By Sam Onimisi
In a recent public lecture by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu organized by the Otu Oka’ Iwu in Lagos, it was made known that there are presently about 45 requests for the creation of new states before the National Assembly. Before going into the merit or demerits of creation of more states, we should have an idea of how the new requests are made. The South South Geo-political zone made 13 requests as against 10 from the South West. The South East has 8 requests compared to the North West’s 6 requests while the North Central and the North East has 5 and 3 requests respectively. If wishes were hoses, the 45 requests would be as good as created and that will bring the number of states to 81, apart from the Federal Capital Territory. There is no guarantee that people will not have reasons to request for even more states and before we know it, we could have as many as 100 states by the year 2015! But why are people demanding for more states?
There are as many reasons as could be adduced or invented by agitators for creation of more states. At the moment, the reasons are: fear of marginalization, the need for equity and fairness, the fear of ethnic and religious minorities and to bring government closer to the people for the purpose of development. In other words, there is injustice and inequity in the current Geo-political structure which needs to be redressed, and some people believe that the only way to achieve them is to create more states. If anything, I have sympathy for the agitators of creation of more states because I feel for them and do understand the trauma and deprivation they have had to endure so far. While the reasons they adduced in favour of more states appear plausible, their demand is not and can never be the required panacea for equity and fairness in the polity. Why do I say so?
First, Nigeria is not a nation to which all Nigerian ethnic nations subscribed by voluntary choice. Second, there is no basis, no terms and therefore no reason why Nigeria should have been merged or should still exist as one country. Third, there is no subsistence pact, agreement or terms to which the people subscribed as the basis of our Union as one compatible nation-state. Therefore, the creation and subsequent merger of the so-called Protectorate of Northern and Southern Provinces were by foreign do-gooders and mercantile colonizers, without the input and consent of the various people of the geographical space known today as Nigeria. The fad called unity-in-diversity which was often given as the beauty or basis of our togetherness is a lie of the highest order. Really? Yes! If our diversity is so good as to erect bonds of unity, why do we go to great length to conceal them and pretend they do not exist?
Our ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural diversities are natural creations over which no Nigerian had a choice. As a result, any merger between one or more ethnic group with another in an administrative unit must be on the basis of a mutual agreement entered into by all parties to it, if the merger or the union is to endure. Unfortunately, none of the existing 36 states has such an agreement prior to their creation. None was subjected to a referendum to ascertain the desires of the people herded into these states. Any wonder that after several years of their interactions, they discovered that they are not compatible as to get along and so, agitation for a new state out of the old one becomes an answer? If majority rule is a fundamental requirement for a democracy, self-determination is a more fundamental human rights of all people, both of majority and of minorities. Many states in Nigeria has become the property of certain ethnic groups or religious groups on the basis of majority rule.
If a group is so major as to monopolize political power to the exclusion of other groups, it must not be to the extent of making the minorities into slaves. What is the value of a majority rule if they are being sustained by the resources in the soil of the minorities? Who donated the minorities to the majorities? Why must they remain together if the so-called majority group monopolize the resources of the minorities by stealth? If you look at states such as Kogi, Benue, Delta, Adamawa, Nassarawa, Kaduna and Kwara States, the reason for demands for new states emanated from the monopoly of power by either an ethnic group or a religious group. If power cannot be devolved, it can be separated so each group-whether major or minor-could be on their own on the basis of self-determination. No union can endure if it is sustained by force and that is why unity remains a mirage between and among different ethnic, religious and geographical groups in Nigeria. In order for the demand for more states to abate, our ethnic, religious, linguistic and geographical diversities must be configured into our Geo-political structures. How?
The present structure evolved by both an expediency and or vindictive actions of the powers-that-be at certain critical points of our history. The first state creation exercise was to severe Eastern minorities from the Igbo-dominated region with a view of isolating the Biafran Igbo people, either to avert the civil war or to disable the secessionists for ultimate defeat. Subsequent state creation exercises never really departed from the iniquitous reasons of the past colonial and military regimes. What we have as Geo-political structures today is like a foundation for a bungalow but now with a 20 storey building. Neither the foundation nor the building is safe as the one cannot carry the other. If it appears that I am for and against creation of more states at the same time, here are my reason.
No polity established on falsehood and presumptions can endure and Nigeria is one of such polities. We started by running a federal system and the military came and changed it into a unitary system but continue to lie and pretend that we are a Federal republic. Yet, succeeding civil governments continued to tinker with military imposed unitary Constitution in a multi-ethnic country, thinking erroneously that the unitary system will bring about unity, but that hope is built on false premises, which is why it failed to work. For States to be viable in a multi-national country, it must be created on the basis of ethnic nationalities, geographical contiguity, cultural and linguistic affiliation etc. However, because many ethnic groups are two small and economically weak to form a state, a group of them could come together to form a federated state-provided they are or belong to a region with which they are contiguous.
A return to new regionalism is the answer. New, because it is no longer three or four but about twenty or a little more. The regions should have the right to create their own states since the federating unit so recognized will be the regions. The so-called six geopolitical zones are injurious to the minority ethnic groups and therefore are unacceptable. The 36 states structure are too artificial and inorganic-which is why 45 new demands for state creation is oozing out of them. A group of patriotic Nigerians showed the way forward in 2005 when they convoked a Peoples National Conference out of which the PRONACO proposed federal constitution emerged. That document deserve more than a cursory glance by all Nigerians who wants the country to remain united. Unity in diversity should be one in which ethnic groups enjoy internal autonomy, not one in which some are ordained rulers while others are sentenced to a life of servitude. There is no value of a unity at all costs; the cost of our forced unity has been very exorbitant and now, too prohibitive to bear. Let us restructure Nigeria in peace rather than in pieces!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
The Day Tinubu Goofed
By Sam Onimisi
It is no doubt a painful exercise to have to oppose someone who is perceived as an icon and who in the past, has demonstrated some attributes of a great leader. If anything, it is a proof of the truism that no man is infallible and so, when they fall, it should be duly reported and the individual has to be put in his proper place. Former Lagos State Governor and national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu missed the mark last week when he accused President Goodluck Jonathan of dividing the country along ethnic and religious lines without producing a shred of evidence. As the foremost opposition leader in the country today, his views on all issues especially, on emotive subjects, such as religion carries a lot of weight. But this time and on this occasion, Asiwaju Tinubu goofed badly.
First, his insistence on a genuinely organized national conference, in the face of serious threat to Nigeria’s sovereignty is correct. If he attacks Mr. President on this issue for rejecting the call for a national conference, that is as it should be; for only the wilfully blind would kick against the need for a national dialogue at this point in time or at any other point for that matter. I join Asiwaju Tinubu and other well-meaning Nigerians in calling on Mr. President to see the need for and embrace the call for a national conference to decide on centrifugal forces militating against the oneness of Nigeria. This is because the existing institutions of state has proved incapable of doing so on the basis of moral illegitimacy. This is a matter for another day. Now back to Tinubu’s attack. “Mr. President should stop dividing the country on the basis of religion and ethnicity. Don’t divide Nigeria between Christians and Muslims. We need religious tolerance and inter-faith harmony in this country.… We want unity in diversity for economic prosperity and not divide-and-rule for political adversity,” he said.
Asiwaju Tinubu said these on an occasion when his friends and associates were gathered at Ilesha, Osun State to celebrate a new Chieftaincy title, the Agba-Akin Adinni of Ijesha. His dress for the occasion was that of an Islamic Mujahid, not different from what the Boko Haram sponsors puts on daily. He failed to adduce reason or evidence of the President’s divisive religious antics which could be interpreted to mean a divide-and-rule move. For a man whose words are wont to be taken seriously, it was a gaffe too loose to be responsible. Tinubu may have some mementos to show for his neutral stance on ethnic sentiment, given the fact that he appointed or allowed to be appointed some Igbo residents in Lagos as commissioners in charge of some innocuous portfolios. However, the same thing cannot be said of his religious tolerance-the very high ground on which he attacked Jonathan.
Truly as he admitted: “… born a Muslim as a politician I secure votes from Christians, Muslims and traditionalists”; it can be said that he woo non-Muslims only for electoral purposes, and here are the proofs. Since he became governor in 1999, Tinubu appointed Muslims in larger number into his cabinet and gave them juicy port-folios. When it was time to leave in 2007, he did all he could to ensure that another Muslim succeeded him. If Fashola turned out to be an excellent choice, it is not because he is a Muslim by faith but because he is a fine mind. Governor Rauf Aregbesola was the commissioner for works under governor Tinubu whose support made the former governor of Osun State. Tinubu has literally confined Lagos Christians to the deputy governors position – something of a second fiddle. He is on record to have caused his deputy to be removed twice during his tenure (remember Femi Pedro?) if he perceived they could pose a threat to his electoral maneuvers.
As the kingmaker in 2007, he ensured that a woman was picked by Fashola as running mate who, was also dropped in 2011 for another woman – to avoid a situation when a Christian woman would be strong enough to challenge or bid for the office of the governor. If Tinubu ought to be commended for reserving the deputy governor’s office for gender equity, it is not a proof that he didn’t do so for religious reasons. Yes, the Asiwaju of Lagos and Jagaba of Borgu is married to a Christian woman and often attend church ceremonies along with her. But those who knows him enough vowed that it is all a cosmetics and not a proof of religious tolerance. “He wanted a fine lady at all cost and found one in Oluremi who gave one strong condition. That she be left alone with her Christian faith, to which Bola concurred.” In other words, if and whenever he needs support, he is ready to drop his religious fundamentalism and pick it up again after he has had his way! Talk of a clever politician!!
As someone eying national political leadership, one would have thought that his party would be sensitive enough to ensure religious equity in his party staff structure. Does he not stand accused of religious sentiment if under his watch, the ACN has a Muslim National Chairman, national secretary, national publicity secretary etc? Yet, he is the National Leader of the party! Moreover, of the four states the ACN won in the last general election, three has Muslim governors as against one Christian (who, incidentally is running his 2007 stolen mandate). Perhaps if the Ekiti State governor had run under another party, Tinubu would not have been motivated to support his legal battles by which he reclaimed his mandate. If it has been proven that Tinubu’s religious bigotry is worse than his victim, his political or undemocratic records is not better either. What are the proofs?
The deluge of protests by ACN candidates or aspirants prior to the last general elections is an evidence of Asiwaju’s imposition of his choice boys as against the duly elected choice of the people. Given the performance of opposition parties in the gubernatorial election in Lagos State, the subsequent local government election won 100% by ACN is another proof that Tinubu and his party are not any more democratic than the PDP he was denigrating. The truth is, many probably loathe the PDP than Tinubu but as a participant and watcher of political practice in Nigeria, Tinubu neither represents an ideal opposition leader nor is his party any different from the ruling party at the centre.
Leadership demands more than guts and refined leadership ought to be transparent and exemplary. If as it has been alleged, that Asiwaju Tinubu is neither cleaner nor as liberal as he claims, it is time Asiwaju learn to be a true front line leader in political ethics and religious fidelity. The sum total is that Tinubu is not as excellent as he pretends to be. Being a product of political impurity and the whimsical process which gave birth to civil rule in 1999, Tinubu could not have beaten other candidates to emerge the governor of an urbane and cosmopolitan state like Lagos. The president may be guilty of sundry other accusations or even dereliction of responsibility, but to accuse him of trying to divide Nigerians on religious basis, especially by a person as vulnerable as Tinubu, is to stand truth on its head. An ostrich may bury its head on the sand, but its entire body is right outside and naked. The Agba-Akin Adinni is translated to mean Senior Commander of the faithful in Yoruba Islamic tradition. Step forward Asiwaju in front of the mirror, and let Bola Tinubu sees who is dividing Nigerians on religious lines!
It is no doubt a painful exercise to have to oppose someone who is perceived as an icon and who in the past, has demonstrated some attributes of a great leader. If anything, it is a proof of the truism that no man is infallible and so, when they fall, it should be duly reported and the individual has to be put in his proper place. Former Lagos State Governor and national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu missed the mark last week when he accused President Goodluck Jonathan of dividing the country along ethnic and religious lines without producing a shred of evidence. As the foremost opposition leader in the country today, his views on all issues especially, on emotive subjects, such as religion carries a lot of weight. But this time and on this occasion, Asiwaju Tinubu goofed badly.
First, his insistence on a genuinely organized national conference, in the face of serious threat to Nigeria’s sovereignty is correct. If he attacks Mr. President on this issue for rejecting the call for a national conference, that is as it should be; for only the wilfully blind would kick against the need for a national dialogue at this point in time or at any other point for that matter. I join Asiwaju Tinubu and other well-meaning Nigerians in calling on Mr. President to see the need for and embrace the call for a national conference to decide on centrifugal forces militating against the oneness of Nigeria. This is because the existing institutions of state has proved incapable of doing so on the basis of moral illegitimacy. This is a matter for another day. Now back to Tinubu’s attack. “Mr. President should stop dividing the country on the basis of religion and ethnicity. Don’t divide Nigeria between Christians and Muslims. We need religious tolerance and inter-faith harmony in this country.… We want unity in diversity for economic prosperity and not divide-and-rule for political adversity,” he said.
Asiwaju Tinubu said these on an occasion when his friends and associates were gathered at Ilesha, Osun State to celebrate a new Chieftaincy title, the Agba-Akin Adinni of Ijesha. His dress for the occasion was that of an Islamic Mujahid, not different from what the Boko Haram sponsors puts on daily. He failed to adduce reason or evidence of the President’s divisive religious antics which could be interpreted to mean a divide-and-rule move. For a man whose words are wont to be taken seriously, it was a gaffe too loose to be responsible. Tinubu may have some mementos to show for his neutral stance on ethnic sentiment, given the fact that he appointed or allowed to be appointed some Igbo residents in Lagos as commissioners in charge of some innocuous portfolios. However, the same thing cannot be said of his religious tolerance-the very high ground on which he attacked Jonathan.
Truly as he admitted: “… born a Muslim as a politician I secure votes from Christians, Muslims and traditionalists”; it can be said that he woo non-Muslims only for electoral purposes, and here are the proofs. Since he became governor in 1999, Tinubu appointed Muslims in larger number into his cabinet and gave them juicy port-folios. When it was time to leave in 2007, he did all he could to ensure that another Muslim succeeded him. If Fashola turned out to be an excellent choice, it is not because he is a Muslim by faith but because he is a fine mind. Governor Rauf Aregbesola was the commissioner for works under governor Tinubu whose support made the former governor of Osun State. Tinubu has literally confined Lagos Christians to the deputy governors position – something of a second fiddle. He is on record to have caused his deputy to be removed twice during his tenure (remember Femi Pedro?) if he perceived they could pose a threat to his electoral maneuvers.
As the kingmaker in 2007, he ensured that a woman was picked by Fashola as running mate who, was also dropped in 2011 for another woman – to avoid a situation when a Christian woman would be strong enough to challenge or bid for the office of the governor. If Tinubu ought to be commended for reserving the deputy governor’s office for gender equity, it is not a proof that he didn’t do so for religious reasons. Yes, the Asiwaju of Lagos and Jagaba of Borgu is married to a Christian woman and often attend church ceremonies along with her. But those who knows him enough vowed that it is all a cosmetics and not a proof of religious tolerance. “He wanted a fine lady at all cost and found one in Oluremi who gave one strong condition. That she be left alone with her Christian faith, to which Bola concurred.” In other words, if and whenever he needs support, he is ready to drop his religious fundamentalism and pick it up again after he has had his way! Talk of a clever politician!!
As someone eying national political leadership, one would have thought that his party would be sensitive enough to ensure religious equity in his party staff structure. Does he not stand accused of religious sentiment if under his watch, the ACN has a Muslim National Chairman, national secretary, national publicity secretary etc? Yet, he is the National Leader of the party! Moreover, of the four states the ACN won in the last general election, three has Muslim governors as against one Christian (who, incidentally is running his 2007 stolen mandate). Perhaps if the Ekiti State governor had run under another party, Tinubu would not have been motivated to support his legal battles by which he reclaimed his mandate. If it has been proven that Tinubu’s religious bigotry is worse than his victim, his political or undemocratic records is not better either. What are the proofs?
The deluge of protests by ACN candidates or aspirants prior to the last general elections is an evidence of Asiwaju’s imposition of his choice boys as against the duly elected choice of the people. Given the performance of opposition parties in the gubernatorial election in Lagos State, the subsequent local government election won 100% by ACN is another proof that Tinubu and his party are not any more democratic than the PDP he was denigrating. The truth is, many probably loathe the PDP than Tinubu but as a participant and watcher of political practice in Nigeria, Tinubu neither represents an ideal opposition leader nor is his party any different from the ruling party at the centre.
Leadership demands more than guts and refined leadership ought to be transparent and exemplary. If as it has been alleged, that Asiwaju Tinubu is neither cleaner nor as liberal as he claims, it is time Asiwaju learn to be a true front line leader in political ethics and religious fidelity. The sum total is that Tinubu is not as excellent as he pretends to be. Being a product of political impurity and the whimsical process which gave birth to civil rule in 1999, Tinubu could not have beaten other candidates to emerge the governor of an urbane and cosmopolitan state like Lagos. The president may be guilty of sundry other accusations or even dereliction of responsibility, but to accuse him of trying to divide Nigerians on religious basis, especially by a person as vulnerable as Tinubu, is to stand truth on its head. An ostrich may bury its head on the sand, but its entire body is right outside and naked. The Agba-Akin Adinni is translated to mean Senior Commander of the faithful in Yoruba Islamic tradition. Step forward Asiwaju in front of the mirror, and let Bola Tinubu sees who is dividing Nigerians on religious lines!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Rehash: The Nigeria Police Farce!
By Sam Onimisi
(An essay on Security Challenges facing Nigeria as it affected the Nigeria Police published on January 2001, the contents of which is as relevant today as then, but for a few details)
Sometimes in July 2000 and for reasons of rising crime wave, the Federal Executive Council was reported to have directed both the Minister for Police Affairs and the Inspector General of Police, to issue weekly report to the President.
By now after six months of weekly reports, the presidency must have been overwhelmed with a deluge of apprehensive security reports from which a lot of orders must have been issued for either more men/women and or equipment for the Nigeria Police Force.
I am not in position to know or tell how such presidential orders affected the efficacy of security management across the country. From reports by the news media and eye witnesses, rather than the crime wave abating, it is escalating at an alarming and dangerous progression. Do we now have to doubt that executive orders from the Commander-in-Chief are not enough and may not be what is required to keep criminals at bay?
Before you ask of what measure is capable of reducing crime, we must remind ourselves of the place and duty of the police in the community. The primary duties of a police force are to prevent and detect crime, arrest and prosecute criminals, enforce law and order and keep public peace. To do these, the Police must be well trained, adequately equipped and above all, be informed and familiar with the people and environment to be policed. The issue of salary must be seen in the light of labour forces and the ability of the government to pay reasonable wages to its workforce, policemen and women inclusive. That is to say that a case for special salary scale for the Police must be considered alongside with other equally vital occupational sectors as the police. For, if the argument of importance is pursued, it may be the case that such argument can be won for the police as for the medical and health workforce, the oil, power and energy workers, the teachers and non-teaching staff of educational institutions etc. At the end, such an argument will be lost by all and won by none. In that case, poor salary cannot be an excuse for police inefficiency and corrupt practices – just as good salaries could not improve NEPA and NITEL services nation-wide! The reason(s) for police ineffectiveness and reprobate conduct lies in a fundamental structural deficiency in the force. Do not agree with me yet as I intend to provide proof and reasons for my views.
The first fundamental defect in the Nigeria Police is the absurdity of having a centralized or unitary police force in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious federal system of government. The proponents of this unitary police in a federation argued that a single police force controlled by the central government guarantees or helps to preserve the unity of Nigeria. They take for granted that such a force cannot be used for sectional and partisan purpose. They assumed that the Head of State or President will be neutral in the use of the police at the federating units or states. What more, they argued that a Central Police will be even-handed and uninterested in local affairs thereby ensuring justice and fairness, among the citizens on one hand and between the citizens and the State on the other. A case they often mention was how the Native Authority Police were used against the opposition parties during the First Republic and how the Central Nigeria Police benevolently saved such weaklings of the political system. Of course, not a few of us can see that these arguments fly against the fact of our experience and realities on the ground.
Defects of Unitary Force
If Nigeria is a federation of many ethnic nationalities, with three tiers of government, why must one out of the three tiers of government control the police in all three? The Constitution recognized state governor as the Chief Security Officer of his state but the same document puts the control of police force in the federation under the control of the federal government alone! As it is today, the Commissioner of Police in the State is theoretically under the state governor, practically under the Inspector General of Police who is absolutely responsible to the President. In other words, the Police Commissioner ‘takes’ orders from the state governor except that he is not bound by such orders unless validated by his Inspector General – in which case, in matters of law and order, the State Police Commissioner is made superior to the state governor. Who then, is the Chief Security Officer of the state – the governor or the police commissioner?
You have not forgotten but in case you need a reminder, our unfortunate past as a conquered people by a renegade native army destroyed not only the civil society but also, its police system. Under the archaic wisdom of the military governments, policemen and police force are inferior to the armed forces; therefore the police were forced to connive with the army to subvert civil authority. Our central police force was easily penetrated by the military coupists as was the case beginning from General Gowon in 1966 era up to General Abdulsalam’s tenure in 1999. Police officers were also appointed as military governors or administrators. No matter how well-equipped a central police force is, they too now see themselves not as law-makers and enforcers combined and therefore far superior to civil authority. The implication is that the present civil regime retained the unitary structure of the past military regimes in the police force. Therefore, any pronouncement by the President to the effect that Police Commissioners should take orders from state governors is mere political gimmicks and has no force of law, because it is against the constitution in operation. Now, everyone even with little sense knows that as society advances so also criminals advances. If criminals are aware that their governor is a paper tiger, who cannot assemble any force or respond rapidly to their criminal activities, is that not a sufficient impetus to be more daring in crime? Let’s put it in another way. A gang of criminals, know that the State Police Command is more or less an occupation force, one not loyal to or under the control of the State’s executive authority, and whose rank and file have little or no stake in the stability of the state. Don’t you think such a gang knows that the first step to success in their criminal business is to infiltrate the ranks of the police and secure their tacit agreement as to the sharing formula of the proceeds of crime? Once the interests of both parties to the crime are guaranteed, it is hooves on each party to play its role well enough while the public could go to hell! The governor could as well climb the roof-top and bleat about “dealing ruthlessly with” the robbers, but while the robbers will be laughing at the governor from their dens, the unitary police occupation force will be busy sharing their spoils. The governor could as well go to hell!
ETHNIC CONTROL
The present central police force is subject to absolute control by any major ethnic or dominant religious group that controls the federal government and can be used as they choose. Do you disagree? O.k, let us examine the facts. When the Hausa/Fulani ethnic group gained control of the federal government in 1960, the Nigeria Police was turned to a sectional force between 1960 and 1999 – Obasanjo’s interlude of 1976 – 1979 notwithstanding. In fact, what is known today as ‘Mobile Police’ was created by the government of the Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Nigeria as an instrument of suppression of the Tiv ethnic minority group in 1963/64. Why? Because the Tiv wanted self-determination and rejected the feudal system of the Hausa/Fulani government of Alhaji Ahmadu Bello.
• In 1981, President Shehu Shagari and Governor Ambrose Ali had a face-off in the old Bendel State in the second republic. The bone of contention was political control of the state. Shagari wanted to show his ‘federal might’. Ali wanted to prove his legal right and gave orders to the State Police Command accordingly. His orders were ignored and so, Ali was publicly humiliated! If the Bendel Police Command were not a force of occupation, Shagari couldn’t have ridden roughshod over the government of Ambrose Ali. This is an evidence of how partisan and pliable a central or unitary police force can be!
• Under President Shehu Shagari, the Nigeria Police headed by Sunday Adewusi as Inspector General became a powerful Third Force, equipped with armored tanks to check, control and minimize the number of victims of communal or campus riots. While the intention was to avert the situation when soldiers were often drafted to University campuses to mow down our students, the government of Shagari used the newly improved police force to cow the oppositions to submission and rigged his way to victory in the so-called 1983 ‘landslide’ victory of the NPN.
• The military governments of Generals Babangida and Abacha turned Nigeria virtually into a police state when security agents were used to gun down defenseless students and pro-democracy groups opposed to their tenure elongation or self-succession plots. Babangida and Abacha merely took a cue from a democratic government of Shehu Shagari or even Ahmadu Bello before them. So, whether in a democratic or military government, a central police force in a multi-ethnic Nigeria has always proved to be a terror machine in the hands of dictators against ethnic, religious and political minorities.
• A central or unitary police force has proved to be a haven of injustice, corruption, nepotism both in promotion and appointment. It nurtures bribery, waters corrupt practices and rewards moral vices in the force as well as in the society. By 1998, there were sixteen Assistant Inspectors General of Police in Nigeria, out of which fourteen were northern Alhajis, only two were Southerners, the present Inspector General (Alh. Musliu Smith) was one of the two while the second was a woman! It was a vivid picture of an ethnic, regional and religious establishment presided over by Alhaji Comassie as Inspector-General.
• A unitary police such as we have is open and subject to remote control. This is because officers from certain ethnic groups can be selectively posted to certain states to accomplish a hidden but discriminative agenda by the powers-that-be in the federal government. Such officers could go ahead to take precipitate action awaiting anticipatory approval from their sponsors, which will surely be given. These are common-place occurrence in all past regimes.
(To be continued)
This Police is a Farce!
• The central police are anti-democratic, uncontrollable by state authority and partisan in inter-ethnic riots and disagreements. Police officers selectively posted to Lagos State were accused of partisanship against the Yoruba in the various riots with the Hausa/Fulani and those selectively posted to Kaduna and Kano was similarly accused of religious bias during the Sharia riots.
• Take a look at the life-style of some top police officers, especially among the past Inspectors General and examine their wealth and tell us how they came about such stupendous riches. In a unitary command structure of the police such as we have, funds meant for the welfare of the rank and file, training and equipment find its way to the personal accounts of our IGs. They can then afford to buy houses in Europe and America where their children schools while the force itself is left naked, ill-equipped and paralyzed.
With the above few examples, it will no longer surprise many of us why the ordinary people in the South-West and South-East today would swear on oath that the OPC and the Bakassi Boys are more effective, more preferable, and are better alternative to the Nigeria Police.
Therefore, any government, political party or politician who prefers a central police force is not just a despot. Such a government, party or politician intends to put the police into the same partisan use as the previous governments. It can also be said that if President Obasanjo believes that a central police force is good, then he might as well turn it into a Yoruba dominated outfit, like his Hausa/Fulani predecessors. In which case, whenever an Igbo man becomes President, the police will also become a useful tool for Ndigbo ascendancy and control. But we all suppose to know-or are we not-that a police force is not meant for personal, partisan or political use?
LOYALTY
In a multi-national federation like Nigeria, only a compact but state or regional police force, familiar with the people, terrain and culture of the people can effectively provide physical security, prevent and detect crime thereby ensuring safety of lives and property. The regional or state police are in consonance with true federalism, open in operation with little or no chance of being remotely controlled as the Nigeria Police is. Because they are stakeholders in the safety and stability of their home state/region, their orientation will be that of natural patriotism and high sense of commitment. To insulate them from undue executive influence and prevent them from being used to do dirty jobs against political opponents, the state or regional law creating them should have a section which stipulates that a policeman/women or officer who lend themselves to be so used, is liable to criminal prosecution within a period of twenty years of the commitment of the offence, whether he/she remain in service or not. With this clause, no reasonable person conscious of the fact that he will remain in the same area after retirement, will ruin his career and reputation or agree to go to jail for doing dirty jobs for some transient power holders. Moreover, relatives of such victims of political vendetta will most likely identify the law enforcers or their families and this knowledge is another insurance against police brutality. The incidence or likelihood of bias or partisanship is thus reduced to the barest minimum.
UNITY
It is laughable to say that a unitary Police force guarantees the unity of Nigeria. This belief, deeply entrenched in certain quarters is the result of enduring colonial mentality of some people. How has a central police force controlled by the central government from Lagos or Abuja saved Nigeria from disintegration? “… There should therefore be one Nigeria Police Force which should serve both Federal and regional purpose. There should be no Regional Police Force although in our view it is desirable that the Regional Government should share financial responsibility for the Nigeria Police with the Federal Government. There must be only one channel by which instructions can be conveyed either to the senior Police Officer (the Inspector General) of the Federation or to the senior officers of each Region (Commissioners of Police). They must emanate from the Federal Government” – Willink Commission Report, 1958.
Britain whose agents made the above recommendation was not and still is not having one British Police Force. The Welsh, the Scots, the Irish and English have separate police forces to police each nationality or ethnic area or region. But successive Nigerian governments, still smarting from colonial mentality could not realize that each nation or country has its own peculiarities which should determine policy options and systems. It was one of the recommendations of the Willink Report to keep other Nigerians under the thumb of their chosen successors, thereby substituting British Colonial overlordship with a local one. The truth is that today, the Nigeria Police as constituted under the sole authority of the federal government is, one of the greatest obstacle not only against unity but also, against democracy and the rule of law. If the defunct Soviet Union could collapse despite their unitary and brutally repressive police force, such a police as we have cannot stop Nigeria from disintegration, if she must! The concept of a central or unitary policy force as a guarantee against disunity is a typical Nigerian Political Farce! Otherwise, there is no country in the world where the unity of a nation-state rests with a central police force! The question of Nigerian unity or the unity of any nation is a function of equity and fairness in the polity, government and resource allocation. The military is known to be more cohesive and coercive than the police, yet in their 30 years of brutal rule, the unity of Nigeria was more on paper than real.
If the Nigerian people so desire and if any federal government so wish, the police force and other such security sectors could have common training schools, attend same courses, wear common uniforms except for a separate state or regional emblems or tags. The other area of difference is their remuneration. Each region or state ought to determine and fix salary scales for their workers based on their resources! This is one way of remaining a true federation, strengthening the regions or states without taking anything away from the central government. The central or federal government is already very powerful, having the control over the Army, Navy and Air force, all of which are federal outfits.
If the fear is that ethnic, religious and political minorities could fall victims of a state or regional police force, this is only a temporary ordeal and such injustice is even a blessing in disguise. By the reason of that adversary and injustice, the spirit of liberty and freedom are being kindled and such minorities or victims would then fight to free themselves in the spirit of democracy and self determination – a fight which has always been won by the just. No centralized police force has or can ever help such minorities, rather it tends to add more to their burden as the various check-points or ‘toll-gates’ at trouble spots proved. It only postpones their freedom day indefinitely.
Do you need more evidence or reasons why a federation needs various police forces for the federating units? Try these!
• Most ‘accidental discharge’ resulting in death of innocent citizens emanated from policemen serving in states other than their own.
• Travelers who took refuge at Police Stations and who got killed or ‘missing’ are often not of the same ethnic group or state with the policemen on duty.
• Arrested criminals who often escaped from custody are in most cases, not of the same state or ethnic stock with the policemen from whom they escape.
• Mounted road blocks at trouble spots where extortion takes place are often manned by policemen from other states or ethnic groups.
• Whenever a complainant becomes the accused, it is often not because he is guilty of any offence, rather in most cases, he is not of the same ethnic group with the policemen on duty or the real accused has paid the ‘right bribe’.
Beside these: Nigerians live in foreign countries and millions of foreigners live in Nigeria. Neither Nigeria nor these foreign countries have sent policemen to protect and guard their nationals. The reciprocal understanding between countries can be replicated between states or regions in Nigeria. After-all, if Hausa/Fulani investments are unsafe in Lagos by reason of state or regional police force, the Yoruba and Igbo properties in Kano and Sokoto will equally be imperiled by the same token.
An unwieldy unitary police force is like the Dead Sea where no animal life survives because it is full of salt water. It is a dark wilderness – a perfect ground for human predators to feed fat on the citizens. Nigeria is too big, too diverse to have a single police force. Even if the President demands a daily security report from the Police, given its present structure, system and orientation, nothing can improve the quality of its service.
If this centralized police system remains in place, we shall continue to have more ethnic militias who could truly provide security for the people. I bet that the OPC, Bakassi Boys, the APC and the Egbesu Boys will continue to flourish. Why not, if not? If the States that instituted state religion through Sharia are free to employ ‘Sharia police’ to enforce Sharia laws, what stops other states from creating their own police force from ethnic militias? The cold truth is that ordinary citizens find more comfort with the ethnic militias than with a surrogate police force who are either inseparable or undistinguished from armed robbers. The federal government should either transfer all police officers, ranks or file to their own states of origin to constitute the states’ police command or let the ethnic militias be! Better still, the states; acting on the principle of a tier of government should establish their own police force without recourse to the federal government.
(An essay on Security Challenges facing Nigeria as it affected the Nigeria Police published on January 2001, the contents of which is as relevant today as then, but for a few details)
Sometimes in July 2000 and for reasons of rising crime wave, the Federal Executive Council was reported to have directed both the Minister for Police Affairs and the Inspector General of Police, to issue weekly report to the President.
By now after six months of weekly reports, the presidency must have been overwhelmed with a deluge of apprehensive security reports from which a lot of orders must have been issued for either more men/women and or equipment for the Nigeria Police Force.
I am not in position to know or tell how such presidential orders affected the efficacy of security management across the country. From reports by the news media and eye witnesses, rather than the crime wave abating, it is escalating at an alarming and dangerous progression. Do we now have to doubt that executive orders from the Commander-in-Chief are not enough and may not be what is required to keep criminals at bay?
Before you ask of what measure is capable of reducing crime, we must remind ourselves of the place and duty of the police in the community. The primary duties of a police force are to prevent and detect crime, arrest and prosecute criminals, enforce law and order and keep public peace. To do these, the Police must be well trained, adequately equipped and above all, be informed and familiar with the people and environment to be policed. The issue of salary must be seen in the light of labour forces and the ability of the government to pay reasonable wages to its workforce, policemen and women inclusive. That is to say that a case for special salary scale for the Police must be considered alongside with other equally vital occupational sectors as the police. For, if the argument of importance is pursued, it may be the case that such argument can be won for the police as for the medical and health workforce, the oil, power and energy workers, the teachers and non-teaching staff of educational institutions etc. At the end, such an argument will be lost by all and won by none. In that case, poor salary cannot be an excuse for police inefficiency and corrupt practices – just as good salaries could not improve NEPA and NITEL services nation-wide! The reason(s) for police ineffectiveness and reprobate conduct lies in a fundamental structural deficiency in the force. Do not agree with me yet as I intend to provide proof and reasons for my views.
The first fundamental defect in the Nigeria Police is the absurdity of having a centralized or unitary police force in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious federal system of government. The proponents of this unitary police in a federation argued that a single police force controlled by the central government guarantees or helps to preserve the unity of Nigeria. They take for granted that such a force cannot be used for sectional and partisan purpose. They assumed that the Head of State or President will be neutral in the use of the police at the federating units or states. What more, they argued that a Central Police will be even-handed and uninterested in local affairs thereby ensuring justice and fairness, among the citizens on one hand and between the citizens and the State on the other. A case they often mention was how the Native Authority Police were used against the opposition parties during the First Republic and how the Central Nigeria Police benevolently saved such weaklings of the political system. Of course, not a few of us can see that these arguments fly against the fact of our experience and realities on the ground.
Defects of Unitary Force
If Nigeria is a federation of many ethnic nationalities, with three tiers of government, why must one out of the three tiers of government control the police in all three? The Constitution recognized state governor as the Chief Security Officer of his state but the same document puts the control of police force in the federation under the control of the federal government alone! As it is today, the Commissioner of Police in the State is theoretically under the state governor, practically under the Inspector General of Police who is absolutely responsible to the President. In other words, the Police Commissioner ‘takes’ orders from the state governor except that he is not bound by such orders unless validated by his Inspector General – in which case, in matters of law and order, the State Police Commissioner is made superior to the state governor. Who then, is the Chief Security Officer of the state – the governor or the police commissioner?
You have not forgotten but in case you need a reminder, our unfortunate past as a conquered people by a renegade native army destroyed not only the civil society but also, its police system. Under the archaic wisdom of the military governments, policemen and police force are inferior to the armed forces; therefore the police were forced to connive with the army to subvert civil authority. Our central police force was easily penetrated by the military coupists as was the case beginning from General Gowon in 1966 era up to General Abdulsalam’s tenure in 1999. Police officers were also appointed as military governors or administrators. No matter how well-equipped a central police force is, they too now see themselves not as law-makers and enforcers combined and therefore far superior to civil authority. The implication is that the present civil regime retained the unitary structure of the past military regimes in the police force. Therefore, any pronouncement by the President to the effect that Police Commissioners should take orders from state governors is mere political gimmicks and has no force of law, because it is against the constitution in operation. Now, everyone even with little sense knows that as society advances so also criminals advances. If criminals are aware that their governor is a paper tiger, who cannot assemble any force or respond rapidly to their criminal activities, is that not a sufficient impetus to be more daring in crime? Let’s put it in another way. A gang of criminals, know that the State Police Command is more or less an occupation force, one not loyal to or under the control of the State’s executive authority, and whose rank and file have little or no stake in the stability of the state. Don’t you think such a gang knows that the first step to success in their criminal business is to infiltrate the ranks of the police and secure their tacit agreement as to the sharing formula of the proceeds of crime? Once the interests of both parties to the crime are guaranteed, it is hooves on each party to play its role well enough while the public could go to hell! The governor could as well climb the roof-top and bleat about “dealing ruthlessly with” the robbers, but while the robbers will be laughing at the governor from their dens, the unitary police occupation force will be busy sharing their spoils. The governor could as well go to hell!
ETHNIC CONTROL
The present central police force is subject to absolute control by any major ethnic or dominant religious group that controls the federal government and can be used as they choose. Do you disagree? O.k, let us examine the facts. When the Hausa/Fulani ethnic group gained control of the federal government in 1960, the Nigeria Police was turned to a sectional force between 1960 and 1999 – Obasanjo’s interlude of 1976 – 1979 notwithstanding. In fact, what is known today as ‘Mobile Police’ was created by the government of the Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Nigeria as an instrument of suppression of the Tiv ethnic minority group in 1963/64. Why? Because the Tiv wanted self-determination and rejected the feudal system of the Hausa/Fulani government of Alhaji Ahmadu Bello.
• In 1981, President Shehu Shagari and Governor Ambrose Ali had a face-off in the old Bendel State in the second republic. The bone of contention was political control of the state. Shagari wanted to show his ‘federal might’. Ali wanted to prove his legal right and gave orders to the State Police Command accordingly. His orders were ignored and so, Ali was publicly humiliated! If the Bendel Police Command were not a force of occupation, Shagari couldn’t have ridden roughshod over the government of Ambrose Ali. This is an evidence of how partisan and pliable a central or unitary police force can be!
• Under President Shehu Shagari, the Nigeria Police headed by Sunday Adewusi as Inspector General became a powerful Third Force, equipped with armored tanks to check, control and minimize the number of victims of communal or campus riots. While the intention was to avert the situation when soldiers were often drafted to University campuses to mow down our students, the government of Shagari used the newly improved police force to cow the oppositions to submission and rigged his way to victory in the so-called 1983 ‘landslide’ victory of the NPN.
• The military governments of Generals Babangida and Abacha turned Nigeria virtually into a police state when security agents were used to gun down defenseless students and pro-democracy groups opposed to their tenure elongation or self-succession plots. Babangida and Abacha merely took a cue from a democratic government of Shehu Shagari or even Ahmadu Bello before them. So, whether in a democratic or military government, a central police force in a multi-ethnic Nigeria has always proved to be a terror machine in the hands of dictators against ethnic, religious and political minorities.
• A central or unitary police force has proved to be a haven of injustice, corruption, nepotism both in promotion and appointment. It nurtures bribery, waters corrupt practices and rewards moral vices in the force as well as in the society. By 1998, there were sixteen Assistant Inspectors General of Police in Nigeria, out of which fourteen were northern Alhajis, only two were Southerners, the present Inspector General (Alh. Musliu Smith) was one of the two while the second was a woman! It was a vivid picture of an ethnic, regional and religious establishment presided over by Alhaji Comassie as Inspector-General.
• A unitary police such as we have is open and subject to remote control. This is because officers from certain ethnic groups can be selectively posted to certain states to accomplish a hidden but discriminative agenda by the powers-that-be in the federal government. Such officers could go ahead to take precipitate action awaiting anticipatory approval from their sponsors, which will surely be given. These are common-place occurrence in all past regimes.
(To be continued)
This Police is a Farce!
• The central police are anti-democratic, uncontrollable by state authority and partisan in inter-ethnic riots and disagreements. Police officers selectively posted to Lagos State were accused of partisanship against the Yoruba in the various riots with the Hausa/Fulani and those selectively posted to Kaduna and Kano was similarly accused of religious bias during the Sharia riots.
• Take a look at the life-style of some top police officers, especially among the past Inspectors General and examine their wealth and tell us how they came about such stupendous riches. In a unitary command structure of the police such as we have, funds meant for the welfare of the rank and file, training and equipment find its way to the personal accounts of our IGs. They can then afford to buy houses in Europe and America where their children schools while the force itself is left naked, ill-equipped and paralyzed.
With the above few examples, it will no longer surprise many of us why the ordinary people in the South-West and South-East today would swear on oath that the OPC and the Bakassi Boys are more effective, more preferable, and are better alternative to the Nigeria Police.
Therefore, any government, political party or politician who prefers a central police force is not just a despot. Such a government, party or politician intends to put the police into the same partisan use as the previous governments. It can also be said that if President Obasanjo believes that a central police force is good, then he might as well turn it into a Yoruba dominated outfit, like his Hausa/Fulani predecessors. In which case, whenever an Igbo man becomes President, the police will also become a useful tool for Ndigbo ascendancy and control. But we all suppose to know-or are we not-that a police force is not meant for personal, partisan or political use?
LOYALTY
In a multi-national federation like Nigeria, only a compact but state or regional police force, familiar with the people, terrain and culture of the people can effectively provide physical security, prevent and detect crime thereby ensuring safety of lives and property. The regional or state police are in consonance with true federalism, open in operation with little or no chance of being remotely controlled as the Nigeria Police is. Because they are stakeholders in the safety and stability of their home state/region, their orientation will be that of natural patriotism and high sense of commitment. To insulate them from undue executive influence and prevent them from being used to do dirty jobs against political opponents, the state or regional law creating them should have a section which stipulates that a policeman/women or officer who lend themselves to be so used, is liable to criminal prosecution within a period of twenty years of the commitment of the offence, whether he/she remain in service or not. With this clause, no reasonable person conscious of the fact that he will remain in the same area after retirement, will ruin his career and reputation or agree to go to jail for doing dirty jobs for some transient power holders. Moreover, relatives of such victims of political vendetta will most likely identify the law enforcers or their families and this knowledge is another insurance against police brutality. The incidence or likelihood of bias or partisanship is thus reduced to the barest minimum.
UNITY
It is laughable to say that a unitary Police force guarantees the unity of Nigeria. This belief, deeply entrenched in certain quarters is the result of enduring colonial mentality of some people. How has a central police force controlled by the central government from Lagos or Abuja saved Nigeria from disintegration? “… There should therefore be one Nigeria Police Force which should serve both Federal and regional purpose. There should be no Regional Police Force although in our view it is desirable that the Regional Government should share financial responsibility for the Nigeria Police with the Federal Government. There must be only one channel by which instructions can be conveyed either to the senior Police Officer (the Inspector General) of the Federation or to the senior officers of each Region (Commissioners of Police). They must emanate from the Federal Government” – Willink Commission Report, 1958.
Britain whose agents made the above recommendation was not and still is not having one British Police Force. The Welsh, the Scots, the Irish and English have separate police forces to police each nationality or ethnic area or region. But successive Nigerian governments, still smarting from colonial mentality could not realize that each nation or country has its own peculiarities which should determine policy options and systems. It was one of the recommendations of the Willink Report to keep other Nigerians under the thumb of their chosen successors, thereby substituting British Colonial overlordship with a local one. The truth is that today, the Nigeria Police as constituted under the sole authority of the federal government is, one of the greatest obstacle not only against unity but also, against democracy and the rule of law. If the defunct Soviet Union could collapse despite their unitary and brutally repressive police force, such a police as we have cannot stop Nigeria from disintegration, if she must! The concept of a central or unitary policy force as a guarantee against disunity is a typical Nigerian Political Farce! Otherwise, there is no country in the world where the unity of a nation-state rests with a central police force! The question of Nigerian unity or the unity of any nation is a function of equity and fairness in the polity, government and resource allocation. The military is known to be more cohesive and coercive than the police, yet in their 30 years of brutal rule, the unity of Nigeria was more on paper than real.
If the Nigerian people so desire and if any federal government so wish, the police force and other such security sectors could have common training schools, attend same courses, wear common uniforms except for a separate state or regional emblems or tags. The other area of difference is their remuneration. Each region or state ought to determine and fix salary scales for their workers based on their resources! This is one way of remaining a true federation, strengthening the regions or states without taking anything away from the central government. The central or federal government is already very powerful, having the control over the Army, Navy and Air force, all of which are federal outfits.
If the fear is that ethnic, religious and political minorities could fall victims of a state or regional police force, this is only a temporary ordeal and such injustice is even a blessing in disguise. By the reason of that adversary and injustice, the spirit of liberty and freedom are being kindled and such minorities or victims would then fight to free themselves in the spirit of democracy and self determination – a fight which has always been won by the just. No centralized police force has or can ever help such minorities, rather it tends to add more to their burden as the various check-points or ‘toll-gates’ at trouble spots proved. It only postpones their freedom day indefinitely.
Do you need more evidence or reasons why a federation needs various police forces for the federating units? Try these!
• Most ‘accidental discharge’ resulting in death of innocent citizens emanated from policemen serving in states other than their own.
• Travelers who took refuge at Police Stations and who got killed or ‘missing’ are often not of the same ethnic group or state with the policemen on duty.
• Arrested criminals who often escaped from custody are in most cases, not of the same state or ethnic stock with the policemen from whom they escape.
• Mounted road blocks at trouble spots where extortion takes place are often manned by policemen from other states or ethnic groups.
• Whenever a complainant becomes the accused, it is often not because he is guilty of any offence, rather in most cases, he is not of the same ethnic group with the policemen on duty or the real accused has paid the ‘right bribe’.
Beside these: Nigerians live in foreign countries and millions of foreigners live in Nigeria. Neither Nigeria nor these foreign countries have sent policemen to protect and guard their nationals. The reciprocal understanding between countries can be replicated between states or regions in Nigeria. After-all, if Hausa/Fulani investments are unsafe in Lagos by reason of state or regional police force, the Yoruba and Igbo properties in Kano and Sokoto will equally be imperiled by the same token.
An unwieldy unitary police force is like the Dead Sea where no animal life survives because it is full of salt water. It is a dark wilderness – a perfect ground for human predators to feed fat on the citizens. Nigeria is too big, too diverse to have a single police force. Even if the President demands a daily security report from the Police, given its present structure, system and orientation, nothing can improve the quality of its service.
If this centralized police system remains in place, we shall continue to have more ethnic militias who could truly provide security for the people. I bet that the OPC, Bakassi Boys, the APC and the Egbesu Boys will continue to flourish. Why not, if not? If the States that instituted state religion through Sharia are free to employ ‘Sharia police’ to enforce Sharia laws, what stops other states from creating their own police force from ethnic militias? The cold truth is that ordinary citizens find more comfort with the ethnic militias than with a surrogate police force who are either inseparable or undistinguished from armed robbers. The federal government should either transfer all police officers, ranks or file to their own states of origin to constitute the states’ police command or let the ethnic militias be! Better still, the states; acting on the principle of a tier of government should establish their own police force without recourse to the federal government.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Security: Looking Beyond the Boko Haram.
By Sam Onimisi
Those with perceptive mind saw it coming, may be not exactly or precisely as it came. They knew that something extraordinary must be done to check the murderous activities of the Boko Haram terrorists and so, the state of emergency declared on the eve of the new year came not as a surprise to a few. What it entails is that individual’s freedom is curtailed and movement is restricted and subject to scrutiny for a period. Stop and search without warrant becomes the norm to which citizens must be subjected. It means therefore that movement of people and goods will be hindered and so, the economy of the areas affected will be slowed down. Perhaps this is a necessary price to pay for our collective amnesia over the menace of Boko Haram and other criminal groups over the years.
The Boko Haram did not start with the regime of President Goodluck Jonathan. They started long ago, changing names, leaders, locations and expanding the scope of their activities. The first group of religious terrorist started in Kano in 1980 and was known as the Maitatsine sect. Hundreds of innocent citizens were killed by members of the sect before President Shehu Shagari reacted to put a stop to their criminal activities. Next is the Tala Kato group which operated in the North East states of Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe and Borno for a brief period. By 1999, when power shifted from the North to the South, there was an upsurge in the activities of religious extremists which caused riots all over the North, with the Central states being the most affected. As a matter of fact there were over 100 ethno – religious riots during the regime of President Obasanjo, more than any regime before him.
Obviously, civil regimes cannot be compared with military regimes in terms of their reaction to criminal activities. The criminals know that unless the sitting government in the states is favorably disposed to their activities, they risked being crushed. Which goes to prove that each riot in the past were almost always supported by the state government or by their patrons in the federal government through whom they got assurance of protection from prosecution. This explains why, after every such induced-riot, a probe panel will be set up and the reports of such panels are never implemented. Also, the authorities who set up the panels either lack the power or the will to ensure that justice is done because most of them were either accomplices to the crime or are patrons of the criminals.
In a polity where certain categories of people are treated as sacred cows and are made or allowed to see themselves as above the law, enforcement of the law is always discriminating and criminals then wax more bold to continue and escalate their exploits. It is not certain if a state of emergency is the first step to take, except that it serves to check their activities from escalating to other areas. Beyond the state of emergency, the federal government should look inwardly to see what exactly is wrong with the system of government that motivate citizens to rebel against public authorities or take law into their hands. The truth is that the entirety of government, i.e. the executive, legislature and judiciary are not trusted by the average citizen even if for different reasons. Some fundamental questions to ask are what is wrong with the geo-political structure and unitary system of government which deprives it the trust, respect and obedience of the people? Why would one ethnic group trust a government while other ethnic groups distrust the same government? Where do we place religion in the governance of Nigeria? Or do Nigerians desire a theocracy more than democracy? What is the place of religion in a federation of ethnic nationalities? Does one ethnic group have the right to impose its own values on others?
If the general perception is that the Islamic North detests the rule of a Southern Christian, and so is fighting it through Boko Haram, what guarantee do we have that when power shifts to the North, a Southern based militia will not retaliate? Can Nigeria afford this cycle of offence and revenge and still remain one? Until these questions are answered properly by the constituents of Nigeria, we could just as well be beating about the bush.
… And the Politics of Petroleum
Since the 1st of January, Nigerians have been buying fuel at N140 a litre in Abuja and a few other cities, while other towns gets the product at N180 per litre. This is sequel to the undeclared debate on whether there was a subsidy on petroleum price or not. The government who insisted that there was subsidy has now removed it, thus the 108% increase in the pump price of fuel. The victory of government against the people will further alienate them from the people and makes mutual trust between both a mirage. The Nigeria Labour Movement represented by the NLC and the TUC are already mobilizing their members and the public for a nation-wide protest. As at Tuesday the 3rd of January, the Niger River Bridge at Koton-Karfi in Kogi State was blocked by protesting youths against the fuel price increase. There were reported cases of sporadic protest in Lagos, Kwara and some other states. How far the protesters could go is yet to be ascertained. The resolve of government to slam the price increase against the people is shown by the number of appeals they ignored.
I am not optimistic that the people are united enough to see us through the protest as the fragile unity against the fuel increase will dissolve in the face of the on-going terror attacks by the bomb-throwing Boko Haram terrorist group-what with the ultimatum they gave Southerners to leave the North! Even without the Haramites, the ranks of the NLC and TUC will soon be infiltrated by government’s hatchet men to scuttle the protest. If the protest will not achieve the desired results, isn’t it better to resolve to monitor the use into which the funds realized from the price increase? What is the gain of a protest that will be brutally put down by the security agencies, not minding how many lives would be lost? What is the rationale of a protest that would soon be abandoned by some groups, reading political motives into it? This is easily possible if some opposition parties take advantage of the protest to score points against the ruling party – which of course, it justly deserves.
The regimes of Babangida and Obasanjo are in records as the worst government in terms of incessant increase in the price of petroleum product in the name of removal of subsidy. Nigerians could not do anything to force their governments to reverse the increases. Their promises to utilize the gains to diversify and improve the economy were never fulfilled – and this is the reason why very few people will believe that President Jonathan will do what he has promised to do. Again, in view of the failure of the past, there is the genuine fear that government will fail again and therefore, the increase must be resisted.
So long as the agricultural and other sectors of the economy are neglected, so long shall we depend on oil as our main income earner. As a people who hardly think of the future but only of the pleasures of the moment, we are sentenced to endless agitation over the poor state of our economy and the resultant poverty development programme of the government. It is an open secret that the devilish cartel whom we blame for stealing our oil money through subsidy are proxies for government functionaries, whether of the past or of the present. Is this not the reason why the apprehension and prosecution of the oil thieves is not an option? Those who wasted our money on our refineries but failed to make them functional are roaming about the streets-free. And they are now insulting us by speaking against the price increase may be just to show us how hypocritical they are!
Those with perceptive mind saw it coming, may be not exactly or precisely as it came. They knew that something extraordinary must be done to check the murderous activities of the Boko Haram terrorists and so, the state of emergency declared on the eve of the new year came not as a surprise to a few. What it entails is that individual’s freedom is curtailed and movement is restricted and subject to scrutiny for a period. Stop and search without warrant becomes the norm to which citizens must be subjected. It means therefore that movement of people and goods will be hindered and so, the economy of the areas affected will be slowed down. Perhaps this is a necessary price to pay for our collective amnesia over the menace of Boko Haram and other criminal groups over the years.
The Boko Haram did not start with the regime of President Goodluck Jonathan. They started long ago, changing names, leaders, locations and expanding the scope of their activities. The first group of religious terrorist started in Kano in 1980 and was known as the Maitatsine sect. Hundreds of innocent citizens were killed by members of the sect before President Shehu Shagari reacted to put a stop to their criminal activities. Next is the Tala Kato group which operated in the North East states of Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe and Borno for a brief period. By 1999, when power shifted from the North to the South, there was an upsurge in the activities of religious extremists which caused riots all over the North, with the Central states being the most affected. As a matter of fact there were over 100 ethno – religious riots during the regime of President Obasanjo, more than any regime before him.
Obviously, civil regimes cannot be compared with military regimes in terms of their reaction to criminal activities. The criminals know that unless the sitting government in the states is favorably disposed to their activities, they risked being crushed. Which goes to prove that each riot in the past were almost always supported by the state government or by their patrons in the federal government through whom they got assurance of protection from prosecution. This explains why, after every such induced-riot, a probe panel will be set up and the reports of such panels are never implemented. Also, the authorities who set up the panels either lack the power or the will to ensure that justice is done because most of them were either accomplices to the crime or are patrons of the criminals.
In a polity where certain categories of people are treated as sacred cows and are made or allowed to see themselves as above the law, enforcement of the law is always discriminating and criminals then wax more bold to continue and escalate their exploits. It is not certain if a state of emergency is the first step to take, except that it serves to check their activities from escalating to other areas. Beyond the state of emergency, the federal government should look inwardly to see what exactly is wrong with the system of government that motivate citizens to rebel against public authorities or take law into their hands. The truth is that the entirety of government, i.e. the executive, legislature and judiciary are not trusted by the average citizen even if for different reasons. Some fundamental questions to ask are what is wrong with the geo-political structure and unitary system of government which deprives it the trust, respect and obedience of the people? Why would one ethnic group trust a government while other ethnic groups distrust the same government? Where do we place religion in the governance of Nigeria? Or do Nigerians desire a theocracy more than democracy? What is the place of religion in a federation of ethnic nationalities? Does one ethnic group have the right to impose its own values on others?
If the general perception is that the Islamic North detests the rule of a Southern Christian, and so is fighting it through Boko Haram, what guarantee do we have that when power shifts to the North, a Southern based militia will not retaliate? Can Nigeria afford this cycle of offence and revenge and still remain one? Until these questions are answered properly by the constituents of Nigeria, we could just as well be beating about the bush.
… And the Politics of Petroleum
Since the 1st of January, Nigerians have been buying fuel at N140 a litre in Abuja and a few other cities, while other towns gets the product at N180 per litre. This is sequel to the undeclared debate on whether there was a subsidy on petroleum price or not. The government who insisted that there was subsidy has now removed it, thus the 108% increase in the pump price of fuel. The victory of government against the people will further alienate them from the people and makes mutual trust between both a mirage. The Nigeria Labour Movement represented by the NLC and the TUC are already mobilizing their members and the public for a nation-wide protest. As at Tuesday the 3rd of January, the Niger River Bridge at Koton-Karfi in Kogi State was blocked by protesting youths against the fuel price increase. There were reported cases of sporadic protest in Lagos, Kwara and some other states. How far the protesters could go is yet to be ascertained. The resolve of government to slam the price increase against the people is shown by the number of appeals they ignored.
I am not optimistic that the people are united enough to see us through the protest as the fragile unity against the fuel increase will dissolve in the face of the on-going terror attacks by the bomb-throwing Boko Haram terrorist group-what with the ultimatum they gave Southerners to leave the North! Even without the Haramites, the ranks of the NLC and TUC will soon be infiltrated by government’s hatchet men to scuttle the protest. If the protest will not achieve the desired results, isn’t it better to resolve to monitor the use into which the funds realized from the price increase? What is the gain of a protest that will be brutally put down by the security agencies, not minding how many lives would be lost? What is the rationale of a protest that would soon be abandoned by some groups, reading political motives into it? This is easily possible if some opposition parties take advantage of the protest to score points against the ruling party – which of course, it justly deserves.
The regimes of Babangida and Obasanjo are in records as the worst government in terms of incessant increase in the price of petroleum product in the name of removal of subsidy. Nigerians could not do anything to force their governments to reverse the increases. Their promises to utilize the gains to diversify and improve the economy were never fulfilled – and this is the reason why very few people will believe that President Jonathan will do what he has promised to do. Again, in view of the failure of the past, there is the genuine fear that government will fail again and therefore, the increase must be resisted.
So long as the agricultural and other sectors of the economy are neglected, so long shall we depend on oil as our main income earner. As a people who hardly think of the future but only of the pleasures of the moment, we are sentenced to endless agitation over the poor state of our economy and the resultant poverty development programme of the government. It is an open secret that the devilish cartel whom we blame for stealing our oil money through subsidy are proxies for government functionaries, whether of the past or of the present. Is this not the reason why the apprehension and prosecution of the oil thieves is not an option? Those who wasted our money on our refineries but failed to make them functional are roaming about the streets-free. And they are now insulting us by speaking against the price increase may be just to show us how hypocritical they are!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
A Smooth Road to Hara-kiri
By Sam Onimisi
The humble mien of President Goodluck Jonathan ordinarily elicits the admiration and support of the common citizens of Nigeria before the 2011 general election. This support presumably translated into votes when he contested for the Presidency, which he won. This was seven months ago and now; the same common citizens are facing serious threats of abandonment by the very government they elected. Three swords are dangling against the head of the ordinary citizen and would certainly chop-off his head, come year 2012: the impending increase in pump price of fuel (deceitfully called subsidy removal); the newly commenced high tariff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and, the advertised return of toll-gates on high-ways-all of which translates into less money in the pockets of the Nigerian while he will be paying through the nose for black-out instead of light.
While contemplating the effects of all these on the take-home pay of salary earners and net profit of self-employed citizens, I relapsed into a snoop and dreamt of a rag-tag army of the masses chasing Goodluck out of the State House back to his village. I woke up only to hear over the radio that Boko-Haram invaded an Air Force secondary school in Kano and killed some airmen after which they escaped. Could the Boko Haram be the same rag-tag army I saw in my dream? I have no means of telling, but Steve Osuji of the Nation newspaper put it differently when he wrote that “you don’t have to be a genius to guess right: it is the same story of some people insisting they must rule or anoint the ruler. I wager that there would not be a bomb-hauling Boko Haram today if a Buhari or Atiku or Babangida instead of a Jonathan, was president. At best, it would remain the harmless, itinerant religious sect that it was up till two years ago. This explains the deafening silence being observed by the northern elite on this particular Haram.” It is obvious that Osuji sees the Boko Haram as the arrow-head of the total rejection of the Southern-Christian rule or leadership by the Islamic North. That may well be the case.
However, “how does this Boko Haramites challenge box the President into somnambulism?” asked a university don. I had to go on my knees to ask and understand the baban grammar of the professor. He meant to say that the President appears to be sleep-walking in his approach to the serious business of governance; and that this attitude couldn’t have been injected into the President by the Boko Haram. I tried or attempted to rationalize the President’s approach as that of a humble servant leader whose modus operandi is that of a quiet unassuming leader who feels for the poor and shares the pains of the citizens with regard to the harsh economic policies the government would have to impose on the people. “His modus Vivendi, even when he was a deputy governor, a governor or even as a vice-president was always the same; a kind of lackadaisical approach to serious or threatening issues of the economy or security. It is more of lack of capacity or courage even than a way of life. He needs to get tough or serious”, the don said. It is a long resolved riddle that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party was not the attraction to vote Goodluck Jonathan. Majority of the voters voted for the person of the president rather than his party as many see it as a cult or occultist society rather than a democratic party. What it adds up to is that the people voted for a president now held hostage to the dictates of his party instead of our desires. However, it is also now clear that President Jonathan seems to understand it the other way round; that his party was the choice of the people and not himself. No one else is deluded that the PDP is not a peculiar damsel people seeks after but a porous disposable platform of political jobbers and power brokers. Need we remind him that he is the President of a country and not of a party? And that he must listen to us more than his party?
May be what we are now seeing is the physical remains of a humble leader but who is now a different person from who we thought we know. Political office is a deadly hardener and without good luck, Jonathan may have been hardened to become impervious to our real needs and wishes. He ought not to have forgotten too soon that most Nigerians suffer from hard-core poverty, what with the all pervading chronic unemployment, under-employment and crass deprivation. The fresh air we were promised has suddenly turned a foul air by the blood-spilling Haramites, aside from the palpable inertia which has pervaded the public service, hijacked by needless power-play and power-politics of the anointed god-fathers and area-mothers.
The President’s homilies on the reasons why oil prices must be increased are understandable but unacceptable. The ruling class or party who is responsible for the past thievery and waste is well known and identifiable. Instead of holding them responsible and making them to account for their theft, they are being treated as ghosts which cannot be reached or touched. For as long as one can remember, leaders have had to impose austerity measures, belt-tightening programmes, structural adjustment programme (SAP), partial removal of oil subsidy etc. In so doing, they had promise to use the money saved in Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) which turned out to be Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited; Green Revolution of Shagari which ended in the pocket of the likes of Umaru Dikko, the various phantom projects of the Babangida regime which were used to settle the infamous IBB boys etc. All through the Abacha, Abdulsalam, recycled Obasanjo regime, the lack-luster Umaru Yar’Adua government and now, the Goodluck Jonathan administration, it is the same old story. If the past governments could not fulfill their promises, what guarantee do we have that this government will make any difference? These are the reasons for the lack of trust or confidence in any government, including the present one. This back-drop of leadership failure alienates the citizens from their governments or leaders, and no amount of preachment can change that. To begin a new year with increase in oil prices, with the return of toll-gates and a new NEPA tariff cannot come from a government that promised the people fresh air, especially when the government is generally perceived to lack the capacity to turn things around. The National Assembly may continue their games of pretence, angling for settlement but pretending to object to oil subsidy removal. Mercifully, Nigerians have come to know this Legislature/Executive game, which is often ‘settled’ through lobby and all forms of inducement.
The inability of government to embark on and carry out far-reaching reforms in the electoral process, in the Judiciary and in the Civil Service teaches us that the economic reforms will also fail. An economy driven not by any visionary or patriotic zeal, but by the voodoo economic principles engineered by the World Bank and IMF can neither grow the economy nor bring relief to the people. I am almost convinced that Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala-led economic team will lead imperceptibly to more serious social chaos. Some people believe it could bring about the political revolution now being experienced by the Arab World; but I doubt this. My doubt is based on the knowledge of the differences between the various ethnic nationalities, the gulf between their world views and religious beliefs and the cowardice prevalent among the people. They may kick-off what looks like a nation-wide protest but along the line, our divergences will abort it as it will be exploited or manipulated by the various cabals. It doesn’t take anything for Mrs. World Bank (sorry, Mrs. Okonjo Iweala) to return to her job in New York. After all, she is not accountable to the people as she was not elected in the first place. For a President against whom a war had been declared by a terrorist group, increase in oil prices, return of toll-gates and a higher electricity tariff amounts to a smooth road to political harakiri.
The humble mien of President Goodluck Jonathan ordinarily elicits the admiration and support of the common citizens of Nigeria before the 2011 general election. This support presumably translated into votes when he contested for the Presidency, which he won. This was seven months ago and now; the same common citizens are facing serious threats of abandonment by the very government they elected. Three swords are dangling against the head of the ordinary citizen and would certainly chop-off his head, come year 2012: the impending increase in pump price of fuel (deceitfully called subsidy removal); the newly commenced high tariff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and, the advertised return of toll-gates on high-ways-all of which translates into less money in the pockets of the Nigerian while he will be paying through the nose for black-out instead of light.
While contemplating the effects of all these on the take-home pay of salary earners and net profit of self-employed citizens, I relapsed into a snoop and dreamt of a rag-tag army of the masses chasing Goodluck out of the State House back to his village. I woke up only to hear over the radio that Boko-Haram invaded an Air Force secondary school in Kano and killed some airmen after which they escaped. Could the Boko Haram be the same rag-tag army I saw in my dream? I have no means of telling, but Steve Osuji of the Nation newspaper put it differently when he wrote that “you don’t have to be a genius to guess right: it is the same story of some people insisting they must rule or anoint the ruler. I wager that there would not be a bomb-hauling Boko Haram today if a Buhari or Atiku or Babangida instead of a Jonathan, was president. At best, it would remain the harmless, itinerant religious sect that it was up till two years ago. This explains the deafening silence being observed by the northern elite on this particular Haram.” It is obvious that Osuji sees the Boko Haram as the arrow-head of the total rejection of the Southern-Christian rule or leadership by the Islamic North. That may well be the case.
However, “how does this Boko Haramites challenge box the President into somnambulism?” asked a university don. I had to go on my knees to ask and understand the baban grammar of the professor. He meant to say that the President appears to be sleep-walking in his approach to the serious business of governance; and that this attitude couldn’t have been injected into the President by the Boko Haram. I tried or attempted to rationalize the President’s approach as that of a humble servant leader whose modus operandi is that of a quiet unassuming leader who feels for the poor and shares the pains of the citizens with regard to the harsh economic policies the government would have to impose on the people. “His modus Vivendi, even when he was a deputy governor, a governor or even as a vice-president was always the same; a kind of lackadaisical approach to serious or threatening issues of the economy or security. It is more of lack of capacity or courage even than a way of life. He needs to get tough or serious”, the don said. It is a long resolved riddle that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party was not the attraction to vote Goodluck Jonathan. Majority of the voters voted for the person of the president rather than his party as many see it as a cult or occultist society rather than a democratic party. What it adds up to is that the people voted for a president now held hostage to the dictates of his party instead of our desires. However, it is also now clear that President Jonathan seems to understand it the other way round; that his party was the choice of the people and not himself. No one else is deluded that the PDP is not a peculiar damsel people seeks after but a porous disposable platform of political jobbers and power brokers. Need we remind him that he is the President of a country and not of a party? And that he must listen to us more than his party?
May be what we are now seeing is the physical remains of a humble leader but who is now a different person from who we thought we know. Political office is a deadly hardener and without good luck, Jonathan may have been hardened to become impervious to our real needs and wishes. He ought not to have forgotten too soon that most Nigerians suffer from hard-core poverty, what with the all pervading chronic unemployment, under-employment and crass deprivation. The fresh air we were promised has suddenly turned a foul air by the blood-spilling Haramites, aside from the palpable inertia which has pervaded the public service, hijacked by needless power-play and power-politics of the anointed god-fathers and area-mothers.
The President’s homilies on the reasons why oil prices must be increased are understandable but unacceptable. The ruling class or party who is responsible for the past thievery and waste is well known and identifiable. Instead of holding them responsible and making them to account for their theft, they are being treated as ghosts which cannot be reached or touched. For as long as one can remember, leaders have had to impose austerity measures, belt-tightening programmes, structural adjustment programme (SAP), partial removal of oil subsidy etc. In so doing, they had promise to use the money saved in Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) which turned out to be Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited; Green Revolution of Shagari which ended in the pocket of the likes of Umaru Dikko, the various phantom projects of the Babangida regime which were used to settle the infamous IBB boys etc. All through the Abacha, Abdulsalam, recycled Obasanjo regime, the lack-luster Umaru Yar’Adua government and now, the Goodluck Jonathan administration, it is the same old story. If the past governments could not fulfill their promises, what guarantee do we have that this government will make any difference? These are the reasons for the lack of trust or confidence in any government, including the present one. This back-drop of leadership failure alienates the citizens from their governments or leaders, and no amount of preachment can change that. To begin a new year with increase in oil prices, with the return of toll-gates and a new NEPA tariff cannot come from a government that promised the people fresh air, especially when the government is generally perceived to lack the capacity to turn things around. The National Assembly may continue their games of pretence, angling for settlement but pretending to object to oil subsidy removal. Mercifully, Nigerians have come to know this Legislature/Executive game, which is often ‘settled’ through lobby and all forms of inducement.
The inability of government to embark on and carry out far-reaching reforms in the electoral process, in the Judiciary and in the Civil Service teaches us that the economic reforms will also fail. An economy driven not by any visionary or patriotic zeal, but by the voodoo economic principles engineered by the World Bank and IMF can neither grow the economy nor bring relief to the people. I am almost convinced that Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala-led economic team will lead imperceptibly to more serious social chaos. Some people believe it could bring about the political revolution now being experienced by the Arab World; but I doubt this. My doubt is based on the knowledge of the differences between the various ethnic nationalities, the gulf between their world views and religious beliefs and the cowardice prevalent among the people. They may kick-off what looks like a nation-wide protest but along the line, our divergences will abort it as it will be exploited or manipulated by the various cabals. It doesn’t take anything for Mrs. World Bank (sorry, Mrs. Okonjo Iweala) to return to her job in New York. After all, she is not accountable to the people as she was not elected in the first place. For a President against whom a war had been declared by a terrorist group, increase in oil prices, return of toll-gates and a higher electricity tariff amounts to a smooth road to political harakiri.
A Smooth Road to Hara-kiri
By Sam Onimisi
The humble mien of President Goodluck Jonathan ordinarily elicits the admiration and support of the common citizens of Nigeria before the 2011 general election. This support presumably translated into votes when he contested for the Presidency, which he won. This was seven months ago and now; the same common citizens are facing serious threats of abandonment by the very government they elected. Three swords are dangling against the head of the ordinary citizen and would certainly chop-off his head, come year 2012: the impending increase in pump price of fuel (deceitfully called subsidy removal); the newly commenced high tariff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and, the advertised return of toll-gates on high-ways-all of which translates into less money in the pockets of the Nigerian while he will be paying through the nose for black-out instead of light.
While contemplating the effects of all these on the take-home pay of salary earners and net profit of self-employed citizens, I relapsed into a snoop and dreamt of a rag-tag army of the masses chasing Goodluck out of the State House back to his village. I woke up only to hear over the radio that Boko-Haram invaded an Air Force secondary school in Kano and killed some airmen after which they escaped. Could the Boko Haram be the same rag-tag army I saw in my dream? I have no means of telling, but Steve Osuji of the Nation newspaper put it differently when he wrote that “you don’t have to be a genius to guess right: it is the same story of some people insisting they must rule or anoint the ruler. I wager that there would not be a bomb-hauling Boko Haram today if a Buhari or Atiku or Babangida instead of a Jonathan, was president. At best, it would remain the harmless, itinerant religious sect that it was up till two years ago. This explains the deafening silence being observed by the northern elite on this particular Haram.” It is obvious that Osuji sees the Boko Haram as the arrow-head of the total rejection of the Southern-Christian rule or leadership by the Islamic North. That may well be the case.
However, “how does this Boko Haramites challenge box the President into somnambulism?” asked a university don. I had to go on my knees to ask and understand the baban grammar of the professor. He meant to say that the President appears to be sleep-walking in his approach to the serious business of governance; and that this attitude couldn’t have been injected into the President by the Boko Haram. I tried or attempted to rationalize the President’s approach as that of a humble servant leader whose modus operandi is that of a quiet unassuming leader who feels for the poor and shares the pains of the citizens with regard to the harsh economic policies the government would have to impose on the people. “His modus Vivendi, even when he was a deputy governor, a governor or even as a vice-president was always the same; a kind of lackadaisical approach to serious or threatening issues of the economy or security. It is more of lack of capacity or courage even than a way of life. He needs to get tough or serious”, the don said. It is a long resolved riddle that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party was not the attraction to vote Goodluck Jonathan. Majority of the voters voted for the person of the president rather than his party as many see it as a cult or occultist society rather than a democratic party. What it adds up to is that the people voted for a president now held hostage to the dictates of his party instead of our desires. However, it is also now clear that President Jonathan seems to understand it the other way round; that his party was the choice of the people and not himself. No one else is deluded that the PDP is not a peculiar damsel people seeks after but a porous disposable platform of political jobbers and power brokers. Need we remind him that he is the President of a country and not of a party? And that he must listen to us more than his party?
May be what we are now seeing is the physical remains of a humble leader but who is now a different person from who we thought we know. Political office is a deadly hardener and without good luck, Jonathan may have been hardened to become impervious to our real needs and wishes. He ought not to have forgotten too soon that most Nigerians suffer from hard-core poverty, what with the all pervading chronic unemployment, under-employment and crass deprivation. The fresh air we were promised has suddenly turned a foul air by the blood-spilling Haramites, aside from the palpable inertia which has pervaded the public service, hijacked by needless power-play and power-politics of the anointed god-fathers and area-mothers.
The President’s homilies on the reasons why oil prices must be increased are understandable but unacceptable. The ruling class or party who is responsible for the past thievery and waste is well known and identifiable. Instead of holding them responsible and making them to account for their theft, they are being treated as ghosts which cannot be reached or touched. For as long as one can remember, leaders have had to impose austerity measures, belt-tightening programmes, structural adjustment programme (SAP), partial removal of oil subsidy etc. In so doing, they had promise to use the money saved in Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) which turned out to be Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited; Green Revolution of Shagari which ended in the pocket of the likes of Umaru Dikko, the various phantom projects of the Babangida regime which were used to settle the infamous IBB boys etc. All through the Abacha, Abdulsalam, recycled Obasanjo regime, the lack-luster Umaru Yar’Adua government and now, the Goodluck Jonathan administration, it is the same old story. If the past governments could not fulfill their promises, what guarantee do we have that this government will make any difference? These are the reasons for the lack of trust or confidence in any government, including the present one. This back-drop of leadership failure alienates the citizens from their governments or leaders, and no amount of preachment can change that. To begin a new year with increase in oil prices, with the return of toll-gates and a new NEPA tariff cannot come from a government that promised the people fresh air, especially when the government is generally perceived to lack the capacity to turn things around. The National Assembly may continue their games of pretence, angling for settlement but pretending to object to oil subsidy removal. Mercifully, Nigerians have come to know this Legislature/Executive game, which is often ‘settled’ through lobby and all forms of inducement.
The inability of government to embark on and carry out far-reaching reforms in the electoral process, in the Judiciary and in the Civil Service teaches us that the economic reforms will also fail. An economy driven not by any visionary or patriotic zeal, but by the voodoo economic principles engineered by the World Bank and IMF can neither grow the economy nor bring relief to the people. I am almost convinced that Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala-led economic team will lead imperceptibly to more serious social chaos. Some people believe it could bring about the political revolution now being experienced by the Arab World; but I doubt this. My doubt is based on the knowledge of the differences between the various ethnic nationalities, the gulf between their world views and religious beliefs and the cowardice prevalent among the people. They may kick-off what looks like a nation-wide protest but along the line, our divergences will abort it as it will be exploited or manipulated by the various cabals. It doesn’t take anything for Mrs. World Bank (sorry, Mrs. Okonjo Iweala) to return to her job in New York. After all, she is not accountable to the people as she was not elected in the first place. For a President against whom a war had been declared by a terrorist group, increase in oil prices, return of toll-gates and a higher electricity tariff amounts to a smooth road to political harakiri.
The humble mien of President Goodluck Jonathan ordinarily elicits the admiration and support of the common citizens of Nigeria before the 2011 general election. This support presumably translated into votes when he contested for the Presidency, which he won. This was seven months ago and now; the same common citizens are facing serious threats of abandonment by the very government they elected. Three swords are dangling against the head of the ordinary citizen and would certainly chop-off his head, come year 2012: the impending increase in pump price of fuel (deceitfully called subsidy removal); the newly commenced high tariff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and, the advertised return of toll-gates on high-ways-all of which translates into less money in the pockets of the Nigerian while he will be paying through the nose for black-out instead of light.
While contemplating the effects of all these on the take-home pay of salary earners and net profit of self-employed citizens, I relapsed into a snoop and dreamt of a rag-tag army of the masses chasing Goodluck out of the State House back to his village. I woke up only to hear over the radio that Boko-Haram invaded an Air Force secondary school in Kano and killed some airmen after which they escaped. Could the Boko Haram be the same rag-tag army I saw in my dream? I have no means of telling, but Steve Osuji of the Nation newspaper put it differently when he wrote that “you don’t have to be a genius to guess right: it is the same story of some people insisting they must rule or anoint the ruler. I wager that there would not be a bomb-hauling Boko Haram today if a Buhari or Atiku or Babangida instead of a Jonathan, was president. At best, it would remain the harmless, itinerant religious sect that it was up till two years ago. This explains the deafening silence being observed by the northern elite on this particular Haram.” It is obvious that Osuji sees the Boko Haram as the arrow-head of the total rejection of the Southern-Christian rule or leadership by the Islamic North. That may well be the case.
However, “how does this Boko Haramites challenge box the President into somnambulism?” asked a university don. I had to go on my knees to ask and understand the baban grammar of the professor. He meant to say that the President appears to be sleep-walking in his approach to the serious business of governance; and that this attitude couldn’t have been injected into the President by the Boko Haram. I tried or attempted to rationalize the President’s approach as that of a humble servant leader whose modus operandi is that of a quiet unassuming leader who feels for the poor and shares the pains of the citizens with regard to the harsh economic policies the government would have to impose on the people. “His modus Vivendi, even when he was a deputy governor, a governor or even as a vice-president was always the same; a kind of lackadaisical approach to serious or threatening issues of the economy or security. It is more of lack of capacity or courage even than a way of life. He needs to get tough or serious”, the don said. It is a long resolved riddle that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party was not the attraction to vote Goodluck Jonathan. Majority of the voters voted for the person of the president rather than his party as many see it as a cult or occultist society rather than a democratic party. What it adds up to is that the people voted for a president now held hostage to the dictates of his party instead of our desires. However, it is also now clear that President Jonathan seems to understand it the other way round; that his party was the choice of the people and not himself. No one else is deluded that the PDP is not a peculiar damsel people seeks after but a porous disposable platform of political jobbers and power brokers. Need we remind him that he is the President of a country and not of a party? And that he must listen to us more than his party?
May be what we are now seeing is the physical remains of a humble leader but who is now a different person from who we thought we know. Political office is a deadly hardener and without good luck, Jonathan may have been hardened to become impervious to our real needs and wishes. He ought not to have forgotten too soon that most Nigerians suffer from hard-core poverty, what with the all pervading chronic unemployment, under-employment and crass deprivation. The fresh air we were promised has suddenly turned a foul air by the blood-spilling Haramites, aside from the palpable inertia which has pervaded the public service, hijacked by needless power-play and power-politics of the anointed god-fathers and area-mothers.
The President’s homilies on the reasons why oil prices must be increased are understandable but unacceptable. The ruling class or party who is responsible for the past thievery and waste is well known and identifiable. Instead of holding them responsible and making them to account for their theft, they are being treated as ghosts which cannot be reached or touched. For as long as one can remember, leaders have had to impose austerity measures, belt-tightening programmes, structural adjustment programme (SAP), partial removal of oil subsidy etc. In so doing, they had promise to use the money saved in Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) which turned out to be Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited; Green Revolution of Shagari which ended in the pocket of the likes of Umaru Dikko, the various phantom projects of the Babangida regime which were used to settle the infamous IBB boys etc. All through the Abacha, Abdulsalam, recycled Obasanjo regime, the lack-luster Umaru Yar’Adua government and now, the Goodluck Jonathan administration, it is the same old story. If the past governments could not fulfill their promises, what guarantee do we have that this government will make any difference? These are the reasons for the lack of trust or confidence in any government, including the present one. This back-drop of leadership failure alienates the citizens from their governments or leaders, and no amount of preachment can change that. To begin a new year with increase in oil prices, with the return of toll-gates and a new NEPA tariff cannot come from a government that promised the people fresh air, especially when the government is generally perceived to lack the capacity to turn things around. The National Assembly may continue their games of pretence, angling for settlement but pretending to object to oil subsidy removal. Mercifully, Nigerians have come to know this Legislature/Executive game, which is often ‘settled’ through lobby and all forms of inducement.
The inability of government to embark on and carry out far-reaching reforms in the electoral process, in the Judiciary and in the Civil Service teaches us that the economic reforms will also fail. An economy driven not by any visionary or patriotic zeal, but by the voodoo economic principles engineered by the World Bank and IMF can neither grow the economy nor bring relief to the people. I am almost convinced that Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala-led economic team will lead imperceptibly to more serious social chaos. Some people believe it could bring about the political revolution now being experienced by the Arab World; but I doubt this. My doubt is based on the knowledge of the differences between the various ethnic nationalities, the gulf between their world views and religious beliefs and the cowardice prevalent among the people. They may kick-off what looks like a nation-wide protest but along the line, our divergences will abort it as it will be exploited or manipulated by the various cabals. It doesn’t take anything for Mrs. World Bank (sorry, Mrs. Okonjo Iweala) to return to her job in New York. After all, she is not accountable to the people as she was not elected in the first place. For a President against whom a war had been declared by a terrorist group, increase in oil prices, return of toll-gates and a higher electricity tariff amounts to a smooth road to political harakiri.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Ojukwu: Because He Was Involved
By Sam Onimisi
A phenomenon is so called because of a uniqueness that is rare and for which there are abundant contrasts. In every facet of human values, he exhibited qualities which are beyond the ordinary even though, he remained with his human foibles still. He stood out as a shinning star in crisis situations and when overwhelmed, he knew how to stoop to conquer or run away in order to be alive to fight again. He was something of all things to all men. He was at the same time a rebel leader, a warrior, a patriot and a realist. He knew and accepted and loved the fact that he was an Igbo man. He never pretended to be someone else so as to be accepted as many others did and are still doing. By his character, we knew him as much as by his fruits, and while he was an embodiment of courage and vision, he was limited by the shortcomings and unduly high expectations of those he led and by circumstances above his control.
The Ikemba Nnewi and Eze Ndigbo Gburugburu, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was born in November, 1933 with a silver spoon as his father, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu was about the first transport millionaire of pre-independence Nigeria. The Ikemba attended the best schools in Nigeria and Britain and became a graduate in 1955. After a brief spell in the service of Eastern Nigeria civil service, he joined the army as if it was a divine prodding. For one thing, it was unthinkable for a University graduate to join the army, looked upon at the time as the place for the dumb heads and never-do-wells. He was a first-born son of his father, which in many cultures, especially in Igbo culture, thrust on him enormous responsibilities. He was not only among the first few graduates who joined the army, he was the very first university product that became a governor when he was appointed the military governor of Eastern Region in 1966 at the age of 33.
The January 1966 coup never had the input nor enjoyed the active support of Ojukwu, although he benefitted from it as it gave rise to his appointment as a military governor. Between the May 1966 pogrom against the Igbo, through the July 1966 counter coup targeted at the Ndigbo and the declaration of the rebellious Republic of Biafra in May 1967, Ojukwu had only one year to prepare for war. Meaning that the conception of Biafra and the preparation for its declaration and consequences were as a result of the events of May and July 1966. If that is the case then two facts emerges from it: one, is that neither Ojukwu nor the Ndigbo had any previous plan to secede and two, that more time would have been needed to plan for succession and its inevitable war. It then means that the Ojukwu leadership of the Ndigbo, whether as military governor of Eastern Region or as head of state of Biafra were purely circumstantial or a divine design. Well, in the realm of conjecture, even the most rational argument or logic could be rubbished if they are contrary to facts. In the same vein, when a people decide to reject anyone or anything regardless of truth and facts, no logic and argument can persuade them otherwise. All of which made perception as the decider of who caused the war and what role any individual played, before, during and after the civil war. However, the truth has a way of surfacing, no matter efforts made to suppress it.
The Ikemba Nnewi was a phenomenon in many ways. He read history and made history in such a way that he is today, history personified. If Biafra is dead, Ojukwu was its life. If Biafra remains a dream, Ojukwu is its inspiration, and if Biafra resurrects and thrive, the virtues of Ojukwu will be its driving force. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu may not have had the entire character traits of the Ndigbo whether of the positive hue or otherwise. For example, late Dr. Nnamidi Azikiwe and Dr. Michael Okpara were leaders of the Ndigbo as Premiers of the Eastern Region of Nigeria for a longer period than the Ikemba. Today, it is arguably if he hasn’t towered above them in acceptability and the personification of the Igbo dream and agenda.
As a man born into wealth and trained in the best schools and raised with high ethical standard of the time, it was a miracle that Ojukwu offered himself for the leadership of a bloody rebellion or secession. His personality and that of his chief opponent General Yakubu Gowon is a study in absolute contrast. As a graduate soldier who was also about one year older than Gowon and who joined the army a few months earlier, he considered himself superior to Gowon and so, was always forced to concede to his rival, whether in the army or during the negotiations before the war. The latent rivalries between Ojukwu and Gowon found expression during the difficult period of the January 1966 coup after which Gowon became Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters and so, superior to Ojukwu who became a military governor of a region. Gowon’s ascension to the headship of the country as well as his triple promotion to the rank of major general exacerbated the rivalry and made the peace talks very difficult. No wonder, the peace talk’s agreement were never implemented by either side to the dispute.
The Eze Ndigbo Gburugburu was a man of straight talks who found himself as both a military as much as a political leader. In his efforts to connect to the people and affect their hearts and direct them to victory, he sometimes abandons his very blunt talks and forayed into double-speak of the politician – which was not his nature. This was when he employs theatrics which he expressed in such an amateur manner that betrayed his thoughts and feelings. He was always forced to put on a face different from his actual face when he had to deal with the larger public on political issues. He knew the Igbo person, culture, traditions and tried his best to reflect those everywhere he found himself. He was totally involved in and with the Ndigbo dreams and dedicated his life to the best interests of the race – even as a sacrificial lamb. If the failure of Biafra and the ills or misfortunes of the Igbo nation in Nigeria is attributed to him, it is rightly so only on the account of the leadership price he had to pay, and not due to his perceived weakness as a leader. It is a pity I didn’t know him as I would have wanted, but I met him once and I dared the lion with a question. What was it?
Knowing that the 1967 – 1970 civil wars did allot of damage to the unity of some ethnic groups in the South, especially between the Yoruba and Igbo about the acclaimed role of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the defeat of Biafra, I know no other person who could factually answer the question than the Ikemba himself. Again, if I fail to seize the occasion and the opportunity, there was no known way of reaching him again to pose my question. The Pro-National Conference Organization (PRONACO) was having a session in Enugu in 2005 to which Chief Ojukwu played host, after which he granted private audience to Chief Anthony Enahoro and a few of PRONACO leaders, including my humble self. And I dared the lion! “Sir, was it true that Chief Awolowo deceived the Igbo people into the was and abandoned them to their fate as some people claimed?”.
He looked at me intensely for sometime and asked Chief Enahoro who I was. After my formal introduction, the Ikemba softened his looks and answered in parables that may be paraphrased thus: “when was Chief Awolowo released from prison? Do you know when we proclaimed the Republic of Biafra? I don’t know who deceived who, but I know a people no one can deceive, and that is my people, the Ndigbo!” I believed him even though he did not pointedly answer my question. As a leader, there are certain myths you need to sustain in order keep yourself miles ahead of the led. Whatever serve to promote such myths is to be tolerated – even if you don’t encourage it. I was left to interpret his answer and I believe him-because he was involved! Rest in peace, the Eze Ndigbo Gburugburu of Nigeria!!
A phenomenon is so called because of a uniqueness that is rare and for which there are abundant contrasts. In every facet of human values, he exhibited qualities which are beyond the ordinary even though, he remained with his human foibles still. He stood out as a shinning star in crisis situations and when overwhelmed, he knew how to stoop to conquer or run away in order to be alive to fight again. He was something of all things to all men. He was at the same time a rebel leader, a warrior, a patriot and a realist. He knew and accepted and loved the fact that he was an Igbo man. He never pretended to be someone else so as to be accepted as many others did and are still doing. By his character, we knew him as much as by his fruits, and while he was an embodiment of courage and vision, he was limited by the shortcomings and unduly high expectations of those he led and by circumstances above his control.
The Ikemba Nnewi and Eze Ndigbo Gburugburu, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was born in November, 1933 with a silver spoon as his father, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu was about the first transport millionaire of pre-independence Nigeria. The Ikemba attended the best schools in Nigeria and Britain and became a graduate in 1955. After a brief spell in the service of Eastern Nigeria civil service, he joined the army as if it was a divine prodding. For one thing, it was unthinkable for a University graduate to join the army, looked upon at the time as the place for the dumb heads and never-do-wells. He was a first-born son of his father, which in many cultures, especially in Igbo culture, thrust on him enormous responsibilities. He was not only among the first few graduates who joined the army, he was the very first university product that became a governor when he was appointed the military governor of Eastern Region in 1966 at the age of 33.
The January 1966 coup never had the input nor enjoyed the active support of Ojukwu, although he benefitted from it as it gave rise to his appointment as a military governor. Between the May 1966 pogrom against the Igbo, through the July 1966 counter coup targeted at the Ndigbo and the declaration of the rebellious Republic of Biafra in May 1967, Ojukwu had only one year to prepare for war. Meaning that the conception of Biafra and the preparation for its declaration and consequences were as a result of the events of May and July 1966. If that is the case then two facts emerges from it: one, is that neither Ojukwu nor the Ndigbo had any previous plan to secede and two, that more time would have been needed to plan for succession and its inevitable war. It then means that the Ojukwu leadership of the Ndigbo, whether as military governor of Eastern Region or as head of state of Biafra were purely circumstantial or a divine design. Well, in the realm of conjecture, even the most rational argument or logic could be rubbished if they are contrary to facts. In the same vein, when a people decide to reject anyone or anything regardless of truth and facts, no logic and argument can persuade them otherwise. All of which made perception as the decider of who caused the war and what role any individual played, before, during and after the civil war. However, the truth has a way of surfacing, no matter efforts made to suppress it.
The Ikemba Nnewi was a phenomenon in many ways. He read history and made history in such a way that he is today, history personified. If Biafra is dead, Ojukwu was its life. If Biafra remains a dream, Ojukwu is its inspiration, and if Biafra resurrects and thrive, the virtues of Ojukwu will be its driving force. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu may not have had the entire character traits of the Ndigbo whether of the positive hue or otherwise. For example, late Dr. Nnamidi Azikiwe and Dr. Michael Okpara were leaders of the Ndigbo as Premiers of the Eastern Region of Nigeria for a longer period than the Ikemba. Today, it is arguably if he hasn’t towered above them in acceptability and the personification of the Igbo dream and agenda.
As a man born into wealth and trained in the best schools and raised with high ethical standard of the time, it was a miracle that Ojukwu offered himself for the leadership of a bloody rebellion or secession. His personality and that of his chief opponent General Yakubu Gowon is a study in absolute contrast. As a graduate soldier who was also about one year older than Gowon and who joined the army a few months earlier, he considered himself superior to Gowon and so, was always forced to concede to his rival, whether in the army or during the negotiations before the war. The latent rivalries between Ojukwu and Gowon found expression during the difficult period of the January 1966 coup after which Gowon became Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters and so, superior to Ojukwu who became a military governor of a region. Gowon’s ascension to the headship of the country as well as his triple promotion to the rank of major general exacerbated the rivalry and made the peace talks very difficult. No wonder, the peace talk’s agreement were never implemented by either side to the dispute.
The Eze Ndigbo Gburugburu was a man of straight talks who found himself as both a military as much as a political leader. In his efforts to connect to the people and affect their hearts and direct them to victory, he sometimes abandons his very blunt talks and forayed into double-speak of the politician – which was not his nature. This was when he employs theatrics which he expressed in such an amateur manner that betrayed his thoughts and feelings. He was always forced to put on a face different from his actual face when he had to deal with the larger public on political issues. He knew the Igbo person, culture, traditions and tried his best to reflect those everywhere he found himself. He was totally involved in and with the Ndigbo dreams and dedicated his life to the best interests of the race – even as a sacrificial lamb. If the failure of Biafra and the ills or misfortunes of the Igbo nation in Nigeria is attributed to him, it is rightly so only on the account of the leadership price he had to pay, and not due to his perceived weakness as a leader. It is a pity I didn’t know him as I would have wanted, but I met him once and I dared the lion with a question. What was it?
Knowing that the 1967 – 1970 civil wars did allot of damage to the unity of some ethnic groups in the South, especially between the Yoruba and Igbo about the acclaimed role of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the defeat of Biafra, I know no other person who could factually answer the question than the Ikemba himself. Again, if I fail to seize the occasion and the opportunity, there was no known way of reaching him again to pose my question. The Pro-National Conference Organization (PRONACO) was having a session in Enugu in 2005 to which Chief Ojukwu played host, after which he granted private audience to Chief Anthony Enahoro and a few of PRONACO leaders, including my humble self. And I dared the lion! “Sir, was it true that Chief Awolowo deceived the Igbo people into the was and abandoned them to their fate as some people claimed?”.
He looked at me intensely for sometime and asked Chief Enahoro who I was. After my formal introduction, the Ikemba softened his looks and answered in parables that may be paraphrased thus: “when was Chief Awolowo released from prison? Do you know when we proclaimed the Republic of Biafra? I don’t know who deceived who, but I know a people no one can deceive, and that is my people, the Ndigbo!” I believed him even though he did not pointedly answer my question. As a leader, there are certain myths you need to sustain in order keep yourself miles ahead of the led. Whatever serve to promote such myths is to be tolerated – even if you don’t encourage it. I was left to interpret his answer and I believe him-because he was involved! Rest in peace, the Eze Ndigbo Gburugburu of Nigeria!!
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