tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33531122120843626442024-03-16T11:53:06.874-07:00Revolution By Other MeansTo Question, to Contemplate and to Act.
Interpreting Nigeria and Her place in the world.
How energies in society, politics, economics, culture and religion interact to generate either progress or peril.Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.comBlogger82125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-47174735628629119012017-03-13T03:58:00.000-07:002017-03-13T03:58:15.381-07:00Why '76 is Definitely Worth Watching<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLlGR6XGBXSS9slmJgfr_1MPJjI1SSHMV6WxpOYbUQZ-M1AFBREwDD7MwAgth3zBAYfPK8ZCFHyg_IPQ8xKsOVoRGYdnk2PGO7d2pyoppBsF6Oppw3AZFpBn8EN4aE9ThYo3UcUf2pBS8/s1600/%252776+movie+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLlGR6XGBXSS9slmJgfr_1MPJjI1SSHMV6WxpOYbUQZ-M1AFBREwDD7MwAgth3zBAYfPK8ZCFHyg_IPQ8xKsOVoRGYdnk2PGO7d2pyoppBsF6Oppw3AZFpBn8EN4aE9ThYo3UcUf2pBS8/s400/%252776+movie+poster.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That
Izu Ojukwu’s excellent film, <i>’76</i> clinched
five awards at the 2017 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards a week ago – notably
earning laurels for best movie and best director – is just reward for one of the
most ambitious projects to emerge from Nollywood recently. Starring Ramsey
Nouah and Rita Dominic and working off a screenplay by Emmanuel Okomanyi, with
a $3 million budget, <i>’76</i> was a gamble
that paid off and bodes well for the prospects of new generation film makers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
movie’s strongest point is its rigorous attention to historical detail. It adroitly
simulates the sights and sounds of the mid 1970s, through an uncommon diligence
in assimilating the right period props and an intelligent use of historical
footage. The viewer is transported back in time to an era now increasingly dim
in the national memory. By the time, the movie ended to the strings of Bongos
Ikwue’s Cockcrow at Dawn, I was positively nostalgic. Part political thriller,
part romantic drama, it is the story of a military intelligence officer, Captain
Joseph Dewah (Nouah) who is drawn into the conspiracy to topple the Head of State,
General Murtala Muhammed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A
key subplot involves his relationship with Suzie (Rita Dominic). As an Igbo,
her family, represented by her incensed father and a pesky younger brother, are
opposed to her relationship with Dewah, a Middle Belter, who fought on the
other side during the civil war and for whom she is now pregnant. Their relationship,
fraught with filial mistrust, and burdened by Dewah’s own thoroughbred dedication
to duty and his compulsive secrecy, is also a metaphor for the nation’s
post-war reconciliation. It is a microcosmic human experiment interrogating the
possibility that love can surmount the constant pressure of bitter memories and
inter-ethnic antipathies harvested from the grim experience of the civil war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Shot
on location in Mokola Barracks, Ibadan, <i>’76</i>
realistically portrays the sometimes claustrophobic nature of life in the army
barracks; the altercations and rivalries that flare up from having too many
alpha male egos in close proximity and the ease with which enemies are made in
such circumstances. It also accurately captures the atmospheric dread, mutual
paranoia and recrimination that pervade the barracks when a coup plot has been
uncovered and its terrible impact on families, especially women – wives,
sisters, lovers – who pay a price for the (mis)adventures of the men they love.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
one poignant scene, a fellow army wife tells Suzie that marrying a soldier is
akin to accepting to serve the nation along with him. The costs and
consequences of the call of duty are shared by the spouses. This is a truth I have
seen seared into the eyes of widows that lost their husbands to the lethal inquisitions
that followed abortive coups during the military era. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As
one whose family carries the stamp of the failed 1976 coup d’état, I can
testify that the movie masterfully projects the thin line between conspiratorial
involvement and being in the wrong place and the right time; how the utter caprice
of circumstantial evidence and an official vengeful disregard for establishing
guilt beyond all reasonable doubt could mean either death by firing squad or an
eleventh hour reprieve. In this sense, <i>’76</i>
is a reminder of a sad chapter of our history when good soldiers were lost not
to wars but to insidious vendettas and miscarriages of military justice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
era of military rule was a bloody episode of Nigeria’s odyssey not just because
of the costly civil war but because of the cycle of coups that inevitably followed
the military’s incursion into politics. We lost some of our best and brightest
in the vortex of violence sprung open by the vaulting ambitions of soldiers who
often saw themselves as messianic revolutionaries. The military itself arguably
was the institution that was most subverted by its political adventurism. As <i>’76 </i>shows, treasonous conspiracies
destroyed the camaraderie between soldiers and ripped families asunder. Warriors
who had fought side by side in wartime, ironically, became enemies because of
the intrigues of peace-time coup-plotting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">’76</span></i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
is not a political thriller in the order of Eddie Ugbomah’s 1983 film, <i>The Death of a Black President</i> which
focuses on the political, ideological and mythic significance of Murtala. If Ugbomah’s
film deals with the allegedly grand imperialist conspiracy that ultimately
consumed the Head of State, Izu Ojukwu’s take deals with the dramatic
consequences of such plots on the lives of those further down the totem pole. These
are the people who are often unremembered and anonymous. They are the unknown
soldiers and nameless civilians and the collateral damage consumed by the
internecine coup-plotting and conspiratorial subversion that defined the
military era. <i>’76</i> is a political
thriller told from a compellingly human angle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
success of <i>’76</i> heralds fresh
cinematic possibilities for this generation. Much of our history is uncharted
territory and the urgent task of acquainting Nigerians with their own antiquity
cannot be left to educationists alone. Film makers can wield their craft and
use pop-culture at large as a vital history teaching aid. <i>’76</i> also showed what is possible when the government and armed
forces collaborate with the creative sectors of civil society. There are many
stories that should be told and such collaboration bodes well for the industry.
This does not, of course, mean that Nollywood should reduce itself to the
propaganda arm of the state. But it does mean film makers have a role to play
in the all-encompassing enterprise of nation-building and the government should
give them all the support they need<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Finally,
<i>’76</i> marks the coming of age of a
cinematic movement that might be described as Nollywood 2.0. Its first shots
were fired by Kunle Afolayan’s <i>The
Figurine</i> and <i>October 1<sup>st</sup></i>.
Movies like Steve Gukas’s <i>93 Days</i>
which deal with serious subject matter are on the same creative arc. We have
come a long way from the pioneering days of <i>Living
in Bondage</i>. A new generation of film makers is now moving away from the
tropes, clichés and stereotypes that have long inhibited Nollywood. They are
positively obsessed with high production values, and intent on playing for
higher stakes and on grander stages, is keen to push the boundaries of
storytelling. It has been long in coming. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Images sourced from </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">reportsafrique.com</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">pulse.ng</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">guardian.ng </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-79562744980738016762015-08-07T15:39:00.000-07:002015-08-07T15:39:59.819-07:00How to Argue Like a Nigerian<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjajEF6JyuJs-GlcDQSh0vL9RE_Bv31hgm1Qb9Rt9OSPLu3GU1UcW0mGmqQBMUtG0qIaf9GMZxKpN7iT_Ui2RaQ3079eI7blM1t_BHQ5CwMQTiqUheRJxEu0Pr3SpUZdYwpPqdkR_L48t4/s1600/Sunday-Oliseh-NFF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjajEF6JyuJs-GlcDQSh0vL9RE_Bv31hgm1Qb9Rt9OSPLu3GU1UcW0mGmqQBMUtG0qIaf9GMZxKpN7iT_Ui2RaQ3079eI7blM1t_BHQ5CwMQTiqUheRJxEu0Pr3SpUZdYwpPqdkR_L48t4/s320/Sunday-Oliseh-NFF.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Forget
about service chiefs or government posts, the most brazen acts of discrimination
which violate the federal character principle and offend our sense of equity,
justice and fair play have been taking place unnoticed in the Super Eagles and
in Nigerian football in general. From Shuaibu Amodu, Augustine Eguavoen and
Christian Chukwu to Samson Siasia, Stephen Keshi and now Sunday Oliseh, recent
managers of the Eagles have come from the South-South zone except for Chukwu
who is from the southeast). Not even the team captaincy is spared this affront
to justice. Vincent Enyeama succeeded a fellow native of the south-south,
Joseph Yobo, as captain. Their captaincies have coincided with the managerial
tenures of kinsmen from the south-south (and very conveniently with the
presidency of a son of the Niger Delta at least until May this year). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This
pattern of discrimination, nepotism, and tribalism (and any other
nasty-sounding “ism” you care to name) didn’t start today. Chukwu, Keshi,
Eguavoen, Uche Okechukwu, Oliseh are all past Eagles captains and all from the
south-south and southeast. For that matter, Nduka Ugbade, Wilson Oruma
(south-south) and Nwankwo Kanu (southeast) all captained age-grade teams.
Benedict Iroha and Emmanuel Amuneke (southeast) are in the coaching set-up of
age grade teams. It is worth noting that the prestigious No.10 jersey has been
monopolized by the south-south and the southeast through players like Friday
Ekpo, Etim Esin, Jay-jay Okocha and John Obi Mikel. Considering the lucrative
financial rewards and allied socio-economic opportunities that footballers
enjoy, it is clear that the south-south and the southeast have found a unique
channel of access to the national cake. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What
is even more alarming is how this clear case of favouritism and bias has been
internationalized. When CAF decided that it was finally time for a Nigerian
side to win the elusive African Champions League trophy, it zoned it to Enyimba
of Aba. And when UEFA decided that Nigerians were worthy of winning the
Champions League trophy, it awarded it to Messrs. Finidi George and Nwankwo
Kanu, (south-south and southeast respectively) then of Ajax Amsterdam in 1993.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This
raises important questions crucial to the survival of Nigeria. Why have other
geopolitical zones been so callously marginalized in the captaincy and
management of our national football teams? Is the southeast being denied the
presidency on account of its domination of football (and Nollywood)? Was Biafra
(if it had survived) actually Africa’s best hope of winning the World Cup? Why
despite the contributions of Garba Lawal, Sani Kaita and Tijanni Babangida has
the captaincy of the Eagles never been zoned to the north? Will the south-south
and the southeast get more command positions in the armed forces, if they
relinquish their grip on the super Eagles? Are the south-south and the southeast
implementing a “born to rule” (in football) agenda? Why do only Christians
captain the Eagles? What incriminating pictures of Keshi did midfielder Fegor
Ogude have in his possession that guaranteed his place in the Eagles? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What
in the name of Moses Kpakor does a Middle Belter have to do to captain the
Eagles? (Kpakor, the patron saint of unfortunate footballers was on the verge
of a lucrative move abroad from BCC Lions when he sustained a career-ending
injury in 1990. Informed sources have linked that mishap to Friday Ekpo’s
nocturnal visits to witchdoctors in Calabar). Ogienyi Onazi almost lost a leg
in our World Cup exit to France last year and still he continues to be ignored.
And, no, John Obi Mikel, though born and bred in Jos, doesn’t count. We want a
real indigene and a proper son of the soil, preferably one that has played for
JIB Rocks or Plateau United or the great BCC Lions of Gboko. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Who
truncated the <s>totally baseless rumour</s> much anticipated transfer of local
goal-scoring phenomenon, Emmanuel Makadas to Barcelona? Why did sons of the
Middle Belt like Patrick Mancha and John Zaki not go further than they did?
Could they have been victims of the same southern conspiracy that sabotaged the
Super Eagles career of the first Ahmed Musa a.k.a. Yaro-Yaro, a magician who by
all accounts was destined to become Nigeria’s answer to Lionel Messi in the
late 1990s? These are all national questions that need answering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There
are those who argue that Oliseh was employed on merit and is the best man for
the job. This is preposterous nonsense. The need to give every zone, ethnicity,
religion, state, local government area, clan, hamlet and household a sense of
belonging must override sentimental considerations like merit and competence. These
are Western ideals that have no place in our culture. Besides, everyone knows
that football is a game of luck that has nothing to do with skill, preparation
and planning, and that it is the almighty God who zones victory to whomever he
wills. (Tournaments are won through prayer and fasting and by retaining the
services of witchdoctors, pastors and marabouts) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That
these issues of marginalization were not discussed at the National Conference
last year must go down as a grievous oversight. After three or four successive
managers from the southeast and south-south, the position of Eagles manager
should obviously have been zoned to the north central (with the great Daniel
Amokachi available) or to the northeast (what about the legendary Patrick Pascal?).
This makes so much sense since the northeast is supposed to be getting
everything these days. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
blatant marginalization of other zones by the southeast and the south-south in
the management and captaincy of the Super Eagles is a national crisis. This is
the kind of problem that should keep President Muhammadu Buhari up at
night. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Palatino Linotype, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">(Images sourced from www.naijaloaded.com and www.dailypost.ng) </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-79094427952301806302015-01-27T01:37:00.000-08:002015-01-27T01:37:56.779-08:00Change is Necessary<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhiZA5O9CQm_1rXuppS3tp9bts4-AXx8HkQkn1hM1pkb_6JYfWSa7A5EZJbY3lNra1VXxA9e0Bn720XwarOotjpgEGNkhQa6L02o-_0WN4bIgUQ7BuOLMWWRMCCO578v8jmhr1XP0g1sY/s1600/2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhiZA5O9CQm_1rXuppS3tp9bts4-AXx8HkQkn1hM1pkb_6JYfWSa7A5EZJbY3lNra1VXxA9e0Bn720XwarOotjpgEGNkhQa6L02o-_0WN4bIgUQ7BuOLMWWRMCCO578v8jmhr1XP0g1sY/s1600/2015.jpg" height="170" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Presidents
are not judged simply by what they do but by how adroitly they respond to the
peculiar exigencies of their time. It was always going to be the case that
President Goodluck Jonathan would be judged by his handling of Nigeria’s
national security crisis. Considering the tragic routinization of death and
destruction and the privatization of violence by non-state actors, the
commander-in-chief could not have expected any less.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
constitution states that, “The security and welfare of the Nigerian people
shall be the primary purpose of government.” The sequence is significant. Security
is the basic condition of society without which there can be no welfare. Under
Jonathan’s administration we have witnessed the mass murder of conservatively
over ten thousand Nigerians, the displacement of 1.5 million people by
terrorists, the dislodgement of 3.3 million people – the highest number of
internally displaced people in Africa – and the loss of some 20, 000 square
kilometers of sovereign Nigerian territory to insurgents. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While
Jonathan points to his accomplishments (and they do exist) in agriculture and
infrastructure, it is his miserable handling of the security crisis that will
likely define his presidential legacy. His campaign ads may flaunt pictures of
newly installed trains and highways but dead people cannot ride trains or appreciate
macroeconomic abstractions. Undoubtedly, the Chibok girls and their
grief-stricken parents – tragic symbols of Jonathan’s indifferent leadership – are
unenthused by his administration’s infrastructural gains. Most Nigerians just want
to regain a sense that their lives are worth protecting. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nigerians
may have been willing to forgive Jonathan’s fatal dereliction of his duties as
commander-in-chief had his responses to incidents like the Chibok abductions,
the Nyanya bombings last year and the more recent slaughter in Baga not
displayed such a blatant indifference to the plight of his compatriots. If the
Chibok debacle witnessed his government responding with the haste of a
paraplegic tortoise and the Nyanya bombings formed the morbid backdrop for a
political rally the following day in Kano, where he bizarrely chose to dance on
stage; observers were genuinely mystified when in the aftermath of the recent
Baga massacres, Jonathan kept silent but swiftly sent a solidarity message to
France over terror attacks in Paris. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jonathan
has been defended as a well-meaning neophyte in security matters, heavily
reliant on his defence chiefs and security czars. However, the national
security crisis has exposed much more than his lack of pedigree in security
issues; it has highlighted a basic emotional unintelligence and an appalling
failure to appreciate the crowd-pleasing optics and sonics that citizens expect
of the man sworn to protect them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
president has contrived to miss several opportunities to demonstrate executive
resolve. Abba Moro, the Interior Minister who oversaw the fraudulent
recruitment exercise into the immigration service that cost twenty young
Nigerian lives in stampedes remains in the cabinet. Jonathan remains bafflingly
beholden to the defence chiefs under whose tenure the insurgency metastasized into
a programme of jihadist colonization. Vital national security functions such as
maritime policing have been outsourced to a presidential crony – a transaction
that has coincided with a spike in oil theft and piracy. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Whether
through deliberate maleficence or involuntary incompetence or both, Jonathan’s abysmal
statecraft is eroding Nigeria’s national security with an unacceptably heavy
cost in Nigerian lives. The impression that this president was promoted beyond
his competence by serendipity is unavoidable. In 2011, an unsuspecting
electorate mistook his mild manners and self-effacement for virtues but the
presidency demands far more than an avuncular disposition. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">An
election is typically a referendum on the incumbent. Aware that their
principal’s record cannot bear clear-eyed electoral scrutiny, Team Jonathan has
tried to focus attention on the challenger. However the question is not whether
Muhammadu Buhari is qualified for high office (which he undeniably is) but
whether Jonathan deserves a second term. The Jonathan campaign has deployed
libelous innuendo, ethno-religious chauvinism and character assassination – all
vain but understandably necessitous diversions from the real issues such as the
incipient economic crisis, the imminence of austerity measures, the
administration’s dire financial stewardship, the promised forensic and
evidently phantom audit of the opaque Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,
his sanguine tolerance of high level graft, serial failed promises to end the
insurgency and the unforced errors that have made Nigeria a global punch line. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jonathan
has failed to weave his few modest achievements into a winsome narrative. A
campaign which should have rebooted his presidency has instead yielded more counterproductive
soundbites. Having criticized some politicians for sounding like touts,
Jonathan’s campaign has itself frequently peddled the indecent and the
indecorous. From Ayo Fayose’s repulsive death wish ad to Vice President Namadi
Sambo’s abhorrent invocation of religious hatred, Jonathan’s men are plumbing
the sewers for campaign material. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
most troubling aspect of Jonathan’s campaign is its cynical exploitation of our
religious and ethnic fault lines to set Nigerians against each other – a ploy
that detracts from the president’s already diminished stature. The ironic
result is that the supposedly archaic opposition challenger has run the more
issues-driven campaign while the incumbent traffics in disinformation, distractions
and distortions. Thus, all that a purportedly transformative five-year
presidency can offer is the backhanded argument that Jonathan is the certified
devil to Buhari’s unknown angel. The leadership of the world’s sixth largest
democracy deserves more edifying campaign rhetoric but Jonathan is clearly needs
the debate mired in the gutter. This readiness to polarize the country and to
appeal to our basest instincts rather than the better angels of our nature is
one more reason why Jonathan does not deserve a second term.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Image sourced from www.pointblanknews.com <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-6608117949546868832015-01-18T05:07:00.000-08:002015-01-18T05:07:34.581-08:00The Trouble with Charlie<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5ABZMWg08ooWsqagIeQF9gi7q8n6ttuGyrveANoHoP0fMflUUXIkKBQ9sgQh5vgXKwO1lUj8MPRLItZC1eG2UYsrGiGCZrwk6f2YzbGop30BqEmjXG_jkT_Fj66oI9XvCp44JbBuqqsY/s1600/je-ne-suis-pas-charlie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5ABZMWg08ooWsqagIeQF9gi7q8n6ttuGyrveANoHoP0fMflUUXIkKBQ9sgQh5vgXKwO1lUj8MPRLItZC1eG2UYsrGiGCZrwk6f2YzbGop30BqEmjXG_jkT_Fj66oI9XvCp44JbBuqqsY/s1600/je-ne-suis-pas-charlie.jpg" height="176" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
attack on the premises of the Paris-based satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo,
was a clash of two forms of absolutism. On one hand were the gunmen who claimed
the right to summarily execute those they believed had insulted their faith. On
the other hand were the artists of Charlie Hebdo who reserved the right to
satirize whatever caught their fancy in an uncompromising exercise of their
freedom of speech. From Islam’s founding prophet and Christianity’s holy
trinity to France’s black female justice minister and the Chibok girls, no one
has escaped the magazine’s irreverent depiction.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Without
question, the murders were self-evidently wrong. The attack has been portrayed
as an extremist assault on freedom of speech. Worldwide, there have been
declarations of solidarity with France and affirmations of the sacredness of
free speech. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
problem is that absolute free speech is a myth. If it truly existed, countries
would not have laws against incitement, sedition, libel, defamation or slander.
A world of such boundless liberty would not need Official Secrets Acts. Whistleblowers
like Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, Mordecai Vanunu and Wikileaks would be
garlanded for liberating information. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
this parallel universe, racist chants by European football fans would be
unobjectionable. There would be no need for censors and artistic license would
be completely unfettered. There would be no laws protecting public decency or
religious sensibilities from the travesties of the irreverent. Charlie Hebdo
would not have fired a staffer in 2009 for anti-Semitism. It would be acceptable
to scrawl swastikas and choice portions of Hitler’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mein Kampf</i> on synagogues. People would not be prosecuted for homophobia,
holocaust denial or anti-Semitism. Xenophobia and racism would not carry the
whiff of moral odium. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ironically,
barely a week after the Paris attacks, French authorities arrested and charged
the comedian, Dieudonne M’bala M’bala, for a Facebook post “glorifying
terrorism”. </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The contradictions and hypocrisies are obvious
enough and if prosecuting a comedian for a facebook post seems inconsistent
with the odes to free speech that have emanated from Paris in recent days, it
can be easily explained. Freedom of speech is a relative term entirely
dependent on national experience, the evolutionary trajectory of political
institutions and the distribution of power among various classes and interests.
</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
French Revolution was a revolt not only against the corrupt Bourbon monarchy
but also its ally, the Church. It was the insurgence of enlightenment values
against the medieval horrors of a religiously-backed tyranny. The 19<sup>th</sup>
Century French historian Jules Michelet believed that the French Republic would
“take the place of the god who escapes us.” Thus, France is a fanatically
secular realm whose Muslim population – the legacy of its imperial hey days –
poses a particular challenge. Because of its history, France entertains a socio-cultural
bias that enables a satirical magazine to caricature its religious and racial
minorities (Muslims, Christians and those of African and Middle Eastern
descent) under the cover of free speech while a comedian of colour who attempts
to exercise the same right is charged with “glorifying terrorism.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
West sees itself as the last outpost of rationality threatened by the
superstitious idiocies of religion. In reality, when the nation-state
supplanted religion as the West’s core communal principle, power and violence
discarded their overtly religious vestments for secular garments. Secular
ideologies appropriated popular devotion. As the English philosopher C.E.M.
Joad observed, “Political doctrines such as fascism and communism assume for
the twentieth century the status which religious doctrines possessed in the
nineteenth.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our
inherent blind spots prevent us from discerning the secular dogmas which
approximate religion’s much vaunted irrationality. Consider Marxism’s
assumption of the infallibility of an omniscient proletariat, capitalism’s
assumption of the inerrancy of market forces and its veneration of the
invisible hand, a metaphor of Calvinist origins that conflates an unfettered
free market with providence; fascism’s deification of the state and secular
liberalism’s divinization of the self and its sacralization of individual
liberties including free speech. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Both
religious and irreligious societies maintain speech codes. In the former, they
may take the form of blasphemy laws and in the latter they take the form of
utterances deemed threatening to the sociopolitical order. In secular France,
cartoons that mock religion are not deemed dangerous to public order. Anti-Semitism
is treated differently perhaps because of Europe’s lingering guilt over its
complicity in the Nazi holocaust. Religious sensibilities are not protected
from deliberate offence. Every society has its pet prejudices. France’s Muslim
minority appears to be the convenient guinea pig for free speech absolutists
but this trend also reflects France’s problem of racial and socio-cultural
integration, European uncertainty about what multiculturalism and growing
pluralism mean for national identity and coherence, and (largely Islamophobic and
xenophobic) fears of a jihadist fifth column in Europe.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Absolute
freedom of speech is a myth. There is no individual liberty that is not bounded
by the responsibility of competent social being. It is impossible to
simultaneously sustain absolute individual freedom and social cohesion. Our
freedoms, even when not legally circumscribed, still need to be exercised with
reason, empathy and responsibility. At what point does free speech morph into hate
speech? This controversy is really about drawing the line between liberalism
and extreme licentiousness and radical libertinism. How do we strike a fair
balance between artistic license and decency, order and respect for all
sensibilities? Isn’t such moderation the truly rational path in a diverse
world?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">It is possible to deplore
the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and concurrently condemn the magazine’s heedless
worship of bad taste. It is also possible to support freedom of speech and also
advocate using it responsibly.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">images sourced from labourlist.org </span>Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-22765846207378987712015-01-06T10:57:00.000-08:002015-01-06T10:57:48.723-08:00Buharism and Its Discontents<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjddz251HxWmpbTs8DabDUglxjoYTuZSpO2jWhBegZ59ajH7bgprPkjmrGYfEERBi-AX9VX916n_yu7yZsPv6Qt061RmKKtiotuVQjltX4CpKR4IWBiojURSwyk9GqdQWryebYb2AY-WQg/s1600/buhari+apc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjddz251HxWmpbTs8DabDUglxjoYTuZSpO2jWhBegZ59ajH7bgprPkjmrGYfEERBi-AX9VX916n_yu7yZsPv6Qt061RmKKtiotuVQjltX4CpKR4IWBiojURSwyk9GqdQWryebYb2AY-WQg/s1600/buhari+apc.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Muhammadu
Buhari’s emergence as the opposition challenger ahead of next year’s polls has
set the stage for a keen contest. Buoyed by a morale-boosting primary win, and
with his street popularity now hitched to a well-oiled political machine, Buhari
has a firm base upon which to mount his fourth presidential bid. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For
sheer persistence, Buhari most resembles Obafemi Awolowo, who also serially
sought national leadership unsuccessfully. Like Buhari, Awolowo was of somewhat
ascetic bearing, Spartan self-discipline, inflexible will and dogged conviction
in his worthiness for high office. However, despite his intellectual and
administrative acumen, aspects of Awolowo’s political record undermined his chances
of national leadership. His political platform was deemed too provincial to
generate a national following. A similar limitation arguably accounted for
Buhari’s previous electoral failures. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Unable
to gainsay Buhari’s reputation for honesty, his adversaries have resorted to
the favoured tactic of smearing him as an ethnic and a religious extremist – a bogus
charge which endures because of some of Buhari’s own inopportune gaffes. This
time though, the politics of smear and fear is of limited utility. The incumbent
is running not only against Buhari but also against his own dismal presidential
record. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
allegation that Buhari is a closet ethno-religious bigot is simply not borne
out by his record as Head of State. Though he and his deputy, Major General
Tunde Idiagbon, were both Muslims, they were favourably perceived by the
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). In his book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Dangerous Awakening: The Politicization of Religion in Nigeria</i>, Catholic
priest and scholar, Iheanyi Enwerem cites a 1988 publication by CAN’s northern
zonal chapter which hailed Buhari’s regime as the first to acknowledge “that
the North was not predominantly Islamic.” It also expressed satisfaction with
the fairness of Buhari’s political appointments and praised him for carrying
out his war against indiscipline “without fear or favour.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ironically,
Buhari’s most implacable opponent from the religious fold was the influential Islamic
cleric Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, who earned the regime’s wrath for opposing its
draconian punishment of Second Republic politicians. Arguably, the two
principal victims of Buhari’s ascent to power were northern Muslims – the deposed
President Shehu Shagari and his ally, Umaru Dikko, who very narrowly escaped being
abducted from Britain by the regime’s agents to stand trial at home. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC1lYSe3FK5hLHEMfrA0x0-K7GaiZY8vmhu4czW5k8V_3ccGd7tjhx-CkGOn4BF5rflrMvVbagPUjP20dWu_nHDrr-ZWtdtaGOqoxoFxcj-9j4yu_fSUrfM1d9HL1JdsI09NJoqH3G4RE/s1600/buhari+president.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC1lYSe3FK5hLHEMfrA0x0-K7GaiZY8vmhu4czW5k8V_3ccGd7tjhx-CkGOn4BF5rflrMvVbagPUjP20dWu_nHDrr-ZWtdtaGOqoxoFxcj-9j4yu_fSUrfM1d9HL1JdsI09NJoqH3G4RE/s1600/buhari+president.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Unlike
Awolowo who wrote prolifically, Buhari’s decades-long public career has yielded
little literature in his name outlining his ideas, convictions and policy
preferences. This literary deficit has aided the character assassins and
libelous hacks commissioned to defame him. But this gap is offset by the fact
that Buhari’s opponent is by no means a fecund intellectual colossus. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
a 2002 essay, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi coined the term “Buharism” to capture the
ideals extrapolated from Buhari’s time as Head of State and argued that
Buharism is an ideology of bourgeois nationalism that aims to replace a
political economy dominated by parasitic elites beholden to global capital with
a new order in which a nationalist and productive class gains ascendancy. Buhari
certainly has the credentials to tackle elite impunity and the rent-seeking
political culture that is now in kleptomaniacal overdrive. Indeed, the persistent
slandering of Buhari as a bigot stems less from his occasional tin ear for
Nigeria’s polyphonic diversity than from kleptocrats’ fears of a certain
reckoning for their crimes should he clinch the presidency. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As
a battle-tested infantry corps veteran, Buhari will surely frontally confront the
terrorist insurgency that has killed conservatively over 9, 000 Nigerians,
displaced over 1.5 million more and claimed vast swathes of Nigerian territory.
As an officer who famously led a military incursion into Chad in pursuit of
rebels, he will be especially concerned by the institutional weaknesses that have
brought the armed forces into disrepute. Having crushed the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Maitatsine</i> insurgency as Head of State,
he will certainly bring a warrior’s resolve to the office of the
commander-in-chief. Regarding the key issues of security and corruption, Buhari’s
record is compelling.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Buhari’s
near obsessive focus on graft may be an insufficient critique of all that ails Nigeria
but his unequivocal anti-corruption stance is a welcome departure from the
incumbent’s bizarre insistence that corruption is not Nigeria’s problem or his much
lampooned attempt to articulate a little known distinction between corruption
and stealing. Buhari’s policy-lite deportment suggests that his main interest
is cleansing the Augean stables. Restoring propriety to public life is vital.
But his party has an impressive cast of policy wonks and its campaign battle
cry of security and jobs is gratifyingly current. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Buhari’s
support is more pan-Nigerian than in previous campaigns. Popular disgust with
the incumbent’s ineptitude competes favourably with whatever phobia for Buhari
that the ruling party can marshal. Opposing partisans have taken to feverishly
reminding Nigerians of Buhari’s previous failed candidacies. Their frenzied
negative attacks are telling. Rarely have so much time and effort been expended
to convince an electorate that an aged “serial loser” that supposedly has no
chance will lose again. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Those
who argued before the primaries for a younger opposition candidate than Buhari
(as I did) had a point. But clearly the incumbent is not an advertisement of
the radiant possibilities of youth. Given the available options, Buhari, warts
and all, is the viable alternative. The resort to a figure who last led Nigeria
thirty years ago indicates the scale of our predicament. That liberal elites
who ordinarily should be opposed to an ex-dictator have made common cause with
him suggests that we have reached that nadir at which extreme necessity sires
creative expediency. This may not be the contest we want but it is the contest
we deserve.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Images sourced from premiumtimesng.com and bellanaija.com. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-29006511611078691122014-12-23T15:32:00.000-08:002014-12-23T15:32:56.858-08:00The Invisible Conflict<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcuMZrbrPo-4UYzsXb0_z5lrWqywfkPh6CLAMqb0FTsoeQ_-plcbs2Nj8LMwv4wlEIvuSaT6S-AHlmqeU0D3R6UzSJF6aXnBZ8yLdBjZ1IIscM7I2t_nTLBLhlqjBUFmNlPXHdHIXZaZE/s1600/emir-of-kano-sanusi-lamido-sanusi1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcuMZrbrPo-4UYzsXb0_z5lrWqywfkPh6CLAMqb0FTsoeQ_-plcbs2Nj8LMwv4wlEIvuSaT6S-AHlmqeU0D3R6UzSJF6aXnBZ8yLdBjZ1IIscM7I2t_nTLBLhlqjBUFmNlPXHdHIXZaZE/s1600/emir-of-kano-sanusi-lamido-sanusi1.jpg" height="640" width="425" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
headlines do not lie. There is an ongoing war between Nigeria and Boko Haram,
an ultraviolent jihadist group seeking to establish its own version of an
Islamic state. What the headlines frequently fail to capture is the other
dimension of the same conflict – an ongoing battle to define Islam in Nigeria.
This is an invisible conflict largely unreported by the media and unexplored by
pundits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Long
before its outrages earned it transnational infamy, Boko Haram was killing mostly
Muslim ward heads and community leaders in Northeastern Nigeria, and it has made
a special point of murdering opposing Islamic clerics. Since then, Boko Haram
has bombed churches and killed Christians; it has also killed emirs, imams,
agents of the state and civilians. Like all jihadist groups, it claims the
right to solely define what Islam is. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
Reza Aslan has observed, “Jihadism is a puritanical movement in the sense that
its members consider themselves to be the only true Muslims. All other Muslims
are impostors or apostates who must repent of their hypocrisy or be abandoned
to their fate.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
2004, Boko Haram’s leader Mohammed Yusuf established the Ibn Taymiyyah Mosque
in Maiduguri, an ominously named separate centre for his then fledgling sect. Ibn
Taymiyyah was a 13<sup>th</sup> century Islamic theologian, revered in Jihadist
circles, who famously broke with the traditional view that the leader of an
Islamic state, whether a caliph, a sultan or an imam, is divinely-ordained and
must therefore be obeyed regardless of his deeds. Ibn Taymiyyah argued that if
a Muslim leader failed to uphold Islamic principles then he was not really a
Muslim but an unbeliever and his rule was invalid. Rebellion against such an
impious ruler was a religious duty. Indeed, he declared that any Muslim who was
willing to abide by the rule of an infidel was also an infidel. By choosing
this name for his mosque, Yusuf served notice to the Northern Muslim ruling
class which he saw as apostate.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Boko
Haram’s attack on the Kano Central Mosque in late November which claimed over a
hundred lives was a significant signpost. It was clearly a response to the call
by the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, to communities to arm and defend
themselves against the insurgents. Since his ascension to the throne, his vocal
opposition to Boko Haram and his emergence as an advocate of popular resistance
against the insurgents has placed him in their crosshairs. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhARpylIxD1GykfFj7fyPrJW1cnfrFhTEqUa7qeLIRQ617NWFRXfIB4mM1eMpNP3h3efi9jMzyO_06rUnB6eq0OaSIKmGKXzZNdNrqZAyWpIpswgd1ut2HokItZJeXqmf-BdpeDR7supoM/s1600/Boko-Haram-.-Kano-Central-Mosque-bombing-shooting-worshipers-Friday-28-Nov-2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhARpylIxD1GykfFj7fyPrJW1cnfrFhTEqUa7qeLIRQ617NWFRXfIB4mM1eMpNP3h3efi9jMzyO_06rUnB6eq0OaSIKmGKXzZNdNrqZAyWpIpswgd1ut2HokItZJeXqmf-BdpeDR7supoM/s1600/Boko-Haram-.-Kano-Central-Mosque-bombing-shooting-worshipers-Friday-28-Nov-2014.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
parts of the northeast, most notably Maiduguri, citizen-led self-defence and
vigilante units have been instrumental to repelling Boko Haram. The key to
militarily defeating the group lies in strategic cooperation between the Nigerian
military and such local self-defence groups. Popular resistance may throttle
the insurgents in the same way that Iraq’s Sunni awakening defeated al Qaeda in
2008. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sanusi
embodies everything that Boko Haram reviles; an Islamic scholar yet also a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yan boko</i> (western-educated) former
banker, urbane, learned and savvy in the ways of the West and the East,
dangerously comfortable with pluralism and unjustifiably cosy with infidels. In
the extremists’ eyes, he has drunk too deeply from the fountains of Western
decadence and his acumen as an intellectual in the Western and Eastern sense
compounded by his authority as an Emir, makes him symbolic of the sort of
apostate mongrelism that the group seeks to eradicate. In the Emir, the insurgents’
dastardly thesis has located an antithesis. In a recent video, Boko Haram threatened
to kill him. The battle lines could not be any clearer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Kano
was once an ancient cosmopolitan terminal on the trans-Saharan trade route
making it a cultural and commercial confluence of sub-Saharan, Sahelian and
Maghrebian influences and migrations. For centuries, Kano has retained this
pluralistic character until recent decades. From the mid 1980s onwards, Kano became
identified with a violent prejudice. Chronic eruptions of sectarian violence
were seared into its reputation. Extremism rose against a background of
deindustrialization, urban poverty and economic collapse with opportunistic
politicians cynically playing the religious card. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
a 2004 lecture in Kano, Sanusi lamented the “creeping parochialism in Kano”
which contradicted its “accommodating and cosmopolitan character” and its
traditional demonstration of “the best Islamic values of tolerance, of
diversity and hospitality to guests and travellers.” He identified lack of
education as a key factor in Kano’s, and by extension, Northern Nigeria’s,
decline and urged his audience to “fight against parochialism and retrieve our
Nigerian identity, and realize that a narrow mind closes off opportunities to
excellence.” Sanusi has since signaled his willingness to spearhead this fight
as Emir. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Boko
Haram is violently opposed to nation-states, national boundaries, democracy,
pluralism, western education and civic diversity – all concepts that are
affirmed by Nigeria. Thus, the current conflict is also about what sort of
Islam will prevail in Northern Nigeria. Will it be progressive and tolerant? Will
its future be written in the ink of scholars or the blood of martyrs? Will it
overcome the residual distrust of Western education and empower millions of
Muslims to be productive citizens and yet remain true their faith? Or will Boko
Haram’s nihilistic atavism prevail? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
is important to highlight this invisible conflict, to support leaders like the
Emir of Kano, to encourage mainstream Muslims in their ideological struggle for
hearts and minds. The federal government should promote and protect moderate
clerics who are at the frontlines of this battle of ideas. We must also condemn
the sort of Islamophobic paranoia and bigotry in non-Muslim circles which
inadvertently strengthen Boko Haram. In the contest between moderation and
extremism, we should be vigorously backing the former.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Images sourced from www.osundefender.com and www. nigerreporters.com) </span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-29647883217649604292014-11-10T15:18:00.001-08:002014-11-10T15:18:39.293-08:00First, They Came To the Northeast<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi3-oBjZCRTDJzixnY3cymFqqfJTbreR9XmV-lJw6CPXd6xJfqxaJgjVT6JArsFXwsCWBwiVk5GtPzA99Fe_s2QHPfpRIDkI_M_oOttb8vmriVYTNZfySAaZSjfLKdDIZDNT-BR-IfsyU/s1600/bokoistan.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi3-oBjZCRTDJzixnY3cymFqqfJTbreR9XmV-lJw6CPXd6xJfqxaJgjVT6JArsFXwsCWBwiVk5GtPzA99Fe_s2QHPfpRIDkI_M_oOttb8vmriVYTNZfySAaZSjfLKdDIZDNT-BR-IfsyU/s1600/bokoistan.gif" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">History
suggests that there are three main triggers of national transformation – moral
awakening, political revolution and social trauma. Moral awakenings redefine
socially acceptable norms and conventions. The struggle to abolish slave trade
in the 19<sup>th</sup> century and the civil rights struggle in 1960s America
were fundamentally ethical revolutions – transformative shifts in society’s
perception of racism and slavery. Campaigns for social justice such as those
that promote fundamental human rights, a fair minimum wage and gender equality
all represent an evolving moral intelligence on these issues. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">National
transformation also comes by way of fundamental changes in political reality
whether they are revolutions, coups d’etat or electoral regime change. Historical
examples include revolutions in Haiti, France and Russia, the Sokoto Jihad and
the fall of the Berlin Wall. Political upheavals tend to throw up new leaders
who set new coordinates for national progress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Where
moral traditions and politics fail to deliver change, it often takes an epic
national trauma to change the course of a country’s history and trigger a
collective catharsis. This usually takes the form a catastrophe – a natural
disaster, famine, economic depression, war and pestilence. At such times,
societies typically unite to confront their challenges. This is the generally
positive outcome. On other occasions, traumas, while transformative, can also
yield negative results. The Depression of the 1930s coupled with its defeat
during the First World War set the stage for Germany to succumb to the white
supremacist lunacies of Hitler and the Nazis. More positively, the Rwandan
genocide of 1994 became the background for the ascent of President Paul Kagame
and the resurgent East African nation is now one of Africa’s most competently
run states.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Clearly,
Nigeria’s five year-long insurgency represents both an existential threat and a
national trauma. But it has provoked neither a moral awakening nor a paradigm
shift in our politics. Religious leaders have failed to chart a moral direction
that urges us towards a greater reverence for the sanctity of life to counter
Boko Haram’s feral bloodlust. Instead, they have been mostly agents of discord
and intolerance. While they bicker over whether the insurgents are killing more
Christians than Muslims or vice versa, the terrorists carry on with their mass
murder of Nigerian citizens. A fickle, feckless rent-seeking political class
cannot marshal the resolve to decisively confront the terrorists or to rally
Nigerians across their sectarian cleavages.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Social
trauma as a transformative instrument works best where there is a high degree
of empathy and solidarity. Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation set off a popular
revolt in Tunisia because Tunisians identified with his traumatic humiliation
by a state official as a microcosmic representation of their own traumatic
alienation from the state. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhug6OXlQ1sMBdrDbe8PyyaIp_1-St78uaJH310agYj0lnEiBnBoECrZ5HlK_Zi5K8RSdA1r0op_5g2OZZo3dE6z7bpgBVefX53WqhwvzlhjRedqRj-3ni-6gJk57Jv3KyIXX9AkZFwZFY/s1600/bring+back+goodluck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhug6OXlQ1sMBdrDbe8PyyaIp_1-St78uaJH310agYj0lnEiBnBoECrZ5HlK_Zi5K8RSdA1r0op_5g2OZZo3dE6z7bpgBVefX53WqhwvzlhjRedqRj-3ni-6gJk57Jv3KyIXX9AkZFwZFY/s1600/bring+back+goodluck.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Boko
Haram’s continuing expansion has cruelly exposed our mutual alienation and the
exhaustion of our social capital. Scenes from Nigeria’s northeast evoke
memories of Rwanda circa 1994 while politicians obsess with winning elections. The
continuous barrage of body counts contrasts sharply with the body language of
an incumbent president evidently more preoccupied with defeating the opposition
in an election than defeating the insurgents even as they unfurl their dark and
bloody banners over more chunks of Nigerian territory. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The northeast might as well be another
country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
a memorable statement, the German pastor Martin Niemoller explained the series
of moral abdications and derelictions of conscience that marked the decent into
Nazi terror: “In Germany they came first for the communists, and I didn’t speak
up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t
speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I
didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the
Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a protestant. Then they came for
me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By keeping silent, the German population
allowed Hitler’s Nazi Party to grow confident in its appalling atrocities until
it metastasized into an omnivorous evil threatening to consume everyone.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Boko Haram would never have emerged if
we had condemned the culture of violence which for decades targeted ethnic and
religious minorities or if we had ardently resisted the idea that violence is
justified when it is inflicted upon those with whom we share neither creed nor
kinship. The insurgency would have been aborted if the administration had acted
as though it were a national problem rather than a northern or northeastern
problem.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVTJYkcSZExLUkvfBcnAT3UG8LxnGRtGnzLT1FWRi3uktmJIADfFiXJ3mOwbn1pWzHi_u1XqLz7IwJajgmXDZILTGEcADPhmw2yqNrcyxLzdz54afUCzHG_NeTm-AREhFudhrICECmL-Y/s1600/bring+back+our+girls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVTJYkcSZExLUkvfBcnAT3UG8LxnGRtGnzLT1FWRi3uktmJIADfFiXJ3mOwbn1pWzHi_u1XqLz7IwJajgmXDZILTGEcADPhmw2yqNrcyxLzdz54afUCzHG_NeTm-AREhFudhrICECmL-Y/s1600/bring+back+our+girls.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This
empathy deficit is why the abduction of the Chibok girls has not marked a
cathartic turning point in the administration’s shoddy handling of the insurgency.
It is why the administration has bizarrely tried to criminalize the Bring Back
Our Girls protesters whose main crime is ensuring that the girls are not
consigned to our mounting trash heap of acceptable abominations, and that we,
in turn, do not lose our humanity. It is why twitter trolls have subjected Oby Ezekwesili
to abuse for being a southern Christian busy body whose “overzealous” concern
for a few expendable girls in the “Muslim North” is embarrassing her
“brother’s” government.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
worry is that this ongoing trauma needs to assume a larger scale to shake us
out of our apathy. It may well be that these torments have to spread beyond the
northeast; that grief and suffering have to be democratized, and that something
truly catastrophic has to happen to bestir the national conscience. Perhaps, denizens
of Abuja will awaken one morning to bloody battles between government troops
and the insurgents on their streets. Such an event would dispel the illusion
that Abuja is a fortified city where political frivolities can proceed while
barbarians are seizing swathes of Nigerian territory.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Assuredly,
if terrorists had abducted 200 young girls from one of Abuja’s elite schools, among
them daughters of public functionaries and their cronies, the quality of the
administration’s response would have been radically different. The poor northeastern
communities simply cannot generate the same response and are paying the penalty
for poverty. There is a sense that some epic disaster has to burst the bubble
of gilded indifference which currently insulates the high and mighty from the
nightmare that has befallen millions of their compatriots.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgklfbWl9wTn_-ZHyczSwqgxAsLlZdXQyxkwGoZHYjon8zFiAF68ZEdC67pNfB9mTuhO4rjtgFe4YNJTw492HAB2pOItEIeKT5sdPd9yhWVNbUjZy7Tbeha0hAsyQYtY0g-sH7SJ-7ta-o/s1600/reclaim+nigeria+now.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgklfbWl9wTn_-ZHyczSwqgxAsLlZdXQyxkwGoZHYjon8zFiAF68ZEdC67pNfB9mTuhO4rjtgFe4YNJTw492HAB2pOItEIeKT5sdPd9yhWVNbUjZy7Tbeha0hAsyQYtY0g-sH7SJ-7ta-o/s1600/reclaim+nigeria+now.png" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps,
being constantly bombarded with tragedy has, in the words of Dele Giwa, “shocked”
us into “a state of unshockability” or the spirit of the age has warped our moral
senses and sharply curtailed our capacity for fellow feeling. Either way, this
loss of empathy can only endanger more Nigerians. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">The transformative logic of
social trauma suggests that there will have to be more death and destruction.
This catastrophe, it seems, must endanger the powerful or perhaps nullify the
myth that the Rivers Benue and Niger are impenetrable barriers to the rest of
the country, before we are roused to empathic action. Barring a sudden moral
rediscovery of our common humanity and shared perils, or the outbreak of a
serious commitment and resolve on the part of the government, the political
class and the military to win this war, or the electoral eviction of the
current administration, this contagion of chaos will probably broaden its
geographical footprint. It is a frightful thing to imagine that for all the
horrors already abroad, the nightmare may just be beginning. But this is the
road we are now taking. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">(All images sourced in order of appearance from www.newsrescue.com, www.tobietti.com, www.news247.com.ng and Harry Olufunwa; @holufunwa) </span>Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-80041000852729502192014-11-03T00:26:00.000-08:002014-11-03T00:26:53.167-08:00God and Nigerian Politics<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1bGrfsD8XukWV_M9FWf7hcZQmoPeBnawX4JlTpnmjcmt1Y2J1MoyC2XRUNvk2dHudjlGBoGhxqbR5MjFxa2bbstXIf0FsHHYG-bXRjI5Kz-XlURYGFDhEkzzHAEXq7dTR0z9klrnTCDM/s1600/-JONATHAN-IN-ISRAEL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1bGrfsD8XukWV_M9FWf7hcZQmoPeBnawX4JlTpnmjcmt1Y2J1MoyC2XRUNvk2dHudjlGBoGhxqbR5MjFxa2bbstXIf0FsHHYG-bXRjI5Kz-XlURYGFDhEkzzHAEXq7dTR0z9klrnTCDM/s1600/-JONATHAN-IN-ISRAEL.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Here
is a trustworthy axiom of Nigerian politics: When Nigerian elites “do God”,
political intrigue is afoot. In the buildup to the 2011 elections, a photograph
of President Goodluck Jonathan kneeling before Pastor Enoch Adeboye, one of
Nigeria’s most influential preachers, was widely circulated. Ahead of a keenly
contested election, the president’s posture of prayerful humility projected him
as a devout Christian armed with a highly respected cleric’s blessing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jonathan’s
uncertain if nondescript pedigree should have faced greater scrutiny, but the
pentecostalization of the Nigerian mind aborted any serious interrogation of
his credentials. His meteoric rise from obscurity to the presidency within a
decade, abetted by outrageous fortune, was the quintessential overnight miracle
rags to riches story that is the stuff of Sunday morning church testimonies. To
millions of voters, Jonathan’s presidency was a validation of their own secret
fantasies of miraculous success and could only have been God’s doing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Many
Christians and Muslims share this fatalistic worldview. It is the product of an
environment in which meritocratic paths to power and success in public life are
exceedingly rare. In April 2011, the Emir of Gwandu described candidate Jonathan
as a God-ordained leader and assured him of God’s support saying, “God has made
you all you are and he will give you all you want.” Nigerian popular theology,
whether in its Christian or Islamic manifestations, retroactively designates
all power and privilege, no matter how illicitly or serendipitously acquired,
as divinely ordained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now
seeking re-election, the president has reactivated a trusted stratagem. This
time, it meant embarking on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem accompanied by some of
Nigeria’s most influential pastors including Ayo Oritsejafor, the scandal-prone
President of the Christian Association of Nigeria. The pilgrimage was a
reconnection with divine anointment in the holy land as the president prepares
to seek a second term. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Oritsejafor
has been instrumental in promoting a narrative of Jonathan as a southern
Christian president embattled by a dark conspiracy intent on “Islamizing”
Nigeria particularly with the ongoing terrorist insurgency. In the process, he
has become the arch-promoter of a highly polarizing presidency. The
administration and its ecclesiastical allies have tried to use the tired bogey
of “Islamization” to immunize Jonathan against charges of ineptitude and graft
while smearing the opposition as a proxy for the terrorists. CAN itself has
become little more than a department of the presidency. As electioneering
commences, we can expect even more divisive rhetoric and more attempts to
slander the opposition from the administration and its retained prophets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHRlP8-2-HtNvW1cR7UIThjsyRC4U27QOlsAi_q_BStorwi3kibUmVPGQ_DHxWDUxm32PisSVvSNFXzLv9bfzUXSSl1S1_bhM75Ltsd4qMj-HEQLyl0sM522OwXbzqPDRykg7f91gPVuU/s1600/Oritsejafor+and+jonathan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHRlP8-2-HtNvW1cR7UIThjsyRC4U27QOlsAi_q_BStorwi3kibUmVPGQ_DHxWDUxm32PisSVvSNFXzLv9bfzUXSSl1S1_bhM75Ltsd4qMj-HEQLyl0sM522OwXbzqPDRykg7f91gPVuU/s1600/Oritsejafor+and+jonathan.jpg" height="236" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
ecumenical diversity of Boko Haram’s casualties would have enabled a more
sensitive leadership to rally the country across its sectarian fault lines but
Jonathan, already entrapped by his own narrative of personal victimhood, has
been unable to hit those unifying notes. The same moral paralysis has prevented
Oritsejafor and fellow conspiracy theorists from castigating the “Christian”
president for his epic ineptitude at protecting his supposed brethren. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Obviously,
Jonathan is not the first Nigerian politician to exploit religious
sensibilities for political gain. Ahmadu Bello’s Northern Peoples’ Congress
smeared Aminu Kano’s Northern Elements Progressive Union as unislamic and
apostate for collaborating with southern-led parties which were deemed
conclaves of infidels. The NPC used both the bogey of southern (Christian)
domination and the banner of Islamic solidarity to justify its repression of
the opposition. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Shehu
Shagari’s National Party of Nigeria subtly campaigned as an Islamic party in
Northern Nigeria and tarred the opposition People’s Redemption Party as
unislamic. Olusegun Obasanjo played his up his born-again Christian credentials
to counter the hostility of southwest Awoist elites who saw him as a lackey of
northern Muslims and then later to offset his rejection by his erstwhile
(mostly northern Muslim) backers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSQRP_tSTXkQviDzqxk0mKoFBCimPgxJ16vkheKdf2P0OJap_Swo5w2ElbtTLMRh4OXvCL69QiDFGQOROPmk5xtXT6i2YBdBe4ZwvGWizTUka7g5vm8efyMDV4INsFtYFGL6uCJng7BJc/s1600/ahmed+yerima.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSQRP_tSTXkQviDzqxk0mKoFBCimPgxJ16vkheKdf2P0OJap_Swo5w2ElbtTLMRh4OXvCL69QiDFGQOROPmk5xtXT6i2YBdBe4ZwvGWizTUka7g5vm8efyMDV4INsFtYFGL6uCJng7BJc/s1600/ahmed+yerima.jpg" height="219" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
1999, Zamfara State Governor, Ahmed Sani Yerima expanded the jurisdiction of
Sharia law to include criminal justice matters. It was actually a ploy to mobilize
plebeian piety as a counterweight to the far better resourced Peoples’ Democratic
Party. This gave the All Nigeria Peoples’ Party the powerful weapon of
Islamo-populism with even northern PDP governors forced to similarly enact Sharia
law to avoid being tarred as “unislamic” and evicted from office. Such was the
revivalist fervour cynically unleashed by Yerima. However, given its fraudulent
provenance, what emerged was a legal code that targeted the weak and the deprived
– cattle thieves and teen mothers – even as its promoters continued to indulge
in atheistic levels of vote-rigging, public theft and hedonism. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Muhammadu
Buhari’s fulsome support of the Sharia gambit and his presidential candidacy in
the ANPP, which marketed itself as an Islamic party in the north, made him a
political megastar in the far north but anathema in the Middle Belt and in the
south. Buhari is not the religious extremist alleged by his traducers but his past
links with the ANPP’s Islamo-populism and his recurrent bouts of Freudian
logorrhea have continued to haunt him. However, for all the accusations of religious
bigotry leveled against Buhari, it is actually the Jonathan administration and
the PDP that have perpetrated the more egregious manipulation of religious
sensibilities in recent years. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 148.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In a sense, Oritsejafor’s heedless support
of Jonathan symbolizes the radicalization of CAN in response to Islamo-populism.
The Jonathan presidency is seen as an opportunity for Christian elites to
benefit from power in the very same way that Muslims have supposedly done
historically. This is a “Christo-populist” spin on the argument that Jonathan’s
presidency is the turn of the longsuffering people of the Niger Delta to enjoy
the national cake. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This
argument depicts Jonathan as the victim of a powerful northern Muslim clique –
a view reinforced by the inflammatory utterances of some northern politicians
in the build-up to the 2011 polls. Although there is no evidence linking the
impotent vituperations of these politicians to the insurgency, Jonathan
supporters have seized upon them to argue that the insurgency is designed to
unseat the president. This sidesteps the fact that Boko Haram emerged under
Jonathan’s Muslim predecessor and that the last comparable insurrection in the
north, the Maitatsine uprising, occurred under Shagari, another Muslim. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">True,
by their utterances, some northern politicians project a sense of ethno-religious
primacy and entitlement. But this is an expired populism, the blame for which
cannot be fairly imposed on all northerners. Such rhetoric is now simulated by
some Niger Delta elites who insist intemperately that in 2015, it will be “Jonathan
or nothing”. This is the verbal jousting of rent seekers portraying their
self-serving pursuits as being in the service of their faiths and regions. In reality,
bigots and extremists on both sides of our fault lines are merely reinforcing
each other. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 372.75pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6B_luKSUrvjzpPKhkHXV57y-zl9v2sedtuuxSW0bbNZF8Wwp7sXBVriisEBEn4zB9Hp3PdbJu15BSSyT_3c7zsuz1k9jcqBqWFdm8o_J35YFxmkWZfY0-GoXni30rZhNy2_gcy0U0Q0g/s1600/jni-can.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6B_luKSUrvjzpPKhkHXV57y-zl9v2sedtuuxSW0bbNZF8Wwp7sXBVriisEBEn4zB9Hp3PdbJu15BSSyT_3c7zsuz1k9jcqBqWFdm8o_J35YFxmkWZfY0-GoXni30rZhNy2_gcy0U0Q0g/s1600/jni-can.jpg" height="165" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 372.75pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
our prebendal rentier political economy, the terms “Christian” and “Muslim” are
often less about confessional commitments than political allegiances. Groups
like CAN and the Jama'atu Nasril Islam (JNI) are relevant only because of the Nigerian
state’s failure to act as a guarantor of the common good. They are less
doctrinal organizations than para-political movements that thrive on the
mobilization of faith groups as political constituencies to contest for rents.
Pilgrims welfare boards, for example, are little more than channels of
patronage for servicing the religious elite. These organizations also enable
politicians to claim religious affinity with ordinary Nigerians whose
aspirations are totally incompatible with elite greed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
this zero-sum contest for “religious parity” in public life, actual governance
suffers. The exploitation of confessional identities means that politicians
cannot be held accountable since they posture as defenders of their respective
faiths. These pseudo-religious shenanigans would be comical if not for their
often lethal consequences. </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--></span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Despite their religiousity, politicians continue
to exhibit agnostic impunity. </span>Tens of thousands of lives have been consumed in
suburban sectarian wars. Boko Haram is the Frankenstein monster spawned by the
cynical manipulation of Sharia in the early 2000s. The toll in terms of broken
trust and depleted social capital is inestimable. </span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhxopSn2tc2PVp5HSGPtwNAF9x4knunlmmRzgreCuH43M5Gq4LMHo5II9FfG7EfE4X0olLxPztlwyiA2MX0BVRjnGW3za09hkG8AlBnwcsbKFmEhm4lcl-EhdKn4wszw-4Q-L0YvLHREA/s1600/god-bless-nigeria.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhxopSn2tc2PVp5HSGPtwNAF9x4knunlmmRzgreCuH43M5Gq4LMHo5II9FfG7EfE4X0olLxPztlwyiA2MX0BVRjnGW3za09hkG8AlBnwcsbKFmEhm4lcl-EhdKn4wszw-4Q-L0YvLHREA/s1600/god-bless-nigeria.jpeg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We
must now articulate the necessity of a secular state as a neutral mediator of sectarian
passions, underwriter of religious freedom and pluralism, and protector of various
shades of belief, unbelief and disbelief. Such a state would outlaw the public
funding of pilgrimages and other personal religious diversions. It would enact
robust hate speech legislation that aggressively penalizes preachers of hate. Above
all, it must be a guarantor of human security that prioritizes education,
healthcare and other developmental deliverables, the absence of which have
enabled the rise of charlatans. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
mysteries of inequity and social justice that make religious dog-whistling so
potent have to be decisively addressed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ultimately,
we must restructure the political economy and restrict access to the unearned
oil rents which constitute the primary incentive for crude sectarian
politicking. In truth, the ruling class is an ecumenical league of plutocrats
and kleptocrats; their victims need to unite and take back their nation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(All images sourced online in the order of appearance from premiumtimesng.com, ekekee.com, assets.vice.com, channelstv.com and risenetworks.org) </span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-43649510842951531092014-10-27T03:29:00.002-07:002014-10-27T03:29:57.752-07:00No Country For Young Men<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs7KlJrsfkERLkI_iLnmwkexzEB3T1kMLhSRAAskqne6_gy1kDsIC-62LCSljTxwZoJU5kSWVnAubVFRkq9EebosZTwBJYt3B6BkdQaJrUUsJI4woD5Ypf8KIXv9kzYlQpvj7ozWReh0k/s1600/gen+buhari.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs7KlJrsfkERLkI_iLnmwkexzEB3T1kMLhSRAAskqne6_gy1kDsIC-62LCSljTxwZoJU5kSWVnAubVFRkq9EebosZTwBJYt3B6BkdQaJrUUsJI4woD5Ypf8KIXv9kzYlQpvj7ozWReh0k/s1600/gen+buhari.jpg" height="251" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
is difficult to argue that the potential choice of Muhammadu Buhari as the
presidential candidate of the All Progressives’ Congress in next year’s polls signifies
“progressive change.” A 72 year-old ex-military dictator that seized power in
1983 hardly evokes a sense of forward thinking dynamism. There is something
retrograde about seeking the leadership of a septuagenarian in a youthful
country where well over half the population is under 40 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
is also unfair to ask eminently qualified politicians currently in their
forties and fifties to “wait their turn” in favour of a veteran who had his
turn in the early 1980s and who has since had three unsuccessful presidential
bids. It is a sordid indication of how the political elite stagnates this
country. This is not about ageism. In 1996, U.S. president Bill Clinton was
challenged by the septuagenarian Republican, Bob Dole. Much was made of the
challenger’s age but Clinton simply said, “I don’t think Bob Dole is too old to
be president. It’s the age of his ideas that I question.” Societies rejuvenate
themselves with fresh ideas and the idealism of youth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Whereas
Olusegun Obasanjo was elected in 1999, twenty years after handing over to
President Shehu Shagari, Buhari is seeking the presidency three decades after
his stint as military head of state and is thirty years out of date. That
Buhari, who has already had three failed presidential campaigns, evidently
cannot perceive a non-aspirational role for himself as an elder statesman and a
mentor to a new generation of leaders does him little credit. He fleetingly
considered this role when he announced his retirement from politics in 2011 but
apparently found it unappealing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ghyIEkuWc-Wz8qkb7lIvs7-EWxZUl9oLeMoqcXP6pQvT1tRPHD6Y67oWT95-Tz_I8R3aqYk2QRmZOOq3qNgbq-PzN8tAzbjicVR4jOiyRm63QP0RI5uNkfHmMvWdCmz9tPuOyXII4Nw/s1600/buhari.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ghyIEkuWc-Wz8qkb7lIvs7-EWxZUl9oLeMoqcXP6pQvT1tRPHD6Y67oWT95-Tz_I8R3aqYk2QRmZOOq3qNgbq-PzN8tAzbjicVR4jOiyRm63QP0RI5uNkfHmMvWdCmz9tPuOyXII4Nw/s1600/buhari.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Consider
that Nuhu Ribadu spent his national youth service year interning at Dodan
Barracks while Buhari was head of state. At the time, Babatunde Fashola was a
student at the University of Benin, Rabiu Kwankwaso was already a working class
professional and Rotimi Amaechi was a student at the University of Port
Harcourt. Adams Oshiomhole was already a frontline labour activist leading the
75, 000-strong textiles and tailoring workers union while Nasir El-Rufai was
running his own quantity surveying practice. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
would have been drummed into these men that they were the leaders of tomorrow.
Thirty years later, their generation is being enjoined to postpone their
aspirations and accommodate Buhari yet again. Indeed, in 2011, the Action Congress
literally sabotaged its own presidential candidate, Ribadu, so as to enable an
alliance with Buhari. The leaders of tomorrow have become the leaders of next
tomorrow. Fashola and company would have to be in their late sixties or
seventies before their “turn” finally arrives. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
insinuation is that Nigeria is a gerontocracy and young minds are being
inseminated with the pernicious idea that leadership is the preserve of the elderly
and that youth, rather than being a time of visionary derring-do, is a period
of indentured servitude to living fossils in public life. The result is the permanent
infantilization syndrome which sees middle aged men proudly posturing as “boys”
or “yoots” and serving as hangers-on, man-Fridays, pimps and court jesters to
geriatric power-mongers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Strangely,
Buhari belongs to a generation that did not practise the same fawning veneration
of aged predecessors that it now demands from the rest of us. It was Buhari’s
generation that forcibly retired the founding nationalist patriarchs from
politics by terminating the First and Second Republics. The “labours of our
heroes past” commemorated in our national anthem refers to the patriotic
exploits wrought by the nationalist generation in their youth. Indeed, the leading
anti-colonial political party was appropriately called the Nigerian Youth
Movement formed in 1933. Our most epochal acts of political deliverance have
been prosecuted by youthful Nigerians whether it is the nationalists that
earned our independence or the pro-democracy movement that terminated the
military era. Visionaries, not veterans, will propel us to the next stage of
our national evolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
not entirely unfair portrait of today’s young Nigerians as politically
neutered, demobilized and “deconscientized” hustlers who hire themselves out to
vested interests as brigands, laptop-wielding character assassins and mercenary
mudslingers is duly noted; but the fruit does not fall far from the tree. The
state of the youth is also the result of the deliberate sabotage of the civil
society institutions where civic consciousness is nurtured – an act of social subversion
for which the military regimes of the 1980s, including Buhari’s, are
responsible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Considering
the generally agreed upon narrative that Nigeria has been done in by past
leaders, especially its military dictators, it is difficult to see how Buhari
can escape some indictment. But poor leadership is not merely about abuse of
office or corrupt enrichment; it is also the inability to resist the siren
songs of Messianism and popular idolatry that tempt vulnerable egos into the
prideful belief that they alone are infallible and incorruptible enough to
wield power. Leadership requires the willingness to pave way for others by
embracing obsolescence as part of the natural sociopolitical continuum. Great
leaders are willing to become non-essential. In this regard, the cardinal flaw
of those that Wole Soyinka famously referred to as “the wasted generation” is
not that they failed; it is that they remain stridently committed to reenacting
those failures and have refused to go quietly into the night. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tam
David-West has cited Nelson Mandela who became president at 76 and a host of
other septuagenarian and octogenarian African leaders including autocrats as
proof that Buhari’s age should not be a factor. This is absurd. Buhari is not
Mandela and surely these sit-tight gerontocrats are one reason why Africa is
embattled. He mentioned Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 78, whose Liberian compatriots
are being decimated by the Ebola plague (which Fashola’s leadership was
instrumental in curbing in Nigeria), Jacob Zuma, 72, who is presiding over
South Africa’s socioeconomic decline and Malawi’s Peter Mutharika, 74, whose
country depends on foreign aid for 40 percent of its national budget. In fact,
none of the African countries cited by David-West is doing better than Nigeria.
He ignored the younger leaders that are running success stories like Ghana, Botswana,
Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. It is preposterous to suggest that Nigeria’s leadership
pool is as thin as Liberia’s or Malawi’s. The notion that in 2014, Nigeria’s
only hope is a man who ruled the country thirty years ago is galling. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-iP9h4qZdrdIZA_5iaaZXmmOBCaJnBOZ7y3BZAoHX5Rp3FhlodQVGZdmAbQvJwOCQtXNZo07dPNcfHzsbd1AmNpeoPrYbRb-FW-3Kzd9A6qurs0cPrYdnfQVgjU1EXrNnsCveitMUg_U/s1600/Gov-Fashola1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-iP9h4qZdrdIZA_5iaaZXmmOBCaJnBOZ7y3BZAoHX5Rp3FhlodQVGZdmAbQvJwOCQtXNZo07dPNcfHzsbd1AmNpeoPrYbRb-FW-3Kzd9A6qurs0cPrYdnfQVgjU1EXrNnsCveitMUg_U/s1600/Gov-Fashola1.jpg" height="320" width="256" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On
April 30, 2006, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thisday</i> published a
cover feature titled, “Beyond Obasanjo, Atiku, IBB [and] Buhari: 60 Nigerians
that can take the Presidency in 2007.” Goodluck Jonathan was not even on that
list although Umar Musa Yar’Adua was on it as were El-Rufai and Oshiomhole. If
El Rufai and Oshiomhole were deemed worthy of national leadership eight years
ago, why are they not today? If such a feature was published now, there would
be even more entrants on that list. This country has options for smart
leadership. We need not denigrate ourselves through a lack of political imagination
or courage. In that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thisday</i> piece,
Segun Adeniyi observed that “the kind of reasoning that ties the fate of the
nation to one man is self-serving, shortsighted and insults the sensibilities
of most Nigerians.” He was referring to Obasanjo but the same words could be
applied justifiably to Buhari’s presidential bid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
cause of progressive change is best served by Buhari endorsing a younger
candidate thereby placing his followership at the disposal of someone more
nationally acceptable. Buhari’s now much celebrated 12 million-vote haul from
2011 and his street level popularity make him a force. But since his
followership is largely restricted to the far north by a mixture of prejudicial
perceptions, opponents’ smear campaigns, the genuine grievances of those who
suffered during his draconian military reign and his own serial PR blunders, he
is effectively only a regional force. Endorsing a younger candidate would
enable the APC field a challenger with Buhari’s following but none of his
baggage. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTXgKUJkBE7MwMob8sY7BaggDkm8qOyAP0FhIHLoxdrDJLY0UUsoDoBPAOZGUHiHk_mI_mfe4iITDXUB_kdZkU7vP0S-H_16gw7ERgFEHLPw24nslPc3GLwwRHvwFDnYPam_6IghR2e4Y/s1600/oshiomhole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTXgKUJkBE7MwMob8sY7BaggDkm8qOyAP0FhIHLoxdrDJLY0UUsoDoBPAOZGUHiHk_mI_mfe4iITDXUB_kdZkU7vP0S-H_16gw7ERgFEHLPw24nslPc3GLwwRHvwFDnYPam_6IghR2e4Y/s1600/oshiomhole.jpg" height="133" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">If the APC was truly trying
to make a real statement of “progressive change” with its presidential ticket,
it would look no further than its capable cast of governors such as Fashola,
Kwankwaso and Oshiomhole (and to stalwarts like El-Rufai) and make a strong
argument for competence in our public life. Fashola has run arguably Nigeria’s
most complex state and the jewel in the APC’s crown creditably as Kwankwaso has
done in Kano, another challenging locale. Any of these gentlemen would enter
the presidential race with far more gubernatorial and administrative
accomplishments than Jonathan did in 2011. Cynics may contend that these
hypothetical candidacies are more daydream than dream team. But it is the very
paradigms that make their presidential bids seem quixotic that have to be
discarded to enable national progress.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">(Images sourced in order of appearance from abiyamo.com, muhdlawal.wordpress.com, famouspeoplenews.wordpress.com and bizwatchnigeria.ng) </span>Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-56602183000315518322014-10-20T08:12:00.000-07:002014-10-20T08:12:44.180-07:00The Opposition's Dilemma<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7s2WYWC8g63kE2hLqqBuDDn9uxDQhVNAXofDvNNXHIwKiTEp0JiFNBoFicJCWNZuiT4_jS0mWUXoJswCH89Y_QONs3UtBD6gkdn989_I4_GOJxLiOPZLcyZCiJCFXoH_bfrvjd8BEo6E/s1600/Buhari-Abubakar-and-Kwankwaso-360x180.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7s2WYWC8g63kE2hLqqBuDDn9uxDQhVNAXofDvNNXHIwKiTEp0JiFNBoFicJCWNZuiT4_jS0mWUXoJswCH89Y_QONs3UtBD6gkdn989_I4_GOJxLiOPZLcyZCiJCFXoH_bfrvjd8BEo6E/s1600/Buhari-Abubakar-and-Kwankwaso-360x180.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
APC confronts a significant dilemma as it weighs its options and nominates its
presidential flag-bearer for next year’s polls. Thus far, the primaries look to
be a three horse-race between Muhammadu Buhari, Atiku Abubakar and Rabiu
Kwankwaso. These three contenders bring formidable strengths as well as
weaknesses to the table. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Buhari
commands the allegiance of the northern street and the fanatical adulation of
millions who see him as the only one courageous and incorruptible enough to
slay the dragon of official graft. A septuagenarian and a former Head of State,
Buhari is experienced and also enjoys the peculiar benefit of having a public record
that has been burnished by the passage of time. A significant percentage of the
electorate were either too young or had not even been born when he was a
military ruler. This “demographic dividend”, in addition to a national amnesia about
our collective history, has aided his remarkable transformation from dictator
to democrat.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Atiku
Abubakar is a former Vice President, an experienced and thoroughbred politician
with a formidable national political machine oiled by his savvy for wheeling
and dealing and his immense wealth. Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso comes to the table
with youth on his side, and more importantly, a very impressive stint as
governor of Kano, one of Nigeria’s complex and most volatile states. Kwankwaso
has shown himself to be both an adept administrator and an adroit politician –
a very useful combination in a clime in which governance and politics exist in
an uneasy tension. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
an ideal world, the APC would blend Buhari’s popularity, Atiku’s political
savvy and machine with Kwankwaso’s progressive energy and drive to create its
perfect flag-bearer. It is precisely because it cannot do this that it must reconcile
the weaknesses and strengths of these contenders and ensure that its primaries
are not so fractious that they fatally damage whoever emerges as the winner. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVH6x0ig_nPkPZ2LFxP63csfhyh4ssu6lwE5-5WN012Zlnp5hWYcJZEQmHr694BGh0KAf4KI_DqUMzb1Y6-onvHuVs_5U4XZJvnA_ZoB-yP3XJHeOaC6S1HsBZmhAgRYuc6rmqf4MOUNE/s1600/BUHARI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVH6x0ig_nPkPZ2LFxP63csfhyh4ssu6lwE5-5WN012Zlnp5hWYcJZEQmHr694BGh0KAf4KI_DqUMzb1Y6-onvHuVs_5U4XZJvnA_ZoB-yP3XJHeOaC6S1HsBZmhAgRYuc6rmqf4MOUNE/s1600/BUHARI.jpg" height="224" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At
72, this is clearly Buhari’s swan song in elective politics after three
previous unsuccessful presidential bids. Elements within the APC leadership
favour him because his haul of 12 million votes in the 2011 polls make him a
bankable vote magnet particularly in the far north. But there are two problems
here. Buhari, for all his popularity in the north, has found it difficult to
become a national brand. The manual for defeating him was written in 2003 when
President Olusegun Obasanjo’s campaign successfully tarred him as a religious
extremist and ethnic bigot. It was slanderous nonsense but the charge has
proven potent in our polarized times not least because of Buhari’s occasional flair
for untimely verbal own goals and self-subverting soundbytes. It did not help
matters that in 2003 and 2007, his party, the All Nigeria Peoples’ Party
campaigned as an “Islamic” party in the North. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Secondly,
Buhari has never actually won an open and fair presidential primary contest. In
2003 and 2007, he was virtually muscled in as a consensus candidate by ANPP
apparatchiks which alienated influential party operatives on both occasions. In
2011, the Congress for Progressive Change which was practically set up as a
vehicle for his presidential ambition floundered because it was manifestly a
personality cult and lacked the organizational acumen as well as the fiscal and
human resources to mount an effective national campaign. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Primary
contests are not about popularity. Rather, they test a candidate’s ability to
rally party delegates. Buhari disdains the sort of wheeling and dealing that
characterizes a nomination process. He perceives himself as being above
politics and is frequently condescending to politicians. Thus, he has never
been able to win over the political operatives that can secure party tickets in
an open contest and has instead typically relied on the anointment of party
elders. The fact that his military regime jailed many Second Republic politicians
has fuelled a residual elite suspicion of his agenda. The APC’s adoption of a
modified direct system for its primaries will allow 300, 000 delegates to
participate and this widening of the pool could enable Buhari be more
competitive than he might ordinarily have been. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhune_4XZwaTilxN00jlaBmmcAa3YUWMvIozhgs6ARB6mQooHwyXYyDXDJm3Q-4FGx0CmMOCwmpXb5m3aXudKvveZ6gV3sM-CWKZTcNF_OL3SNaptseDHuqMmUWs9fcaBt1AyP5e9Y4-oU/s1600/ATIKU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhune_4XZwaTilxN00jlaBmmcAa3YUWMvIozhgs6ARB6mQooHwyXYyDXDJm3Q-4FGx0CmMOCwmpXb5m3aXudKvveZ6gV3sM-CWKZTcNF_OL3SNaptseDHuqMmUWs9fcaBt1AyP5e9Y4-oU/s1600/ATIKU.jpg" height="226" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Atiku,
on the other hand, is an adept veteran of primary contests since 1993 and is endowed
with the sort of personal and political diplomacy that sways delegates. His accessibility
is in contrast to Buhari’s aloofness. Kwankwaso also has keen political
instincts in this terrain. Both Atiku and Kwankwaso would be far more comfortable
in this arena than Buhari but neither of them possesses Buhari’s name
recognition or that bankable fund of fanatical devotion that would be crucial
in the general election. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
is quite the conundrum. Buhari may be a fairly competitive brand for national
elections but lacks the transactional skills for primary contests. Atiku and
Kwankwaso have what it takes to fare well in the primaries but do not have
Buhari’s following which would be crucial for the national polls. Atiku lacks
Buhari’s reputation for incorruptibility and Kwankwaso, despite his impressive
work in Kano, must work hard to stamp himself in the national consciousness. In
truth, none of these candidates is certain to defeat the incumbent president
next year. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHV9Yq-loBMh2ZVmaM22C-0pObopMPBuZ_mAk4dtkmfvfOuxgBpEcLm9apMKiTK3ichGONmaXjrRQyAJXyGNYdTLY6FF69_cpktjOm4WaajnfE_xey-wrKmsGmhga5I4m__7BCtAP75Hs/s1600/KWANKWASO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHV9Yq-loBMh2ZVmaM22C-0pObopMPBuZ_mAk4dtkmfvfOuxgBpEcLm9apMKiTK3ichGONmaXjrRQyAJXyGNYdTLY6FF69_cpktjOm4WaajnfE_xey-wrKmsGmhga5I4m__7BCtAP75Hs/s1600/KWANKWASO.jpg" height="320" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Buhari’s
partisans will argue that the party leadership ought to do all it can to ensure
Buhari clinches the ticket since he can pull in the numbers. But Atiku and
Kwankwaso could counter that the ability to sway delegates in the primaries is
not to be scoffed at. It is, after all, a predictor of the ability to mobilize
the ground troops for the general elections. They will also point at the rather
limited geography of Buhari’s appeal. Having 12 million votes is of no consequence
if they are sequestered almost entirely in one region. They will observe that
Buhari, despite his adoring legions, has lost thrice to three different ruling
party candidates in a decade, and quite rightly suggest that a persistent
defect in his brand, whether perceptual or actual, makes him nationally
unelectable. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Certain actors within the
APC would prefer a “bloodless” non-acrimonious primary process in which Atiku
and Kwankwaso step down for Buhari. This is unlikely and Kwankwaso has already
reportedly rebuffed overtures to concede the ticket to Buhari. This is fair. The
APC needs an open primary contest if it is to avoid self-destructive internecine
recrimination afterwards and its leadership will have to avoid the temptation
to stage a victory for a favoured contender. From all indications, the
primaries will be keenly contested. What happens next will be interesting. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Images sourced from (in order of appearance)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">www.today.ng </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">www.ynaija.com </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">www.dailypost.ng</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">www.kanopillars.com </span>Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-65073752665291566852014-08-25T18:53:00.000-07:002014-08-25T18:53:09.776-07:00The Lynching of Nuhu Ribadu<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE3DmIXOY5GWufxGaQca9dNPRTB-pK2tSz3-mi0mnEJ1bNIpcMx3QFzJyLcwUJl7gtc0pm6QaK0tPjpS1du83OcEcAeNCucwaSjKrAHnb_GESp4GXchzjBDRDHexEnideHtT-jr7avHEo/s1600/mallam-nuhu-ribadu2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE3DmIXOY5GWufxGaQca9dNPRTB-pK2tSz3-mi0mnEJ1bNIpcMx3QFzJyLcwUJl7gtc0pm6QaK0tPjpS1du83OcEcAeNCucwaSjKrAHnb_GESp4GXchzjBDRDHexEnideHtT-jr7avHEo/s1600/mallam-nuhu-ribadu2.jpg" height="640" width="427" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nuhu
Ribadu’s defection from the All Progressive Congress to the ruling People’s
Democratic Party has been greeted with savage personal attacks that have
condemned him as a perfidious and opportunistic turncoat. By joining the PDP, the
former anti-corruption czar is said to have betrayed his principles. Ribadu, it
appears, is being held to a very rigorous standard of consistency – one that
could only possibly be met by a political clairvoyant. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
absurdity and unfairness of the moral standard being applied to Ribadu become
apparent when applied to the broader political landscape. Take Muhammadu Buhari
who is widely lionized by his supporters as an incorruptible paragon. In 1998,
he had told the BBC that he believed politics was “full of fraudulent acts.” “I
cannot join people who will go and loot the treasury,” he insisted, “I have no
plans to participate in politics” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tell</i>,
March 16, 1998). In October 2000, Buhari stridently denied any interest in
politics saying, “I have no desire to take part in partisan politics.” He was
adamant that he would “not take part in partisan politics” despite being
approached to do so (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Guardian</i>,
October 6, 2000). Within a few years, Buhari was seeking the grandest prize in
Nigerian politics.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After
his failed 2007 presidential bid, Buhari told the BBC, “I have been deceived by
politicians, by the people who drafted me into politics. I have discovered that
the people who drafted me into politics were not sincere after all; they only
wanted to use me to get appointments or for their personal aggrandizement and
not to serve the nation or the masses” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
News</i>, September 24, 2007). Buhari was referring to, among other people, the
All Nigeria People’s Party chairman Edwin Ume-Ezeoke and the then Kano State
Governor Ibrahim Shekarau. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Should
we not denounce Buhari for lacking discernment and for being serially deceived
by corrupt politicians or for being unprincipled enough to team up with the
same politicians he had vilified for being rogues? Is he not an inconsistent
hypocrite for allying with Shekarau once again in the APC? No doubt, his
supporters would prefer to see this as evidence of his forgiving spirit. No matter.
After losing the 2011 polls, Buhari called time on his political career stating
that there would be no more presidential bids. But yet again, he reneged on
this promise. By the measure with which Ribadu has been judged, Buhari would
have to be condemned as a congenital liar; a typical politician who cannot keep
his word and is therefore no different from the much maligned Goodluck Jonathan
who pledged to govern for only one term but has since reviewed his stance. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By
the rigorous standards of political morality applied to Ribadu, it would be
impossible for the APC itself (or indeed any of our political parties) to have
come into existence. It would be unethical for veterans of the 1990 pro-democracy
movement like Bola Tinubu and Kayode Fayemi to countenance making common cause
with Tom Ikimi, who served as General Sani Abacha’s foreign minister, and
Buhari who also served in that junta and persistently claims that Abacha was
not the thieving despot that he undeniably was. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
late 2009, Ume-Ezeoke paid a solidarity visit to Shekarau, then governor of
Kano State and lauded him for resolutely refusing to jump ship like other ANPP
governors that had defected to the PDP – a strange remark since Ume-Ezeoke
himself had championed his party’s alliance with the PDP in a so-called
government of national unity two years earlier. Shekarau replied that Nigerians
were in dire need of redemption from what he derisively called the “property
development party” – a party which he said was suffering from a “cancerous ego
and political jaundice” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The News</i>, December
7, 2009). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shekarau is now a PDP
chieftain.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
APC chieftain, Nasir El-Rufai, who came to fame while serving in a PDP
government, evinces little discomfort at being in the same party with Atiku
Abubakar, the former vice-president whom he criticized for corruption in his
memoirs. Abubakar’s trajectory in the last seven years has seen him migrate
from the PDP to the Action Congress back to the PDP and now to the APC. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
is still unclear why PDP’s poaching of Jimi Agbaje or Ribadu provokes diatribes
against these gentlemen while the APC’s recruitment of PDP stalwarts like Rabiu
Kwankwaso, Rotimi Amaechi and Bukola Saraki is hailed as a victory for
progressives. What exactly makes Ali Modu Sherriff or the
catastrophically inept Murtala Nyako progressive? We may now await the
defection to the APC of Aminu Tambuwal, a leader of one of the most avaricious
legislatures in parliamentary history and his consequent baptism as a “progressive.”
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is worth noting that some of the
elements now castigating Ribadu were involved in the ACN’s betrayal of his
presidential candidacy in 2011 in favour enabling the PDP’s victory in the
southwest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
October 2010, El-Rufai issued a scathing public statement asserting that Buhari
“remained perpetually unelectable” and that his “insensitivity to Nigeria’s
diversity and his parochial focus” are already well known. He cited the
draconian record of Buhari’s military regime as proof of “the essence of his
intolerance” and rubbished Buhari’s presidential aspirations saying that it was
now “time for a new generation of leaders with new thinking and wholesome
democratic attitudes to move our nation forward.” Buhari’s ill-tempered
reaction to his suggestion that he abandon his presidential quest was “proof enough
that a Buhari, the new Democrat, tolerant of views different from his own, is
yet to evolve” but it would “take more than attacks on personalities to become
electable. Having seen his version of discipline, Nigerians are not likely to
cherish an encore.”(<a href="http://saharareporters.com/2010/10/04/el-rufai-buhari-should-stick-facts"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://saharareporters.com/2010/10/04/el-rufai-buhari-should-stick-facts</span></a>).
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">El-Rufai’s
acidic comments on Buhari’s electability would later be seized upon by Jonathan’s
campaign team. In his memoirs, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Accidental Public Servant</i>, published in 2013, El-Rufai (now a Buhari ally) lamented
that his comments on the former head of state were still being brought up
incessantly “as if I could not change my views based on new facts, information
or emerging circumstances” (p.450). Herein lies the central lesson. Politicians
change their views all the time based on “new facts, information or emerging
circumstances.” Like Ribadu, Buhari, El-Rufai, Atiku and any political
personage we care to name have at various times exercised the prerogative of
changing their own minds. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
remains only for voters to decide whether or not these changes in perspective
constitute such egregious reversals that they permanently place the politicians
in question in terminal disrepute. In making this judgment, it is important that
we do not hold politicians to a standard higher than that to which we are
willing to subject ourselves. Nor should we confuse prideful inflexibility and
our delusions of infallibility for a noble fidelity to principle. Being
flexible enough to learn, adapt, and change one’s ways is, after all, also a
principle, and a worthy one at that. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
would take people who have never changed their views and never will; people who
are either incapable of learning or unwilling to do so, to insist on the
exacting standards of consistency with which Ribadu is being bludgeoned. Inflexibility
and infallibility are dangerous. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of
course, utterances matter and public figures should be called out on their
perceived inconsistencies as a means of keeping them honest. Here, for example,
is a scorcher from that erstwhile scourge of corrupt and inept power-brokers,
Reuben Abati in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Guardian</i> of
October 2, 2005: “Even when a Nigerian leader is openly stupid, a Nigerian in
search of his or her own share of the national cake, and who has been invited
to come and eat, cannot summon the courage to tell him so. The unfortunate
thing is that the people who manage to get to the corridors of power are ever
so grateful that they dare not speak the truth.” As self-indicting,
self-fulfilling prophecies go, this statement is probably unparalleled. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Given
the melodrama surrounding Ribadu’s defection, it is perhaps necessary to seek
electoral reforms that would allow independent candidacies. Letting individuals
run on their personal antecedents rather than on nebulous party platforms may
give us more clarity in judging their worthiness for public office. It will
also save us the histrionics that accompanies these defections. In the
meantime, we should weigh the choices before us and vote for good governance
regardless of what party label it comes under. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Political
nomadism is to be expected in an environment where ideological distinctions are
still ill-defined and where self-interest, patriotism, idealism and Faustian
pragmatism must necessarily co-exist. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
must also grasp the distinction between political expediency and administrative
acumen. The fact that Kwankwaso and Amaechi were once in the PDP does not detract
from their administrative accomplishments. Similarly, in or out of the APC,
Ribadu remains a superior alternative to Nyako. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our
addiction to cartoonish heroes and villains warps our electoral choices. Democratic
politics is not about canonizing saints. At worst, it is a calculus of greater
and lesser evils. At best, it offers a choice between competence and
incompetence. The important thing is to choose, on balance, the best man or
woman for the job. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(All images sourced online) </span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-48973037008958957822014-05-25T18:18:00.000-07:002014-05-25T18:18:18.484-07:00State of Denial<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJn9QF2_1S9iXMtc6OxnVaJva1SqBQB7UJRKl8JG7HggtyAtT8wkhzWjzS5X1-AhyphenhyphenQpXY815sj3-T-5qliDtdovrrj1ioVBA6XJZZxo-sfRILooyDap3jYsEGRpBowWVsnAxs6EkvTv0M/s1600/conspiracy-theories-death01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJn9QF2_1S9iXMtc6OxnVaJva1SqBQB7UJRKl8JG7HggtyAtT8wkhzWjzS5X1-AhyphenhyphenQpXY815sj3-T-5qliDtdovrrj1ioVBA6XJZZxo-sfRILooyDap3jYsEGRpBowWVsnAxs6EkvTv0M/s1600/conspiracy-theories-death01.jpg" height="280" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With
each terrorist outrage, opposing partisans volley conspiracy theories back and
forth, accusing either the federal government or the opposition of
masterminding the attacks. Confronted by an unprecedented threat and unable to
respond effectively, we have resorted to conspiracy theorizing. We seem to be
in denial that a terrorist insurgency is upon us. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This denial stems from a typically
Nigerian hubris. During the 1970s and the 1980s, Nigerians believed that their
country was too sophisticated to produce an Idi Amin or Mobutu and were blind
to that possibility right until General Sani Abacha seized power and plumbed
hitherto uncharted depths of savagery. Similarly, we have long believed that
terrorism and suicide bombings are exotic lunacies confined to foreign lands
even though our social indices and derelict governance all pointed towards the
eventual emergence of an organized insurrection as we have since witnessed in
the Niger Delta and the Northeast.</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In fact, Nigeria was institutionally
unprepared to deal with a terrorist insurgency. There is more than a hint of
cognitive dissonance in our evaluation of the situation. Nigerians generally
agree that the state is fundamentally inept, incapable of providing basic social
services, crippled by endemic corruption, patronage politics and perverse
affirmative action gestures. But they inexplicably expect the same state to readily
“deal with” a highly adaptive, protean threat like the current insurgency.
Officials admit that Nigeria’s borders are unguarded but express amazement at
the proliferation of weapons. Nigerians are attributing to malice, several
things that are sufficiently explained by incompetence. </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When ineptitude, mediocrity and graft
attain epidemic proportions, their manifestations seem like a conspiracy to the
unwary eye. But it is really years of institutional decay, inept governance and
official kleptomania finally catching up with us. The results are brave but
poorly-resourced, ill-motivated troops put in harm’s way, security lapses,
failures of intelligence and martial resolve, and mutinous rumblings at the
front lines. Insurgencies are fiendishly difficult to fight but corruption,
incompetence and incapacity have also ambushed us. It is impossible to swiftly
shift gears from institutionalized dysfunction to five-star efficiency in a
national emergency. The real “conspiracy” is the pervasive belief that we could
continue business as usual in the face of an unusual threat and not run aground.</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-YLc4C7jk2vEETr930AZ5iI5x3hAy6Kt-0IFdcfLvZUEGj3cdKBFiVupawEAjlRsAiQPYHuCbP-K8QaYX35-ANamhTHnPZ4vvymOQYU52V3aEb-PWOV6Yg3ewOsEBpxnffTI0B-MuAXo/s1600/boko-haram-scam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-YLc4C7jk2vEETr930AZ5iI5x3hAy6Kt-0IFdcfLvZUEGj3cdKBFiVupawEAjlRsAiQPYHuCbP-K8QaYX35-ANamhTHnPZ4vvymOQYU52V3aEb-PWOV6Yg3ewOsEBpxnffTI0B-MuAXo/s1600/boko-haram-scam.jpg" height="292" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nigeria’s law enforcement and security
institutions are weak. The five year old insurgency has consumed over 4,000
lives and multibillion naira security budgets but there is no coherent national
security doctrine that synergizes our security agencies. Both the national
security adviser and the president have bemoaned the lack of interagency
cooperation. Even the government’s response to Boko Haram’s demand for the release
of its members in exchange for its release of the girls it abducted a month ago
was met with contradictory responses from various functionaries, reflecting the
administration’s strategic incoherence. </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our institutional vulnerabilities are
compounded by ineptitude. President Goodluck Jonathan’s defenders insist that
he is the victim of a conspiracy aimed at aborting his second term ambitions. Even
if such a scheme is afoot, his failure to act decisively against his “enemies”
and protect Nigerians does him no credit.</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The nationalist Adegoke Adelabu once
wrote, “At the supreme crisis in the history of every nation, there emerges
spontaneously from the ranks of the common people, a leader and a saviour to
pilot the ship of the state.” National crises often transfigure political
leaders, endowing them with steely purpose. Jonathan has not been so endowed. Nigerians,
regardless of their partisan, ethnic or religious allegiances, would be
rallying round the president if he was providing strong leadership. As St. Paul
wrote, “If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to
battle?” We are at war but Jonathan’s leadership has been uncertain and
uninspiring. </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Boko Haram’s indiscriminate blood
thirst makes it an enemy against which a more competent politician would have
galvanized the whole country. Instead, the administration has opted variously
to play the victim, to milk terror acts for political advantage and to libel
political opponents with unsubstantiated allegations of treason. It is true
that the chain of negligence for many outrages extends beyond the presidency; a
host of federal agents and state authorities are also culpable. However, the lack
of penalties for official delinquency is telling; as is Jonathan’s preference
for raising redundant committees instead of demanding results from his team and
firing inept functionaries.</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This indulgence is worlds apart from
the stone-cold realities of the front lines where the cost of failure is
immediate and unforgiving. A mediocre officialdom has failed even to weave the
successes and heroic sacrifices of the military and security services into an
inspirational narrative and persisted with its victimhood.</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We are facing challenges that require
bold leadership and strong institutions. We need fresh systemic thinking on how
to police a population of 170 million people when our men and women under arms number
less than 1 million. We need new strategies for urban planning and the
protection of critical infrastructure and soft targets. We need to move away
from analog security management protocols (roadblocks and checkpoints) and
utilize human and electronic intelligence. The insurgency has displaced half a
million people who have been abandoned but need to be placed in protected
camps. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Boko Haram is eminently
beatable but we must overcome our denial and face the reality of rebuilding our
institutions, enhancing our crisis management capacities, redefining our
leadership selection processes and entrenching meritocracy in public service.
Without profound conceptual and practical changes in our approach to
governance, our enemies will continue to find joy in fomenting anarchy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">(Thisday, Sunday May 25, 2014)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">(All images are sourced online)</span></span>Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-49748535281584184592014-05-12T12:05:00.000-07:002014-05-12T12:05:27.698-07:00The Meaning of Chibok<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk_ltSTcngpxnMGQVorLeMyUgmoyx3ygpVyWHMJzoNheUlK_Q7FX4USG2dut-mwXMWW7zXX9raD0xMXH4JR-8MXTQkHJ1ZMyDiSoSup4vtZWLK0Xb-C-MZUTjz3xlTJylcUEVO1qEjdTM/s1600/BringBackOurGirls.001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk_ltSTcngpxnMGQVorLeMyUgmoyx3ygpVyWHMJzoNheUlK_Q7FX4USG2dut-mwXMWW7zXX9raD0xMXH4JR-8MXTQkHJ1ZMyDiSoSup4vtZWLK0Xb-C-MZUTjz3xlTJylcUEVO1qEjdTM/s1600/BringBackOurGirls.001.png" height="275" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Whether the abduction of over 200 girls from
Chibok is a tipping point remains to be seen. It took the self-immolation of a
Tunisian street trader to spark off the Arab Spring. The Chibok debacle may yet
unleash seismic repercussions. There have, of course, been other abductions by
Boko Haram and over the years, several soul-destroying abominations across the
land that have gone unremarked. The case of the Chibok girls is remarkable
because of the impunity of its perpetrators, the scale of the crime, the number
of victims and the mindboggling ineptitude of those in authority. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">At first, the government responded with typical
indifference. Scenes of President Goodluck Jonathan cavorting at a political
rally a day after the April 14, Abuja bombing and the abduction of the girls
incensed many. However, there was a deeper institutional psychology at work.
The dreary inescapable truth is that defending the sanctity of human life is
not a core value of the Nigerian state. The state is an entity that elites
compete to capture and privatize for personal gain rather than for public
interest. It is government of some people, by some people and for some people. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Consequently, politicians tend to emphasize the
chasm between the state and the society. Witness the semiotic violence of officialdom.
Reckless motorcades piloted by snarling speed demons and whip-wielding goons are
known to run citizens off the road. The unmistakable message is that the
powerful are a different breed from “the masses”. This medieval model of
governance renders it both alien and alienating. Most Nigerians do not actually
expect the government to serve their interests. This is why state governors are
serenaded for their rare provision of basic amenities which is seen as the
beneficence rather than the obligation, of elected officials. The tribulations
of the powerless are hardly the priority of the powerful.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJhTE9VJ6ihE0AeFwIm0Q7bhpm7gXe5CMO28ft36bzIdT-kRb3RZIiOVHlfmvN3ZKDEAzlJ3NHWuhM_LlSqDSiVJoWzbBPJjNYPRAxrzSkCP54nX7c7LNtEp5rVWJRAGKYDuIjFRCX7ns/s1600/amanpour+and+cameron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJhTE9VJ6ihE0AeFwIm0Q7bhpm7gXe5CMO28ft36bzIdT-kRb3RZIiOVHlfmvN3ZKDEAzlJ3NHWuhM_LlSqDSiVJoWzbBPJjNYPRAxrzSkCP54nX7c7LNtEp5rVWJRAGKYDuIjFRCX7ns/s1600/amanpour+and+cameron.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">In the three weeks it took Jonathan to speak on
the missing girls, foreign leaders had pronounced on the issue with the sort of
resolve that Nigerian officialdom is incapable of mustering when Nigerian lives
are at stake. Leadership is not only about providing those basics which Nigerian
politicians like to preen and brag about. It is about defining the ethical
boundaries that separate us from the animal kingdom. Like previous outrages,
this debacle was another spurned opportunity for leaders to make emotionally-intelligent
and unequivocal moral statements. These silences betray an empathy deficit and
belie our claim to belong in the precincts of modern civilization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">The World Economic Forum (WEF) was supposed to be
the administration’s triumphal exhibition on global primetime. Instead it was rightly
overshadowed by the missing girls. Having rebased Nigeria’s GDP, we must now
revalue Nigerian life. Assuredly, were it not for the rising protests, international
pressure and the increasingly global ubiquity of the #bringbackourgirls#
campaign, the administration would have ignored the missing girls and steamed
ahead. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Yet, it is instructive that the official
interventions on the matter have been characterized by defensiveness,
dissembling and evasiveness. The subtext of the first lady’s cringe-worthy
melodramatic intervention was the accusation that the Chibok community was to
blame for the abduction of its daughters. The administration and its
sympathizers have shamelessly sought to portray the abductions and the ensuing
protests as a plot to embarrass the president. Some promoted a sterile debate
about whether the abductions actually happened. It has always been demonstrably
difficult for officialdom to empathize with “lesser” compatriots. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">This low valuation of life is why the criminally
negligent Interior Minister remains in office despite overseeing a fraudulent
recruitment exercise in which several young Nigerians died. It is why on May 1,
the police was more exercised about dispersing protesters in Lagos than
pre-empting the deadly bombing that later shook Abuja’s outskirts; and why
communities like Chibok can only dream of seeing the sort of resources expended
to fortify Abuja during the WEF. Undoubtedly, if Boko Haram was targeting VIPs,
the official response would have possessed more urgency and intensity. Ordinary
Nigerians, the denizens of Chibok, Nyanya and other such places, are only
marginally less expendable to politicians than they are to terrorists.
Politicians, at least, require their votes. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2QPRlUeVHFN_dTafWqaZwf3ZyHQ7gEdUTe-HVLmTMdd92xuNRiLhbply5AhyphenhyphenU59jgQvuaqRpPm1JgsaVk4V0e1bm3MB9ShI5WBo5ozdIE4Foc36MJxJOWWSgK2Wr5yVFMcY6LbPFKxAU/s1600/missing+girls+who+cares.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2QPRlUeVHFN_dTafWqaZwf3ZyHQ7gEdUTe-HVLmTMdd92xuNRiLhbply5AhyphenhyphenU59jgQvuaqRpPm1JgsaVk4V0e1bm3MB9ShI5WBo5ozdIE4Foc36MJxJOWWSgK2Wr5yVFMcY6LbPFKxAU/s1600/missing+girls+who+cares.jpg" height="390" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Government functionaries have displayed a puzzled
irritation verging on a persecution complex at the scrutiny provoked by the
Chibok girls’ inconvenient disappearance. But the real problem is that
Nigerians are starting to demand more from their government and that the world
is taking keen interest in a heinous atrocity that would have been let slide. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Chibok, a remote nondescript community,
represents the sort of plebeian anonymity that is easily forgotten but the travails
of its daughters have captured local and international attention. It has
survived our weekly news cycle’s payload of body counts. Even in their
harrowing captivity, the stolen girls have refused to go away. Their ordeal has
rekindled a protest movement that can only deepen our democracy. It has also thrust
their captors into international infamy. The video of a gloating and evidently
drug-addled Abu Shekau threatening to sell the girls raised hackles worldwide
and may have sealed the fate of his anarchist enterprise. Boko Haram will be
terminally damned by the girls it has stolen. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Beyond bringing back our girls, our challenge is
to humanize and domesticate the state and convert it to the service of the
common good. It is to instill a culture of accountability and responsiveness to
public opinion and make officialdom more accessible to the people. It is to affirm
the sanctity of life above all other considerations.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">(All images are sourced online) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Thisday, May 11, 2014 </span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-34884739931615480832014-05-07T00:06:00.000-07:002014-05-07T00:06:16.627-07:00Warriors without Borders<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On
hindsight, if anywhere in Nigeria was going to breed a neo-Islamist insurgency,
it was perhaps always going to be its long neglected northeastern frontier, a
region historically prone to cross-border banditry and a gateway to the
strife-afflicted and drought-stricken Sahel. The Sahelo-Saharan zone is a
borderless dark economy of organized crime, drug, human, weapons and diamond
traffickers, and rebel groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boko
Haram exemplifies a geopolitical phenomenon featuring transnational non-state
actors with scant regard for national boundaries. Its insurgency has been
enhanced by Nigeria’s porous borders with Chad, Niger and Cameroon and is
unlikely to be defeated without significant international collaboration. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwj0-iQCfGF5M-VLUB4bmwUWU1TCEvs_Z22LJWyoECL-wk_1AqAJGE28ELNvKNWtWahTHrX6OFi9WnM4DkYMYBAHZm66v5PUVXub4XjFdxuGC49NEnw_7nhzzNzXl2Q3rj2lo5R3v3SPU/s1600/boko_haram_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwj0-iQCfGF5M-VLUB4bmwUWU1TCEvs_Z22LJWyoECL-wk_1AqAJGE28ELNvKNWtWahTHrX6OFi9WnM4DkYMYBAHZm66v5PUVXub4XjFdxuGC49NEnw_7nhzzNzXl2Q3rj2lo5R3v3SPU/s1600/boko_haram_logo.jpg" height="309" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
group’s increasing methodological sophistication since 2009 (from
motorcycle-borne ride-by shootings to using improvised explosive devices) and
the evolution of its demands from previously locally-centered grievances against
state and federal authorities to a more nebulous neo-Islamist anti-state
agenda, indicate contact with foreign insurgent groups. If globalization is
characterized by borderless transactions and the free flow of capital,
information and culture, it is also defined by the transnationalization of
strife. Domestic conflicts in sovereignty-deficient states tend to escalate
into transnational security emergencies. The internet enables the transmission
of insurrectionary tactics, theologies and technologies across far-flung
locales. An aspirant Nigerian mass-murderer can access the preachments or bomb-making
expertise of a Yemeni extremist online. The net has also aided the formulation
of a grand Jihadi narrative in which Jihadists, whether in Nigeria, Indonesia
or Somalia, see themselves as comrades in a global revolt against secular
sovereigns. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
transnationalization of conflict cuts across religions. Consider the Lord’s
Resistance Army (LRA), the spearhead of an insurgency that was launched in
Uganda in 1986 and which aims to establish a society based on the Ten
Commandments. The LRA’s rebellion is originally rooted in the discontent of the
Acholi of Northern Uganda but has long since become synonymous with mass
murder, rape and abductions in South Sudan, Central African Republic and Congo.
Indeed, Boko Haram’s serial abduction of young girls for forced marriage and
sexual slavery mirrors the LRA’s fiendish tactics.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
1994, when the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nterahamwe</i>, the Hutu
extremist paramilitary that carried out the Rwandan genocide was dislodged by
Paul Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front, it fled deep into the Democratic
Republic of Congo. Between 1994 and 1997, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nterahamwe</i> waged a deadly insurgency against Rwanda from the DRC
while another rebel group, the Allied Democratic Front also launched a campaign
from there to oust Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni. To this day, Rwanda and Uganda
continue to face anti-state actors based in the DRC. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOu3fYXIk5MBTGl7utY2VyobUnEZH9ZBVVk59I0axo_gwclXmghNFKsQJPxJUXnlAnrLk9C9txpt30sQRlN0554ALSgeZGX-1FxNxZ7COqRQC-bs0AXq-zWa-r2d5I87lhHFahyphenhyphen18nGR8/s1600/map+of+LRA.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOu3fYXIk5MBTGl7utY2VyobUnEZH9ZBVVk59I0axo_gwclXmghNFKsQJPxJUXnlAnrLk9C9txpt30sQRlN0554ALSgeZGX-1FxNxZ7COqRQC-bs0AXq-zWa-r2d5I87lhHFahyphenhyphen18nGR8/s1600/map+of+LRA.gif" height="320" width="316" /></a></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
LRA, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nterahamwe</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">al Shabab</i> in Somalia mutated from local
insurrectionists into transnational anarchists. None of these groups can be
defeated without international partnership. Should Somalia utterly fall to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">al Shabab</i>, for example, it would become
a hub for international terrorists in the Horn of Africa and would undoubtedly
destabilize Somalia’s neighbours. Kenya, Eritrea and Ethiopia cannot contend
successfully with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">al Shabab</i> without
taking an active interest in Somalia’s stability. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipJeg5AbZPF-k3AePISLyy_jHhNOe_0j-92xPfuw8ip7tSNMBkfAa33X4yApm50CslKEYl0wJ_F3jOKQx9U77JY45tkYTdJZ_Sr1VuI_PSVVWyXdZ4NR7UPqtqz7ygDp3KnaMbCo6Ja3M/s1600/al+shabab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipJeg5AbZPF-k3AePISLyy_jHhNOe_0j-92xPfuw8ip7tSNMBkfAa33X4yApm50CslKEYl0wJ_F3jOKQx9U77JY45tkYTdJZ_Sr1VuI_PSVVWyXdZ4NR7UPqtqz7ygDp3KnaMbCo6Ja3M/s1600/al+shabab.jpg" height="170" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ever
since Afghanistan served as a nursery for al Qaeda in the early 1990s,
international terror groups have sought ungoverned spaces and weak states where
to sink their roots. However, they are not content to stay confined in such
enclaves; they see them as bases from which to export terror. Thus, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">al Shabab</i> is not just an enemy of
Somalia; it is ultimately an enemy of the East African Community. Likewise, the
DRC’s weak central government and its perennial chaos have made it a haven for
transnational anarchists and a destabilizing vortex in the Great Lakes region.
If Boko Haram is not liquidated in Nigeria, it is likely to further evolve into
an al Qaeda in the Sahel and could plant a subversive foothold in Chad, Niger
and Cameroon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
transnationalization of conflict is not about a clash of civilizations between the
West and the Islamic world as famously posited by Samuel Huntington. It is a
clash between the formal sovereign authority of nation-states and non-state
actors in regions populated by sovereignty-deficient states. In many places,
this clash also ties into the tension between colonial cartography and
resurgent micronationalism. Colonially-imposed borders are being tested by
transnational actors. The Tuareg rebellion in Mali in 2012 was only the latest
iteration of a decades-long campaign to create Azawad – a Tuareg homeland that
will span a number of Sahelian countries. The 2012 edition was sparked off by the
return of over 2,000 Tuareg mercenaries that had previously been retained by
Muammar Gaddafi. They left Libya after the fall of Gaddafi’s regime with an
impressive arsenal and grand ambitions. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNwFYiE5lXqkuMC8GDCoqb6Fg6u6GMQ2tkjP4mFUkLfoaK5QPwu2_N3g79YX2GL4S86NXou5L_1KifVABnyy1uF577vgBQudJNYnsJbgRylRpD584X428nn4UKzV5M49yFhjxBUHGDlPo/s1600/Child-Soldiers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNwFYiE5lXqkuMC8GDCoqb6Fg6u6GMQ2tkjP4mFUkLfoaK5QPwu2_N3g79YX2GL4S86NXou5L_1KifVABnyy1uF577vgBQudJNYnsJbgRylRpD584X428nn4UKzV5M49yFhjxBUHGDlPo/s1600/Child-Soldiers.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Parts
of Africa today are not unlike 19<sup>th</sup> century North America – a
resource-laden frontier with weak governments, where the lines between banditry
and subversive dissidence are dangerously blurred. In these parts, post-colonial
state formation has either stalled or is proceeding slowly. The Oxford scholar
Paul Collier once predicted that future civil wars would pit governments
against private extralegal military groupings that will variously be called
rebels, terrorists, freedom fighters or gangsters. These wars, he said, will be
a throwback to the time before nation-states cohered. Perhaps that future is
now upon us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Transnational
anarchists have been bolstered by the decreasing legitimacy of nation-states,
especially those in which national solidarity remains aspirational, and which
suffer from weak institutions, a democracy deficit, severe poverty and
inequality. African states have to forge regional security strategies but these
groups cannot be destroyed solely by military means. Political leaders have to
strengthen inclusive national institutions, deliver developmental dividends and
starve such groups of the oxygen of deprivation which helps foster their
depravity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">(Published in <i>Thisday</i>, May 5, 2014)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">(All images sourced online) </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-51640907719717884112014-04-24T02:07:00.000-07:002014-04-24T02:07:47.875-07:00State of War<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi16eAR_7ISYUtH2E01zNS2_gY12cDprX_YxPezvEhFuwpHfW196Vbc-Q-5AD50ijDhBtDisgRKmGS0WBBtiRKWJhDlvsXNM0V_hb_kssyqDgYnpDPqVtmLrnew2LNweeY8vqeoMSM9Ys0/s1600/nyanya+bomb+blast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi16eAR_7ISYUtH2E01zNS2_gY12cDprX_YxPezvEhFuwpHfW196Vbc-Q-5AD50ijDhBtDisgRKmGS0WBBtiRKWJhDlvsXNM0V_hb_kssyqDgYnpDPqVtmLrnew2LNweeY8vqeoMSM9Ys0/s1600/nyanya+bomb+blast.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nigerian
authorities have been reluctant to describe the ongoing counter-insurgency
campaign against Boko Haram in the northeast as a war. This reluctance is by no
means unprecedented. Right up till the moment federal forces invaded Biafra,
the federal government was still describing its mobilization against the
secessionist regime as a “police action.” The tendency to understate security
challenges is the state’s way of projecting an unflappable comportment; to
reassure the public that “there is no cause for alarm” and that “the situation
is under control.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
this instance, the critical data defies understatement. Conservative estimates
place the number of lives claimed by the insurgency at over 4, 000 since 2009.
According to the UN High Commission for Refugees, the fighting has internally
displaced 470, 000 people in Nigeria with another 60, 000 forced to seek refuge
in Cameroon, Niger and Chad since 2013. More than fifty percent of the refugees
are women and children. The closure of federal government colleges in the
region has affected over 10, 000 students – a number that increases
exponentially when the closure of other schools is factored in. The “talibanization”
of the northeast is in progress as evinced by Boko Haram’s targeting of schools
and preying upon girls. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Since
2011, Boko Haram has struck the national police headquarters, army and air force
bases in the northeast and the State Security Service headquarters in Abuja
where inmates attempted a jailbreak last month. It has also attacked public
schools including federal government colleges where young Nigerians of diverse
faiths and ethnicities are educated. Its hatred for pluralism as embodied in the
Nigerian state is unalloyed. Having moved from seeking virgins in paradise to
snatching young girls for sexual slavery, the group’s ideological bankruptcy
has been exposed. All that it has left is nihilistic sadism as evidenced by its
murderous focus on soft targets. This makes it all the more dangerous.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">President
Goodluck Jonathan has not been able to rally the country against this threat;
nor has he articulated a theory of the case that explains our current national
security challenges and a grand ideological and strategic response to non-state
actors. Instead, his administration has shown itself willing to use the
conflict for political ends notably as a means of smearing political opponents.
For its own part, the opposition is incapable of nuanced critiques of terrorism
and sees an opportunity to promise miracles if elected. We are in a time of
national crisis and statesmanship is in short supply. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkhu4Y5hgGouXDhyphenhyphenHk-RokHr1-d8bQxI7mHbq5KT0zMyvrrggZmkWJr8npBPpIl7K7pxiCcR8Z4JqXnbrcGQELHZ5D8oFDhvhcZuxvO97mNwrtQy1AluxtReKTYlydhGgb5x1IuSeHO0o/s1600/jonathan+visits+bombblast+scene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkhu4Y5hgGouXDhyphenhyphenHk-RokHr1-d8bQxI7mHbq5KT0zMyvrrggZmkWJr8npBPpIl7K7pxiCcR8Z4JqXnbrcGQELHZ5D8oFDhvhcZuxvO97mNwrtQy1AluxtReKTYlydhGgb5x1IuSeHO0o/s1600/jonathan+visits+bombblast+scene.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
administration suffers from a massive credibility deficit. Jonathan’s serial
broken promises to end the insurgency have been damaging. Continuing attacks on
soft and hard targets such as military bases have undermined public confidence
in the armed forces and security services. This is a shame because the military
and the security agencies have worked hard to degrade Boko Haram. They have
perhaps been undone by a predilection for “truth-bending.” Propaganda is a
customary element of warfare but it has to be properly executed. Public
impatience is understandable, more so, in the light of a political class that
is largely considered insensitive to the plight of the poor – the insurgents’
victims of choice. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE-D7Fi0yN4GGEJE5NS3gCGfACX7hQ4lCwHU_0JJopEt89sgPf-c5TbWrwUI2qylPzuTIQHnv7FBQ2QZb4_tlRCkR3Jj2rOL32ePQBNWzSbIOIWBq9sR3xinc8veNTsafq7K0fw4GiF7g/s1600/aliyu+mohammed+gusau.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE-D7Fi0yN4GGEJE5NS3gCGfACX7hQ4lCwHU_0JJopEt89sgPf-c5TbWrwUI2qylPzuTIQHnv7FBQ2QZb4_tlRCkR3Jj2rOL32ePQBNWzSbIOIWBq9sR3xinc8veNTsafq7K0fw4GiF7g/s1600/aliyu+mohammed+gusau.jpg" height="320" width="310" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
administration has also failed to provide a coherent narrative timeline that
explains the origin and evolution of Boko Haram. In January, Aliyu Mohammed
Gusau was appointed minister of defence ostensibly to coordinate a new approach
to the counter-insurgency. Gusau was National Security Adviser (NSA) from 1999
to 2006. Having been appointed again to that position by Jonathan in 2010,
Gusau has been NSA longer than anyone else since 1999. An inquest into the
origin and evolution of Boko Haram must surely ask questions of what he knew
and did about the current threat when it was still at an embryonic stage in the
early to mid 2000s. Gusau’s appearance before the senate for his confirmation
hearing provided the opportunity to pose such questions. The senate instead
afforded him the luxury of exemption from questioning. The fact that the senate
failed to question a nominee penciled down to head the defence ministry in a
time of war aptly demonstrates its dereliction of duty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
failure to produce an official biography of Boko Haram has been a boon to
conspiracy theorists who tap into popular but false narratives to explain the
insurgency. Some of the most colourful theories posit nebulous conspiracies
starring either the president or his political opponents. However, in this
instance, Nigerians are attributing to malice what is largely a consequence of
incompetence. When a system long crippled by corruption, mediocrity and
dysfunction is confronted by a protean, highly adaptive and asymmetrical
threat, it is asking too much to expect an immediate nimble and strategically
efficient response. These conspiracy theories continue to cloud the public mind
at a time when national consensus is required.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some
of the measures that need to be taken – mass relocation of tens of thousands
students to safer places for schooling or the establishment of protected camps
for half a million refugees require competent leadership and a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>strong state but the Nigerian state is weak
and political actors are unwilling to lead. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
military has scored moderate successes in its campaign at great human cost. Its
casualty figures, while closely guarded by the defence establishment, are
significant enough to warrant a national memorial and greater effort to
commemorate the supreme sacrifices being made by the troops. However, the
military is hamstrung by a deficit of numbers with which to adequately cover a
theatre of operations which due to the nature of the enemy is highly fluid; a
limited intelligence support structure and arguably, a resource deficit that
adversely affects its ability to effectively hold ground. These deficits have
to be surmounted. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But
the military also suffers from being the only instrument in the toolkit
favoured by politicians; it is, by definition, a broad sword when, in many
instances, what is required is a scalpel. A purely military approach that is
apparently devoid of preemptive policing, adequate intelligence gathering and
psychological warfare components is bound to have limitations. For instance,
the failure to protect moderate clerics that have been targeted by Boko Haram
and to deploy them as a first line of defence against extremist ideologies in
the communities is a tactical error. The army is also overstretched by its deployment
across the federation putting out fires that are really within the purview of
the police. The risk of mission fatigue is high. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, recently unveiled a broader strategy
that incorporates non-military options in the counter-insurgency toolkit
including greater efforts to win hearts and minds and to address the
socio-economic conditions of the northeast. This will require time to work. The
administration has also outlined the Federal Initiative for the North East
(FINE), a raft of economic, infrastructural and agro-allied rehabilitation
measures. Given the region’s scale of ecological, socioeconomic and
infrastructural degradation, federal intervention is necessary. But until a
suitably hefty security and military footprint is established and order is
restored, rehabilitation and reconstruction will be impossible. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">From
all indications, this will not end soon. Counter-insurgency campaigns are
notoriously long drawn-out affairs. This administration has been burned badly in
the past by an imprudent eagerness to declare the imminence of victory.
However, the nature of the enemy and the nature of its terrain which includes
vast ungoverned spaces straddling borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger, call
for a reassessment of what ‘victory’ means. Both the public and the troops on
the frontlines will be ill-served by premature triumphalism. Conversely, an
open-ended military commitment with no timelines or performance indicators is
untenable and carries its own risks. Prolonged militarization with ample
occasion for human rights violations and scorched earth tactics will surely
radicalize occupied communities and boost Boko Haram’s recruitment drive in the
area. This dynamic, at least partly, accounts for Boko Haram’s resilience. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYbYRuJN7RvdHANjU3lhhUXa-CHQzGfd8_S1lLsOg9HFMO0zLS94Ayr2TstEjeOxcQeiN_0dtphCE2K4BthBlFaqYlbIsybYrNr5pVcjPZojhiJEeGHZ2aqm_oAFbt3L5M6sHLA2YwLYE/s1600/boko+haram.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYbYRuJN7RvdHANjU3lhhUXa-CHQzGfd8_S1lLsOg9HFMO0zLS94Ayr2TstEjeOxcQeiN_0dtphCE2K4BthBlFaqYlbIsybYrNr5pVcjPZojhiJEeGHZ2aqm_oAFbt3L5M6sHLA2YwLYE/s1600/boko+haram.jpg" height="223" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Boko
Haram lost the first phase of the war in 2011 when its attacks on churches
failed to elicit widespread reprisals that could have ignited a broader
sectarian war in which it would then have postured as an Islamist defence
vanguard. Much of the conflict is now contained in the northeast but if the
northeast is “abandoned” or “forgotten”, either by reason of paucity of resolve
or resources, it would rapidly become a base for the insurgents to regroup and
eventually launch attacks on other parts of the federation. The northeast
frontier is usually on the fringes of the national consciousness but as the
gateway to the Sahel and the Maghreb, it is an area of vital importance where
the insurgents must be denied refuge or breathing space. We cannot afford for
this to become a forgotten war. At this point, international assistance is
necessary to augment the joint military operations by Nigeria and her
neighbours. National pride should not stop Nigeria from seeking external help
even as it continues build capacity.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
an age of attacks on soft targets, there also needs to be fresh thinking on how
to secure public spaces – parks, bus stations, markets and schools. Strategies
for this must involve the cooperation between security agencies and the citizenry.
Terror is tragically the new normal and we must adopt a permanent posture of vigilance.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Given
the foul opportunism of politicians in a pre-election year, it can be easy to
forget who the real enemy is. The indiscriminately ecumenical range of Boko
Haram’s victims on April 14 in Nyanya, Abuja should serve as a reminder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">(All Images Sourced online) </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-31591649098610623532014-04-14T01:37:00.000-07:002014-04-14T01:37:01.935-07:00Nigeria's Geostrategic Blind Spots<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nigeria’s
most pressing national security concerns are of transnational dimensions. They
range from the resilience of the terrorist insurgency in her northeastern
frontier, a long neglected region vulnerable to subversive currents from the
Sahel and the Maghreb to endemic oil theft and piracy in her southern coastal
waters now ranked the world’s second most dangerous maritime sector after the
Gulf of Aden and with the potential to disrupt the broader maritime economy in
the Gulf of Guinea; and the influx of Sahelian pastoralists displaced by
climate change, and in search of wetlands, a migration that is fueling conflict
between farmers and herders over scarce land.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Against this backdrop, we have to rethink
our foreign policy architecture which has been in stasis for some decades.
Foreign policy thought has not significantly progressed from the buoyant days
of Jaja Nwachukwu, Joseph Garba and Bolaji Akinyemi. From the 1960s to the
1980s, these foreign affairs ministers essentially based foreign policy on the
doctrine of Nigerian primacy in Africa and defined her role as the chief
opponent of neocolonialism and apartheid. However, since the collapse of
apartheid in South Africa, Nigeria has not reinvented this role. Afrocentric
activism is still a nominal pillar of our foreign policy but this has also been
supplanted by a less confident, more beggarly comportment in the international
space – a tragic reflection of the domestic lack of elite consensus and internal
coherence.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Admirably, Nigeria has continued to
contribute significantly to peacekeeping efforts in West Africa, and also under
the auspices of the African Union and the United Nations. But these commitments
seem to be pursued independent of any overarching foreign policy framework. The
closest to a unified field theory to explain our human and material investments
in the Africa is that they demonstrate our role as a “big brother”. Yet,
uncritical beneficence is hardly the stuff of serious foreign policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Revising our foreign policy calls for
a decolonization of intra-African diplomatic relations. Many African countries
are diplomatically closer to their former colonizers than to each other.
Britain and Spain are thousands of miles away but we are far more familiar with
them than with their erstwhile colonies, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea which are
in our neighbourhood. One consequence of this dynamic is the perception of
Foreign Service postings to Washington D.C. or to the Court of Saint James as being
more important than those to “backwater” nations in our region. But in national
security terms, our contiguous neighbours like Niger and Chad are far more
important than say Canada or Italy. Equatorial Guinea, with which we share a
maritime border, is more important than Spain. Instability in our neighbours
immediately impacts millions of Nigerians far more than trends in Britain and
the US.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A realistic ranking of nations in a
hierarchy of strategic value would prioritize, in descending order, our contiguous
neighbours, our major trading partners and nations that are home to Nigerians
in diaspora who constitute a vital national resource. Thus far, West Africa and
the Gulf of Guinea have been in our geostrategic blind spot but they actually
constitute Nigeria’s near abroad – a zone over which she must act as regional
gatekeeper. The sovereignty-deficits of our northern and southern neighbours
mean that Nigeria cannot comprehensively deal with her national security
challenges without projecting influence in her near abroad.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGo8KmLMDeHjuXBeLvHK6aKakfgCBAh_WKRLD2YpVbhqj8FKUAD81bWf92UoqNHpK2QlzOQVJ6wE9jRcBDIpjnwZoTBhPgEB__qoNqA5u9EwcOPVxPuoUDv4DysZf-YAL1opjxEGGT6AA/s1600/FRENCH+WEST+AFRICA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGo8KmLMDeHjuXBeLvHK6aKakfgCBAh_WKRLD2YpVbhqj8FKUAD81bWf92UoqNHpK2QlzOQVJ6wE9jRcBDIpjnwZoTBhPgEB__qoNqA5u9EwcOPVxPuoUDv4DysZf-YAL1opjxEGGT6AA/s1600/FRENCH+WEST+AFRICA.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nigeria is an Anglophone giant
surrounded by francophone states of varying degrees of institutional fragility;
a weak state surrounded by even weaker states. Economic troubles have forced
France to slash military spending and curb her appetite for interventionism in
Africa. France led a brief and measured NATO-supported intervention in Mali two
years ago but has shown scant inclination to similarly intervene in the Central
African Republic, a country where it has a long history of involvement.
Decreasing French support leaves our francophone neighbours reeling from an
influence vacuum. Nigeria’s main foreign policy challenge is to fill that
vacuum. As a regional powerhouse, she is eminently positioned to do so. Given
her transnational security challenges, it is absolutely imperative that she
does so. An activist engagement in our sphere of influence would involve
creating a common security umbrella with countries equally afflicted by
non-state actors, deepening our intelligence infrastructure in the regional
neighbourhood and working towards mutual economic prosperity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijKAEQ1AsZ7rfj0RNdlAziuv3bcrRKStpD6DOHFunoIQpP3VdQKREU_w20LF8FGQ7Wq9kRbH0XvFkjUv7UkNbo2W7G860aXaZzCMFyNZHGQL5EOIkeD8D5HGGjMhqsCp6bEtXAvFTS47I/s1600/gulf+of+guinea+piracy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijKAEQ1AsZ7rfj0RNdlAziuv3bcrRKStpD6DOHFunoIQpP3VdQKREU_w20LF8FGQ7Wq9kRbH0XvFkjUv7UkNbo2W7G860aXaZzCMFyNZHGQL5EOIkeD8D5HGGjMhqsCp6bEtXAvFTS47I/s1600/gulf+of+guinea+piracy.png" height="319" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The campaign for permanent membership
of the UN Security Council strikes nationalistic chords at home but it is even
more important to reinvigorate our membership of apparently unglamourous bodies
like the Gulf of Guinea Commission and the Niger River Basin Authority. The
latter, for example, oversees transnational water resources in nine member
countries. It approves dam projects that could have consequences for food
security and the national economies in the Sahelian region as well as adversely
impact Nigeria’s hydroelectric power capacity. Given the effect of climate
change, the management of diminishing transnational water resources such as the
River Niger and Lake Chad will be matters of increasing international
disputation in the coming years. The Gulf of Guinea’s hydrocarbon riches have
made it an area of interest to global actors. Its security challenges make it
imperative for Nigeria to develop blue water naval capabilities to secure its
maritime interests. Nigeria must also lead the international effort to impose
law and order in the Gulf.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ultimately, Africa needs Nigeria to
assume her rightful role of leadership. The country’s search for internal
coherence will have to proceed quickly. The security of an entire continent may
well depend on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">(All images sourced online) </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-90942425299997982282014-04-11T16:58:00.001-07:002014-04-11T16:58:14.369-07:00The Rebasing Saga<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY1JofQpEnk_Q3ulbK_DHidE_vOBF7L6lg-tSITV3yYZNyX46aDrCMEJimcSGrYP2fmM9MdlVB57cHh4bZGL6NFqtMa0dHHqV7jInalGvfzesNEc1dUfMeRjXX4CbmtobT_khEext_cZQ/s1600/GDP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY1JofQpEnk_Q3ulbK_DHidE_vOBF7L6lg-tSITV3yYZNyX46aDrCMEJimcSGrYP2fmM9MdlVB57cHh4bZGL6NFqtMa0dHHqV7jInalGvfzesNEc1dUfMeRjXX4CbmtobT_khEext_cZQ/s1600/GDP.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> I posted this on my Facebook page two nights ago:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">“Education is a disgrace: according to the World Economic Forum,” the
country “ranks 132<sup>nd</sup> out of 144 countries for its primary education
and 143<sup>rd</sup> in science and maths. The unemployment rate, officially
25%, is probably nearer 40%; half of” its nationals “under 24 looking for work
have none. Of those who have jobs, a third earn less than $2 a day. Inequality
has grown…and the gap between rich and poor is now among the world’s largest”
…The ruling party “has sought to undermine the independence of courts, the
police, the prosecuting authorities and the press. It has conflated the
interests of party and state, dishing out contracts for public works as rewards
for loyalty…This has reduced economic competitiveness and bolstered a
fabulously rich…elite. As a result too little wealth trickles down…Young people
who fail to find work by the age of 24 will probably never have a full-time
formal job…Because the stakes are so high, competition for power is bitter and
sometimes bloody, particularly at the local level”… The ruling party “has more
money than any other party. It can afford to go to townships days before
elections and hand out food parcels.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">“This is an excerpt from a report by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Economist</i> from two years back. Can you guess what country it is
about?</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpv8wr0YjEUZ3XFCDZQXSE_yCUVO-UJOAwl42JBq6Tfi99n5tV8RoAdi45df_o71sxVI0OLU2W4KULIseeZ4-SQpvaYgXyeKb7qv6VLK66-fYpKuqXegQ8G_z7Xlf3-qmbLIxGMt4G70Y/s1600/The-economist.+SA+decline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpv8wr0YjEUZ3XFCDZQXSE_yCUVO-UJOAwl42JBq6Tfi99n5tV8RoAdi45df_o71sxVI0OLU2W4KULIseeZ4-SQpvaYgXyeKb7qv6VLK66-fYpKuqXegQ8G_z7Xlf3-qmbLIxGMt4G70Y/s1600/The-economist.+SA+decline.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">This report actually refers to South Africa. It
was published in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Economist</i>
(October 20<sup>th</sup> – 26<sup>th</sup> 2012) highlighting South Africa’s
decline. According to the report, “…South Africa, though still a treasure trove
of minerals with the most sophisticated economy on the continent, is on the
slide both economically and politically. By some calculations Nigeria’s
economy, messy as it is, will overtake it within a few years.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">It seems that both South Africa and Nigeria have
their challenges as well as their strengths. What is fascinating is how so many
of us, both Naija-pessimists and Naija-optimists alike (including people I met
personally), assumed that the report was referring to Nigeria. One overwrought
respondent even scolded me for “always finding fault” with Nigeria – a strange
assertion since he was the one who was willing to believe entirely without proof
that the report applied to his country. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Is it the case that we are too willing to believe
the worst about our country; that we have come to believe that any set of
negative statistics is applicable to Nigeria? Has our pessimism become so
ultimately chronic and self-defeating that positive news about Nigeria is no
longer intelligible to us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">The rebasing of Nigeria’s GDP which has provoked
so much needless disputation is essentially a statistical adjustment factoring
in dimensions of her economic life that were previously not included in the
measurements of her economic progress. It is a statistical reboot not an
economic miracle. It is quite similar to a man who decides to revalue his
assets or to recalculate his worth factoring in assets that were not included
in previous valuations. His worth will rise but that does not mean that he has
a greater quantity of raw cash at his disposal. So, the arguments about how an
increased GDP puts money in our individual pockets, while understandable, miss
the point. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">In summary, the rebasing of the GDP is a good
thing; it is not a bad thing. It is an economic map that profiles our strengths
and weaknesses and is therefore a valuable tool for data-driven economic
planning. It isn’t something for which we should break out champagne and
caviar; but in no way does it call for sackcloth and ashes. There is neither
need for triumphalism nor negativism. It just puts our economic progress in
perspective. What matters is how we respond to this new data; whether we rest
on our oars in a self-satisfied stupour or consolidate on it and strike out
boldly to enhance our strengths and remedy our weaknesses. There is much work
to be done. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">A nation is always more than one story; it is a
multitude of narratives. This is more so when dealing with a population of over
a 100 million people, with diversities, frictions and fault lines of race,
religion, ethnicity or culture. India, for example, is one of the emerging
market success stories of the past decade but is also dealing with multiple
insurgencies and security threats including those posed by Hindu extremists, Jihadists
and Maoist guerillas. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">The United States has about five percent of the
world’s population and has 25 percent of the world’s prison population. Its
criminal justice and penitentiary system disproportionately “targets”
African-Americans and Hispanics. Yet for all of this it calls itself “the land
of the free.” We will find similar contradictions in Brazil, China, Indonesia
and Malaysia; in short in any country that is growing with the burden of
managing the aspirations of millions.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8C4WYYigxB6ygvGh2Id0qTZm1d7lTnUGu1vGzEiCoaFsxq_7eyeaDZsSbZ1IOtuzm1LBDroooIP4MqNsp2GA9RcGeQdfdbmKDsUy9YlJ15BeRyDFGnW1DCbYIMXiv3hdkf6TA5QXXwXE/s1600/nigeria+at+work.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8C4WYYigxB6ygvGh2Id0qTZm1d7lTnUGu1vGzEiCoaFsxq_7eyeaDZsSbZ1IOtuzm1LBDroooIP4MqNsp2GA9RcGeQdfdbmKDsUy9YlJ15BeRyDFGnW1DCbYIMXiv3hdkf6TA5QXXwXE/s1600/nigeria+at+work.png" height="349" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Nigeria’s most readily recognizable narrative is
of a place rife with corruption, poverty and violence but there is also growth
and opportunity. Being cognizant of the former need not blind us to the latter.
Remember, a nation is always more than one story. There is more to this country
at this moment than Boko Haram or corrupt politicians; there are also millions
of people who are creating, inventing, teaching, peacemaking, trading, curing,
innovating; and addressing our challenges in a variety of ways. They too are
Nigerians even though their feats rarely make the daily headlines. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">The history of a nation is not the history of its
government alone; it is also of its people. And more than anything else, it is
the exertions of Nigerians since 1990 that have altered the face of the
Nigerian economy. It is the exertions of Nigerians that will continue to propel
our progress not only in economics but also in our politics. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">(All images sourced online) </span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-86978834801230215362014-04-06T02:00:00.000-07:002014-04-06T02:00:27.250-07:00The Real World Order<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ6Z7nRyemwcWgysrEBfifT3zGIslMJiqFcVsMLkXQ8WGNSB8PF5c76C5lNryMHom2WYQJi-sYxrs_eGutCpq5mbpayZ9CrB1hl1jAQtdDMDF13U15D8RBUZl7e3xDbsH1FpLnNtj_M-w/s1600/putin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ6Z7nRyemwcWgysrEBfifT3zGIslMJiqFcVsMLkXQ8WGNSB8PF5c76C5lNryMHom2WYQJi-sYxrs_eGutCpq5mbpayZ9CrB1hl1jAQtdDMDF13U15D8RBUZl7e3xDbsH1FpLnNtj_M-w/s1600/putin.jpg" height="236" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
recent weeks, watching Western leaders denounce President Vladimir Putin for Russia’s
military incursion into Ukraine has been a surreal experience. Russia’s
annexation of the Crimea has been called “a violation of international law”, a
throwback to an era of imperial land grabs. In the 21<sup>st</sup> century,
countries that want to be taken seriously simply do not go about bullying
smaller nations. Such thuggish behaviour supposedly violates some geopolitical
ethic that most of the world could be forgiven for being ignorant of. In
response to Western sermonizing, one can easily imagine Allende, Mosadegh,
Saddam, Gaddafi and Lumumba and many others in the Valhalla of imperially-liquidated
heads of state gasping incredulously at the self-righteous blather emanating
from White Hall and the White House. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjmbeNs3ndT9xB36JLzHDMYxu5wYdCz8GnWl7tAf8__hYQjBYQzFjiVgHOMw-ArKPRwEQtRD2WoiLCcHbTQhfUcUuxIoiCGXzuP7cBG575QpeoIjrKeV0sqVcKrGHgbK-qgPuiCespLMA/s1600/putin+on+horseback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjmbeNs3ndT9xB36JLzHDMYxu5wYdCz8GnWl7tAf8__hYQjBYQzFjiVgHOMw-ArKPRwEQtRD2WoiLCcHbTQhfUcUuxIoiCGXzuP7cBG575QpeoIjrKeV0sqVcKrGHgbK-qgPuiCespLMA/s1600/putin+on+horseback.jpg" height="320" width="231" /></a></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To
be sure, Russia is guilty of aggression towards Ukraine. She has violated the
latter’s territorial integrity and is definitely a bully towards her Eastern
European neighbours. But Putin’s conduct is hardly novel. International law has
long been the protean plaything of great powers, and invoking it in this case
may have had impact were it not for the long list of international incidents in
which the US and her allies gave it short shrift. Invocations of international
law suggest a global legal order in which all nations are bound by the same
rules. Instead it masks an order defined by American exceptionalism and the
primacy of Western interests in which America operates as a lone-ranging super
sheriff that is above the law. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Military
intervention in sovereign nations has long been common international practice
despite the shock that many nations profess when it is perpetrated by others.
From the Falklands Islands to the Suez Canal to Kosovo, major powers have
remorselessly forced their will on weaker countries to advance actual or perceived
vital interests. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
1983, the US invaded Grenada claiming that it was necessary to protect
Americans and cited as legal basis for the invasion, a request by the
little-known Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). It ignored the
Organization of American States (OAS) which handles matters of collective
security in the region and which was formed expressly to protect the principles
of noninterference and national sovereignty. The US used its veto power in the
United Nations Security Council to kill a resolution condemning the invasion as
“a flagrant violation of international law and of” Grenada’s “independence,
sovereignty and territorial integrity”. President Ronald Reagan’s position was
that the US can and may use force to challenge regimes that threaten American
security. It is possible to transpose the rhetoric and the justifications used
by America on that occasion with those deployed by Russia for its recent
aggression against Ukraine. They are virtually the same, and for good reason.
Russia is not an outlier. It has acted imperially as her fellow major powers
often do. Indeed, Russia possesses as much belief in her uniqueness as America
does in her own exceptionalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ksmRB-g_EbzKmJgO0RXjAGeaPjxaaFy-CBUMhhRnL8onzxkMiHK6up42TvnefyvOS3pCxUqmu9aMGM85gqRVUUM66X8_y6exvR90KAcfyB_BeUkmOFNvtZuyFqJ1IJHXaXX50jguCtY/s1600/un+security+council.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ksmRB-g_EbzKmJgO0RXjAGeaPjxaaFy-CBUMhhRnL8onzxkMiHK6up42TvnefyvOS3pCxUqmu9aMGM85gqRVUUM66X8_y6exvR90KAcfyB_BeUkmOFNvtZuyFqJ1IJHXaXX50jguCtY/s1600/un+security+council.jpg" height="224" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
problem of the international order goes beyond Russian expansionism or American
vigilantism. The big five of the UN Security Council exercise special
prerogatives in similar ways. Russia sees the former Soviet republics and
chunks of Eastern Europe as her sphere of influence just as the US sees Latin
and Central America as her own geostrategic backyard. Britain remains prepared
to use military force against Argentina to keep hold of the Falklands which is
almost 13, 000 kilometers away from the British Isles and only about 160
kilometers from Argentina. China projects its power in South East Asia. France
looks upon its erstwhile colonial possessions with Napoleonic affection. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">An
international law that equally binds all nations is far from evident. Russia
bullies Ukraine and Georgia. America bullies Venezuela and Cuba. Britain
bullies Argentina. China bullies Taiwan and Tibet. France relives her imperial
heydays with interventions in Africa. In fact, France’s longest land border is
not with Germany or Spain but with Brazil due to her colonial territory of
French Guiana. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With
regard to Ukraine, Russia is in a strong position. She is Europe’s major energy
supplier and under Putin is intent on restoring the lost glory of the Rodina.
The West is war weary, exhausted by exertions in the Middle East and Central
Asia. Western publics are not as credulous as they were over a decade ago when
George W. Bush and Tony Blair sent their armies into protracted wars at great
cost and for uncertain ends. The austerity measures undertaken after the global
financial crisis and accompanying defence cuts have also dented national
confidence on both sides of the Atlantic. There is no enthusiasm for military confrontation,
least of all with the Russian juggernaut. As the American political scientist,
Michael Mandelbaum once sardonically observed, “The worst possible maxim to
follow in geopolitics is ‘Pick on someone your own size.’” The feeble sanctions
imposed on Russia by the West indicate the latter’s impotence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
lesson from the Ukrainian debacle is that an international order based on
American supremacy or the primacy of the big five is no longer sustainable. The
challenge is not Russian expansionism; it is an unequal international order
that permits imperial exceptionalism and vigilantism. Until a genuine global
democratic order emerges, in which all nations are treated equally, the world
will continue to witness unilateral military actions. Emerging powers will be
tempted to execute military solutions in furtherance of their strategic
interests and without recourse to international institutions which are often no
more than the talk shops of the impotent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The 21<sup>st</sup> century’s main geopolitical challenge is the
democratization of the international order. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(All images sourced online) </span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-39868564903313652062014-03-28T04:02:00.001-07:002014-03-28T04:02:51.985-07:00The Confounded Confab<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUA2a0f3kUGUAk2aMpECTNCWfdeYn5zmnx417qPc3JQ1GdPgeJlIb2qli52ccibM_hD9Rh1ouC3nasGEsXJDtceOSv2gupASkkZtLDO80GMUGNZUt0JwYh9flVhYIr2XLnfbgpEGyjop8/s1600/national+dialogue+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUA2a0f3kUGUAk2aMpECTNCWfdeYn5zmnx417qPc3JQ1GdPgeJlIb2qli52ccibM_hD9Rh1ouC3nasGEsXJDtceOSv2gupASkkZtLDO80GMUGNZUt0JwYh9flVhYIr2XLnfbgpEGyjop8/s1600/national+dialogue+1.jpg" height="257" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #eeeeee;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">The National Dialogue may have started but it is not too late to
register an objection to the exercise. There is really no need to convene such
a conference when there is a National Assembly in place. The common response to
this assertion is that the National Assembly does not truly represent us and
that its members’ priorities are not ours. This view reflects the pervasive disillusionment
with our formal democratic institutions. Our young democracy is afflicted by a
crisis of representation wherein Nigerians doubt that elected authorities are
looking out for their interests. Advocates of a dialogue say that given the
dereliction of those in authority, a national conference is necessary to
address our problems. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #eeeeee;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #eeeeee;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #eeeeee;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">To start with, the notion that millions of Nigerians troop out
every four years to elect people who will not represent them warrants closer
scrutiny. True, the quality of those in our legislature could be better. But
if, for example, the good people of Plateau Central senatorial district elected
Joshua Dariye, who admitted to theft as state governor, to the senate, it is
hardly worth complaining about the quality of his representation.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #eeeeee;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #eeeeee;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #eeeeee;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Electoral malpractices do play a role in leadership selection but
they are not the main determinant of leadership quality. Democracy presupposes
a constant engagement between the governed and the governors by which the
latter are held accountable. But our transactional political culture favours
election year bargains in which voters trade their votes for short term
pecuniary gains or for the ephemeral psychological benefit of being able to
claim kinship with the winning party. Once electoral transactions are done, the
electorates leave their representatives to their own devices. An ill-informed
electorate, too easily swayed by cheap populism and provincial sentiments, is
not likely to make intelligent electoral choices.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Secondly, the crisis
of representation stems from a continued disdain for politics. Many honest and
competent people in our society consider politics to be beneath them and have
left it for knaves. Thus, it is no wonder that the critical mass of
progressives necessary for a transformative shift in our nation is yet to
emerge. In the electoral decision matrix of many Nigerians, honesty and
competence are not the main considerations. What matters is primarily which
person can, as a result of his heritage and identity, symbolically “represent”
them in high places and ensure that prebendal channels of patronage to the
kinfolk stay open. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Thirdly, one of the
legacies of military dictatorship is our veneration of presidential power and our
millennial expectations of a political messiah’s emergence in Aso Rock. We are
largely indifferent to federal and state legislature elections and focus on
presidential and gubernatorial polls. This partly accounts for the unimpressive
quality of legislative representation. Even in our authoritarian presidential
order, the national assembly retains considerable heft. Were it occupied by
more progressive types, it would positively impact public policy-making and
also curb executive recklessness.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">A federal
legislature with the likes of Femi Falana, Olisa Agbakoba and Pat Utomi among
others would surely bring more intellectual rigour and sincerity of purpose to
bear upon debating our future. But instead, people like Agbakoba, Utomi and
lately, Sam Nda-Isaiah, engage in futile presidential bids that are dead on
arrival. Due to either hubris or political miscalculation, many smart public
figures aim for the presidency, when they should focus strategically on the
real engine room of democracy – the legislature. Until we start to take
politics more seriously, there will continue to be a schizophrenic gulf between
our expectations and the sort of people we choose to fulfill them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKyr3ekA56bXX4TmDGrVtcNAUIIxXn77cKDBgfPrfZoufgYghjqG8KnOsymFBOH_5ZIF5RmRmELCu5gSaVN3MN2iqs7uwizw5lSWWzickbv27GCqzlz9I0RY5tCyjHzQJ3TwmuvSctTuo/s1600/national+dialogue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKyr3ekA56bXX4TmDGrVtcNAUIIxXn77cKDBgfPrfZoufgYghjqG8KnOsymFBOH_5ZIF5RmRmELCu5gSaVN3MN2iqs7uwizw5lSWWzickbv27GCqzlz9I0RY5tCyjHzQJ3TwmuvSctTuo/s1600/national+dialogue.jpg" height="236" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Our crisis of
representation is also rooted in structural flaws in our federal architecture.
The dialogues we need to be having should not be taking place only in Abuja but
mostly in our communities and municipalities. The subversion of local
governance by federal and state politicians is one of the most unremarked
stressors of our system. Nigeria is simply too vast to be run from Abuja or
from 36 state capitals. Municipal governance that unshackles local communities
and empowers them to design their own solutions to their problems is absolutely
vital. We can debate the efficacy of the uniform local government system but a
first step has to be the restoration of municipal authorities to health,
granting them autonomy and devolving more power to them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Our indigenous
democratic traditions were defined by a mass participatory ethic dramatized by
the village square and the town hall. They were about consultation, dialogue
and consensus-building with everyone having a voice in deliberations. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Participatory
democracies are by definition micro-democracies; they function best at the
grassroots because they ensure that policy and consensus are generated from the
ground up rather than imposed from above in contrast to our presently over-centralized
order that seeks to micromanage 170 million lives from Abuja. The diminished
capacity for dialogue and consensus-building at the grassroots is one reason
for the increase in communal conflicts. Without participatory democratic
platforms where disagreements can be anticipated, deconstructed and defused,
they are liable to escalate into violent conflict. Thus, we need to rebuild our
town halls, village squares, market unions and residents’ associations and
graft them into the matrix of municipal governance.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">The cure for our
crisis of representation is deepening our engagement with our formal democratic
institutions, not creating a parallel legislature which is what the confab
effectively is. The charge of non-representation or non-performance hurled at
the national assembly can just as easily be thrown at the presidency. Yet no
one is suggesting an alternative presidency or a parallel executive branch to
run things. As it is, the confab delegates who were nominated rather than
elected, do not even meet the test of democratic legitimacy. Demographically,
the confab can scarcely be said to be representative of a nation whose young
constitute 70 percent of the population. We cannot place much stock in a lot of
geriatrics debating a future that they will not be part of. The fact that the
confab’s “findings” will still be vetted by the National Assembly indicates
that its conveners are aware of its doubtful legal standing and legitimacy.
This begs the question – why not simply use the National Assembly as the institution
of first resort? Why reinvent the wheel?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">There is no magic
bullet for nation-building. In our plural society with its multiple competing
interests and its prebendal governance, democracy is often paralyzed by various
rent-seeking demands, and is consequently slow and ponderous. This will
continue to be the case until genuine ideological polarities emerge in our
politics. If we want better people in our government, then we must put them
there. Politics cannot leap ahead of a society’s insecurities, aspirations and prejudices.
It is no surprise then that the confab is already mired in controversy over the
use of prayers and the supposed numerical advantage of Christians. These are
the inanities that Nigerian elites typically bicker and bloviate about. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Nation-building is
hard and patient work. Deepening our democracy requires us to test our
institutions to their limits and exhaust their potential instead of hastily
declaring them useless and unfit for purpose. This confab is an inglorious
distraction from the work at hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">(All images sourced online) </span></span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-9694807426921650162014-03-09T15:48:00.000-07:002014-03-09T15:48:30.074-07:00The State of the Future<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9xZg8PxGN1qPF78f7_EfQVb0DgeITkAdI06Ea8b6ceyXMNeHdTODMdpkh71xQXccohvG_dXHFTymJ0zt3k4lbiT0xcxLiDwhj6lFYW2_aalhLAeg3xrWkl_M40kJDwieUhnddmmYzLow/s1600/Chiwetel-Ejiofor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9xZg8PxGN1qPF78f7_EfQVb0DgeITkAdI06Ea8b6ceyXMNeHdTODMdpkh71xQXccohvG_dXHFTymJ0zt3k4lbiT0xcxLiDwhj6lFYW2_aalhLAeg3xrWkl_M40kJDwieUhnddmmYzLow/s1600/Chiwetel-Ejiofor.jpg" height="320" width="223" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Enugu State Government’s recent full page advert congratulating Chiwetel
Ejiofor, the British actor of Nigerian descent, for his BAFTA award was a waste
of public funds but it calls for reflection. As with Sade, Seal, or David
Alaba, we often try to appropriate the successes of foreigners of Nigerian
ancestry in a bid to achieve some vicarious proprietary pride. If Barack
Obama’s dad had been Nigerian, the world would never have heard the end of it.
Consider another high achiever, Jelani Aliyu, lead designer of General Motors’
first electric car. Could Ejiofor and Aliyu have succeeded in their chosen
endeavours if they lived here instead?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is a pertinent question. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Since the 1980s, we have lamented
brain drain without interrogating it seriously. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Talent
flows from regions with natural resource-based economies to regions with
knowledge economies. Countries with value-added economic activities offer greater
scope for self-actualization and upward mobility. Extractive economies end up
watching their young literally follow their oil or diamonds to foreign lands. Countries
that build their economies around people clearly outperform those that base
their economies on natural resources.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The world can be divided into
countries oriented towards the past and those oriented towards the future.
Talent flows from the former to the latter. In societies of the past, access to
opportunity is determined by questions of identity and ancestry. “Where do you
come from?” is the most significant question in such places and the answer to
it carries bread and butter and life and death implications. In states of the
future, access to opportunity is based on the individual’s potential. The
operative question is not where he or she comes from but what he or she can
become. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In states of the past, citizens are
defined by their heritage; in states of the future, they are defined by their
aspirations. In the former, ancestry is destiny; in the latter, potential is
destiny. States of the past consider shared memory the basic raw material for
nation-building. For states of the future, it is a shared destiny. Talent flows
from the former to the latter because above all else people want to transcend
the limits of social ascription and be masters of their fate.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">America’s ascent towards superpower
status gained momentum in the early 20<sup>th</sup> century when it absorbed
talented Jewry fleeing anti-Semitic persecution in totalitarian European
societies. These societies were states of the past where rabid identity
politics excluded Jews and other minorities. That brain drain resulted in
immense cultural, economic and military gains for America. Similarly, after Idi
Amin expelled Indians from Uganda, the country’s economy tanked while many of
the refugees made for England where they established businesses that boosted
British commercial life. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When Martin Luther King declared his
hope that his children would one day be judged not by their colour but by the
content of their character he was urging America to more fully become a state
of the future. Obama frequently says that his personal odyssey as an
African-American in the White House could only have been possible in America.
Given his Luo ancestry, Obama’s chances of similar success in his native Kenya
would have been nil.</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">
</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A
bitter joke which made the rounds in Nairobi after Kenya’s bloody 2007 polls
held that a Luo could be elected president of America but not of Kenya.</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In Nigeria, access to goods like public
education and employment is shaped significantly by ethnicity and religion.
Institutionalized discrimination in many places disqualifies Nigerians from
accessing public goods that are theirs by right. Almost every official document
defines us by our ancestry or “state of origin.” “Where do you come from?” is
the most frequently asked question. Obviously, a culture of excellence and
achievement cannot thrive where ethnocentric mediocrity and identity politics
trump meritocracy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4TWG6LXxdZ1BAvG2c90Idx-FKwdZ0uRLJlQ8AMZmvoqSGAQONazATsIkQjVR9fb2k0UFnQvG1d8kWIE-s9HWztjlAPsHQ3-bEPj78bU6UGqDCRuhs_8Nw3yYF_f-xd83exa_eoodQE0/s1600/JelaniAliyu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4TWG6LXxdZ1BAvG2c90Idx-FKwdZ0uRLJlQ8AMZmvoqSGAQONazATsIkQjVR9fb2k0UFnQvG1d8kWIE-s9HWztjlAPsHQ3-bEPj78bU6UGqDCRuhs_8Nw3yYF_f-xd83exa_eoodQE0/s1600/JelaniAliyu.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is more than likely that Ejiofor
and Aliyu would not have made it here. At some point, their ancestry would have
proven a fatal roadblock to their aspirations as it has for millions of
talented Nigerians. They might have been labeled “non-indigenes”, or found to
be surplus to acceptable ethnic quotas or in contravention of federal character.
But they have been accepted by societies where a person’s true worth is not
divined from his bloodline but derived from his gifts and dreams. People do not
choose where they are born but they can choose to maximize their potential.
Societies that enable them to make those choices without the fear that their
heritage is a hindrance will always lead the world. Conversely, nations that
define identity as a weapon or weakness minimize both their people and their
chances of growth. A nation cannot outgrow the existential constraints on its
citizens.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Enterprising Nigerians are daily defying
psychic and institutional barriers in pursuit of the better life. The key to
unleashing our national genius is to redefine ourselves as a state of the
future. This means ending the use of identity as a determinant of access to
opportunity and defining ourselves by where we are headed rather than we come
from. It also means practically creating a meritocratic environment where
people can aspire to their best knowing that their country genuinely rewards
excellence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To be sure, heritage
matters. But what is heritage if not the stock of ancestral dreams and visions?
We inherit from our forebears what they made of themselves and their times just
as our children will inherit from us what we make of ourselves and our times.
What better bequest to our progeny than a society in which their genius rather
than their genes will speak for them?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(All images sourced online)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Published in Thisday, March 9, 2014) </span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-7469204433678218912014-03-03T17:37:00.000-08:002014-03-03T17:37:06.221-08:00Who is Responsible for this Mess?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
is true that time changes things. Hindsight has a way of doctoring our
recollections. History is often kinder to political reputations than
contemporary news cycles but none of this justifies the sort of amnesia that we
habitually display. The list of honourees from the Centenary celebrations reflects
the dangers of short memories. Let us leave aside the absurd acclamation of the
racist Frederick Lugard and his consort Flora Shaw, or the irrationality of a
free people feting their erstwhile colonial overlord or the fact that a civil
war that claimed over a million casualties cannot really throw up “heroes.” It is
the rendition of recent history that is of concern. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
list was a startlingly incongruent mishmash that purported to honour the human
rights advocate, Gani Fawehinmi and the two men, Ibrahim Babangida and Sani
Abacha, who did the most to abbreviate his life through ceaseless persecution and
incarceration. Was the Kuti clan supposed to be grateful to share honours with
the men who killed their matriarch and serially jailed Fela and Beko?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MKO
Abiola, the winner of the annulled 1993 election, was honoured as well as
Babangida who annulled the election, Abacha who jailed him and murdered his
wife, Kudirat, and Abdulsalam Abubakar on whose watch he died mysteriously. Shehu
Musa Yar’Adua is honoured along with his murderer, Abacha. The list reconciled
Olusegun Obasanjo with Abacha who jailed him on trumped-up charges of
coup-plotting. Ernest Shonekan, who continues to parade himself as a former
head of government even though a court declared his regime illegal, makes the
list. It was under his watch that Abacha as minister of defence ordered troops
to mow down scores of demonstrators protesting the annulment of June 12 and the
imposition of Shonekan’s regime. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With
the list, Abacha’s rehabilitation is almost complete. In June 2008, Babangida,
Abdulsalam and Muhammadu Buhari claimed that contrary to widespread belief, the
begoggled dictator was not a thief. The occasion was the tenth anniversary of
his demise, the inspiration, apparently a case of solidarity among despots. It was
a bizarre claim, not least because only a week earlier, the Swiss government
had returned $505 million of Abacha’s loot stashed in Swiss banks. It was
Abdulsalam himself who had initiated investigations into Abacha’s thievery and
launched efforts to recover his hidden loot. Moreover, as head of state, Abacha
had set up an inquiry headed by Pius Okigbo which indicted Babangida for the
theft of $12.3 billion of oil revenue. As for Buhari, his loyalty to a former
employer clearly belied his reputation as an honest truth-teller who says it
like it is. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">According
to </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Richard
Joseph, </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">under
Babangida and Abacha</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">, Nigeria shifted from mere
Prebendalism – the appropriation of state resources under the cover of legal
rules and procedures – to outright confiscation in which government officials
simply seize public assets without bothering to camouflage their larcenies with
rules or procedures</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">. Abacha’s prodigious kleptomania
placed him in the ignominious company of Africa’s most notorious plundering
potentates such as Mobutu and Bokassa. The general and his associates stole
over $2 billion amounting to more than a million dollars for every day Abacha
was in office, including weekends.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One
of President Goodluck Jonathan’s favourite ripostes to his critics is that he inherited
a mess from his derelict predecessors. The honours list begs the question: who
is responsible for the mess? How does a country so universally acknowledged to
be scarred by bad leadership constantly fete a dazzling array of supposedly exemplary
leaders? Strangely, Abacha’s son, Mohammed is currently facing federal prosecution
for being in possession of federal property stolen by the late dictator. What does
it tell us that Mohammed was also part of a delegation of Northwestern leaders
to Aso Rock this past January, an occasion on which Jonathan claimed that his
administration had performed better than any other in Nigerian history?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If
Abacha was truly responsible for an economic miracle, as his citation read,
then the implication is that his successors, Abdulsalam and Obasanjo, in
particular, destroyed that legacy. Thus, neither of them should have been on
the list. Historical revisionists are obviously trying to burnish putrid
reputations. Abacha left Nigeria as the world’s 13<sup>th</sup> poorest
country, a pariah nation with a $30 billion debt and a wretched income per head
of $345. Oddly, while Jonathan was exonerating Abacha, Nigeria was paralyzed by
fuel scarcity – a legacy of the tyrant’s era along with failed refineries and
toxic fuel imports. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
irony is that Abacha and Babangida seem retrospectively tolerable only in the
light of the inadequacies of their successors including the current
administration. Not long ago, we were treated to Obasanjo and Babangida publicly
accusing each other of running the country’s most corrupt regimes. The celebration
of these former leaders raises questions about how we define accomplishment and
heroism in these parts. Already, upon their assumption of office, Nigerian
heads of state and presidents are decorated with the Grand Commander of the
Order of the Federal Republic, the nation’s highest honour, for little more
than successfully staging coups and rigging elections. It is a system that rewards
the attainment of office by any means rather than what is actually achieved
while in office. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy_bNtRbmkcu09UN3OktkPIOig9J4BTvVNJqioAyaeupqJaPcorr6NZqEgwc5y1_yNZ_yK6eDbwedQpIAt3EvarAQN-qtQkaYcGxZWOxgIH_WEuzSmNvodimRxqNFl6zVwqr_f2QvLOfc/s1600/jonathan+IBB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy_bNtRbmkcu09UN3OktkPIOig9J4BTvVNJqioAyaeupqJaPcorr6NZqEgwc5y1_yNZ_yK6eDbwedQpIAt3EvarAQN-qtQkaYcGxZWOxgIH_WEuzSmNvodimRxqNFl6zVwqr_f2QvLOfc/s1600/jonathan+IBB.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
singular message of the centennial honours list is that might is right and that
power is its own justification. Where in our algorithm of hero-making does the
sanctity of life fit in? Babangida and Abacha led two of Nigeria’s most
murderous regimes. Honouring them airbrushes a grim and bloody chapter of our
history that was marked by coup plots and state violence. Does anyone now remember
the massacre of protesting students at Ahmadu Bello University in 1986? Dele Giwa,
Bagauda Kaltho, Alfred Rewane, Ken Saro-Wiwa and many others would obviously
have had very different perspectives on the list. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Obasanjo
visited death and destruction on Odi and Zaki Biam. Unsurprisingly, T.Y.
Danjuma who as his defence minister oversaw those military assaults made the
list. Courts have since recognized those expeditions as crimes and awarded a multi-billion
compensation package to the two communities – a clear indictment of both
Obasanjo and Danjuma. In 2012, Jonathan deployed troops to suppress Occupy
Nigeria protests in which close to 20 Nigerians were killed nationwide despite
the protests being essentially peaceful. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Leaders
that casually terminate their citizens either by commission or omission,
negligence or intent, are not heroes regardless of what economic miracles they
perform. They can be simultaneously applauded for their dexterity and censured
for their brutality. At a time when there is much handwringing over Boko Haram’s
atrocities, it should not be forgotten that bomb attacks were actually
pioneered by Abacha’s security establishment in the mid 1990s. The disregard
for human life that we see today is the latest iteration of a culture of
violence authored by the political figures that are now uncritically festooned
with national honours. No amount of hagiographical detergent can whitewash the
bloodstained legacies of these men. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We
are now paying a high price for being too forgiving of the sins of the powerful
and too forgetful of their victims. We need to regain a sense of history for
memory is our shield against perpetual oppression and posterity is a harsh
judge of the forgetful. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">(All images sourced online) </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-50991869090356364312014-02-03T06:35:00.000-08:002014-02-03T06:35:58.207-08:00It's Time to Reimagine Nigeria<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB">(Text of my speech at the commemorative
national centenary edition of the Abuja Literary Society’s Night of the Spoken
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">The idea at the
heart of this nation’s birth was racial redemption. At the beginning of the 20<sup>th</sup>
century, race was the barrier that divided the world. The colour line split
humanity into an allegedly superior white race and a supposedly inferior black
race. The generation of agitators that formed the nationalist movement saw
Nigeria as an opportunity to register the black man’s presence in the modern
world. They wanted to show that Africans could build a pinnacle civilization of
their own. Nigeria was to be a showpiece state and an exemplary nation –
incontrovertible proof that blacks had something positive to offer humanity. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">In order to achieve
this, our founding patriarchs had to have a certain kind of faith. They
believed in a cosmic sovereign will operating in history. They believed that
this being had impelled diverse communities from far-flung places to migrate
over the course of centuries and eventually congregate in this space that would
one day be christened Nigeria. They also believed that a force greater than
Frederick Lugard’s penmanship had ordained the nation’s existence.
Consequently, they did not see Nigeria as a whim of the British Empire but as the
will of providence. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Now, the patriarchs
were usually fractious on many issues but they were of remarkable agreement on
one matter: Nigeria was unique and exceptional. Thus Nnamdi Azikiwe declared
that Nigeria would be “a country of consequence” and “a force in world
affairs.” As he took office as Nigeria’s first indigenous Governor-General in
1960, Azikiwe declared that Nigeria had a duty to “revive the stature of man in
Africa and restore the dignity of man in the world.” Adegoke Adelabu described
Nigeria’s independence as “a cosmological imperative.” Ahmadu Bello, who at one
point famously described the nascent Nigerian nation as a mistake, predicted that
with independence she would rise to become “first among equals in Africa.”
Chinua Achebe once described Nigeria as a nation favoured by providence and burdened
with a historic purpose that no other nation can fulfill</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">This belief in
Nigeria’s manifest destiny energized the nationalist struggle and earned us
independence from the British in 1960. This ended the first chapter of our
national odyssey. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Our learning curve
as a nation since that time has been steep. We have since learned that
liberation is different from nation-building. It is one thing to achieve
freedom from colonial bondage; it is another thing to seize control of the
post-colonial Promised Land. The journey from servitude to sovereignty has been
very challenging. We have been through so many traumas – the fall of the First Republic
and the abortion of the heady promise of independence, the civil war, the cycle
of coups and counter-coups, the oil boom that gave us more wealth than we knew
how to usefully spend, the subsequent era of recession and austerity, the age
of SAP, the structural adjustment programme, decades of military dictatorship,
chronic ethno-religious violence, terrorism – through all of these plagues, we
have survived resiliently against the odds. We are still here. And that fact
alone gives us the impetus to face the future boldly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Here are three
lessons from our national odyssey that we must take to heart. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">1.</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";"> Nations are not
transformed in electoral cycles but in generational cycles. It took a
generation of nationalists to earn our independence from colonialists. It took
another generation of nationalist pro-democracy activists to confront military
despots and win us democracy. And now it falls on another generation, ours, to
expand the borders of the freedom that we have now. For democracy means more
than just the right to vote. Ultimately, it must mean that everyone has the
means to live their dreams and be makers of their own destiny. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">For our purposes, a
generation is not defined by the coincidence of belonging to the same age
bracket. A generation is defined by shared values. So however young or old you
are, if you believe that this land can and should be better and will work for
its progress, then we belong to the same generation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">2. </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">We live in a society
that constantly reminds us of our differences – distinctions of creed, clan,
tribe and language. ‘Divide and rule’ was a weapon that the British used
against the nationalists and delinquent political elites have long used it
against the Nigerian people. But the fact is that from Talata Mafara to Brass,
Shendam to Oshogbo, Nigerians want the same things. They want to dwell in peace
and raise their children in safety. They believe that no condition is
permanent; that tomorrow’s harvest will exceed today’s; and that the stars are
ever in their favour. They believe in ‘Live and Let Live.’ </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">We should certainly
understand our differences, such as they are, but they need not define us or
limit us. There is a meeting of hearts and minds that transcends geography and
genetics. The diehard nativists and tribal fundamentalists may insist that
blood is thicker than water but a nation is much more than a bloodline. It is
as Edward Renan said “a spiritual principle” and “a moral consciousness”. We do
not have to be kin to be kindred spirits bearing the burden of a common
destiny. The fact that we do not speak the same language does not mean that
cannot find solidarity in our suffering. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Throughout our
history, our finest moments as a nation have occurred whenever we transcended
these so-called differences. All our transformational struggles – the struggle
for independence from colonialists and the struggle against military tyranny
for democracy – were waged and won by movements that transcended our differences.
These movements triumphed by welding northerners and southerners, Muslims and
Christians, humanists and agnostics, the faithful and the faithless together in
the patriotic agony of shared purpose. This is what we must do in our
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">3</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">. Thirdly,
Nation-building is an act of constant imagination and re-imagination; of
constant invention and reinvention. The soul of a nation is forged in the
crucible of its imagination. It is poetry and prophecy, prose and propaganda;
it is faith and praxis. We are all moved by the majestic proclamation of the
U.S. Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident;
that all men were created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with
certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit
of happiness.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">But when these words
were written, these truths were not at all self-evident. The Declaration had
fifty-six signatories, all white males. There were no African-Americans. At the
time, blacks were considered less than human and fit only for slavery. Indeed,
some of the signatories were themselves slave-owners. There were no Native
Americans. The Native American civilization had been virtually wiped out. And,
of course, there were no women. Now, we can look at this contradiction as an
act of high-sounding hypocrisy on the part of those who wrote the declaration.
But I suggest it was something more. When those men wrote those words, they
were reimagining their nation and reaching for an ideal that could inspire generations
after them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">It is possible for
us, as a generation, to re-imagine our social, political and economic
realities. It is within our powers to declare new possibilities and to reach
for new ideals that will shape the next one hundred years. The future will not
come until we become it; in our words, creativity and craft, in our activism, in
our politics, in the narratives we are producing about ourselves and the
examples we are setting for our children. Franz Fanon said that each generation
must discover its calling and either betray it or fulfill it. Tonight our
calling is clear. One hundred years after Lugard’s amalgamation, fifty-four
years after independence and fifteen years into the Fourth Republic, it is time
to re-imagine Nigeria. Thank you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-75330631953506467582014-01-05T05:44:00.001-08:002014-01-05T05:44:41.490-08:00Let My People Think<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKEuFx4-388BssdexjtjVzmz2LKk2hHAyt01p14GkHDIjMfgw0Ij_M4Nm9eMhObwu1GNsmtcPXAVdB6kEK-scg3bYaauy1Z24fkTuIypQW9RegGzAlLJbbwEA_53aoqqSN9Pz432SZz7A/s1600/stained+glass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKEuFx4-388BssdexjtjVzmz2LKk2hHAyt01p14GkHDIjMfgw0Ij_M4Nm9eMhObwu1GNsmtcPXAVdB6kEK-scg3bYaauy1Z24fkTuIypQW9RegGzAlLJbbwEA_53aoqqSN9Pz432SZz7A/s320/stained+glass.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">No
intellectually honest person of faith can escape Nigeria’s most pungent social contradiction
– the surfeit of religiousity represented by the proliferation of churches,
mosques and shrines in the context of intensifying moral degeneracy and social
anomie. The last three decades have witnessed the inescapable paradox of
religious revivalism and ethical collapse. Public religiousity is at a
crescendo while public morality is at a nadir. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To
make sense of this paradox, we must begin with the less-than-obvious
distinction between rituals and values. That people share the same religious
rituals does not mean that they share corresponding religious values. Rituals
are the routines built into ceremonial observances while values are convictions
with behavioural consequences. Rituals are performed in the controlled
environments of our particular shrines while values cannot be choreographed –
only lived out in the unscripted course of everyday life in the society.
Rituals are generically performed while values are subjectively practised.
Thus, nominally affirming the Ten Commandments does not mean that we will not
commit theft and murder. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So
far, these are fairly run-of-the-mill observations. Religious communities have
historically engaged in slavery, racism and apartheid. The age of Victorian
prudery in England was also marked by horrendous social injustices. Our Muslim and
Christian politicians, while advertizing their spiritual credentials, continue
to demonstrate atheistic impunity and prodigiously secular proficiencies in
public theft. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Religionists
have long had to manage the tension between their beliefs and their behaviour,
their profession and their praxis. The challenge for us in Nigeria is that such
tension is no longer discernible. The keen sense of moral contradiction that
inspires repentance has disappeared from our theology. A conceptual rupture has
separated the world of ritual and doctrine from that of values leading to a
religion without moral implication and ethical significance. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Religious
rituals are symbolic dramas that should point us towards higher truths and
behavioral ideals. However compelling rituals are, if they cannot inspire
ethical development, then they are no more than hollow routines and farcical
charades. And if this is the case, what is the point of observing these
rituals? Put another way, what is the use of organized religion when it fails
to deliver on its most fundamental proposition – that of transforming personal
and social conduct?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Popular
religious discourse, such as it is, focuses on doctrinal hairsplitting about
pious irrelevancies which are more likely to raise sectarian and denominational
hackles than to pave a path towards a just and humane society. The faithful are
more likely to endure bitter disputation over whose moon sightings are more authoritative,
the propriety of Muslims offering Christmas greetings to Christians or the
proper age of baptism, than to reach a consensus against social evils such as
corruption. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nigeria’s
ardent religiousity is belied by its flagrant deficit in the ethics of
civilizational progress. Basic principles such as the sanctity of human life
and a regard for the common good remain contestable. What compounds our ethical
crisis is the fact that oil wealth has given us the means to purchase the
latest tools, toys and trinkets of modernity. We can afford state-of-the-art
phones and automobiles but in terms of the civilized values that define
societal progress, it is far from clear that we have migrated into the 20<sup>th</sup>
century much less the 21<sup>st</sup>. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
religious establishment has failed to inspire the sort of hunger for
righteousness and justice that has historically decommissioned sociopolitical
evils, preferring instead to preach a theology of narcissistic consumerism and
to forge an accord with errant power elites. Thus, a society rife with
Forbes-listed billionaire clergymen is also plagued by astronomical levels of
child mortality, destitution, and diseases that humanity acquired the means to
conquer in the 19<sup>th</sup> century. Faith as ethical consciousness,
empathic awareness and social conscience is a minority, even, contrarian tendency
on our shores. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Politics
and religion have unsurprisingly become mutually reinforcing growth industries
in recent decades. Were it not for spiraling youth unemployment, it is certain
that our camps and crusade grounds would be less crowded by desperate Nigerians
seeking by means of supplication the things that should accrue to them as
citizens. Extremist clerics would definitely have less cannon fodder for their
unholy missions. If our hospitals functioned optimally, fewer Nigerians would
throng churches in search of miracle healings. If life was not so uncertain,
pastors would not be acting as modern-day oracles divining the future for
anxious followers. If Nigerians had access to social security institutions,
they would assuredly be less amenable to the notion of God as a celestial ATM
and allied deceptions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Politicians
create the material conditions for religious profiteers to thrive. The
political elite simulate “hell” through their derelict management of
dysfunctional institutions enabling uncertainty and systemic chaos to consume
lives and livelihoods. The religious elite provide politicians with an
exculpatory narrative that posits official failures as acts of God or as
plagues of the devil from which the people must seek spiritual deliverance. Religionists
are enjoined to pray for those that prey on them. The religious elite also
serve to defuse the civic outrage necessary to force institutional changes by
converting it into a sterile rage directed at the devil rather than at his
earthly proxies. If the devil’s work is to steal, kill and destroy, then his
earthly legions, readily identifiable by their larcenies, require prosecution and
punishment, not prayer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Religion can be a force for
good; its transformative potential is undeniable. But it has to be rescued from
the charlatans whose shenanigans could provoke the next generation unto
nihilism. Our progress as a society now requires a measure of iconoclasm and
irreverence. We have to reclaim our senses and spirits from the enchantments of
compromised pulpits and reject propaganda dressed as prophecy. We need an
intelligent spirituality that posits faith and reason as complementary rather
than contradictory. A new spirit of inquiry must reinvigorate our faith,
enabling us to discern phony epiphanies and question contrived “revelations”. This
will necessarily involve the figurative dismantling of the shrines, temples and
“anointed” personas that garrison the establishment from democratic scrutiny. Judgment
must begin from the house of God. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">(All images sourced online) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span>Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-82009501392316987272013-12-27T16:29:00.000-08:002013-12-27T16:29:23.494-08:00The Price of Immortality<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguiv8YS2xmI1d1Fw_vsMLuXg-3KPnlvbW2vICstexFTcpFP05H8IU3S8ngoVxM9I5HWH3Id3cDTf83SIt9NWOPyvPUistJOwfB3KyVzUbLgWOyEAZCG5SYYeoJ3Z0HS2yXQ_o40kACPGM/s1600/mandela.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguiv8YS2xmI1d1Fw_vsMLuXg-3KPnlvbW2vICstexFTcpFP05H8IU3S8ngoVxM9I5HWH3Id3cDTf83SIt9NWOPyvPUistJOwfB3KyVzUbLgWOyEAZCG5SYYeoJ3Z0HS2yXQ_o40kACPGM/s320/mandela.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Now
he belongs to the ages.” Those were Edwin Stanton’s words upon the passing of
Abraham Lincoln and they seem an apt epitaph for the late Nelson Mandela, the
world’s last great political icon. Belonging to the ages is a state of
post-mortem immortality in which the deceased figure is claimed and
counterclaimed by various factions for various purposes. Madiba’s name and
image will become even more ubiquitous, gracing everything from t-shirts and
currency notes to airports, stadiums and universities. His story will be told
and retold in books, movies and songs assuming the resonance of legend and
popular mythology. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 79.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With
his place in the pantheon of immortals established, Mandela’s spirit will be
invoked by a bewildering range of diverse and even opposing interests to
sanctify their own aims and ideologies. This is part of the price of
immortality. Lincoln is invoked in this way by both Democrats and Republicans
and cast either as a liberal conservative or a conservative liberal depending
on the argument being made. This is the posthumous fate of many political
icons. The African-American scholar Michael Eric Dyson once remarked that
Martin Luther King Jr., another immortal, has been given “a national birthday,
iconic ubiquity and endless encomiums” but has also “been idealized into
uselessness…immortalized into a niceness that dilutes the radical politics he
endorsed. His justice agenda has been smothered by adulation.” King’s critiques
of structural poverty, inequality and militarism – the sinews of American
imperialism – have been subsumed in the vortex of popular cultural iconography.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Che
Guevara who died trying to spread Marxist revolution in South America is now a
hip revolutionary figure idolized in the distinctly capitalist trafficking of
merchandise and memorabilia. Being banalized, trivialized and commoditized is
part of the price of immortality. Six months before his death, Mahatma Gandhi
complained, “Everyone is eager to garland my photos and statues – nobody really
wants to follow my advice.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
South Africa, where Gandhi first encountered repression and the earliest
stirrings of the compulsion to fight it, Mandela’s political legacy will be
contested by various groups. Both the African National Congress and a clutch of
opposition parties will attempt to appropriate Mandela as the guiding spirit of
their competing political projects. The ANC still casts itself as the
liberation movement which Mandela led to the attainment of black majority rule.
The opposition parties will invoke Mandela’s moral stature as a rebuke against
the ANC’s cronyism. The country’s restive youths will also appropriate
Mandela’s earlier incarnation as a young militant leader who eluded apartheid
authorities while masterminding sabotage operations directed at the white
supremacist state. Mandela in this guise becomes the prophet and portent of
black youth revolt against the as yet unfulfilled socioeconomic promise of the
post-apartheid era. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But
Madiba’s legacy possesses an enduring resilience that resists any attempt to
conform it to a narrow and permanently partisan mould. He belongs to the ages
not to any tendency; his ultimate significance is universal not sectarian;
temporal and national but also transcendent and global. If Mandela were an idea,
he would belong in the public domain but as a person, he has entered into the
cosmic domain where he cannot be patented or copyrighted. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 87.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Much
is said about how Mandela readily relinquished power when he could have clung
on as South Africa’s president. In so doing, he avoided the trajectory of many
once esteemed liberation fighters who have become autocrats desperately
clinging to their thrones. Yet Mandela’s lessons are for the world at large.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
is too soon to forget that the Western governments that released odes to
Mandela preferred him in the dungeon at the time that they favoured maniacs
such as Idi Amin and Mobutu. Or that their countries led by Margaret Thatcher
and Ronald Reagan (two acclaimed champions of freedom whose vision of liberty
did not extend to black South Africans) essentially supported the apartheid
regime. The White House considered Mandela a terrorist at precisely the time
that it was collaborating with real terrorists like Angola’s Jonas Savimbi and
more scandalously, a certain Osama Bin Laden. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">His
spirit of compromise and progressive pragmatism is distinctly missing from
Washington where partisan recalcitrance has gridlocked American politics. It is
often said that the Israeli – Palestine conflict would have been resolved if either
side had a Mandela-type figure. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoqNyce8MLBijqTRiWPWjyjnDabs6ca6U_apsIRwb8-T7RL4nLmzOYq_RBXz4VstmELTW_H7B5hRnmfv6pTItSUt7QgfBS8bYtG70T-fUmh3NRipSjMFp4WDHhCDwmfj-mXpIVkyXCCAE/s1600/mandela+released.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoqNyce8MLBijqTRiWPWjyjnDabs6ca6U_apsIRwb8-T7RL4nLmzOYq_RBXz4VstmELTW_H7B5hRnmfv6pTItSUt7QgfBS8bYtG70T-fUmh3NRipSjMFp4WDHhCDwmfj-mXpIVkyXCCAE/s320/mandela+released.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Black
majority rule could so easily have become an occasion for vengeance against
whites. The Afrikaner nightmare was that black rule would ignite a racial
holocaust directed against the former overlords. This is the path that Mandela
averted for his country. His genius was intuiting when to beat his sword into a
plowshare. He discerned that militancy had done its work and had created
conditions conducive to negotiations. To have continued to push the
revolutionary card further would have been to invoke anarchy. By initiating
dialogue with the apartheid regime while still in prison, he moved ahead of the
curve establishing his leadership among a very distinguished cast of liberation
luminaries such as Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo, as well as younger lions
like Chris Hani and Thabo Mbeki. Mandela’s transformation from militant to
peacemaker in many ways prefigured his country’s transformation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">War-weary
yet battle-hardened soldiers, vigilant veterans tempered by the unremitting
toll of conflict and the limits of violence as a political tool, often make the
most dogged peacemakers yet they also pay a steep price for their conversion.
Anwar Sadat who made peace with Israel was assassinated by Egyptian extremists
who saw his peacemaking as treason against the Arab cause. Yitzhak Rabin was
killed by an Israeli zealot for conceding Israeli land in a peace deal with
Palestine. Sadat and Rabin were both veteran warriors. They were also Nobel Peace
Prize laureates as was Martin Luther King. In opting for non-violence and
dialogue, Mandela rendered himself vulnerable to both black and white
extremists intent on a racial apocalypse. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
a world of extremists, zealots and military-industrial complexes, peacemakers
are an endangered species precisely because they threaten the powers built on
the perpetuation of hate and strife as well as the fortunes based on the
commercialization of conflict. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
takes courage to fight for one’s beliefs. It takes courage and wisdom to change
tactics when violence has exhausted its usefulness and yield to other means.
Sometimes, it can become far easier to kill and die for one’s principles than
to live by them. Violence can easily become its own motive, purpose and reward.
Mandela moved from Gandhian non-violence to armed struggle in response to the
brutish totalitarianism of the apartheid state and, even so, chose sabotage
operations because they did not involve loss of life and offered the best hope
for future racial reconciliation. Mandela’s violence was not a fundamental
blood thirst and when the utility of violence had expired, he was courageous
enough to change his tactics again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
hardest thing to ask of the victimized is that they relinquish their right to
morally justifiable vengeance. Forbearance is lovely in theory but fiendishly
difficult in practice. Mandela undertook this task on behalf of himself and his
people with grace and dignity, forgiving enemies, and releasing his country’s
destiny from the spectre of interminable cycles of racial violence. In this he
equaled the prophetic stature of Dr King whose valiant pacific labours ensured
that a black intifada or for that matter, a black al Qaeda, did not arise as an
entirely understandable response to the atrocities of white supremacy in
America. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
is profoundly significant that while South Africa was transiting from apartheid
state to rainbow nation in 1994, Rwanda was showcasing the catastrophe that
South Africa had narrowly avoided by the grace of Mandela as that small nation
surrendered to the demons of ethnic hatred and genocidal depravity. These two
possibilities – multiracial democracy and sectarian hate – continue to stalk
our age. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Madiba’s passage, for which
the world stood still these past weeks, leaves our planet starved off authentic
heroes but populated by vacuous celebrities; one in which redemptive activism
is often overshadowed by cynical politicking. But the fact that he walked this
earth has left us open doors of possibility for heroism and moral courage. His
shimmering example is his greatest legacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">All images sourced online
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span>Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3353112212084362644.post-25978401971606503312013-10-24T04:37:00.000-07:002013-10-24T04:37:04.728-07:00The War on the Poor<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What
keeps Nigeria going in spite of her often manifestly dysfunctional government
is not the savvy statecraft of her reigning politicians but the ingenuity of
ordinary Nigerians. The state is remote from the people. A vast gulf separates
policy architecture from the very citizens it is supposed to serve. Despite chronic
mismanagement and graft, our informal sector’s dynamism and improvisation is
why Nigeria lumbers on. She is powered by honest Nigerians who have refused to
let the absence of infrastructure and the vagaries of life in an
under-institutionalized environment become an excuse for sloth or crime. These
are Nigeria’s real heroes and are the fulcrum of the country’s legendary
resilience.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the absence of a formal welfare
apparatus, kinship and social networks serve as alternate social security
mechanisms. Intrepid entrepreneurs virtually create their own infrastructure.
In the absence of a social contract, Nigerians operate with a number of
informal transactional and relational covenants most powerfully exemplified by
the open air markets and roadside stores and workshops that are fixtures of
urban life. The size of the informal sector indicates excessive government
intervention and bureaucratic red tape with people generally preferring to
carry on their socio-economic pursuits beneath the radar of an ineptly
intrusive state.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This trading culture is an attribute
shared by our diverse peoples. Nigeria is in every respect a nation of
shopkeepers. The social ingenuity of our people and their impressive aptitude
for exchanging goods and services is the last line of defence against
hopelessness and anarchy; it is the solitary buffer separating dysfunctional
governance from massive social unrest. Sadly, the government is enamoured with
policies which degrade the informal sector. When government agents demolish a
barber’s shop or a mechanic’s work shed, they are attacking the entrepreneurial
genius which with proper support can lift millions out of poverty. When authorities
outlaw commercial motorcycle operators without adequate public transport
infrastructure in place or without establishing alternative structures to
absorb the newly unemployed brigades, they alienate huge numbers of citizens
and shrink the distance between official callousness and popular uprising.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nigerians generally accept that their
government will not necessarily work for them but demand that it at least gets
out of their way. It is a different matter entirely when the government, so
derelict in its other duties, aggressively invades and disrupts the havens that
ordinary Nigerians have created for themselves. Often, the state is encountered
as a hindrance rather than a help; an oppressive and coercive nuisance rather
than a co-creator with the people of a shared prosperity.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The demolitions in our cities which
target low income neighbourhoods, “illegal” settlements, unauthorized markets
and business offices for destruction often for the purpose of “beautifying” the
environment suggests an unhealthy obsession with the aesthetics of capitalist
modernity rather than the nurture of its substance – the peoples’ entrepreneurial
energies. There is little evidence of empathy for the urban poor, who are often
viewed as collateral damage by policy planners,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Overwhelmed by the pressures of a fast
growing population and the ravenous hunger for infrastructure that
characterizes urban growth, governments have opted for economic Darwinism. The
welfarist mantras and egalitarian clichés of yore – Housing for all, education
for all, health for all – have been dispensed with. Unwilling to honestly and
frontally eliminate poverty, they are seeking to eliminate the poor.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The underlying philosophy is trickle
down capitalism – empowering a few in the hope that their prosperity will cascade
down to the less fortunate multitudes. Nigeria’s middle class is growing but
nowhere near quickly enough to match the general population growth rate. In
consequence, the well-heeled are increasingly a small fraction of our population.
And it is this small minority that state authorities seem inclined to cater for
by creating pristine locales where they can work, live and play without the
spectacle of the poor to remind us of the scale of inequality in the land.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Urban renewal projects are often
implemented at the expense of the informal sector. But rather than destroying
it, we should be incorporating the sector and appropriating its raw creative
energies and grafting it unto formal support structures and legal frameworks.
Surely, we can conduct social policies and urban transformation in a more commonsensical
and humane manner.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Gentrification is now creating
problematic geographies. In Lagos, Victoria Island, arguably the fastest
growing artery of commerce in Africa is being gradually hived off from the more
chaotic and “less cool” mainland which is home to the millions of people who
still earn their living on the island every day. Abuja is essentially a
sprawling upper middle class enclave ensconced in a real estate bubble
sustained significantly by the proceeds of official theft and ringed by slums
and ghettoes. The spectacle of a few prosperous people encircled by millions of
the dispossessed is an unhappy augury of things to come.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">We need to move away from
trickle down capitalism and focus on empowering the broad generality rather
than the chosen few. This goes beyond installing physical infrastructure such
as roads to achieving greater access to education, energy and healthcare and
enabling citizens with the tools to live productive lives. However much we may
seek to make Nigeria attractive to foreign investors, without domestic
investments in education, developing human capital, and security – which comes
from a population substantially empowered enough to resist the allure of crime
– the sort of investments that will flow into Nigeria will be of the extractive
and non-value adding variety. A political movement must emerge to speak to
these issues and restore the egalitarian language of social and economic rights
to the arena of public debate. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">(All Images sourced online) </span></span></div>
Chris Ngwodohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05769781020896145614noreply@blogger.com0