2015: Between devil and deep blue sea

In the days of yore, when schools were still schools, this would have made an interesting topic for a debate or impromptu speech competition of any school’s annual literary and debating day. But then, just like many good things that have depreciated in our land, schools are no longer what they used to be, and it is “debatable” if there are still days set aside for literary and debating events / competitions.

  The literary giant, Chinualumogu Achebe asserted as far back as 1983 as follows, “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility; to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.”

   Some, however, argue that followership is rather the problem, that the past and present leaders definitely emerged from the crop of bad followers and therefore, the leaders were products of a dysfunctional followership. Only a terrible followership could have consistently produced disappointing leaders that Nigeria has been bedeviled with. Something is, therefore, fundamentally wrong, one may conclude, with this system which continually produces bad leaders.

  The year 2015 is just around the corner and the war drums have started to be beaten. The gladiators are the ruling party and the newly registered leading opposition party. We have started hearing the electoral jargons – capture, defect, decamp etc. According to Mr. Fix-It, while on a visit to a former president, the ruling party will continue to win, using its time-tested formula. Is your guess as good as mine? 

   Before the euphoria of the APC’s recent registration dies down, it is imperative to warn fellow Nigerians that “it is not yet Uhuru (freedom)”, even though the son of the late Kenyan President, Jomo Kenyatta, who coined the expression, is the current Kenyan president – Uhuru Kenyatta. Without much ado, the difference between APC and PDP is like between six and half a dozen. It is like the proverbial choice between the devil and the deep blue sea.

   Let’s face it, there are very good people in APC, and so are there some very controversial people. So much just like PDP. There is no vice that you will find in PDP that is not inherent in APC. You will find in APC people who are spartan, and waged war against indiscipline and corruption, just as there are those whose source of stupendous wealth is shrouded in mystery.   Some of their leading lights have not discharged themselves equitably in their business and personal dealings but want to be trusted with the national treasury. One of their prominent leaders even used religion to justify his marriage to an under-aged girl of exotic species. 

Another was even an accidental public servant while yet another was the famed anti-corruption czar.

   Talking of the ruling PDP, most rational people have long given up on the party. A party that could make barking, raving dogs out of a PhD holder and a medical doctor, both from an area that first got in contact with the missionaries / Western education in the country, is probably beyond redemption.

   So what choice is there then between the devil and the deep blue sea? Some would readily assert that the “the devil you know is better than the angel you do not know”. My own take is that from all their antecedents, perhaps the lesser evil should be experimented with for now. It could be likened to two students, one with a score of 39 per cent and another of 25 per cent, which are both failures in undergraduate courses but clearly the former had outperformed the other by one-and-a-half times. Change is said to be the only permanent thing, so it is imperative we use our voting powers to change our leaders from the worst set to the worse, so as to send the right signals to our current lame duck leaders that they can be dispensed with, and further encourage good materials to come out and eventually change our situation to the bad, then the good, then the better, then eventually the best.

  I wonder if any of our living past and present leaders would attract so much goodwill, prayers and best wishes like the Madiba Nelson Mandela has done in his current fight against lung infection. I dare say most, if not all would rather attract curses or at best indifference while on sick beds. And I am certain that they would not be admitted to hospitals in Nigeria. That is food for thought.

   I really have neither admiration nor respect for leaders who cannot say “Amen” to anti-corruption prayers, or who do not give a damn about being open about their self-worth (they must have something to hide if same was publicly declared four years earlier – what has changed?), It is such disdain for ordinary citizens that have made average performances of the likes of Governor Babatunde Fashola and Speaker Aminu Tambuwal the talk-of-the-town, rather than one-eyed kings in the land of the blind which they truly are.

  When elections become truly free and fair, most of the charlatans in the corridors of power will not get there in the first place. Nigerian voters showed their sophistication on June 12, 1993, where the ‘son-of-the soil’ lost in his polling booth in Kano.   This was also repeated in 1999, where the ‘son-of-the soil’ similarly lost in his polling booth in Abeokuta. When we get the electoral process right, where true winners are declared, that will be the very first step towards Nigeria’s re-discovery. This puts a lie to the zoning mentality. To choose a leader based on accident of birth is the greatest error any society could make. No one has ever had a choice as to where he would be born or to whom he was born. I have not seen anyone in need of the attention of a surgeon or a medical specialist insisting that only the ones from his tribal enclave must be the best. Similarly, I have not seen any air passenger who chooses flights based on the ethnic origin of the pilot. A leader Nigeria needs now can be likened to a pilot or a surgeon.

 An error in choice could be fatal. Competence, rather than ethnic background, should be the selection yardstick. I believe the average Nigerian voter would vote for competence over tribal affinity. Perhaps if the USA and France had adopted zoning, Obama, Sarkozy and Rawlings, whose fathers were of different nationalities, would never have had presidency zoned to them.

  The next steps for the next administration will be creation of an enabling environment for job-creation, starting with fixing of electricity, which has defied all solutions up till now. There must also be reforms in the educational system, police, law enforcement/judicial administration and transparency in governance. There must also be emphasis on enhancing the productive base of the economy, especially agriculture. The quick wins will be the drastic reduction in, and curtailment of the very high recurrent expenditure, which arose via the ridiculous and embarrassing legislative and executive jumbo salaries and allowances, as well as abolition of security votes.

  As we march towards 2015, the opposition should be reminded that those who have held the nation captive will not let go easily and willingly. Just as Mugabe has defied all machinations to leave the scene long after the ovation was loudest, the Nigerian Pharaohs have deeply entrenched themselves for the past 14 years, so no one should be deceived that they will leave on their own terms. The leading opposition group must therefore come up with a fool-proof strategy to win voters’ endorsement and also counter rigging. The other fringe opposition groups like the Labour Party and ideology-based parties like Gani Fawehinmi-founded National Conscience Party need to make deliberate efforts to start wooing the youths and the disillusioned in order to become the new future opposition and perhaps another government-in-waiting in years to come.

   I wish to remind our present crop of leaders of the quotable quote by Dele Giwa, the celebrated journalist, editor and founder of Newswatch magazine, who was killed by a mail bomb in his home on October 19, 1986 - “No evil deed can go unpunished.

  Any evil done by man to man will be redressed. If not now then certainly later. If not by man, then by God, for the victory of evil over good can only be temporary.”

Written By Dipo Dosumu

 • Dosumu wrote from Lagos

Ango Abdullahi’s ‘born to rule’ mentality

“The North, on the basis of one man one vote can keep power indefinitely in the present Nigeria State…….. the demography shows that the North can keep power as long as it wants because it will always win elections.” I am personally disappointed in President Goodluck Jonathan’s handling of the Nigerian state in the last few years and how he is letting by the golden opportunity to untie and let loose some historical chains with which his people in the Niger-Delta and the rest of the oppressed peoples of Nigeria have been bounded.

If his predecessors have failed as presidents, that should not be his excuse to tread the path of failure too. I am leery to be supportive of him because of this. But at the same time, I am unwilling to be against him because of people like Ango Abdullahi, who in my own book is a political professor and a very dishonest man who seems to think that Nigeria belongs to him and his Fulani ilk.Ango Abdullahi, who believes that it is his and kinsmen’s birthright to rule Nigeria perpetually. This is regardless of the Fulani small number relative to many other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. Any form of challenge to the Fulani dominance of political and economic space is intolerable by them in the land where they are actually foreigners.

The dexterity of the Fulani oligarch to use divide and rule to subjugate others is one of their sources of confidence. They have loyal satellites in all the ethnic nationalities who would gladly do their bidding. This is why there has not been any outcry from other sections of the country on Abdullahi’s recent vituperations in the media about the North having the capability to “always win elections” and control the Nigerian political levers indefinitely. One would have expected leaders from the South-South, South-West and South-East to come out and challenge his claims about the assumed numerical strength of the North and put nonsense to it. But alas! This is not the case because these satellites in all these regions are unwilling to offend their “paymasters.”

In fact, that President Jonathan’s political operatives are quiet about this unhealthy happenings that his political machine is devoid of fast thinking ability and is probably arid intellectually if not oblivious of historical facts. They should have come out with statistics to expose Abdullahi’s claim about the assumed numerical strength of the North as a lie and a figment of a corrupt and confused imagination.

It is not true that the North has more population than the South.  Land mass does not automatically translate to big population. Canada has more land than th USA. But the USA is ten times more populated than Canada. It is a lie that has been put in place since the 1950s by the colonial masters who believe that imposing the malleable minority Fulani on the majority would be a way to guarantee the British unfettered access to Nigeria’s wealth.

Granted that Olusegun Obasanjo as a Southerner has been a tool in the hands of the Hausa/Fulani oligarchy all his life to be able to attain the apex of politics that he has attained, what about Jonathan who has good luck on his side to be where he is today and avail himself the opportunity to loosen the chain of bondage for his people? Why won’t he correct some of these historical lies dressed in the garb of “truth” and accepted unquestioningly by the contemporary political leaders of other regions? When empirical facts could not support any claim, such claim ought to be discarded and replaced by a more verifiable ones.

It is internationally proved, known and accepted that the following variables determine the demography of any environment: (a) Access to water (b) Climate condition (c) Food among many others.

Of all the above three variables, the South is more favoured than the North. It is only in Nigeria that the Sahara Desert is more populated than the Savanna and the thick Forest. Compare the population density of the Nigerian desert states with that of Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and others like that to recognise the enormity of lies that Ango Abdullahi is peddling and that are not being challenged by the contemporary leaders of other ethnic nationalities.

This fallacy about the Northern Population advantage has been perpetuated through the use of government tools against the reality on the ground. Every time there is a Census exercise, this lie is reinforced through the cooking of figures to portray the North as having more population than the South.  It is amazing that this lie is being accepted as the “truth” by the dealers calling themselves leaders in the South.

For example, in a reaction to a book review by this author, Forshow3 had noted that according to modern satellite, an area of Kastina State (about 60% of the entire state) is seen to have 9,800 houses that anyone who knows how to count can do.  The fraudulent 1990 census allotted 935,677 persons to this area. In 2006 the population Census also allotted 1,444,123 to this same area. Doing the elementary Mathematics to find out the population density of this area, you would divide the population of 1,444,123 by the number of houses, 9,800.  This will give you 147.064 per house.

Where in the world is it possible to have almost 150 persons living in one single house? How big could the house be?  And to have 98,000 of such? It should not also escape our cognizance that most of the “houses” in this region are huts. Every idiot knows that 147 people cannot live in a hut. Haba! Why is it that our so called leaders are not challenging this monstrous falsehood? Are they so intellectually challenged? Or are they cowards? Why are they quiet about this lie? What other way to prove this lie of population majority of the North except through technology that everyone had access to?

Also Jigawa State is given the population figure of 4.3million. Yet this is an entire state that has only 60,000 houses and or huts. If you use the same mathematical procedure, this will give you over 71 persons per house and or hut! How is this possible? It is physically implausible, untenable and indeed impossible.

So, the question arises, where did the voter register giving all these mammoth figures to these Northern States come from? They have been cooked figures aimed to giving the North an undue advantage over the South and installed apartheid on Nigeria. It is on the basis of this lie that the political professor Ango Abdullahi is threatening President Goodluck Jonathan and the rest of Nigeria that the North could win elections indefinitely.

Others, for pecuniary political interests could not summon the courage to fight for the truth and fairness.In an article “The Unmaking of Nigerian Federalism”, I had quoted the request of the Sardauna of Sokoto and the Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello’s request in 1952 to the Nigeria’s Colonial Secretary, Mr. Oliver Lyttleton as follows:

“If you want us (the North) to be part of this Nigeria you have in mind, then   we want 50% of the membership of the National Assembly.”that the Northern seats included that of Yoruba Kwara. This means that if the Kwara people were not lumped with the North, they would still have less number of seats than 79, since this was based on population. This shows that the South of Nigeria has always been more populous than the North of Nigeria.

By REMI OYEYEMI writes from Lagos

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?