Ojukwu and the spirit of Moses

It was my first year in secondary school in 1990; a quiz had been organized for the seniors, a literary quiz for the form five students. The most brilliant seniors in my school then graced the podium of the Hall of Ilesa Grammar School, my alma mater. Both competing sides answered the questions thrown at them by the moderator, then HOD of the English department, Mr. Femi Adesanmi, now of blessed memory, both sides fought gallantly and had tied. To determine the ultimate winner, a final round of questions was introduced, and one question was thrown at the quiz competitors by the moderator. “Who wrote the book ‘Because I am involved’?”, I was seated somewhere near the front rows in the hall, up shot my hand, as though I had wished none of the seniors to whom the question had been thrown would ever know the answer. Funnily, they didn’t, they chipped in name after name, but could not find the right answer, my tiny hands remained up in the midst of the school hall with all my friends looking at me in consternation. “Chinua Achebe” “Flora Nwapa” “James Ngugi wa Thiongo” “Wole Soyinka” quipped the competitors from both sides as they struggled to mention the right name, on the long run, the moderator recognized that both teams had reached their wits end. He pointed to me and asked me to stand up and tell the answer I thought, “Ojukwu” I shouted at the top of my voice. Mr. Adesanmi was impressed, “Clap for him” he roared, and the whole hall burst out clapping. I was such a star that day, my friend Bukola Elubeku gave me a hug at the end of the competition, “J1!” he said, with a sense of pride.

As the quiz came to an end and we trooped out of the school hall, the moderator, Mr. Adesanmi called me up, “Anjoorin”, I rushed up to the podium to meet him “Yes sir”, he asked me how come I had known the answer to the question which all my seniors did not know, I told him that my father had just bought the book a few months earlier, I had picked it up and read it, as it made an interesting read. He nodded and smiled, I was to become one his most favorite students throughout my days in Ilesa Grammar School because of that singular event. It was such a timely event, as the book had left a huge impression on me as a little child, and even so till today. My ideology as a man has been greatly influenced by the stories I read in that book, and some of the stories remain etched in my memory forever. The writer, the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was to remain one of my biggest Pan-African heroes after reading his biography “Because I am involved” as a little boy in JSS1.

In the book, Ojukwu had written about his childhood and the circumstances that saw him become a soldier. His father was one of the wealthiest men in Nigeria at the time and by far the wealthiest man in Eastern Nigeria; hence he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth. At the young age of 23 he had graduated from Oxford University in London, a rare feat for a black man in those days. Upon his return to Nigeria, his father wanted him to take up a place in the family business and ultimately become the future of his huge business empire, but the young Chukwuemeka was not interested in such a plan, instead he had chosen to join the civil service and later the army. His father would have none of it and had used his influence to make the army reject his son’s application. Realizing that his father’s influence was everywhere in the east, and he could never live his life without people fishing him out as the great Ojukwu’s son, he fled to a distant location where he got conscripted not as an officer, but as an ordinary army recruit. His will and sense of destiny pushed him that far. An Oxford Masters graduate, holding ranks with lowly uneducated folks as an army recruit! Somewhere in the book he even wrote about how he had corrected the uneducated British Sergeant who was required to train his platoon. Showing them the different parts of a gun, the Sergeant had showed them a part of the gun and said “dat am sapli ka” and asked Ojukwu to repeat it after him, however the more educated Ojukwu replied in the queens English “Actually, it is pronounced ‘safety catch’” to the embarrassment of the Sergeant!  Ultimately, news had reached his father that his rebellious son had finally joined the army at the lowest cadre, his resolve was broken and he let go of his stance on his son stepping into his business and the younger Ojukwu found his way back as an officer in the Nigerian Army where he rightfully belonged as a graduate.

What could have propelled the son of the wealthiest man in his time, a young man who had attended one of the best schools in the world, who drove the best cars of his days in England, to come back to Nigeria and refuse a place high up in business and society but instead chose such a lowly place as the rank of a recruit? That was nothing short of a sense of destiny. There must have been a silent voice in the spirit of the man nudging him forward and telling him he had a destiny and role to play among his people. It was the same silent voice which pushed the Biblical Moses towards his destiny, the same spirit which made Moses leave the palace of Pharaoh where he grew up and lived as a crown prince with all the wealth and splendor only to move away to live among his people the Jewish slaves and to ultimately flee to become a simple lowly shepherd in the wilderness. This, I believe was the same spirit of sacrifice which made Chukwuemeka turn his back to wealth and embrace his destiny though laced with hardship and uncertainty. The lesson was to be imprinted on my young mind forever, that this life was not all about money, that the pursuit of destiny was far more important, and that one must stand firmly on the nudging in one’s heart, for so speaks the voice of destiny, more often than not.

A second story from the book that remains etched in my memory was the story of an event that happened between Ojukwu and a white man in London. In those days, blacks were not respected much; in fact there still existed racial segregation in America, and perhaps an unofficial one in England. Blacks, even though free from slavery were systematically reduced to the bottom of the socio-economic ladder by making sure that they could not get anything more than blue-collar jobs. Black community schools did not receive proper funding hence very few blacks proceeded to college to compete with their white counterparts for the better paying white-collar jobs. Hence it was common place to find blacks working in the bars, as shoe-shiners and doing all such manner of odd jobs at the time. According to the book, it so happened that Ojukwu had met some white man somewhere and had done him some kind of favor, he had done it without expecting any compensation from the white man, of course, Ojukwu had grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth and could probably buy the white man many times over, but the white man did not know this and simply thought this young black dude was just one of the many impoverished black men in London who had helped him in the expectation that he might get some little tip. The white man, rather than saying thank you for the help Ojukwu had rendered him, simply searched inside his pockets for some old pound notes and arrogantly slid it into the palms of Ojukwu, expecting the “nigger” to thank him excitedly. The irritated Ojukwu looked at the man with disdain and squeezed the note into a rumple and threw it back at him, saying to him “this time, you’ve got the wrong nigger!” The white man had never seen such a show of confidence from a black man and almost went into a state of shock!

This story was to remain etched in my memory as I grew up and remains on my mind till today. The age-long perception of the black man as a lesser human being than his white counterpart, and the categorization of black nations as beggar nations who had to depend on Foreign Aid from Britain and America to survive. I grew up hating these perceptions. As a young man I listened to a lot Fela and Bob Marley, my father had several record plates of these two iconic singers, who dedicated their lives and music to the fight against imperialist arrogance. I read the stories of Nyerere, Sankara, Lumumba and other African greats. I ultimately became who I am today, a passionate Pan-Africanist. And I have chosen my path; I will speak, write, and do everything within my power to educate the minds of black people all over the world, as long as the breath in me remains, until Africa begins to rise up from this current state of extreme backwardness which has been our lot for centuries. I have coined my ideology, and that is, if we ever wish to turn racism on its head and ultimately kill racism and racial prejudices against the black man, the black man had to rise up and achieve great things for himself, for nothing inspires confidence and commands respect like success. African nations must grow beyond the current bickering over land and resources, and put the people first, develop first world nations, self-grown first world nations, like Chairman Mao guided China to become, and like Lee Kwan Yew guided Singapore to become. Only when this happens, can the black man raise his head everywhere with pride and by our achievements declare that we are no less than any specie of humans anywhere, if we make our own cars, make our own ships and run our own prosperous and independent states. We can say “To hell with foreign aid” and the likes of James Cameron will not have the guts to threaten us with the removal of foreign aid for choosing a culture of our own in our own democratic way!

A third lesson I learnt from Ojukwu’s story, I believe was written in the book “Emeka” written by Frederick Forsyth, a close friend of the late Ikemba. I believe Ojukwu himself wrote the epilogue in that book, and he had stated some illustration that I will never forget. He wrote that one of the fundamental differences between the African and the white man was our thinking system. He then gave an illustration thus: If for example an African was taking a walk and suddenly encountered a mountain on the way, the thought that would come into the African’s mind was that of fear and reverence. He would deem that perhaps some gods were living in the mountain. He would offer a sacrifice and begin to worship the mountain, totally overwhelmed by its size. But he wrote, if it was a white man who came across this mountain, his thoughts would be totally different, he would question how some mound of earth grew to become so big, his inquisitive mind would begin to question how tall and huge this mountain was. He would begin to seek to climb it, and he would not stop until he had climbed it to the top and planted his nation’s flag on the mountain.

This is the third Ojukwu storied etched in my mind. For it rings true! We Africans are a superstitious people, more inclined to worship than to inquisition; more inclined to sycophancy than to challenge things. A verse from scripture captures Ojukwu’s illustration above in a conclusive way “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” There is a need for a paradigm shift in our thinking system in Africa. The perverse and deep seated corruption in African states is an indication of our thinking system. The sit-tight leadership system of African rulers is a product of our thinking system. Before we can be free from the clutches of poverty and backwardness, our thinking has to be changed, restructured, and totally revamped. It will take deliberate and sustained affirmative action to achieve this, once our minds are liberated, our world would be liberated in Africa.

Odumegwu Ojukwu has been one of my childhood heroes, and he remains so until today. After his death a few weeks ago, a huge online debate had ensued among Nigerians of my generation asking if he was a hero or a villain. As these arguments raged, I read silently but did not comment. A lot of young Nigerians thought he was not a hero because he had fought a war against his country, a war in which millions of his Igbo people had died, and then he fled leaving them in great suffering. This seemed to be the grouse many had with him. I considered the facts, re-read the history again, and made up my mind that Ojukwu remains my hero. The circumstances that led to the civil war were clear, the Nzeogwu/Ifeajuna coup of January 1966 was the first blow, Ojukwu was not part of it, and as a matter of fact he helped to destroy the coup. Despite the fact that the coup was led by Igbo Officers like himself, Ojukwu remained the nationalist with unflinching principles he had always been. The counter-coup of July 1966 occurred, this time led by Northern officers, by this time Ojukwu was in command of the Eastern region and ensured that the coup did not succeed in that region. And despite that many southern officers had been slaughtered in the coup, Ojukwu ensured that all Northern Officers under his command be returned to the North where they would be safer. 

The ensuing northern pogrom which saw the death of over 30,000 Igbos led Ojukwu to declare the sovereign state of Biafra, this after he had made many overtures to the Gowon-led federal government to stem the tide of killings of his kinsmen all to no avail. Again, the spirit of Moses in him came to the fore, for after Moses  had discovered who he was, he had witnessed the scene of a fight between an Egyptian and a Jew, and looking right and left seeing no other person around had helped the Jew kill the Egyptian, before he fled the country. Ojukwu could not stand the killing of his brothers and declared war, again, I search my conscience and I do not judge him guilty in any way. Of course, war is not always the best option, but he was a vibrant, young soldier, he reacted the way he knew best.

Ojukwu’s intelligence, passion, dedication, ideals, sense of service and sacrifice, will always endear him to my heart. He is one of my African heroes, one of the few African heroes of Nigerian descent. He was a man true to a cause. He believed in fairness and justice and he fought for it in the way best known to him. Rest in peace, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Ikemba Nnewi, Eze Igbo gburugburu!

Where is the Black African Spring?

In February 2011, TIME magazine had published on its front cover, the faces of young people from different parts of the world, with the caption THE GENERATION CHANGING THE WORLD. It was the season of an avalanche of youth revolutions across the world. Youths, powered by technology had taken on age-long tyrannies and uprooted them; these youths were tired of oppression, injustice, monumental corruption and gross inequalities in the economic equilibrium of their nations. As I stared at the cover page with the faces of these young people, it hit me with a jolt that none of them looked like me – there was no black face among them all.

It is a known fact that Sub Saharan Africa has some of the most disheartening statistics in government corruption and widespread underdevelopment and poverty. Plus, this system has been the order for decades upon decades, yet in the season when youths all across the globe rose up against injustice, the black youth was nowhere to be found. From Tunisia, to Egypt, Syria, Libya, young people demanded emancipation. But Black Africa has remained calm and silent, as though things were okay with us. The revolution rolled from the Arab world to the West: Israel, Spain, London, New York, California, Chile, yet Black Africa has remained silent, as though our living conditions were better off than those of these people who have taken to the streets to voice out their dissatisfaction with their governments.

The average Egyptian lived on $3 per day, while his Nigerian counterpart barely lived on $1.5 a day, yet when Egyptians trooped to the streets against oppression, we, Nigerians merely watched, laughing and arguing about it, suffering and smiling. Former dictator of Tunisia, Ben Ali got to power the same month as current dictator of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe. But when Tunisians trooped out and drove out Ben Ali from power, Zimbabweans took the “siddon look” posture at Mugabe; yet, this man has totally wrecked the economy of his nation, not to mention his extreme wickedness and high-handedness.

What exactly is wrong with Black Africa?

Why is it so easy for us to engage in petty ethnic skirmishes, but when it is time to coagulate thoughts and actions for a worthy struggle, it just never happens? Are we really as smart as we think?

What exactly is wrong with us Nigerians? For how long would we continue to suffer and smile? Yes, we do not have a dictatorship, but the situation of our economy demands that people rise up and ask questions. Our economic situation is far worse than many countries that have dictatorships. Spain, Isreal, and America are all democracies, but the growth of government corruption and the concentration of a vast majority of the nations’ wealth in the hands of a few individuals in power and around power have caused the poor to rise up in revolution. In the past few months, over 400,000 Isrealis took to the streets protesting social injustice and demanding lower costs of living, (you can only find such huge number of people at christian crusades in Nigeria), hundreds of thousands have trooped to the streets in Spain demanding a better way of life. In America, it is the same. A University in California was shut down because all the students took to the streets in solidarity with the “Occupy Movement” protesters and also to protest budget cuts in education. In Chile, the protest of students over the past three months had forced the government to inject a fresh $1.6 billion dollars into the educational system, resulting in a vast upgrade of the school system. In Nigeria, the government has just increased the electricity tariffs, stated that toll gates will be re-introduced on our “deathbed” expressways, and promised to remove fuel subsidy in less than two months. This in the face of continuous corruption of unspeakable proportions, and the lavish remuneration and lifestyle of Nigerian public office holders, yet, everything is “shhhhhhhh……”

Every now and then the government comes up with a fresh set of statistics that the economy is growing.  But where exactly is this growth? Who are the people who benefit from the growth? How evenly distributed is this growth? Do the Nigerians who live below the economic radar, the DE socio-economic class who constitute over 60% of our population ever benefit from this so-called economic growth? Or is this growth just increase in the profits of a few already comfortable billionaires? In every nation there is a level of people who are cut off from all these economic postulations, they neither feel it nor enjoy it, like those who live on social welfare in America. In other parts where there is no welfare, they live by the day. They struggle from day to day to survive. The only thing they could ever enjoy from government is the provision of social amenities and infrastructure. Good roads to transport their wares fast and safely, good public schools to send their children to, electricity to power their homes, potable water in their homes, and security on their streets, yet these amenities are not available in Nigeria. The poor in America and certain other nations of the world enjoy these basic amenities, hence their way of life becomes not as despondent as it would have been. But in Nigeria, over 60% of our people are effectively cut off from any benefit of governance, yet we continue to grill out a living in the most pitiable of conditions, from day to day.

There needs to be a change of order in Nigeria. This current system where the tail wags the dog is not acceptable, neither is it sustainable. Some day we just have to break out of the grip of our fear, take our destiny in our hands and reshape the future of our nation. Youths all over the world have shown the way. The avalanche of revolutions with started in the Arab nations this year has been termed the Arab spring of 2011. I ask, when will the Black African spring come?

A timely song for Nigeria’s 51st Independence day Anniversary

Song Title: Petepete

Album: Tradition

Artiste: 9ice ft. Asa

Sebe le ma sun….. (You shall remain in your state of self-delusion….)

Verse 1:
Ojo re bi ana ta gb'ominira, [It seems like yesterday when we won our Independence]
1960 Nigba yen things easy  (It was in 1960, in those days things were easy)

Gege b’on se wi [As we were told]
T’arugbo, t'omidan lon dunu pa ti gb'ominira [Everyone, young and old rejoiced that we were free at last]
Ominira indeed abi, e wo Naira wa [Independence indeed…see the way our Naira has depreciated]
Ilu polukurumusu [The country is upside down]
T'ewe t'agba lo n j'eyan won nisu [Both young and old are suffering untold hardship]
Ab’e o ri, ewe e ri, sugbon e o fewi [Can’t we all see it, you youths see it, but have refused to talk]
Ab’e o ri, agba e ri atenuje lo fe pa yin [Can’t we all see it, you older ones see it, but you are part of the rot]
Petepete t'ana ni popa
Eni bataba, kolo mofe ni

Chorus


Sebe l'ema sun….(You shall remain in your state of self-delusion….)
Teba sope e 'omo nkankan [If you keep pretending you don’t know what is going on]
Eyin aro lema waa  [It will all come back to haunt you all]
Mewa n'sele o (These things are happening)
Sebe l'ema sun ….(You shall remain in your state of self-delusion….)

Bi eni n wo'seju akan o (Like someone involved in a fruitless endeavor)
Eyin aro lema wa a [It will all come back to haunt you all]

(Mewa n sele o) (These things are happening)

Verse 2:

Kini suuru ti o l'ere? [What's the benefit of patience without reward?]
Kini ise ti ko s'ere? [What's the benefit of working without profit?]
Won sa l'eyan ti o l'oruko [There are many unknown people]
O kuku sise, o de'n rere e [Who do their jobs and get rewarded appropriately]
Ah! e de s'ope a siwa l'omode [Yet you say we are still young and naive]
Nkan sa l'eye n je k'agbado t'ode [ Yet we've achieved many great feats in the past.]
9ice oro gidi l'oso [9ice you've spoken well]
Oro to o ni'lari l'oso [Your words are deep and meaningful]
An'lati fi laakaye si [We must apply common sense and wisdom]
K'asoro sibi t'orowa [And say things the way they are.]

(Back to chorus)

9ice: Bod'asiko 'bo yen [When the election season approaches]
Won a wa s'adugbo [They come into our neighbourhoods]
Won a'somo jeje [Acting all nice and sweet]
E je kan wole tan gbogbo eje tan je da wo kese [Once in power, they forget all the promises they made]
Toba tun se were, la siko ibo [During the elections]
Won ani k'odo tolo bere [They make all the youths queue up.]
Won a senu menren, kalokalo gbe nkan mi senu wuye [They embezzle loads of money but pretend to be saints]
Afira aditu ti iwole, talo dibo fun? [That politician won the elections but no one voted for him]
Pasan ta fi na 'yale o nbe lori aja fun [They forget that what they have sown they shall reap].
Odo e lo tunramu, e ma je an'pagbon ni funfun [Youths shine your eyes, don't let anyone fool you anymore]
Fun yin, mowi temi  (A word is enough for the wise)

Asa: Asegbe kan kosi o [What a man sows that he shall inevitably reap]
Asepamo lowa [Even when such an act is perpetrated in the secret]
Ase sile labo waba [What goes around comes around.]
Emi oti ku, [I am not dead yet]
Mo s'ile s'ise [ I can still work]
Mo sile f'owo r'ewo [I can still use the word of my own hands]
Mo sile tule mise [To change my family, community and nation]

This song was produced by two of my generation’s best, 9ice and Asa, both award winning artistes and a source of pride for Nigeria. I pray that God will uphold them and use them for greater works.

Indeed, like the song says, it is already coming around to haunt us all, the continuous neglect of our responsibilities to our nation, both as leaders and followers. The toll of the state of our nation tells its story on us all, especially youths of my generation who have never known a steady, safe and prosperous Nigeria. Stories of a Nigeria where the railways worked across the length of the nation, where university students ate chicken almost at no cost, where there was safety on the roads and people could travel at any time of night or day without any fear, are just mere stories to us, for we have never known such a Nigeria. Sometimes they do sound unbelievable too.

I grew up listening to King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, and the many music heroes of the seventies and eighties, these men are still alive and kicking, and those of their generation who passed, did pass away at ripe old ages, Orlando Owoh, Sonny Okosuns, Osita Osadebey, Fela Kuti, etc and several others, it is sad to note this generation of Nigerians have already lost notable personalities in the entertainment industry, Dagrin, Chdinma Mbalaso, McLoaf, all young Nigerian entertainers in their twenties and early thirties were lost to road accidents caused by extremely bad roads. It is already haunting us all, the consequences of years of corrupt national life, instituted by bad leaders and maintained by a cooperative, greedy and docile followership.

Our journey to nationhood is yet to begin, however I wish Nigeria and all Nigerians a happy anniversary.  I pray that Nigeria will one day arise and conquer all her conquerors, and that the hope of a prosperous nation where peace and justice reigns shall be restored to all of us.

Happy Independence Day Nigeria.

Who is deceiving Mr. President?

At a time when Nigeria finds herself at the most dangerous precipice ever, with all our old challenges yet unsolved and still beleaguering us, and new ones mounting on them, President Goodluck Jonathan at an inter-denominational service to mark the nation’s 51st Independence anniversary at the National Christian Centre, Abuja on Sunday September 25th 2011, reveled in the encomiums showered on him by the American President Barack Obama and other world leaders.

He had this to say “I just returned from the United Nations General Assembly in the US. (Barak) Obama, when he spoke, commended Nigeria, but back home we are being abused. When we had the Security Council meeting outside the General Assembly, Nigeria was commended, but here we are being abused. When the Presidents of South Africa, Gabon spoke they commended Nigeria but here we are not being appreciated.” Since his inauguration as President of Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan has made many embarrassing gaffes, but this in my opinion, towers them all! Unbelievable!

Since when did praises from foreign Presidents become a yardstick for measuring the achievements of a leader, especially on pressing domestic issues? President Obama praised you, so what? Does Obama know what Nigerians are going through? Does Obama experience the power outages we experience, even before he became US President? Do Obama and all these world leaders drive on Nigerian roads, send their children to Nigerian public schools, or treat themselves at Nigerian public hospitals? Will somebody please wake Mr. President up and ask him to smell the coffee? The level of naivety, indiscretion in speech, cluelessness, outright lack of confidence and depth displayed by Jonathan is appalling, sad and unfortunate, for a man who sits as President over 150 million Africans.

History and global trends have shown that the disposition of the Western bloc of super powers, led by America, towards leaders of developing nations has nothing to do with the type of leadership such leaders give to their own people but by the alignment of such leaders on global issues that either strengthen or threaten the West. The West does not care if a leader provides good roads, potable water, steady electricity, excellent education to his or her citizens as much as they care about that leader’s position on terrorism, communism, and other issues that affect its (the west) dominance in world affairs. Hence it is absolutely delusional and ridiculously naïve of a leader to judge himself and the legacy he would leave with his people by what the West, America or other world leaders think or say of him.

For decades, former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko of DR Congo (formerly Zaire) was a staunch ally of America and the West. At a time when Mobutu’s human rights records were a total failure, when his level of corruption had so crippled his country’s economy that he reportedly borrowed his country money to pay the salaries of its civil service, at a time when there was not a single well-paved road in that country as all the roads were riddled with potholes, including the road that led to his Presidential Palace, at this time the Congolese people were dying in their thousands of starvation, the hospital system was collapsed and the total country was in a death-like situation. Yet America stood solidly behind Mobutu, simply because they needed him at that moment.

They needed him because it was the thick of the cold war. The Soviet Union was on a rampage spreading their communist ideals to several nations of the world, and this was a huge threat to Western capitalism and democracy. Africa was neutral fertile ground yet to be conquered by either side. Mobutu was a strong and well known African leader and the West quickly allied him as whichever side of the global economic struggle that won Mobutu was likely to win Africa. At this time America cared less about the sufferings and deathly situation of the Congolese people or Mobutu’s monumental corruption and poor human right records. Time and again, Mobutu was a special guest at the American White House, and one American President, Ronald Reagan even showered encomiums on him, describing him as "a voice of good sense and goodwill."

However, in time the Soviet Union fell, and the cold war ended, America no longer needed an ally in Mobutu, then he suddenly became a dictator in the eyes of the West. America denounced his leadership and demanded that he institute a democracy in his country. He was no longer a welcome visitor in America. He had outlived his usefulness. In place of those encomiums now came cold shoulders and constant denouncement. Mobutu had been fooled, in his frustration he made this comment about the experience "I am the latest victim of the cold war, no longer needed by the U.S. The lesson is that my support for American policy counts for nothing.” By 1983, Mobutu was a special guest at the American White House, but by 1993, only 10 years after, he could not even get a visa to enter America! Such can be the treachery of the West in their dealings across the globe. President Jonathan, please do not be fooled!

On the flip side of this story is the story of Thomas Sankara, former President of Burkina Faso, a man who was highly popular with his people but not with the West.

Despite being a young military man, Sankara’s sense of nationalism and total selfless devotion for the uplifting of his country remains a watershed in the history of governance in Africa. He led his country to achieve many firsts in Africa. Through his policies on agriculture, he was able to lead his people to double their production of wheat, a staple food source for the Burkinabe. He inspired communities to build their local schools through self-labor and over 350 schools were built. He is the first African leader who clothed his entire army with fabrics grown and sewn in Burkina Faso. His record in public health remains unbeaten in Africa till date, through his unprecedented polio vaccination program. Sankara was so loved by his people that most mornings he jogged across the capital city of Ouagadougou alone for his personal exercises. However, he would not live long, for he was a scathing critic of the West. He opposed importation from the West and urged Burkina Faso and other African countries to strive towards self-dependence. He also opposed the IMF and World Bank strategies imposed on African countries for development. He canvassed for a cancellation of the debts of African nations because in his words “If we do not pay this debt, our creditors will not die, but if we pay it we will die.” He was also a scathing critic of apartheid rule in South Africa. His moves reduced France’s heavy profits from Burkina Faso and his days were numbered. He was assassinated in a palace coup by his friend and confidante, Blaise Compaore, who was inspired and goaded on by the West.

These are facts of history about the role America and the West has played in Africa’s recent history. It is highly unbecoming for the President of Nigeria to be carried away in such empty encomiums that mean little to the encomium givers, for it does not take Obama and Hillary Clinton anything to shower him encomiums to his face and go into their oval office later to refer to him as “our African stooge!” Wake up President Jonathan! You are the President of Nigeria! Africa’s most populous nation and by far a big brother to many other African nations! You cannot afford to be this naïve and puerile, not being able to see beyond the surface and read between the lines. Woe unto a country, whose king is a child, is what the scripture says. Yes, it is a very happy development that for the first time in Nigeria’s history, a Niger-Deltan is our President.

For years, the people of the Niger Delta have suffered greatly while Nigeria has lived off wealth produced at the expense of the Niger Deltan. Yet, for over 40 years, no Niger Deltan ever occupied the highest seat in the land. It is a good thing that at last we have an Ijaw man, from the oil producing area of Nigeria as our President and C-in-C. However, this opportunity must be justified and beneficial to the country as a whole.

Whoever has the ears of President Jonathan should please inform him that he should not be deceived by the praises of the American President and other Presidents. For they are not his citizens, and they measure him by different standards than we do who are Nigerians and feel the brunt of the injustice and insecurity of our society. We want to see him act fast on urgent issues that matter crucially for our everyday lives and existence. The American President himself is working his guts out trying to pass a job plan that is expected to salvage his country’s economic situation. We also want to see a President who is inspirational, confident, decisive, and one who takes action when necessary. He does not need to turn into a lion or a Nebuchadnezzar to do that. We don’t need a President who will constantly inform us or give us the impression that there are certain people in Nigeria who are too powerful for him. He should act decisively when necessary, whether his decisions are correct and elicit praises or wrong and he gets butted for it, at least, he’s got to show leadership, for our country surely needs one right now.

One thousand world leaders might applaud you Mr. President, but please remember that we, the citizens do not feel you yet. Our roads, our schools, our economy, our hospitals, our electricity, the security in our streets, these are the things that matter to us, these are the things that count, and that is where at least eighty percent of your energies must be diverted, for Nigeria is on the brink of death and anarchy, and these are the expectations that we Nigerians will judge you by when posterity calls. After you have been the West’s Nigerian President, please come back home and be our own Nigeria’s President and focus on domestic issues, for they are many that bedevil our nation right now.

Lastly, from the speech of President Jonathan, I have come to conclude that he either reads comments on Facebook and other online social media, or he has someone who does so for him and actively reports back to him regularly. For some of the things he said are trite Facebook clichés. Well, for the online army of Nigerians who comment daily on burning national issues, if there has been any time when we ever needed to scream the loudest about the need for change in our country, that time is now. Perhaps our cries might get to the hears of Mr. President and he can glean from the myriads of suggestions of solutions presented and of course, not rest on his oars thinking that he is doing a good job, for currently he is not at all. President

President Goodluck Jonathan, shine your eyes and don’t be deceived, Obama no send you o!

Black Ingenuity makes America tick.

America is without doubt the greatest and most popular nation on earth. Apart from being the last standing world power in terms of economic and military might, America’s culture, style and hype has continually bewitched the world over several generations, I write as one who has lived in Africa for over thirty years and through the internet has discovered the great influence America has on the peoples of the earth even though these people themselves might not realize it.

Over the past decades, America, and Americans have somehow provided inspiration and leadership to many people across the globe. Admiration for the American way in most parts of the world stems not only from the power of its military might, but by great global media penetration of a somewhat beautifully inviting, sophisticated and liberal culture, what I might call ‘the American swagger.’

For years now, since the fall of fascism, America has had to deal with intense hatred coming from the Middle East, majorly from Islam nations and Islamist terror groups. From the war against Iraq which began in 1990 and which is still ongoing, to the 9/11 incident which has drawn Afghanistan and Pakistan into the war, the major challenge that America has had to face in the past 25 years is that of Islamist terrorism. However, the war against America is not just that of a clash in government policies, or the occupation of some holy land, the war is against a larger, imperial American way of dominance, which seems to make America the beautiful bride amongst the peoples of several nations on the globe, and the superimposition of the American culture over that of other peoples.

When I took a cursory look at the reasons for America’s great popularity and the reason why her culture seems to be the envy of the world, I discovered a gradual, consistent outpour of captivating human talent, carried in super efficient media hype, oozing from the bowels of America which have kept the world stunned over the years. This fact alone accounts for much of the greatness of America, I dare say, even more than what guns and superior war power has achieved for the last standing world super power.

However, it is interesting to note that the exportation of the American way, which has been largely bought by the nations, was done largely by super talented African Americans who over the past century have captivated the world and lent credence and admiration for the United States of America. When I look back at the long centuries of suffering the black man has gone through before gaining his emancipation in America, it is sobering to note that America has gained far more from the African American than the African American will ever gain from the American system.

Let me give my pontifications human faces and chronological dates, and events to substantiate my argument.

Till today, the world holds in awe the almost supernatural talent of Mohammed Ali, the legendary boxer who is touted as the greatest of all time. Ali emerged in the nineteen sixties, with a pretty face, a fast and deadly punch and equally fast and naughty lips. His persona and charisma, plus his fighting skills not only promoted the game of boxing, and the man himself, he also unwittingly became an ambassador of the American swagger. Far away in distant lands, as Ali boxed his opponents to glory and created funny poems out of them, the world fell in love with him, and as the world admired Ali, the world admired America in the subconscious background. Even though Ali stopped fighting in the early seventies, I still remember clearly, growing up in Africa in the early eighties as a young boy, my father telling me fond stories of Ali, the boxer who danced while he boxed, the boxer who taunted his opponents as he beat them up. My father taught me his sayings ‘I sting like a bee, I dance like a butterfly’. My father taught me his pose, ‘I am the world’s greatest’. His fame took American boxing to the Asian nation of the Philippines, where he wrote the famous chant “Its gonna be a killer, a chiller, a thriller as I kill the gorilla in Manila” referring to his eventual defeat of Joe Frazier on that island. He also fought in the Congo, in a match dubbed ‘Rumble in the jungle’ against George Foreman where he equally emerged victorious. In fact, the slang “Ali-Bomaye” became popular in Congo in those days, it meant “Ali, Kill him”. Till today, Mohammed Ali remains loved and revered by many across the globe, and it is a fact that in his days in boxing, he brought glory and admiration to America.

About the same time that Ali lived, lived a clergy who fought against racial discrimination in America, the Revd. Martin Luther King Jnr. who became a global phenomenon through this struggle and the many inspirational speeches he gave while he was alive. His ‘I have a dream’ speech remains the most famous and sought after speech of the 20th century. He lived a life of sacrifice, giving up his many comforts and ultimately his life to see the end of racial discrimination in America. As MLK spoke his way into the hearts of millions of black Americans, he equally spoke his way into the hearts of millions of people across the world. And even though, he denounced the racism in the American system, he also unwittingly carried America’s greatness on his shoulders as he made his way onto the TV screens of families in far away Africa, Asia and the many parts of the world. His courage, and death, ultimately led to the fall of racial discrimination in America and many across the world today still listen and gain inspiration from the speeches and life of Martin Luther King. This man contributed in no small measure to America’s greatness and admiration from the peoples of the earth.

Perhaps the greatest and largest export America has ever given to the world, for which the world might never recover from in many years to come, was a man who single handedly carried America’s name and image to the glorious heights it is today amongst the nations of the earth. The man, Michael Jackson. A man who rose above greatness, he was bigger than legend. Words will fail to describe the fame and greatness of this entertainer. A singer with a rich soulful voice and extraordinary dance moves such as has not being beaten till today. Michael Jackson exploded on the scene in the seventies, eighties and remained a relevant figure till his passing, only a few years back. It is unlikely the world will see an entertainer rise to such levels ever again. He took the world by storm, the world adored him, and the people loved him, in America and beyond America. As he sang and danced his way in those glittering and shiny clothes and shoes, the peoples of the world looked unto him for inspiration; they looked unto America for leadership. It is funny how the talent of a man translates into increased glory for his nation, but really, it does.

I remember in my secondary school days in Ilesa, Osun State, Nigeria, it was during a weekend and my father had decided to go locate his farm somewhere in some hamlet distant into the bush. The farm was so far into the bush that we drove for hours without seeing anything except trees and thick forest. After crossing about three to four villages, we eventually got to the hamlet, Iloba, it was called then. I am talking about real, deep hinterland Africa. Eventually we got to the hamlet and came down from my father’s car, as we walked through the hamlet; we wondered how a people could be living this deep into the forest. My father explained to my brothers and me that all they did was farming, and hunting. Once in a week, a truck would come to purchase all their items and take them to the township where we lived for sale. That was all the people of the hamlet did. There was no school, no hospital, no cemented building, and no aluminum roofs, nothing to suggest the 21st century, for all I care we could as well have been in the pre medieval periods in that hamlet, yet before we left the village we discovered something funny. On the wall of a shed, which we suspect was the palm wine seller’s shed in the hamlet was a large poster, it was the picture of Michael Jackson, with his name clearly written on it and the appellation ‘King of Pop’ with the American flag somewhere on the poster. When we saw it, we laughed all the way to the city, at least someone in that hamlet has been to town before we bantered, but the lesson stuck with me through the years, the level of greatness achieved by this African American, known even in places his imagination would never have thought existed. Propagating the name of his nation alongside, giving America the great, wondrous and grand image it still has in many parts of the world till today.

Somewhere in the late eighties cum early nineties Mike Tyson came on the scene, a young and newly discovered boxing heavy weight champion of the world. In a short while, everyone was talking about Iron Mike Tyson, all across Africa, Asia, everywhere. He beat up professionals like himself in 91 seconds, while people were still queued up purchasing tickets at the gates. Television stations in Nigeria paused their paid programs to show his fights live. He possessed a murderous look and had a certain hairstyle which would eventually become the most popular fad at the time. He cut off all his hair and retained only those on the horizontal top of his cranium. Before long, every young man wanted to barb the ‘Tyson’ style. At a time he was reputed to have possessed over 80 cars, a reflection of his great wealth. Tyson’s reign was short lived as he soon fell in the hands of numerous court cases, an incidence resulting from his inability to control his temper. Successive jail terms sent him into near oblivion and his reign was unpredictably shorter than it should have been. However, it was great while it lasted, it was said that he was the only boxer whose fame had risen as high as that of Ali. Even though the same American system eventually gave him the bad boy tag, he had already championed a cause larger than him, that America is the land of possibilities, where talents happen.

In 2008, a hurricane happened to the entire world at the same time. Such a hurricane I have never seen in my short stay on this side of the planet. The whole world talking about one man at the same time for over a year as he campaigned and ran for the office of the President of the United States. When he laughed, the press carried it, when he smiled, the press carried it and a sigh would go across the nations. When he kissed his wife, the pictures went everywhere all at once; mothers gave birth to children in different nations and named their babies after him, people ignored happenings in their own nations and fixed their gaze steadfastly on the American election. People prayed that he might win the nomination of his party so we could see more of him. When he did, the whole world threw a party and happiness rolled across the peoples of the earth. He was handsome, beautiful to behold. He was a captivating speaker. He was black. Father of two beautiful daughters and husband to one woman. Barak Obama was an occurrence that happened to the world in 2008. He was an event unleashed on an international scene tired of war reports and pictures. His smile captivated the peoples. His fame rose so much within such a short time that before long certain men of faith began to dub him the anti Christ. His speeches were ‘sweeter’ than hip hop concerts. Even in faraway Germany, over 200,000 people defied the cold to listen to him speak. The world had never seen a black American politician like him. On the night of the American elections people across the world did not sleep, as CNN showed people in my country Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Japan, Brazil, even in the Middle Eastern bloc, all the peoples sat tense in their seats waiting for the outcome of the American elections. When the results came out and he won, the whole world exploded in celebrations all at once. I was mad with joy. It was as if he was running for the President of the world. When he spoke on podiums, ladies wept and fainted in their chairs. They called his name without meaning to. By that time, my personal laptop had tonnes of his speeches downloaded from YouTube. The election of Barack Obama as the US President was one of the greatest things to happen to America as her eroding admiration shot back to the heights with that singular event, and the global followership of the election clearly showed how great America was. For there is no other nation on earth, whose election could be as keenly followed like that of America, and with a handsome, young, black man running, the fame of that particular election campaign rose to the heights in global followership.

The analysis above has covered about half a century and clearly shows the contribution of Afro Americans to the greatness and great admiration America has amongst the nations. We might not have so many Afro Americans as astronauts who go to the moon, or who fly the lethal war planes during battles. We may not have many Afro Americans who discover the great scientific discoveries that have led to America’s dominance of the free world in the 21st century, but the truth is, all those things alone would not have been enough to give America the kind of admiration she enjoys across the globe today. What about Russia? Russia or the Soviet Union had as much scientific prowess as America and probably still does have as much till today. China does as well. But these nations do not have the' beauty' and 'celebrity' status of America, the contribution of Afro Americans over the years, albeit unconsciously has lent credence to the greatness of the nation.

This discovery equally underscores the fact that lies in the emancipation of the African continent herself. We have what it takes to emerge out of the ashes of the present day. We have huge human talent, and tremendous natural resources. A new generation of African leaders must emerge who can ingeniously channel our great potentials into real greatness for African nations. That is the challenge before my generation, and your generation. ‘A call on us to shape an uncertain destiny’ borrowing the words of Barack Obama. If these Afro Americans could achieve such greatness for themselves and for the United States of America, then if we get our acts together, here in Africa, the world would bow at our feet. For within the bowels of Africa, are many Mohammed Alis, Michael Jacksons, and Barack Obamas. In God’s name we will locate them, educate them, empower them and unleash them on the world to bring glory back to the motherland. This solemn promise I make on behalf of my generation.

Islamic Banking: Economically ingenious, politically untimely!

Intrigues! That is an apt description for the hue and cry that accompanied the coming of Islamic Banking into Nigeria since it was announced by the CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, in the past month. Indeed, the CBN governor himself, always in the news, has not come under as much public scrutiny and harassment as he has been in the last month, not even the fracas with the national assembly raised as much dust about his person as the announcement about Islamic banking. It has been a month of intrigues in Nigeria, political intrigues, religious intrigues, economic intrigues.

Ever since Lamido Sanusi stepped on the scene as the new CBN governor, it was obvious that Nigeria, and her banking sector was in for a new season. He had been severally accused of being too outspoken, worse still; he had been severally accused of acting out a script and implementing a Northern agenda. When the banking reforms he undertook swept away corrupt Christian bank CEOs, many Christians had begun to view him through the prism, it was not surprising the outcry from the predominantly Christian south of Nigeria as they took Lamido Sanusi to the cleaners over his introduction of Islamic Banking into the nation’s banking sector.

However, the outcry against the introduction of Islamic banking by Christians and Christian leaders in Nigeria, led by CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritshejafor, goes beyond Lamido Sanusi as a person. It is the cry of a people who have lost trust in the religious or ethnic neutrality of any new and altruistic development in our polity. As a nation, we have had a host of untrustworthy leaders who have sold us dummies many times before, asides this, events that have unfolded in Nigeria in the past four months since the April Presidential elections which heated the polity to its boiling point, sufficiently laid the foundation for the current outcry against the introduction of Islamic banking.

Islamic banking or non-interest banking, on its own, as an economic agenda, concept or idea, should have been welcome into our nation with open arms by all, Christians and Muslims alike. For it would provide a much needed panacea to our harsh business environment. In an economy where bank loans have peaked at 34% interest rates, a killing rate, non-interest banking offers an easier platform for small and medium sized businesses who need loans to thrive and expand, but who would literally die, under the current rate regime of our banking sector. Islamic banking could be summarily described as banking in accordance with the dictates of the Quran, the Muslims holy book. Under Islamic banking, or non-interest banking, businesses would obtain loans without interest, but the profits proceeding from the business for which the loan was obtained would be split at an agreed rate between the bank and the loan taker. The bank would not provide loans for the setting up of certain businesses however; these include breweries, tobacco companies, or brothels, which are considered sinful in the religion of Islam. However, all other businesses would be beneficiaries of this new bank. Both Christians and Muslims would have ample opportunity to obtain loans, to buy shares or work with the bank. These were the explanations of Lamido Sanusi as he spoke on Sahara Reporters TV a week ago. Is there anything wrong with this? No! Matter of fact, it is an economic rescue plan that should be welcome in Nigeria. Assessing the introduction of Islamic banking in Nigeria through the eyeglasses of economic merit or demerit, it stands out with merit, advantages to the economy, and for the betterment of the average individual Nigerian. It is, or should be considered an act of economic ingenuity on the part of the CBN.

However, the economics of Islamic banking is not the only matter for consideration as far as Nigerians are concerned. And truly, it would be hypocritical for anyone to view Islamic banking through the eyeglasses of the economics alone. The political circumstances surrounding the arrival of the bank are another issue that must be considered, for in the face of political unrest, matters of economy would take a backstage. Nigeria has had a long history in religious strife between Christians and Muslims. Skirmishes upon skirmishes have taken place. The stories are known to all, but in the last four months, the situation had reached a crescendo. Summarily, in the run up to the elections, a top Northern leader had issued a threat against Jonathan emerging the PDP flag bearer and ultimately President, in his words he had quoted the famous line “Those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable”, this because of the perceived dumping of the zoning policy of PDP which had zoned the Presidency to the North for the moment. Shortly afterwards, rumor spread around the nation that another top Northern leader had issued a threat that if Jonathan emerged President in the 2011 elections, they would make Nigeria ungovernable for him.

The elections came and the North of Nigeria exploded in bloody killings, which started as political killings but quickly turned ethno-religious, as southerners became the target and churches were burnt. It was said that Northern youths had been instructed to declare they did not want “an infidel” as President. Heavy criticisms and local and international outcry greeted the killings as 11 youth corpers serving in the North were also killed in gory manners. As the dust settled over this issue, the violent Islamic sect Boko Haram which had previously been minimally active since the killing of their leader in 2008 suddenly gained a burst of renewed vigor and confidence. By June, barely two months after the election killings, Nigeria recorded her first suicide bomb attack ever, the target being the Nigerian Police headquarters itself in Abuja, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for this bombing, and to prove their point went further to detonate at least ten to twelve bombs in the North Eastern part of Nigeria within the next month. Their demands included the Islamisation of Northern Nigeria, the abolishment of Western education, and implementation of Sharia law in the twelve Northern states of Nigeria.

As all these unrest engulfed Northern Nigeria, the South watched, petrified, distrusting, worried and almost scared. Southern Nigeria is dominated by Christians, and one can expect what the state of mind of the average Nigerian Southerner would be in this spate of ethno-religious violence in the North. While the North of Nigeria boiled, perhaps what made Nigeria as a whole peaceful, was that there were no reprisal attacks from the South, for if there had been reprisal attacks from the South of Nigeria, Nigeria would have boiled over and the peace and thin stability pushed over the brink, President Jonathan would have been thoroughly embarrassed and that might have spelled the beginning of a long season of armed hostilities across Nigeria. But Nigeria survived this, the south acted the sheep, OPC, MEND, and all the ethnic militias down south turned the other cheek as these progressed.

It was in the middle of this that the nation woke up one morning to learn that the CBN Governor had just approved Islamic Banking for the nation! Southern Christians, who had in the past four months silently watched the happenings in the North with dismay, suddenly gained their voices! It was as if the ”battle” had just been brought to their doorsteps, the rapid progression of Northern agitation, both violent and civil, had already created a mindset of bias and distrust. Southern Christians would hear none of it! There was an issue over the re-introduction of Ajami script on the Naira, but that was a minor issue, the Islamic banking was the major issue as far as many Southern Christians were concerned. “How could the CBN governor champion the introduction of Islamic banking into Nigeria?”, people questioned. In the first week of the announcement, the image portrayed by the media was almost as though the CBN herself was taking up “Islamic banking” as its new modus operandi!

All these circumstances, plus the already skewed perspective through which many Christian leaders view Sanusi accounted for the huge public outcry from Christians against Islamic banking as soon as it was announced. Christians did not give a hoot about its economic advantages and the relief it would bring to our already strangulated economy. It was seemingly the culmination of a Northern Islamic agenda! The politics overshadowed the economics. However their fears, worries are legitimate concerns. For the announcement and implementation of Islamic banking, in my opinion was absolutely untimely. It came at the apogee of ethnic and religious distrust in Nigeria. To cap the whole, Muslims across the land, celebrated the arrival of Islamic banking with a tinge of victory. This further deepened the distrust and discomfort of Nigerian Christians with Islamic banking.

The issue with Islamic banking has to be carefully handled. There is a gulf of mutual distrust between the North and South, it has been there for ages, it is no good deepening it. The CBN governor has already demonstrated a lot of equanimity in the face of provocative accusations and insults. For that he should be commended. But he must not cease to continue to educate the people about the truth of Islamic banking. It is not an agenda to Islamize Nigeria. It is only a bank, much like GTB or WEMA or Zenith bank, but it would be run with Islamic precepts and principles. Many Christians do not understand the entire framework of the bank; the word “Islamic” simply put them off and rung off an alarm in their minds. The politics of the day had already skewed their mindsets and this reaction is to be expected, accommodated and maturely dealt with.

I submit to the declaration of Pastor Tunde Bakare, “Nobody can Islamize Nigeria!” It is an impossible mission to try to Islamize Nigeria, a country evenly shared by Muslims and Christians. Any attempt to do so, would unwittingly lead to the death of Nigeria herself. Islamic banking however has come to stay, for it does not flout any laws of our constitution. Moreso, it is good for our ailing economy. However this whole scenario points to a vital lesson. Policies might be sound, but their implementation requires plenty of discretion. The mood of the people must be gauged, especially when such a policy hinges on anything ethnic or religious. The circumstances leading up to the introduction of such a policy must be objectively considered and proper education must accompany it. For perception is many times stronger than reality and a none issue could degenerate into a fracas if not properly handled. In all sincerity, I myself, a Christian southerner, confess my distrust at the announcement of the new bank, until I did proper research, listened to the CBN governor speak about it and weighed the matter in my heart of hearts. So I fully empathize with the antagonists of Islamic banking. Perhaps until the bank starts its operation and our people see that it is just one bank among many, their distrusts might not be healed.

Nigeria’s unity should be preserved, nursed and healed, for it is deeply wounded. We all must work to heal our country, and not drive her ethnic nations further apart. I hope that tolerance, mutual understanding, mutual respect will prevail over this matter of Islamic banking, and all other matters relating to ethnic and religious differences in Nigeria.

Boko Haram: A time for home truths

As-salaam-alaikum.

Time has come for us Nigerians, Christians and Muslims alike, to engage in constructive dialogue over the Boko Haram issue. The spread and continuous rise of the Islamist extremist group to prominence calls for urgent attention, before the domino effect causes a major shaking to the unity of the Nigerian nation, a shaking that will shake her to the roots, the consequences of which no one could tell for now. With killings upon killings, assassinations, and now bomb blasts, Boko Haram, the Islamist extremist group which started like a little organization in Northern Nigeria now sends jitters across the entire nation, so much that even whole state governors, chief security officers of their states, now render apologies to the group. So, it is due time to discuss, let us save ourselves the unnecessary stress of more ethnic and religious tension, mindless waste of human lives, and the continued perpetration of mutual distrust, hatred and bitterness in Nigeria.

Boko Haram’s demands are two-fold, and they have threatened that unless these demands are met, their “holy war” against the Nigerian state will continue. One is the eradication of western education from Nigerian schools and second is the adoption of Sharia law throughout Nigeria. However, as scary, violent and militant as Boko Haram is, their demands CAN NEVER be met in Nigeria, a country evenly shared between Muslims and Christians.

It is therefore pertinent to take a cursory look at the position of Islam and Western education, and seek the truth on this matter. For a moral war must first be won against Boko Haram before a military onslaught, if not, the group will resurge everytime it is crushed with violence and not first with reason.

Is Islam really against western education? How possible would that be, for the picture painted by true Muslims all over the world does not say so. One would wonder from whom the group draws its inspiration. For even in the world’s core Muslim nations, western education is not only allowed, it is practiced, its ingenuity enjoyed and also built upon. The world’s most vocal Islamic voice against the West today is no other than President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.

He has shown no respect or acceptance of the west and their ideals. However the man has a Masters of Science degree and a PhD in Transport Engineering from a University. Who said Islam is against Western education? President Ahmadinejad has indicated his interest in building a nuclear weapon and has gone far in the process. The entire world is terrified at the prospects of a nuclear armed Iran. Nuclear weapon technology is a brain child of western civilization, resting squarely on the shoulders of Albert Einstein’s research and theories! Also late PLO leader Yasser Arafat was a Muslim inspirational leader and he was as much a Muslim as any Muslim could be. He had a degree in Civil Engineering from a University! Somebody, somewhere, is perpetrating a fraud in Nigeria!

In the UAE, a predominantly Islamic state, with an Islamic constitutional monarchy, that country has utilized the benefits of western education to such a level that today, some of the world’s best infrastructure is found there.

The Burj Al Arab, the hotel touted as the only 7-star hotel in the world is situated in Dubai, UAE. Designed by a British architect, built and supported by a crack team of American, British and Arabian engineers and builders. How would they have achieved that without utilizing the revolution of western civilization and education? Somebody, somewhere in Nigeria is perpetrating a fraud!!

The Sharia law on its own, is the natural heritage of the true Muslim. It is a strict set of codes that seeks to instill extreme fear of wrongdoing on a people and to make them live righteously. Its punitive measures are heavy on the wrongdoer but the Koran also has established effective measures to ensure that these heavy punishments are not dealt on people at the slightest provocation. The Sharia system is divinely written for the Muslim however the Sharia law cannot be elevated above the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which is a sovereign secular state. That fact is incontrovertible. That fact can never break, any attempt to break it would lead to an automatic disintegration of Nigeria and ultimately result in turning our motherland into a theater of war. There is no indigenous ethnic nationality in Nigeria that cannot fight a war, but it is better to avert a war, for after wars have been fought, the causes of the war are usually settled at a roundtable! So why the unnecessary and wanton shedding of blood?

With all the problems beleaguering the Nigerian nation, we are the last set of people who should have a group demanding for a boycott of western education. With the level of backwardness in many parts of Nigeria, all hands should be on deck to push this nation forward. The education of our children should be the topmost priority of every man and woman who fears Allah. The Boko Haram crisis is going to take Nigeria backwards and not forward. It will do us more harm than good. It will erode the last diminishing fabrics of nationhood in Nigeria. It is evident that the Boko Haram crisis is the handiwork of a larger agenda, a political agenda. Boko Haram has become the voice of some disgruntlement caused by political infractions. And this huge fraud disguised in religious extremism has fed into the heart of an impoverished populace.

It is not surprising that Boko Haram has its major base of operations in Maiduguri, for in that ancient city, is a huge populace of young people who have never known anything but a lifetime of deprivation and untold poverty, swarming the entire city in their hordes. The level of poverty inflicted on the masses of Nigeria, with particular emphasis now on Northern Nigeria and zeroing in on Maiduguri is appalling. The extent of backwardness is scary. It is so evident, in the marketplaces with the millions of houseflies, in the streets with so many unkempt young people, and in the entire city with its swarming population of Almajiris. Almajiris! That singular crime against humanity perpetrated by Northern leaders against their own people. Yes, a crime against humanity it is for children under ten years old to be allowed to roam the streets in dirty clothes, with dirty bodies, with dirty plates in their hands, hungry, angry, usable for any sinister plot by those who feed them with the little food they get.

I have seen these children and played with them, rubbed bodies with them and I dare say that the judgment of Allah will come someday on those who have created a society that does this to her children. For Saudi Arabia is an Islamic nation, and the capital city and Holy land of all Moslems on earth, and they have not made their children into Almajiris. The UAE and its seven emirates is an Islamic nation, yet their children are well fed and taken care of, with the highest benefits of both Arabic and Western civilizations. The oil money these countries have, we also have enough in Nigeria, so the leaders of Northern Nigeria cannot hoodwink us and make us think the existence and perpetuity of the almajiri is a part of Islam. No! Allah has given to all nations and regions what is required to take good care of their people, the original Arabian Islamic nations have proved it. What we have in Nigeria is nothing short of the wickedness of leaders who have converted the resources of their people into private wealth. Leaders who have become billionaires whilst the majority of their people still live in the dark ages! Yet they perpetuate this status quo with the blindfold of religion! And I am not being regionally prejudiced on this matter of corruption and its consequences on the Nigerian people, for in Western Nigeria where I come from are also plenty of pauperized youths, area boys, who live daily a life of crime, sleeping under bridges and at bus stops, earning their daily food from one chance buses and picking pockets; in the city of Ibadan are a lot of these youths as well, as well as adults, in the inner cities of Beere, Molete, Oluyoro, the very environment bears testimony to the height of man’s injustice to man, while our government officials and politicians live in highly fenced mansions, with looted billions in their accounts, and a motorcade of armed policemen to guard them when they go out! Hmmm! One day bushmeat go catch the hunter o, akwai magana!!

There are conspiracy theories that lay claim to the fact that the North is disgruntled at Goodluck Jonathan’s Presidency and that Northern leaders have lent their support to Boko Haram to destabilize Nigeria as a consequence. While I choose not to believe such a story, yet it is pertinent to mention it. The Presidency is only for four years. If a Northerner is not President now, a Northerner would be President sooner than later. So why destroy the entire unity of the nation now, grow a monstrous behemoth of a terrorist organization simply because the North does not have the Presidency at this one moment! Time flies so fast, one would hardly notice. If this conspiracy theory is true, then something is definitely wrong with us in Nigeria.

And of course, the reality of our nation bears witness to the fact, where the President comes from has never resulted in progress, development and any meaningful economic advantage for the people of the region in question, rather than the further enrichment of a slim group of power mongers and hangers-on who pretend to be politicians and statesmen. The entire eight years of former President Obasanjo’s rule, what meaningful advantage, progress or development did it bring to Western Nigeria?

From 1979, to 1999, Nigeria was ruled by a succession of Northern President and Heads of State, what meaningful positive impact did those 20 years have on the life of the average Northerner, other than an empty euphoric feeling of “It is our time”, and all such delusional feelings of pyrrhic victories? All across Nigeria today is excessive poverty and backwardness, abeg make we give ourselves sense joo!

It is time for the Nigerian government to take a solid and unapologetic stand over Boko Haram before it snowballs into a ravaging movement that would be too much to handle for the Nigerian military. It is time for moral leaders in Nigeria, of Northern origin and Islamic by religion to speak out against this vexatious issue. Men like Gen Buhari; men like Lamido Sanusi. Lamido Sanusi! Yes, it would be interesting to hear the CBN governor speak out now, or he would lose credence as an emerging truly national leader and hero. I have become a huge fan of this man for his forthrightness and candour, for his stand and outspokenness against corruption in the banking sector, for the outspokenness and boldness with which he confronted the national assembly over their excessively huge wages, for his popular and famous “I am a Nigerian” speech. It is time for him to speak again now. Many have argued that Sanusi is an Islamic and Northern apologist. I have argued that he is a man who loves his religion, loves God and has done right by the Nigerian nation in deed and in speech. Now is the time to show that truly, he stands against evil regardless of the ethnic nationality or religion of the evil doer, whether they are corrupt southern Christian Pastors in the banking Industry, or Islamic extremists of Northern origin, where he comes from.

The global bickering between Christianity and Islam has a long, long history. A history told with the sharp blades of metals, the blood of the innocent, untold pain, and bitterly fought wars. Yet, both religions are from God, the same God we Christians call Jehovah, and Muslims Allah. Both religions originate from Abraham, or Ibrahim, the man whom God blessed as the father of many nations, the father of Ishmael, progenitor of Islam, and Isaac progenitor of Christianity. God be praised for sending his son the Lord Jesus Christ to alter the course of history with his teachings on love, forgiveness and the abolishment of the “an eye for eye” custom in Judaism. For if Christ had not come to erect this new faith, and the world had been one of Judaism and Islam, as against Christianity and Islam, the world itself today would be a huge battle ground. The oceans would be red with the blood of humans and the mountains buried under humongous debris of decomposing corpses. But Christ even goes as far as preaching the message which says when you are hit on the right cheek, turn your left cheek to be hit as well but do not strike back. He goes on to say if a man takes your scarf, give him your cloak as well, and He also says, to forgive, forgive and forgive continually, seventy times seven He stipulated we are to forgive our detractors, by that he meant, always to forgive. The summary of His message is “Love your neighbor as yourself; do unto others as you would have them do unto you; if you cannot love the man you see, how can you love God whom you do not see?”

The Boko Haram debacle threatens to stretch the limits of Nigeria’s already weak and tired unity. The January 15th coup of 1966 caused the most severe challenge to our national unity, literally tearing it apart before it was sealed back, albeit weakly, by a civil war. The June 12, 1993 elections also stretched the unity of this country to a dangerous precipice. On both occasions, Nigeria survived it, but not without indelible marks of deep injury. The Boko Haram issue if not properly handled could as well summarize the whole story and drive the nation apart forever. President Goodluck Jonathan has a call on his hands, he needs to take a decisive position over this issue, and the leaders of Northern Nigeria have a lot to do to help preserve the unity of Nigeria. Pray, when are we going to start on a journey to mutual love and true nationhood in Nigeria, to foster progress and development when all we have spent the last 50 years doing is a supremacy battle between the North and the South? Khai!

Nigeria, fix Boko Haram; or Boko Haram will fix Nigeria.

As-salaam-alaikum.

A rivalry of nations

I would like to add my voice to the age long discussion on ethno-religious violence that still beleaguers our dear nation. This is because unfortunately, until we confront the brutal facts about this issue, it will be hard for us to overcome our division and disunity and forge ahead as one true nation. Ethno-religious violence in Nigeria has been with us for over forty years; hence it would be an exercise in myopia not to take a cursory look at the very genesis of the problem.

The first fact that I would put forward is the very formation of our country, Nigeria. Since inception, there have been cracks along certain fault lines that the creators of this nation did not put into proper consideration, and once the foundation is faulty, the whole structure will definitely be problematic. The truth is that Nigeria is not yet a real nation. Nigeria as it currently is, is a country that comprises of nations, many nations in fact. It is an insult to describe the component nations in Nigeria as “tribes”. The Hausa/Fulani is a nation, the Yoruba is a nation, the Igbo are a nation. Even some of the peoples that we call minorities in this country are nations by their own rights.

By the most recent statistics for example, the population of the Yoruba peoples of SW Nigeria is put at about 33 million people! That is the combined population of Denmark, Norway, Scotland, Holland and Belgium all put together! If that is shocking, how about the Hausa/Fulani who are put at about 42 million people? Plus the above 5 European countries, add the populations of Austria and Bulgaria, then you have the population of the Hausa/Fulani peoples of Northern Nigeria!! A combination of 7 different European nations!! Now tell me, how can you call Denmark a nation of Danes, Sweden a nation of the Swedish, Holland the nation of the Dutch peoples and all these countries after their nationalities and now call Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo “tribes”? It simply does not add up. It is funny how the European colonial masters left all the individual countries of Europe alone when many of them like the ones mentioned above are not more than the population of a single state in Nigeria, but came to amalgamate entirely different nations together here in Africa.

Two, these nations that constitute Nigeria, are mostly entirely different from each other in all forms and ramifications; different cultures, different outlooks, different languages, and to a large extent different majority religions! Hence it required a strategic plan to forge a nation out of them, however no such plan was put in place rather than just jumbling them together in a shaky, non-concrete fashion called amalgamation, and then calling them one nation.

Three, from the beginning, these individual nations have existed in mutual distrust! That is the truth!! And this distrust does not exclude any of them. The Yoruba dined and wined with the Hausa, and vice versa with the Igbos, but they never really trusted one another as such or saw themselves as one. They all fought a common enemy in the British for independence from colonial rule. And even though they fought together this common enemy, they each had their individual agendas tucked away in the corners of their nationalistic hearts, Nationalistic, towards their indigenous nations rather than the larger Nigerian nation. This fact is evidenced by the first motion of Independence moved in 1953 by Sir Anthony Enahoro; it was opposed by the Sardauna of Sokoto, as he argued that the North was not ready. This shows the clear pattern of separate individual agendas in the whole gamut of the clamor for self rule in those days.

The mutual distrust among the nations came to the fore and highest level in 1966 in the event of the January 15th 1966 coup in which five Igbo officers killed the most influential and most widely loved Northern leaders at the time, the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Prime Minister of the federation Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, and 3 Key top Northern military officers including Brigadier General Maimalari, Lt Col. Abogo Largema and Colonel Kur Mohammed. Chief S L Akintola, a Yoruba was also killed in the process, but it is my opinion that the Yoruba nation as a whole did not react in pain or vengeance over this because Akintola was never generally loved by the Yoruba; the Yoruba had always preferred Awo’s leadership to Akintola’s and Awo was in jail at this time. Akintola had always been viewed as a stooge of the North in Yorubaland. This marked the beginning of an intense and deep running ethnic bitterness, hatred and belligerence in Nigeria. If the situation could have been brought under control and the damage repaired, everything fell to pieces in the Northern Counter Coup of July 29 the same year, when Northern military officers, led by Col Murtala Mohammed and Lt Col T Y Danjuma planned a bloody coup d’etat that saw to the killing of over 200 Key officers of Igbo origin including then Head of State, Gen JTU Aguiyi Ironsi and several others who were not officers. By this time, the damage done in the distrust and bitterness between the nations had almost reached a point beyond repair. The weeks and months following this saw a thorough cleansing of Igbos in the North and ultimately led to the bitterly fought Biafran civil war.

These stories, with all the complex wrangling and maneuverings that characterized those days might sound like irrelevant and distant history, but the truth is that, the consequences of the events of those days have snowballed into what we see today, where almost every action, posting, statement is mostly first viewed with the “ethnic” mirror by most Nigerians before its real content is examined and given a chance.

What majority of us call “tribalistic” is not necessarily the fault of the people involved. The scheming and maneuverings of individual people in Nigeria to wrest control of power and resources towards their “ethnic” and indigenous constituent nations within the larger Nigerian state, is nothing but what I would describe as a rivalry of nations. These peoples are nations, well endowed with their own brains, nationalists, noblemen, warriors and all manners of personalities.

I believe that the failure of generations of our fathers in confronting these brutal facts which are still very much around is the major failure of the Nigerian state, and we are paying for it in great ways with the monumental loss recorded in ethno-religious conflicts that occur mostly in the North up till today. We have been living in self denial as a people who seek to forge a new nation out of previously existing ones. We have differences, which cannot be denied, however our differences should not necessarily become divisions, or used to pursue divisive ends. But this has not been the case. We usually cry and condemn one who is not one of our own when he does wrong, but when one of ours does the same thing, we seek to protect such a one.

The scars of bitterness in Nigeria run deep, very deep. The gulf of distrust has widened. We play and mingle with each other, but at the slightest provocation, we are at daggers drawn. We cannot continue like this if we want to live in a peaceful nation where justice reigns and everyone feels protected and secure in any part of the nation no matter the ethnicity, nationality or religious inclination of the person.

It is up to this generation to begin to seek ways of forging a better and greater union amongst ourselves. We must return to embrace the age long principles of forgiveness, justice, truth and love. We must sit down and talk. Not with the aim of fostering more disunity or tearing the entire Nigerian entity apart, but talk with each other and together form a plan to move forward in togetherness. To forge a path of national healing, to seek justice and not vengeance, as it is said in Yoruba language, “Af’oro y’aro ii j’oro tan” which simply finds its equivalent in the English version which says “An eye for an eye will only render everyone in the city blind.”

Lastly, the issue of corruption and its attendant consequent ravaging poverty which is the situation of over 70% of our people needs to be addressed. This is because poverty incubates bitterness and hatred. It not only incubates it, it exacerbates it. Like they say “an hungry man is an angry man”. If these lines are diligently and sincerely pursued, I believe we can reach a place of healing and true unity and nationhood someday soon.

We love Nigeria; we could never have another nation, and therefore we must make her work, we will make her work.

What does Adeniyi know about Odili?

In his article titled “The days of the ‘Cabal’ (1) published in THISDAY Newspapers of June 9 2011, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, former spokesman to late President Yar’adua, told a bizarre story of how former Rivers State Governor Peter Odili lost out in becoming Yar’adua’s vice presidential candidate in the race leading up to the PDP primaries in December 2006. This same story had been told before, by Mallam Nasir El Rufai, in a long article he wrote about the late President Yar’adua in 2007. But Adeniyi’s version comes out more explicit, graphical and detailed. The politics of those days are not the matter of my primary concern but the level of hypocrisy contained in that story, the hypocrisy of a nation that is supposed to be fighting a dogged war against corruption, always taunting the mantra “zero tolerance for corruption”

In the story, Adeniyi had clearly stated that he had attended a meeting and he was privy to some information that had helped stop the emergence of Odili as vice presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2007 elections. The information was about Odili’s corruption which was so great that it had been described as a “bombshell” by the ex EFCC boss himself, Nuhu Ribadu. This piece of information, which Nigerians do not have access to was said to have disqualified Peter Odili from becoming Nigeria’s Vice President at the time. The question is, since when did information on a Governor’s corrupt activities become simply a political weapon? Why has this man not been prosecuted if the EFCC boss had in his possession raw facts of the man’s corrupt activities? If this man will not be prosecuted, then EFCC owes Bode George, James Ibori and Dimeji Bankole an apology! Is this how to fight corruption in Nigeria? Where corruption is found but tolerated simply because of political advantage? If this man is sitting on looted billions which rightfully belong to Nigerians, then he should be brought to book, and the people’s money recovered from him and put to better use for the collective good of the people. It is reported that the loot traceable to Odili amounts up to N244 billion!!

I am aware that the EFCC under Ribadu had tried to arrest and prosecute Odili, but the man had obtained a “Perpetual Injunction” restraining the EFCC from arresting him. This had handicapped the watchdog agency as Peter Odili walks around a free man in the nation he had raped and looted. I am not a lawyer but this matter requires some examination. Pray! Whoever steps forward to serve as a public official, to whom public funds is entrusted, must be ready to be accountable to the public at any time he is required to! How can a man serve as Governor for eight years yet refuse to be accountable for his tenure? What a shame! What does he have to hide? If Governor Peter Odili is sure he did not steal Rivers State’s people’s money, then let him come out and present himself for investigation and interrogation! But if he did steal, then let him be answerable for his crimes!

Also, how can a court of law uphold such an ignominious ruling? We are supposed to be fighting corruption in Nigeria if I am not wrong? We are supposed to show zero tolerance for corruption! How does this sort of injunction and ruling help to tackle the demon of corruption and impunity in our society? It is said that Governor Odili’s wife is a highly placed Judge in our nation; that is the more reason why the Governor should have embraced the law and allowed the law to take its rightful course!! A law that protects thieves and state looters is a disservice to the nation. The perpetual injunction restraining the EFCC from arresting and prosecuting Odili should be set aside and vacated as soon as possible in the interest of public good. This would empower the anti-corruption agency to do its rightful job on this case. I call on every anti-corruption group in Nigeria, including CACOL led by Mr. Debo Adeniran; The Youth Anti-Corruption League, led by Mr. Jumoke Ilyasu, at whose instance Dimeji Bankole is currently in the EFCC dragnet, plus all patriots in different groups and individuals of conscience in our nation to take up this matter with every tone of urgency it deserves, as it is an insult on all of us as a people, that a man would serve us yet refuse to be accountable for his tenure of service.

We must insist that Peter Odili be brought to book. If Bankole got no perpetual order restraining justice, Ibori got no such order, neither did Bode George nor all those looters that the EFCC had previously indicted, then what is the rationale or justification for the restraining order protecting Peter Odili from being brought to justice? We must begin to make noise about this matter and place demands at the right quarters. The Supreme Court must vacate this order and allow Odili to be prosecuted. If he is innocent, then he would go free and win the applause of Nigerians, but if not, why prevent him from answering for his crimes?

What does Adeniyi know about Odili? What is the” bombshell” piece of information on Odili that was acquired from the diplomatic mission of a Western country? Nigerians deserve to know. He was not a private businessman, he was a public official. Those who come to equity must come with clean hands it is said. Let the wind blow, and let the arse of the chicken be shown to the world. Perhaps this will help to bring many other looters to book. N244 billion no be small money fa! That kind of money in the hands of Rotimi Amaechi will go a long way in transforming Rivers State, I am sure of that.

It is shameful the level of greed in our leaders, nay our people. There is enough to meet everyone’s need, but not enough to satisfy a few people’s greed. I remember that ageless moral code, taught by the scripture, one which every Nigerian ought never to forget, “The life of a man does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” When will we ever learn this simple lesson in Nigeria? Corruption is the bane of Nigeria’s progress. Corruption is everywhere but our own in Nigeria is alarming, its simply too much. Heists is what we have, not just stealing. Among the suffering millions of our people, J F Kennedy’s ageless warning comes to mind, “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich!” Mr. Adeniyi, what is the bombshell about Odili that you know? Share it and let justice prevail!!