By Guest Writer, Saidu Nafunche
This indeed, was my spontaneous reaction when the police announced their new platform for a vastly improved highly efficient Central Motor Registry. Biometric? What a cheek! The senior officer who unveiled the initiative to the Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs should have shown more sensitivity to our bruised nerves. The fraud riddled word assaulted our battered national psyche via sundry disclosures about the Police Pensions Fund. Really, I feel so disturbed by the word I have a mind to banish it from this article.
Adjective, my dictionary says, “using human physical characteristics (face shape, finger prints, etc.) for identification.” It looks so harmless word doesn’t it? It’s very attractive too as a new index of development planning. Unfortunately, it reminds me of “ultra-modern,” another fancy expression that policy makers love to use, which has turned to a euphemism for flagrant over-invoicing and inflated building contracts. By the same token, just add ‘biometric” to the simplest data generation exercise. The faint click you hear is a mouse ‘squeaking’-the digital variety that is- and whoosh! Like a tale from the Arabian Nights, someone or, some people are riding a magic carpet!
That, of course, was my first instinctive feeling. Reflecting further, I asked myself the pertinent question: how equipped are the police to handle the new, improved, okay biometric CMR? Because, it seems so clear to my stiff, analogue senses that a lot of hardware and software, not to mention staff ware would be required to remedy the shambles that was the old CMR and cross over to the new digital regime. The Nigeria Police that we know today, can it manage the process efficiently without major snafus in the form of serious logistic challenges and operational setbacks occasioned by inadequate planning and worse, insufficient funding?
Nonetheless, Article 6 of the Police Memorandum on Generating and Keeping Data for Crime Prevention Purposes states as follows: By December 2011, the Central Motor Registry (CMR) was upgraded to the Biometric Central Registry (BCMR). The BCMR has necessary logistics, modern equipment, and requisite infrastructure to enable it provide the required capacity and biometric data base for all transactions within the enabling Act with respect to automobile registration, keeping records of stolen and recovered, online reporting of incidences of stolen vehicles and ensuring compliance with regulations.
Wow! Is that really so, I asked myself. What is the problem, then? What is the inspector general of police waiting for? What is stopping him from launching a scheme for which everything is in place? From my picayune point of view, any suggestion that the FRSC is dabbling into police affairs and must be stopped first, does not hold water. The most that the road safety corps can do is to generate its own data by its own means. Since 1958 when the Road Traffic Act which gave birth to the CMR came into being, the police have maintained a direct and formal relationship with the Motor Licensing Authorities. The police have not told us that the relationship is dead. Besides, the law is quite clear on whose duty it is to maintain a Motor Vehicles Traffic Statistics and by association a Central Registry of Vehicle Licenses. No one can take that responsibility away and give it to another agency without due process.
Heck, it is still a democracy, is it not and we are all bound by the Rule of Law, are we not?
Going through the Memorandum very carefully and applying my aging analogic senses to the matter, I have come to the sorry conclusion that Article 6 was very economical with the possible truth. Na lie, I am forced to declare. Dem no get not’ing yet. Dem just dey bluff sake of say FRSC wan steal dem show. Money no dey ground, orderwise, dem for don’ begin tell us make we ready…
Think about it for a minute. Obviously, the moribund condition of the CMR allowed the FRSC to step up its act for a greater stake in the data management regime. After waking up to the portentous trespass, the police then launched a counter attack to defend and protect its territory. Having done that, successfully, I think, it behoves the police authorities to engage the public proactively with their plans for resuscitating the CMR to its blazing potential as a crime fighting weapon. The major challenge is budgeting related and aside of the need to lobby legislators for adequate funding; the police do not need their permission to rekindle the CMR.
For good measure the police have said they are not concerned about who registers vehicles or produces number plates. They only desire that the process is streamlined to generate the necessary information for monitoring vehicular movement for the prevention and detection of vehicle related crime. The police standpoint is faultless. No other government agency needs vehicular data as much as the police do to carry out its duties. The police should therefore be in the front seat of gathering and updating these all important records.
With regard to the funding issues, the police should consider creative ways of getting around the constraints. In line with new thinking in public financing, the police should consider public private partnerships to ameliorate the envisaged budgeting constraints of providing all the equipment needed. Each unit of the Motor Transport Division should have a partnership contract with an individual contractor, to provide the standardised processors, video camera, external hard drive, etc., and under close supervision of the Motor Transport Division, capture the required biometrics from vehicle owners in its area of operations. The contractor earns a standard and attractive percentage of the fees paid, while the police keep the information collected.
The inspector general should be paying me for this consultative effort. I should be sending him a Memorandum on the matter, soon.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
“MADAM CHIEF JUSTICE” -Aloma Muhktar and a date with History
The forecasts are most promising that Justice Aloma Mariam Muhktar will by 14 July this year become the 13th Chief Justice of Nigeria. That is the day when the current chief , Dahiru Musdapher, shall attain the age of 70 years and thereby “cease to hold office” as the Constitution commands. A succession order has come to be at the apex court since the days of Justice Muhammad Bello. The most senior member of the Supreme Court takes over from the preceding chief justice to perform the function. Again, this is at the behest of the Constitution.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances therefore, the elevation of Aloma Muhktar will make the perfect birthday gift four months before her 68th birthday on November 20, 2012. This final berth of a 45 year long cruise since her admission to the Nigerian Bar in 1967 has set tongues wagging all over. From the excitable Bar to the even-tempered Bench, the import of the first female chief justice of the federation is a matter of great social interest. The one person who may be least impressed by all the debate is the lady at the centre of the spotlight. She may rightly be miffed that once again, public attention and scrutiny is drawn to her body and not her brain.
Seven years earlier in 2005, the confirmation of her appointment to
the Supreme Court elicited widespread and impassioned commentary on a ceiling-shattering ‘ great leap forward’ for Nigerian womanhood. Some analysts wondered if her promotion would initiate a trend for more female justices of the Supreme Court. Their number has since grown to three with Olufunlola Adeyeye and Mary Odili joining to dilute the overly masculine flavour of the Court. Granted that gender equity may be just as politically significant as geo-political equity ("federal character"), there is nothing to show that gender inequities in the homes and workplaces have greatly diminished on account of the investigations, litigations, prosecutions and decisive judgements by women cops, lawyers, magistrates, judges and justices.
Justice Karibi-Whyte was on target therefore, when he famously dismissed the demand for a woman to take his place upon his imminent retirement, to correct the gender imbalance at the Supreme Court then. “So what if there is no female Supreme Court judge?” he had countered. “Why must there be? It is not a gender issue… Whether there is a man or a woman has nothing to do with the administration of justice. When a suitable female arrives, we will appoint." Moot was the question why the judiciary could not find “suitable” appointees from the vast pool of female judges, roughly 25% of the lot, to sit at the higher Bench?
This argument took place ten years ago in 2002. Looking back, Aloma Muhktar and all her learned sisters should have plenty reason to beat their chests and echo the world famous advert, Baby, you’ve come a long way…More importantly, can anyone deny that Aloma Muhktar is eminently “suitable” to be the prime jurist of the land?
The excitement generated by her admission to the all-male assembly of Supreme Court justices already mentioned, it is reasonable to expect that fireworks of commentaries will trail the emergence of Nigeria’s first woman chief justice in the weeks ahead. When Muhktar first joined the men at the apex court, Mary Odili, fast rising judicial officer and spouse of the Rivers State governor, paid tribute to her indomitable spirit in a “Testament of Hope” saluting the valiant struggle of women to gain respect in a male dominated world. Hope, nurtured by faith, brings forth the sweet fruit of success. In 2000, when she served in the Court of Appeal, Aloma Muhktar ranked third in seniority behind Dahiru Musdapher and the President of the Court of Appeal. Still, before she arrived there in 2005, Musdapher and four lower-ranking members of the Court of Appeal had taken their seats in the Supreme Court. Merit thus assumes a broad span of considerations which, for so long, did not appear to include gender parity.
When we hailed her ascent to the Supreme Court, were we not at once celebrating the triumph of good conscience over callous indifference and negligence? This time around, shall we not be toasting ourselves and the maturity of our judicial system? A wistful edge to our good cheer: her short tenure which should likely terminate in two years when she turns seventy. Rapid and mandatory baton change to keep faith with the law is a current feature of the office of the chief justice of Nigeria. Kutigi and Katsina-Alu spent roughly two years each at the top job. Dahiru Musdapher will serve for barely ten months as chief justice but that is only half the story. Turnover is high at the apex court in the land and few justices last further than five years on its revered corridors. Fewer still make it to the esteemed chair of chief justice.
On this count alone, Aloma Muhktar has had a good and exemplary run. Exhibiting what is seen in many circles as a staid conservative background, she is credited with expertise in formalist decision making rather than creative tinkering to extend the frontiers of the law. On the heels of her admittance to the Supreme Court, the media reported that her judgements at the Appeals Court were frequently endorsed by the Supreme Court. In one commentator’s opinion therefore, she appeared to be “faithful and competent rather than reform minded.” The analysts contended that she would not rock the boat of consensus decision making for which the Supreme Court is rather well known. Others wondered about the perceived influence of a woman on an exclusive body of men such as the justices of the Supreme Court.
Seven years afterwards, there is no telling the quantum of social and administrative changes that have been wrought by the admission of two more women with their peculiar needs and attitudes into the establishment. Even now, as Aloma Muhktar waits to lead her learned ‘brothers and sisters’ on the eternal struggle for the defence of justice and fair play, the analysts are many who believe that she is most unlikely to create any waves. Not a few also submit that she would not be to blame for this.
The Court, they contend, is probably the most reactionary institution in the land and is forever struggling to catch up with the rest of society. The justices are carefully chosen to fit the special mould of team players and consensus builders. Nevertheless, it must be taken for granted that Court and Country have a learning curve ahead with their first ever “Madam Chief Justice”.
In the past, the Supreme Court had been described as "essentially a court of criminal and land appeals" A wave of robust political cases and judgements have helped to alter that perception during the last five years. Attendant to that is the rising popularity of the judiciary, quite simply the Supreme Court, as a bastion of hope for the survival of democracy in Nigeria. Nonetheless, the work rate of the Court leaves much to be desired. Some observers have blamed it on the huge man hours the justices spend in writing individual judgements merely for the record even when they do not disagree with the lead judgement.
This was not always the case, legal historians assert. In its early days, the Supreme Court adopted the system of collegiate judgments practiced by its predecessor, the West African Court of Appeal, instead of the tradition of separate judgments by British appellate courts. Calls for the justices to showcase their erudition and provide individual insights and quotable references for the legal journals, snowballed into great pressure for a change at the Bar and on the Bench. In 1979, the Court resorted to the British model and with considerable cost in speed. Said an observer in 2005, “Unless the Court is reformed soonest, we sadly envisage that most of Justice Mukhtar's labours on the Supreme Court would be dissipated through unceasingly repeating precisely the same task someone else is also repeating.”
Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ
A curious and unwholesome development is the media controversy that has trailed the appointment of a chief justice since Salihu Alfa Belgore stepped aside in 2007 for Idris Legbon Kutigi. Baton changes at the Court used to be such quiet events that most citizens barely acknowledged, or followed with the mildest interest. Suddenly, following the high-wire politics of post-election petitions, the media got interested and speculation mounted significantly about which justice would be most favourably disposed to which of the parties contending for leadership of the nation.
Public sentiment about the imagined political leanings of the justices, heightened with the dissenting positions of Justices George Oguntade, Aloma Muhktar and Walter Onnoghen in the celebrated election petitions of Atiku Abubakar and Muhammadu Buhari. Sadly, the media has not helped the public to understand and appreciate the salient peculiarities of the judicial process. Instead, it remains commonly obsessed with peddling salacious but unsubstantiated rumours about the public and private indiscretions of high placed judicial officers. Most guilty of this objectionable practice is a motley of internet media organs.
Justice Niki Tobi, while delivering his judgement on the already cited 2007 election petition, had this to say: “It is sad that so much has been said in the newspapers of this country on the case. The new technology of internet reporting has added to the comments, some of them doubting our integrity to do justice according to law. I regard them as blackmail and I will not succumb to blackmail.”
In like manner also, the local press has shown a bewildering inclination to feed their readers with titillating, but poorly substantiated news of the inner workings of the Court. In the days preceding his imminent resignation, the media pointedly accused Chief Justice Katsina-Alu of desiring to prolong his tenure and to thwart Dahiru Musdafer’s claim, on grounds of seniority, to the seat. His nomination of Aloma Muhktar as a second choice rang in their ears as subtle power play to undermine the suitability of his first choice. On Sunday October 23, 2011, a newspaper further “revealed” by quoting nameless sources that the outgoing chief had tried unsuccessfully to spread false stories of ill health about his successor.
As early as Boxing Day, 2011, the local press had begun to stoke the fires of a possible controversy over the appointment of Justice Aloma Mukhtar to the office of chief justice. The particular publication reported that she had been in danger of receiving the ‘Salami’ treatment: dubious promotion to eliminate the perceived threat of an opponent. Without any proof at all, the reporters accused the Presidency of complicity in the plot. The newspaper did not specify the “foreign appointment” offered which Aloma Muhktar had turned down. The reporters did not quote her nor did they indicate that they sought her opinion but did not get it. A “source close to the apex court’” was routinely credited with revelation of “an attempt to stop Mukhtar and possibly bring in Justice Walter Onnoghen, who is the second most senior JSC.”
Adjunct to these rumours was the kite flown by the current chief justice on expected judicial reforms. He had suggested to an audience at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies that appointments to the Supreme Court should be for a lifetime, as obtains in the United States. Chief Justice Musdapher has made no secret of his interest in judicial reforms to strengthen the independence of the judiciary. Yet, the conclusion of the reporters rested only on the fact that an expected constitutional amendment to increase the retirement age of Supreme Court justices from 70 to 75 years, “may make it difficult for Mukhtar to become the first female CJN by July 15, 2012 when Musdapher is expected to have attained mandatory retirement age of 70 years.”
Recalling the minority judgement already cited, in which Oguntade, Muhktar and Onnoghen, dismissed the 2007 elections as not meeting the requirements of the law, the reporters opined as follows: “fears that Muktar may be difficult to bend … might have informed the plots to stop her from becoming the CJN.” What informed the suggestion that Onnoghen would be easier to manipulate, these resourceful reporters did not say.
These stories underline the herculean challenges facing the Supreme Court which Justice Aloma Muhktar or any other chief justice, must contend with. The Court is bedevilled with a growing image problem. The recent brouhaha over the ‘promotion’ of Justice Ayo Salami to fill the South West slot in the Supreme Court and his subsequent rejection of the “unholy Greek gift” illustrates the point vividly. Even the elevation of Mary Odili to meet the “yearning and aspirations of women in Nigeria,” according to Chief Justice Katsina-Alu, “and the 35% affirmative action promised women by President Goodluck Jonathan,” may be grounds for serious controversy in the future.
The challenge of uplifting the morale of judicial officers and restoring public confidence in the Supreme Court is not peculiar to Nigeria. In Kenya, Nancy Baraza, the first woman appointed to the post of deputy chief justice, has swung into action to redeem the country’s judiciary from crippling corruption and inefficiency.
Baraza, a former executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission and chairperson of the Kenyan Federation of Women Lawyers has a glowing track record of public service much like her Nigerian counterparts. At the time of these press reports in November 2011, Baraza disclosed that the Kenyan High Court had 2,015 pending criminal appeal cases, “some of which have not been heard for 20 years because files had gone missing.” There was a need to clear the backlog of over one million cases in the courts in the next six months, she declared. Seems like a distant cousin of the Nigerian judicial system, does it not?
"We shall implement radical but necessary reforms that are going to be able to bring effectiveness, fairness, eliminate corruption and instil discipline among (the judiciary’s) officers," Baraza told the International Press Service. The Supreme Court in Kenya is composed of Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, his deputy, Baraza, and five other judges. Their mandate is to spearhead the implementation of the country’s new constitution and to establish an independent judiciary. "Radical transfers of judicial officers may be on the way to break up entrenched cartels that are frustrating changes in the judiciary. There are some officials who may want the old order to continue. But we will push for the necessary reforms to make the judiciary meet the expectations of Kenyans. Those resisting changes will have to fall by the wayside," Baraza said.
Question: Can Aloma Muhktar or any other appointee to the office of chief justice make such daring promises to Nigerians?
Without pre-empting the recommendations of the Muhammad Uwais Judicial Reform Committee, it seems obvious that its reform agenda must include the creation of new courts in remote parts of the country and the rapid digitalisation of court processes and procedures. Electronic systems for the allocation of cases and dissemination of information on suits must be the standard- SMS and bulk e-mail being the most basic. Computer literacy programmes should be compulsory for senior judicial officers so that the Supreme Court may attain the high standards of a “paperless” Court in the shortest possible time.
Can Aloma Mariam Muhktar deliver on most or all of these? We certainly hope so. Because, if she does we would not be celebrating the token significance of a first woman chief justice but more far-reaching landmarks in the history of the judiciary. And it would not matter to anyone whether a woman oversaw the process or not, as it does not really matter to disputants in a case whether the judgement was delivered by a man or woman. The important issue is who won? Will the Supreme Court win over its myriad challenges? What will be Justice Aloma Mariam Muhktar’s role in this historical fight? That is the all-important poser.
She alone can provide the answer. But we shall be there-every progressive Nigerian, that is- to help her with our cheers and our good wishes.
Come July 15, the words of Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu at the swearing in ceremony of Justice Mary Odili may well apply to our most likely candidate for chief justice.
“It, therefore, behoves you to join hands with your brother justices of this court in order to continue to sustain the confidence of the general public and the judiciary. The code of conduct for judicial officers is there always to guide you. I have every confidence that you will not fail this court and nation. I urge you to strive hard to discharge your duties in accordance with the oath of office you have subscribed to, having the fear of Almighty God in your hearts and always following the dictates of your conscience.”
Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ
Barring any unforeseen circumstances therefore, the elevation of Aloma Muhktar will make the perfect birthday gift four months before her 68th birthday on November 20, 2012. This final berth of a 45 year long cruise since her admission to the Nigerian Bar in 1967 has set tongues wagging all over. From the excitable Bar to the even-tempered Bench, the import of the first female chief justice of the federation is a matter of great social interest. The one person who may be least impressed by all the debate is the lady at the centre of the spotlight. She may rightly be miffed that once again, public attention and scrutiny is drawn to her body and not her brain.
Seven years earlier in 2005, the confirmation of her appointment to
the Supreme Court elicited widespread and impassioned commentary on a ceiling-shattering ‘ great leap forward’ for Nigerian womanhood. Some analysts wondered if her promotion would initiate a trend for more female justices of the Supreme Court. Their number has since grown to three with Olufunlola Adeyeye and Mary Odili joining to dilute the overly masculine flavour of the Court. Granted that gender equity may be just as politically significant as geo-political equity ("federal character"), there is nothing to show that gender inequities in the homes and workplaces have greatly diminished on account of the investigations, litigations, prosecutions and decisive judgements by women cops, lawyers, magistrates, judges and justices.
Justice Karibi-Whyte was on target therefore, when he famously dismissed the demand for a woman to take his place upon his imminent retirement, to correct the gender imbalance at the Supreme Court then. “So what if there is no female Supreme Court judge?” he had countered. “Why must there be? It is not a gender issue… Whether there is a man or a woman has nothing to do with the administration of justice. When a suitable female arrives, we will appoint." Moot was the question why the judiciary could not find “suitable” appointees from the vast pool of female judges, roughly 25% of the lot, to sit at the higher Bench?
This argument took place ten years ago in 2002. Looking back, Aloma Muhktar and all her learned sisters should have plenty reason to beat their chests and echo the world famous advert, Baby, you’ve come a long way…More importantly, can anyone deny that Aloma Muhktar is eminently “suitable” to be the prime jurist of the land?
The excitement generated by her admission to the all-male assembly of Supreme Court justices already mentioned, it is reasonable to expect that fireworks of commentaries will trail the emergence of Nigeria’s first woman chief justice in the weeks ahead. When Muhktar first joined the men at the apex court, Mary Odili, fast rising judicial officer and spouse of the Rivers State governor, paid tribute to her indomitable spirit in a “Testament of Hope” saluting the valiant struggle of women to gain respect in a male dominated world. Hope, nurtured by faith, brings forth the sweet fruit of success. In 2000, when she served in the Court of Appeal, Aloma Muhktar ranked third in seniority behind Dahiru Musdapher and the President of the Court of Appeal. Still, before she arrived there in 2005, Musdapher and four lower-ranking members of the Court of Appeal had taken their seats in the Supreme Court. Merit thus assumes a broad span of considerations which, for so long, did not appear to include gender parity.
When we hailed her ascent to the Supreme Court, were we not at once celebrating the triumph of good conscience over callous indifference and negligence? This time around, shall we not be toasting ourselves and the maturity of our judicial system? A wistful edge to our good cheer: her short tenure which should likely terminate in two years when she turns seventy. Rapid and mandatory baton change to keep faith with the law is a current feature of the office of the chief justice of Nigeria. Kutigi and Katsina-Alu spent roughly two years each at the top job. Dahiru Musdapher will serve for barely ten months as chief justice but that is only half the story. Turnover is high at the apex court in the land and few justices last further than five years on its revered corridors. Fewer still make it to the esteemed chair of chief justice.
On this count alone, Aloma Muhktar has had a good and exemplary run. Exhibiting what is seen in many circles as a staid conservative background, she is credited with expertise in formalist decision making rather than creative tinkering to extend the frontiers of the law. On the heels of her admittance to the Supreme Court, the media reported that her judgements at the Appeals Court were frequently endorsed by the Supreme Court. In one commentator’s opinion therefore, she appeared to be “faithful and competent rather than reform minded.” The analysts contended that she would not rock the boat of consensus decision making for which the Supreme Court is rather well known. Others wondered about the perceived influence of a woman on an exclusive body of men such as the justices of the Supreme Court.
Seven years afterwards, there is no telling the quantum of social and administrative changes that have been wrought by the admission of two more women with their peculiar needs and attitudes into the establishment. Even now, as Aloma Muhktar waits to lead her learned ‘brothers and sisters’ on the eternal struggle for the defence of justice and fair play, the analysts are many who believe that she is most unlikely to create any waves. Not a few also submit that she would not be to blame for this.
The Court, they contend, is probably the most reactionary institution in the land and is forever struggling to catch up with the rest of society. The justices are carefully chosen to fit the special mould of team players and consensus builders. Nevertheless, it must be taken for granted that Court and Country have a learning curve ahead with their first ever “Madam Chief Justice”.
In the past, the Supreme Court had been described as "essentially a court of criminal and land appeals" A wave of robust political cases and judgements have helped to alter that perception during the last five years. Attendant to that is the rising popularity of the judiciary, quite simply the Supreme Court, as a bastion of hope for the survival of democracy in Nigeria. Nonetheless, the work rate of the Court leaves much to be desired. Some observers have blamed it on the huge man hours the justices spend in writing individual judgements merely for the record even when they do not disagree with the lead judgement.
This was not always the case, legal historians assert. In its early days, the Supreme Court adopted the system of collegiate judgments practiced by its predecessor, the West African Court of Appeal, instead of the tradition of separate judgments by British appellate courts. Calls for the justices to showcase their erudition and provide individual insights and quotable references for the legal journals, snowballed into great pressure for a change at the Bar and on the Bench. In 1979, the Court resorted to the British model and with considerable cost in speed. Said an observer in 2005, “Unless the Court is reformed soonest, we sadly envisage that most of Justice Mukhtar's labours on the Supreme Court would be dissipated through unceasingly repeating precisely the same task someone else is also repeating.”
Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ
A curious and unwholesome development is the media controversy that has trailed the appointment of a chief justice since Salihu Alfa Belgore stepped aside in 2007 for Idris Legbon Kutigi. Baton changes at the Court used to be such quiet events that most citizens barely acknowledged, or followed with the mildest interest. Suddenly, following the high-wire politics of post-election petitions, the media got interested and speculation mounted significantly about which justice would be most favourably disposed to which of the parties contending for leadership of the nation.
Public sentiment about the imagined political leanings of the justices, heightened with the dissenting positions of Justices George Oguntade, Aloma Muhktar and Walter Onnoghen in the celebrated election petitions of Atiku Abubakar and Muhammadu Buhari. Sadly, the media has not helped the public to understand and appreciate the salient peculiarities of the judicial process. Instead, it remains commonly obsessed with peddling salacious but unsubstantiated rumours about the public and private indiscretions of high placed judicial officers. Most guilty of this objectionable practice is a motley of internet media organs.
Justice Niki Tobi, while delivering his judgement on the already cited 2007 election petition, had this to say: “It is sad that so much has been said in the newspapers of this country on the case. The new technology of internet reporting has added to the comments, some of them doubting our integrity to do justice according to law. I regard them as blackmail and I will not succumb to blackmail.”
In like manner also, the local press has shown a bewildering inclination to feed their readers with titillating, but poorly substantiated news of the inner workings of the Court. In the days preceding his imminent resignation, the media pointedly accused Chief Justice Katsina-Alu of desiring to prolong his tenure and to thwart Dahiru Musdafer’s claim, on grounds of seniority, to the seat. His nomination of Aloma Muhktar as a second choice rang in their ears as subtle power play to undermine the suitability of his first choice. On Sunday October 23, 2011, a newspaper further “revealed” by quoting nameless sources that the outgoing chief had tried unsuccessfully to spread false stories of ill health about his successor.
As early as Boxing Day, 2011, the local press had begun to stoke the fires of a possible controversy over the appointment of Justice Aloma Mukhtar to the office of chief justice. The particular publication reported that she had been in danger of receiving the ‘Salami’ treatment: dubious promotion to eliminate the perceived threat of an opponent. Without any proof at all, the reporters accused the Presidency of complicity in the plot. The newspaper did not specify the “foreign appointment” offered which Aloma Muhktar had turned down. The reporters did not quote her nor did they indicate that they sought her opinion but did not get it. A “source close to the apex court’” was routinely credited with revelation of “an attempt to stop Mukhtar and possibly bring in Justice Walter Onnoghen, who is the second most senior JSC.”
Adjunct to these rumours was the kite flown by the current chief justice on expected judicial reforms. He had suggested to an audience at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies that appointments to the Supreme Court should be for a lifetime, as obtains in the United States. Chief Justice Musdapher has made no secret of his interest in judicial reforms to strengthen the independence of the judiciary. Yet, the conclusion of the reporters rested only on the fact that an expected constitutional amendment to increase the retirement age of Supreme Court justices from 70 to 75 years, “may make it difficult for Mukhtar to become the first female CJN by July 15, 2012 when Musdapher is expected to have attained mandatory retirement age of 70 years.”
Recalling the minority judgement already cited, in which Oguntade, Muhktar and Onnoghen, dismissed the 2007 elections as not meeting the requirements of the law, the reporters opined as follows: “fears that Muktar may be difficult to bend … might have informed the plots to stop her from becoming the CJN.” What informed the suggestion that Onnoghen would be easier to manipulate, these resourceful reporters did not say.
These stories underline the herculean challenges facing the Supreme Court which Justice Aloma Muhktar or any other chief justice, must contend with. The Court is bedevilled with a growing image problem. The recent brouhaha over the ‘promotion’ of Justice Ayo Salami to fill the South West slot in the Supreme Court and his subsequent rejection of the “unholy Greek gift” illustrates the point vividly. Even the elevation of Mary Odili to meet the “yearning and aspirations of women in Nigeria,” according to Chief Justice Katsina-Alu, “and the 35% affirmative action promised women by President Goodluck Jonathan,” may be grounds for serious controversy in the future.
The challenge of uplifting the morale of judicial officers and restoring public confidence in the Supreme Court is not peculiar to Nigeria. In Kenya, Nancy Baraza, the first woman appointed to the post of deputy chief justice, has swung into action to redeem the country’s judiciary from crippling corruption and inefficiency.
Baraza, a former executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission and chairperson of the Kenyan Federation of Women Lawyers has a glowing track record of public service much like her Nigerian counterparts. At the time of these press reports in November 2011, Baraza disclosed that the Kenyan High Court had 2,015 pending criminal appeal cases, “some of which have not been heard for 20 years because files had gone missing.” There was a need to clear the backlog of over one million cases in the courts in the next six months, she declared. Seems like a distant cousin of the Nigerian judicial system, does it not?
"We shall implement radical but necessary reforms that are going to be able to bring effectiveness, fairness, eliminate corruption and instil discipline among (the judiciary’s) officers," Baraza told the International Press Service. The Supreme Court in Kenya is composed of Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, his deputy, Baraza, and five other judges. Their mandate is to spearhead the implementation of the country’s new constitution and to establish an independent judiciary. "Radical transfers of judicial officers may be on the way to break up entrenched cartels that are frustrating changes in the judiciary. There are some officials who may want the old order to continue. But we will push for the necessary reforms to make the judiciary meet the expectations of Kenyans. Those resisting changes will have to fall by the wayside," Baraza said.
Question: Can Aloma Muhktar or any other appointee to the office of chief justice make such daring promises to Nigerians?
Without pre-empting the recommendations of the Muhammad Uwais Judicial Reform Committee, it seems obvious that its reform agenda must include the creation of new courts in remote parts of the country and the rapid digitalisation of court processes and procedures. Electronic systems for the allocation of cases and dissemination of information on suits must be the standard- SMS and bulk e-mail being the most basic. Computer literacy programmes should be compulsory for senior judicial officers so that the Supreme Court may attain the high standards of a “paperless” Court in the shortest possible time.
Can Aloma Mariam Muhktar deliver on most or all of these? We certainly hope so. Because, if she does we would not be celebrating the token significance of a first woman chief justice but more far-reaching landmarks in the history of the judiciary. And it would not matter to anyone whether a woman oversaw the process or not, as it does not really matter to disputants in a case whether the judgement was delivered by a man or woman. The important issue is who won? Will the Supreme Court win over its myriad challenges? What will be Justice Aloma Mariam Muhktar’s role in this historical fight? That is the all-important poser.
She alone can provide the answer. But we shall be there-every progressive Nigerian, that is- to help her with our cheers and our good wishes.
Come July 15, the words of Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu at the swearing in ceremony of Justice Mary Odili may well apply to our most likely candidate for chief justice.
“It, therefore, behoves you to join hands with your brother justices of this court in order to continue to sustain the confidence of the general public and the judiciary. The code of conduct for judicial officers is there always to guide you. I have every confidence that you will not fail this court and nation. I urge you to strive hard to discharge your duties in accordance with the oath of office you have subscribed to, having the fear of Almighty God in your hearts and always following the dictates of your conscience.”
Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ Ꮬ
Friday, April 13, 2012
ROAD SAFETY AND NATIONAL SECURITY: WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT?
Funny question, yes, but there is a sense in which the recent jaw-jaw at the Senate between the Federal Road Safety Corps and the Nigeria Police reads like a secondary school debating tussle. Farmers and doctors, mummies and daddies: of course, they all are vital to our wellbeing. But often, the panel of judges is swayed, not so much by what is said as who said it- a bright, eloquent or scruffy, stuttering debater.
The Senate Committee is yet to announce its decision, but given the intense love-hate relationship between the Nigerian people and their police, the gavel may swing in favour of the officers with khaki shirts over reddish trousers and head gear to match. Yes, the ones in light blue over black trousers and matching beret may lose the argument on the strength of poor image alone. In matters affecting their welfare but requiring stringent police oversight or vigilance, the public will likely vote for ditching the dishes with the dishwater. Yet, the police is only a reflection of the society it polices.
All things considered, the Nigeria Police must be given the wherewithal to carry out its lawful responsibilities for the maintenance of law and order in Nigeria. To do that successfully, the police must manage a certified system for gathering, storing and retrieving information on the gamut of criminal activities in the country. The issue is so clear no one should dare question the good intentions of the police. However, the bone of dubious contention between the police and the road safety commission concerns data connected with the registration of vehicles in Nigeria.
In the opinion of the FRSC, everything to do with vehicle documentation falls within the province of safeguarding our roads and highways and protecting Nigerians from untimely deaths through road accidents. Indeed, the high fatality rate of road accidents in Nigeria gives serious cause for concern and the FRSC deserves all the support it can get to make our roads safer. But the Corps errs in believing and trying to convince the public that it has the primary responsibility for documentation, storage and retrieval of vehicle records.
The question to ask is this: before the FRSC came into existence via a military decree in 1988, how did the nation cope with the mandatory records of vehicle ownership in Nigeria? Answer: the police ran and maintained a Central Motor Registry (CMR) that kept the records of all licensed vehicles and renewal of such by the Motor Licensing Authorities. Historians may like to note that the CMR was established thirty long years in 1958, before road safety marshals appeared on the streets and highways of our dear land.
History will also record that as time went by the CMR fell short of expectations along with the general decline in service delivery standards that became the lot of our nation. The rapid expansion of the economy and the stupendous rise in vehicle ownership in Nigeria without the commensurate equipment of the Motor Traffic Division of the police combined to stretch and weaken the efficiency of the CMR. Government did not avail the police the necessary technology to operate a data base backup for the CMR. Besides, the increasing sophistication of criminal gangs using state of the art forgery techniques to falsify vehicle particulars, made a mockery of the old manual methods of the CMR.
Police authorities aver however, that they have done their best to upgrade the CMR and mitigate the negative effects of playing catch-up. Still, the enhanced CMR configured in 1997 and the Police Vehicle Recovery Portal unveiled in 2009, offer little hope against a highly digitalised underworld. But since last year, the police authorities have developed a Biometric Central Motor Registry (BCMR) employing facial and other demographics to keep round the clock track of vehicle ownership and movement. In their submissions to the Senate the police authorities are enthusiastic about the BCMR, which they say will “usher in a new phase of law enforcement on vehicle related crime, robust biometric vehicle data base, enhanced application of forensic investigative capacity for the police which will engender better service delivery and improve public satisfaction.”
This says to me that our much maligned police are raring to retrieve their sullied image. Nothing could be more patriotic than to give them maximum support in this task. The point was roundly made at the Senate Hearing that the data generated from the BCMR will be available for use by other law enforcement and security agencies. To this end, it was doubly emphasized that the police alone have the right as enshrined in the Road Traffic Act of 1958 among other legislations to collate and coordinate the release of vehicular statistics to agencies that require them.
This is as it should be, because though the FRSC may use the data only to monitor the infringement of traffic regulations, the police need it to keep a tab on potential or actual violations of the law in which a vehicle is involved. And this may range from burglary to armed robbery, kidnapping, fraud and terrorism.
The Senate Committee is yet to announce its decision, but given the intense love-hate relationship between the Nigerian people and their police, the gavel may swing in favour of the officers with khaki shirts over reddish trousers and head gear to match. Yes, the ones in light blue over black trousers and matching beret may lose the argument on the strength of poor image alone. In matters affecting their welfare but requiring stringent police oversight or vigilance, the public will likely vote for ditching the dishes with the dishwater. Yet, the police is only a reflection of the society it polices.
All things considered, the Nigeria Police must be given the wherewithal to carry out its lawful responsibilities for the maintenance of law and order in Nigeria. To do that successfully, the police must manage a certified system for gathering, storing and retrieving information on the gamut of criminal activities in the country. The issue is so clear no one should dare question the good intentions of the police. However, the bone of dubious contention between the police and the road safety commission concerns data connected with the registration of vehicles in Nigeria.
In the opinion of the FRSC, everything to do with vehicle documentation falls within the province of safeguarding our roads and highways and protecting Nigerians from untimely deaths through road accidents. Indeed, the high fatality rate of road accidents in Nigeria gives serious cause for concern and the FRSC deserves all the support it can get to make our roads safer. But the Corps errs in believing and trying to convince the public that it has the primary responsibility for documentation, storage and retrieval of vehicle records.
The question to ask is this: before the FRSC came into existence via a military decree in 1988, how did the nation cope with the mandatory records of vehicle ownership in Nigeria? Answer: the police ran and maintained a Central Motor Registry (CMR) that kept the records of all licensed vehicles and renewal of such by the Motor Licensing Authorities. Historians may like to note that the CMR was established thirty long years in 1958, before road safety marshals appeared on the streets and highways of our dear land.
History will also record that as time went by the CMR fell short of expectations along with the general decline in service delivery standards that became the lot of our nation. The rapid expansion of the economy and the stupendous rise in vehicle ownership in Nigeria without the commensurate equipment of the Motor Traffic Division of the police combined to stretch and weaken the efficiency of the CMR. Government did not avail the police the necessary technology to operate a data base backup for the CMR. Besides, the increasing sophistication of criminal gangs using state of the art forgery techniques to falsify vehicle particulars, made a mockery of the old manual methods of the CMR.
Police authorities aver however, that they have done their best to upgrade the CMR and mitigate the negative effects of playing catch-up. Still, the enhanced CMR configured in 1997 and the Police Vehicle Recovery Portal unveiled in 2009, offer little hope against a highly digitalised underworld. But since last year, the police authorities have developed a Biometric Central Motor Registry (BCMR) employing facial and other demographics to keep round the clock track of vehicle ownership and movement. In their submissions to the Senate the police authorities are enthusiastic about the BCMR, which they say will “usher in a new phase of law enforcement on vehicle related crime, robust biometric vehicle data base, enhanced application of forensic investigative capacity for the police which will engender better service delivery and improve public satisfaction.”
This says to me that our much maligned police are raring to retrieve their sullied image. Nothing could be more patriotic than to give them maximum support in this task. The point was roundly made at the Senate Hearing that the data generated from the BCMR will be available for use by other law enforcement and security agencies. To this end, it was doubly emphasized that the police alone have the right as enshrined in the Road Traffic Act of 1958 among other legislations to collate and coordinate the release of vehicular statistics to agencies that require them.
This is as it should be, because though the FRSC may use the data only to monitor the infringement of traffic regulations, the police need it to keep a tab on potential or actual violations of the law in which a vehicle is involved. And this may range from burglary to armed robbery, kidnapping, fraud and terrorism.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
A BLESSING SO RARE -----The spectacular journey of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala---
Brace up Nigeria! Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, star candidate for the presidency of the World Bank may not win that coveted seat. It’s an election year in the US and the significance of any “loss of face” in the defeat of their preferred nominee cannot be lost on President Obama and the Democratic Party. The opposition will make a meal of the implied diminishing of American influence and prestige as proof of Obama’s incompetence and misrule.
Okonjo-Iweala’s thrilling challenge to the US and Europe “for a level playing field where candidates can be evaluated on their own merits,” resonated deeply among liberals and progressives in the international financial community. However, the reality of the situation is that the US and Europe cannot surrender, on grounds of morality alone, their treasured privilege to call the shots on who runs the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The feverish search by the US for a most internationally appealing nominee suggests that the Obama administration was not unaware of the requirement for change.
Never also have more candidates been suggested and mentioned, including Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Indra Nooyi, the head of PepsiCo. The gender show looked too silly and contrived. Thereafter, a few development experts from within and outside the World Bank were brought into the picture. But in choosing Jim Yong Kim, the Korean-American health expert who had made his mark in the world wide battle against the HIV scourge, the US presented to the world the compassionate face of the western capitalist ethos that gave birth to the World Bank at the end of World War II. Okonjo-Iweala had an answer for that and without impugning the credentials of the US nominee maintained that, she does not have a learning curve to undergo at the Bank. “I know how the institution works and I know what needs to be done to make it work better and faster for developing countries," she said to Reuters, the news agency. "I know what its strengths are, its weaknesses, and importantly I know what policymakers need. I’ve actually done it."
It remains to be seen if the US and its allies will be swayed by that or resolutely keep faith with the hardball realities of international power plays. Still, her determined effort to prove her mettle made an uncommon statement about her commitment to a long sought, much advertised, but hardly protected new world economic order. Emerging economies must take a leading role in the global financial institutions, she has argued. "The balance of power in the world has shifted and emerging market countries are contributing more to global growth - more than 50 per cent - and they need to be given a voice in running things. If not, they will lose interest." she told Reuters. If this statement sounds like a subtle threat backed by the Chinese, South African and Nigerian support for her candidacy, then it would be naïve to imagine that US and allied interests are applauding her wit and common sense. Yet, the tough talking Nigerian minister of finance betrayed an impolitic streak of idealism with this dream, "My biggest hope is that this will be a fair contest." When last did the US and the members of the Security Council play by the Queensberry rules?
Back home are varied interests who consider that the brewing controversy over the World Bank job is an unnecessary diversion from the important tasks of monitoring, restructuring and transforming the Nigerian economy for optimum performance. They see in her adroit posturing, a self-seeking intention to attain the pinnacle of the World Bank by the ladder of her repeated engagements at the Ministry of Finance in Abuja. It’s hard to justify their claim, though her credentials for the position include the “hands on experience of managing one of Africa’s largest economies.”
Ironically, it is on this track alone that many of her fellow Nigerians consider her ‘unfit’ for the job. Like many influential people Ngozi Okonjo-Iwuala has her admirers and her detractors. It’s a measure of her astounding ‘strength’ that the push and pull of their various comments do not obscure that shining example of her spectacular journey into the hearts of her countrymen and women.
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
She was born in June 1954 to a rather well-known Professor Chukuka Okonjo. Nothing is known, officially, of any middle name. She is just Ngozi, the Igbo word for ‘Blessing’ which exemplified her quick progress through school till graduation from Harvard University in 1977, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where, as a graduate assistant she researched housing issues in developing countries, studied regional economic theories and policies alongside economic planning in developing economies, worked for the World Bank as research assistant on project evaluation of low cost housing in Jamaica, instructed first year graduate students in the principles of economics, consulted for the UN/NGO Forum on the Conference on Women and Development in Copenhagen, organised workshops and conferences on Women and Rural Development in the Third World, whilst netting her Ph.D. in regional economic development from MIT in 1981.
Ngozi Okonjo joined the World Bank via a Young Professionals Programme in 1982 and started off on the West African beat as resident economist cum loans officer handling macro-economic issues and urban sector programmes in Cameroun. There is no official evidence that she did her compulsory youth service scheme and no one has raised the issue in her twin appearances before the Senate as presidential nominee for ministerial appointments. Whilst her native country quaked from the oil glut of 1982, Dr Okonjo was away to East Africa, where at the Bank’s Agricultural Operation’s Division, she oversaw related projects in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
From 1983 onwards, as economist, project economist and later senior economist, she traversed the South Central and Indian Ocean Department, the Africa Region and the East Asia and Pacific Region on a wide spectrum of assignments in Thailand, DR Congo and Rwanda. By 1990, she had risen to senior economist and special assistant to the Vice President Operations. Working on operational and policy matters affecting the Bank, she travelled widely with her boss and gained acquaintance with leaders and policy makers around the globe.
In time, her responsibilities grew appreciably and she participated in the 1992 multilateral Middle East (Oslo) Peace Talks and played a role in the development of the Arid Lands Management Initiative of the talks. As chief of agricultural operations for the Middle East and North Africa Region, she travelled often to the Middle East and helped develop sectorial programmes for country lending initiatives and technical assistance to the countries in the region. She managed work programmes in agriculture and natural resources for Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran and the West Bank Gaza. Between 1994 and 1996, while Nigeria burned from the turmoil of botched elections and the crisis of military intervention in politics, our fast rising countrywoman had become the chief of country operations in the West Central Country Department of the Africa Region. She managed World Bank country strategies and adjustment programmes for Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Niger, Benin and Togo.
Back in Washington by ‘96 as director of institutional change and strategy, the broad tasks of “facilitating, integrating and coordinating the Bank’s institutional change programme fell on her plump shoulders. Still, by the following year, the Bank proved to be a world tour organiser and as country director for East Asia and Mongolia in the East Asia Region, Ngozi Okonj-Iweala oversaw its high powered macroeconomic and sectorial policy dialogues and program implementations in Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia and Malaysia.
This is the woman whose CV so pleased a flustered President Olusegun Obasanjo, he invited her to be his economic adviser. Returning from prison to the presidency a year earlier, Obasanjo had found the economy in shambles and in a resolute effort to shake off the pariah status of the nation needed someone who could speak the language of the international financial community by his side. Okonjo-Iweala, whose trademark African prints and matching scarves made a famous statement about her ethnic pride and confidence, fit the bill perfectly from more than one perspective and Obasanjo could not hide his delight at having her on board.
Coming home therefore, to serve her fatherland, Okonjo-Iweala encountered a dire lack of capable administrators to interpret, oversee and implement government economic policies. The new economic adviser quickly organised, with the aid of the World Bank the training of over 40 mid-career civil servants and legislatives aides in this vital area. Working with a committee of 45 public servants, she fashioned a working document “Nigeria Economic Policy and Strategy: The Way Forward” to signpost the nation’s broad strategic directions in the new millennium.
Thereafter, she created a national Debt Management Office (DMO) along the lines of international good practice and took charge of revamping of the management of the nation’s external debt –which stood then at US$30 billion. Through her good offices also, an Economic Policy Coordinating Committee (EPCC) chaired by the vice president came into being to strengthen national economic policy coordination and implementation. Yet her work at the Bank continued in stride. She ran the operations and country support service of the Middle East and Africa Region and as deputy to the regional vice president helped manage the region’s work programme and oversaw the work of senior advisers providing support to regional staff and country clients in diverse areas. In November 2002 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed vice president and corporate secretary of the Bank. She remained at that post till July 2003, and in her role became the chief mediator between staff and management of the World Bank group and the executive Board of Governors.
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
The announcement came in May 2003 after Obananjo’s tug of war with his deputy and feisty face off with Buhari and others at the polls, that Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, erstwhile economic adviser to the president was in contention for nomination and appointment as minister of finance. After her confirmation and swearing into office in July 2003, she launched a robust package of reforms to galvanise support for the national economy by international ratings agencies, Fitch and Standard and Poors. The BB- ratings from the international agencies inspired confidence within and outside the country for the continued health of the economy. Many at the time, attributed the endorsement by the ratings agencies as the singular handiwork of the new minister of finance. Her no nonsense approach to matters of probity and transparency at the ministry endeared her to progressives at home and abroad.
Controversy waited nonetheless with the work and negotiations she led to deliver a 60% or US$ 18 billion slashing of Nigeria’s external debt profile, and a discounted buy-back plan which lowered the external debt profile from US $35 billion to US$5 billion. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala also chaired a 13-person Presidential Economic Team that framed and implemented an Economic Reform Agenda to tackle corruption, increase transparency in government affairs, introduce probity in the management of public finances and strategic reforms in the public sector. Consequently, the economy grew at over 6% for the three years from 2004 -2006. On the eve of Okonjo Iweala’s departure from the office of minister of finance to the ministry of foreign affairs, Nigeria could boast of foreign reserves of US $21 billion.
The jury is still out there on why President Obasanjo sought to de-shine the star performer in his recovery cast by taking her off the spotlight to an obscure corner in the wings. When the fool hardy attempt to foist himself on the Nigerian people started to unravel, there was little doubt that Okonjo-Iweala was shoved out in remarkable style because she would not acquiesce to the tenure elongation programme. She was the first woman ever to be appointed minister of finance as well foreign minister. However, her three months record of service as minister of foreign affairs is nothing to crow about.
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
“Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Former Nigerian Finance and Foreign Minister, Joins Brookings”- the international media announced in January 2007. Their source was no other than Strobe Talbott, the distinguished journalist and diplomat. As distinguished visiting fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program, of the world acclaimed think tank, “Okonjo-Iweala will focus on economic reform issues in Africa, corruption and governance in social sector financing, transparency and accountability, and global health financing issues,” the announcement said.
The statement prided her appointment on the fact that she had received the Euromarket Forum Award for Vision and Courage in 2003, won the TIME Magazine "Hero of the Year" in 2004, and had been honoured with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Brown University in 2006. Said Lael Brainard, vice president and director of Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution, "Ngozi's outstanding achievements as finance minister on fiscal reforms and in Nigeria's debt negotiations will bring a unique insider perspective to bear in our work on African economic reform and poverty alleviation – one of the great challenges of our time."
Yet, like a rolling that would brook no moss but gathers more polish in its rolling joust through time, Robert Zoellick president of the World Bank appointed her managing director of the on October 4, 2007, to continue her swashbuckling campaign against world poverty.
It is a matter of conjecture why she won out against other qualified persons but her outspoken concerns and essays about the trend of global finances and the role of the World Bank in ameliorating world poverty, not discounting her exemplary performance on several assignments for the Bank could only have worked in her favour.
In a paper titled, Nigeria’s Economic Reforms: Prospects and Challenges, co-authored in March 2007 with Philip Osafo-Kwaako a visiting research associate to the Brookings Institute, the duo reviewed Nigeria's recent experience with economic reforms and accepting that notable achievements had been recorded under the program, contended that significant challenges remained particularly in the areas of “translating the benefits of reforms into welfare improvements for citizens, in improving the domestic business environment, and in extending reform policies to states and local governments.”
They argued further that the “recent reform program must be viewed as the initial steps of a much longer journey of economic recovery and sustained growth.” Okonjo-Iweala and Osafo-Kwaaku listed a number of outstanding issues that future Nigerian administrations must address. Deriving from this, her essay, The World Needs a Stronger World Bank published in the International Herald Tribune of May 25, 2007 encapsulated the growing image problems of the Bank, but declared that the institution has a vital role to play in the arrest of world poverty.
“There is no doubt that we need the World Bank. It has a strong future, and it has a mandate that it must fulfill in helping the two billion people still living on less than $2 a day. It can only do so, however, if the countries that it serves feel true ownership of the institution. Why were there no voices raised from the developing world during the recent crisis against the damage being done to an institution with such a noble and critically important mission?
“Perhaps it is because developing countries feel they have so little voice at the bank, despite being the very reason for its existence. It is clear that the governance structure at the Bank must be addressed; that developing countries must feel they have a stake in its policies and its work. “
She cited the significant role played by the Bank during the the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98, “when the Bank provided $10 billion in emergency financing to Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand.”
However, she asked the shareholders to focus on re-appraising the corporate governance of the bank. “Everything from the management selection to management structure to clarity on the role and operation of the board must be reexamined and reformed. Openness, transparency, and merit should be the bywords in doing such reforms. “
The World Bank has so much to offer the world, the Nigerian born world economic witch doctor reiterated. "But it needs to adapt, it needs to be flexible in a changing world.”
In 2011, Okonjo-Iweala returned to the service of the fatherland as the coordinating minister for the economy, and minister of finance. Her performance in fashioning a second regime of policy actions to rescue the national economy from an overloaded subsidy of the petroleum sector fuelled strong anti-government feelings in the New Year. The pros and cons of petroleum subsidy are still on the front burner of public discourse even as the government grapples with the task of “translating the benefits of reforms into welfare improvements for citizens, in improving the domestic business environment, and in extending reform policies to states and local governments.”
Some would say, physician, heal thyself and Okonjo-Iweala might point to SURE-P, the slow acting subsidy removal amelioration drug. She might even recap, with Osafo-Kwaako’s nod that reform is not a destination, but ‘a first step…’
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
Okonjo-Iweala’s thrilling challenge to the US and Europe “for a level playing field where candidates can be evaluated on their own merits,” resonated deeply among liberals and progressives in the international financial community. However, the reality of the situation is that the US and Europe cannot surrender, on grounds of morality alone, their treasured privilege to call the shots on who runs the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The feverish search by the US for a most internationally appealing nominee suggests that the Obama administration was not unaware of the requirement for change.
Never also have more candidates been suggested and mentioned, including Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Indra Nooyi, the head of PepsiCo. The gender show looked too silly and contrived. Thereafter, a few development experts from within and outside the World Bank were brought into the picture. But in choosing Jim Yong Kim, the Korean-American health expert who had made his mark in the world wide battle against the HIV scourge, the US presented to the world the compassionate face of the western capitalist ethos that gave birth to the World Bank at the end of World War II. Okonjo-Iweala had an answer for that and without impugning the credentials of the US nominee maintained that, she does not have a learning curve to undergo at the Bank. “I know how the institution works and I know what needs to be done to make it work better and faster for developing countries," she said to Reuters, the news agency. "I know what its strengths are, its weaknesses, and importantly I know what policymakers need. I’ve actually done it."
It remains to be seen if the US and its allies will be swayed by that or resolutely keep faith with the hardball realities of international power plays. Still, her determined effort to prove her mettle made an uncommon statement about her commitment to a long sought, much advertised, but hardly protected new world economic order. Emerging economies must take a leading role in the global financial institutions, she has argued. "The balance of power in the world has shifted and emerging market countries are contributing more to global growth - more than 50 per cent - and they need to be given a voice in running things. If not, they will lose interest." she told Reuters. If this statement sounds like a subtle threat backed by the Chinese, South African and Nigerian support for her candidacy, then it would be naïve to imagine that US and allied interests are applauding her wit and common sense. Yet, the tough talking Nigerian minister of finance betrayed an impolitic streak of idealism with this dream, "My biggest hope is that this will be a fair contest." When last did the US and the members of the Security Council play by the Queensberry rules?
Back home are varied interests who consider that the brewing controversy over the World Bank job is an unnecessary diversion from the important tasks of monitoring, restructuring and transforming the Nigerian economy for optimum performance. They see in her adroit posturing, a self-seeking intention to attain the pinnacle of the World Bank by the ladder of her repeated engagements at the Ministry of Finance in Abuja. It’s hard to justify their claim, though her credentials for the position include the “hands on experience of managing one of Africa’s largest economies.”
Ironically, it is on this track alone that many of her fellow Nigerians consider her ‘unfit’ for the job. Like many influential people Ngozi Okonjo-Iwuala has her admirers and her detractors. It’s a measure of her astounding ‘strength’ that the push and pull of their various comments do not obscure that shining example of her spectacular journey into the hearts of her countrymen and women.
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
She was born in June 1954 to a rather well-known Professor Chukuka Okonjo. Nothing is known, officially, of any middle name. She is just Ngozi, the Igbo word for ‘Blessing’ which exemplified her quick progress through school till graduation from Harvard University in 1977, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where, as a graduate assistant she researched housing issues in developing countries, studied regional economic theories and policies alongside economic planning in developing economies, worked for the World Bank as research assistant on project evaluation of low cost housing in Jamaica, instructed first year graduate students in the principles of economics, consulted for the UN/NGO Forum on the Conference on Women and Development in Copenhagen, organised workshops and conferences on Women and Rural Development in the Third World, whilst netting her Ph.D. in regional economic development from MIT in 1981.
Ngozi Okonjo joined the World Bank via a Young Professionals Programme in 1982 and started off on the West African beat as resident economist cum loans officer handling macro-economic issues and urban sector programmes in Cameroun. There is no official evidence that she did her compulsory youth service scheme and no one has raised the issue in her twin appearances before the Senate as presidential nominee for ministerial appointments. Whilst her native country quaked from the oil glut of 1982, Dr Okonjo was away to East Africa, where at the Bank’s Agricultural Operation’s Division, she oversaw related projects in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
From 1983 onwards, as economist, project economist and later senior economist, she traversed the South Central and Indian Ocean Department, the Africa Region and the East Asia and Pacific Region on a wide spectrum of assignments in Thailand, DR Congo and Rwanda. By 1990, she had risen to senior economist and special assistant to the Vice President Operations. Working on operational and policy matters affecting the Bank, she travelled widely with her boss and gained acquaintance with leaders and policy makers around the globe.
In time, her responsibilities grew appreciably and she participated in the 1992 multilateral Middle East (Oslo) Peace Talks and played a role in the development of the Arid Lands Management Initiative of the talks. As chief of agricultural operations for the Middle East and North Africa Region, she travelled often to the Middle East and helped develop sectorial programmes for country lending initiatives and technical assistance to the countries in the region. She managed work programmes in agriculture and natural resources for Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran and the West Bank Gaza. Between 1994 and 1996, while Nigeria burned from the turmoil of botched elections and the crisis of military intervention in politics, our fast rising countrywoman had become the chief of country operations in the West Central Country Department of the Africa Region. She managed World Bank country strategies and adjustment programmes for Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Niger, Benin and Togo.
Back in Washington by ‘96 as director of institutional change and strategy, the broad tasks of “facilitating, integrating and coordinating the Bank’s institutional change programme fell on her plump shoulders. Still, by the following year, the Bank proved to be a world tour organiser and as country director for East Asia and Mongolia in the East Asia Region, Ngozi Okonj-Iweala oversaw its high powered macroeconomic and sectorial policy dialogues and program implementations in Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia and Malaysia.
This is the woman whose CV so pleased a flustered President Olusegun Obasanjo, he invited her to be his economic adviser. Returning from prison to the presidency a year earlier, Obasanjo had found the economy in shambles and in a resolute effort to shake off the pariah status of the nation needed someone who could speak the language of the international financial community by his side. Okonjo-Iweala, whose trademark African prints and matching scarves made a famous statement about her ethnic pride and confidence, fit the bill perfectly from more than one perspective and Obasanjo could not hide his delight at having her on board.
Coming home therefore, to serve her fatherland, Okonjo-Iweala encountered a dire lack of capable administrators to interpret, oversee and implement government economic policies. The new economic adviser quickly organised, with the aid of the World Bank the training of over 40 mid-career civil servants and legislatives aides in this vital area. Working with a committee of 45 public servants, she fashioned a working document “Nigeria Economic Policy and Strategy: The Way Forward” to signpost the nation’s broad strategic directions in the new millennium.
Thereafter, she created a national Debt Management Office (DMO) along the lines of international good practice and took charge of revamping of the management of the nation’s external debt –which stood then at US$30 billion. Through her good offices also, an Economic Policy Coordinating Committee (EPCC) chaired by the vice president came into being to strengthen national economic policy coordination and implementation. Yet her work at the Bank continued in stride. She ran the operations and country support service of the Middle East and Africa Region and as deputy to the regional vice president helped manage the region’s work programme and oversaw the work of senior advisers providing support to regional staff and country clients in diverse areas. In November 2002 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed vice president and corporate secretary of the Bank. She remained at that post till July 2003, and in her role became the chief mediator between staff and management of the World Bank group and the executive Board of Governors.
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
The announcement came in May 2003 after Obananjo’s tug of war with his deputy and feisty face off with Buhari and others at the polls, that Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, erstwhile economic adviser to the president was in contention for nomination and appointment as minister of finance. After her confirmation and swearing into office in July 2003, she launched a robust package of reforms to galvanise support for the national economy by international ratings agencies, Fitch and Standard and Poors. The BB- ratings from the international agencies inspired confidence within and outside the country for the continued health of the economy. Many at the time, attributed the endorsement by the ratings agencies as the singular handiwork of the new minister of finance. Her no nonsense approach to matters of probity and transparency at the ministry endeared her to progressives at home and abroad.
Controversy waited nonetheless with the work and negotiations she led to deliver a 60% or US$ 18 billion slashing of Nigeria’s external debt profile, and a discounted buy-back plan which lowered the external debt profile from US $35 billion to US$5 billion. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala also chaired a 13-person Presidential Economic Team that framed and implemented an Economic Reform Agenda to tackle corruption, increase transparency in government affairs, introduce probity in the management of public finances and strategic reforms in the public sector. Consequently, the economy grew at over 6% for the three years from 2004 -2006. On the eve of Okonjo Iweala’s departure from the office of minister of finance to the ministry of foreign affairs, Nigeria could boast of foreign reserves of US $21 billion.
The jury is still out there on why President Obasanjo sought to de-shine the star performer in his recovery cast by taking her off the spotlight to an obscure corner in the wings. When the fool hardy attempt to foist himself on the Nigerian people started to unravel, there was little doubt that Okonjo-Iweala was shoved out in remarkable style because she would not acquiesce to the tenure elongation programme. She was the first woman ever to be appointed minister of finance as well foreign minister. However, her three months record of service as minister of foreign affairs is nothing to crow about.
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
“Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Former Nigerian Finance and Foreign Minister, Joins Brookings”- the international media announced in January 2007. Their source was no other than Strobe Talbott, the distinguished journalist and diplomat. As distinguished visiting fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program, of the world acclaimed think tank, “Okonjo-Iweala will focus on economic reform issues in Africa, corruption and governance in social sector financing, transparency and accountability, and global health financing issues,” the announcement said.
The statement prided her appointment on the fact that she had received the Euromarket Forum Award for Vision and Courage in 2003, won the TIME Magazine "Hero of the Year" in 2004, and had been honoured with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Brown University in 2006. Said Lael Brainard, vice president and director of Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution, "Ngozi's outstanding achievements as finance minister on fiscal reforms and in Nigeria's debt negotiations will bring a unique insider perspective to bear in our work on African economic reform and poverty alleviation – one of the great challenges of our time."
Yet, like a rolling that would brook no moss but gathers more polish in its rolling joust through time, Robert Zoellick president of the World Bank appointed her managing director of the on October 4, 2007, to continue her swashbuckling campaign against world poverty.
It is a matter of conjecture why she won out against other qualified persons but her outspoken concerns and essays about the trend of global finances and the role of the World Bank in ameliorating world poverty, not discounting her exemplary performance on several assignments for the Bank could only have worked in her favour.
In a paper titled, Nigeria’s Economic Reforms: Prospects and Challenges, co-authored in March 2007 with Philip Osafo-Kwaako a visiting research associate to the Brookings Institute, the duo reviewed Nigeria's recent experience with economic reforms and accepting that notable achievements had been recorded under the program, contended that significant challenges remained particularly in the areas of “translating the benefits of reforms into welfare improvements for citizens, in improving the domestic business environment, and in extending reform policies to states and local governments.”
They argued further that the “recent reform program must be viewed as the initial steps of a much longer journey of economic recovery and sustained growth.” Okonjo-Iweala and Osafo-Kwaaku listed a number of outstanding issues that future Nigerian administrations must address. Deriving from this, her essay, The World Needs a Stronger World Bank published in the International Herald Tribune of May 25, 2007 encapsulated the growing image problems of the Bank, but declared that the institution has a vital role to play in the arrest of world poverty.
“There is no doubt that we need the World Bank. It has a strong future, and it has a mandate that it must fulfill in helping the two billion people still living on less than $2 a day. It can only do so, however, if the countries that it serves feel true ownership of the institution. Why were there no voices raised from the developing world during the recent crisis against the damage being done to an institution with such a noble and critically important mission?
“Perhaps it is because developing countries feel they have so little voice at the bank, despite being the very reason for its existence. It is clear that the governance structure at the Bank must be addressed; that developing countries must feel they have a stake in its policies and its work. “
She cited the significant role played by the Bank during the the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98, “when the Bank provided $10 billion in emergency financing to Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand.”
However, she asked the shareholders to focus on re-appraising the corporate governance of the bank. “Everything from the management selection to management structure to clarity on the role and operation of the board must be reexamined and reformed. Openness, transparency, and merit should be the bywords in doing such reforms. “
The World Bank has so much to offer the world, the Nigerian born world economic witch doctor reiterated. "But it needs to adapt, it needs to be flexible in a changing world.”
In 2011, Okonjo-Iweala returned to the service of the fatherland as the coordinating minister for the economy, and minister of finance. Her performance in fashioning a second regime of policy actions to rescue the national economy from an overloaded subsidy of the petroleum sector fuelled strong anti-government feelings in the New Year. The pros and cons of petroleum subsidy are still on the front burner of public discourse even as the government grapples with the task of “translating the benefits of reforms into welfare improvements for citizens, in improving the domestic business environment, and in extending reform policies to states and local governments.”
Some would say, physician, heal thyself and Okonjo-Iweala might point to SURE-P, the slow acting subsidy removal amelioration drug. She might even recap, with Osafo-Kwaako’s nod that reform is not a destination, but ‘a first step…’
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
DAME PATIENCE: A Study in Self-Assurance and Rugged Sense of Mission
She burst, like a comet, upon the political skies in a strange but alluring trajectory from the coastal fringes of our collective consciousness to the centre spotlight of attention, admiration and predictable antagonism.
On May 5, 2010, upon the sad demise of the inimitable Umaru Yar’Adua, Dame Patience, spouse of his successor Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, became the first lady of this blessed land. The painful circumstance of that political transition, loaded as it were with ugly controversy, threw up an odious cloud of distrust and apprehension around the nation. The office of the first lady could not have been unaffected by these unsavoury developments. Yet, like a warming ray, her stoic presence- from that sorrow filled moment of national mourning- by the side of her grieving predecessor, telegraphed an inspiring message of common bereavement to the nation.
Light skinned with oval face and a chubby-bubbly presence, the first lady is described by close observers as a “no-nonsense person, who conducts herself with a great deal of detachment and her affairs with a heightened instinct for self- preservation.” Still, closer aides describe her as soft-natured, kind and caring. Those other contradictory signals may reflect, they submit, the natural dispositions of one who has been hurt severally by negative and unmindful media attacks. The euphoric elevation of an obscure deputy governor, in one of Nigeria’s lesser known southern states, had not quite subsided before the new governor’s wife was enmeshed in mind boggling tales of corruption and money laundering rackets. Till date, Dame Patience is most distressed that even though no case was established against her by any of the anti-corruption agencies, “her husband’s political opponents won’t stop sponsoring the orchestrated witch hunts against her by a section of the media.”
If the result of this is to make dull and remote, a naturally effervescent and outgoing personality, then the Nigeria media and public is clearly the worse for it.
Yet, these political setbacks parallel in some ways the pathos of Becoming a Woman in Okrika, classic documentary by Judith Gleason and Elisa Mereghetti (1991) of Iria, the Okrika coming of age ceremony. After receiving tutelage in the ways of the clan from older women, the young initiates endure a ritual chase by club wielding young men to cure them of girlish fantasies and prepare them for the realities of womanhood. Dame Patience’s brush with hostile media (wielding scandals, much like clubs?) marked a rude introduction to the toughness of the political game. That animosity did not abate with her husband’s victory at the 2011 polls when, after the inaugural ceremonies, a private visit to the Middle East, roused the baying press afresh. Nothing, it seemed, could let them cut her more slack. Those missteps notwithstanding, Dame Patience has managed, with great poise, to put a distinctive mark on the office of first lady of Nigeria and set a hard pace for others to emulate. Her very adroit gait suggests that she has learnt the ropes of becoming a political woman in Nigeria.
A teacher and devoted mother, Dame Patience’s foray into politics trailed Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s fortuitous journeys from deputy governor through governor to vice president and president. Thus, the same auguries moulded husband as well as wife for the higher responsibilities they now have. Even in Bayelsa, the local people aver, Dame Patience was de facto first lady because Mrs Alamieyeseigha rarely performed the role.
Arriving in Abuja as second fiddle to First Lady Hajia Tura’i Yar’Adua, Dame Patience had ample occasion to lend support to the top lady of the land, whose official schedules suffered from attending to the ailing president. Standing in for the first lady at a tourism event in Kebbi State, Dame Patience regaled the audience with knowledge of the local lingo and spread a message of the cultural affinity of all Nigerian people. In the aftermath of the “doctrine of necessity” that made Jonathan the acting president and preparatory to the hand of fate that shoved him into the presidential swivel chair, cynical questions had been raised in the media if his spouse could be officially tagged the “acting first lady” as well. In any event, time proved that Dame Patience having acted for so long in the supporting roles of acting first lady has acquired the full measure of the office and made of it a spectacular political brand image the likes of which has not been since before now in Nigeria.
Regular duties like launching the Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves in the last quarter of 2011 or partnering with Globacom to organise a national retreat on women development, peace and transformation in Ibom, Akwa Ibom early this year, form part of engagements that place the office of first lady at the direct centre of government activities to uplift the general welfare of the people. In the same manner also, the entire country is her constituency and her passion for the wellbeing of her fellow citizens may not always suffer much patience. This latter demeanour became manifest during an official visit in August 2010 to her home town, Okrika.
Whilst displaying robust development plans for the Okrika waterfront to the first lady, Rotimi Amaechi, the state governor provoked her impassioned outburst. “You should not say must,” she cautioned. The demolition of personal property in a communal environment was a sensitive matter that needed to be addressed with human understanding rather than government fiat, Dame Patience challenged. Typically, sections of the press saw this in another light and choose rather, to censure the first lady for daring to disagree with the elected governor of the state. But the chiefs and people of the ancient town were quick to rally behind her: “We make bold to say that we stand by the position of the first lady, a woman who is bold to speak up for all who are victimised by state power,” Tari Sekibo, Odori Abaji VII, chairman of the Okrika Council of Chiefs said.
For all the media frenzy generated by the drama at the Okrika waterfront, the general public was quick to appreciate the candour with which Dame Patience addressed pertinent national questions. Her commitment and honesty rang loud especially on matters relating to bread and butter issues of poor women, mothers and common housewives around the country. Without raising any dust, she had won over the masses with her unceasing admonition for them to move “sof’ly sof’ly” but ever so assuredly on the paths to their self-development and emancipation.
This much was evidenced at the Women Summit held earlier in the same year. Much to the chagrin of several sophisticated attendees, the venue of the political rally to sensitize women to the unfolding political realities of the post Yar’Adua era resounded with vociferous songs of support for the first lady. “Women were singing and praising her. I don’t know what she has done so far to earn her such praises,” one of these elite women confessed to a national daily. She had not, like many of her class, reckoned with the far reaching impact of the first lady’s resolve to widen the space for women’s participation in politics. None of the first ladies before her had so visibly thrown their weight behind the political ambitions of their fellow women. Several of these aspiring female politicians had thus organised their supporters and rolled out the tambourines in song after song of praise and support.
Speaking to the same national daily, Amina Az-Zubair, special assistant to the president on Millennium Development Goals (MDG), said that the Summit was financed from the debt relief fund of the Ministry of Women Affairs and captured under a third plank of the MDG programme devoted to the election of women into elective offices. “The Summit was called to bring women together from different walks of life, particularly on the agenda of the 2011 elections. The mother of the nation was there to spearhead it and this is important because she has a message,” Az-Zubair disclosed. Further disclosure by the special assistant that her office would be supporting other activities for “empowering of women to take part in active politics,” signified that Dame Patience had done her homework very well.
Enter now the Women for Change Initiative: a radical shift from the Better Life for Rural Women, the Family Support Programme, the Child Care Trust and International Cancer Centre, all worthy projects established by her predecessors in office. Through her NGO, however, Dame Patience had initiated a movement to “promote women’s participation in all areas, including political, economic, social and other fields of endeavour.” Through this platform, Nigerian women could monitor and facilitate the actualisation of gender benchmarks in the country. Typically, however, sections of the media spent valuable space speculating on which other similarly named NGO had preceded the WCI to the Corporate Affairs Commission. In the run off to the April 2011 polls, a rallying demand of Dame Patience and the WCI was the reservation of 35% minimum of all political appointments for women. Not surprising, therefore, a host of very influential women activists rallied to her cause, including several governor’s wives and members of the federal executive council.
Ene Ede, executive director of Equity Advocates, a gender equality movement appreciated the mass appeal of the WCI and the grassroots approach of its dynamic leader, Dame Patience: “It involves a wide mixture of women: politicians, civil servants, activists, church people, leaders and members of different political parties, a whole lot of people. She (Dame Patience) has a passion for Nigerian women. She goes into homes and mixes with people freely and that is rare.”
Many agreed at the time that this veteran activist had said it all: An exceptional personality had joined the issues riddled gender movement and infused it with new warmth and vibrancy. Her antecedents had little to say about the near revolutionary spark that she brought with her. As wife of the deputy governor of Bayelsa State, she maintained a quiet, presence, except at functions when she represented the first lady of the state. The transition to the Bayelsa Government Lodge in 2005 marked her significant metamorphosis from quiet observer to influential and effective advocate of women’s rights. She set up the Aruera Reachout Foundation to cater for the downtrodden women of Bayelsa, especially widows. Her foundation engaged them in catering, sewing, hat and bead making and the production of plantain and bean flours. The foundation also built a tuberculosis and leprosy facility at the state capital, Yenegoa.
It remained to be seen whether President Jonathan could reclaim the people’s mandate and live up to the ‘affirmative action’ of giving 35% of appointments to women. In the fullness of time, both questions were resolved in the affirmative. The verdict of the Nigerian people at the April 2012 polls has since been upheld by the courts in the land. Evidence continues to mount however, about the significant impact of the 35% appointments drive for women as Dame Patience and her indefatigable lieutenants of the WCI push through several affirmative actions to bolster peace and douse tension in the land.
At a Campaign for Peace Rally in March 2012, at the Oyo State capital, Governor Abiola Ajimobi praised Dame Patience for her “innovative and highly applauded women empowerment initiatives” and effectively enrolled her into the “history books as one of the champions of women liberation in our continent.”
Commending further her “clarion call on African leaders to expand the turf of the democratic process, so as to allow women the right and space of involvement in the democratic process,” the Oyo State governor applauded her “commendable nudging of your better half, our president, in an all-round fulfillment of his promise of giving 35 per cent appointive positions to women.” Imitation being the best form of admiration, the governor of the ACN controlled state admitted that, “the Office of the First Lady of Oyo State has significantly sought to follow Your Excellency’s footprints at the federal level.”
The nationwide Thank You and Peace Advocacy Campaign, embarked on by Dame Patience marked yet another significant initiative on her part. The Campaign round the state capitals and Abuja called attention to the deplorable level of wanton violence occasioned by ethnic and religious conflicts around the nation. It tallied also with the first lady’s submission at the launch of WCI that women were at the receiving end of all forms of violence in society. On that occasion also, Dame Patience had told women not to sit on the fence on issues related to violence, but to speak out against such vices for the good of the country. The first lady’s brave nationwide rally in spite of the daunting security risks to her person and entourage put yet another bright feather on resplendent head gear. Her rallying title of Mother of the Nation seemed the more merited for all her patriotic troubles and Governor Ajimobi did not mince words in acknowledging this. His glowing words of commendation re-echoed everywhere as the rally lasted around the country.
That singular mission at a dark period in our contemporary history dovetailed into an increasing awareness of the important function of the first lady of Nigeria and indeed every other nation. Mrs. Janet Museveni, first lady of Uganda acknowledged this fact at a state banquet for her sister first ladies at the Speke Resort Munyonyo, Uganda. "For a long time, a myth existed that First Ladies were women of leisure, who did not do anything. I think most people now realise that the real life of a First Lady in Africa is in the community services work you have exhibited in your respective countries," said Mrs. Museveni to the audience that included Dame Patience.
Earlier in the day, Dame Patience, accompanied on the trip by the first ladies of Abia and Kogi States had met with Mrs. Museveni, and discussed issues related to improving maternal and child health in Nigeria and Uganda. This, from all accounts was an extension of the WCI mandate to champion the cause of women everywhere.
"I am particularly concerned about the education of women, especially the girl-child so that they can take their rightful position in the scheme of things", Dame Patience had said at the launch of the WCI in 2010. These concerns are at par with the theme of worldwide celebrations that marked International Women’s Day 2012. It bears evidence of her remarkable insight into to the challenges confronting society at this critical point in history.
It goes without saying therefore that Nigeria has found a rare gem in the person of Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan; a woman most suited and primed to confront the issues of the day as they affect our women folk with creativity, passion, remarkable self-assurance and dogged sense of duty.
On May 5, 2010, upon the sad demise of the inimitable Umaru Yar’Adua, Dame Patience, spouse of his successor Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, became the first lady of this blessed land. The painful circumstance of that political transition, loaded as it were with ugly controversy, threw up an odious cloud of distrust and apprehension around the nation. The office of the first lady could not have been unaffected by these unsavoury developments. Yet, like a warming ray, her stoic presence- from that sorrow filled moment of national mourning- by the side of her grieving predecessor, telegraphed an inspiring message of common bereavement to the nation.
Light skinned with oval face and a chubby-bubbly presence, the first lady is described by close observers as a “no-nonsense person, who conducts herself with a great deal of detachment and her affairs with a heightened instinct for self- preservation.” Still, closer aides describe her as soft-natured, kind and caring. Those other contradictory signals may reflect, they submit, the natural dispositions of one who has been hurt severally by negative and unmindful media attacks. The euphoric elevation of an obscure deputy governor, in one of Nigeria’s lesser known southern states, had not quite subsided before the new governor’s wife was enmeshed in mind boggling tales of corruption and money laundering rackets. Till date, Dame Patience is most distressed that even though no case was established against her by any of the anti-corruption agencies, “her husband’s political opponents won’t stop sponsoring the orchestrated witch hunts against her by a section of the media.”
If the result of this is to make dull and remote, a naturally effervescent and outgoing personality, then the Nigeria media and public is clearly the worse for it.
Yet, these political setbacks parallel in some ways the pathos of Becoming a Woman in Okrika, classic documentary by Judith Gleason and Elisa Mereghetti (1991) of Iria, the Okrika coming of age ceremony. After receiving tutelage in the ways of the clan from older women, the young initiates endure a ritual chase by club wielding young men to cure them of girlish fantasies and prepare them for the realities of womanhood. Dame Patience’s brush with hostile media (wielding scandals, much like clubs?) marked a rude introduction to the toughness of the political game. That animosity did not abate with her husband’s victory at the 2011 polls when, after the inaugural ceremonies, a private visit to the Middle East, roused the baying press afresh. Nothing, it seemed, could let them cut her more slack. Those missteps notwithstanding, Dame Patience has managed, with great poise, to put a distinctive mark on the office of first lady of Nigeria and set a hard pace for others to emulate. Her very adroit gait suggests that she has learnt the ropes of becoming a political woman in Nigeria.
A teacher and devoted mother, Dame Patience’s foray into politics trailed Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s fortuitous journeys from deputy governor through governor to vice president and president. Thus, the same auguries moulded husband as well as wife for the higher responsibilities they now have. Even in Bayelsa, the local people aver, Dame Patience was de facto first lady because Mrs Alamieyeseigha rarely performed the role.
Arriving in Abuja as second fiddle to First Lady Hajia Tura’i Yar’Adua, Dame Patience had ample occasion to lend support to the top lady of the land, whose official schedules suffered from attending to the ailing president. Standing in for the first lady at a tourism event in Kebbi State, Dame Patience regaled the audience with knowledge of the local lingo and spread a message of the cultural affinity of all Nigerian people. In the aftermath of the “doctrine of necessity” that made Jonathan the acting president and preparatory to the hand of fate that shoved him into the presidential swivel chair, cynical questions had been raised in the media if his spouse could be officially tagged the “acting first lady” as well. In any event, time proved that Dame Patience having acted for so long in the supporting roles of acting first lady has acquired the full measure of the office and made of it a spectacular political brand image the likes of which has not been since before now in Nigeria.
Regular duties like launching the Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves in the last quarter of 2011 or partnering with Globacom to organise a national retreat on women development, peace and transformation in Ibom, Akwa Ibom early this year, form part of engagements that place the office of first lady at the direct centre of government activities to uplift the general welfare of the people. In the same manner also, the entire country is her constituency and her passion for the wellbeing of her fellow citizens may not always suffer much patience. This latter demeanour became manifest during an official visit in August 2010 to her home town, Okrika.
Whilst displaying robust development plans for the Okrika waterfront to the first lady, Rotimi Amaechi, the state governor provoked her impassioned outburst. “You should not say must,” she cautioned. The demolition of personal property in a communal environment was a sensitive matter that needed to be addressed with human understanding rather than government fiat, Dame Patience challenged. Typically, sections of the press saw this in another light and choose rather, to censure the first lady for daring to disagree with the elected governor of the state. But the chiefs and people of the ancient town were quick to rally behind her: “We make bold to say that we stand by the position of the first lady, a woman who is bold to speak up for all who are victimised by state power,” Tari Sekibo, Odori Abaji VII, chairman of the Okrika Council of Chiefs said.
For all the media frenzy generated by the drama at the Okrika waterfront, the general public was quick to appreciate the candour with which Dame Patience addressed pertinent national questions. Her commitment and honesty rang loud especially on matters relating to bread and butter issues of poor women, mothers and common housewives around the country. Without raising any dust, she had won over the masses with her unceasing admonition for them to move “sof’ly sof’ly” but ever so assuredly on the paths to their self-development and emancipation.
This much was evidenced at the Women Summit held earlier in the same year. Much to the chagrin of several sophisticated attendees, the venue of the political rally to sensitize women to the unfolding political realities of the post Yar’Adua era resounded with vociferous songs of support for the first lady. “Women were singing and praising her. I don’t know what she has done so far to earn her such praises,” one of these elite women confessed to a national daily. She had not, like many of her class, reckoned with the far reaching impact of the first lady’s resolve to widen the space for women’s participation in politics. None of the first ladies before her had so visibly thrown their weight behind the political ambitions of their fellow women. Several of these aspiring female politicians had thus organised their supporters and rolled out the tambourines in song after song of praise and support.
Speaking to the same national daily, Amina Az-Zubair, special assistant to the president on Millennium Development Goals (MDG), said that the Summit was financed from the debt relief fund of the Ministry of Women Affairs and captured under a third plank of the MDG programme devoted to the election of women into elective offices. “The Summit was called to bring women together from different walks of life, particularly on the agenda of the 2011 elections. The mother of the nation was there to spearhead it and this is important because she has a message,” Az-Zubair disclosed. Further disclosure by the special assistant that her office would be supporting other activities for “empowering of women to take part in active politics,” signified that Dame Patience had done her homework very well.
Enter now the Women for Change Initiative: a radical shift from the Better Life for Rural Women, the Family Support Programme, the Child Care Trust and International Cancer Centre, all worthy projects established by her predecessors in office. Through her NGO, however, Dame Patience had initiated a movement to “promote women’s participation in all areas, including political, economic, social and other fields of endeavour.” Through this platform, Nigerian women could monitor and facilitate the actualisation of gender benchmarks in the country. Typically, however, sections of the media spent valuable space speculating on which other similarly named NGO had preceded the WCI to the Corporate Affairs Commission. In the run off to the April 2011 polls, a rallying demand of Dame Patience and the WCI was the reservation of 35% minimum of all political appointments for women. Not surprising, therefore, a host of very influential women activists rallied to her cause, including several governor’s wives and members of the federal executive council.
Ene Ede, executive director of Equity Advocates, a gender equality movement appreciated the mass appeal of the WCI and the grassroots approach of its dynamic leader, Dame Patience: “It involves a wide mixture of women: politicians, civil servants, activists, church people, leaders and members of different political parties, a whole lot of people. She (Dame Patience) has a passion for Nigerian women. She goes into homes and mixes with people freely and that is rare.”
Many agreed at the time that this veteran activist had said it all: An exceptional personality had joined the issues riddled gender movement and infused it with new warmth and vibrancy. Her antecedents had little to say about the near revolutionary spark that she brought with her. As wife of the deputy governor of Bayelsa State, she maintained a quiet, presence, except at functions when she represented the first lady of the state. The transition to the Bayelsa Government Lodge in 2005 marked her significant metamorphosis from quiet observer to influential and effective advocate of women’s rights. She set up the Aruera Reachout Foundation to cater for the downtrodden women of Bayelsa, especially widows. Her foundation engaged them in catering, sewing, hat and bead making and the production of plantain and bean flours. The foundation also built a tuberculosis and leprosy facility at the state capital, Yenegoa.
It remained to be seen whether President Jonathan could reclaim the people’s mandate and live up to the ‘affirmative action’ of giving 35% of appointments to women. In the fullness of time, both questions were resolved in the affirmative. The verdict of the Nigerian people at the April 2012 polls has since been upheld by the courts in the land. Evidence continues to mount however, about the significant impact of the 35% appointments drive for women as Dame Patience and her indefatigable lieutenants of the WCI push through several affirmative actions to bolster peace and douse tension in the land.
At a Campaign for Peace Rally in March 2012, at the Oyo State capital, Governor Abiola Ajimobi praised Dame Patience for her “innovative and highly applauded women empowerment initiatives” and effectively enrolled her into the “history books as one of the champions of women liberation in our continent.”
Commending further her “clarion call on African leaders to expand the turf of the democratic process, so as to allow women the right and space of involvement in the democratic process,” the Oyo State governor applauded her “commendable nudging of your better half, our president, in an all-round fulfillment of his promise of giving 35 per cent appointive positions to women.” Imitation being the best form of admiration, the governor of the ACN controlled state admitted that, “the Office of the First Lady of Oyo State has significantly sought to follow Your Excellency’s footprints at the federal level.”
The nationwide Thank You and Peace Advocacy Campaign, embarked on by Dame Patience marked yet another significant initiative on her part. The Campaign round the state capitals and Abuja called attention to the deplorable level of wanton violence occasioned by ethnic and religious conflicts around the nation. It tallied also with the first lady’s submission at the launch of WCI that women were at the receiving end of all forms of violence in society. On that occasion also, Dame Patience had told women not to sit on the fence on issues related to violence, but to speak out against such vices for the good of the country. The first lady’s brave nationwide rally in spite of the daunting security risks to her person and entourage put yet another bright feather on resplendent head gear. Her rallying title of Mother of the Nation seemed the more merited for all her patriotic troubles and Governor Ajimobi did not mince words in acknowledging this. His glowing words of commendation re-echoed everywhere as the rally lasted around the country.
That singular mission at a dark period in our contemporary history dovetailed into an increasing awareness of the important function of the first lady of Nigeria and indeed every other nation. Mrs. Janet Museveni, first lady of Uganda acknowledged this fact at a state banquet for her sister first ladies at the Speke Resort Munyonyo, Uganda. "For a long time, a myth existed that First Ladies were women of leisure, who did not do anything. I think most people now realise that the real life of a First Lady in Africa is in the community services work you have exhibited in your respective countries," said Mrs. Museveni to the audience that included Dame Patience.
Earlier in the day, Dame Patience, accompanied on the trip by the first ladies of Abia and Kogi States had met with Mrs. Museveni, and discussed issues related to improving maternal and child health in Nigeria and Uganda. This, from all accounts was an extension of the WCI mandate to champion the cause of women everywhere.
"I am particularly concerned about the education of women, especially the girl-child so that they can take their rightful position in the scheme of things", Dame Patience had said at the launch of the WCI in 2010. These concerns are at par with the theme of worldwide celebrations that marked International Women’s Day 2012. It bears evidence of her remarkable insight into to the challenges confronting society at this critical point in history.
It goes without saying therefore that Nigeria has found a rare gem in the person of Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan; a woman most suited and primed to confront the issues of the day as they affect our women folk with creativity, passion, remarkable self-assurance and dogged sense of duty.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
“PROBABLY THE MOST NATIONAL HERO NIGERIA NEVER HAD”
Three months after he passed on, the epitaphs shower still like confetti and the epithets rain down without let. A big, very big, masquerade has left the carnival square leaving behind a hushed echo and wistful sensation in the stands.
If he may be described in those terms, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was the Ijele of his race. A multi-splendored wonder, he bestrode the bewildering stage of contemporary Nigerian history with memorable swagger to affect a forceful imprint of contradictory emotions: admiration, praise and awe, as well as censure and derision tinged with envy and regret. These conflicting reactions describe the man whom many loved to hate and many more loathed to admit that they admired, even loved and envied for his intimidating confidence and presence of mind.
The tributes resounding from Sokoto to Eket, Badagry to Maiduguri capture in their varied undertones, the signal dimensions of this most engaging personality. Together, they make the astounding, yet pleasantly ironic statement that in Emeka Ojukwu, arch rebel and enfant- terrible of the civil war, Nigeria may have found the first nationally acclaimed hero of the post-civil war era. How did this alluring transformation come to be?
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
'Ojukwu foresaw all this’, his fellow Igbos chant as in a dramatic chorus to underline their collective helplessness at the confounding challenge of ethno-religious conflicts around the country. More to the point though, other Nigerians concur! Who could have foreseen all this in 1966?
The first tentative brush strokes of this fascinating political makeover occurred thirty years ago in mid-1982 when the NPN government of President Shehu Shagari announced the unconditional pardon of the former Biafran warlord and brought an end to his 13year exile in Cote d’ Ivoire. The political calculations of the NPN-led government in loosening the bonds of his banishment are routinely taken for granted, but not even the most astute political analyst could have predicted the tsunami of emotions and wild jubilations which greeted this final act of reconciliation.
From the first landing of his plane at Murtala Mohammad Airport, to Enugu, Nnewi, Owerri, Ahiara and Umuahia where his motorcade passed en-route to Arochukwu, Ndigbo turned out in tens of thousands to cheer their champion and hero. Onye ije nno! they screamed. “Welcome home, sojourner!” But even as the huge entourage sped along the, highways and dusty lanes from Enugu to Arochukwu and native cannons boomed in salutation and honour of the famous returnee, a festering wound of distrust and disunity opened in Igboland.
Ojukwu was caught right in the centre of political disagreements between NPN stalwarts in Anambra State who sought to milk every drop of political gain from his executive pardon, and the NPP administration in the state which felt deliberately snubbed by the protocol arrangements for his reception.
The nation was yet abuzz with the roar and excitement of his return, what with two titles in his kitty: Ikemba Nnewi, “Strength of Nnewi” from the Igwe of Nnewi, and Dike di Ora Ndigbo Nma, “Mighty Warrior in whom the People are well pleased”, by the assembly of traditional rulers from all the Igbo speaking states, when the man showed his stubborn side. Urging the Igbos to join the ‘mainstream’ of Nigerian politics at the time, the NPN, Ojukwu enrolled as a member of the party.
Few people grudged him the right to show gratitude to the government and party that granted him unexpected and unconditional pardon. But earnest entreaties from all and sundry, asking him to play only a non-partisan and unifying role for the furtherance of Igbo political and economic interests did not impress his self-willed heart. Ojukwu joined the partisan fray and grabbed the party ticket for the Onitsha senatorial seat. His full throttled drive on the campaign trail was powered by the Ikemba Front: a quasi-ideological outfit that proved its mettle in rowdy face-offs with thugs of the opposition party. But his stout hearted drive for the senatorial seat smacked of a poorly disguised attempt to ride on his popularity and beard the great Zik, right in his Onitsha political den.
Still, his gambit for a senatorial seat did not feature in the script by the elders of the NPN. They ceded the election to the NPP candidate, Dr. Onwudiwe. Publicly, the irrepressible Ikemba appeared to take his defeat in good faith. He likened the campaign to a wrestling match. He had been thrown in the dust by his opponent, he affirmed, and could live with his defeat as a sportsman. Privately though, he seethed like a wounded lion at the devastating betrayal.
In later years, when the bugle sounded afresh for political activities to resume, Ojukwu jettisoned the call for mainstreams and elected instead to make of APGA, a powerful regional party. In this, he sought to copy the South West political intelligentsia who have consistently maintained a regional agenda in their approach to national politics. Remarkably, Ojukwu had lampooned this strategy when the NPP controlled the South East in the Second Republic. At that time, his supporters defended a pragmatic need to repay President Shagari and the NPN. But as the Babangida transition programme dragged on, Ojukwu threw his weight behind the political stratagem codified as a “handshake across the Niger.” The proponents of this idea appeared intent to lay the ghosts of the deep distrust that had marked the political intercourse between Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikiwe in the First and Second Republics.
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
The ironies compound themselves, for Zik, the Rt. Hon. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Owelle of Onitsha, doyen of the nationalist struggle in Nigeria and first President of the Federal Republic was a close friend and business partner of Sir Louis Ojukwu, the father of Emeka Ojukwu. He knew the young Emeka as a little boy and the story is quite popular about his influence in getting the transport magnate to take the lad back from Fagge, Kano, into his home in Apapa, Lagos, after Sir Louis’ estrangement with Emeka’s mother. Later on, Zik would earn the contentious reputation of the only man ever to best the wily transport magnate in a business deal.
There is no doubt whatsoever, that Ojukwu followed Zik’s political career with interest. At various press interviews after his return, he told of his great disappointment at the outcome of the 1959 elections which saw Zik clutching the short end of the victory baton in the NPC/NCNC coalition. His famous inquiry to fellow officers during the 1964 constitutional crisis, asking to know who was commander-in-chief, the president or prime minister very likely had its source in a sympathetic urge to provoke a proper evaluation of Zik’s rightful place and role in the power equations of the immediate post-independence era.
Clearly, their ways parted at the collapse of the First Republic and Ojukwu’s ascendancy to the political seat where Zik had been regional premier a decade earlier. Under him briefly, a freshly graduated Ojukwu had served as assistant district officer before joining the Nigerian Army to become the first graduate and first officer to receive a direct Nigerian short service commission.
According to Emeka Ojukwu, he joined the Army to escape his father’s overbearing influence in his life and be his own man. However, others allude to a more vaulting move. Trevor Clark, biographer of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, reports that when he opted out of civil administration in favour of the military, the governor general, Sir John Macpherson had warned him in the presence of Sir Louis: “If you think you are going to be a Colonel Nasser someday, put it out of your mind because, Nigeria would never accept it.”
Ojukwu also shared with various Nigerian friends in London, his strong views about the inevitability of military intervention in the politics of many African nations. The politicians who would fill the shoes of the departing colonists were largely inexperienced and impractical theorists, he maintained. Various other sources indicate that he did not make a secret of his views on the redemptive role of the military in national affairs. Did he carry this condescending view of the political class into the office of military governor? Yes, and Zik could not have been unaware of this sentiment. In later years, Ojukwu’s conceited opposition to the old man smacked of a deeply held intent to avenge Sir Louis’ loss of face in the fight for control of the West African Pilot. Inevitably, the stage was set for a major falling out between the ex-president and the military governor, which did not abate even at the height of the civil disturbances that led to the war and even during the horrendous sway of the conflict.
Kinder analysts concede that even though the Oxford graduate of modern history had read well the political future of his country and sought to position himself properly to take advantage of it; he did not partake of the events that pitched him forward into the national limelight: the coup of January 15 1966.
A famous saying avers: Some men are born great; others achieve greatness while some have greatness thrust upon them. It is a mark of the complexity of the Ojukwu mystique that all three categories apply to him.
The circumstances of his birth as a son of the transport magnate, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, reputedly Nigeria’s first millionaire placed him from birth at the top of the privileged class in a largely provincial, pre-independent Nigeria. The wilful assault on the white principal of King’s College during a students’ riot, most probably a psychological transfer of childish anger against another white man in Fagge Kano, did little to shield him from social attention. Public education in England and a degree from Oxford University further entrenched him at the pinnacle of the indigenous upper class of the emergent nationalist state. By these marks alone, he had achieved sufficient ‘greatness’ to count among the movers and shakers of society. If he had taken to the family business or the civil service as his first career path indicated, he could have been a permanent feature of the Who’s Who in Nigeria from 1958 to ’66.
Still, fate searched him out from an obscure military posting in Kano where he ruled as battalion commander, and thrust him into public limelight as military governor of the Eastern group of provinces.
Thus, it fell on him to protect the myriads of displaced Easterners, turned out of their places of residences in the North and West after the counter coup of July 1966. His administration had to provide refuge, comfort and counsel to the widows, the orphans and the wounded who shrieked in sheer agony at the numbing injustice of their situation
.
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
That said, the jury is still out there on Colonel, later General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s leadership of Eastern Nigeria and also, Biafra. His brusque style manifested early when he put his predecessor, Dr Michael Okpara behind bars and reeled out draconian orders to clip the wings of senior civil servants.
Later, his rightful stance on the proper hierarchy in a post-Ironsi government pitted him irrevocably against the coup plotters of July 29. Critics contend that his refusal to accept a de-facto situation was nothing short of impractical. Even so, his haughty demeanour, those critics further allege, did not allow for a compromising meeting of minds. His posh accent quite apart, Ojukwu exhibited enough intellectual arrogance to alienate even his most sympathetic opponents. At Aburi, he showcased this annoying demeanour to the exasperation of Hassan Usman Katsina, who retorted, “Shut up, Emeka. If you went to Cambridge, I have my school certificate.”
After the meeting at Aburi, Eastern propaganda crowed that Ojukwu had so bamboozled the other side that Gowon apparently did not quite understand the document he signed till the technocrats at home pointed out the details to him. Zik takes a different view in his book of poems, Civil War Soliloquies:
The bearded soldier who ruled the East
Asserted that the concord they had reached
Was to split the nation and share the swag
So that each Mandarin might reign and rule
…
The beardless soldier on the other hand
Believed that all they did in Ankra’s land
Endorsed the status quo with minor change
Therefore, there was no need upsetting things (p.36)
If we ever needed proof of Ojukwu’s disconnect with sections of Igbo leadership, this is it. His oft-stated political ambitions receive full treatment here and would haunt him throughout the war and afterwards. This reading of Ojukwu was shared by many of his closest comrades-in arms.
Nevertheless, he stirred the Eastern Region, by sheer oratory and agitprop critics allege, to a raging frenzy. None may deny however, that the wounds of the pogrom in the North rankled deeply and Gowon’s repudiation of the Aburi Accord was the last bitter pill Easterners could swallow.
Zik, soliloquising still, recounts
Give us the guns to blast the foe,
They yelled and yearned to strike a blow
…
A clever leader saw his chance
To spur greenhorns to do death’s dance (p.15)
Zik’s cynical, even anti-Biafran sentiments had its source in Ojukwu’s dictatorial, Lone Ranger tendencies.
In his book, The Nigerian Revolution and the Biafran War, Alexander Madiebo, the Biafran Army Commander, states: “Ojukwu dispensed with the inner confidence of military experts and highly experienced political leaders who could have perhaps helped him save our people from the greatest calamity that ever befell them…It is my view that Biafra never had a government but merely operated under a leader.” (p.379)
This telling indictment sums up our hero’s greatest flaw. Arthur A. Nwankwo, writing in Nigeria: The Challenge of Biafra, agrees with Madiebo: “The Biafran leadership had one significant infirmity from the onset- Ojukwu’s contemptuous disregard for politicians of Nigeria’s First Republic…The bulk of the people who had Ojukwu’s ear were mostly civil servants, new political upstarts and a brigade of ‘rediscovered’ political leaders.”(p.46)
Nwankwo further declares that Ojukwu “was stubborn with a rich, sometimes unbridled imagination. He was impulsive, which made it difficult for him to benefit from the advice of men of exceptional integrity, such as Sir Louis Mbanefo, Prof. Eni Njoku, Dr Akanu Ibiam and Dr Pius Okigbo.” (p.56) Corroborating Madiebo in many respects, Nwankwo’s report card attests that Ojukwu was ill equipped in many ways for the great task that fell on his muscular shoulders.
Zik, expounding on the theme in his Soliloquies, suggests,
“The works of Bede and Chaucer they will cram
Without a thought of Igbo discipline
Ideas of Marx their slavish minds will ram
As was exposed at Ahiara clean” (p.17)
Zik may rightly be charged with utter cynicism arising from wounded pride, but the evidence from various disinterested sources is disquieting. The rampant corruption in the land and profligate misuse of scarce resources aside, the list of Biafrans who suffered detention including Michael Okpara and Zik at various times, Colonel Hilary Njoku and Justice Araka among several other well-meaning persons, under the spurious accusation of being saboteurs surely heightened the instability of the fragile republic and jeopardised its survival.
Soon after Ojukwu’s death, various press reports indicated that Olusegun Obasanjo, the federal military commander who received the Biafran surrender documents from General Philip Effiong had advised Ojukwu to apologise for his role in the civil war! Those reports must be very galling still to every true blooded Easterner. Those who should apologise are the felons who killed, maimed, raped and dispossessed their fellow citizens of property merely because they could only say ‘tolo’ in place of ‘toro’.
Those who must apologise are the military officers that planned and executed the mass butchering of their brother officers and comrade-in-arms on the simple grounds of a “revenge mission” for the death of five politicians and four military officers. Accordingly, the apologists must also include their civilian collaborators in high places, who masterminded the ethnic cleansing campaigns of July and September 1966 throughout the length and breadth of Northern and Western Nigeria. They should all apologise for throwing the grenade of civil strife unto the path of an innocent Colonel Ojukwu, thus allowing him to take a justifiable lob at the worthy goal of emancipation for his long-suffering people.
From Sagamu through Onitsha to Zango-Kataf, Gombe, Maidugiri, Jos, Barkin Ladi and Madalla most recently, the shame and stench of 1966 remains yet with us as Nigerians continually lament the flare of ethnic cleansing campaigns against Nigerians by Nigerians. Who should apologise? Leaders past and present, including Olusegun Obasanjo, who have failed to rise to the challenge that a nation must protect its citizens or risk periodic descent into bloody confrontations.
That is why people now acclaim, with more than fanciful nostalgia, that the bearded hero of the Biafran struggle was a cut above his peers in diagnosing the potent social and political distortions that bedevil Project Nigeria. Even a rabid Biafra-hater like Ken Saro-Wiwa came around in time to the surgical necessity of true federalism as developed and canvassed by the Eastern Mandate Union in 1993. Who can say with any certainty that his fateful meeting and supposed rapprochement with Emeka Ojukwu at the EMU conference of that year, was not the bold move that sprang the tragic lock of his date with the hangman?
The refrain is loud across the land today about a sovereign national conference. Was not Emeka Ojukwu its pioneer ideologue?
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
More disturbing perhaps to Ojukwu’s numerous admirers is the fact that he never did outgrow his impetuous and disagreeable side. In the post-exile years, he appeared unable or unwilling to find accommodation within any grouping of Igbo leaders where his views and person did not dominate every other. Instead, he aligned himself to several neuveu-riche Igbo personalities with whom he canvassed various controversial ideas to destabilise the entrenched order in the South East.
A case in point: the great hullaballoo about an Eze Ndigbo Gburu Gburu, “World-wide Igbo Chieftain”, which the mischief makers appropriated to him as his rightful title. To further this ploy, they went about creating irrelevant chiefdoms among diaspora Igbo in every town, village, neighbourhood and hamlet in Nigeria, till they attained the ridiculous limit when even university students crowned their own Eze Ndigbos. Somehow, these charlatans wanted the gullible masses to believe that their spirited grab for social relevance amounted to the elevation of Igbo cultural standards and ethics.
Lamentably, our much vaunted Eze di Ora Ndigbo Nma, denied himself the worthy spectacle of a public crowning and went into an obscure sitting room in Enugu to receive his elevation to Dim aka Eze Ndigbo Gburu Gburu, from a disputant to the throne of Eze Nri, the ancestral roots of all Ndigbo in Nigeria.
From Ohaneze Ndigbo to the Eastern Mandate Union etc., our hero seemed better attuned to operating from the fringe than within, where he could be a rallying point. Though he continued to speak out valiantly for nationalist causes, as he did at the Constitutional Conference that enunciated the present six-zone political structure for the country, Ojukwu cast the image of an iroko always. No other big tree could thrive underneath him, nor could he share space with any tree of comparable size.
From this vantage point, we can readily appreciate his contradictory nature and understand why he was probably the most misunderstood Nigerian of our time.
In the end, APGA proved the only platform where he could hold ground as maximum leader with no discernable rivals but countless minions and carpetbaggers who could readily count on his huge popularity to win them heavy harvests of Igbo votes at the polls.
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
Who then is a hero, we might ask, and does Ojukwu qualify to be so labelled? Why is he respected by large sections of Nigeria, and worshipped by the masses of the South East?
Ojukwu deserves all the accolades accruing to him, because a hero is not necessarily a saint though saintliness does have its heroic dimensions. A hero may not even be a devoted husband or a good leader. Rather, a hero is just another human being, flaws and all, who in a very trying time steps bravely forward to confront some palpable danger on behalf of another person or group of persons.
At a great historical moment, Ojukwu stood up to be a symbol of the quest by Eastern Nigerians for national survival. The dream may have died but nothing can ever kill the pride of the people at that valiant stand. Therefore, his numerous faults notwithstanding, Ojukwu is the people’s hero and they would be at his funeral in their teeming numbers to show it.
Our great masquerade has danced its way out of the festive square and gone to a deserved rest. Wistful apprehension reigns all round; whence comes another Ijele?
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
This poser offers a handy lens by which to examine the quixotic power play by the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). Deriving from attempts to thwart a purely social effort by Ndigbo in Ikorodu, Lagos, to express themselves culturally through the celebration of the New Yam Festival in 1998, MASSOB has grown into a quaint socio-political experiment.
The Ayangburen of Ikorodu and his palace chiefs could not have imagined the outcome. But when they ruled against the desire of the vast membership of the Central Igbo Community in Ikorodu to celebrate their New Yam festival in grand style, they set off a wave of strong emotions. The CIC had ordered its teeming members to close shop on the scheduled Saturday for a mini carnival complete with masquerades, dances and Igbo cuisine, to which the Ayangburen and his chiefs were invited as special guests of honour. Chief Guest of Honour too was Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. On Thursday evening, the Ayangburen sent notice to Chuma Adichie, president general of the CIC, that the Palace could not allow the festival to hold, because it would be a travesty of Ikorodu culture for masquerades to perform in daylight! Detachments of riot police drove noisily around the town to show the determination of the authorities to enforce the ban.
Chuma Adichie and his able secretary, Malachy Ezeilo had depended on a few stalwart fellows like one Ralph Uwazurike to secure the attendance of the Chief Guest of Honour. This being the era of the mushrooming of diaspora Ezes, Uwazurike had a title in his kitty as Agada (The Lock or Gatekeeper) of Ijesha, the drab shanty neighbourhood adjoining Surulere and Mushin on the Isolo Expressway. The controversy over the Gburugburu title was brewing mildly and a minority group on the CIC did not seem too keen on Ojukwu as a choice for Chief Guest. Yet it rankled deeply that the Ayangburen could be so mean. Two years earlier, the entire Igbo nation had rallied in Ikorodu with masquerades and dances from all over Igboland to give deserving last honours to Adeniran Ogunsanya at the late politician’s funeral. The CIC worked hard to secure the Trade Fair Complex at short notice. Adichie and Ezeilo with Uwazurike and others as facilitators convinced the Chief Guest of Honour to honour the appointment and save their fractured festival.
Led into the venue by the pulsating drums of Igba Ndi Eze, Ojukwu took his place on the dais and made a speech recommending that the different ethnic groups of Nigeria must dialogue to understand and appreciate each other’s cultures for increased unity and social harmony. Thereafter, observers noticed an increasing rapport between the Eze Gburugburu and his trusted Agada. By the turn of the century, after Ojukwu’s routing in yet another election but this time as a presidential candidate, Uwazurike had succeeded in moulding a peculiar freedom charter for politically aggrieved Igbo men and women. Avowing a non-violent approach, the dream of its members is to wrest independence from the Nigerian state by the steady rousing of baffled Igbo youth and die-hard Biafrans through various forms of civil disobedience. After first glance, the close resemblance of its name to the cause of the Ogoni ethnic nation provoked cynical comment everywhere. The constant deployment of barefaced misinformation and downright falsehood by MASSOB propagandists did not endear them to discerning Ndigbo.. Nonetheless, sympathy for the organisation is huge among segments of the Igbo ethnic nation. Few Igbos dare challenge the MASSOB vision because, for many, the Land of the Rising Sun evokes profound sentiments.
The question to ask is this: How could Ojukwu allow Uwazurike to use his name for the spurious MASSOB agenda? Consequently then, who was really using who: Uwazuruike or Ojukwu? Similar queries force themselves into contention as we review our hero’s strident march across the national stage. In the hysterical months leading to the declaration of Biafra, did Ojukwu manipulate the idealistic students of the University of Nigeria and other tertiary schools in Eastern Nigeria, or did they use him? Did he use the yuppie politicians of the Ikemba Front into supporting his drive for Zik’s senatorial front yard? Or did they feed his gargantuan ego with plenty hype to delude him into believing that the position was his for the asking? Did he use Peter Obi and the members of the APGA political family to create a platform for lifelong political relevance or did they ride on his credibility to assume the political offices they now hold?
Everyone’s guess is as good as his neighbour’s.
If he may be described in those terms, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was the Ijele of his race. A multi-splendored wonder, he bestrode the bewildering stage of contemporary Nigerian history with memorable swagger to affect a forceful imprint of contradictory emotions: admiration, praise and awe, as well as censure and derision tinged with envy and regret. These conflicting reactions describe the man whom many loved to hate and many more loathed to admit that they admired, even loved and envied for his intimidating confidence and presence of mind.
The tributes resounding from Sokoto to Eket, Badagry to Maiduguri capture in their varied undertones, the signal dimensions of this most engaging personality. Together, they make the astounding, yet pleasantly ironic statement that in Emeka Ojukwu, arch rebel and enfant- terrible of the civil war, Nigeria may have found the first nationally acclaimed hero of the post-civil war era. How did this alluring transformation come to be?
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
'Ojukwu foresaw all this’, his fellow Igbos chant as in a dramatic chorus to underline their collective helplessness at the confounding challenge of ethno-religious conflicts around the country. More to the point though, other Nigerians concur! Who could have foreseen all this in 1966?
The first tentative brush strokes of this fascinating political makeover occurred thirty years ago in mid-1982 when the NPN government of President Shehu Shagari announced the unconditional pardon of the former Biafran warlord and brought an end to his 13year exile in Cote d’ Ivoire. The political calculations of the NPN-led government in loosening the bonds of his banishment are routinely taken for granted, but not even the most astute political analyst could have predicted the tsunami of emotions and wild jubilations which greeted this final act of reconciliation.
From the first landing of his plane at Murtala Mohammad Airport, to Enugu, Nnewi, Owerri, Ahiara and Umuahia where his motorcade passed en-route to Arochukwu, Ndigbo turned out in tens of thousands to cheer their champion and hero. Onye ije nno! they screamed. “Welcome home, sojourner!” But even as the huge entourage sped along the, highways and dusty lanes from Enugu to Arochukwu and native cannons boomed in salutation and honour of the famous returnee, a festering wound of distrust and disunity opened in Igboland.
Ojukwu was caught right in the centre of political disagreements between NPN stalwarts in Anambra State who sought to milk every drop of political gain from his executive pardon, and the NPP administration in the state which felt deliberately snubbed by the protocol arrangements for his reception.
The nation was yet abuzz with the roar and excitement of his return, what with two titles in his kitty: Ikemba Nnewi, “Strength of Nnewi” from the Igwe of Nnewi, and Dike di Ora Ndigbo Nma, “Mighty Warrior in whom the People are well pleased”, by the assembly of traditional rulers from all the Igbo speaking states, when the man showed his stubborn side. Urging the Igbos to join the ‘mainstream’ of Nigerian politics at the time, the NPN, Ojukwu enrolled as a member of the party.
Few people grudged him the right to show gratitude to the government and party that granted him unexpected and unconditional pardon. But earnest entreaties from all and sundry, asking him to play only a non-partisan and unifying role for the furtherance of Igbo political and economic interests did not impress his self-willed heart. Ojukwu joined the partisan fray and grabbed the party ticket for the Onitsha senatorial seat. His full throttled drive on the campaign trail was powered by the Ikemba Front: a quasi-ideological outfit that proved its mettle in rowdy face-offs with thugs of the opposition party. But his stout hearted drive for the senatorial seat smacked of a poorly disguised attempt to ride on his popularity and beard the great Zik, right in his Onitsha political den.
Still, his gambit for a senatorial seat did not feature in the script by the elders of the NPN. They ceded the election to the NPP candidate, Dr. Onwudiwe. Publicly, the irrepressible Ikemba appeared to take his defeat in good faith. He likened the campaign to a wrestling match. He had been thrown in the dust by his opponent, he affirmed, and could live with his defeat as a sportsman. Privately though, he seethed like a wounded lion at the devastating betrayal.
In later years, when the bugle sounded afresh for political activities to resume, Ojukwu jettisoned the call for mainstreams and elected instead to make of APGA, a powerful regional party. In this, he sought to copy the South West political intelligentsia who have consistently maintained a regional agenda in their approach to national politics. Remarkably, Ojukwu had lampooned this strategy when the NPP controlled the South East in the Second Republic. At that time, his supporters defended a pragmatic need to repay President Shagari and the NPN. But as the Babangida transition programme dragged on, Ojukwu threw his weight behind the political stratagem codified as a “handshake across the Niger.” The proponents of this idea appeared intent to lay the ghosts of the deep distrust that had marked the political intercourse between Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikiwe in the First and Second Republics.
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
The ironies compound themselves, for Zik, the Rt. Hon. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Owelle of Onitsha, doyen of the nationalist struggle in Nigeria and first President of the Federal Republic was a close friend and business partner of Sir Louis Ojukwu, the father of Emeka Ojukwu. He knew the young Emeka as a little boy and the story is quite popular about his influence in getting the transport magnate to take the lad back from Fagge, Kano, into his home in Apapa, Lagos, after Sir Louis’ estrangement with Emeka’s mother. Later on, Zik would earn the contentious reputation of the only man ever to best the wily transport magnate in a business deal.
There is no doubt whatsoever, that Ojukwu followed Zik’s political career with interest. At various press interviews after his return, he told of his great disappointment at the outcome of the 1959 elections which saw Zik clutching the short end of the victory baton in the NPC/NCNC coalition. His famous inquiry to fellow officers during the 1964 constitutional crisis, asking to know who was commander-in-chief, the president or prime minister very likely had its source in a sympathetic urge to provoke a proper evaluation of Zik’s rightful place and role in the power equations of the immediate post-independence era.
Clearly, their ways parted at the collapse of the First Republic and Ojukwu’s ascendancy to the political seat where Zik had been regional premier a decade earlier. Under him briefly, a freshly graduated Ojukwu had served as assistant district officer before joining the Nigerian Army to become the first graduate and first officer to receive a direct Nigerian short service commission.
According to Emeka Ojukwu, he joined the Army to escape his father’s overbearing influence in his life and be his own man. However, others allude to a more vaulting move. Trevor Clark, biographer of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, reports that when he opted out of civil administration in favour of the military, the governor general, Sir John Macpherson had warned him in the presence of Sir Louis: “If you think you are going to be a Colonel Nasser someday, put it out of your mind because, Nigeria would never accept it.”
Ojukwu also shared with various Nigerian friends in London, his strong views about the inevitability of military intervention in the politics of many African nations. The politicians who would fill the shoes of the departing colonists were largely inexperienced and impractical theorists, he maintained. Various other sources indicate that he did not make a secret of his views on the redemptive role of the military in national affairs. Did he carry this condescending view of the political class into the office of military governor? Yes, and Zik could not have been unaware of this sentiment. In later years, Ojukwu’s conceited opposition to the old man smacked of a deeply held intent to avenge Sir Louis’ loss of face in the fight for control of the West African Pilot. Inevitably, the stage was set for a major falling out between the ex-president and the military governor, which did not abate even at the height of the civil disturbances that led to the war and even during the horrendous sway of the conflict.
Kinder analysts concede that even though the Oxford graduate of modern history had read well the political future of his country and sought to position himself properly to take advantage of it; he did not partake of the events that pitched him forward into the national limelight: the coup of January 15 1966.
A famous saying avers: Some men are born great; others achieve greatness while some have greatness thrust upon them. It is a mark of the complexity of the Ojukwu mystique that all three categories apply to him.
The circumstances of his birth as a son of the transport magnate, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, reputedly Nigeria’s first millionaire placed him from birth at the top of the privileged class in a largely provincial, pre-independent Nigeria. The wilful assault on the white principal of King’s College during a students’ riot, most probably a psychological transfer of childish anger against another white man in Fagge Kano, did little to shield him from social attention. Public education in England and a degree from Oxford University further entrenched him at the pinnacle of the indigenous upper class of the emergent nationalist state. By these marks alone, he had achieved sufficient ‘greatness’ to count among the movers and shakers of society. If he had taken to the family business or the civil service as his first career path indicated, he could have been a permanent feature of the Who’s Who in Nigeria from 1958 to ’66.
Still, fate searched him out from an obscure military posting in Kano where he ruled as battalion commander, and thrust him into public limelight as military governor of the Eastern group of provinces.
Thus, it fell on him to protect the myriads of displaced Easterners, turned out of their places of residences in the North and West after the counter coup of July 1966. His administration had to provide refuge, comfort and counsel to the widows, the orphans and the wounded who shrieked in sheer agony at the numbing injustice of their situation
.
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
That said, the jury is still out there on Colonel, later General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s leadership of Eastern Nigeria and also, Biafra. His brusque style manifested early when he put his predecessor, Dr Michael Okpara behind bars and reeled out draconian orders to clip the wings of senior civil servants.
Later, his rightful stance on the proper hierarchy in a post-Ironsi government pitted him irrevocably against the coup plotters of July 29. Critics contend that his refusal to accept a de-facto situation was nothing short of impractical. Even so, his haughty demeanour, those critics further allege, did not allow for a compromising meeting of minds. His posh accent quite apart, Ojukwu exhibited enough intellectual arrogance to alienate even his most sympathetic opponents. At Aburi, he showcased this annoying demeanour to the exasperation of Hassan Usman Katsina, who retorted, “Shut up, Emeka. If you went to Cambridge, I have my school certificate.”
After the meeting at Aburi, Eastern propaganda crowed that Ojukwu had so bamboozled the other side that Gowon apparently did not quite understand the document he signed till the technocrats at home pointed out the details to him. Zik takes a different view in his book of poems, Civil War Soliloquies:
The bearded soldier who ruled the East
Asserted that the concord they had reached
Was to split the nation and share the swag
So that each Mandarin might reign and rule
…
The beardless soldier on the other hand
Believed that all they did in Ankra’s land
Endorsed the status quo with minor change
Therefore, there was no need upsetting things (p.36)
If we ever needed proof of Ojukwu’s disconnect with sections of Igbo leadership, this is it. His oft-stated political ambitions receive full treatment here and would haunt him throughout the war and afterwards. This reading of Ojukwu was shared by many of his closest comrades-in arms.
Nevertheless, he stirred the Eastern Region, by sheer oratory and agitprop critics allege, to a raging frenzy. None may deny however, that the wounds of the pogrom in the North rankled deeply and Gowon’s repudiation of the Aburi Accord was the last bitter pill Easterners could swallow.
Zik, soliloquising still, recounts
Give us the guns to blast the foe,
They yelled and yearned to strike a blow
…
A clever leader saw his chance
To spur greenhorns to do death’s dance (p.15)
Zik’s cynical, even anti-Biafran sentiments had its source in Ojukwu’s dictatorial, Lone Ranger tendencies.
In his book, The Nigerian Revolution and the Biafran War, Alexander Madiebo, the Biafran Army Commander, states: “Ojukwu dispensed with the inner confidence of military experts and highly experienced political leaders who could have perhaps helped him save our people from the greatest calamity that ever befell them…It is my view that Biafra never had a government but merely operated under a leader.” (p.379)
This telling indictment sums up our hero’s greatest flaw. Arthur A. Nwankwo, writing in Nigeria: The Challenge of Biafra, agrees with Madiebo: “The Biafran leadership had one significant infirmity from the onset- Ojukwu’s contemptuous disregard for politicians of Nigeria’s First Republic…The bulk of the people who had Ojukwu’s ear were mostly civil servants, new political upstarts and a brigade of ‘rediscovered’ political leaders.”(p.46)
Nwankwo further declares that Ojukwu “was stubborn with a rich, sometimes unbridled imagination. He was impulsive, which made it difficult for him to benefit from the advice of men of exceptional integrity, such as Sir Louis Mbanefo, Prof. Eni Njoku, Dr Akanu Ibiam and Dr Pius Okigbo.” (p.56) Corroborating Madiebo in many respects, Nwankwo’s report card attests that Ojukwu was ill equipped in many ways for the great task that fell on his muscular shoulders.
Zik, expounding on the theme in his Soliloquies, suggests,
“The works of Bede and Chaucer they will cram
Without a thought of Igbo discipline
Ideas of Marx their slavish minds will ram
As was exposed at Ahiara clean” (p.17)
Zik may rightly be charged with utter cynicism arising from wounded pride, but the evidence from various disinterested sources is disquieting. The rampant corruption in the land and profligate misuse of scarce resources aside, the list of Biafrans who suffered detention including Michael Okpara and Zik at various times, Colonel Hilary Njoku and Justice Araka among several other well-meaning persons, under the spurious accusation of being saboteurs surely heightened the instability of the fragile republic and jeopardised its survival.
Soon after Ojukwu’s death, various press reports indicated that Olusegun Obasanjo, the federal military commander who received the Biafran surrender documents from General Philip Effiong had advised Ojukwu to apologise for his role in the civil war! Those reports must be very galling still to every true blooded Easterner. Those who should apologise are the felons who killed, maimed, raped and dispossessed their fellow citizens of property merely because they could only say ‘tolo’ in place of ‘toro’.
Those who must apologise are the military officers that planned and executed the mass butchering of their brother officers and comrade-in-arms on the simple grounds of a “revenge mission” for the death of five politicians and four military officers. Accordingly, the apologists must also include their civilian collaborators in high places, who masterminded the ethnic cleansing campaigns of July and September 1966 throughout the length and breadth of Northern and Western Nigeria. They should all apologise for throwing the grenade of civil strife unto the path of an innocent Colonel Ojukwu, thus allowing him to take a justifiable lob at the worthy goal of emancipation for his long-suffering people.
From Sagamu through Onitsha to Zango-Kataf, Gombe, Maidugiri, Jos, Barkin Ladi and Madalla most recently, the shame and stench of 1966 remains yet with us as Nigerians continually lament the flare of ethnic cleansing campaigns against Nigerians by Nigerians. Who should apologise? Leaders past and present, including Olusegun Obasanjo, who have failed to rise to the challenge that a nation must protect its citizens or risk periodic descent into bloody confrontations.
That is why people now acclaim, with more than fanciful nostalgia, that the bearded hero of the Biafran struggle was a cut above his peers in diagnosing the potent social and political distortions that bedevil Project Nigeria. Even a rabid Biafra-hater like Ken Saro-Wiwa came around in time to the surgical necessity of true federalism as developed and canvassed by the Eastern Mandate Union in 1993. Who can say with any certainty that his fateful meeting and supposed rapprochement with Emeka Ojukwu at the EMU conference of that year, was not the bold move that sprang the tragic lock of his date with the hangman?
The refrain is loud across the land today about a sovereign national conference. Was not Emeka Ojukwu its pioneer ideologue?
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
More disturbing perhaps to Ojukwu’s numerous admirers is the fact that he never did outgrow his impetuous and disagreeable side. In the post-exile years, he appeared unable or unwilling to find accommodation within any grouping of Igbo leaders where his views and person did not dominate every other. Instead, he aligned himself to several neuveu-riche Igbo personalities with whom he canvassed various controversial ideas to destabilise the entrenched order in the South East.
A case in point: the great hullaballoo about an Eze Ndigbo Gburu Gburu, “World-wide Igbo Chieftain”, which the mischief makers appropriated to him as his rightful title. To further this ploy, they went about creating irrelevant chiefdoms among diaspora Igbo in every town, village, neighbourhood and hamlet in Nigeria, till they attained the ridiculous limit when even university students crowned their own Eze Ndigbos. Somehow, these charlatans wanted the gullible masses to believe that their spirited grab for social relevance amounted to the elevation of Igbo cultural standards and ethics.
Lamentably, our much vaunted Eze di Ora Ndigbo Nma, denied himself the worthy spectacle of a public crowning and went into an obscure sitting room in Enugu to receive his elevation to Dim aka Eze Ndigbo Gburu Gburu, from a disputant to the throne of Eze Nri, the ancestral roots of all Ndigbo in Nigeria.
From Ohaneze Ndigbo to the Eastern Mandate Union etc., our hero seemed better attuned to operating from the fringe than within, where he could be a rallying point. Though he continued to speak out valiantly for nationalist causes, as he did at the Constitutional Conference that enunciated the present six-zone political structure for the country, Ojukwu cast the image of an iroko always. No other big tree could thrive underneath him, nor could he share space with any tree of comparable size.
From this vantage point, we can readily appreciate his contradictory nature and understand why he was probably the most misunderstood Nigerian of our time.
In the end, APGA proved the only platform where he could hold ground as maximum leader with no discernable rivals but countless minions and carpetbaggers who could readily count on his huge popularity to win them heavy harvests of Igbo votes at the polls.
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
Who then is a hero, we might ask, and does Ojukwu qualify to be so labelled? Why is he respected by large sections of Nigeria, and worshipped by the masses of the South East?
Ojukwu deserves all the accolades accruing to him, because a hero is not necessarily a saint though saintliness does have its heroic dimensions. A hero may not even be a devoted husband or a good leader. Rather, a hero is just another human being, flaws and all, who in a very trying time steps bravely forward to confront some palpable danger on behalf of another person or group of persons.
At a great historical moment, Ojukwu stood up to be a symbol of the quest by Eastern Nigerians for national survival. The dream may have died but nothing can ever kill the pride of the people at that valiant stand. Therefore, his numerous faults notwithstanding, Ojukwu is the people’s hero and they would be at his funeral in their teeming numbers to show it.
Our great masquerade has danced its way out of the festive square and gone to a deserved rest. Wistful apprehension reigns all round; whence comes another Ijele?
ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ ᴥ
This poser offers a handy lens by which to examine the quixotic power play by the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). Deriving from attempts to thwart a purely social effort by Ndigbo in Ikorodu, Lagos, to express themselves culturally through the celebration of the New Yam Festival in 1998, MASSOB has grown into a quaint socio-political experiment.
The Ayangburen of Ikorodu and his palace chiefs could not have imagined the outcome. But when they ruled against the desire of the vast membership of the Central Igbo Community in Ikorodu to celebrate their New Yam festival in grand style, they set off a wave of strong emotions. The CIC had ordered its teeming members to close shop on the scheduled Saturday for a mini carnival complete with masquerades, dances and Igbo cuisine, to which the Ayangburen and his chiefs were invited as special guests of honour. Chief Guest of Honour too was Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. On Thursday evening, the Ayangburen sent notice to Chuma Adichie, president general of the CIC, that the Palace could not allow the festival to hold, because it would be a travesty of Ikorodu culture for masquerades to perform in daylight! Detachments of riot police drove noisily around the town to show the determination of the authorities to enforce the ban.
Chuma Adichie and his able secretary, Malachy Ezeilo had depended on a few stalwart fellows like one Ralph Uwazurike to secure the attendance of the Chief Guest of Honour. This being the era of the mushrooming of diaspora Ezes, Uwazurike had a title in his kitty as Agada (The Lock or Gatekeeper) of Ijesha, the drab shanty neighbourhood adjoining Surulere and Mushin on the Isolo Expressway. The controversy over the Gburugburu title was brewing mildly and a minority group on the CIC did not seem too keen on Ojukwu as a choice for Chief Guest. Yet it rankled deeply that the Ayangburen could be so mean. Two years earlier, the entire Igbo nation had rallied in Ikorodu with masquerades and dances from all over Igboland to give deserving last honours to Adeniran Ogunsanya at the late politician’s funeral. The CIC worked hard to secure the Trade Fair Complex at short notice. Adichie and Ezeilo with Uwazurike and others as facilitators convinced the Chief Guest of Honour to honour the appointment and save their fractured festival.
Led into the venue by the pulsating drums of Igba Ndi Eze, Ojukwu took his place on the dais and made a speech recommending that the different ethnic groups of Nigeria must dialogue to understand and appreciate each other’s cultures for increased unity and social harmony. Thereafter, observers noticed an increasing rapport between the Eze Gburugburu and his trusted Agada. By the turn of the century, after Ojukwu’s routing in yet another election but this time as a presidential candidate, Uwazurike had succeeded in moulding a peculiar freedom charter for politically aggrieved Igbo men and women. Avowing a non-violent approach, the dream of its members is to wrest independence from the Nigerian state by the steady rousing of baffled Igbo youth and die-hard Biafrans through various forms of civil disobedience. After first glance, the close resemblance of its name to the cause of the Ogoni ethnic nation provoked cynical comment everywhere. The constant deployment of barefaced misinformation and downright falsehood by MASSOB propagandists did not endear them to discerning Ndigbo.. Nonetheless, sympathy for the organisation is huge among segments of the Igbo ethnic nation. Few Igbos dare challenge the MASSOB vision because, for many, the Land of the Rising Sun evokes profound sentiments.
The question to ask is this: How could Ojukwu allow Uwazurike to use his name for the spurious MASSOB agenda? Consequently then, who was really using who: Uwazuruike or Ojukwu? Similar queries force themselves into contention as we review our hero’s strident march across the national stage. In the hysterical months leading to the declaration of Biafra, did Ojukwu manipulate the idealistic students of the University of Nigeria and other tertiary schools in Eastern Nigeria, or did they use him? Did he use the yuppie politicians of the Ikemba Front into supporting his drive for Zik’s senatorial front yard? Or did they feed his gargantuan ego with plenty hype to delude him into believing that the position was his for the asking? Did he use Peter Obi and the members of the APGA political family to create a platform for lifelong political relevance or did they ride on his credibility to assume the political offices they now hold?
Everyone’s guess is as good as his neighbour’s.
JONATHAN: WHAT HAS LUCK GOT TO DO WITH IT?
Perhaps, the right answer to this very interesting question should be, “nothing and everything.”
The first point that calls for consideration is the absorbing track record of a modern day enigma who, like the best of folk heroes has had a fairy tale romance with good fortune. Throughout his political career, and for no diligent effort on his part, President Goodluck Jonathan has had greatness thrust upon his diffident shoulders.
It is tempting to quip that his benefactors saw the latent traits of leadership in him or, were acting out a divine script over which they had little control. But by his sudden and unexpected ascension to the office of president, the added significance of his eponymous first name foisted a special aura on his personality. Here is a man who proves by the sheer marvel of his life, the truth of the much quoted assertion that “power comes from Allah.”
Call if Factor A, if you may, the divine input in the power equations of mortal men, is its most intriguing aspect. The history of Nigeria presents us therefore with captivating records of men propelled into high office by factors beyond our common ken. Records abound also of those who reached for the reigns of authority with adroit confidence and panache but tumbled from the galloping horse of state to the thunderous jeers of opponents and the shocked silence of supporters.
Na aikad da yaro na zuwa Eko! (“I have sent my boy to Lagos”) The Sardauna of Sokoto haughtily referred to the national vice chairman of the Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC) in these terms after the 1952 elections. Apart from signalling Sir Ahmadu Bello’s lack of faith in the emerging political dispensation, his condescending reference to the person of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa revealed a dark underbelly of the prevailing power equation in the NPC. Years earlier, Balewa had been schemed out of the leadership of the NPC because he came from a minority tribe, the Bageri, and did not belong to the sarauta, the ruling classes of Northern Nigeria.
As leader of the party with the most members in parliament, the wily sardauna was expected to come down to Lagos and head the first national government formed in partnership with the National Congress of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) and the Action Group (AG). He was unwilling though to vacate the North for the more cerebral, more popular, but thoroughly self-effacing Balewa. The national government was expected to collapse very soon, anyway, so Balewa’s deployment to Lagos was at best a dubious promotion- exile away from the Northern power base, where his persuasive demeanour would be no threat to the overbearing temperament of the Fulani prince.
But Allah willed differently. The national government performed creditably, due largely to the positive attitude of Balewa and some other NCNC and AG ministers, thus paving the way for independence and his eventual emergence as prime minister of the federal republic. The boy had become the man!
In 1978, Shehu Shagari aspired only to a senatorial seat in the emergent 2nd Republic but was nominated by others to vie against the stated desires of Olusola Saraki, Adamu Ciroma and Yusuf Maitama Sule for the number one slot. He triumphed over his more ambitious opponents to become the presidential flag bearer of the National Party of Nigeria, (NPN). We shall leave out examples from the military eras. The case of condemned prisoner, Olusegun Obasanjo, who moved from Death Row in Yola to the Presidential Villa in Abuja in nine months, sums up the evidence of an “invisible hand” that shapes political destinies.
After the euphoria of electoral victory, these men soon found out however, that good work is the complement of good luck and bad luck no excuse for shoddy work. Though the jury is yet to return a final verdict on the Shagari and Obasanjo presidencies, it is perfectly safe to presume that history will be ultimately kind to several of their well-meaning efforts to revitalize the economy for greater efficiency and make Nigeria a better place for all citizens.
Will Jonathan be so favoured as well? It may seem too early to say, but if one can tell a cockerel from the tendril feathers of a chick, then this humble successor to Yar’Adua’s calm and measured but thorough and painstaking approach to issues of state has shown ample evidence of taking the great Yar’Adua legacy of servant leadership to its most logical conclusion.
From prompt and popular actions to bolster free, fair and credible elections, maintenance of stable prices for petroleum products, fiscal and monetary interventions in the real sectors and the burgeoning film industry, to silent but persistent responses to the energy challenges confronting the nation, President Jonathan has proven to everyone but die hard critics that, good luck notwithstanding, he is the right man for today.
Nigerians of every political persuasion were dispirited when death snatched from us the taciturn but hardworking President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. ‘Factor A’ pushed a deputy into office, whose sterling performance in the past nine months inspires us to declare even as the fateful April polls approach, “Long live the President” and look forward fervently to his triumph at the polls.
We may also note that history is waiting, willy-nilly, to count the patriots who answered the call of the National Pledge and the traitors who betrayed their patriotic conscience on the decadent altars of ethnic, parochial sentiments.
The first point that calls for consideration is the absorbing track record of a modern day enigma who, like the best of folk heroes has had a fairy tale romance with good fortune. Throughout his political career, and for no diligent effort on his part, President Goodluck Jonathan has had greatness thrust upon his diffident shoulders.
It is tempting to quip that his benefactors saw the latent traits of leadership in him or, were acting out a divine script over which they had little control. But by his sudden and unexpected ascension to the office of president, the added significance of his eponymous first name foisted a special aura on his personality. Here is a man who proves by the sheer marvel of his life, the truth of the much quoted assertion that “power comes from Allah.”
Call if Factor A, if you may, the divine input in the power equations of mortal men, is its most intriguing aspect. The history of Nigeria presents us therefore with captivating records of men propelled into high office by factors beyond our common ken. Records abound also of those who reached for the reigns of authority with adroit confidence and panache but tumbled from the galloping horse of state to the thunderous jeers of opponents and the shocked silence of supporters.
Na aikad da yaro na zuwa Eko! (“I have sent my boy to Lagos”) The Sardauna of Sokoto haughtily referred to the national vice chairman of the Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC) in these terms after the 1952 elections. Apart from signalling Sir Ahmadu Bello’s lack of faith in the emerging political dispensation, his condescending reference to the person of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa revealed a dark underbelly of the prevailing power equation in the NPC. Years earlier, Balewa had been schemed out of the leadership of the NPC because he came from a minority tribe, the Bageri, and did not belong to the sarauta, the ruling classes of Northern Nigeria.
As leader of the party with the most members in parliament, the wily sardauna was expected to come down to Lagos and head the first national government formed in partnership with the National Congress of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) and the Action Group (AG). He was unwilling though to vacate the North for the more cerebral, more popular, but thoroughly self-effacing Balewa. The national government was expected to collapse very soon, anyway, so Balewa’s deployment to Lagos was at best a dubious promotion- exile away from the Northern power base, where his persuasive demeanour would be no threat to the overbearing temperament of the Fulani prince.
But Allah willed differently. The national government performed creditably, due largely to the positive attitude of Balewa and some other NCNC and AG ministers, thus paving the way for independence and his eventual emergence as prime minister of the federal republic. The boy had become the man!
In 1978, Shehu Shagari aspired only to a senatorial seat in the emergent 2nd Republic but was nominated by others to vie against the stated desires of Olusola Saraki, Adamu Ciroma and Yusuf Maitama Sule for the number one slot. He triumphed over his more ambitious opponents to become the presidential flag bearer of the National Party of Nigeria, (NPN). We shall leave out examples from the military eras. The case of condemned prisoner, Olusegun Obasanjo, who moved from Death Row in Yola to the Presidential Villa in Abuja in nine months, sums up the evidence of an “invisible hand” that shapes political destinies.
After the euphoria of electoral victory, these men soon found out however, that good work is the complement of good luck and bad luck no excuse for shoddy work. Though the jury is yet to return a final verdict on the Shagari and Obasanjo presidencies, it is perfectly safe to presume that history will be ultimately kind to several of their well-meaning efforts to revitalize the economy for greater efficiency and make Nigeria a better place for all citizens.
Will Jonathan be so favoured as well? It may seem too early to say, but if one can tell a cockerel from the tendril feathers of a chick, then this humble successor to Yar’Adua’s calm and measured but thorough and painstaking approach to issues of state has shown ample evidence of taking the great Yar’Adua legacy of servant leadership to its most logical conclusion.
From prompt and popular actions to bolster free, fair and credible elections, maintenance of stable prices for petroleum products, fiscal and monetary interventions in the real sectors and the burgeoning film industry, to silent but persistent responses to the energy challenges confronting the nation, President Jonathan has proven to everyone but die hard critics that, good luck notwithstanding, he is the right man for today.
Nigerians of every political persuasion were dispirited when death snatched from us the taciturn but hardworking President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. ‘Factor A’ pushed a deputy into office, whose sterling performance in the past nine months inspires us to declare even as the fateful April polls approach, “Long live the President” and look forward fervently to his triumph at the polls.
We may also note that history is waiting, willy-nilly, to count the patriots who answered the call of the National Pledge and the traitors who betrayed their patriotic conscience on the decadent altars of ethnic, parochial sentiments.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Long live the Safari!
This exotic overland adventure is that enduring magic of the African continent, with package tours and private trips spanning the East Coast, from Kenya through Uganda and Tanzania to the South- Zambia, Malawi, Namibia and South Africa. Across wild patches of the sprawling savannah to thick rain forests, the modern safari is a fun filled encounter with the African wilds.
Countries like Nigeria and others on the West Coast have also tried to develop their wild life resources with varying results. The vast array of animals-cape buffalo, elephants, antelopes, giraffes, crocodiles, and the big cats-lions, leopards, cheetahs, not forgetting the wild boar, hippos, rhinos, foxes and game birds of every kind provide visual evidence of a multi splendored world and the great diversity of nature.
The African Safari used to be synonymous with big game hunting. Rich tourists from around the world converged in their hundreds to track down and kill the animals merely for sport. Arguably, the world is wiser now about the harmful effects of this unconscionable activity. Unregulated hunting of wild life turned the unfortunate animals to endangered species. The modern safari- the word comes from the Arab/Kiswahili word for journey- is a leisurely encounter with the animal kingdom. In place of the hunting rifles, the tourists are now armed with cameras for the harmless and more exciting shots of lions feasting or mating and gorillas at play.
This is that ennobling aspect of the safari that has made of it a fashion item- safari jackets; belted shirts with four large pockets- which become suits when with matching pants, shorts and skirts. No wonder then that even the Vatican thought it quite cool to label the eighties African tour of the late Pope John Paul II a “spiritual safari”. A 1988 book, Safari Style, by Natasha Burns and Tim Beddows explores the decorative art of safari lodges around Africa. Taken all together, these developments have given to our world that freshening perspective on eco tourism, in which man and animals are co-heirs of a shared commonwealth.
The African Safari comes in various packages to suit individual pockets and preferences. Package tours are affordable and convenient. One enjoys the company of a multicast of people from different parts of the world, a kind of “safari” within a safari. Yet, it’s more fun to go independently, but always in the safe company of tour guides and game wardens whose knowledge of the various reserves and the peculiar habits of their wild life can be most invaluable.
Dollar for dollar, therefore, the safari is that incomparably exciting and enlightening parley with the wilds for which there is yet no substitute. That might have provided the creative sparks for Apple Inc. to name its 2003 web browser, Safari. Reputed to be the fastest browser to date, its net share of the market has been climbing ever since; in imitation it would seem, of the alluring drama of the African Safari.
Long live the African wilds.
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