J1 - NAIJAPRINCE

Ojukwu and the spirit of Moses

2011-12-12T23:59:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is the third Ojukwu storied etched in my mind. For itrings true! We Africans are a superstitious people, more inclined to worshipthan to inquisition; more inclined to sycophancy than to challenge things. Averse from scripture captures Ojukwu’s illustration above in a conclusive way “Asa man thinks in his heart, so is he.” There is a need for a paradigm shift inour thinking system in Africa. The perverse and deep seated corruption inAfrican states is an indication of our thinking system. The sit-tightleadership system of African rulers is a product of our thinking system. Beforewe can be free from the clutches of poverty and backwardness, our thinking hasto be changed, restructured, and totally revamped. It will take deliberate andsustained affirmative action to achieve this, once our minds are liberated, ourworld would be liberated in Africa.

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

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

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

Where is the Black African Spring?

2011-11-15T22:35:00.001-08:00

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

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

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

What exactly is wrong with Black Africa?

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

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

Every now and then the government comes up with a fresh setof statistics that the economy is growing. But where exactly is this growth? Who are thepeople who benefit from the growth? How evenly distributed is this growth? Dothe Nigerians who live below the economic radar, the DE socio-economic classwho constitute over 60% of our population ever benefit from this so-calledeconomic growth? Or is this growth just increase in the profits of a fewalready comfortable billionaires? In every nation there is a level of peoplewho are cut off from all these economic postulations, they neither feel it norenjoy it, like those who live on social welfare in America. In other partswhere there is no welfare, they live by the day. They struggle from day to dayto survive. The only thing they could ever enjoy from government is theprovision of social amenities and infrastructure. Good roads to transport theirwares fast and safely, good public schools to send their children to,electricity to power their homes, potable water in their homes, and security ontheir streets, yet these amenities are not available in Nigeria. The poor inAmerica and certain other nations of the world enjoy these basic amenities,hence their way of life becomes not as despondent as it would have been. But inNigeria, over 60% of our people are effectively cut off from any benefit ofgovernance, yet we continue to grill out a living in the most pitiable ofconditions, from day to day.

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

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

2011-09-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

Song Title: Petepete

Album: Tradition

Artiste: 9ice ft. Asa

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

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

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

Chorus

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

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

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

Verse 2:

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

(Back to chorus)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Independence Day Nigeria.

Who is deceiving Mr. President?

2011-09-28T01:14:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Black Ingenuity makes America tick.

2011-08-10T21:10:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Islamic Banking: Economically ingenious, politically untimely!

2011-08-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Boko Haram: A time for home truths

2011-07-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

As-salaam-alaikum.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As-salaam-alaikum.

A rivalry of nations

2011-07-02T18:07:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What does Adeniyi know about Odili?

2011-06-11T02:01:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A portion of King Jonathan's meat

2011-05-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

As part of the all expensive, pushing N1billion inaugural celebrations for President Jonathan’s new term in office, it is reported that a Presidential Lunch had been organized with selected youths from across the nation. The said meeting as reported was set up to create a parley between the Nigerian President and Nigerian youths. It is also reported that participants of this meeting were rewarded with handsome cash gifts, termed as “transport fare”. N50,000 for participants resident in Lagos, and N100,000 for those from outside Lagos! While the idea of a meeting between the President and youths is surely an honorable idea, yet the payment of such large funds termed as “transport fare” is not only dishonorable, it is tantamount to inducement, a calculated attempt at buying over a vibrant and outspoken youth populace, and it is an expansion of the corruption psyche that pervades Nigeria’s socio-cultural life. It is therefore condemnable on all fronts.

It is time for us in Nigeria to teach ourselves the truth which could never be compromised. What is the difference between a gift, a bribe, and an inducement? According to the legal and financial dictionaries, the definitions go thus:

GIFT: is an asset of any kind that an individual transfers to another individual while neither receiving nor expecting anything in return.

BRIBE: is a gift or promise, which is accepted as the inducement for some illegal act or omission; or of some illegal emolument, as a consideration, for preferring one person to another, in the performance of a legal act.

INDUCEMENT: is an advantage or benefit that precipitates a particular action on the part of an individual. Its synonyms are allurement or enticement.

These three statuses of giving are worthy of note and study by any Nigerian who determinedly desires to keep himself from being tainted in the sea of corruption flowing across daily transactions in Nigeria. The key words to note are that a gift is given without receiving or expecting anything in return. A bribe is also a gift, but it is given to induce the performance of some illegal act; while the last one, an inducement, which could also be called an allurement, or enticement, or incentive, is also a gift, but given with the intent of precipitating an expected action from the receiver. The lines between a gift and a bribe are clear and bold; but the lines between a gift and an inducement can most times be faint and blurry, yet a lot of times, inducements are morally wrong. It takes a potential receiver to sincerely and conscientiously weigh the intentions of the giver and determine if it could be a "wetting of ground" for some future deal. An inducement is pre-thought bribe, to make a person say something in a certain way, or keep silent over a certain matter, or to sign a certain thing, or bestow a particular favour to the giver at an oncoming date. The huge largesse distributed to participants of the President’s luncheon in the name of transport fare was a clear case of inducement in my opinion. It must be condemned, it must not be encouraged.

The call for Nigeria’s transformation is one of great sacrifice. Sacrifice of time, of talent, and sometimes of one’s resources. If every well meaning volunteer who contributes actively to the call for a new nation were to expect a financial reward in return, then we would be doomed as a people. Our lives would have no meaning, we would have surrendered our destinies for the simple pursuit of what we shall eat and gain. We would all have become Esau, selling our birthright for a plate of porridge because we are hungry. The President and his team do not need to hand out such huge cash rewards to encourage Nigerian youths to engage him in discussion. Majority of these youths belong to one volunteer group or the other and I believe several patriotic ones among them would have sacrificed more than this to attend meetings of national importance at one time or the other. At George Ashiru’s THMP, we have held meetings and conferences which were paid for by member’s contributions. At Steve Enada’s NTM, we have held meetings and prayer vigils with kerosene lamps before when our generators ran dry of fuel in the middle of the night at meetings where we deliberated on our roles in rescuing our nation. At GIC we had contributed large chunks of our earnings to execute projects which were of no direct benefit to the contributors but for independent communities. Those youths who genuinely love our nation need no such “transport fare” to attend a meeting where they would have a free and fair chance to engage Mr. President. During Obama’s campaigns, Town Hall meetings upon Town Hall meetings were called, dinners upon dinners, lunches upon lunches, most of which were fully paid for by volunteers and hosts who were not part of Obama’s campaign team, no one had to be paid such huge cash reward as transport fare! N50,000 for Lagos residents to attend a meeting within Lagos! From where to where? From Akute, Mowe, or Iju Ishaga to Victoria Island and back by private taxi, how much does it cost? I remember when Professor Pat Utomi called for such a meeting at the Nigerian Law School a few years back, we were also there, fuelled our cars by ourselves to see what the man had in his heart for our generation. This whole wasteful shenanigan embarked upon by President Goodluck Jonathan and his team is at best irresponsible and capable of further polluting an already polluted thinking system.

An advice to the youth of my generation, we all have to be very careful. Lest we become trapped in the system we are angry with and have condemned in the harshest of terms. It’s a slippery slope guys; the stifling of one’s voice begins just with a process like this. At a season when we all should condemn the extravagant cost of the President’s inauguration which is put at over N1billion, the Nigerian active cyberspace has become unusually quiet because a lot of fierce voices have been drowned in the swallowing of delicacies and “transport fare” courtesy of PDP’s evil ingenious scheming. Ori mi maje ki n j’egun m’oyan! (May I never eat thorns with pounded yam!) The Biblical Daniel had all the privilege and opportunity to feast with the king’s delicacies, but he and his friends avoided it instead. It is recorded that a different and excellent spirit was found in him. To be different in this generation of perversity and corruption, one must be able to resolutely walk away always from a portion of the king’s meat. It defiles. It renders one part of the rot. One’s intentions might be altruistic, but how can you confidently and fairly criticize, correct or point out the fallacies and evil scheming of a government from whom you have benefitted undue largesse?

Governor Fashola did not achieve his popularity amongst Lagosians because he handed out cash to anyone at anytime, but rather by his performance in reviving infrastructure in the state. The people of the state see a governor whose interest is in working for them. Yes, sometimes he might make mistakes, but on the overall, his performance stands eloquently to his credit. Rotimi Amaechi is another governor who is well spoken of; I do not think he has embarked on this kind of weak patronizing of youths to achieve his popularity amongst his people. Money does not buy ideological followership. Handing out huge cash rewards in the name of transport fare to people who attend parley meetings with the President would only result in a huge waste of scarce funds, and further corrupting our society. What we need right now is a cleansing of our society and this definitely is not the way to do it. President Goodluck Jonathan’s actions and body language do not suggest there would be a revolutionary departure from our corrupt past anytime soon. Rather, it seems the President, is poised to make matters worse as far as Nigeria’s corruption story is concerned.

Let the President and his thinkers dare call for a public interactive session with Nigerian youths in a larger space, where the President himself would be on ground to answer questions directly from disgruntled, educated but jobless, hungry and angry Nigerian youths, then you would have a feel of the real Nigerian situation. You would have a number ten times the number of those that attended the former parley, and there the true Nigerian story would be told. N100, 000 and a good meal is too small a price to bury our voices in the fight for justice and equitable distribution of resources in our nation. What we want is not N100, 000 handouts but a working Nigerian system; what we want is not just one good meal in a five star hotel but good food accessible to all at all times in our nation. I urge the entire cyberspace Nigeria not to relent on our intelligent firepower. It works, it is working. We must give our leaders no rest, no respite until justice is done, for all the oppressed and deprived people of our nation, some of whom also attended the parley, and unfortunately swallowed a portion of the king’s meat.

An Elegy for the departed Ajuwaya

2011-04-21T09:58:00.000-07:00

During the 2003 elections, I was a Youth Corper, serving in a small town called Akwanga, in Nasarawa State. I worked as an electoral officer in one of the adjoining villages under the Akwanga district. Considering the confirmed slaying of up to fifty Youth Corpers in the skirmishes that welcomed last Saturday’s elections, I shudder at the thought of what might have happened to me on that fateful day in that village.

The village had no motorable access road, therefore only commercial motorcycles transported people to the village and back to the township. I took a bike to the village very early to man my post that fateful day. I met the other electoral officers; I informed them that I was the corper posted to that village to supervise the election process. They had been waiting for me, and we promptly started the day’s operations. It was not a very big village and so there were not much problems. As the voting started and progressed, a young man, unkempt in appearance had come to cast his ballot, but the voter’s card he held was not his own, as the picture on it showed it was someone else. There were three of us monitoring the elections. The other two spoke Hausa fluently but I didn’t. I noticed the first electoral officer engaged the youth in a discussion and passed the card over to the next officer beside me, the man looked at the card, uttered some Hausa words and passed the card to me, telling me in English to check the card and see if I would allow the young man to vote with the card. I checked the voter’s card and immediately saw it did not belong to the youth who brought it, and I promptly told the officers not to allow him to vote as the card was not his. The youth was unhappy and spoke in Hausa to the two electoral officers again, his voice getting louder and more agitated. I didn’t understand what he was saying, but his body language and tone suggested he was half-appealing, and half-demanding that he be allowed to vote with the card. The officers approached me again and pleaded with me to allow him vote and “carry his wahala away.” I was much younger than I am now, having more courage than common sense at the time. I insisted he could not vote with the card, I turned to him and told him to leave the platform as he could not vote with the card. The youth looked at me, fastened his gaze on me and walked away, muttering bitterly as he went.

I thought that was the end of the matter until about an hour later, when we got some respite from the thronging populace who were anxious to vote, I noticed that the youth had returned with a crowd of more youths like himself and they were standing less than 20 feet from where we were seated conducting the elections. Every one of them was looking at me with a mean expression. The particular youth I had refused voting rights stood in front of them all; his jaw tightened and his gaze fastened on me. At that instant, a cold chill went through my body. I do not think that I have ever been as afraid as I was that day, at that instant. In one split second I realized what had happened. If anything went wrong at that polling booth, I was a goner. All they needed was an excuse for a stampede, and they would unleash violence, with me being a primary target. I trembled on my seat. There was no policeman on sight. I lost my composure and could hardly do what I was required to do with concentration anymore. I was expecting that anytime soon, sharp metals could be buried in my skinny body and I cringed at the thought. Why would I come all the way from Ilesa in Osun state, after a lifetime of struggling with my parents to graduate from school, only to be slaughtered by these die-hard youths? I remembered my parents. I imagined the agony they would go through. My mind was in turmoil. Was this going to be my last day on earth, I thought.

Fortunately for me, everything went peacefully at that polling station that day. The young men who had gathered were leaving one by one, leaving a handful less than five still standing there. Still I was absolutely uncomfortable. I thought of beckoning to the youth to come and cast his vote after all, but some last tinge of pride in me refused. By 2pm that day, the rush had died down, no more voters were coming and the exercise was effectively over. We counted the votes; I wrote the things I had to write, for I dared not wait till the evening time when we were supposed to officially end the process. I rushed the things I had to do, and handed over to the officer next to me telling him I had to rush back to Akwanga. At that instant I couldn’t care less if they were going to tamper with the votes or not; I waited anxiously on my seat until the next bike arrived; as he dropped his passenger and turned to leave, I called out to him to wait, I hopped off the elevated balcony of the Primary School building we were on and mounted the bike in a split second. The bike man muttered something about his price, I simply asked him to move. “Move!” I yelled at him. The whole thing happened fast, the bike man sped off, I didn’t even look back as we left the village speeding down the dusty path back to Akwanga!

When I remember that story, and consider the fate of the 27 Corpers in Bauchi who lay dead today as a result of their participation in monitoring elections last Saturday, I quake within me and cannot help but thank the almighty God who spared my life that day. Although that election was not as tensely contested as this one, I still give glory to God, for I could easily have been killed that day, had there been any riot, or stampede in that village.

Yet, my joy is limited, as I imagine the agony, pain, sorrow and grief that the families of the dead corpers must be going through right now. Many of these corpers were sent to school through thick and thin. Some on the last kobo their parents could raise. Many parents in Nigeria would rather wear rags than watch their children not go to school. Many parents literally poured all their life’s earnings and even pensions and gratuities into sponsoring their children through the University or Polytechnic. I for one had to join my mother in the Atakunmosa market days in Ilesa every two weeks to get enough money to sustain through my HND program. From Ado-Ekiti I would rush down to join her in the big market on the major market days to sell her wares, biscuits, sweets and all what none. By 4 or 5 pm when the pressure of the day was winding down she would give me some money and I would be off back to Ado-Ekiti armed with the little stipend she could raise until the next two weeks came. How on earth would she have coped if after all that sacrifice and struggle, some mindless youths killed me because of NYSC and elections? I know of a certainty that my mother would never have recovered from it. And same goes for many of the parents and guardians of these corpers who lay slain in the Northern part of Nigeria.

I am extremely sad at this ugly development, for this in fact is not the first time. The Jos crises had taken its toll on corpers lately too. A corper reportedly spoke on the phone with his elder brother who was in Lagos as he was pursued in Jos by his killers, until they caught up with him and slaughtered him. The bewildered brother went into a state of shock as he listened on the phone to the shouts and cries of his kid brother being slain in far away Jos. What sort of country have we become? How can Nigeria be transformed like this? Our nation has become a vampire, sucking the blood of the innocent. Do we expect God to be happy with this nation? Will the blood of the innocent slain not call judgment on this land? And what about the parents of the victims? Those who had poured their entire lives into their wards looking forward to a future where they would be rewarded back by their successful children, if such ones place a curse on this land, will the heavens not back it up?

It is on the back of this that I believe the time has come for justice to prevail over this matter. This country has no right to send people to serve her if she is not willing and able to protect them from unnecessary death and destruction. It is high time the NYSC scheme is adjusted to suit the realities of the present day Nigeria. We call for justice for the families of the slain corpers whose blood and flesh litter the soil of Nigeria. This nation gave them nothing, but has taken everything from them. This nation invested not a dime in them but has wasted the years and sweat of investment in the lives of these young ones. A time comes when a people must say No, common sense must prevail, enough is enough!

NYSC, protect our children, or stop sending them to places where they are not welcome. Provide an insurance cover for the lives of our corpers or don’t bother trying to integrate them into cultures that end up feeding up on their flesh like vultures. Stop breaking the hearts of aged parents who are forced to bury their own sons and daughters.

This is the time to test our democracy. In the 1960s in faraway USA, Muhammad Ali refused to be drafted into the US army because he declared the Vietnamese had done nothing to offend him; he went to court, he lost and he was jailed and stripped of his title. But at least, his voice was heard, and he was not forced to go to the war against his own will. That is a democracy! Nigerian youths, the time has come to test our democracy! This is real life Nigeria that concerns you and I and our friends. We must make and press home demands that will wake the government of Nigeria up to their responsibility and save generations of our youth from untimely and gory death. I propose the following adjustments to be done to NYSC as soon as possible:

1. NYSC should henceforth be made optional for Nigerian graduates.

2. NYSC must insure the life of every corper who dies in transit in obedience to the clarion call to the tune of N1million.

3. NYSC must pay N10 million to the family of any corper who gets killed in any ethno-religious crisis or electoral violence.

These demands we lay on the federal government of Nigeria, a wealthy government that does few constructive things with the billions of dollars placed in its care. You gave us sub-standard education, our parents paid through their noses for this sub-standard education, yet you would require our service but end up snuffing the life out of our friends and mates? No! When it dawns on this government that for every 27 corpers that were killed in Bauchi, they would have to pay a whopping N270million, they will wake up to their responsibility by ensuring that the lives of Youth Corpers are adequately protected even if they have to release a whole barrack of soldiers to do so. Please join me on Facebook to sign my petition by liking this page http://www.facebook.com/pages/100000-Youths-call-for-Justice-for-the-family-of-slain-Youth-Corpers/209127655772231?sk=wall or simply search for “100,000 Youths call for Justice for the families of slain Youth Corpers”, and you will be on the page, click “like” on the page to add your voice to this petition. When we attain up to 100,000 members, concrete steps shall be taken to forward this petition to the federal government and the National Assembly and demand the passage of a bill that would concede to the above demands.

I recollect the NYSC anthem which goes thus “Youths obey the clarion call; let us lift our nation high; under the sun or in the rain; with dedication and selflessness; Nigeria is ours, Nigeria we serve!” Well, I have an elegy to render for the departed souls on whose behalf I write this article. My elegy goes thus: “They were called with a clarion call and they obeyed. They lifted Nigeria high, despite the fact that Nigeria has never taken care of them or nursed any plans for them; Nigeria was never theirs, for Nigeria gave them nothing, yet took everything from them. They were dedicated, they were selfless, they served Nigeria, but Nigeria was not dedicated, selfish and never served them back. May their humble souls rest in perfect peace”.

BB 2011: A 48-hour appeal

2011-04-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

In 2007, we were a small group called GIC (Green Invasion Campaign), we were comprised mostly of youths, young workers and students. We were driven together by the love of our fatherland burning in our hearts. We organized ourselves, contributed our monies. Students contributed part of their school feeding allowances, young workers cut a huge chunk of their salaries. Volunteers gave up their cars for service. We decided to clean an entire major road in Lagos, Akilo road. We met with the head of the spare parts sellers, a man called John Paul. We told him our intentions. He was glad and informed his colleagues. We chose a date, we bought cleaning tools, we bought trash cans. One of us had access to LAWMA (Lagos State Waste Management Agency), they were gracious, they gave us the service of a whole waste truck for the whole day. Young men trooped out, young women, old people joined us, Okada men gave us rides across the length of the road for free. We dug out the gutters with our gloved hands. We packed plenty of debris off the road, and the LAWMA truck took them away. We were so joyous, no one paid us in return, no one gave anyone any awards or recognition, the media did not even know about it. But we derived huge satisfaction, for we did it out of the love for our fatherland. But we just didn't do this on our own, we did this under the inspiration, leadership, guidance and permission of one man, Pastor Tunde Bakare, for we, GIC, were a unit of the Legacy Youth Fellowship of the Latter Rain Assembly.

In 2010, the Nigerian nation was in palpable tension. There was no clear cut leader, opportunists dished out conflicting information and orders. Billions were being looted. Once again, the time beckoned on courageous men of conscience and genuine love for the fatherland to step forward. We were there again, but this time we were not alone, we were bigger, supported by greater men and larger organizations. We were no longer the tiny GIC, we had become part of the core group of a larger Save Nigeria Group (SNG). Protest marches were called, the first in Abuja. Most of us were based in Lagos, again, we contributed our monies, volunteers stepped forward. We hired buses, and traveled all night to Abuja to make our voices heard. Soon later, another march occurred in Lagos, and we were there, holding our hands in a gridlock, carrying placards and calling for change in our nation. Divinity smiled on our request, the tense situation was resolved, and our nation heaved a sigh of great relief, for great was the fear in the land. All this under the inspiration, guidance and leadership of the same man, Tunde Bakare, but this time joined and supported by other giants in the land like himself.

This is 2011, we have metamorphosed, from excited youths of the GIC, to Volunteers of the SNG, the challenge of the hour is an election that promises to be a major deciding factor in how our future will be shaped. We desire a future that looks nothing like our very gloomy past. This time around, our leader, the man who inspires us, has teamed up with an old veteran, one who has carried high the banner of honesty, patriotism and integrity in this nation of many perverts. They seek to change the direction and course of our nation. We are now the CPC, we seek progressive and sustainable change in our nation. Will our people not give them the chance?

This is a passionate appeal to all youths of my generation, born between the mid 1970s to the early 1990s, we are the email generation, the facebook generation, the twitter generation. Our past has been that of gloom, deprivation, darkness, stagnation, hunger, strikes, poor education, poor healthcare, little or no recreation opportunities, dilapidated infrastructure. We never knew tertiary institutions where students ate chicken at extremely cheap costs. We never knew a Nigeria in which there were jobs waiting to hire you before you wrote your final project in school. Most of us had our parents and guests shouting "Up NEPA, this child must be a child of light!" at our naming ceremonies. We knew the date of our matriculation but we never could tell when we would graduate. We had little apparatus, scrawny visual aids to make our learning easy. We were taught with tools that had been existent since the days of Awolowo and Zik and Sardauna. We studied at night with candles and lanterns. We have suffered, while our mates in other climes have had such an enabling environment that they have shaped the world in which we live right now. In the next 48 hours, you will cast your vote at your polling booths. Please do not be deceived. Ours is a call of destiny; a call of conscience; a call we have lived and sacrificed for; the call of change in the way our nation and our lives are being run by greedy lions who have cornered the commonwealth of all for their own benefit and that of their own families. Vote for Buhari Bakare. Vote for the CPC. As we speak today, that is the most viable ticket to usher in an era of violence-free revolutionary change in our nation. Some of us are even becoming parents now, the same circumstances we grew up in, are the same our babies are knowing.

God does not come down to change a nation; he raises men who are ready and willing to change the status quo. God does not just choose them arbitrarily either, He chooses conscientious men who have lived by his principles of justice, righteousness, honesty, integrity, prudence, and truth.

This is the encapsulation of the Buhari Bakare 2011 ticket. Seize the opportunity, negotiate for yourself a better future!

Vote BB; Vote CPC!

Nigerian Entertainment: Where are the voices of Truth, of Conscience?

2011-04-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

If Fela Anikulapo Kuti was alive at this moment and witnessed the huge hypocrisy playing itself out in the Nigerian entertainment industry, in their recent greased palms-induced political alliances and endorsements, I am sure he would have had a lot to sing about! It appears that some of the major players in Nigeria’s entertainment industry do not realize the full implications of their role in society. There is rarely any platform that shapes the thinking of a people, like the entertainment industry, powered by a vocal media. Generations after generation are greatly affected by the type of songs they listen to, the type of films they watch, and the novels they read. The eye and ear are the windows to the soul, and just like faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God, so also the collapse of a man’s morality or the sharpening of it can be greatly influenced by the entertainment industry of that particular clime.

One scripture that aptly demonstrates this in the Bible, where God acknowledges the role of music in the shaping of a people’s thinking and culture and the preservation of their creed and history is found in the book of Numbers:

Deu 31:19 Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.
Deu 31:20 For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.
Deu 31:21 And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.
Deu 31:22 Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.

If this brings to light God’s recognition of the power of music, then the ministry of Jesus aptly describes the power of drama when He said in the book of Matthew:

Mat 13:34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:
Mat 13:35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

Parables! Painting a scenario which artistically stimulates the imagination to drive home a point, explain something or teach a lesson! That is in our world, drama! Movies! Nollywood! Even the Master recognized that this tool, if rightly used, in the hands of individuals whose consciences cannot be bought, can open up knowledge which has been kept secret from the beginning of the world! This is why artistes who know their worth are gifted and talented observers of the environment, keen observers of our world. They observe normal day to day happenings and create songs and parables (movies) out of them. Musicians, actors, and actresses have a great role to play in making a society achieve God’s original intentions for it. They can be God’s mouthpieces to their society, when their message, propelled by God’s talent in them, is driven by genuine passion and conscience and not filthy lucre from the hands of wealthy but massively corrupt politicians and political parties who have milked and sucked the nation dry over the past decade.

That is why I find it shameful and a betrayal of the Nigerian reality and of their calling, the recent endorsements of Nigeria’s ignominious ruling party by Nigeria’s top artistes lately, both on the music scene, and Nollywood. It is a sharp and painful betrayal of the reality of our time, that these professionals would churn out such fallacies and twisting of recent history in the name of endorsements. Yes, I know everyone has the freedom to choose, vote for, or endorse any candidate of their choice. But such decision should be responsible, fair, true to the heart, conscientious, and not just a political gimmick, or money-induced professional indictment and misrepresentation of obvious facts.

What beats me however is that the current situation in Nigeria, fuelled and sustained by 12 years of PDP’s greatly irresponsible, regrettable and retrogressive leadership has taken its own negative toll on the entertainment industry itself.

Our artistes complain daily of mass piracy going on, right within our nation, of their works, yet this government has not been able to take a decisive step against this evil, obviously, because they lack the moral competence to do so. This evil of piracy has denied these artistes themselves, the genuine reward they deserve for the great work they do in the industry, yet rather than clamor and support the current atmosphere of change in our nation, they would rather sell their own birthright for a plate of porridge from the ruling party.

What about the consequences of the atmosphere of insecurity in our nation. Does it not affect both the hapless Nigerian and the so called “stars” of the entertainment industry alike? In recent years, Nigeria’s music industry has suffered greatly as a consequence of a collapsed security system.

More than once, Tuface Idibia has been shot by unknown assailants, and once he was matcheted in his own home in Festac Town, Lagos. An uprising rapper, Dagrin, was cut down because of what many suspect is the irresponsibility of the Nigeria police, who reportedly had stopped a huge truck in the middle of the road which the young artiste crashed into on top speed, leading to his untimely death. In fact, what about the situation of our nation’s health sector, Dagrin was reportedly hospitalized for almost a week before he gave up the ghost, I have no doubt that if it were South Africa, or Europe or America, Dagrin would not have died, just like many other innocent Nigerians have met their untimely death as a result of our inept health sector, which the PDP in 12 years have failed to revamp! I do not need to remind you of Chief Oliver De Coque, and the late Gani Fawehinmi, who both died as a result of health conditions that were wrongly diagnosed for years in Nigeria, until their conditions became irreparable but rightly diagnosed by foreign hospitals, by which time it was too late to save both men.

Is this not the true reflection of the Nigeria we live in? One in which certain Nollywood “stars” seek to paint in a different and fallacious light? Is this not the reason why the outcry against the PDP runs through the entire nation, and the people of Nigeria are hell bent on voting them out this year? How can Nigerians sing a tune and Nollywood sing themselves another? Is Nigeria a reflection of Nollywood or Nollywood is and should be a reflection of Nigeria? So upon what conscience do they base their endorsements, other than material gain? This money, which is never enough, which does not save in the day of trouble, which does not end the piracy in the industry, does not secure any of our “stars” no matter how tall the fence of their houses are, or how many body guards they parade around. A most irritating jingle they came up with, stealing lyrics from the track created for Barack Obama by Black Eyed Peas and other American stars in 2008. “Now you know that we are not as divided as our politics suggests”, “Nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices asking for change.” The American artistes who owned those lyrics sang for change, not for a preservation of the status quo, here you are borrowing the lyrics of change, to support an odious status quo, what a shame! A jingle so unbelievably mediocre in originality and content, but rich in color and aesthetics, a perfect representation of Nollywood!

Yet, this industry once boasted of the likes of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Sunny Okosuns, Osayomore Joseph, men who used their music to conscientize Nigerians; who used their music to expose the injustices of successive military juntas at the expense of their lives; who used their music to advocate for freedom for Mandela and South Africa; who used their music to such positive and noble causes, that history forever revers them and places them amongst the heroes of their time.

The misrepresentation of reality and the attempted misleading of today’s youth which the current players in Nigeria’s entertainment industry are perpetrating, has only been given a loud voice because of the silence of singers of conscience. This also brings me to the players on the gospel music genre.

There was a time in this nation, when Evangelist Niyi Adedokun, a rare singer from Ilesa, used his accordion, and his sonorous voice to chastise the dictator IBB continuously. He was arrested many times and suffered great physical damage in the process, but he fulfilled the destiny his maker had given unto him. There were others like Timi Osunkoya, the Ayewa group, singers whose music reminded Nigeria’s rulers the responsibility that God had placed in their hands in national leadership; they fearlessly declared judgment when there was need to. With their music they gave the people hope that the future was going to be better; they taught the people morals and the fear of God. But such voices are not heard anymore in today’s gospel music scene, the voices of reason, of conscience, of truth and integrity.

The players in Nigeria’s entertainment should better know that the Nigerian youth is awakened. E o le p’aja l’obo fun wa mo! (You all can no longer call a monkey a dog for us any longer). We know our right from our left, and we know the difference between those who seek to build us a better future and those who wish to continue looting us into a future of oblivion. You players should recognize the huge responsibility that God and history places on your shoulders at this hour. There are millions of singers, actors and actresses across the world, but history only remembers those who used their talent to further the cause of the masses, of humanity, of the oppressed, those ones who propagated the truth with their music and acting prowess, who promoted the cause of justice, who chastised and opposed bad rulers and policies. History has no place for artistes whose only interest is their pockets, and the beautiful suits and shoes and females that line their videos. Nollywood, wake up! For God is able to raise a whole new sea of talents who will do righteously and propagate His truth to this generation. Like 9ice once sang “Talent dey waste”. Aimoye rapper, aimoye actors, akaimoye musician; time and chance happeneth to them all! Long live the memories of Bob Marley, Fela Kuti, Michael Jackson, Miriam Makeba, Sunny Okosuns, Ingrid Bergman, Charlton Heston, and the many others who used their talents to advance the cause of humanity and to promote the eternal principles of God.

“May the day not come, when you will fall out of favour with me”

2011-03-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

I remember the story told by Pastor Bakare at a service whose date I cannot recollect now. He told us the story of an event that happened in Abeokuta, in his father’s house after it had been recently rebuilt. One of his ministers had done a wrong that was so great that Pastor B was absolutely angry with him. Hence Pastor B had asked the minister to leave his presence and return back to Lagos as he did not wish to see or speak to him at that moment. The minister left but stood at the gate of the house and wept continuously, but he would not depart. Every close associate of Pastor B had gone in to intercede on the minister’s behalf but Pastor B’s mind was made up on his decision. Until, one last associate, a most highly favored one interceded on behalf of the offending minister. As angry as he was at that instant, he had no choice but to listen to this one associate because of the great love they shared. It was like the Lamb of God stepping into the presence of the father, interceding for a sinner; or like Esther stepping into the presence of the King at the most undesirable season, yet receiving his favour. Pastor Bakare, out of love and respect for his highly favored associate backed down and forgave the offending minister. Then he looked at the associate who had accomplished this feat and said to him “May the day not come, when you will fall out of favour with me” and the whole matter was resolved. That associate is no other than Pastor Samuel Aiyedogbon! But now, considering recent developments, when I reminisce on that story, I smile and say to myself ‘The devil is a liar!’

I also remember meeting Pastor Sam Aiyedogbon. I had often wondered about the future of the voice that spoke truth fearlessly to power in Nigeria which encapsulates the whole Tunde Bakare brand. The entire hierarchy of the Latter Rain Assembly leadership seemed to consist of Pastors who had entirely different callings from Pastor B’s. Pastors Biola and Ike are clearly excellent teachers of the word but who do not carry the Nigerian burden in their hearts with the same passion as Pastor B, though they are as endowed in their own distinct callings and idiosyncrasies. Then I encountered Pastor Sam Aiyedogbon around 2007, he had come to preach for Pastor Bakare who had traveled on that particular Sunday. Then I realized how myopic I had been! I had thought everything started and ended in Latter Rain Assembly! So there were voices outside I thought! I remembered Elijah and the unknown seven thousand! Pastor Sam preached, moved and spoke like Pastor Bakare, a total and perfect alter ego of the fiery man of God. From then, I had loved him, Pastor Sam, like I have loved my Pastor, Bakare.

Sometime later, Pastor Sam noticed me on Facebook. He had been following the short video clips and articles on Pastor Bakare’s messages that I posted online. He sent me a message to commend me and I was greatly excited. He even sent me his phone number and asked me to call him. I was greatly humbled. I called him over the phone and he blessed and prayed for me. He then invited me to his church to make a presentation during their youth week but I could not make it as I was out of town that weekend. Much later during the Save Nigeria Group youth rally, Pastor Sam had asked our youth Pastor to point me out for him for all these while we had never met in person. He was led to where I was seated and he embraced me with all smiles! Praying for me and encouraging me to go on with what I was doing. Was I happy! Of course, my father’s friend is my father as well. During the SNG march in Lagos I saw him speaking vehemently on the stage. He carried the crowd along passionately as he delivered his rhetoric in pidgin “Dem promise us light, una don see the light?” The crowd responded “Noooo, we no see am o!” He continued “Dem promise us water, good roads…una don see am? “ The crowd warming up to him responded “Noooo! We no see am o” I was one of the guards who formed a gridlock chain forearm in forearm around the podium and as I watched him deliver on stage, sweating profusely under the sun. I thought within myself “Thank you Lord! The revolution is not built around any one man, this revolution has a future!”

The current situation between Pastor B and Pastor Sam, in which the latter has roundly criticized and condemned the former’s entry into partisan politics, in such severe, venomous and sometimes insulting terms, and the sharp division that has arisen in the body of Christ especially between followers of both men, as I perceive it, is nothing short of the work of the enemy. It has little to do with the men of God themselves. That is why I declared before and I here declare again. “Brothers will yet embrace each other again; Satan will be put to shame and Christ will be glorified.” I take my position from some lessons God has taught me long before now which is about an age long booby trap of the enemy in dealing deathly blows against any impending move of God.

In recent times, Christians in Nigeria have gradually awakened to a huge responsibility they have towards salvaging the dwindling fortunes of the nation. This gave birth to several movements under the ministry of ‘National Transformation’. Men like Professor Vincent Anigbogu resigned his job as a chemistry professor in a prestigious American University and came back to Nigeria to set up a college called Institute of National Transformation (INT) where Christians are educated and prepared for community impact and participation in politics for the glory of God. Along with other men of God like Pastor Onyemala, IgbiniJesu, and many others, he educates and unleashes change agents into the society with their spirit-inspired teachings. A group of young technocrats, mostly Christians had come together and started a political party called National Transformation Party (NTP) under the leadership of Mr. John Dara. Many others had sacrificed a lot and thrown themselves into the course of saving Nigeria and making her great. George Ashiru, a former National Taekwondo champion; Steve Enada, a former Pastor and grassroots community mobilizer are but a few of those I know and have interacted with who are neck deep involved in the newly evolving ministry. Pastor Bakare on his own had been a constant pain in the neck of oppressive governments in Nigeria. However, Pastor Bakare’s entry into partisan politics, aiming for the highest office in the land seems to be the masterstroke of this National Transformation movement. Many people know, and the enemy knows that under the leadership of a Vice President Bakare, Nigeria might just begin to make that much anticipated turn around towards righteousness and greatness. And if he, the enemy, cannot get at the movement, or the man of God from outside, a most easy way is to plant a misunderstanding and throw a spanner in the works of the budding breakthrough. I love the way the Yoruba language calls it, EDE A-I-YEDE!

The enemy himself learnt this method from God Himself. For when men decided to build a tower and make a name for themselves, the scripture records that God came down and saw what the sons of men were doing and reportedly said “These people are one, and are of one speech, and this they begin to do; and nothing shall be restrained (impossible) for them which they have imagined to do. Hence the Lord scattered their language and cast them abroad, and they left off building the tower they had thought to build.” This scattering of languages, or misunderstanding, simply put has been a most fatal weapon in truncating any movement on earth. Indeed that is why I believe that one of Jesus’ most earnest prayers to the father as he departed these shores was “...those that thou has given me, that they may be one as we are one.” Whilst God had used a misunderstanding of languages in the story of Babel, the enemy also uses it in stopping lofty and Godly movements when men are not watchful!

A worthy example is the historic parting of ways between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his initial alter ego, Stokely Carmichael. At the time MLK had become a national hero in the civil rights movement, Carmichael was yet a student in the University. At the creation of the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), Martin Luther King had been invited as a Patron of the movement. At this moment, Carmichael was a member of the student movement and they organized sit-ins in restaurants to add more pressure to the demands for racial equality for the American Negro. At this time, Carmichael was an active follower of King’s non-violent integrationist demands. He was a brilliant speaker too and soon gained popularity among the youth. However, as soon as Carmichael became the leader of SNCC, he departed from the teachings of King and leaned more towards a more violent approach to solving the racial problem. Evolving his own movement which he called Black Power, he opposed King’s integrationist principle, rather he leaned farther to the left; he called for separation and a violent defense of the rights of the black people. But thank God for the Holy Spirit in the great Martin Luther King, the cardinal principle of his life was forgiveness anyway and he simply looked away, allowing the young man to continue in his own strides. Once Carmichael craftily had King on camera and asked him to join issues with him in a debate, but the revered man of God simply replied “I have been used before, one more time won’t hurt!” Somewhere within those manipulations, the enemy was hiding, waiting to plant in jealousy, hatred and rivalry and then deal the civil rights movement an early and fatal blow from within, but he failed, the spirit of God was in the heart of Dr. King.

However, another example which did not end that well was that of Malcolm X and his initial alter ego Louis Farrakhan. At the time Malcolm X was the eloquent, fiery and super brilliant face of the Nation of Islam (NOI) in New York, whose original founder was the quieter, more spiritual and diminutive Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan was only a young, black violinist in Boston who lighted up night clubs with his charming music. However Farrakhan stumbled upon the teachings of Malcolm X, in his own words, Farrakhan never even knew Malcolm X was not the original leader of the Nation of Islam, but Malcolm X’s teachings pointed always at Elijah Muhammad and Farrakhan soon became a follower of Muhammad, learning fast in the steps of Malcolm X. Soon Farrakhan himself became a talented speaker in the mould of his mentor Malcolm X and soon became the Minister of the NOI in Boston. However, trouble reared its head in the movement as usual. Malcolm X had felt betrayed by Elijah Muhammad when he discovered that his Master was found wanting even in his own teachings. Muhammad had impregnated about three of his personal secretaries in a row. Malcolm X was outraged, disappointed and soon quit the Nation of Islam to create his own organization, the Organization of Afro American Unity (OAAU). In the events that followed, Louis Farrakhan parted ways with his mentor Malcolm X and soon became a scathing critic of X. In one of his writings, Farrakhan described Malcolm X as “worthy of death” and in a short while afterwards, three members of the Nation shot and killed Malcolm X. The American Negro had lost their shining Prince! Till today, Louis Farrakhan is widely blamed for the death of X even though he has refuted it many times. The story is an example of events gone wrong between two friends who fell apart and the whole situation getting mishandled; a kind of fight in which there is never a victor, but only the vanquished. The only victor in the whole episode was the enemy!

We must not be ignorant of the devices of the enemy. That is why I know that this whole scenario is the handiwork of Satan, hoping to plant total disunity in the body of Christ over Pastor B’s foray into partisan politics. But I know the enemy has failed. Both men are seasoned Christians, sooner than later, brothers will embrace each other, Satan will be put to shame and Christ will be glorified.

If not, Pastor Sam marched with us in the Save Nigeria Group march. If the spiritual was to be our unilateral way of thinking and seeing things, then from a spiritual angle, what is the basic difference between marching in protest against a government policy or deed, and participating in righting the wrongs of the government itself? The SNG march was pure political activism; the presidential candidacy is pure political partisanship. From the spiritual perspective, how can political activism be right and political partisanship wrong? Both of them are aimed at the same objective, which is to glorify God by ensuring righteousness and justice is done in the land. I say again, Iro l’esu n pa, Satan is a liar!

Then again, according to scripture, the vision that Agabus saw, that he interpreted as pain, suffering, destruction and death for Paul, Paul himself had seen it before and called it glory and a path he must follow! Yet that did not interpret that Paul was “arrogant” or “mad” or “deluded”. The Apostles prevailed on him not to go but when he insisted, they let him be. Isn’t that enough example for the exalted man of God? Where in the world would such venomous attacks come from based on a doctrinal difference between one and one’s spiritual father? Iro l’esu n pa, Satan is a liar! Perhaps what Pastor Sam sees and calls arrogant ambition, Pastor Bakare sees as a lifelong vision which the spirit of God in him permits!

On more than one occasion in the Bible Paul says “…I speak, not the Lord, yet I believe I have the spirit of the Lord”. However when Pastor Bakare says, “I have not said ‘God said’ yet I know I have the spirit of God”. What is the difference? Is it not the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, that was at work in Paul and is at work in both Pastor Bakare and Pastor Sam? Should a doctrinal difference become personal? All the enemy seeks to achieve is to prevent the master stroke of the National Transformation movement in Nigeria which is the likelihood of a Bakare Vice-Presidency! Every movement has its crescendo and masterstroke, the dreams of Martin Luther King and the fights of Malcolm X achieved many strokes e.g. the Passing of the Civil Right Bill, the integration of the Schooling systems, Bus systems and all. But the master stroke of the black man’s struggles in America was delivered when Obama became President! The National Transformation movement in Nigeria has achieved many strokes, including marches, prayer meetings, conferences and Institutes. But a Bakare Vice-Presidency, would be a master stroke for this movement. Many politics-shy children of God would have a Joseph and Daniel of their time to latch onto. And the much awaited time will arrive for the manifestation of the sons of God in positions of governance!

I urge all followers of Pastor Bakare and Pastor Aiyedogbon to stop the unnecessary exchange of words and mudslinging. This is not about who is right or who is wrong. We must not allow the enemy to laugh at us in the current scenario. You may not agree that Pastor Bakare should contest, but at least you will agree that Nigeria should be saved, Nigeria should be changed and Nigeria should be made great. Then vote in line with what gives your conscience peace. If you are fully persuaded that the man of God has made a mistake in his foray, rather than spit out uncouth words that may lead the weak and ignorant astray, then refrain from speaking and simply pray for the man of God. God is able to save him; God is able to guide and correct him; and even if he falls, God is able to raise him up. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, we must bear the cross of Christ and glorify him everywhere we find ourselves, pray with me that we all shall laugh the last. Brothers shall embrace brothers again; Satan will be put to shame and the name of Christ will be glorified in Nigeria and in the body of Christ. Amen.

Non-violent resistance is not Non-existent resistance

2011-03-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

I write in response to a certain Mr. Ikenna Ebirim who wrote a piece of letter accusing Pastor Bakare of inciting people to violence in the next elections. In Ikenna’s words, he wrote, “Does it not amount to treason, for a presidential candidate (or VP) to call on Nigerians to take up arms (Jerry cans of fuel – arson) against an elected government if their candidate does not win at the coming polls? If their supporters set this country ablaze, which country will he govern?” Indeed, the above is a twisted account of what Pastor Bakare said at the NN24 debates, and such twisting is understandable, considering the fact that this is a season for politicking and electioneering.

Pastor Bakare never called for people to resort to violence against an elected government if their candidates do not win, no, not at all. What Pastor Bakare said and I quote him verbatim here is this “General Buhari never said anyone should spill blood, if he had wanted to do that, he would not have spent 50 months (that is more than 4 years) within the court system, to prove his case that he won the elections that were rigged in 2003 and 2007. But in this year 2011, he said ‘We will not go to courts at all, we will settle this at the polls', because of the level of awareness; an awakened citizenry, a people who are willing to protect their own votes…. Every Nigerian citizen must rise to vote, those of voting age, and they must not only vote, they must protect their vote because that is their voice and their voices must be heard, and anyone trying to stop that, is playing with Yemen, with Egypt, with Tunisia, all together, rolled into one, it is called the revolt of the poor.“

When the revered man of God was prodded to provide more explanation into what he meant by the revolt of the poor, asked if he meant people should lynch and kill people, he replied “No, I didn’t say people should kill anyone. Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, is the ruling class pushing the people to the wall. The truth of the matter is, when people say enough is enough, they mean it. In recent times in Kano, the election that brought in Shekarau to power; was because people rose up to defend their votes. It is recorded, they went with jerry cans in their hands, match in one hand, jerry can carrying petrol with the other, they cast their votes, and they followed those who were carrying the ballot from place to place to collation center. It got to a point, to a critical point, that they started calling Aso Rock and they were speaking to Obasanjo, and he’s alive to confirm this, that we cannot change this figure like we used to. That’s what we are talking about.”

The statement is clear. The people are tired of being cheated and oppressed. The season is combustive, like Chief Oyegun, vice presidential candidate of the ANPP said in defense of Bakare. If someone says to an aggressor, “You have slapped me twice, if you slap me one more time, I will engage you in a fight”. It is not the person who has been slapped twice and refused to respond that ought to be cautioned, it is the one who has slapped the innocent without reason that is inviting chaos and violence and he is the one that should be cautioned.

Mr. Ikenna then goes ahead to quote non-violent resistance as the systems of societal change preached by the late Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jnr. Of course, it is divine to engage the use of non-violent change when the aggressor has in him a chance to meet reason with morality. But when an aggressor is sworn, sworn in hell, to utterly destroy his victim, non-violence may not be the best option of resistance. The British occupation and domination of India; racial injustice against the blacks in America, all those were ideological differences in which the oppressor possessed a chance, a possibility of conceding to reason. There are fights of attrition, and there are fights of annihilation. A fight of attrition occurs because of a difference in ideology, in which both parties involved resort to muscle flexing to push their own agenda as the superior agenda. In such a fight, non-violent resistance is a great method of resisting evil. However, in a fight of annihilation, where one party is sworn to exterminate and extinguish the opposition, based on intense and unexplained hatred, non-violence is definitely not the way to go. Adolf Hitler’s mad ambition could not have been stopped by non-violence, neither was Pharaoh’s insistence on having the Israelites remain slaves forever in Egypt.

However, what irks me personally is the speed at which a lot of our people are wont to quote non-violent resistance as the best method of stopping evil, yet evil is continually committed against them and their people but they never put up any resistance, be it non-violent, or otherwise. A lot of Nigerians are well read, and widely exposed; they possess the ability to quote all the sages of this world having read lots and lots of books, but to put these things to practice is a big challenge. The purveyors of non-violent resistance in our nation are many, but how much of such resistance have they put up against evil? Oppression, cheating, injustice are perpetrated everyday but they never have felt the obligation to lead a resistance against this. Is it in the quoting, or in the doing? I have come to the conclusion that majority of the purveyors of non-violent resistance in Nigeria do so out of fear and cowardice. Not willing to suffer or get molested, they hide under the concept of non-violence.

Even Gandhi himself stated that non-violent resistance must be done in courage, and that it was better to fight than to embrace non-violence out of fear. Gandhi in his words defined non-violence in these words “Non-violence implies voluntary submission to the penalty for non-cooperation with evil.” A voluntary submission to the penalty for the non-cooperation with evil! In the days of Gandhi and MLK, they opposed every appearance of injustice with their non-violent ways. When unfavorable policies were imposed by the British government, Gandhi organized non-violent resistance against it. An example was the Great March to the sea, where Gandhi marched with 79 followers for hours to the sea and crystallized salt from the sea water to protest against the salt tax imposed by the British government. By his action, millions of Indians rose up against the salt tax until the British government was forced to make concessions to their demands. Martin Luther King on his own marched over 25 occasions, protesting against different policies in different cities for oppressed black people. In places, against the transport system, in other places against the housing system, in certain places against the school system! Gandhi and MLK suffered great physical brutalization in the pursuit of their cause but eventually overcame. They are the true heroes of non-violent change. They boldly stepped between the oppressor and the oppressed; the impostors and the victims, received on their bodies the pain and torture that would have been unleashed on the oppressed, and enforced positive change in their polity.

But in Nigeria, the purveyors of non-violent change are victims of incessant oppression, continuous subjugation and cheating from the ruling class, but they are unwilling to move against the system in resistance. They then cite non-violent resistance as their reason and abiding principle. Give me a break! Non-violent resistance is RESISTANCE at least! Show me your own resistance!! Presidential elections have been massively rigged twice; our transformation champions and non-violent change purveyors have never done anything about it. Corruption is at the highest level, we have never heard their voice. Nigerian legislator’s monthly pay is a monumental injustice against the average Nigerian worker and citizen, yet the purveyors of non-violent resistance do nothing. Thousands are being killed in Jos almost every week, but the purveyors of non- violent resistance neither speak up, march, nor do anything to force the government to stem this tide! The only thing we do is say and write quotes of great people. Is that the way Gandhi and MLK pursued theirs?

Indeed if Gandhi and MLK were Nigerians living in Nigeria in this generation, they would have grounded this evil, corrupt, oppressive governmental system to a halt a long time ago! They did not have the ability to stand this level of injustice. They would have grounded the system in 2007 when PDP unjustly rigged themselves to power. They would have risen to the occasion and inspired Nigerians to follow suit. Our transformation agents preach non-violent resistance yet they cooperate with evil by keeping silent and doing nothing. Meanwhile, they are supposed to call the attention of all, step out and disobey unjust laws, or stand in protest against unjust acts and invite the highest penalty to be laid on them!

If there is any Nigerian who has practically demonstrated non-violent resistance against oppression and injustice in Nigeria in recent times, it is no other than Pastor Bakare when he led thousands of us to march against the power hijack which the PDP had foisted on Nigerians in the wake of former President Yar’adua’s sickness and evacuation to Saudi Arabia. Indeed, when Nigeria became rudderless in the impasse that followed Yar’adua’s exit to Saudi Arabia, a lot of transformation agents again condemned Bakare for leading a non-violent protest march! I heard statements like “it is not timely” “they are supposed to be praying but they are marching” “Marching achieves nothing.” What a great betrayal! Betrayal of their running philosophy and betrayal of their nation! If Gandhi was living and this happened in India, he wouldn’t let it be; If Martin Luther King was living and this happened in America, he wouldn’t let it be!!

Pastor Bakare has not called for violence; he has not called for bloodletting, or killing of the innocent. He has only given a warning to the people of this nation. Pastor Bakare’s call for the people to protect their votes is definitely not different from the call of the revered Pastor Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God when he recently declared at the Holy Ghost convention “If anyone tampers with our votes in 2011, we will fight, we will fight!” The people’s wishes have been subverted twice; Bakare warns that any attempt to try that again this year might lead to anarchy and chaos. Has he not told the truth? Are the events in Tunisia and Egypt not evidence of the mood of Africans at this hour? A people who are tired of being cheated and looted? It is the PDP that must heed the warning at this hour and desist from doing evil. No one planned and executed the Tunisian and Egyptian revolution! They were spontaneous; the response of a people to the height of oppression and cheating.

Let the purveyors of non-violent change quickly step out of their comfort zones and take responsibility for peaceful elections and transfer of power if the ruling party loses in 2011, or else anything can happen in Nigeria. It is a hard saying; but that is the simple truth that stares us all in the face! It is God that establishes kingdoms and raises up kings, but when these kings do not glorify Him, He also orchestrates rebellions that will tear these kingdoms apart! Sometimes revolution can be from God. The Bible shows this.

Non-violent resistance is not non-existent resistance. Purveyors of non-violent change in Nigeria mostly do so in their speech but live non-existent resistance in practice! Let us not forget that non-violent resistance is done out of courage and not out of fear, it is practiced and not quoted, it involves sacrificing for the sake of the general populace. It involves deliberately planting oneself in between the oppressor and the oppressed. It involves taking a lot of pain and receiving blows without retaliation, it involves receiving willingly the highest punishment for non-cooperation with evil! And for those whose hearts are constantly drawn to the teachings of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, it is not for fun, or for mere acquisition of head knowledge, what God is telling you at this hour is that you are called to be the Gandhi and MLK of today; you are called to teach Nigerians the beauty of non violent resistance! There is a lot of violence going on in Nigeria today, ethnic clashes, injustices, religious clashes, God is waiting on you to rise up and step up to practically showcase to Nigerians how to register their ill feelings and demand for justice in non violent ways! Thousands are dying from violent resistance in our nation, perhaps their bloods will be demanded from some agents of transformation who have the passionate calling in their bones, but are too comfortable presently, preferring to keep quiet and lead their own lives…

Between Obama and Bakare: The Twin Prophecy

2011-02-11T01:35:00.000-08:00

These are days of revolution; these are days of great destinies. These are days of lasting history, when men are about to write their names once again in the sands of time. About a century ago, a technological revolution began and humanity went into long years of supremacy battles amongst the nations. This culminated in two world wars which have largely shaped the hierarchy of the nations. At this time, however, Africa and her constituent nations were missing out on the deal. Her lands were still Balkanized, amalgamations were going on without the opinion or consent of Africans, no African nation except Ethiopia was Independent, all were still colonized by European nations. Today, however, a century after, a new type of revolution has hit the nations of Africa, peoples everywhere are decrying the yoke of oppression, Egypt, Tunisia, Gabon, and Ivory Coast, Africans are yearning for a better deal, better leadership, better nationhood, and better standards of living.

It is hard to alienate this sudden awakened consciousness in Africans of all hue and cry from the singular epoch making event called Barack Obama. In the wake of Barack Obama’s rise, who when it comes to the brass tacks is of direct African descent, into the Presidency of the United States of America, thereby breaking a jinx that no one thought was ever possible, and becoming the most powerful man on earth and the leader of the free world, a sudden realization rolled across the nations of the world, especially the continent of Africa from where this man has his roots, a realization that truly nothing is impossible. A realization that truly, there is no magic spell anywhere responsible for the backward state of Africa and Africans, that we have the power to shape our future or forever live with the consequences of our docility. The truth is told before our very eyes, this truth has set free majority of Africans, and now they line the palaces of perennial dictators demanding for a change in their nations.

At home in Nigeria, the revolution is taking a different turn from those of the other African nations mentioned. The revolution is alive and is predicated on the incredible mass interest in the forthcoming elections. Judging by the mood of the season, it seems Nigerians have had it up to here and are determined to enforce a change in the polity. This change, as articulated by most is to start with the dethronement of the ruling party from power, a party that has only offered our nation more evil than good. A new wave of excitement hit the air in the past weeks when Dr. Tunde Bakare, a Christian Pastor joined the Presidential race as Vice Presidential candidate to a former military head of State, Gen Muhammadu Buhari. Ever since that declaration was made, the atmosphere leading up to the elections changed dramatically, it became electrified, as debates and arguments have gone forth into the appropriateness or otherwise of his candidature, the prospect of a Nigeria led by the duo, and the seemingly premeditated move by the popular, yet controversial clergyman. In my opinion, Dr Tunde Bakare’s entry into the race in this election is the epoch making event of the hour, bringing a somewhat revolutionary trend into electioneering in Nigeria, as many erstwhile docile individuals have suddenly gained interest in the race, either pro- or anti-Bakare!

As I reflected on these issues, the two revolution-inspiring personalities of the moment, Obama and Bakare, I could not help but notice certain meeting points between the two men, and as I reflected deeper, my mind went ablaze upon remembering a certain prophecy delivered by the revered Pastor over a decade ago, at the moment it was delivered the prophecy seemed half true, but now with the benefit of hindsight, it seems like it was two prophecies bound in one.

First I discovered that both men were born Muslims, but converted to Christianity. Obama’s Muslim name was Hussein, whilst Bakare’s Muslim name was Sindiku. Both men never really knew their fathers. Bakare’s father died before he was born, whilst Obama only met his father once as a child. Consequently they both grew up without their fathers. Both men are lawyers. Both men are visioneers, knowing what they were born to do right from their childhood. Bakare has always stated that he planned from his days as a youth to study law, use his law background as a stepping stone into the business world, accumulate wealth and end up in politics, before the lord snatched him and gave another assignment, for a season. Obama on his own, graduated tops of his class from school, and rather than take up jobs offered him from the juiciest firms of the time, decided to go into community service, so he gain enough shop floor knowledge for the political career he had envisioned for his future.

In June 1999, at a service at the Latter Rain Assembly Lagos, Pastor Bakare gave a word of prophecy that was a landmark. He prophesied that anytime from year 2000 upwards, God would raise a black man of influence to rule America. But in the second part of the prophecy, he tried to explain how it would come to be but he ended up speaking about himself. That is why I called this prophecy, a two in one prophecy. The first part was for Obama and the second part for Bakare himself, though at that time, he never realized it, nor does he probably realize this up till now. Does the scripture not say “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part? The words of the prophecy are in the excerpts below:

“Son of man, I am positioning you in this land, because I’m raising up a black man of influence that will rule America. Does that make sense? How in your mind do you ever think a black man will ever become the President of America, it’s an impossibility! How many of you know that this does not interest me, I’m still trying to fix my nation (not so mama?) I’m reconstructing, rebuilding, my home is in shambles, and He’s talking to you, what will happen from year 2000 upwards. Anytime from Year 2000 upwards, I want a black man to rule America…of course it cannot be me. Lord how shall this be? He didn’t talk to me; another day, hmm… what we discussed yesterday remember? Check Gen 45:8 it was Joseph talking, “I’m now become father to Pharaoh, lord over all his house, and lord over all Egypt” so I said Lord what has that got to do with me and click, click in my heart, I saw, I don’t know the man but I’m going to pray him through that’s going to be my assignment, he’s a black man, he’s a Christian, one American Presidential candidate is going to cross the line, do the unusual and make him his vice President and either between the first term or the second term, something will happen to that man, and the black man who is a descendant of slaves like Joseph, who will become second in command to Pharaoh like Joseph, will end up becoming the Lord over all Egypt.”

The former part of the prophecy spoke about Obama, the Christian black man of influence that God raised to become America’s current President shortly after the year 2000, but the latter part spoke of Bakare, the Presidential Candidate was not in America but here in Nigeria, Buhari, who would cross the line, do the unusual and make a Pastor, a fiery one at that, his Vice President. And thereby a Joseph would emerge who would rule beside Pharaoh and bring economic prosperity, security, fame and greatness to the land of Egypt!

In the wake of the American elections that brought Obama to power, an excitement ran across the world in a tremor, but some people felt it more than others did. Within the body of Christ, many were wary and some, looking at the love the whole world showered on the man, postulated that he was the anti-christ to come. However, Pastor Bakare’s excitement over the development knew no bounds. In the weeks leading up to the election, Pastor Bakare spoke about the man continuously, and led the church to pray for him time and again. Pastor Bakare watched his every speech and sometimes wept when he compared the quality of politics in those climes with ours back home. When Obama won the election, the very next Sunday Pastor Bakare made a nationwide broadcast on Television with the title, “American elections; God’s perspective” where he prepared the ground unknowingly for this BB season. We in the youth ministry then also caught the fire; at that time I was coordinator of a movement called GIC in the youth church of the Latter Rain Assembly and we floated a youth town hall meeting with the topic, “Barack Obama: Can it happen in Nigeria?” Looking back now, I realize Pastor Bakare’s keen interest was not just because of the prophecy he had given, or the prospect of a black man becoming President of America, that jubilant excitement was also because in Obama, Pastor Bakare saw a picture of himself, even though the season had not yet come.

I draw my inference from a position of knowledge having been a passionate follower of the man of God for years. Over the years the man had spoken about the emerging Joseph generation and even had a whole conference about it in 2008. Well, this is the season, for the emergence of this Joseph generation. The Joseph generation is not Pastor Bakare himself alone; it is a whole galaxy of God’s sons who will begin to take over political blocks starting from this season! As events unfolded in recent times, all I could say is God is wonderful, the one who knows the very end from the beginning! The man had declared time and again that he knew for sure that his destiny was intertwined with that of Nigeria, yet he had also declared that he had no interest in politics. However God had other plans as this BB ticket has revealed! And just like Obama is a first seed for blacks in America to begin to aspire to any height they could imagine in their country, so is Pastor Bakare a first seed for all children of God who had erstwhile considered politics a field of endeavor that was a taboo for the righteous. There is a revolution for the hour, saying to us all, God does not forbid any man from rebuilding and reconstructing his nation, even as we bring the light of God’s values and ways to correct the rebellious ways of the sons of Belial who have misled our nation for so long. If he didn’t forbid Nehemiah, Deborah, Joseph and the many Heroes of faith in the Bible, He will not forbid us from getting involved in the rebuilding and reconstruction of our nation, Nigeria.

Every nation has a time of visitation; the wind of change is blowing across the nations of Africa in violent ways, but has come to our doorsteps in Nigeria via a non-violent channel, through our choices with the ballot in the forthcoming election. In this election Nigerians have a choice to turn the ship of our nation from its present course, which ultimately leads to destruction, to an entirely new direction which will ensure greatness, prosperity and a bright future. Righteousness exalteth a nation, because when the righteous are in power, the people will rejoice. May Nigeria not miss her moment of visitation! God has spoken to us in parables, it is up to us to discern his move for the hour, this is the cap of all transformation moves across Nigeria, and this is the moment we have been waiting for. We must ensure the BB ticket takes over in Aso Rock this year. Nigeria this is our chance, this is our time, and we will not be oppressed any longer!

Step into it, Pastor Bakare, and let the revolution begin!

2011-01-30T17:49:00.000-08:00

When I first heard about the likelihood of my Pastor Tunde Bakare running alongside Gen. Buhari as Vice President of Nigeria, I opposed it totally. I was afraid that the world would misunderstand his intentions. And I thought that would land him in a serious credibility crisis, since he had spent years upon years, scolding successive governments and even going ahead to convene the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), a timely rescue group sent to Nigeria early 2009.

Second, he had many times said he had no political ambition whatsoever, but he was willing to midwife a union between the best of the North and the best of the South and move Nigerians to vote out the PDP massively from the Presidency. I thought the world would say he lied to them. I silently prayed he would not take the VPship for days now until certain things were explained to me.

My mind was thrown back at this message, as far back as 2008. I was in that service. And I remember my spirit witnessed such an occasion as this was coming to happen someday. Plus, Pastor Bakare has by now transcended the status of a person who would shy away from doing God's will simply because of controversy and what people would say. Indeed, his very nature flourishes in controversy. Whatever he does or says, usually ends up in controversy. He belongs to the Order of the Weird; men whose paths were so unpredictable; only God understands their ways.

Second, is this not what he had taught us over the years? That the sons of God must take responsibility for the healing of this wobbling giant? That Christians should enter into the political scene and take charge from local governments upwards? If he fails to pick up the gauntlet at this stage, if he "chickens out" as it looks, where would he have the moral standing to ask Christians to plunge into politics and take over? That would be a betrayal for many who take inspiration from him, including me, who intends to run for Chairmanship of my Local Government, come 2015.

Besides, what is the worth of a credibility crisis, when one visualizes the great gift of a Tunde Bakare Vice Presidency. Is this so called credibility crisis, worth the rehabilitation of our nation which his stepping to power so definitely represents? The repair and construction of world class roads; transparent and accountable government; rehabilitation of our education system right from primary school; giving meaning to servant leadership and making real the promise of the supremacy of the rule of law; rebuilding our health system; the promise of 24 hour electricity and all the things we so earnestly yearn for? Would we because people might misunderstand his intentions, throw away all these things, that we have been fighting for over these years. The scriptures say every nation has its own moment of visitation, is this not the moment of visitation we have been hoping for, the coming of the New Nigeria?

And if it is about midwifing a union between the best of the North and the best of the South, then does Pastor Bakare not qualify eminently? Morally, socially, educationally, Pastor Bakare more than belongs to the category of those we would call the best of the south! So why not him?

Would a man fight all his life, at the expense of his own safety and that of his family, since the days of IBB, Abacha, OBJ, down to the current dispensation, fighting fearlessly against these tyrants and anti people rulers, only to "dodge" a chance at responsibility? How many Nigerians have put themselves at more risk for the sake of our nation, and for the sake of the poor, than people like Pastor Tunde Bakare? So if he emerges Vice President, would that be too much?

If he does not pick up this gauntlet, and some focusless, and directionless ruler continues his misrule after 2011, would Pastor Bakare still continue to criticize, and the people would not say to him "afterall they said you should come and try but you ran away......ko se, ko j'olulese!" May God forbid!

Jagun, this is your destiny. Take it. Win or lose, your candidacy and campaign, I am cock sure will change the political landscape of Nigeria forever! Your participation will ensure that more children of God boldly step on the scene in the coming future. You are like a first seed in this matter, going forward to bring many sons to glory. And if you and Gen Buhari win pere? Olorun Oba o! Even your critics would join us in the wild jubilation we will engage in, for the birthing at last of the New Nigeria. I for one, will quit writing political and transformation articles, I will start writing romance stories, because I know the deed is finally done and change has come at last!!

Please note Baba, however, that this year is the year for a unified opposition. It is my hope that your stepping on the scene will unify all opposition in Nigeria. Whether someone runs on the platform of CPC, AC, NTP, SDP, NRC, NPN OR UPN is not the matter now, what matters is the downfall of the ruling party PDP, a giant behemoth who lacks direction, knowledge or plan in how to bring about change in our nation. It is my hope that you will reach out to all progessive candidates, Professor Utomi, Bashorun Dele Momodu, Mr John Dara, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Governor Shekarau, to join in this unified opposition, for if all of them run individually, they are all bound to split the progressive vote and PDP will simply have a walkover to victory, they will not even need to rig to continue their season of misrule!

This nation is burning Pastor B.

Yes, there is a connectivity...connection between your destiny and that of this nation.

No, your job is not just to decry it!

Yes, your destiny is to STEP INTO IT, AND LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!!

When Life Begins at Forty.

2011-01-29T00:10:00.000-08:00

There are certain scriptures in the Bible that guide my everyday conduct, aspirations, and life as a whole. Deep words they are, they tell me that there is a God, there is destiny, my days are numbered, they tell me my path is cut out before me, even before I was born, even though I still have to work out my own salvation. They tell me there are books written concerning me, and every second that passes in my life is as written in those books, as long as I am willing to submit to the push of destiny and the will of the most high God.

Psalm 40:7 says “Lord I come, in the volume of the book as is written of me.”

Job 23:14 says “For he performs the thing that is appointed for me, and many such things are with him.”

Matt 26:24 says “The son of man departs as is written of him…”

I have also deciphered from the Holy Scriptures that God speaks sometimes through repeated statements or occurrences. Job 33:14 says it all “For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceives it not.”

This scripture led me to begin to perceive that certain ages, for certain agents, carry heavy implications. Take the age thirty for instance. Joseph was thirty years old when he became the Prime Minister of Egypt though he had seen it in dreams as a teenager. Also David was thirty years old when he began to reign as King, though he had been anointed since the age of seventeen! The Lord Jesus also began his ministry at thirty, though he had known his mission before he was twelve years old! This seems to tell me, that for certain agents, Kings by God’s ordination, the age thirty is the age of coronation.

Over the course of my life I have become irretrievably drawn into public affairs, much like my biological father. I have come to admire the lives of certain individuals whose comments, lifestyle and mission greatly influence me. They are mostly activists, or rebels by man’s estimation, but under the teachings of the great Pastor Tunde Bakare, I have understood that these men are part of the pillars by which God establishes human kingdoms. He taught, through his message, “The leadership Style of Joseph”, that these men who I so admire are called The Order of liberators. They are born with a natural hatred for injustice and oppression. Anywhere they see these evil vices, something in them rises up to fight and speak against it, usually at the expense of their own lives. But, as Pastor Bakare taught, God raises them up whenever the original pillar of the founding fathers has been shifted from position. They are God’s judges, they speak fearlessly to power, and they fight doggedly against oppression and injustice. I grew up to admire such men, and becoming a young man, I unwittingly began to demonstrate the traits they exhibited. I need not be told, that my calling is along this path, for what moves them moves me, I hate to see oppression. I hate injustice. The Bible says oppression makes a wise man mad (very angry). And in my little way, I decry it in my writings, for that is the voice that God has given me yet especially as it has to do with the oppression of the people by the political ruling class in my nation Nigeria, and across Africa as a whole.

Some of these men include by order of preference, Thomas Sankara, the man I call God’s best gift to Africa yet, former leader of Burkina Faso. A man who fought against French domination and imperialism on the African continent in his lifetime. At the same time, he inspired his people to achieve great things in his days. Without fear, he spoke to the West and declared no African nation need pay back her debt, for we were too poor to do so. He inspired his nation to clothe herself, feed herself, and build her own railway tracks. The West was scared of this young revolutionary, they set him up against his own childhood friend and Sankara was slain.

Second is Malcolm X, one of the most misunderstood black men in history, but a hero in my estimation. I consider him a hero because of the untainted love he had for God (as he knew him). The discipline he held in high esteem which caused him to turn his back on his mentor. His willingness to change philosophies and outlooks after his visit to Mecca where his eyes were opened and he realized that he had been misled and had misled others for years. A fiery and valiant fighter for the rights of Afro Americans in the 1960s, many say he preached hate. But I never consider him as a preacher of hate, for he grew up a victim of hate. Hate slaughtered his father. Hate burnt off his house. Hate scattered his family. Hate sent his mother into the asylum for over 26 years. Hate sent him on the streets at the age of nine and forced him to steal to cater for his sisters. Hate killed his people by hanging and execution without a crime, hate raped young teenage girls of his color without getting justice, and when they protested and expressed their desire to be treated as the human beings that they were, hate sprayed them with hot water and used police dogs to bite them. The summary of his message was this, “Be gentle, be courteous, respect everyone, but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.” He did not know any better, for Islam was the first religion he discovered in jail. In it he found solace, from a lifetime of oppression and bitterness. While the Christians of then had manipulated the Bible to foist intense oppression on him and his ilk. He too was slain by members of his Islamic family.

Third is Martin Luther King (MLK), by far the greatest of all. A fountain of knowledge he was and a gift to the black race. He was the opposite side of Malcolm X. They fought for the same basic cause, but approached it from opposite ends. Malcolm X wanted separation, MLK preached integration. Malcolm X preached an eye for an eye; MLK preached non violent resistance, a course in which you must be willing to accept blows without retaliation. But thank God for MLK, for he became the moral conscience of the American nation. He was attacked and jailed, beaten many times but the strength of the love in his heart overcame. He conquered hate with love. And had it not been for him, there probably would have been genocide against blacks in America then if they had resorted to taking up arms to fight their course. MLK ate the bread of life, for out of his belly flowed rivers of living water. Till today, millions across the globe listen to his speeches, read his books, enjoy from his wealth of divine knowledge and take inspiration from him. He never lived for many days, but he has outlived all in his generation, for though dead, yet he speaks, every single day. At his Mausoleum in Atlanta Georgia in America, now a tourist attraction called The King Center, thousands throng from different ends of the earth to see where he lay, immortal. MLK was slain for what he believed in, an event he had predicted a few hours before it happened.

Fourth is Che Guevara. Che Guevara is not an African. But he was a revolutionary sent to awaken the consciousness of Latin America. An Argentine by birth, as a young man he rode a motor cycle across Latin America and saw firsthand the poverty being experienced by the people of his region. This poverty was right under the nose of the most powerful and prosperous nation on earth, the USA. This engendered deep anger in him as he discovered that the poverty oppressing his people was traceable to certain political and business policies of the USA and the entire western bloc. He teamed up with Fidel and Raul Castro to overthrow a Pro West government in Cuba and began a great work at rebuilding Cuba. So great was his anger that it is reported that even Fidel Castro had to contain and curtail his bitterness against imperialism. Che believed the whole world need a revolution from the grips of the West and was more than willing to fight as a mercenary anywhere in the world against western domination, directly or indirectly. He was in the Congo; to fight alongside Laurent Kabila against the West backed Mobutu in the sixties. All across Latin America he fought for his beliefs many times at great detriment to his life and health for he was asthmatic. His anger was not properly guided and managed. He died in the midst of fighting in the capture of Bolivian forces trained by the American CIA. Till today, the world follows the life and times of Che Guevara, revolutionaries can never forget him and he is an inspiration to many till this day.

As I grew up and studied the lives of these men, I noticed a sad trend in the manner they all died. But this observation never did hit me and become a truth in my heart until I visited The King Center in Atlanta Georgia, in the USA. I spent three days in that location, entering every room, reading everything, taking pictures of almost every object and listening to many of the speeches of King that are not on YouTube or other media. As I listened to one of such speeches at the King center, suddenly my observation became a truth that my spirit testified to. What was this observation that became a truth? All four of them, these revolutionaries, Thomas Sankara, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Junior, and Che Guevara all died at the age of 39! One single year before the age of 40! Sankara died at 38 though, but that could be approximated considering the other trending parameters.

That day as I drove back home. I began to wonder, why 39? My feelings had to be true. If the Scriptures were true, and every man’s life is written in God before they are lived out, much like reeling out a story board, why did he write the age 39 for most of the world’s leading revolutionaries? Around that same period, a final confirmation came to me that sealed up all my doubts! I had opened up the Sahara Reporters website to look up happenings in my nation when I stumbled upon the recent story of the murder of yet another freedom fighter in my nation. He did not have as much international clout as the four mentioned above but he was a gift to his people, the people of Abia state. As I read the story of the life and times of Chidi Nwosu and the brave steps he took in his lifetime. Sorrow overwhelmed me at the loss of such a jewel. This man had fought his state government to a standstill on many charges of corruption and many of them he won! A one man riot squad in his community! However, as is characteristic of revolutionaries like the ones that lived before him, Chidi Nwosu was murdered in the most gruesome manner right in his own home with his wife and children listening to his cries as he was tortured to death by his assailants. What was most shocking to me was his age at the time of his murder; Chidi Nwosu was 39 years old!

“For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceives it not.” At this point in time, I had no more doubts in my mind that this was yet the voice of God speaking through similar events in man’s history. Men who knew their purpose early in life, and followed it with intense passion, men who fought for a better life for others, men who led people even where angels feared to tread. Many of them died just before their 40th birthday. When I remembered the significance of the 30th birthday as reflected in scriptures, I knew that there was something about the 40th birthday as well.
If I ever attend a person’s 40th birthday celebration and I had a chance to speak, this is what I would say to the person. The 40th birthday is a birthday of re-appraisal. The man who said life begins at 40 did not know all the stories I laid above, but he spoke of things greater than his knowledge at the time, for that statement is almost a hundred years old! The 40th birthday is given for anyone who has never lived a life of purpose, for any man or woman who has lived his life pursing what to eat, drink and wear alone without a sense of purpose and destiny. The 40th birthday is a gift to such a one, a special gift from God and God is saying to such a person. “Begin again! You have lived for yourself the first half of your life, now live for me and the purpose for which I have created you into the world.” That is when, life truly begins at 40. That is when deliberate living begins, when one begins to pursue his reason of existence, and not just the ephemeral enjoyments of this transient world. 40 is an age that could still be classified as youth, no wonder the Bible says “Remember the Lord in the days of thy youth, before the evil days are come and thou shall say, I have no pleasure in them.”

For any man or woman, who has known his purpose before the age of 40 and lives beyond that age, God seems to be telling such a one, “Keep on, there is yet a great assignment and great glory that awaits you. Do not relent, there are many whose deliverance are tied to your destiny, and you must find them and deliver them.”
I thank God for my life as I know exactly why I am here. I was born for the transformation of my nation and Africa at large. This transformation must be spiritual as well as in the living standards and conditions of Africans as a whole. Africans need to turn to God and eschew the evil of greed, materialism and wanton bloodshed; we must embrace God and the spirit of love. Africans must also rise and cast down all age long yokes of poverty, oppression and bad governance that currently pervade the land. I believe there is going to be a thing such as the great African renaissance and it is right now upon us. Africa will yet be better than it is now. Black people will be respected across the length and breadth of the world. Nigeria will yet rise again; we will overcome all our challenges. The blood of many revolutionaries that have been shed in times past will not be in vain, for justice shall cast away injustice in the land, light shall overcome darkness. And deliverance shall be obtained for the peoples of my continent and my nation.

If I ever live to be 40, for I know that the path of my destiny is not an easy path at all, but If I ever live to be 40, I will thank God and celebrate it in a big way. I will also speak about this message at such an occasion. But if not, then may God be glorified for long life does not necessary men the longevity of days, as far as I am concerned, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Che and Thomas Sankara even though lost their lives at 39, have outlived many of their generation who died in their 80s and 90s and are today unsung and unknown. Today, videos of their speeches are watched all over the world, books have been written about them and youths of all colors and hues take inspiration from them. For me, that is long life! Though dead, yet speaking…..

2011: The year for a unified opposition.

2011-01-18T01:52:00.000-08:00

2011: The year for a unified opposition.

The upcoming 2011 elections will only go down in history as a positive landmark in Nigeria’s history if Nigerians are able to end the 12-year reign of horror of the ruling party PDP by voting them out of presidential power massively. With 12 years of leadership in Nigeria, the PDP has crassly failed to deliver a better life to Nigerians. The Niger Delta is as problematic as ever and coupled with it now is Boko Haram and the ever increasing Jos crisis. A communal fracas fought with guns and machetes has now evolved into a full scale war of terrorism perpetrated with high tech bombs. The economy is none the better, education is at its worst pedestal ever with another successive year of massive failures at WAEC, critical infrastructure offers no hope in sight, power, pipe borne water, road systems, railway systems and all what none. The list of PDP’s failures is endless and needless to recount. It is said that madness in China is defined as doing something repeatedly the same way and expecting a different result. If we must see a major change in Nigeria, PDP must be driven out of Aso rock and the majority seats of the National Assembly.

There are arguments that opposition parties in Nigeria are not any different or better than the ruling party. Well, I think it’s about time we find that out! At least let us exhaust our options before we settle for the lesser of the evils. By all legal means necessary, Nigerians must flush out PDP from power. We need an air of change in Nigeria, perhaps a new party will be eager to satisfy the people and do what is right. Perhaps the nation might stumble on a fluke like Lagosians stumbled on Fashola. We need something different to rekindle our hope in the future of our nation.

It might be easy to write, postulate or hypothesize, but getting rid of the PDP won’t be an easy task. For one, the span of the party is enormous, and the statistics are alarming. PDP has 27 state governors out of 36 with 4 different parties sharing the remaining states amongst themselves viz: ACN 4, ANPP 3, APGA 1, and LP 1. In the National Assembly, the upper legislative house which comprises of 109 senators has party distribution as follows PDP 86, ANPP 16, PPA 1, and ACN 6 members. The lower House of Representatives which has 360 members offers similar startling distribution viz: PDP 260, ANPP 62, ACN 32, LP 1 and PPA 3 members each. This means that amongst state governors, PDP controls 75%, in the Senate, PDP controls 78%, and in the House of Reps, PDP controls an overwhelming 72%. PDP is a monstrous behemoth, lacking in ideological followership though, but richly endowed with die-hard fanatics whose only language is money and power. It would take a strategically-planned and heaven-backed political hurricane to oust this monster from power. As I speak, there is no single political party in Nigeria that can unseat the PDP. Not the ACN, not the CPC, not the ANPP or the NTP to which I belong. To oust the PDP, it is time for all opposition parties who sincerely desire change for this nation to come together and speak with one voice. Any failure to do this, would pave a way for another stretch of PDP misrule, which would be absolutely disastrous for our nation! That is why I call 2011, the year for a unified opposition.

In 2007, Gen Muhammad Buhari and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar met time and again to forge an alliance that was supposed to contest against this behemoth and defeat it. After a deluge of meetings, they failed to reach a compromise as none was ready to sacrifice his bid for the other. They eventually went into the elections separately against the PDP, and against each other, after the elections, they both met in court victims of their own self-centeredness as they both had instituted cases of electoral fraud against the winner, the late President Umaru Yar’adua. The PDP had trounced them both by hook and crook! What was more insulting, the Appeal Court merged their petitions together! The same merger they failed to achieve willingly before the election, that could have made them come out stronger and more formidable and probably wrest power from the PDP had one of them sacrificed his bid for the other, was then thrust on them and they both had no choice but to accept it. They formed a merger as they challenged PDP’s victory in court. What an unfortunate irony!

At this point in our political story in Nigeria, we need one strong opposition. Just one! Anything short of that would make a perpetuation of the ruling party very easy. Remember, in our political history, the opposition has never defeated the incumbent in a Presidential election. But never in our history has change been as needed as it is now, therefore, it is imperative for all opposition candidates to come together and put the interest of the nation before their own personal ambitions, else, those personal ambitions would ever remain a mirage at the nation’s expense!

We have never had it so good in the array of personalities vying for the Presidential seat in Nigeria’s recent history. With veteran contestants like General Mohammad Buhari and Professor Pat Utomi leading the opposition, the entrance of new and interesting personalities like John Dara, Nuhu Ribadu and Dele Momodu, the mass awareness campaigns by Pastor Bakare’s Save Nigeria Group, and the explosion of youthful interest in matters of the nation, the involvement and growing impatience of Nigerians in the Diaspora, expressed through the internet, the 2011 elections promises to be a colossal event, reminiscent of MKO Abiola’s Hope 93 elections. Awareness is at its highest pitch; expectations are shooting through the rooftops. The people are tired but hopeful, a wind of change is blowing across Africa, and change is imminent.

I therefore make a public appeal to the entire array of opposition candidates, for this once, for the sake of the dead little children in Jos, for the sake of our billions that have been raked and stacked abroad by the PDP and her chieftains, for the sake of the image of our nation which is gradually becoming a terrorist enclave, for the sake of those 89% of candidates who have failed SSCE again, for the sake of a nation harboring over 60 million generating sets in her bowels, for the sake of the nation that we love so much, for this once, please put the interest of Nigeria before your personal dreams. Call a meeting amongst yourselves and give a most supreme mandate to the most capable and most generally accepted candidate amongst you all taking into consideration the political dynamics of the hour. Wage this war as a personal battle in which victory is inevitable. Come together as one man, and inspire a nation to rise up and chase out the PDP for the people’s sake. We all need to shout with one voice to see the walls of Jericho fall down in Nigeria. Remember, if you do not do this, you all will meet after May 29 in court, you all will come with individual cases, but will be forced to unify your cases like it happened to Buhari and Atiku in 2007. Then you would all be forced to work together, but by that time, things might have been damaged beyond repair.

I am not in a position to recommend who is best to champion this cause among you all, for you are all capable men. General Buhari is a man who needs no introduction to every Nigerian who knows his left from his right, his love for the nation has never been an object of doubt, his methods however have been a subject of criticism from many quarters over the years; I have met Professor Pat Utomi in person time and again and have listened to him speak many times, the pain in his heart concerning the state of the nation is contagious, it is palpable, so is his yearning for an urgent value change that will precede developmental change in Nigeria. John Dara, my political leader, is a moving encyclopedia of Nigeria’s challenges and practical, tested panaceas. A single meeting with the maverick technocrat is all needed to prove the point. Bashorun Dele Momodu has pounding in his heart the drumbeats of revolution. His passion is absolutely genuine, he once told me, “I have no ambition, I have a vision”, I have discussed with him for hours on the phone on the best way forward for Nigeria as a nation and even though I do not belong to his party, I recognize he is a gift to this nation, this generation and a worthy man to lead Nigeria. I believe only those who do not know him too closely think otherwise, for if I had not met the man, and only judged him through the Prism of Ovation alone, I probably would not have realized the huge nationalistic and patriotic fire in him. Nuhu Ribadu is a personal hero to me and many of this generation and I silently pray that I will live to see him lead this nation as President someday in our lifetime. His anger at corruption is as real as the word. However, as capable as you all are, you all do not have the same level of national popularity and acceptance, this is key in the task at hand. The season is politically-dynamic and your anticipated consensus must hold that as a key factor.

It behoves the opposition to channel the path of change and deliverance for this beleaguered nation. Let no candidate go into this election, split worthy votes, unwittingly pave a way for a continuation of the PDP misrule and come back to tell we the people that he is a nationalist! We will not take it. For now is the time to demonstrate your nationalism. This call is a call for huge sacrifice, but if you all ponder it with a clear mind, you will see that the truth lies therein. We are tired of the PDP, e jowo e ba wa le won sonu! But please remember, with the facts at hand, no one, no single political party among you all, can do that alone, you all need each other.

God bless Nigeria.

President Goodluck Jonathan's Acceptance speech.

2011-01-14T01:06:00.000-08:00

This is the acceptance speech delivered by President Goodluck Jonathan at the venue of the PDP primaries, Jan 13, 2011 after overwhelmingly defeating his rival former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. The results afer voting is as follows: Goodluck 2736, Atiku 805, Sarah Jibril 1.

For me, the only cheering thing was the transparency and freeness of the voting and counting. Otherwise, nothing has changed, allegations that thousands of dollars have exchanged hands are rife. And the speech itself, is at best uninspiring.

'The price the wise pays for negligence to public affairs is to allow fools rule over them'

2010-08-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

Living in the fear of Tokyo and Eleweomo

Yesterday afternoon, the city of Ibadan, in South West Nigeria was a picture of a war zone. Across the city scape lined street urchins known as ‘garage boys’ with red eyeballs and menacing looks. Armed with cutlasses, some covertly held under their dresses and some ostensibly held. Riding their motorcycles in convoys all over the city with a lot of noise and reckless use of the roads and shouting. All the major roads had big police armoured tanks, manned by anti-riot policemen armed to the teeth, all wearing bullet proof vests and helmets. In one or two places I saw groups of policemen surrounding badly injured young men, obviously garage boys. The city was reminiscent of one of the scenes I saw in the epic movie Sometimes in April, that movie about the Rwandan genocide. Somewhere deep inside me, I quaked in fear, for I saw a polity harbouring within itself enough elements to perpetrate a full scale war.

It was the peak of a long-running political battle which had once again re-surfaced in Ibadan. A scene I had witnessed the previous week came to my mind. I had gone to market some goods somewhere off the Iwo Road Axis, I noticed a bunch of potential customers and approached them, and about six of them were there, all ladies. As I greeted and made to speak with them, they all quickly excused themselves and asked to be left alone for they were in a hurry to leave the place. I persuaded them to give me just 5 minutes as I did not intend to take their time. They hurriedly told me to be quick about what I had to say as they couldn’t wait to go to their homes. I asked them why they were so in a hurry to go home when it was only about 2:30pm in the afternoon and the business day was yet to be over. One of them, the eldest among them asked me if I was new in town and had not heard that ‘Tokyo’ was back and was set to take over back from his erstwhile deputy ‘Eleweomo’. I told her I didn’t know any of those people as I quickly detailed them all the information I needed to. I quickly did my marketing as they all scampered away and asked me to come the next day if I wanted them to listen to me properly.

As they all left, the lady who had spoken to me earlier called me aside and told me ‘Brother, it’s obvious you are new in town.’ I told her she was right. She then went to regale me with the tales of ‘Tokyo’ who was the henchman of Adedibu the late Ibadan Politician; it was Tokyo she told me, who had helped the current Governor to win the elections with his NURTW men. However, midway into the first term of the Governor, Tokyo had confided in his deputy, Eleweomo, that he wouldn’t support the current Governor for a second term, as it was the tradition in Oyo State not to return a sitting Governor. The deputy chairman of NURTW, Eleweomo, who Tokyo had brought up, then betrayed Tokyo and relayed all he heard to the Governor, the Governor was disappointed in Tokyo’s betrayal and framed him up and sent him to jail. Thus paving the way for the chairmanship of Eleweomo, who quickly took over the machineries of violence in Ibadan. Now, the Federal Government had released Tokyo and he was back in town ready to take over back his chairmanship of the association of road workers. But Eleweomo was adamant and would not step aside for him, thus setting the stage for an epic violent war between the garage boys loyal to Tokyo on one side, and those loyal to Eleweomo on the other side.

As she finished her educative story, she told me that right where I was standing was the location of an epic battle that occurred that morning in which some of the street urchins lost their lives. Right where I stood! She then held my hand and whispered close to my ears, ‘Look behind you’ she said ‘but please turn slowly’. I slowly turned and looked behind me and my eyes met a very scary sight. On the other side of the road where we were, sat a whole bunch of young men, obviously garage boys, all with menacing looks on their faces, there must have been at least twenty of them sitting there. And guess what? They were all looking at myself and the lady, my car was parked on their side of the road. I do not remember how I had missed them when parking my car, perhaps I was in a hurry to catch up with my potential clients I didn’t even survey the area properly before parking. As my eyes met theirs, I developed some goose pimples under my beautiful shirt. The lady then finished her story. She told me ‘the reason we are all hurrying home is because the next battle starts at 3:00pm’. They had all been told to quickly go home as the fighting would resume by that time and whoever was found lurking around would be caught in the crossfire that ensued. At that instant I looked at my wrist watch, it was 2:45pm. I almost grew jittery. She then rushed away, telling me to quickly drive home as the fighting would be carried out anywhere there was a motor park in Ibadan.

I thanked her and quickly took her number promising her to come the next day. I crossed the road to the other side and made to open my car praying so hard in my heart that those boys would not notice me. Alas! They had noticed me and were actually waiting for me. ‘Stop there and don’t dare kick that car!’ said one of them. A big, rotund garage boy approached me; he must have been in his late thirties. His pot belly was ridiculously large. He stood just short of entering my nose and asked me why I had not come to market my goods to him and his colleagues. Did I underestimate them? He asked. Thank heavens the lady had told me the story before that time because I normally do not have patience with area boys. On a good day, I probably would have told him to leave me alone or snubbed him outright. But on this occasion I knew I could do no such thing. I answered with all the wisdom I could muster ‘Bros’ I said gently in Yoruba language ‘Do not be angry. The goods I market are for certain professionals and the government does not allow us to market it directly to the citizenry. We market only to healthcare professionals who reserve the sole right to choose when to recommend it or not to people’ that is why I didn’t bring it to you.’ He nodded and told me he understood then requested for ‘anthing’ I had brought for the boys. Quickly I handed him a couple branded pens and jotters. He thanked me and announced to the rest of the boys how cooperative I was as I kicked my car and sped out of the vicinity.

As I drove home yesterday and saw the ugly security situation in the city. I couldn’t help but remember again that this was the legacy left behind by President Olusegun Obasanjo with his own style of do-or-die politics. He it was who legalized this type of politics in Ibadan and he nursed it into the monster it had grown to become. He it was who told the whole world that the late Ibadan Politician who used these boys to perpetrate electoral violence was a dried fish that couldn’t be corrected anymore. Now he was no longer in power, and Adedibu is late, but the entire city lives in the fear of garage boys. On one or two occasions a few days previous, I had noticed the growing confidence and daring attitude of commercial bus drivers in the city of Ibadan. A slight brush with one of them when driving was all it required for him to wag his finger at me and warn me he would deal with me properly whenever he caught me, yet he was the one who had driven irresponsibly and scratched my car. I rebuked him for being so irresponsible and unapologetic and drove on, looking at him through my rear view mirror, I noticed he was still pointing at me and clasped his thumb and tall finger at me, the local way of saying ‘I will get you yet.’ I remembered I had laughed and mused to myself how a common commercial driver would deal with me. Now I understood what he meant, for the city of Ibadan simply belonged to these people. The entire elites lived in fear of them. They were unapproachable, violent and very vindictive. A few days earlier a colleague of mine had been slapped severally with the flat side of an Igodan cutlass. The kind of large cutlass farmers used in the villages. He was only lucky to escape unhurt.

Yet inside this same city once lived a sage like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Ibadan was his base when he was premier of the Western Region. In this same city lives several peace loving Nigerians who would not hurt a fly. In this same city were several churches with their beautiful signboards showing the faces of the founding Pastor and his wife. In this same city were several mosques that harboured Muslim worshippers. Yet all these reasonable people lived in the fear of street urchins and garage boys. The Bible says we Christians are the light of the world, but I dare say today, that in Ibadan, no Christian is the light of the world; rather the Christians are the light of the church. All the lights are hidden under the bushels. They shine only in their homes and in the four walls of their churches. It took only two disciples to disarm and break the bewitchment of Simon the sorcerer who had held a community hostage to his devilish powers for a long time. The same cannot be said of us, the Christians in Ibadan, or largely, Nigeria. Rather, we are the ones who dodge and cringe in a nation of violence, whilst claiming promises of longevity of life.

It is in Ibadan that I have seen that all the well-meaning progressives in different civil societies and all of us internet activists who sincerely and genuinely desire change in Nigeria have not even started anything at all yet. At best we are only scratching the surface. In Ibadan, many people have never heard about Save Nigeria Group before; many do not know who Pastor Bakare is and the great role he has been playing in trying to bring change to this nation. When it comes to national consciousness and the need for change in Nigeria, many in Ibadan are simply left out in the cold. In Ibadan, many young people have never used an email before let alone k now what is going on on facebook. The only party they know is PDP, and then AC, and the extent of the penetration of PDP is scarily deep indeed. Many do not know they deserve a better life as they take sides between Tokyo and Eleweomo and are even ready to fight on their behalf, not understanding that these people are the real enemies of the nation who are feeding fat on the commonwealth and destiny of millions of Nigerians. Market women take sides, youths take sides. I have driven through the core Ibadan, Beere, Ode Aje, Oje, Aremo, Eleta, and many other places, our people are suffering greatly but they do not know. Many are illiterates and their minds and totally, fully blocked. They live in Stone Age houses yet they are happy and crack jokes all day long. They defecate near their kitchens but they have no feeling that life can ever be better for them. They do not know if there is any Governor anywhere or any Local Government Chairman who should be accountable to them. Many times I am driven to tears when I discuss with core Ibadan people. I marvel at the level of the work, we still have to do, those of us who sincerely love Nigeria and are involved in the work of national transformation.

Using Ibadan I extrapolate across Nigeria, for if Ibadan can be like this, what about the less educated places in Nigeria? What about the core North where the level of education is still very low? Pray, when on earth will the message of freedom reach these ones and their minds will explode in self consciousness and assertion, the single most important thing in transforming a nation? How do we start? Who are the volunteers who will leave their jobs to do this great work? Who will sponsor these volunteers? How will the message be carried? Lots and lots of questions bug my mind following my discoveries in this great ancient city.

Ibadan has become the capital city of lawlessness simply because of the calibre of men who run government and politics in Oyo State. Yet this city was once the pride of Nigeria, the largest city in West Africa. Now I have seen why good people may never come out to contest for elections in this nation. Who wants to put his life and family at the risk of death simply because of change in his nation? How many people are ready to make such sacrifice? I do not blame those who would never do it. For these street urchins that I see, they would take a life at a very cheap cost, without batting an eyelid, for they do not even know who they are, where they are going, or if they deserve anything good in life. Let it be told to the men who institutionalized this type of craze in Nigeria, posterity will never speak well of them and their children, plus their children’s children will suffer the consequences. For they live like kings yet make their people live like rats, what is more they turn the people against their deliverers and engender a great chaos in the nation, just for the perpetuity of their own comfort and that of their households. I asked around and heard that even both men, Tokyo and Eleweomo have children studying in Universities abroad, I do not know how true this is, but if it is, then... it is the confirmation of disaster in my nation.

I salute my colleagues in the forefront of the quest for change in Nigeria, but I say, guys, we haven’t even started yet. All that grammar and English we speak in meetings and argue vehemently and passionately about who is right about what issue in the nation is sheer waste of time. Time is going slowly, whatever we have to do, please let us do now! Let all hands be on deck to contribute meaningfully towards successful 2011 elections, for if we don’t get it there, hmmm, we would be fighting a fight too great for us. Without reasonable men in power, this nation can never move forward, they are the ones who have the wherewithal, both financial and machinery, to push real change to the depth and heart of our nation, to unblock the minds of our people and set them free. Steve Enada, George Ashiru, Taulpaul Oselen, Subomi Plumptre, Christian Love, Yinka Odumakin, and all change agents, e ku ise o, how do we go on????

Between Gani and Gandhi

2010-03-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

It was my Pastor, Tunde Bakare, that confirmed my innermost feelings and thoughts the day he preached the message, The leadership Style of Joseph, he enumerated that day, that part of the pillars or orders that God uses to establish nations is the order of the liberators, or freedom fighters. It is God who raises them up, generation after generation, as long as the tenets and visions laid down by God for a nation are not being followed. They are raised to oppose tyranny, oppression, and injustice. They defy the fear of death in the fulfillment of their destinies, they are often imprisoned, maimed and even killed in the course of their journeys, but their spirits will never have rest as long as there was some measure of injustice being meted upon the people God sent them to.

However, events in our world today are showing that the level of success such a liberator, or freedom fighter records in the course of his career is usually dependent a lot on the manner of people he is sent to lead, or fight for. When a people are receptive of a liberator and they commit their lives to the same struggle as that of the liberator, and usually if they are also willing to pay at least part of the sacrifices the liberator is willing to pay, the result is always liberation, freedom from the oppressors. But when a people do not understand their liberator, or refuse to join forces with him, or watch him fight for them whilst they watch with arms akimbo, not willing to pay any part of his many sacrifices, the result is a life of pain and struggle on the part of that liberator without a commensurate deliverance for the people he is fighting for.

Mohandas K. Gandhi was such a liberator for the people of India just as Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi was a liberator for the people of my nation Nigeria. Both men, though lived at different times and in entirely different climes, and though fought dissimilar oppressors, were mound in the same ilk, and taken by God through similar experiences in their lifetimes. Both paid the greatest sacrifice in their lives, however, the former’s level of success, greatness and global fame towers above that of the latter, not in my opinion, due to a higher level of sacrifice or responsibility, but simply because the people to whom the former was sent to accepted his destiny and participated in it, whilst the people the latter was sent to merely revered him, talked about him, were entertained by his many sacrifices but were unwilling to participate in his destiny by paying any of the many sacrifices he paid. Gandhi lived and died for a free and self governed India and his aim was achieved in his lifetime, whilst Gani lived and died for a Nigeria where true democracy, justice for the oppressed and accountable government would exist but did not live to see it, not because there was some level of sacrifice or sagacity demonstrated better by Gandhi over Gani, but simply because the Indians were willing to go up or down with Gandhi, whilst most Nigerians simply left Gani to fight the fight, as though he fought for his family alone and not the entire nation.

A cursory look at these two men’s lives shows a slight similarity. Both men were trained in England, and were trained to be lawyers. Gandhi graduated and left for India to practice as a lawyer, but it wasn’t until two years later when he travelled to South Africa and he was treated as a member of an inferior race that his destiny stared him in the face and he took up the challenge of fighting for his people, after two years, he returned to India and began the agitation that eventually led to India’s independence, after much arrests, incarceration, and fasting his lifelong mission was accomplished. Gani on his own was the son of an affluent Ondo Islamic cleric, he was born into opulence but by God’s design his father and benefactor died while Gani was studying in England. This threw the young Gani from a life of privilege to a life of lack and struggle. He was faced the option of dropping out of school, or hustling to make ends meet so as to finish his education. He chose the latter; he worked hard, hopping from one menial job to the other till he finished his schooling in England. This experience fuelled his passionate desire to fight for every poor and oppressed in his fatherland. As soon as he returned back home from England, Gani started his law practice, his first brush with government came five years afterwards when he defended a factory hand whose wife had been snatched by a wealthy government official, this case landed him in prison and that marked the beginning of his liberation struggles in Nigeria. It is reported that the first five or so of his children were born with Gani away in prison for one case or the other, these cases were not about him running into conflict with the law for his personal wrongdoings, it was in defense of the poor and upholding of justice for the masses of the nation.

For 41 years Gani fought, for the nation, for the poor, for the oppressed, he fought. He suffered too, going into incarceration time and again and suffering great physical torture in the hands of cruel military dictatorships; he was detained in over 35 security cells and was arraigned on trumped up charges at least 15 times; all for the sake of his people, and his nation.

I make bold to say this, there is no level of sacrifice Gandhi paid for India that Gani did not pay for Nigeria. Gandhi employed the tools within his disposal and in his understanding, he organized civil disobedience, he did protest marches, he fasted. Gani equally did same, he used the courts of law, he organized rallies and marches, he used civil disobedience, the difference was the people. The Indians followed Gandhi; his willingness to suffer pain for them touched their hearts, he became their deliverer, their father, and their spiritual leader. As a result of the sacrifices he bore, when he spoke millions of Indians listened and followed what he said. When he called for a march to the sea to protest the tax on salt, tens of thousands marched with him for over twenty days to do this. When he called for a return to cottage industries and all Indians should ignore foreign goods and clothes to improve their internal economy, all Indians obeyed him and the British had no choice but call him for a discussion. When he called for civil disobedience, millions of Indians sat on the roads in Bombay and would not rise even when the British policemen hit them with their batons. Such was the input of the ordinary Indian into the life and destiny of Gandhi, in the end both Gandhi and the people were the better for it. However in Nigeria, when Gani went to court against some draconian government policy, it was him and his chambers; when he called for a rally, it was him and the “human rights community”. With Gandhi’s India, there was no “human rights community”. The whole nation was the human rights community and all of them followed him, woman, man, child, youth, Hindu, and Muslim.

But the ordinary Nigerian, faced with barefaced injustice and oppression would simply vaporize and withdraw into his shell, thinking Gani and the human rights community would take up the challenge. This was the difference between Gani and Gandhi. There is no way a single man, or a few individuals can secure the freedom for an entire nation without the input of the people of that nation in the struggle. So it was that all the fights Gani fought, it was as if he was fighting for himself and the “human rights community”. Meanwhile, he fought for you, he fought for me, he fought for the Christian, for the Muslim, for the worker, for the student, for the businessman, it was his insistence in court that led to the amendment of the immunity clause; it was his dogged fighting spirit that paved a way for the registration of parties and that resulted in the current political dispensation when he defied Abacha’s orders and formed the National Conscience Party (NCP) at Ojota bus stop in 1997. Today, the PDP, AC and the rest of the parties are beneficiaries of this man’s struggle.

Yet when he eventually decided to step on the stage, and seek an opportunity to serve the people he spent his whole life fighting for, they would not give him a chance. They made up all the excuses why Gani could not lead the nation he loved and sacrificed his life for. “Oh, that Gani is an activist does not mean he can be a good leader”, “Oh Gani is too clean to do politics, and he cannot succeed in it”, “Oh this… Oh that….” Nigerians made all the excuses why this man could not lead. Yet there is no way Gani would be President of Nigeria and do worse than Yar’adua is doing now. But we would not give him a chance. We are the nation that makes jesters out of our deliverers yet stand in awe, respect and dread of our oppressors. We complain about their evil deeds, yet when presented with the opportunity to do away with them, we make all the excuses in the world. We are unwilling to suffer any pain, or pay any sacrifice for the deliverance of our nation. That is why all we do is complain and pray. One day we believe God will come and deliver Nigeria. What a comic people we Nigerians are! As if it wasn’t God who raised Gandhi up to liberate India, just as he raised the likes of Gani up to give inspiration to our demand for justice from oppression.

Today, Gandhi is revered worldwide and has been rated as one of the ten people who influenced the millennium. But put side by side with our own Gani, there is little sacrifice he paid for his people that Gani did not pay for his own nation. We have paid all the eulogies now that the man is gone, yet I know my people, in a matter of years, we will forget all his struggles, not forget as in cerebral memory, but forget as in refuse to take the gauntlet from where he stopped. We will only remember a certain man called Gani who hated oppression and spent his whole life fighting for the nation. Some will even use his story to counsel others to lose hope in Nigeria, they will say, “see, with all Gani did, Nigeria has not changed, you better relax and don’t kill yourself over Nigeria. It is hopeless…” I have heard that on numerous occasions. It is pitiable, laughable and outright stupid.

Let it be known across the length and breadth of Nigeria on this our 49th Independence that things will not change until all of us take the bulls by the horn and demand for change in real, practical terms. Prayers without action will continue to raise more deliverers, but without the zeal and active participation of our people across all ranks, our prayers will be answered, change will be given by God, but we will fail to bring it to bear in reality on our nation. The new age version of Christianity which has taught our people to love life more than is necessary through the proliferation of the prosperity message will have a negative consequence in the long run, the Spartan part of Christianity is lost today, rather than teach our people to live and die for God and Godly values, we teach our people to lust after material wealth.

Long live Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, and every liberator God has sent to Nigeria. I pray that one day, very soon, the bubble of the ruling elite will burst, and our people will lose their infinitely elastic patience and demand for change, by all legal means necessary.

Happy 49th Independence Day to all Nigerians.

THANK YOU PASTOR BAKARE

2010-03-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

It’s my birthday and I wish to use this medium, on this special occasion of mine to pay a tribute to Pastor Tunde Bakare, a man who is an inspiration to me, and to many at such a time as this. A man that has become an icon of change in Nigeria today. A man, whose very presence signifies hope in the future of my nation, a man so fearless, so divinely endowed, even his worst critics listen when he talks. A man I admire, respect and love irrevocably.

Thank you Pastor Bakare for daring to stand at such a time as this when all others want to do is lie down. Thank you for being the voice of the fathers crying, “What have you done to Nigeria?” Thank you for being the voice of the voiceless and oppressed of our generation. Thank you for constantly and uncompromisingly speaking truth to power in Nigeria. Thank you for publicly opposing the successive tyrannies, both military and civilian that have borne rule over us with heavy hands. Thank you so very much Pastor B, thank you.

Thank you Pastor Bakare for joining others to lead the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) march both in Abuja and in Lagos. Your leadership, inspiration and presence moved Nigerians to troop out, many for the first time, and march for the liberation of their country. A generation like mine that was born in the late seventies has only known military dictatorships for the better part of our lives. Fearful of what the “government” could do to us, our parents warned us to stay away from politics, civil demonstrations and any such activity that would line us up against the government of the day. “Be careful” they would say. “Look at what happened to such and such a fellow; look at what happened to such and such a man. They fought all their lives, but then suspected government officials killed them. What happened after that? Nothing” they would say to us. “Finish your schooling, get a job, get married and live your life jeje” was the teaching they gave us. This teaching, though given in good faith with the best and sincerest of intentions, has become the fulcrum on which the docility of this generation rests. The “infinitely elastic” patience of the average Nigerian became a culture under which this generation grew. Demonstrations we were taught belonged only to the “human rights community.” It belonged to Gani Fawehinmi, Beko Kuti, Femi Falana and their ilk.

But thank you Pastor Bakare for breaking this jinx. If you were not there Pastor B, it is unlikely that a working professional like me would have taken a one-day vacation from work to attend a civil protest march. Of course, I would have supported it ideologically considering the situation of the nation and the pain it leaves in my chest. I would have supported it because Professor Wole Soyinka, General Alani Akinrinade and Femi Falana were there, but I know that I would never have been there to attend it, and neither would have several of the thousands of elite Nigerians who braved the scorching heat of the sun to make those rallies. Thank you for giving us a new lease of life, for practically showing what it means to take responsibility. Social mobility is not frozen in Nigeria are your words, thank you for providing leadership to a rudderless people.

Thank you for showing Nigerians that dissent does not mean disloyalty. That a man, a Christian, or a Muslim, or a man of God can oppose the government of their nation if and when they go wrong without necessarily flouting the constitution of the land. We had previously been taught, that whatever a government did, all you had to say was “Yes sir” and then go in and pray for them. If they killed your people in cold daylight, “yes sir”. If they looted your treasury dry and the teachers and Professors in our schools went on a strike for a year or more, all you needed to say was “yes sir” and go and pray. If they destroyed all the nation’s hospitals while they and their families sought medical aid overseas with the taxpayers’ money, “yes sir” and go and pray. If they destroyed the refineries and then export crude and import refined fuel for your use at much more expensive prices, “yes sir”. If they destroyed all the power generating plants in the country, and turned the nation into the largest user of generators in the world, “yes sir” and go to pray. If they kidnapped your president, kidnap your president for 93 days while some faceless mafia continue to dish out anonymous orders whilst no one can call them to order, “yes sir!” and go to pray!!

Such was the ignorance that the Nigerian church of old bequeathed to we the people, until you were raised to show us our role in the emergence of the New Nigeria. To teach us that power concedes nothing without a demand and that the voice of God is over many waters (the people). Thank you for breaking a generation free of this religious hypnosis, thank you for letting us realize that the day has come when Nigerians must break the yoke of the oppressors from off our necks, thank you for firing us up to stand up against evil and for achieving measurable results in the process. Thank you very much Pastor Bakare.

Thank you for embracing ideological followership instead of materialistic followership. Materialistic followership is defined as the followership that follows a supposed leader just for what they can gain materially from such a one, while ideological followership stems from the followership of a people after the eternal virtues and values that a true leader stands for. In Nigeria today, many Pastors are famed and enjoy the teeming millions of ‘followers’ they believe they command, they do not know that what they enjoy is temporary and materialistic followership.

Thousands of people thronged after the Lord Jesus as recorded in the scriptures because they had seen and heard him feed five thousand men with a simple one-sentence prayer. They sought and found him and followed him in their numbers, hoping that he would feed them until he offered them to eat his body and drink his blood and have everlasting life, one by one, they departed from him until he was left with his true disciples. “Will you also not depart?” he asked them, but they told him “Depart to where? We have given up all and followed you”. Such was the strength of their conviction, but so few were they, his true followers. The Lord Jesus knew that the many thousands who followed him were not true ideological followers; they only followed him for the food they would get for free. Many a Christian followership today stems from the materialistic level but the Pastors revel in the delusion of the number of people thronging their churches. Thank you for offering the truth undiluted, the truth as bitter and as coercive as possible, having a rather small church followership, but an ideological followership it is. Thank you for not joining the bandwagon of prosperity Christianity that pervades the Nigerian church today. “Seven steps to breakthrough” is their war chant, “21 steps to super bumper harvest” is their song Sunday in, Sunday out. Thank you for standing different, for teaching your followers to put the collective good of the nation ahead of personal aggrandizement of material wealth.

Thank you for helping me to discern my destiny in your message “The God factor in the life of Joseph”. A message you preached during the Apostolic Convention of 2008 under the theme, “The emerging Joseph generation.” That message marked a watershed in my life, showed me my role and direction in life and my calling and ministry has never been vague to me anymore. Thank you so much Pastor Tunde Bakare.

Thank you for overcoming the fear of death, persecution, and solitude. The path of destiny they say sometimes might be a lonely path. Thank you for bringing back to the fore that Spartan value in Christianity, which says stand up for what you believe in, even if it costs you your life. Like the Lord Jesus said, “he who keeps his life will lose it, but he who loses his life in this world for my sake will find it”. Like your late friend Gani Fawehinmi used to say, “Stand up for the truth, even if you are standing alone.” Thank you for vehemently proclaiming the truth even in the midst of a loud and compromising silence from the Nigerian Pentecostal Church movement. The scripture supports this, it says, “Open rebuke is better than secret love.” Thank you for not stopping or looking back. I believe your saying that you have held onto faithfully over these years, “One day the majority that is wrong will become the minority, and the minority that is right will become the majority, it’s a question of time.”

I am happy that I lived at a time when I know you, for if your story had been told to me; I probably would have doubted it. The total fearlessness with which you proclaim the truth to bellicose and belligerent powers is cowing. I read in the history books that there was once a man in the old Oyo kingdom, who could spit fire from his mouth when he got angry, Sango, I believe they called him. I also read and watched the video clips of a man who sang Afro beat, and with his songs and saxophone dealt with corrupt and oppressive governments in Nigeria, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, he was called. I didn’t know these men one on one, perhaps I could have doubted their boldness, but I live in the days of Pastor Tunde Bakare, the man God raised, from the loins of Sodeke the Egba progenitor, and God anointed to be the scourge and nemesis of corrupt and oppressive tyrannies in Nigeria.

When the chronicles of these days will be written. Your name will easily stand out in gold. In the coming years when many billionaires would have been forgotten with their billions; while many rulers would have been forgotten with their evil deeds, your name Pastor Tunde Bakare will be mentioned in the schools, homes and media as a great Nigerian who contributed in no small manner to the emergence of the New Nigeria. Martin Luther King had no billions; Mahatma Gandhi had no private jets, yet these two men easily stand out as the most celebrated men of the past century. I see a future in Nigeria, when all these battles would have been over, Pastor Tunde Bakare, your deeds will speak for you, your messages will continue to point the path of the promised land to troubled nations, men from other climes will say, “go to Nigeria and get the video clips of a man called Pastor Tunde Bakare, when you watch such and such a message, you will get the method and pathway to your country’s deliverance…”

On this birthday of mine, I say God bless you Pastor B, may God continually strengthen you and uphold you. May He protect you and your family from the attack of the wicked, may your lamp continually shine without dimming. May your destiny be fulfilled in your own very eyes, may Nigeria be delivered back to God. Your standing and presence at this time is divinely arranged, you are an inspiration to several young Nigerians, many of whom you may never meet in person. Keep the flag-flying Pastor, we are watching, learning, praying that Nigeria will flourish again in our time. Wednesday March 10 2010 is another day that the Lord has made for the shaking of the foundations of evil in Nigeria, shoulder to shoulder we shall march. March for our freedom, march for our nation, march for our children, and our posterity yet unborn.

I know that soon we will enjoy the fruits of your labour or else, many of us are waiting, …and we will be like you if need be…

If MLK's dream could come to pass, then my dreams can come to pass too....

2009-01-09T03:37:00.001-08:00

I Have A Dream (Nigerian Version)

Many teachers and books over the ages have taught about the great power that lies in the spoken word. Words, they say, can have profound effects in making or marring processes, people and kingdoms. The Bible, the book of books, further reinstates this with the scripture in the book of Proverbs, which says ‘The power of life and death are in the tongue.’ People, in the long course of history, have made good or bad use of the power of spoken words.

Some forty years ago, at a time when the black people in the United States of America faced an impossible challenge ; a time when blacks could not use the same hotels as whites; when black children could not attend the same schools as white children because they were perceived as inferior beings due to their skin colour. At this time, they could not sit in the same seats with whites in transport buses. They could not vote in the elections and they could not be voted for. Their communities were deliberately impoverished by the government of the time. They were badly beaten, brutalized, humiliated and subjected to all forms of oppression by the white man. The police would brutalize them in the daytime and the KKK, a white supremacist clan, would maim and kill them, and burn their houses at night.

At this seemingly hopeless period, a young black preacher from Georgia mounted a rostrum and declared that he had a dream; a dream that one day racial injustice would be a thing of the past in his country; a dream that one day, in his country, men would no longer be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character; a dream that one day, the sons of slaves and the sons of slave owners would sit down by the table of brotherhood! How impossible his dream sounded at the time; how unthinkable his dream seemed. From all calculations of human wisdom, it was impossible. Today however, forty-five years after, this young preacher has been proved right. His words have come to pass and his dreams have come true as racial injustice is now a thing of the past in his country. Racism still exists though, but racial injustice is completely buried and forgotten in the country. Today, one of his kind, a black man, is the President of America, the greatest office in the country, and indeed, the whole world.

The story of the young preacher brings to mind a word of scripture in the book of Isaiah 42:22 which says ‘..this is a people robbed and spoiled…they are for a prey and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none sayeth, restore.’

How aptly this scripture describes the situation of the blacks in America at that time! For they were truly robbed, robbed of their human dignity and right to freedom; they were spoilt, beaten and killed severally. But the young black preacher stepped on the scene and said ‘Restore’ to his people’s situation with his ‘I have a dream’ speech and God has today answered his restoration call and his people are free.

How aptly the scripture also describes the situation of Nigeria today! We as a people have been robbed and spoilt. Robbery would be an understatement in the light of the situation today, Nigeria and Nigerians have been raped, plundered and looted by Nigerians. Whilst in the case of the blacks in America, they were oppressed by another people; we in Nigeria have been and are still being oppressed by our own people, political gladiators who loot our treasury in the name of leading us. We have been, and are still being spoilt and cheated by our leaders who have run our polity aground. Today, our people suffer untold hardship and first class poverty in the midst of so much prosperity. The people whose land produces the largest chunk of our resources are the poorest and most neglected in the nation. The political class feeds fat, buys houses all around the world, rides bullet-proof and customized cars while over seventy percent of the people live under $1 per day.

In the face of these gloomy and seemingly hopeless circumstances, the people have surrendered to their fate after so much deceit, disappointments and dashed hope; the government continues in its looting spree; and the church merely murmurs in the name of prayer, for what is prayer when it is not backed by actions of faith?

Today, in the face of this seemingly irredeemable situation my nation has found herself, I wish to take a cue from the young black Georgian preacher. I wish to stand where he stood and declare with faith in the ability of God to bring my words to pass too. It took forty-five years for the American preacher’s dream to come to pass. Perhaps it will take as long for my dream to come to pass, perhaps it will take a shorter or a longer period. One thing I know of a certainty is that one day, my dream too will come to pass. I believe this because God’s holy prophet has declared ‘Restore’ when he prophesied ‘The New Nigeria is as sure as the New Jerusalem.’ On the strength of this, I say, I have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the meaning and essence of the Green-White-Green; that when we can attain unto the white which means righteousness, purity and transparency in governance and our daily lives, then we as a people can achieve unto the green, which symbolizes prosperity and plenty.

I have a dream that one day, my country Nigeria will rise from the lethargy of a sleeping giant and stand tall to fulfill its destiny and take its rightful place in the comity of nations.
I have a dream that one day, the rule of the brambles will come to an end and the olives, figs and vines will take their rightful place in our government.
I have a dream that one day, we will attain unto a nation where no man is oppressed.
I have a dream that one day, the economic status of all Nigerians will reflect the wealth that exists in our nation.
I have a dream that one day Nigeria will generate 80,000 watts of electricity and distribute to the rich and poor without fear or favour.
I have a dream that one day; very soon, clean portable water will flow in every household from Ikoyi in Lagos and Asokoro in Abuja, to Ajegunle in Lagos, Bori camp in Port Harcourt, and Bichi in Kano.
I have a dream that one day, every road that passes through our cities and villages will be properly and genuinely tarred and maintained to prevent unnecessary accidents and bloodshed.
I have a dream that one day, excellent and qualitative education will be the hallmark of our schools, from primary, secondary and tertiary schools. That one day, foreigners will flood to our nation to study and our educational system shall become the envy of the world.
I have a dream that one day, even the poor in Nigeria, would be comparable to the rich in other countries.
I have a dream that one day; all acts of financial corruption will be seen as an abomination and a thing of shame in the society, and our people will no longer see a chance in government as a chance to become rich but a chance to give sincere and meritorious service to the nation.
I have a dream that one day, the first people to question the sudden accumulation of wealth by any political office holder in Nigeria will be the members of his own household; his sons, daughters, friends, family and Pastor!
I have a dream that one day the people of the Niger Delta will heave a sigh relief; that the poor people of the land will be adequately compensated for the impoverishment and destruction done to their land. That one day, violence and militancy will end in the region and the youths will be rehabilitated and given a new lease of life.
I have a dream that one day; the Nigerian Church will live up to its true essence and purpose – the light of world and the salt of the earth.

When this happens and all these dreams come true, then shall every mountain be brought low; every valley exalted; every crooked path made straight and righteousness shall flow like a river and justice like a mighty stream across our nation. Then we shall rejoice in achieving God’s will on earth as it is in heaven. For in heaven, no one is oppressed and no one is cheated.

When that day comes, then all our people, from Maiduguri to Kano; from Sokoto to Yola; from Akwanga to Ilorin; from Enugu to Onitsha; from Benin to Ilesa; from Abeokuta to Ado-Ekiti; our people will rejoice and give glory to God who changed our story and gave us a better deal.In that day everyone will sit with his family and sing an equivalent of that old Yoruba song which says:

Ide mi ja o (My bondage is broken)
Halleluya, mo d’ele ayo (2ce) (Halleluya, I have reached the destination of joy)
Ide mi ja… (My bondage is broken)
O ja pau! (It breaks with a loud bang!)
Ide mi ma ja o (My bondage is broken)
Halleluya mo d’ele ayo. (Halleluya, I have reached the destination of joy)

God bless GIC; God bless the New Nigeria and God bless His kingdom.

There was a time in Nigeria when the music taught hard work....

2008-11-24T00:42:00.000-08:00

WHEN THE MUSIC CHANGED

In recent months, Nigeria and indeed Africa has witnessed the sad departure of her music greats. The crooners whose lyrics shaped the African psyche in the seventies down to the eighties and even the recent nineties. Chief Olive De Coque; Sonny Okosuns the Oziddi king; Orlando Owoh of the Kennery Rave and Miriam Makeba, the great South African woman who first brought African music to the international scene in the early seventies. With the departure of these greats, a season of reflection stares Africa in the face in the light of the achievements made by these great musicians, their impact on our nation and continent and indeed the legacy they leave viz-a-viz the next generation of musicians that will take over from them.

In the light of Nigeria’s current situation, it is unarguable that we as a people are largely responsible for the fall of the great giant of Africa. Through our actions and inactions, we all have contributed greatly to the moral decay that has crippled Nigeria’s economy and progress. It is a well-known fact that a people’s actions are shapened by their behavioral pattern, their behavioral pattern is also greatly shapened by their thought pattern and their thought pattern is greatly influenced by what they know, what they hear and what they believe. This fact shows the important role which music plays in the lives of our people. Musicians play such an important role in the society in that they have the power to shape the thought pattern of their listeners and when a musician is the toast of a community, he or she has a big impact on the behavioral patterns and inadvertently actions of the people of that community.

This strategic and important role of music has been gainfully exploited by establishments and corporate organizations in promoting their brands. One example that readily comes to mind is the dominance of the Hennessey brand of gin in the alcoholic drinks industry. Hennessey achieved this dominance when a popular American hip-hop group used it in their music video and made the brand a status symbol. In the polity, many instances abound where music has influenced the actions of people both positively and negatively. Tupac Shakur’s hit track ‘Hit ‘em up’ was banned from America’s airwaves when a violent youth claimed in court that he had behaved irrationally in public after he listened to the song. Also, the cry of the American people to their government to pull out of the Vietnam war gained a fresh burst of momentum after the reggae legend Jimmy Cliff released his song titled ‘Vietnam’ in which he described in very emotional lyrics the undue agony of the American Soldiers in the misguided war.

Music in Nigeria has always been a very strong influence on the thought pattern of our people. There was a generation of musicians in this country that shaped the thought pattern of the Nigerian people towards the dignity of hard work; towards nation building through honesty, patriotism and nationalism. This was the first generation of musicians who came up with songs such as:

‘Ha E Mura, e Mura s’ise o, ise l’oogun ise’ (Brace up yourself, work hard; hard work is the only solution to poverty)

These lyrics unequivocally tell the listener and indeed the community about the indispensable nature of hard work on the journey to achieving success. In the eighties, when I was in primary school, there was yet another song always played in the radio. It is a timeless piece that in no small way had an input into the kind of person that I have grown to become. The lyrics go in pidgin english thus:

‘Time Na money o, (Time is money)

Use your time well,

No yamayama, (There is no time for frivolities)

No gossip gossip,

No spoil another man, (Don’t spoil another man)

Use your time well,

Money no dey come from heaven, (Money doesn’t come from heaven)

Do better thing money go come, (Do something valuable and you will make it)

Na true word I dey tell you so o, (I’m telling you the truth)

O Na so. (That is the way it is)

These were the lyrics that dominated Nigeria’s airwaves in the past generation and their role in raising the standard of good morals in the nation cannot be underestimated. Men worked and were satisfied with the much they had. The present desperate struggle for wealth at any cost which is the hallmark of today’s Nigeria was a thing of shame and reproach in those days. However, in recent years, Nigeria has watched with helpless passivity, the gradual collapse and destruction of sanity and morality, which was once the building block of our nation, and which of course is the building block of any successful nation on earth.

With the coming of the new generation, the theme of Nigerian music has changed, and has changed in line with the moral slip that characterizes this generation. Whereas the music of the seventies and eighties laid great emphasis on the dignity and indispensable nature of hard work towards the achievement of success, the music today seeks to teach the youth that there is an alternative to hard work on the pathway to success. What with lyrics such as:

“Awon Kan w’aye wa s’ise (Some live to work on earth)

Awon Kan w’aye wa j’aye (Some live simply to enjoy life)

Awon kan w’aye wa sayo o” (Some live to drink to stupor)

And then a most recent one which declares a Godly way to celebrate fraud with these lyrics:

“Maga don pay, shout Halleluiah” (Internet victim has paid into my account, Praise God)!

Such brazen declaration of joy and temporal fulfillment in fraudulent activities by the negatively sharp youths of today have found their way into our music, onto the airwaves, and currently influences a lot of Nigerian youths to seek solace in the world of crime. Since the youths of today are definitely the leaders of tomorrow, the danger lies in that these vices may be transferred into governance in the years to come if urgent action is not taken to curb this trend and a massive re-orientation exercise is done for the youths. These lyrics depict the pervading thought pattern of the average Nigerian today. They show a mentality which says “make it anyhow” and a culture that celebrates anyone with the most amount of money, irrespective of how the money is acquired. This is why our nation has continually been rated as one of the most corrupt countries on the face of the planet. This is the underlying reason why our people suffer so much poverty in the midst of great prosperity, all because a clique of men will use the machinery of violence to perpetrate themselves in power to make more and more money, the only language our society understands.

But really, who is to blame for this mess? Shall we blame the youths of today, or shall we lay the blame at the feet of the passing generation? If a little boy does something wrong because he sees his father doing the same thing, you cannot condemn the boy, after all like my people say o ri eni fi jo! No matter how much an outsider tries to correct this little boy, he will not stop in his wrong actions, except he sees his father stop doing same. For as long as the little boy keeps seeing his father performing this wrong activity, he will continue to do as his father does, and guess what, with time, he becomes better and even surpasses the feat of his father.

The fault clearly lies at the feet of the passing generation. A generation of fathers who crumbled a brilliant legacy laid down by the founding fathers of our nation. Through the greed of generations of military and civilian rulers, corruption became the lingua franca of our nation. Corruption has since so weaved into the fabrics of our lives that a whole generation of Nigerians cannot really identify corruption anymore. It has become the norm of the society they met, grew up in, and saw the older generation do with impunity. As a result of this, the culture on the streets across Nigeria is a phenomenon which says “Grab your own share of the booty.” “Get a cut from any opportunity.” “A chance in government is a breakthrough.” “Government money is national cake, take yours in your time.” “That man has much money; he is a ‘correct man’. It doesn’t matter how he got it, he’s a sharp man.” The society reeks of this thought pattern; the government executes it with ingenuity and the church, I mean the church, celebrates it shamelessly!

This is the Nigeria that the present generation grew in. This is the nation they grew up to know. This is the culture that shaped their thought pattern and as they grew up, the street wise among them embraced the newly evolving crime called internet fraud. The music talents in their midst, sang and elevated the evil culture with their music genius and a generation continues to sink in the mire of moral decadence and national disaster.

The time is ripe for a massive re-orientation of values and comprehensive rehabilitation of psyche for the Nigerian people, old and young, Christian and Muslim, Pastor and Imam, women and even children. It will be more effective to grow a new breed of Nigerians without greed, than allowing the greed to grow and setting up machinery to catch them. Both would work to save the situation, but the former will have a more lasting effect on our polity.

This is a call to the music ambassadors of the new generation, from Tuface Idibia, to D’banj, Asa, Banky W, 9ice and the rest of the players. On your shoulders lies great responsibility. Yours are the voices that are heard on the loudspeakers blaring from DJ’s shops on our streets; yours are the voices heard from every bus stop around Nigeria. In the commercial buses as well as private cars, on the radio as well as the television, in the banking halls as well as the hotel rooms around our nation. Yours are the voices that sink deep into the souls of Nigerians, a people who love their indigenous music with a rare passion. Yours are the voices that shape the thought pattern of the new generation of Nigerians. You are the ones who changed the social landscape of Nigeria and put in new parlances on the lips of the Nigerian people, you are the ones that coined “Nothing dey happen” “No long thing” “File” “That is the koko” and a host of other slangs that have become a deep seated part of the Nigerian parlance today. In you lies the great opportunity to change the thinking pattern of this generation, to change the behavioral pattern and thereby the actions of our youths. You have the opportunity to shape a new mentality and instill a sense of godliness, nationalism and honesty in the youths of today. We can change Nigeria; we can make this country far better than this. If only we can change our orientation and thought pattern, a lot of things that are improperly done now can begin to change for the better. This country needs a difference; your voices could be and could make that difference.

To all the proponents of the New Nigeria; to everyone who believes this nation has the potential for a better future; to everyone who shares my belief that we can change Nigeria positively with our own hands and create a New Nigeria that will be the envy of the world whilst giving glory to God; we have a big task at hand. We must leave the corners and crevices of our homes where we only complain and whine; we must emerge from our different cubicles, and step out to create a voice that will change Nigeria. The New Nigeria is a country of New Nigerians and there are no two ways about it. God is not going to kill every Nigerian living now to start a new life of new humans in Nigeria. He is going to use us to propagate the message of change across the length and breadth of our nation. We will speak, and God will confirm His word. We must flood every medium of communication that goes around this country with the message of hope and righteous living. We must correct the misguided slander that says Nigeria can never be great again. We must insist on what is right and the possibilities of living right even under the tight conditions that the corrupt Nigeria puts us. We have a voice, we have talents, we have men, and above all we have the blessings of the almighty God. In one Obama lay the change to world history, in us lies the seed of change that will burn like a wildfire around Nigeria, burning off the chaffs that have impoverished us for so long and refining the gold that has been erstwhile buried in the mud across our land.

God bless the dream called ‘The New Nigeria’.

When freedom rolls from the Stone Mountains of Abeokuta

2008-10-15T09:50:00.000-07:00

When freedom rolls from the Stone Mountains of Abeokuta

It is one of the lessons that history teaches us. One of the many ways Divinity communicates His greatness and supremacy to humanity. God, through diverse lessons in our world today reveals his control on the destiny of mankind to the discerning. One of such lessons is the manner of talents and passions he bestows on the different peoples and tribes that traverse different parts of the earth.

Why do so many football greats come from Brazil? Over generations, Brazilians have shown that the game of football runs in their veins. Yes, there are many other football greats from other nations, but no other nation boasts of the density of football talents from Brazil. Football originated from England, not Brazil, so how come a large chunk of the world's greatest footballers hail from Brazil? It is the gift of God to the people of that nation. A gift that has had a significant impact on their economy as many of their sons who would have been impoverished and unsung in life have become wealthy men and a source of inspiration to many youngsters around the world.

What about the Kenyans and Ethiopians and the marathon race? There are about 200 countries in the world today, how come Kenya and Ethiopia, two countries who share a common border dominate the marathon race? The topography of their land gives them the advantage and they have earned a reputation all around the world as horses who run tens of kilometers without wearing out. It is the gift of God to these people. This gift has earned them a name, has put wealth in their hands and has raised role models across the globe from these two African nations.

There are many freedom fighters and politically motivated pan-africanists from different parts of Africa today. These are men who love their motherland; who love Africa; who are proud of their black heritage; have excelled in a specific field of human endeavor and have thereby earned worldwide acclaim and international clout. They abound, scattered across different cities in different nations all over Africa, but there is not one singular town that has as many of these men as Abeokuta, a city in southwest Nigeria. Abeokuta, a city established by a warrior called Sodeke in the 1800s is Africa’s land of greatness, the land of distinguished freedom fighters. As the revered Martin Luther King Jnr. delivered his immortal I have a dream speech in 1964 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, he declared '...let freedom roll from the Stone Mountains of Georgia...' Even though he spoke about Stone Mountain in Georgia, America, yet his declaration fit perfectly on Abeokuta, in Nigeria, for Abeokuta simply means the city under the Stone Mountain, and from there freedom has rolled into Nigeria and indeed Africa, for many distinguished freedom fighters hail from that city.

How else can you explain the fact that former Head of State and President Olusegun Obasanjo; Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka; distinguished business mogul and statesman late Chief MKO Abiola; late Afro beat icon Fela Anikulapo-kuti; the unusual and fiery servant of God Pastor Tunde Bakare and a host of others all come from the same small town, all descendants of Sodeke.

An examination of these men reveal the same streak – they love their country Nigeria with a passion; they express little fear in the face of oppression or death; they are passionately stubborn in whatever they believe in and will follow it to a logical conclusion; they all excelled with distinction in their chosen careers; they have an unquestionable international clout and are known all over the world for their positive contributions towards Africa and particularly Nigeria.

I am not a fan of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and even though we share the same birthday, I detest his approach to governance. He was a highly incorrigible bigot who hated dissenting opinion; he treated opposition as enmity and tried to run a republic like a kingdom. He was highly selective and vindictive in his anti-corruption campaign and under his reign, the masses of Nigeria saw economic hell in the face of incessant increases in the prices of fuel.

I may not like Obasanjo but that does not obliterate his great and unquestionable destiny. Obasanjo is in my opinion the Nigerian ruler with the greatest destiny who has ever lived. How he has used that destiny is a different matter. A man who has led his country two times and both times he never hassled for the seat but was literally invited to occupy the seat. Now, that is greatness, that is destiny. His character and personality are another issue. He almost literally ended the civil war and has contributed greatly to the unification of Nigeria. He contributed immensely to the fight that resulted in the fall of apartheid in South Africa and has contributed greatly to the independence of several other African nations from colonial rule. He has dined with the high and mighty across the globe; he has walked in the greatest places of the earth; he is a great son of Abeokuta, with the unquestionable trait of fearlessness and greatness.

Professor Wole Soyinka is another son of Abeokuta. A shining star in the field of creative writing and has more clout that any other writer from the African continent being the first of his kin to win the Nobel Prize in literature in 1986. And in consistency with the character of the sons of Ake, Professor Wole Soyinka has spent his entire life fighting oppression and injustice in Nigeria and across the face of Africa. His speeches and writings have always addressed bad government in Nigeria and Africa. This has gotten him into trouble severally as se has been incarcerated on many occasions. He was forced into voluntary exile during the high-handed reign of late General Sani Abacha. He endured the tear gas during the years of Obasanjo, his kinsman’s presidency. Professor Wole Soyinka, a greatly distinguished son of Abeokuta has spent his entire life fighting bad government, and struggling to enthrone democracy and justice in his nation. He has shown great boldness and courage in his lifetime and defied the fear of death on many occasions. He is yet another great son of Sodeke, he is a great freedom fighter.

Chief MKO Abiola traversed as a colossus across the business and political landscape of Nigeria in his days. A super-wealthy philanthropist, he rose from a background of nothing to become one of Africa’s wealthiest and greatest sons. He was generous to a fault and many great sons of Nigeria today got an education on his generosity. A man who suffered greatly as a child, his heart was always open to the suffering of the poor. He stood for many great ideals and fought many noble causes. A scathing critic of racism, he advocated for the payment of reparation to Africa by the western world as compensation to the black man for the oppression and indignity of the trans-Atlantic slavery. He ran for the highest seat in Nigeria, and won but the election, adjudged the freest and fairest in Nigeria’s political history, was dishonorably annulled by the then Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida. He was jailed for declaring himself President and eventually lost his life in the cause for the realization of his electoral mandate. His death however arguably paved a way for the emergence of the fourth republic in Nigeria with his kinsman General Olusegun Obasanjo, as the beneficiary. Chief MKO Abiola can never be forgotten in Nigeria, he was a great son of Africa, a distinguished son of Sodeke, he was also a fighter, a Pan-African fighter, and even though making money was his business, the trait of greatness in him found him out and made him Nigeria’s real first martyr of democracy.

In his days, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was the weirdest and most unusual man alive. This trait earned him the appellation ‘abami eda’ meaning ‘the weird one’. A son of a clergyman and human rights activist mother, his global fame towers above that of any other son of Abeokuta. In his time, the Head of State of Nigeria was recognized by Fela’s clout. It was reported that a Nigerian Head of State had attended a function in Europe and was asked ‘Oh, you are the president of Fela’s country?’ A distinguished instrumentalist and musician, he dedicated his music and lifetime to the struggle against the oppression of military juntas in Nigeria. He also sang to denounce racism, imperialism and the superimposition of Western culture on the psyche of the black man. He married 27 of his dancers in one day. He smoked marijuana and stubbornly insisted it was good for his health until the Nigerian government left him alone. He fought oppression in the most insecure of conditions. He was badly beaten, brutalized, and his house was raided and razed. His ‘ideological’ mother was killed. He was jailed on many occasions on trumped up charges as well as genuine ones, yet Fela Anikulapo-kuti fought on, he never compromised his stand. He called the names of dictators in his songs and took them on headlong. And even though he sang in local Pidgin and Yoruba, his music was accepted all over the world for the quality of its content and the message it carried. Arguably, Fela remains Africa’s greatest music export to the world. His greatness is unquestionable, he is unprecedented and it is doubtful if anyone will fill his big shoes for many years after him. He was a son of Sodeke, a fierce, fearless and great freedom fighter.

There is yet another son of Sodeke, a direct descendant of the warring Egba progenitor. His mother called him ‘jagun’ (warrior) from the cradle as though she had known he would spend his life fighting. Born with the instinct of the fighter his mother called him and the traits of Sodeke his ancestor, as a child, he fought a friend of his mother who had come to insult her over an unpaid debt. As a young growing lad, he retaliated an unjustified slap from his boss as he worked as a postman in the Lagos post office in the seventies. He abhors corrupt leadership; highly intolerant of oppressive governments, his skinny frame vibrates with raw passion as he takes on wicked and corrupt leaders in Nigeria. He is a man of God of a different mould and an unprecedented occurrence in the Nigerian Christian community. He is an unusual and somewhat strange personality who would never waste an opportunity to denounce bad governance in Nigeria and anywhere in Africa. The man is Pastor Tunde Bakare, a true and proud son of Abeokuta; his love for his hometown is conspicuous as he can hardly speak without singing a song from or mentioning his hometown. A fiery man of God in a mould only for himself, he has defied death, oppression, intimidation, incarceration in his time as a freedom fighter in Nigeria and the whole of Africa. He belongs to the order of the liberators as well as the order of the prophets. He was a thorn in the flesh of former President Obasanjo during the latter’s eight-year administration as civilian president. Pastor Tunde Bakare loves Nigeria with a deep passion and has severally declared that he cannot separate his destiny from the destiny of Nigeria. He is truly ‘jagun’, a distinguished son of Sodeke, a son of Abeokuta, and a fearless and endowed freedom fighter. His fame is known throughout the world.

A close look at these men and a host of others shows clearly that God in his divine ways has placed a seed in Abeokuta, in the descendants of Sodeke. It is the seed of greatness. A seed that pushes them to excel in every field of endeavour they pursue. A seed that makes them hate injustice and oppression in every form and guise on the African continent. A seed that makes them defy the fear of death in the pursuit of whatever they believe in. A seed that makes the love of Nigeria and of their continent run in their veins. They are the generation of greatness, the generation of freedom fighters.

A surprising and queer observation however emerges when a proper x-ray of these great destinies is done. Virtually all these great sons of Abeokuta are on one page while President Olusegun Obasanjo stands alone on the other page. Professor Wole Soyinka, Chief MKO Abiola, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and even Pastor Tunde Bakare are all deep critics of Obasanjo’s personality, character and style of governance. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s grouse with Obasanjo in particular goes even beyond ideological opposition, it leans towards enmity. If charity begins at home, then this calls for a personality check. If all the members of my household disapprove of me and only people from afar appreciate me, then I have some work to do in my primary sphere of influence. The Balogun of Owu should examine this and try, if it is still possible, to correct this strange anomaly. No man can be an island to himself forever. However, the fact remains that Abeokuta has produced sons. The destiny of Abeokuta greatly shaped the destiny of Nigeria. The destiny of Nigeria greatly affects happenings around Africa, the sons of Sodeke have greatness in them, and Abeokuta is Africa’s land of greatness.

Mrs. Okereke Onyiuke's Africa for Obama got it all wrong.....

2008-09-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

Okereke-Onyiuke’s Obama error

It was with much consternation and mixed feelings that Nigerians received the news of the fund raising luncheon organized by Mrs. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke’s organization –Africans for Obama. If only she had known what lay just after that unseen bend, she certainly would not have gone ahead with the programme. In the wake of the fund raising luncheon, in which about N100 million was raised to “sensitize African-Americans to vote for the American Democratic party presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama,” Okereke-Onyiuke got pummeled from every side. The luncheon drew the ire of public opinion as opinion leaders roundly denounced it in its entirety. The EFCC promptly picked up Okereke-Onyiuke for investigation and confiscated the funds raised and declared it would return the funds to the donors.

I am proud of Barack Obama. I love his personality and I respect his ambition. I admire his rare talent in public speaking and I covet his oratory talent. I am cowed at the courage he displays and the defiant confidence he exudes despite being the first black man in the United States to reach such a height in politics. He is not even the conventional black American; he is one generation out of Africa, his father, a Kenyan was an immigrant in the United States in the 1950s. Barack Obama is not from a wealthy background and neither is he a billionaire. Yet he has achieved the seemingly unachievable – winning the nomination of a major American political party for presidency. Barack Obama is by far one of the greatest black men who have ever lived. He is a living legend. He is my hero, my inspiration. I have downloaded videos of his speeches from the Internet and I listen to them everyday; the musical track done for his campaign by the American hip hop group, Black eyed peas, rings in my mind as I play it everyday and watch the video on my computer. Barack Obama embodies everything I want to be and so I take every joy in identifying with him and with anyone who wishes him well in his unprecedented pursuit in reaching for the presidency of the United States.

However, I disagree completely with the concept of Okereke-Onyiuke’s Africans for Obama. I disagree with the fundraiser and the reasons posited for its justification. The event reflects once again, our perverted mindsets in Nigeria where every good thing is twisted for personal gain and the gratification of selfish desires. America is the world’s bastion of democracy. Nigeria has not even attained the basic ideals of mutual tolerance yet let alone true democracy.

How on earth would some Nigerians think they stand in a good position to go to “sensitize” Americans to vote in a democratic election? Is there one single African American who lives in America or beyond who does not know about Barack Obama and his great ambition? Is there any black American who is not proud of Obama today? Does he not represent hope and vindication for them and the fulfillment of Martin Luther King’s forty-five year old dream? And if there were African Americans who do not support Barack Obama’s ambition today, it would definitely be due to a really deep and strong reason. How does Okereke-Onyiuke think she and her group will be the ones to influence them otherwise? Wait a minute; I thought charity, as they say, begins at home. How well is the democracy in Nigeria being practiced? There are many Nigerians, especially in the elitist community, who are disillusioned and completely disappointed with the violent and desperate manner in which elections are conducted and rigged in Nigeria and as a result have concluded that voting in Nigerian elections is a mere exercise in futility. Why has Mrs. Okereke-Onyiuke not established an organization that will “sensitize” these people to vote good people into government positions here in her country Nigeria? If your country has a need, and another country has the same need, I think it should be expected that you take care of that need in your country first before you think about catering for that same need in someone else’s country. She spent fourteen years of her life living in the United States, so what? Is she telling us she is more American than Nigerian?

E gba mi, Nigerians, a people whose recent presidential election was absolutely condemned by the international community are the ones who now want to go to “sensitize” Americans to vote in an election. What a shame! The Holy Scripture says ‘Take care of the log of wood in your eyes first before you try to remove the speck of dust in the other person’s eye.” What meaningful positive role has Mrs. Okereke-Onyiuke played in sensitizing well-meaning Nigerians to play a more significant role in politics and elections before she shifts her focus to the United States of America? The concept of her fundraiser to “sensitize” Americans over their forthcoming election is baseless, unpatriotic and an indication of shallow thinking.

There are basic lessons and home truths that the emergence of Barack Obama on the world stage poses to us as Nigerians. These are the lessons I would have expected the likes of Mrs. Okereke-Onyiuke to pick and harness towards the development of their own country, Nigeria. Africans for Obama’s fundraising luncheon was an act that was absolutely anti-Obama. It does not reflect the desires of the man Barack Obama himself who is a nationalist that loves his nation to the depth. The man Obama himself said, “I love this country, and so do you and so does John McCain. We all put our country first.” If Barack Obama puts his own country first, who are these people who put Barack Obama’s country first before their own. They should be ashamed of themselves for they do not even understand the simplest ideals he stands for.

One significant lesson Obama teaches us as Nigerians who love and pray for him is the lesson of change and hope. This man preaches the message of optimism to his countrymen and lives it. He would give his campaign the slogan ‘Yes we can’ to show the possibilities of self-belief. His campaign theme can be summarized thus: “We have the audacity to hope that change will come to Washington, and to our nation.” Is that not what we need in Nigeria today? Many Nigerians have completely lost hope in the wake of the situation of our country. Many do not believe this country can be redeemed from the curse of greed, corruption and desperate money politics. But listening to this American politician; I dare nurse the rare hope that Nigeria will one day change for the better; that there will be power; there will be potable water: there will be good roads; there will be world class education; there will accountability in government; and one day the results of elections will reflect the true wishes of the people. What I would have expected the Africans for Obama to do is to task themselves in this regard. How can we bring about change in our country? How do we inspire hope in Nigerians the way a black man inspired hope in America by winning Iowa, a 90% white state! They should have embarked on a massive re-orientation campaign that will run through all of Nigeria’s television and radio stations to try to change the pessimistic and cynical mindset that a lot of Nigerians have about the future of our nation. If Obama’s America needs change, what does Okereke-Onyiuke’s Nigeria need? A complete overhaul I guess!

Another lesson Obama’s candidacy teaches us, as Nigerians, is the shame of our own version of politics –money politics and do-or-die politics. Barack Obama is not a billionaire. He has only one house, despite being a senator of the United States of America. Yet he contested and won the nomination of one of the parties of the wealthiest nations on earth. He did not have to possess millions of dollars and billions of dollars to contest. His campaign spent money, but they were donations of people from all over his country, not the loot of the treasuries of governments across his country like it is in my nation. When he stands to talk, thousands of people come to listen to his hope inspiring speeches. He does not have to spray dollar notes all over the place and cause the people to scamper and struggle to pick as much as they can before they can come out and listen to him. What do we have here in Nigeria; we have politicians spraying money across the roads as they move around to show as evidence of their love for their people. They hand naira notes to voters who come to vote for their party, capitalizing on the people's poverty and ignorance. Is it not about time we changed our style of politics where parties loot and loot to finance their campaigns? Why can’t Okereke-Onyiuke and her organization start a leadership institute that will inspire youths, teach them to possess and surpass the qualities of Barack Obama – articulation, intelligence, simplicity, oratory and nationalism? If they have the clout to raise so much money for sensitizing the people of another country, then they should use that same clout to do much more for their own country.

Over eighty thousand people attended Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic national convention in Denver. It was held peacefully and at the end of the programme, everyone went back to his house in less than one hour. There was no protest of marginaliszation; no gunshots; no fighting; no bloodshed and no one died. A political programme of an opposition party of that magnitude would happen in Nigeria here just like that? Laelae, somebody would definitely be beaten, guns would be fired and most likely, some people would die. The government of the day may get policemen to teargas the people or an aggrieved member of the party would complain of injustice and try to malign the programme. Shouldn’t we learn tolerant politics in Nigeria? Shouldn’t we practice true democracy? Why can’t Okereke-Onyiuke learn from these things and start a campaign that will “sensitize” our politicians at every level to exercise patience, restraint and common sense in their own style of politics?

Barack Obama would not tear down his opponent even if he had the chance to do so. He would criticize but with constructive tones. He said of John McCain his opponent “The republican nominee Senator John McCain has worn our military uniform with bravery and distinction and so deserves our gratitude and respect” before he criticized the political views of his opponent. After the world got to know that Sarah Palin, John Mc Cain’s deputy had a seventeen year old daughter who was pregnant out of wedlock, one would have expected Obama to use the opportunity to taunt and rubbish her political profile, but instead he would come to her aid saying “People’s families are off limits.” What if it were Nigeria, with out style of do-or-die politics. Political opponents would insult each other, their families and even resort to sorting out their difference by hiring thugs and miscreants who will fight each other and disrupt the public peace.

Studying the life and political career of Barack Obama, there are questions posed to our collective conscience that demand soul-searching answers. This is Africa; we are Nigeria, the supposed giant and pride of Africa. This man is basically a Kenyan seed, performing wonders in the United States of America. Shouldn’t that inspire us to shake our political and socio-economic lethargy and struggle to change the fortunes of our nation for the better? Isn’t it about time that Nigerians and black men all over the world raised their heads up with pride on the world stage with the confidence that our continent can compete favorably in the scheme of things in the international community. In less than fifty years the nations of Asia have earned themselves the acronym –Asian Tigers, but in Africa what do we have? African ants that are always being spoon-fed by aids, grants and loans from the United Nations?

I am sad about the state of Nigeria and indeed the whole of Africa I must say. Of what benefit is it to me if I can afford to buy a Hummer Jeep but the roads of my country are rough, riddled with potholes like roads in a jungle forest? Of what benefit is it to me if I build a mansion, when many people are homeless in my country and refugees abound in the land, are we not all the same people, with a collective name and destiny –Nigerians? What is the joy in looting billions and stashing them away for my unborn generations when there are men and children living in my time that cannot afford to feed their selves and are hungry and starving?

These I believe are the issues that should move the likes of Okereke-Onyiuke and her ilk who are the proponents of Africans for Obama. Instead of an organization like Africans for Obama which would concern itself with affairs of other nations, we should instead have an organization called “The Obama initiative” that will bring the sterling qualities, virtues and values of the man called Barack Obama to bear on our people and use all the might and influence they can garner to cause a positive impact in our politics and polity, no matter how minimal.

We all, leaders and followers alike must learn to love this nation, and be ready to sacrifice for it. We cannot celebrate Obama’s America while our own Nigeria stands for backwardness and corruption throughout the world. We only need to learn and be inspired from people like him. Then the world can celebrate us and wish to identify with us and not us running after cheap international recognition.

God bless Barack Obama’s ambition, and God bless my Nigeria.

The time is now for the manifestation of the sons of God.....

2008-07-01T05:21:00.001-07:00

Never a more appropriate time

History is the long and tragic story
That says wait to the forces of good
But says now to the forces of evil

History is the bitter and unfortunate tale
Where the oppressor never takes off his vice grip
Until the oppressed demands for freedom
Until the yoke is broken from off my neck
By the reason of the anointing

At the completion of 400 years
Destiny beckoned on the sons of God
To leave the land of captivity
And be freed to worship their God
But Pharaoh would say
Wait, it is not yet time

At the completion of an age
The father sent His son down to earth
To redeem man from the curse of the law
To the Jews He was born
But they knew Him not
Neither would they accept Him
For they said to Him
Wait, this cannot be the Messiah
It is not time yet for the Messiah to be manifested

For over two centuries
The Black man in the Americas was a second class citizen
Tortured, brutalized, shamed, disgraced, reduced to nothingness
Then came Gods own
The great Martin Luther King Jr.
To champion the cause of his people
And free them from their painful life
But the society and the church
Even his very own would say to him
Wait, it is not time yet for the negro to be free

45 years after Martin Luther King
A black man would emerge a strong contender
For the exalted seat of the United States President
And instead of a roaring support and enthusiasm
That one of our own dares to aim for the stars
I hear many of my cynical brothers say
Wait, it is not yet time for a black man to rule America

Its been years of injustice in our nation
Its been years of the reign of the wicked
Its been years of killing and bloodshed on the African continent
Its been years of feet-dragging by the sons of God
Its been years of compliance with the status quo
Its been years of stars dulling when they should shine
Its been years of passivity by the children of God
In the affairs of our land

Now is the time for the manifestation of the sons of God
Now is the time to shake off the sedating effects of gradualism
Now is the time to break loose from the paralyzing shackles of conformity
Now is the time for the sons of God to take over
Now is the time for the church to take a radical stand
Now is the time to restore the order of the founding fathers
Now is the time to unveil the Joseph generation
Now is the time to bring justice to the borders of Nigeria
Now is the time to ask for our birthright
Now is the time to demand for our stolen billions
Now is the time to demand for a Nigeria with steady power supply
Now is the time to demand for a floodless city in the time of rain
Now is the time for a black man to rule the world
Now is the time to blow out the candle of Mugabe from Zimbabwe!!

Time is always right to do right
It is time for the sons of God to manifest His presence in our land
It is time for the stars to shine
This generation had better wake up
Lest He raises up stones to take our place
And we lament a second phase of a wasted generation

God bless His kingdom
God bless Nigeria
Long live my fatherland

Peasantry revolution, they say, is the very worst of all kinds of revolution

2008-06-09T09:35:00.000-07:00

Echoes of warning from South Africa

So it could happen. They called it Xenophobia. I call it a peasantry revolution. It is bad; whatever leads to the killing of innocent human beings is bad. Bad as it was however, it did not come without its own reasons. Unjustifiable reasons one might say, but the reasons had their own bases. However warped they are. So much has been said, but part of the learning to be picked in the wake of the recent xenophobic violence in South Africa is that a people will throw law to the winds and take their destiny in their hands as soon as they are irked to a breaking point and can identify the causes of their inconvenience.

Part of the lessons should go to the pilfering kleptomaniacs in my country Nigeria who have made it a business looting our monies and investing them overseas. Not knowing that they are most likely looting these monies away to be owned, spent and even lavished by sons of strangers, who know nothing about where or how these monies came to be.

South Africa, a country that has known only violence for the better part of three decades, suddenly found itself berthing at the shores of political and economic emancipation in the early 1990s. At the cost of the peace and happiness of many generations; the blood of many freedom fighters; killings and maiming in the hands of the pro-apartheid oppressors, the nation emerged a truly free country with the emergence of President Nelson Mandela and the subsequent crowning of Thabo Mbeki as a two term president. From the fall of apartheid in South Africa till now, the country has steadily climbed up the ladder of political, economic and social leadership in Africa. Beating even Nigeria and other great African nations in several indices and becoming the true giant of Africa.

As a result, South Africa became the beautiful bride for several companies all over the world. Conglomerates who would establish their African headquarters found South Africa a more likely country of location. This tremendous positive change in economy attracted much influx of Africans from several other countries who flooded into the country in search of employment and indeed a better life. Soon South Africa became filled with several foreigners who besieged the economy to bite their own chunk of the South African pie, highly skilled personnel from Nigeria and other nations took over key positions in corporate and elitist South Africa to the consternation of many indigenous South Africans who had not acquired adequate education as a result of the violent and abnormal society they had grown up and known as adult South Africans.
Coupled with this rude takeover came an alarming increase in drug trafficking in the country, perpetrated mainly by foreigners. It is not a strange fact that many Africans who live in South Africa peddle drugs and are involved in different levels of scam. This undoubtedly resulted in a higher level of crime in a country that was already bedeviled with the gun psyche.

Now the indigenous South African has suddenly woken up from their slumber and they seem to be saying to themselves ‘what the hell is going on? All the years we suffered under the oppression of apartheid, we were all by ourselves. Now that we have won the battle and there is an air of freedom in this country, we should enjoy the dividends of our struggle; these foreigners have flooded in and taken over everything that rightfully belongs to us. Down with them all!’

The South African Xenophobia is outright condemnable. There are many ways a nation can deal with an unwanted influx of foreigners into their economy other than the barbaric annihilation of innocent people, but it does send a signal. Foreigners flooding South Africa had better tread softly; the land is soft and marshy. There is a deep-seated resentment lurking in the hearts of the indigenes, especially if your coming brings along with it unnecessary ostentation and wanton display of wealth.

The South African xenophobia sends echoes of distant, remote and faint signals to Nigeria. Many politicians in Nigeria today, do not realize yet that they have sown the seeds of bitterness and discord amongst a people who are totally irked at the path through which their lives have been taken in the past two to three decades. The same feeling of resentment, which drove South Africans crazy, crazy enough to declare a peasantry war of annihilation on foreigners, resides in the hearts of most Nigerians today. Why wouldn’t it? In the face of so much cheating, oppression, corruption and manipulation? How can a country be at peace in the face of all these anomalies? Calm, there may be, but peace, I think not. The calm in this nation bellies deep down a lot of acrimony, bellicosity and bitterness towards a political class that has continuously taken the people for a ride.

Just like it came to the fore in South Africa a few weeks ago, I wish to alert our leaders in this nation; a revolution is just about to explode in their faces. It will come right from within the heart of every Nigerian who has suffered the bitter pangs of hunger in the midst of plenty; every Nigerian who has watched in silent frustration the ostentatious display of wealth acquired from the nation’s purse right in the midst of the suffering thousands; every Nigerian bitterly pained at the extent of pilferage of public funds. Heads will be broken, houses will be burnt down, mansions will be pulled to pieces, vehicles will be destroyed, skyscrapers will be razed, and some will flee this country and never return. When the frustration and hunger of the poor reaches the apogee, when the anger of the common peasant turns against an evil, greedy and self-satisfying political class which has for years on end taken good care of itself while impoverishing the rest of the populace, and yet telling them ‘we are doing our very best’.

Why would this not happen in Nigeria? Rationality and ‘sense’ would rather have things go easy and by and by regularity would take pre-eminence. Unfortunately history has shown time and again that a mountain of corrupt mis-governance and oppression is rarely ever pulled down in the face of rationality. Freedom is rarely granted from the oppressor to the oppressed without an asking, a refusal of the status quo, a revolution, which is most of the time bloody. If things have to get to that extent in Nigeria, what bloodshed we will see!

What with the rude, impudent and disgraceful bazaar the political class has made of the power situation in Nigeria over these past years, with the issue coming to a crescendo with the embarrassing attempt of the immediate past administration. 16 billion dollars! Some said it is merely 6.5 billion dollars! The former or the latter, what have we seen of it? I mean, this is simply crazy, 6.5 billion dollars is equal to 780 billion Naira, and 16 billion dollars is equal to 2 trillion Naira! Common, I do not need to be a guru of electrical engineering to turn around the fortunes of the energy sector in Nigeria if given that kind of money. All I need is sincerity of purpose and a true, deeply sincere desire to have it done and I am most certainly sure it will be done.

The whole power sector wahala has been investigated, a lot of rubbish revealed, but the case is going the Nigerian way now, with everything getting muddled until everything blurs out of the people’s memory. Hmm! And someone thinks things will continue this way, with the populace suffering the pains of power outages day in day out? It will happen, believe me it will happen, that madness, that situation similar to the xenophobic violence of South Africa, is coming to happen soon, if the people of this nation do not get redress in the face of this mortal injustice.
What with the discovery of the rot in the Ministry of power and housing? An approximate 1 trillion Naira in eight years! Yet there are still no roads, the few ones that are constructed start getting destroyed in a few years, and one thinks, the frustrated Nigerian masses are going to be passive, docile forever? I think not. Every day, thousands die from accidents caused by these bad roads, poor people whose loved ones die every day, poorly funded hospitals who will not treat the poor without money, and then one thinks a mad revolution will not happen someday in the face of all these injustice? My people dying while some are junketing around the globe with our money? Bone story!

This is yet one more cry from another faceless Nigerian, the South African story will be a child’s play with what will happen in this nation if this trend does not stop. Let he who will administer our nation key into the Joseph spirit and administer truly and sincerely, without looting or stealing from his nation. Let him who will fight corruption do so without fear or favor. Let him fight truly and sincerely. Let this nonsense stop where a few benefit at the expense of plenty. One day that suffering plenty will become wise, they willbecome angry, they will take the bull by the horns, damn the consequences and react badly, whatever happens next will be ‘the big bang theory’.

There is very little difference between a flying man and a dead man

2008-06-06T05:34:00.000-07:00

The flying Dead

Cruising at 28,000 feet above sea level
At a speed almost 1000 km/hr
Darting through the heavens like an arrow
In an iron container no harder than paper
In the wake of its momentum
I concluded, there is no difference
Between a man flying at that height
And a man buried several feet under the earth
Both men are …. Dead

Checking out the complexities
Of man-made technology
A box suspended in the air for many hours
I cannot help but marvel
The extent of the wickedness of man’s heart
For Leaders who oppress the poor
Senators who perpetrate evil
Governors who loot their nation’s treasury dry
All fly in the plane
Yet none of them considers
That they are dead once inside the iron container
They hatch their next evil
Satisfied with their accounts filled with loot
Perfecting the fall of their fellow man
As they meander through the skies
God giving them protection
That they may see yet a new day
To repent of their acts

Say Oh! God bring justice to Nigeria
We’ve been trodden on the winepress
We’ve been ground in the grounder
We’ve been sucked, looted by greedy leaders
Fools who consider not
Every time they fly the plane
They are ‘The flying dead’

Every great reformer through history had a taste of incarceration...

2008-05-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

A room called 'Greatness'

Cold ground was my bed last night
A piece of stone was my pillow
Where in that room I lay
Where many great have laid
For destiny is not made complete
Till a reformer lays in the room
The room of greatness

From the small 'bird cages' of Goree Island
My fathers locked up in their numbers
To that little shack on Robben Island
With the number 46664 on my chest pocket
The path of great men written
Their bloods as ink, and their flesh as canvas
Crouching, Lying, crying, pacing
Oblivious of the pain
One hope alight in them
'One day, my people shall be free'

Sages from the beginning
John the Baptist the forerunner
Nelson Mandela the freedom fighter
Martin Luther King the black hope
Gani Fawehinmi, the people's advocate
Tenants at different times in history
In the room of greatness
Their footprints engraved on the sands of time
Their passion etched on the hearts of men
One streak commmon to all
Tenancy in the little room
The room called 'Greatness'

Dedicated to all Sweet Mothers...God bless you all

2008-05-15T07:35:00.000-07:00

Life, Love and Destiny

There is a tripod
On which rests
Our very existence
Life, Love and Destiny
We live a life
In God’s love
To fulfill destiny

I am an arrow
Shot by a mighty warrior
Caught by a blessed woman
My mother
Nine months she bore me
From the sun’s scorching heat
And the coldness of the rain
In her bosom, I blossomed
In her womb she gave me life
Thank you, my sweet mother

I am God’s heritage
His fruit and reward
Nursed, loved, tutored
By a blessed woman
My mother
Two years she backed me
On her laps
I found sweet rest
She showered me with love
In her love, I was free
Thank you, my sweet mother

I am destiny
For a purpose I was born
God’s path shown to me
By that blessed woman
My mother
Teaching me in love
Scolding me in discipline
Guiding me all the way
Praying for me day and night
Encouraging me in weakness
The voice in my ears
‘Go on child, you can do it
You are a mighty seed
Of a mighty warrior
You are bred in God’s love
You will make it’
In her kind words
I found the path to greatness
The path to my great destiny
Thank you, my sweet mother

On this great day
On which mothers are celebrated
Through the whole world
I say to you blessed woman
Of all the mothers there are
You are the greatest
I couldn’t wish for one better
Know sweet mama,Baby loves you now and forever.

Only a 'fool' in today's Nigeria can be a visioneer in the New Nigeria

2008-05-15T02:24:00.000-07:00

One foolish Nigerian

The emergence of the new Nigeria currently resides only in the heart of the ‘foolish’ Nigerian. One who is not a fool in today’s Nigeria cannot be regarded a visionary in the new Nigeria to come. Only today’s ‘fools’ can pay the sacrifice it takes to birth the Nigeria of our dreams where truly God-fearing people will occupy positions of authority; the Nigeria where everything works; the Nigeria that would be the envy of all other nations on earth. All through history, only the ones perceived as ‘foolish’ have caused dramatic and perennial changes in the history of humanity.

We are told the story of a man called Joseph in the Bible, a fine young man he was and absolutely successful for he had the proverbial Midas touch. He joined an Egyptian Lord’s staff as a slave but rose to become head of the entire business empire of his Master. He caught the eyes of his master’s beautiful wife and she would have him sleep with her or go to jail. He refused to sleep with her and would rather go to jail instead. What folly that would seem in today’s Nigeria! I can visualize what the average Nigerian would say to that ‘Heu! Dis guy na mumu, something wey e for chop clean mouth!!” Yet, in this young man’s seeming folly was absolute wisdom, for it was his pathway to the throne of the entire land.

We are told the story of another man in the Bible called Daniel. An unjust law had been passed in the land outlawing prayers to the God of Israel. Yet this man would go into his house, open all his windows and his doors so the entire city could see him go down on his knees, facing the direction of Jerusalem and pray to the God of Israel. What folly that would seem at that time! I can imagine the perception of the average citizen if this had been in today’s Nigeria ‘Heu! I pity for this guy mama, im mama don born mumu! Why in go dey pray wen President don pass law say make anybody no pray, kukuma in con open all in door make everybody dey see am so tay den report am to police. Well, na im kill himself sha’; but this man’s seeming folly was to prove to the world that God owned even the lions and even establish the name of Jehovah in the land of the heathen.

The Bible, and indeed history is replete with stories of people whose actions would haved passed for folly with men but won enormous respect from the almighty God. I have no shade of doubt that the new Nigeria is just around the corner, but we must not lose sight of the sacrifices we must pay to make this new nation a reality.

In today’s Nigeria, it would take a ‘fool’ to be offered bribes and turn away. What with all the billions being stolen by our national leaders. ‘Why would I want to turn away from such opportunity? Please! I have not come to Lagos to count bridges!’ But this is not the attitude to the new Nigeria. It appears a foolish path in a nation where almost everyone is determined to get rich no matter the means; a nation where the desperate desire to get rich and live large runs through the veins of many. It would indeed take a level of folly to say no to such offers. The emergence of the new Nigeria would take men, seemingly foolish men, who would rather stay poor than get rich by looting their nation’s treasury or engaging in any form of illegal enrichment.
In today’s Nigeria, it would take a ‘fool’ to run for an election without planning to rig and to use money, thuggery and violence to force himself into power. It would take a foolish electoral officer to say a resolute no to riggers and corrupt political parties even at the risk of intimidation, threats and fat bribes. ‘I mean, why would I put my life on the line simply because of an election? Let them have their way; at least I will walk away with some change in my pocket. Na dem know!’ But this is not the path to the new Nigeria. Only the foolish political party of today, the foolish political contestant of today and the foolish electoral officer of today portrays the image of the political class of the new Nigeria.

It would take some ‘folly’ for a government official to oversee his ministry without any forms of pilferage whatsoever, even where there are begging chances to do so.

It would take a level of ‘folly’ to do what is right even at the expense of one’s life.

It would take a level of ‘folly’ for the comfortable elite to join the political class seeking an opportunity to serve his nation and to turn around the fortunes of his nation even under the current dark abyss and murky waters that characterizes our national politics.

It certainly would take a bit of ‘folly’ to pay one’s taxes to the tiniest detail even when no one is checking and no one is really putting any pressure on one to do so.

It would take some ‘folly’ to bid for a government contract without going through the back door, without connivance with corrupt government officials and without inflating figures.

For we protagonists of the emergence of the new Nigeria, we must realize that our dreams can only be achieved starting with individual attainments of the ideals of the new Nigeria. This however will not come without exerting much pressure, and at great personal cost and sacrifice. Sacrifice to do what is right at an expensive and painful cost when there are less painful but morally wrong alternatives.

We must not forget that human progress though all history has been achieved by individuals who stood against the norms of their time; individuals who paid great sacrifices to follow their convictions in the face of intense persecution from their generation.

It took a token of ‘folly’ for Socrates to drink the hemlock and pay with his life for a cause he believed in while he could have simply denounced his teachings and live. But in his ‘folly’ lay the revolution of thoughts that characterizes the tenets of world Philosophy up till today.

It took a level of ‘folly’ for Nelson Mandela to stay 27 years of his life in prison for the purpose of the freedom of his nation while he could have at least lived a humble family life with his wife and children. But in the heart of this ‘folly’ lay the freedom of South Africa from the clutches of apartheid and oppression. In this ‘folly’ of his, lay greatness and immortality.

It took a level of ‘folly’ for the Lord Jesus Christ to hang on that cross, with the piercing of nails in his arms and feet, while he had all the powers to rescue himself and free himself from all the pain. But in the heart of this ‘folly’ lay the ultimate wisdom of God: the salvation of man today.
The word of God has summarized the ‘folly’ of the new Nigeria and the ‘sharp wits’ of the current Nigeria in two verses in the Bible saying ‘For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God’ and a second saying ‘…the foolishness of God is wiser than men’.

The ‘folly’ that characterizes the sacrifices to be paid to birth a new Nigeria lies in the wisdom of God, which to the natural man, the average Nigerian, could mean outright foolishness. It takes a great sacrifice to stand straight in the heart of perversity. It takes a great sacrifice to ignore opportunities of untold wealth simply because they are illegal, immoral and ungodly. It takes some level of ‘folly’ to create the thoughts that one day there will be a new Nigeria where there is an easier alternative to submit to pessimism that our nation is doomed and can never be rescued anymore. Like my father says ‘The new Nigeria is as sure as the new Jerusalem, if there is a New York, there was an Old York; if there is a New Delhi, there was an Old Delhi’.

When the world calls you a fool for your resolute position on doing right in the presence of easier and seemingly more rewarding alternatives, know my fellow Nigerian that in your heart lays the emergence of that new Nigeria of our dreams. A Nigeria where there will never be power outages anymore; that Nigeria where all our roads will be free of potholes and ‘lagoons’; that Nigeria where the looting of our national treasury will be an abomination and absolutely unfashionable; that Nigeria where our educational institutions will be the envy of the world and many will flock to our nation to study; that Nigeria where our leaders will be God-fearing individuals who are determined to serve sincerely, justly and determinedly; that Nigeria where there will be justice, fairness, equality and righteousness.

The new Nigeria is here, some of us are sworn to shun all evil vices that have characterized ‘Nigerianness’ for the past two decades or more. This is a declaration to the passing generation. A new generation is here, disappointed at the trend of events in this nation; sad at the current Nigerian situation; determined to make a difference; and poised to take over. In our hearts, lies the emergence of the new Nigeria.

Why, My Africa, Why?

2008-05-15T02:20:00.000-07:00

Why am I black? Why am I here?

I have reached a stage in my life where a lot of the things happening around me are beginning to irritate my soul, my very soul. A stage where questions boggle my mind, begging for answers. A stage where I feel it just does not make sense for me to come to this world, only to make a career, build a business, make money, marry a beautiful wife, raise children, buy luxury cars, build a house or two and then die, just like many of my many ‘successful’ ancestors have done. Having observed my surroundings and the world at large, I have discovered there is a much bigger reason why I was born at this time; why I was born black; why I was born in Africa and indeed why I was born Nigerian.

Why does my race have so many problems? Why is it the black continent that had to be carried off as slaves? Why is it my race that is largely discriminated against in many parts of the world? Why can’t the black man be the envy of other races around the world? Why is it that my continent has been reduced to a beggar continent and every developed nation around the world wants to ‘help’ with loans, grants, reliefs and all? Why is my continent not the giver, helping other continents of the world? Why is it that if I must travel to the white man’s land, I would have to almost literally ‘beg’ for the visa at the embassy in endless queues, multiple rejections and appeals? Why is every black nation in Africa poor, sick and misled in spite of the huge natural resources at our disposal? Why is our community so dirty, unkempt, our roads so bad while other nations are so well built, organized and neat? Are we lesser humans than these people? Why is it that every functional multinational company in my country is managed by a foreigner, and the justifiable belief that my brothers cannot successfully lead such large organizations without running them aground? Why can’t the black man, any black man, raise his head up high with pride anywhere on earth, to discuss with any white man on equal terms, with mutual respect for each other’s races as self-made races? Why? Why? Why?

It is a statement of fact that colonialism is one major factor that has decisively shapened the destiny of the black man, both then and now. Colonialism caused the trans Atlantic slavery; this slavery caused racial discrimination; and racial discrimination gave the black man inferiority complex. Colonialism has also evolved black countries and not black nations in Africa, the power imbalance left behind by the white man has caused so much ethnic hatred amongst black nations that bloodshed from ethnic strife flows through the entire continent. Why has the black man not been able to overcome all these problems? If slavery has so affected our destiny, why did God allow it?

A study into the Bible reveals that God never does anything without a reason. The reasons for His actions however are best known to Him, for man is mostly short sighted and may not see the reasons behind the actions of the Divine one at all times. Why did God allow the people He loved, the children of Israel go into slavery for four hundred years? He had a covenant with their grandfather Abraham, He promised to make them great, so why have them serve as slaves for centuries in Egypt, a country that did not even know God Himself.

On the other hand, why are the first five books of the Bible written by Moses? Moses was not the first man; he was born several thousands of years after the earth had existed. So how could he write the book of Genesis, illustrating the creation of the earth and other major events that happened long before he was born? It is not in doubt that God told him all the stories and Moses simply wrote them down at God’s dictation. Why did God have to wait till it was the time of Moses to write the beginnings of the earth? It seems to me, as has being rightly postulated in some quarters that God used Moses for this task because he was the first Israelite who could read and write. He learnt to read and write because he grew up a prince in Pharaoh’s palace and he was taught education as an Egyptian prince. I strongly believe God sent His children into slavery to achieve this one purpose, to learn education; to learn how to read and write. That is why Moses wrote the book of the beginnings at God’s dictation; that is why Moses wrote the Ten Commandments. To achieve literacy amongst his people, God sent them into slavery for four centuries.

So why did God allow the black man to go into slavery? In locks, chains and shackles, the whips of white slave traders on their backs and the painful tip of hot markers on their bodies. A free man the black man was, but an ignorant man he was as well. Knowing little about his environment and knowing absolutely nothing about the rest of the world. I am absolutely sure that God allowed colonialism and ultimately slavery to achieve His purpose in the destiny of the black man. Who would have taught the Kalabaris that those babies born as twins were not demons and one twin did not have to be left to die in the evil forest if Mary Slessor had not been here? Who would have taught my Yoruba forefathers that Abikus were simply anaemic children, born into families where both man and wife were carriers of sickle cell anaemia? Who would have pointed the black man’s way to the one and only true living God, if colonialists were not here? How would the black man have seen that there were other lands across the Atlantic, which were much more developed and civilized? Who would have given us cars in place of horses? Who would have given us ships in place of boats? Who would have unraveled the mystery of the River Niger if Mungo Park had not taken up the challenge? Yes, the colonialists had to be here, the slave traders had to be here, I believe it was part of God’s plan to liberate the black man and bring him abreast with time.

It’s been two centuries since the abolition of the slave trade. Yet the black man is far from been free. Liberty is not freedom. The abolition of the slave trade granted liberty, a legal state of being free. But freedom, an exercise of a free man’s spirit is still far from fully being realized in the black mind. Africa today has about the worst indices in all problems facing humanity. African countries are the most corrupt; the poorest; the most affected of almost all diseases on the planet. Hunger and starvation abound in the continent. Only in natural disasters is Africa not the worst hit, as they rarely occur on this continent, and needless to say that the occurrence of natural disasters is not within the control of man. The continent has only been lucky in this regard, had the control and prevention of natural disasters been the responsibility of man, Africa would probably have been the worst hit still.

How can I make merry in the face of all these realities? Wearing a skin given me by God but degraded by men? How can I live a life of personal fulfillment when the color of my skin is looked down upon in most parts of the world? How can I be happy when the world rightly perceives me and my kin as not being smart enough to take control of our destiny? African nations have been independent for many years but have not been able to justify the independence granted us by the colonial masters. The continent reeks of an unbelievable level of poverty and corruption.

Wait a minute, how can the world respect us when we have not shown ourselves worthy of respect? If I give you grants all the time, reliefs and aids every other year, then I am better than you. I am not luckier than you are; I am a better man than you. Why? Because you have all the natural resources in the world yet you cannot take care of your problems! I have my own natural resources (which are arguably not more abundant than yours) but I take care of myself, I provide for my nation, I have invested in the present and am already providing for my future generations. You have all it takes but you simply can’t put your acts together to harness it for your own benefit! Instead you mismanage all you have and then you call on me for help every other day. Out of my ‘generosity’ I give you some of my wealth and even teach you how to apply it beneficially on yourself! You are such a dumb head. You do not deserve to be on your own yet. You should still have been under me as an apprentice learning how to be independent! I tried helping you, but you constantly nagged for independence, now you are independent but still you would not let me rest. You cannot take care of your self-inflicted problems. Your tribes are always fighting and I have to send my UN troops to settle your quarrels all of the time. Your children are dying of sicknesses, hunger and starvation and I have to come give them bags of food and drugs with my UNICEF and WHO. Every time your leaders come to my place, I catch them in shameful acts of theft and pilferage. Your leaders steal your wealth from your place that is poor, famished and dirty, to my land where there is abundance. They increase the poverty in their own land and come to increase my wealth! What a people you are! You are a laughing stock. You are not man enough to be on your own yet, but since you insist you want to be your own man, then what a less intelligent, less smart man you are. You and I are not on the same level, do not ever think we are the same, I am better than you, in as much as we both have our individual resources, but you cannot manage yours and still are behind me, then I am smarter than you, and then you call on me for help every now and then, then you are a lesser man than me. Period!

Oh black man! Rise up for yourself. Have you not been derided enough in the comity of nations? How can we continue like this and expect racism to end? Racism is simply a by-product of the backwardness of the black race. Who does not respect success? Who would not give kudos to anyone who rises up against the odds to make a phenomenal success of his life? The world respects Nelson Mandela today, but not the entire black race, because Mandela’s great achievements pale into insignificance when weighed against the general profile of the black man; Phillip Emeagwali is well revered today but not the entire black race; rather the outside world would see him as part of the ‘talented tenth’ (a ruse), or one too good for his roots, a mutant. His achievements in the world of science would not uplift the profile of the black race because it pales into insignificance when you consider the entire outlook of the African continent. If the black man had risen to the majestic heights of self-dependence and achieved success in nationhood, beating even the western nations in all indices employed in classifying between developed and developing nations, disappointing the colonial masters with the right moral attitude, racism would have been long gone, or would have at least been turned on its head! Our society would have been much better, our continent a winner and our color an envy to the world and a justifiable object of pride for everyone who wears it.

This is a call to every African leader; this continent has suffered enough. She has been shamed enough. Let everyone buckle up. It is folly for any African leader to loot his nation’s wealth, take it to a western nation to spend or invest. Your display of wealth in these foreign lands is a thing of pity for any deep thinking person. You have no good home base yet you live like a king in a foreign land. The walls of your fatherland are fallen yet you savor your portion as the cupbearer of the king in the land of captivity. There are no roads in your country yet you buy a 50 million naira Bentley Continental to drive around the streets of London! All refineries in your country are kaput yet you own functional refineries in different parts of the world! And you want the world to respect you? Fifty years after independence, every African leader goes for medical checkup in either Europe or America! What about your people who cannot afford to do same? All over the world, pictures of your sick, hungry and dying toddlers are displayed in the media. How have you proved yourself worthy of respect? You want to live large at all costs even if it means no roads, no schools, no power, and no potable water in your country? You junket around the globe, living in countries where everything works, yet you were or are a leader in a country where nothing works? Do you think at all? Is all life about riches and wealth? Mahatma Gandhi died not the richest man in his time, but he was the man of the century because he realized who he was and determined to move his country, his nation, and his ‘color’ forward. Before the world would pay respect to John D Rockefeller for his billions, many would stand in salute of a Martin Luther King who stood for a principle in his time even at the cost of his life. What is this entire craze for money at any cost by my fathers in Nigeria? This is all getting ever so nauseating!

This is a call to every African man; you are born and live at this time to tackle the challenges facing your homeland. You were not born to simply live, eat, marry, make money, boast to your country men how many countries of the world you have been to or how many houses you have abroad. This is not the age of competing who owns the latest of cars and electronic gadgets; after all how many of them do we make ourselves? This is not the time for the African youth to base his assessment of life on who wears what latest designer from Europe or America. This is the age of the great renaissance. Let it be said that in our time, Africa took a u-turn for a better destiny. We should learn from the nations of the east today. They have woken up and taken their destiny in their hands, for this reason, multinationals from the west have found solace in these nations. If all you care for in this time and age that your continent faces such shameful, self-inflicted challenges, is simply to live an enjoyable life at any cost and leave a sickening nation for your children, then borrowing the words of the scriptures, ‘you are of all men most miserable’!

Before I leave this side of the planet, I believe the African continent will undergo a rebirth, a radical rehabilitation of psyche and a radical revolution of values. Look at your greatness Africa; it is right here within you. Grab it and show the world what you can do for yourself. Let the world chase after our sons and daughters too, let us lead the world, and let us stop being at the back. We can be the giver and not the beggar. Wake up Nigeria; stop being the crippled giant. You have hallucinated enough.

Know this today my African brother, you were born for a time such as this, there is no joy in being under, there is no achievement in being pitied, there is no pride in being referred to as the underdog. There is no fulfillment in being desperate to live in another man’s land after he has developed his land with his own hands. Where are your own hands? Why can’t you make your own country a most sought after too?

We will get there, Africa; we will get there.

Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people....

2008-02-27T04:44:00.000-08:00

Of a dream and a cake

Somewhere, in the land pushing westwards
A set of pioneers landed on new shores
Freedom fighters, birthed a new country
In the land of the Stars and Stripes
A nation’s founding fathers birthed a dream
The American dream they called it
A dream to build a free country
With opportunity and prosperity for all
This dream they have nurtured
Jealously, with great sacrifice and integrity
Down the generations
Till they built a prosperous nation
Envy of all other nations on earth
A free society where their ‘poor’
Would match the ‘rich’ of other countries

In another clime, down the Sahara
In the land of the Green White Green
A nation discovered a gift of God
A precious gift tucked away under the earth
A free gift from God to free their generations
To free them from the clutches of poverty
But they called it a national cake
A cake they have selfishly shared
Plundered, looted, pillaged
Satisfying the greed of a few
Condemning the generations of many
To the wicked torture of endless poverty
They have built a nation
Where hunger, sickness and despair
Has become the hallmark of their nationhood
Despite the free wealth, God has given them

Such amusing irony under the face of the sun!
One nation birthed a dream
A righteous dream and righteously pursued
A dream that has brought them cake
Indeed fruitfulness and plenty to their land
Another nation birthed a national cake
A cake consumed in the greed of a few
A cake that has destroyed their dreams
Their dreams of a prosperous nation
What an irony!
An irony that causes deep pain in my heart
And in the heart of many Naija brothers

This is a clarion call
To every man of the Green White Green
To take an audit
An audit of our great losses as a people
On the altar of greed and pilferage of a few
Say, we need not loans from the IMF
We need not help from the World Bank
Nor charity from every NGO around the world
Say, what we need is inwards
A radical revolution of values

Let us birth a new dream
With accountability and integrity
We can beat even The American dream
For it is a gift of God in every people
The potential to be the greatest
Not anymore should a thousandnaire
Become Local Government Chairman
And leave a millionaire
And our people celebrate it
Rather he should be made to give account
Of his ill-gotten wealth
To the people first and then to God
Nor should a millionaire become Governor
And leave a billionaire
And his people roll out the drums in praise
For this is the bane of our collective prosperity

We must renew our values as a people
Only then can we achieve our dreams
Then we can leave cake, bread and plenty
For our coming generations
And the future can look back into the past
And say ‘Our fathers were great men’
For they have bequeathed us
An enviable Nigerian dream.

Dedicated to Dejaide, he made me realise how fallen I was....

2008-02-19T09:12:00.001-08:00

The taunt that saved Isreal

Once, the children of God sinned
After other gods they went
Their first love they ignored
Jehovah, their king
Who took them to the land promised
In His holy anger
He sent them on a journey
To the land of the heathen
Bound in chains and locks
God’s people held in slavery
In the land of heathen gods
In torture, in pains, in suffering
Until the heathen taunted them
By the rivers of Babylon
The pagan taunted them
Asked them to sing a song
The Lord’s song in a strange land
Then the children of God wept
For they could not sing the Lord’s song
In the shrines of pagan gods
In the pain of their taunts
They repented
They remembered their first love
Jehovah, their king
And he saved them, he rescued them
He restored them back
To the land of their fathers

Once lived a mighty man
On whom was the spirit of God
With the spirit upon him
He lifted a city’s gates up a hill alone
He tore a lion in pieces as a kid shreds paper
He destroyed an army with an ass’ jawbone
Yet a Philistine daughter of eve was his bane
Say, in the laps of a harmless maiden
A mighty man’s strength was as nothing
His enemies caught up with him
Out went his eyeballs, off went his power hair
In the shrine of their gods they made him sport
Jeering, booing, taunting him
Fallen was God’s mighty man
In the pain of their taunts
He repented and prayed to his God
In one last final heave
Down went the age long temples of Dagon
Down went Samson the strong man
Down went a whole generation of the heathen
In the pain of the heathen’s taunts
His destiny was fulfilled
For a greater number he slew in death
Than he did in his entire lifetime

See how thou hast fallen, oh son of grace!
At a costly price you were purchased
For one lay down his life for your soul
Thine salvation thou hast toyed with
Thine apparel thou hast soiled
In the company of the heathen
Thou hast found solace
And now, thou are as one of them
For they welcomed you in their midst
But now they boo you, they jeer you
Say, they taunt you saying
‘See thine apparel is stained
And thou are as one of us
Fallen thou art,
For thine salvation thou hast lost
And now we are both alike’

Rejoice not over me!
I am not as one of you
If I fall yet will I rise
If I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be my light
I will bear His anger
For I have sinned against him
He will restore me
I shall yet behold his righteousness
With his precious blood shed
He has washed clean my apparel
My shame he will take away
For he shall cover me in his holy wings
He shall be my God always
Though he slay me
Yet will I follow Him
For He alone is the essence of living
I shall not fear to go back to Him
His banner over me is love
Now, always and forever

Pains, aspirations in the heart of a young Nigerian...

2008-01-30T12:00:00.001-08:00

When I grow up

Child, when you grow up
What would you like to be?

When I grow up
I want to be Nigeria’s Minister of Works
I am not happy about the roads
Everyday when Daddy takes us to school
Jigi! Jaga!! Goes Daddy’s car
As it gets in and out of large potholes
In a short while
My Daddy’s new car
Has become a rickety, old jalopy
Everyday we watch on the news
My people getting killed on our highways
All due to these bad roads
I want to become Nigeria’s Minister of Works
And I swear,
By the Green-White-Green
And the strong neighing horses
Bad roads would be a thing of the past
Forever in my country.

When I grow up
I want to be the Head of PHCN
Every time we shout ‘Up NEPA’
But like ‘lala to r’oke’
They never stay up
Down and down they come
Since I knew my right from my left
I am yet to witness
One full day without power outage
They say in some lands
‘Light’ never goes
Why is it not so in my country?
When I grow up, Daddy
I want to be the Head of PHCN
And I swear,
By the Green-White-Green
And the strong neighing horses
‘Light’ will never go again
Just like it is in other countries

When I grow up
I want to be a politician
An opportunity to show my people
It is possible to be a public servant
And not steal my country’s money
Daddy told me about Julius Nyerere
Tanzania’s father of the Mau Mau revolution
He was President of his country
Yet when he willingly relinquished authority
To his humble country home he returned
No wealthier than his rightful earnings
In my country
When a man becomes Local Government Chairman
He leaves the seat a stinking wealthy man
Stinking in his own filth of stolen wealth
Generals in my country’s army
And public servants with average earnings
How do they become billionaires?
Their wealth they cannot explain
For they have looted their people dry
I want to be a politician when I grow up
And I swear Daddy,
By the Green-White-Green
And the strong neighing horses
I will never steal a dime
That belongs to my country

Nigeria, Oh my Nigeria
How I love you!
Six years in primary school
Six more years in secondary school
Neatly dressed on the daily morning assembly
I sang the national anthem
Body still, chest up
Pride on my face,
The future on my mind
I chanted the national pledge
Hands on my chest, in a solemn swear
The dignity of my nation I would protect
Any day, any time, anywhere
As long as I live
My life have I committed to this cause
I would give my all for the Green-White-Green

I am not unaware of the evil cabal
That has held my nation
In a strangle hold for ages
Feeding fat on the wealth of my people
I know He that gave me the vision
Has given me the passion
And He will see me through
For He is greater that is in me
Than he that is in the world

Naija, Nigezie, Wazobia!
Long live my fatherland!

Birthday Poem for my friend - Seyi Akinleye

2007-12-21T07:29:00.000-08:00

Diamonds are forever

The diamond is a precious stone
Chief among pearls,
Precious to possess, beautiful to behold
Yet the hardest natural substance known to man
Adorning the necks of queens
Emblem of royalty on the signets of kings

Seyi my friend is a diamond
Virtue and purity are her watchword
Happy shall Bolarinwa be
For a precious woman who can find?
Her price is far above many rubies
Her heart follows after her God
In this time, when many like her
Follow after many other vanities

Seyi my colleague is a diamond
Beautiful to behold, An Amazon in her strides
Ajanaku koja mo ri nkan firi
A smile made to disarm armies
With the feline movements of a jungle cat
She spins heads, wherever she goes
Beauty is a gift of God
For a maiden’s beauty
Has saved a nation

Seyi my person is a diamond
Created hard by her maker
Her views she will not comprise
Unflinching in the face of many fears
Bold as a lioness, from no challenge she turns
She says to me
‘You know me, I’m independent-minded’
Strong, hard, yet soft, caring
She says to me
‘J1 are you okay? This is not you’

The truth of the matter is
You are a great woman
For you I have written this
One of my very best
Cos’ you deserve it
Happy Birthday my friend

A Poem for the leading milk brand in Nigeria - PEAK

2007-12-17T09:43:00.000-08:00

Dutch Innovation; Nigerian Pride

Under the glare of the African sky
The mountains and the palms of the black coast
Row fisherman, row
From afar, a timeless gift has been brought to you
From the far away land of Europe
From the ancient grasslands of Friesland
Springs a fountain
The river thereof, flows to far away Africa

In the heart of Africa, flows the river
A river of hope, a river of strength
Through the busy streets of Lagos
Across the desert lands of Kano
Along the creeks of Calabar
Bringing healing to a nation
Comfort to an ailing people
Nurturing the baby into a child
The child into a man
Strengthening the man
Against the challenges of life
With a stronger body
And a sharper mind

PEAK, Nigerian heritage
Brought from a distant land
Called by a Nigerian name
From the very beginning of time
PEAK, Nigerian pride
Synonymous with the spirit of the Nigerian people
After the battle is fought with the shield
The flag is hoisted in triumph
Fly PEAK flag, fly at full mast
The day is here when our people will say
This is Nigeria,The land flowing with PEAK and honey.

A Poem for my former Boss, Ken Cooper

2007-12-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

My Boss, My Father and My Friend

A chance to say respect to my boss
A boss like no other
My aspirations met his expectations
A bond was formed
A bond that leaves an indelible mark
A bond that has changed a life
A bond that has laid a foundation
A foundation hinging a budding career
Turning an engineer into a marketer
A boss who knows his trade
Passionate on the job
Thorough in teaching
Leading by example

A chance to say appreciation to my father
A father chosen without requesting permission
A lesson in humility
An inspiration to his young son
An achiever per excellence
Defying the odds
Climbing the rough ladder to success
In spite of every obstacle
Strong in challenge
Large under pressure
Tolerant in error
Gentle in correction

A chance to voice my love for my friend
Age they say, is nothing but a number
In an old man, I have found friendship
Race is a matter of the mind,
In a white man, I have found kinship
My good friend
Lively as a sterling
Humorous as Baba Sala
In his company, the clock ceases to tick
Never a dull moment
Caring, teaching, showing the way

My boss, my father and my friend
The same one man
The man
Kenneth Hilton Archibald Cooper
East or West, they say, home is the best
After a three-year Nigerian Odyssey
This is the pay-off that will follow his story
He came, he saw, he impacted and he conquered

As you return home Ken,
You live in my heart forever,
This is not a goodbye forever
You are leaving, we will miss you
But we will see again
Thanks for everything.

Much love

Ciao

Birthday Poem for Pastor Tunde Bakare

2007-11-15T05:25:00.000-08:00

ORACLE OF GOD

Oracle of the Most High
You that hast been spoken about
From the days beyond
By the prophet Esaias

'The lord hath called me from the womb
From the bowels of my mother, hath he mentioned my name
And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword
In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me
And made me a polished shaft
In his quiver hath he hid me
And said unto me
Thou art my servant, O Israel
In whom I will be glorified'

Oracle of God
You that hath seen the heart of God
And hath declared it
You that hath spoken to a nation
In a voice as thin as a thread
But hath sent quakes across the land
And jitters down the spines of the wicked

Oracle of God
Light of this time
Chosen as a watchman
To forewarn men of many evils
Chosen as a lighthouse
To point the path to many brothers
And navigate them back to the way home
Fearless in the truth
A lone voice in dissent
Unwavering in persecution

Oracle of God, know today
That your efforts are not in vain
For in places even where your eyes cannot reach
In places where your foot might not touch
An army rises, loyal to cause of the lord
The cause spoken through your lips
That we can win by righteousness
An army that will free this land that you so love
From the clutches of wickedness and corruption
To Steer the cause of the ship of our nation
Back to the ways of Jehovah
Singing the song
'Nigeria will flourish again!'

Happy Birthday, Pastor B.

LESSONS FROM THE EKITI CONNUNDRUM

2007-04-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

I remember clearly the statement from the advert jingle of Patito’s Gang, the television program hosted by Professor Pat Utomi, with one of the participants saying ‘no matter how you want to look at it, a people deserve the leaders they get…’ The first time I heard that statement in a jiffy, I contested the veracity of such a claim silently in my mind. I ruminated over it briefly and I discarded it as some rhetoric from another over-zealous Nigerian. It couldn’t be true, I reasoned. What if a leader forces himself on the people like we have had in Nigeria through successive coup-de-tats? What if elections are rigged? What if this? What if that? These questions played on my mind as I persuaded myself that the statement was unrealistic, and therefore untrue.

Over time, I discovered the statement I heard in passing never left my mind. I meditated over it day and night. In the office, bus, church, and even in bed. Upon intense reflection and careful thinking, it dawned on me that the statement was true after all. It was an indictment on us all. The state of our nation was a collective problem and all of us were to blame. How would a leader force himself on a people, if some of the same people did not assist him and the rest of the people allow him either through a self-delusive acceptance of fate or negligence towards public affairs.

How would a group of soldiers seize power without consultation and funding by some civilians? Was it not possible to create an environment where coup-de-tats would be impossible? In his track Teacher don’t teach me nonsense, the legendary Afro-beat icon Fela Anikulapo Kuti sang ‘…. oyibo dem no tell army sef, that for England army no fit take over’. How come in the U.S and England, coups never occurred? Then I concluded, truly, our government was actually a true reflection of us Nigerians. We had to stop blaming the government; no one was born government, every individual in power today emanated from this system. Until the people look inwards and correct the flaws inherent in them, bad leadership would remain a constant in our national life.

In the last eight years, we have witnessed the extent of our depravity as a people. We have seen a Speaker of the House of Assembly indicted for falsification of certificates; three senate presidents indicted for offences ranging from falsification of certificates, to election malpractices, and financial corruption; Federal Ministers indicted for misappropriation of public funds; An Inspector General of Police indicted for diversion of public funds. We have seen the president and his vice trade accusations of financial misconduct with one another. Governors have been caught and disgraced from office on account of financial crimes. The nation’s entire political class is replete with cases of corruption and dirt.

A most recent and equally most intriguing moral challenge is that of former Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State. The Ekiti conundrum poses several cogent questions to us all.

How did Fayose become governor via a democratic structure? How come nobody knew much of his character before he contested and won the elections? Who was he before he became governor? After he became governor, several allegations were raised against him questioning his certificates and business pedigree, were these allegations, raised by his own younger sister, properly and objectively investigated?

Ekiti state boasts of the highest number of professors, academicians and outstanding scholarly indigenes in several fields of endeavor in Nigeria. How come out of this land so rich in human capital, came such an aggressive man to be their governor? Why didn’t all these outstanding men contest against Fayose? Did they contest but lost? How is our political machinery built in this nation? Is it built to allow people with questionable characters win elections? These are the questions we must ask ourselves in the light of this embarrassing situation in Ekiti state.

When Ayo Fayose began his gubernatorial campaigns in Ekiti State, I was in my final year in Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti. I saw this man spend money with such abandon one could not help but wonder where and how he suddenly came to be. For at least a year before the elections, Fayose began his campaigns in a very costly manner. He distributed water to all villages and towns in Ekiti State. He would buy water from the state government and distribute to these places. He also distributed Kerosene to all villages. He operated mobile clinics that ran through the entire state providing health facilities. These are the much I can remember. He provided all these at his own cost. His name spread across Ekiti State like wildfire. Now and then he would make appearances in the Polytechnic and the University of Ado-Ekiti. The Ekitis, unhappy with Governor Adebayo’s lacklustre government, rejoiced at the coming of a savior.

While they rejoiced, they (unconsciously?) ignored several imposing questions. Who was this man? Where was he before now? Where and how did he acquire so much money that he could afford to spend this way? Could a person make money legally through hard work and still embark on a spending spree in this manner? What if he lost, what would become of him after all the money he had spent? Fine, he would bear his losses, after all nobody forced him to spend that much. But, what if he won and became governor, would he not recoup his money? He definitely would. Then how? How much would he earn as governor? Would his salary, and all allowances he would receive as governor cover the cost of his expensive campaigns? Definitely not. So how was he to break even, not to talk of saving some money for himself after his term was over? He would have to make money from some other means. What other means? As a governor, he was constitutionally unable to do business, so what other means was he to use to break even and save some more money to fall back upon when his tenure was over?

A thorough and sincere analysis of these posers will reveal that immediately the Ekiti people endorsed Fayose by voting him in as their governor, they had inadvertently signed in corruption as their way of governance. There was no other way to it. Other questions the Ekiti people failed to ask themselves include: Did Fayose do all he did during his campaigns because he had sincere love for his people or because of his ambition of becoming governor? If he did because he had a sincere love for his people, why did he wait until he was going to contest for governorship? Was it until then that Ekiti people started having the water, kerosene or health challenge? If indeed he intended solving their water problems, why didn’t he simply sink bore holes in the villages as a permanent solution to their problem rather than buying water in tankers and distributing on daily or weekly basis? I’m sure the borehole option would have been more cost effective and long lasting than the latter option. Instead of providing mobile clinics, why didn’t he simply construct new hospitals and equip them properly, or better still provide more and better equipment for the already existing ghost of hospitals in the villages if he had so much money to spend and love for his people?

Another angle to the Ekiti moral challenge is this: Femi Falana contested the same election that brought Fayose into power. While Fayose posted a sudden appearance on the political scene, parading himself like a colossus, with a relatively unknown and shady past, no known political history, ideology or role in the emergence of democracy, Femi Falana had become a household name in the nation owing to his persistent fight against human rights abuse and military rule in the nation. At the risk of his life, he had taken a forefront position in the fight that berthed the nation’s democracy. He was a successful lawyer of many years standing and all knew his academic and career history. Now, I am not from Ekiti state and I bear no allegiances to either Fayose or Falana, but if you ask me, I think an electorate with more respect for morals and character than impromptu financial gains, would elect a Falana ahead of a Fayose bearing in mind all the factors outlined above.

Asides Falana, where were all other brilliant and credible men from Ekiti State? Where were the Kayode Fayemis, the Dare Babarinsas who are just showing up in politics? Well, we thank God at least some are here now. Once beaten, twice shy they say, now it is up to the Ekiti people and indeed all other Nigerians to weigh their options and ask themselves sincere questions before casting their votes in the forthcoming elections.

As Nigerians, we cannot extricate ourselves from the kind of leadership we get in our states, and even at the Federal level. It is a collective responsibility and we will all share either the gains or the blames alike. It is imperative at this point, that people with integrity who have erstwhile abstained from politics should get involved. Together we can wrest the leadership of our nation from the hands of looters and plunderers into the hands of sincere individuals who are willing to serve in all honesty. I can never forget the words of Plato ‘The price wise men pay for their negligence towards public affairs is to allow fools rule over them.’ It is also written in the Bible, ‘When the righteous rule, the people rejoice, but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.’ I am sure the Quran has an equivalent version of this scripture.

Where are the Christians in this nation, the Bible says we are the light of the world, but where is our light? The entire nation is engulfed in pitch darkness, with corruption everywhere and assassinations being the order of the day. Where are the Moslems in this nation, fight for the rebirth of your country with the passion of jihad. Let righteous men emerge in the face of the nation’s politics. This is our country, we cannot have any other. There is no place we can run to, we own this country together and shoulder to shoulder we must fight to enthrone justice, honesty and good leadership. Until we begin to see an infestation of righteous men in our politics, Nigeria will never know good leadership and our destiny as a nation will never be fulfilled.

JUSTIFICATION FOR THIRD TERM

2007-04-18T10:44:00.001-07:00

Just before dust settles on the third term obnoxity, before the casket of the third term cadaver is laid finally to rest, it is expedient for us to reminisce on the issues surrounding the averted national disaster, to re-examine the circumstances surrounding it, to pick our learning so that on our journey back to national sanity, we will know what values to embrace, what values to expunge and what indicators to watch out for in the emerging political dispensation. The third term agenda crept in surreptitiously on us, from little murmurings to unabashed writings and declarations made by so many except the main character in the political melodrama. It came up like an issue to be taken with a pinch of salt, but grew so ominous that it took the resolute refusal of an entire nation to nip it in the bud. For once, our President displayed the subjugation of personal desire under national interest and Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief for the stoppage of an impending time bomb.

The advocates of the amendment of the constitution to allow the third term displayed so much passion for the bid and the entire nation or at least the vast majority of the people displayed as much vehemence in refusing the move, it is necessary for us to x-ray the entire issue, weigh our pros and cons and check if the reasons tendered by the protagonists of the third term were cogent after all, so that we will not collectively say no to a blessing in disguise and equally collectively regret our decision in the nearest future.

I watched with keen interest as AIT relayed Live the proceedings in the two Houses of Legislature as they deliberated on the constitutional amendment bill, with particular emphasis on the third term issue. My main interest was on the members advocating for the motion, I wanted to know their reasons, to know why they thought the constitution of an entire nation was worth being reviewed because of one man. Not as if it was an abomination for the nation’s constitution to be reviewed because of one man I reasoned, but if that had to be, then such a man had to be a super-genius, a distinguished technocrat who had accomplished unprecedented feats, a national father and one generally accepted by all. It was therefore rather disappointing when the third-term advocates spoke up, they all merely repeated one another, their reasons were watery, shallow, non-convincing and their miens showed absence of personal conviction. Their reasons were that first, the President had “performed”, he had done a yeoman’s job in governing the country and so he deserved a third term. Second the advocates claimed there was no other person in the entire political horizon that was capable enough to take over from the present administration. What a joke, and such an expensive one at that! I totally disagree with these two reasons and will analyze both for purposes of clarity.

First, the President had performed very well, and that to these people was enough reason for the constitution to be amended to allow him contest for a third term. Now my question is this, what is the mandate given to a President voted by an electorate in the first place, is it to put up a dismal performance? Is a good or even an excellent performance by such a man now a favour to those who voted him in such that it would be required that the entire rules be changed to assist in keeping him there for longer than necessary? The reason why a man is voted into a position of authority is because the people who voted him have invested their confidence in him, trusting that he would deliver or “perform” well given that all he requires are put at his disposal. In my opinion, it is not a favour or a miracle or something so grandiose for a democratically elected President to discharge his duties well. That is the reason why he was given the mandate in the first place, that is what he was paid to do, that is what he has to give back to the society that honoured him, exalted him, reposed their confidence in him, put him at the helm of all their affairs and made him their spokesman to the whole world. The problem in this part of the world I guess is that we have been so used to terribly mediocre, dismally performing leaders such that a fair one that has come our way now seems too good to be true.

I once attended an address delivered by Doug Nicholls, Supply Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc to the employees on issues concerning the payment of overtime allowances for jobs done beyond the normal working hours. He rightly argued that the employees’ salaries were not gifts as many probably took for granted, their salaries were paid for them to discharge their duties and to do it well. He educated them that their duties and responsibilities were programmed to fit into their normal working hours and overtime could be paid, if and only if, a worker was given duties stretching beyond the scope of his normal duties that would require more than the stipulated time to complete. You do not stretch your normal duties beyond the stipulated eight working hours daily and expect to be paid overtime! If the private sector knows this much, how much more should those at the helm of the affairs of this country.

When a President is voted into power in Nigeria, his tenure ends after four years, in those four years, he has every opportunity to prove his mettle to the world, on the expiration of his first term; he is given the opportunity to contest again for a second term if his performance has been adjudged okay by the people. If not he both does not contest or he contests and loses out of the elections! Now the second term is not a “dash”, it is an honour given to a leader who has performed well. In giving him a second term, the people are making a bold statement to him saying “We are happy with the excellent manner with which you have run our affairs in the last tenure; we give you one more”. It is expected that in this second tenure, the President would consolidate on his good works and then nurture would-be Presidents to continue his good works when he leaves the post. The second term, is actually the third term these elements are clamouring for now, only they fail to recognize it because of the valueless manner with which elections are run in this country, I guess they have taken it for granted that the second term which the President is running is normal, a ‘constant K’. They had better be reminded that it is not so, let him who has run his two terms be content with it and groom those to take over from where he stopped. Let him also be educated that he has not done his country a favour by his good performance, it is appreciated anyway, but he has done that which he was mandated to do.

Second comes their argument that there was no other person, in the Nigerian horizon good enough to take over from the present administration. How ridiculous! Well, for anybody who was in Nigeria in 1998, those are familiar lines; we have heard them before in this country. Let the present administration not delude itself or be deluded that the voices of these charlatans, political jobbers and sycophants actually mean well, because as terrible and sinister as Abacha’s government was, these people still clamoured for his continued stay in office as a civilian President. Only God knows how much these men were paid to commit such evil, to attempt wreaking such havoc on this nation. With all the looting, crazy looting, state terrorism, assassinations, phantom coups, as a matter of fact, there is nothing left that could be used to describe an evil, unloved and unwanted government like Abacha’s, yet these men were still there, even as they are here now, shouting their voices hoarse that he was the best for this country. Some misguided youths as they were aptly described even gathered and declared they would cause civil unrest in this nation if the late tyrant did not contest the elections, as a sole candidate! The voice of any man who at any time says only one man - the incumbent, is good enough for the nation, is the voice of a national enemy and any leader who decides to believe such does so at his own peril, because if he drops dead at that time, as was the case before, the nation would continue, waxing stronger and better after his demise. The Octopus complex is a failure’s mentality. There are men, many men who would successfully rule this country, even better than the present administration has done, let that fact be established in our minds, now and forever.

Obasanjo has tried no doubt, but his government still has a lot of snags bedeviling it. There are quite a number of national challenges in which this government has failed woefully, which makes the elongation of its tenure unjustifiable. Top of the list is this administration’s shameful disregard for the judiciary. How can the Executive arm of government, which is supposed to be a role model for all, display such malignant contempt for the ruling of the judiciary? One, who was supposed to be the enforcer of the rule of law, became the number one culprit in flouting it! Worse, it did it with so much impunity, effrontery and pride setting such a bad precedent. As I write, this administration is yet to complete the payment of Lagos State’s allowances. A ruling passed no less than two years now. How do you justify the elongation of tenure for such a government?

What about the continuous decline of NEPA or is it PHCN? What about our refineries? How can this government defend the non-resurrection of these two all-important parastatals? PHCN on its own has gone absolutely bunkers lately, while all hope has been given up on our refineries. How can this government claim that only privatizing these parastatals can make them work? That is a brazen admittance of failure on the part of this government. How come it will work under private supervision but will not work under the government’s? What technological magic will privatization bring to make them work? I am an engineer by training and I know there are tools for detecting the root cause of problems, one of such is the Ishikawa Fish-bone analysis which has identified 5 Ms that could account for an Engineering failure; they are Man, Material, Machinery, Method and Measure. It is now very obvious that the problem we have with these parastatals is MAN! We have the material, the machinery can always be put in place, method and measure can be acquired on the grounds of training, but it takes man to harness all these resources together to revitalize any equipment gone kaput. It is not unknown to us that some of our leaders have private refineries abroad, how do they run them profitably? Now we can all see that there are some men who are determined not to see these parastatals work simply because of their selfish and personal gains and this government has displayed absolute incompetence in checking and bringing them to book. How do you justify the elongation of tenure for such a government?

Mention must be made of the economic misery the masses of this nation have suffered under the administration of this government. Virtually every indispensable item needed for survival has experienced an increase in price of gargantuan proportions. From the prices of food items and transport costs to the price of haircuts, prices have shot up drastically and the economic power of the Naira has dipped seriously. Where on earth will the third term come from? This is the same government that last year promised the people that it will no longer increase the prices of petroleum products. After doing so no less than thrice in its stay in power. It was now a favour to the people for prices not to be increased anymore! How do you justify the elongation of tenure for such a government?

X-raying the achievements of this administration, there is no gainsaying the fact that this administration has demonstrated so much zeal in turning around the ship of this nation on a better course. This administration has achieved landmark successes in quite a number of spheres of our national well-being, but it is impossible for any single man, or government, to bring Nigeria to the Promised Land, our journey back to a healthy nationhood would be a gradual, consistent and jealously guided move, it is generally known that it takes much shorter time to destroy than to build, this nation has been in reverse motion for no less than twenty years now, it might likely take more than twenty years of consistent good governance to bring this nation to the Promised Land. The present administration and indeed all members of the political class must imbue it in their sub-conscious that you only play your part in the national reconstruction and you play it well, you cannot as an individual do the whole reconstruction alone, this knowledge will make it much easier for our subsequent leaders to surrender the reins of power.

JOTHAM'S RIDDLE AND THE NIGERIAN SITUATION

2007-04-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

There is a scripture in the Bible that never leaves my mind. It is a shocking precise description of the situation in Nigeria. It also bears a striking resemblance with the posture of the Nigerian church towards national issues-at least until recently. The passage is in Judges 9:8-15.
All the trees had gone at a time to anoint a tree as king over them. Together they all beckoned on the olive tree to be king. But the olive tree refused saying ‘shall I leave my fatness, where with by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?’ So it excused itself. Then they all went unto the fig tree and pleaded with it to be king over them. But the fig tree also refused saying ‘shall I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?’ So the fig tree excused itself. Then they went to the vine and asked it to be their king, but the vine equally declined saying ‘shall I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?’

Frustrated, the trees turned unto the bramble - the thorn bush, and asked it to be their king. The bramble knowing itself to be unsuitable for such an exalted post and thinking the trees were making mockery of it said unto them ‘if in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’

So all the worthy trees refused to rule over the forest and the leadership was thrust on the bramble, the thorn bush. In response, the bramble began its reign by visiting fire on its colleagues. But who are the olive trees, who are the fig trees, who are the vine trees and who are the brambles? How does the Cedar of Lebanon come into this matter?

The olive tree, the most talked about tree in the Bible, was the most useful of all the trees. Its wood was used as an article in the temple sanctuary and in palaces. Noah’s bird, which was sent to confirm the extent of the flood, came back with an olive leaf in its beak. This presented the olive tree as a symbol of hope. Oil from the olive tree was useful in many ways, it was used as fuel for the lamps used at the time. It was also used as a soothing balm under the severity of the fiery middle-eastern sun. Perhaps its most important use was its employment for the anointing of prophets and kings. In its use for anointing, the olive oil represented the Holy Spirit. This royal use of the olive oil stands the olive tree out as the most useful tree in the Bible. Every person ever anointed king over Israel was anointed with the olive oil. Perhaps this informed the decision of the trees to turn to the olive tree first before all other trees in their quest for a king. They saw it as the most deserving of royalty. But the olive tree declined and used its secretion of oil, its symbol of royalty, as its excuse.

In Nigeria today, there are many men who are made and destined for the position of national leadership, but have declined, by their look-away attitude, to fulfil destiny. Like the olive tree, their refusal to participate in the affairs of state has paved way for many unworthy individuals to take the seats originally destined for them. The result is that the nation suffers in the hands of irresponsible leadership. They are pre-occupied with many other things. Noble as their occupations may be, they still remain unfulfilled destinies. Joseph was armed with the gift of dreaming and interpretation of dreams and his gift paved a way for him in the palace. Our gifts need not necessarily end in the church. We can take them out and influence our entire nation with them. Then will the world see our light. Excellent statesmen, good managers, honest and compassionate leaders all abound in this nation. Not until they pay attention to rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem will they realize they have a bigger calling in being the Joshuas and Nehemiahs of this land.

The next tree approached was the fig tree. Notable stories about the fig tree in the Bible include the Adam and Eve disobedience, where they used leaves of the fig tree in sewing wrappers temporarily around themselves. The fig tree was used for shade for teaching and studying by the rabbis in Israel. Its fruit provided food for the people, it was eaten raw and it was also used to make cakes. The image of the fig tree as espoused in the Bible is that of Messianic peace and plenty. Where are the men who would put the food our tables in Nigeria? Where are the leaders who will ensure peace and justice in this land? More than seventy percent of the people of our country live under the poverty line of one dollar per day. It will take God-fearing men who love the populace more than their own pockets to see this through in Nigeria. Again, they are there in their numbers in the nation. Armed with enough knowledge, integrity and discipline, they can cause a change in the economic situation of the country. They must accept the clarion call if the onus falls on them to serve their nation. Even if it takes them running for elective posts, so be it. The object is to revamp a failing economy and restore the lost glory of our land while we give all glory to the lord.

The last tree approached was the vine. The most important use of the vine was the use of its fruit for the making of wine in Israel. In many passages it was referred to alongside the fig tree and on several occasions Israel was referred to as a vine while their land was referred to as the vineyard. Jesus called himself the true vine and we his branches. The wine from the vine was employed during times of celebration and happy occasions. The wine also symbolized the Holy Spirit in many places in the Bible. Where are the men who will instil joy in their lives of our people? Where are the men to make our country beautiful? Through enforcement of law and order, careful planning, our dirty and rough society can be re-constructed for peaceful living. Through protection of life and property and the upholding of our individual human rights, joy can flow in the hearts of Nigerians. All these cannot be achieved with the present crop of selfish, self-centred, unjust and stealing leaders. It will take the chosen of God, the vines, to take Nigeria to the Promised Land.

With the refusal of these three trees, the bramble, once invited, visited violence on the Cedar of Lebanon. Now a question arises, why the Cedar of Lebanon? After all, the Cedar was there in the forest but the trees didn’t turn to it to make it their king. How come it is the same Cedar that the bramble first declared war on? It seems to me that the bramble was determined to rule the forest. It was determined to rule it with a very heavy hand. It knew it was small among the plants and needed to make all other trees submit to its commands. It also knew that the cedar was a powerful tree, used as pillars in big palaces and temples. The cedar served as a pillar for the forest and the bramble knew by attacking the cedar he could take good command of the forest, like it is written in Zech 11:2 ‘Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.’ With the cedar fallen, all would be set for the bramble to take over the forest and further unleash his terror on the other trees.

This epitomises the situation we have in Nigeria. Unworthy individuals have run the affairs of state over the past thirty years and they have unleashed terror on the nation and its citizens. With an unbelievable level of looting, as revealed by EFCC in recent weeks, Nigeria’s leaders have stolen over 65 trillion Naira from Nigeria since independence. So many innocent and well-meaning people have lost their lives and families in the struggle for a better country. Crashing the pillar of the nation which is the economy, the looters have had a field day using the divide-and-rule method to break the back of the masses from uniting together in a common front to free themselves from this oppression.

The Nigerian situation has become a peculiarly pathetic and painful irony, with the brambles bearing rule over the other big and better trees. We have witnessed a fulfilment of the scripture, which says ‘I have seen servants riding upon horses and princes walking as servants on the face of the earth.’ Men who chant incantations have borne rule over men who speak in tongues, children of the occult over children of the kingdom. Men with an evil wisdom have been policy makers over men with the wisdom of God. Men without an iota of the fear of God have ruled over men with the genuine fear of God. Brain has answered ‘yes sir’ to brainlessness; mind has been brought down on its knees before mindlessness.

The result of this unfortunate irony is there for us all to see - embezzlements, impeachments, assassinations, mis-governance, under-development, backwardness, economic strangulation, flagrant disregard for the rule of law and a colossal waste of God-given resources. This spate of ill fortune must come to a stop, and the sooner the better too. Our best must come forth to lead us. Let the vines, figs and olive trees heed this clarion call of national rebirth. It is a collective responsibility. The church has a great role to play in this. There are many great minds in the churches. Only many of them are either too spiritually busy, they do not have time for affairs concerning the nation or have even resigned to the ‘can anything good come out of Nazareth’ syndrome.

If this process of rebirth would take a lot of binding and pulling down of strongholds, then Pastor Olukoya of MFM must lead the way while the rest of us follow. If it would take a radical and vocal opposition to mis-governance, then Pastor Tunde Bakare must lead the way while the rest of us follow. If it would take seeking for an elective post to practically show case good and God-fearing leadership, then Pastor Okotie must lead while we follow and support. If it would take mind-boggling revelation and knowledge then Pastors Chris Oyakhilome and Sam Adeyemi must lead and the rest of us follow. If it would take prophetic declarations, then Pastor Adeboye and Bishop Oyedepo must take the lead while the rest of us follow. Every organ in this body must work, stretch or twitch in this struggle. We are choiceless in this matter, we must wrest our country free from the vice-grip of the brambles.

2007 is just around the corner, we must come together to right the wrongs in this nation, we must not only vote, but contest elective positions. The more of God’s children in power, the nearer Nigeria moves towards the Promised Land. Let every elite and professional leave his comfort zone and join this quest. Let us put the brambles back where they belong. We have served them for too long. The time has come for the worthy trees in the forest to take back their rightful places, and then the balm of Gilead shall dress our wounds. The people will rejoice, and we will all stand tall with pride of having played our roles in the emergence of the new Nigeria.