised and incited the mob to kill Akaluka. He had them killed quietly one after the other until the problem was solved and the plague of islamist terror was abated. One of the leaders of those that killed Akaluka, as a consequence of his royal connections, survived and escaped death only because he was hidden in a Sokoto prison for two years whilst Abacha was told that he had been killed. That individual certainly came bouncing back into the public space and the circles of power and has now reached ''high places'' but that is a story for another day. How I wish that the present leadership of our country could learn a lesson or two from General Sani Abacha's approach to the islamist rebellion that we have been confronted with. They can also learn a lot from the approach of another moderate muslim by the name of Kamel Attaturk who was the founder and father of the modern Turkish state. He knew what to do to the islamist terrorists in his midst and he did it without thinking twice or batting an eyelid.
 
Yet sadly Nigeria is not blessed with such leaders today. Instead we are saddled with a President who, only a few weeks ago, described Boko Haram as his ''siblings''. We have a President who does not appreciate the fact that it is his job to provide security for our nation and to protect the Nigerian people from the enemy within and the enemy without. We have a President who is on his knees morning, day and night begging the islamist terrorists to accept an amnesty that they never asked for in the first place and which they have consistently rejected. We have a President and a people that just don't know what they are up against. We have a President and a people that are suffering from the worst form of denial. May God save Nigeria and may He send us a deliverer.

Boko Haram and the tortoise doctrine By Obi Nwakanma

President Goodluck Jonathan,truly found his vocation: with a doctorate in Zoology, there could be no better place for him to put his skills to work than in the Zoo called Nigeria. Nigeria is a zoo, with all kinds animals: the benign and the ferocious; their instincts are the same. At the top of this zoological food chain, are the big animals – the elephants of the jungle – where ever their footsteps fall – the grass was forbidden to grow.

But let me tell a little Igbo story, and Chinua Achebe had told it in some part in Anthills of the Savannah: the peaceful and indistinct tortoise was walking down a pathway one day when the lordly lion met him on his way, and roared: “aha! God done catch you today!” He said to the Tortoise; “I have been looking for you!”

The Tortoise of course knew the lion’s reputation for bullying, but he retained his dignity. “Beg your pardon,” he said to the lion, “but why have you been looking for me?”

“To beat you!” said the lion.

‘Is that so?” said the Tortoise.

“Na so e be” said the lion.

“In that case give me a minute” said the Tortoise, “grant me my last wish…”

“Ah. Take ten minutes” said the Lion, amused, and feeling very generous. Well, the Tortoise began to trample on the ground, scatter the soil; and beat the grass; to make the place generally rough and well acted upon. The Lion was taken aback by this, and he couldn’t contain himself.

“Tortoise, what’re you doing?”

“Writing down my own story…”

“What? You crazy little thing. You no get sense!”

“Balogun lion, look at me, what do you see?”

“A crazy little thing whom I’m going to beat up soon.”

“Good. But you do not see it yet. I am a small thing, and you ask why I scatter this place.”

“Yes…”

“Well, you’re powerful and I cannot match your physical strength. So, you’re going to beat me, I have no doubt. However, when people come here, and see this place, they will say, “the great tortoise put up a fierce fight against the mighty lion. They will know I did not go down very easily.”

It is the uncommon wisdom of the oppressed to rise to the occasion of history and deploy, by all means necessary, their own means of resistance. Nigerians too should not go down too easily. It is obvious that this ship called nation is sinking, and very fast, and a firefight is going on.

It is obvious that Nigeria’s political leadership has been withholding the absolute secrets of Nigeria’s final days from the Nigerian public. They seem to have prepared for themselves means of escape, nest eggs in various secret banks in foreign lands; emergency evacuation of their families and close friends; simply, at the high places are the Nigerian equivalent of the “Noah’s Ark projects” that will save only a few privileged species of the Nigerian animal, while the fire and conflagration that is close by burns the land.

In preparation for the final days of Nigeria, while Nigerians hide and pray, the Nigerian elite has systematically stripped every public institution of its meaning: Nigeria’s University and research facilities have gone to the dogs; Nigeria’s electric and energy delivery system has been sold part for part and in bits to the highest bidders; its oil fields have been mortgaged to foreign interests in the knowledge that there will not be a future generation; its strategic telecommunication infrastructure was the first to be farmed out, as no other country in the world does.

No nation other than Nigeria has ever handed its national telecommunication system – the basis of its national security – to private foreign interests, nor its core strategic national industrial infrastructure – steel and aluminum plants – bought and sold, and those that could not be sold, allowed to slide into decay.

It is clear, that the purpose of the Nigerian government in the last fifteen years, at least, has been to oversee the liquidation of the shared space of nation; to make Nigeria irretrievable, to supervise its demise, and seal its final treaties. The federal government itself acts like an enemy of the Nigerian people.

Those who have held power at the center and the states in Nigeria in the last fifteen years are not our brothers or sisters, our neighbors, our kinsmen, our classmates, they do not care for us as Nigerian citizens; they are not out to build the future of this nation; they are the millstones on the neck of the Nigerian people, acting out the orders of powerful global forces to reduce and erase what is currently Nigeria from the face of the globe. Boko Haram is the final nail in the coffin of Nigeria. What is Boko Haram? Nobody knows.

They are “ghosts” said the Nigerian president. “Give them amnesty” says the Sultan and the so-called leaders of the North. “Bring them out and we’ll begin negotiation” says the Jonathan government. In this case, the president is right. No one can offer amnesty to ghosts. If Sultan Abubakar and General Buhari knows them, let them bring out Boko Haram, and then any talk of amnesty might rightly begin.

But at the moment, and as General Azubuike Ihejirika, Chief of the Nigerian Army said last Monday, Boko Haram’s method is “baffling.” Well, this might just be because, there are too many Boko Harams. It is now a franchise with many mimic groups, including “Black Ops” groups within government, milking dry the national security vote which is now higher than the budget for education and research, industry and labour, put together.

Everybody is now Boko Haram. And Nigeria is like tinder, right at the edge, about to combust. And I say, Nigerians should not go down too easily. They should adopt “the Tortoise doctrine” of resistance, and they have two options: either commit mass suicide, one agreed “national suicide night” at the family tables, or organize and fight, and take back the sovereign mandate.

Nigerians should protest and reclaim their rights, create inter-community defense pacts to defend themselves in the coming anarchy because the federal government, it increasingly seems, no longer has the capacity to defend Nigeria or guarantee the rights and internal security of Nigerian peoples.

Everyone thought I’ll fail – Udeme Ufot, SO&U boss

Remember that popular Guinness TV commercial “My friend Udeme is a great man”? Until I spent over an hour with this innovative middle-aged man who actually produced that ad, I couldn’t grasp why he had to adjudge ‘Udeme’ great. Mr.Udeme Ufot is the Group Managing Director of SO&U, one of Nigeria’s most influential advertising agencies, affiliated to Saatchi & Saatchi, a global advertising agency. ‘A great seat!’, you might exclaim, but believe me, that isn’t the reason our friend Udeme is a “great man”. In 1990, Udeme Ufot had resigned his rewarding employment with a foremost advertising firm, Insight Communications, and had ventured into private practice relying solely on his creativity and dynamism, knowing well that the field was highly manipulated by the “bigger and older practitioners”. He seemed too brave and almost everyone thought it won’t be long before he crumbled, but it’s over 23 years on and Udeme Ufot is still making great strides in the world of advertising, even to the extent of winning the Fate Model Entrepreneur Award 2012.

Courageous beginning

When 23 years ago he became restless about venturing into private practice, Udeme Ufot did not have the ideal prerequisites for setting up an advertising firm. But today, Udeme is a great man. He had studied industrial design and specialised in graphic design at the Ahmadu Bello University where he graduated  and then worked for several years with Insight Communications as a creative artist. That knowledge was of course not enough to run a successful advertising business considering the presence of people who had perhaps studied advertising and managed frontline seats in the industry. “What a disadvantage!, one would ordinarily think. But Udeme was smart and decided to rely on the main substance visible in advertising- creativity, and within 18 months, the agency was named the most creative in the country.

Naïve team

“Getting started was not easy. We had a bunch of very green, naïve young people. SO&U is an acronym for Gbemi Sajay, Julia Oko and Ufot. We used to be among the backroom guys who get things done in the advertising industry. I have a creative background, Sagay was an art director and Oko was a copywriter. So, in the first instance, setting out to establish such business was an anomaly in the industry.  This made people laugh at us. But what have seen us through are resilience, determination and focus. We said to ourselves that we’ll go by a very simple strategy- nobody can deny seeing a good thing when he or she has seen it.  What was important to us was to ensure that we very quickly make a mark in our calling”, Udeme reveals.

“Therefore, we agreed that any work we found to do, we must do it differently and well. We rendered outstanding services above what we were paid for! We put our people through intensive training, and we virtually turned the agency into a school. We gradually turned our entire agency into an environment for continuous improvement and learning”.

Gift of creativity

Udeme didn’t just stumble into the creative world of advertising- he had dreamed of it as a teenager! He co-incidentally discovered he had the skills and made conscious efforts towards improvement. Being the son of the Registrar of the University of Calabar at that time, he had access to the university library and read voraciously. While studying a journal on advertising and marketing one day though he had wanted to be a political scientist, he came across an illustration of an impressive looking fellow, and the caption under that illustration read: “A Trendy Art Director”. Immediately, Udeme fell in love with the art director and his work and began dreaming and working towards becoming one someday. That was between 1975 and 76.

He adds: “What helped me was that I was talented creatively. Right from my primary school, I could draw very well, I could act in plays and I was very good in literature. In fact, when I sat back and analysed myself, I saw that I had the relevant skills. That’s why I always tell people that it is easier to succeed when you’re doing what you enjoy doing”.

Between passion and success

To Udeme, the relevance of passion to success was invaluable. Having been in business for 23 years, and with a clientele comprising conglomerates and the banking sector, you cannot but wonder how he became one of the few doyens of the industry. “Passion makes the difference! It drives everything. It’s one thing to have the talent and resources, but you must have the drive, and that drive comes from the passion to succeed. Because we had nothing when we set up SO&U, everyone told me and my team we’ll fail. For the first six months, we couldn’t afford a telephone in the agency, not even curtains. The first furniture we had was my dining table in my own house. We all sat round that table to do our work! The first furniture in my office as MD was a sofa I brought from my house. I didn’t have a worktable, so, I would write my notes on my thighs. Of course, these lacks aren’t the things that will make one fail, unlike what many think. I believe it’s about knowing what you lack and being able to improvise. But when you have the passion and drive to succeed, nothing can stop you. That passion drove us and every income we made, we invested in ourselves to acquire knowledge and upgrade our skills. We invested in our business too to furnish the office, buy computers and make ourselves more efficient because we had the vision of where we were taking our agency. If you lack passion, you’ll sit back and lament about what you don’t have: ‘I don’t have a godfather, I don’t have money, I can’t find clients because I’ve not worked with clients before…’, but when you’re being fired up by passion, nothing will stop you”. 

Financial barrier

True to his word, not even financial constraints could make him jettison his aspiration of going into private practice 23 years ago. “This company was started with N60,000 of my life savings in 1990”, Udeme was quick to add. He had started the business in the guestroom of his house, and when in the third month he found an office in Apapa that would cost him a hundred thousand naira rent, not even his age-long bank was willing to loan him N60,000 to augment what he had. A childhood friend came to his rescue and in less than two years after SO&U took off, because he had become influential in the industry, a delegation from the same bank came to woo him to bank with them!

FEYI BANKOLE