Encore
Last week, I published part of a letter I addressed to the Acting President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN. In the letter (now concluded), my humble demands and prayers shall be accentuated. Subsequently, we shall look at “brouhaha over Acting President Osinbajo’s appointments: The very reason for urgent restructuring” and the unforgettable historical lessons from June 12, 1993, saga and need to reconsider restructuring now. Read on.
My humble demands
Sir, the state of all these humongous recoveries was as at May, 2016, more than one year ago. More startling recoveries and frightening hauls from the corrupt political class and their military, elite, ethnic, religious, tribal and nepotic collaborators have since been made. We therefore, make the following humble prayers:
My humble prayers
1. That you cause the Chairmen and Heads of all the Security Agencies, to immediately render full account of all recoveries so far made, cash and realty, and to publicly disclose and publish same to the Nigerian people.
2. That the said publication shall be made in all national dailies, the electronic and social media.
3. That in making this publication, lines of communication shall be left by each anti-graft agency to answer questions and queries from interested citizens and other members of the public.
4. That a period of three weeks certain from the date of this humble letter shall be sufficient to enable these humble prayers be looked into and granted.
Take notice, sir, that if after the expiration of the three weeks period mentioned in the preceding paragraph, no positive action has been taken on these my genuine concerns and complaints, I shall, most respectfully, without any further correspondence from me, institute legal proceedings against Mr. President, the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and all the anti-graft and security agencies, for a redress of the above issues.
I thank you, sir, for your kindness and patience in reading this humble petition from a loyal Nigerian patriot.
Please, sir, accept the highest considerations and respects from this Chambers. May Almighty Allah grant you grace, energy, vigour and pro-activeness in making you get a handle on your government, to enable it meet up with the unanswered yearnings and expectations of Nigerians.”
Brouhaha over Acting President Osinbajo’s appointments: The very reason for urgent restructuring
The genesis
The genesis of the brouhaha caused by Acting President Osinbajo’s recent appointments erupted when some “Northern leaders” led by Dr. Ismaila Farouk, Abubakar Tsav (former Lagos CP), Balarabe Musa (former Kaduna State governor), Dr. Junaid Mohammed and Arewa Youth Leader, Shettima Yerima, lampooned Osinbajo for practising nepotism, clannishness and cronyism as reflected in the “narrow and sectional interests, in his appointments”.
Specifically, Osinbajo was accused, after the accusers’ avowed “forensic analysis”, of systematically favouring “members of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) and his Yoruba tribe”. Accusing Osinbajo of allowing only “Ogun dialect” to be spoken in his office, the accusers point to Dr. Okey Enelamah (Minister of Trade and Investments), who was Deputy, and later, successor, of Osibanjo, at the RCCG, Banana Island, Lagos. They hold that Dr. Alex Okoh, DG, BPE, is Osibanjo’s “RCCG brother” while his Special Adviser, as Lagos State AG, Ogun State-born Ade Ipaye (Osibanjo’s defence team prefer to call him Abdulrahman Ipaye, to show the Muslim connection), is his Chief of Staff. Wait! Laolu Akande, of Ogun State, had to be ferried down from his New York base, to be Osinbajo’s Media Adviser, they lamented.
For Osinbajo’s Chief Economic Adviser, one Ambassador Dipeolu (Yoruba), clinched it. Tsav specifically says 80% of Osinbajo’s personal staff are from the South West; while Farouk says nine out of 10 of his principal officers are of his Yoruba ethnic group.
The defence
Not quite so, Osinbajo’s SSA on Legal Matters, Dr. Bilikisu Saidu, posited. She argues that two, out of Osibanjo’s three Special Advisers, are Muslims: Senator Babafemi Ojodu (another Yoruba, of course), and Mariam Uwais (Kano State). She says Director of Protocol is Ambassador Gwary (Yobe State); while “those in charge of welfare and health in the office of the VP, are mostly Muslims”. Bilikisu says with éclat and flourish that, “those who serve the VP’s meals are mostly Muslims”; while “75% of security operatives… and all cooks and stewards attached to Osinbajo are Muslims and Northerners.” Equation balanced, she enthused. Really?
Where are the so-called minorities?
The irony of these figures bandied by both sides of the divide is that only three, of Nigeria’s 374 ethnic groups (Sociologist Onigu Otite); or 470 (Bangura); or 394 (Hoffman); or between 550 and 619 (Wente-Lukas), ethnic groups, that speak about 521 languages (nine of them now extinct), are being discussed. Just because they are the major ethnic groups! Where are the other ignored ethnic nationalities? Oh, I remember. They are clappers, observers, spectators, hewers of wood and drawers of water, in the Nigerian project. Nigeria, we hail thee! I have serially criticised PMB for his nepotic, cronystic and lopsided appointments (well over 80% of his appointees are Northerners!). And can the Acting President really afford to fall into this same ignoble booby trap as his boss? Et tu Osinbajo? I cannot excuse the erudite Professor of Law at all, taking cognizance of the strong case made by his accusers, and the unconvincing, desultory and perfunctory defence by his SSA.
This country belongs to all of us, for crying out loud. I did not hear any so-called “minority” name like Ette, Umukoro, Osigbemeh, Chinedu, Iornem, Attah, Edokpolo, Tienabesoba, Idoko, Yang, Bitrus, Yakowa, etc,. I strained my neck and cracked my brain, but never saw names of Benin, Igbo, Annang, Ejagham, Ikwere, Andoni, Anga, Bachama, Ogoni, Bambuko, Bassa, Birom, Bomboro, Bunu, Powatiye, Chamba. Fault me if I am wrong. I giraffed my neck, but could not find names of Daka, Dandawa, Ebu, Etsako, Akoko Edo, Gbedde, Esan, Ogoni, Gure, Isoko, Gbagyi, Uneme, Gwoza, Urhobo, Igala, Weppa-Wanno, Ijumu, Ijaw, Kagoro, Itsekiri, Tiv, Idoma, Kataf, Ebira, Koma, Oron, Nupe, Tarok, Shua and the Zuru. Where are they in the equation of this amorphous amoebic country?
We cannot go on like this. What is it in that Aso Villa that corrupts, that taints, that makes commonsense and reason vacate their lofty seats? What is in that enclave that taunts and courts unnecessary tension and national implosion? I do not know. Do you?
The panacea
This is why we talk about true federalism and restructuring. When I crusade for restructuring, some who are ignorant of the term, get jittery. They think, erroneously, that it means break-up or balkanisation. No. It is simply a holistic re-arrangement of our warped federal system, which is actually unitarism. It is about shedding of weight and devolution of powers from an over pampered, behemoth, elephantine centre, to the poor beggarly federating units (states and LGAs). It is about enthroning social justice, equity, egalitarianism, mutual respect, ethno-religious tolerance and acceptance of Nigeria’s linguistic, religious, gender and tribal plurality. It is an affirmation of our Dolly Parton’s glittering “coat of many colours” that constitutes the beauty of our country.
If we were operating true federalism, the recent appointments made by the Acting President, which, like those of his “Oga”, President Buhari, before him, were heavily skewed in favour of his Yoruba ethnic and religious groups, would not have generated the volcanic hoopla and ruckus they engendered. If true federalism existed in Nigeria, the Arewa youths with the covert backing of their shadowing elders and elites, would not be issuing quit notice to the Igbo. The Igbo, Middle Belters, Afenifere, Niger Deltans, would not have responded with equal, even more, force and venom. Reconsider restructuring now so as to urgently put an end to various agitations currently going on in the country. The clock is ticking. God save Nigeria.
Abiola’s redemptive martyrdom: The unforgettable lessons of June 12.
Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, CFR, (24th of August, 1937 – 7th of July, 1998), often referred to as M. K. O. Abiola, was a popular Nigerian Yoruba businessman, publisher, politician and aristocrat of the Yoruba Egba clan. His name, Kashimawo, means, “Let us wait and see,” as no one was quite sure he would survive till adulthood. Being his father’s 23rd child, to the surprise of many, he was the first to survive infancy and actually ushered in other children into the family. He was properly named Moshood at 15, as his parents then knew that he had come to stay and they saw the need for another name, Moshood Abiola; the name, which was to give significance to the date June 12. At the young age of 19, he showed interest in politics, joining the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) since he considered it to be more pan-Nigerian when compared with the Obafemi Awolowo-led Action Group.
He bagged a First Class degree in Accountancy from Glasgow University and he also gained a distinction from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.
As one who had his heart set towards making the country better, Abiola invested heavily in Nigeria and West Africa; setting up Abiola Farms, Abiola Bookshops, Radio Communications Nigeria, Wonder Bakeries, Concord Press, Concord Airlines, Summit Oil International Ltd., Africa Ocean Lines, Habib Bank, Decca W.A. Ltd. and Abiola Football club.
In addition to these, he also managed to perform his duties as Chairman of the G15 Business Council, President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Patron of the Kwame Nkrumah Foundation, Patron of the WEB Du Bois Foundation, trustee of the Martin Luther King Foundation, and director of the International Press Institute.
Moshood Abiola spent a large chunk of his wealth in catering for the needs of society, and this was what brought the no-doubt industrious Moshood Abiola to national and international limelight. His philanthropic activities were done to groups and individuals alike, irrespective of ethnic, religious, linguistic, gender or social affiliations. He believed that wealth was like manure that must be used by the recipient to fertilise other less fortunate ones.
However, his hope to become president was truncated the first time when a military coup d’état swept away the re-elected president of his party and abruptly ended civilian rule in the country. After a decade of military dictatorship, General Ibrahim Babangida came under pressure to return democratic rule to Nigeria. After an aborted initial primary, Abiola stood for the presidential nomination of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and beat Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to secure the presidential nomination of the SDP ahead of the June 12, 1993, presidential elections.
With his illustrious antecedents and glittering credentials of national and international acclaim, one could easily understand how, when and why he ran for the presidency in 1993? He was widely regarded as the winner, having established a reputation as a man of the people, a reputation which cut across all regions. Alongside his running mate, Baba Gana Kingibe, whom he had earlier defeated at the primaries, he overwhelmingly defeated his rival, Alhaji Bashir Tofa, even in his Albasah, Gyadi-Gyadi ward, Kano. Bashir was of the National Republican Convention (NRC).
Those who were not born before June 12, 1993, may not know what all is about. For the records, June 12, 1993, was the day Nigerians from the East, West, South and North, rose in one voice, in amity, in unity, in concord and tandem to elect Chief M.K.O, as the President of Nigeria. But on 21st of June, 1993, the former military president, retired General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB), the “evil genius”, annulled the historic election and set Nigeria on the path of crises, turbulence and on the edge of the precipice.
Notwithstanding all the brouhaha, in 1994, Moshood Abiola went ahead to declare himself the lawful President of Nigeria in the famous, but fateful “Epetedo Declaration” ceremony in the Epetedo area of Lagos Island, an area mainly populated by (Yoruba) Lagos indigenes. He had recently returned from a trip to win the support of the international community for his mandate. After declaring himself president, he was declared wanted and was accused of treason and arrested on the orders of military president, General Sani Abacha, who sent 200 police vehicles to bring him into custody.
To be continued
Thought for the week
Democracy must be built through open societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. When there is debate, there are solutions. When there is no sharing of power, no rule of law, no accountability, there is abuse, corruption, subjugation and indignation. -Atifete Jahjaga.