In Memory of January 15 1966: The Day that Changed Nigeria?

Elegbede Tayo Jet·Friday, January 15, 2016

As a secondary school boy, I recall reading with terrified innocence and angst the series of bloodletting actions that greeted a newly birthed country, Nigeria.

This day, January 15 in 1966, saw the staging of the first coup d'etat on the country, barely 5 years after its independence and 1st republic.

Why was the coup staged? Nigeria under a civil government was too 'corrupt' and divided along ethic lines, so said the military.

The coup organised by top officers in the Nigerian Army (largely of Igbo extraction), led by Major Kaduna Chukwuma Nzeogwu, resulted in the assassination of key Nigerian leaders, senior officers in the army, and the abduction of three others.

6 months after the coup, a counter-coup was organised, leading to a series of crises, but top on the list was the Nigerian Civil War...and the over 30 years dominance of the military in Nigeria's politics.

It's exactly 50 years (half of a century) since that turn in Nigeria's history, what has changed? Has corruption increased or decreased? Are we more united as a people barring our ethic, religious and ideological differences? Is there hope for this nation or do we need a modernised military intervention?

While it might fair to adduce our current woes to the military intervention, my question recovery steps or advancement credentials have we pulled together since the return civil governance in the country (17 years running)?

Nigeria! #iDontKnowWhatToSay #MilitaryOrNoMilitary #WetinWeDonAchieve

Nnewi Holocaust

Sam Omatseye·

I wonder what Chinua Achebe would say if he were alive to see the holocaust at Nnewi last Christmas season. Not much of a poet, Achebe mused on the bitter paradox of tragedy at Christmas in his poem, Christmas in Biafra.

Bedevilled by adjectives, Achebe’s poem made its point in irony. God and disaster. Solemnity and profanity. Festivity and fragility. Tears to the dearest. That was Biafra in which a child pruned to bare bones could not find the strength to hail Mary. No one could extract native joy from bombs.

Fast forward, December 2015. A different kind of unkindness. Chicason, a company whose services routinely warmed the homes and bellies of its customers, met tragedy. The victims might have visualised many scenarios at Christmas: cookouts, parties, family reunions, laughter, jokes, music, dances, frothy moments of alcohol, swagger. Especially in the Southeast where the Christmas season lights up every village and hamlet into a carnival.

Yet, many marked their Christmas season like the woman who had sent a housemaid to get some gas. The maid was recruited only three months earlier. The boss was not sure where she was. She only knew she had lost the poor girl and wondered what she was going to tell her parents. At the Christmas party, she would not be there. Her seat vacant, staring and ominous. It would be the story for all those who either died or were hospitalised. Their seats were empty, their presences only imagined. It was inevitably an absurd moment. It calls to mind the absurd play titled ‘The Chairs’ by Romanian-French playwright Eugene Ionesco. An old couple receive invisible guests at their homes, and they all are seated in chairs expecting an orator to address them. The audience does not see them. Only the hosts. That is how the relatives will mark both Christmas season and New Year.

The problem, as Ionesco’s play shows, is that imagination will not bring the guests alive. No one could wish them on their seat in flesh, fork in hand, plates of rice and chicken in front of them. We cannot see the victims of the Nnewi disaster. They have retreated into memory. All kinds of stories were invented to fill the void, just as in Ionesco’s play. For what we cannot see or explain, we invent fillers. Some said the Chicason group had fallen victim of its sacrilegious prosperity. It had expanded into the province of the goddess of the Mimili Ele River. The goddess in its fury had slithered into the gas plant and fiddled it into a leak. A spark ensued. Death, disaster. This was a big agony. But the Chenobyl disaster in the 1980’s where a nuclear plant leak obliterated whole Soviet communities warns us that gas can be man’s great enemy. If you read Svetlana Alexievich, the Nobel Prize-winning journalist’s account of that incident in her book, Voices From Chenobyl, we should never take care for granted.

Others said a prayer session had happened earlier and a pastor had forewarned of a disaster. So, are the gods to blame, a la Ola Rotimi? We give prophesies flesh after the facts. When they don’t happen, we give ourselves credit. The prophets do no wrong.

No one was able to say what Chicason did to offend the gods or the Lord of Christmas. It offended neither law nor man, but fire came in its fury. No one wondered why a big commercial hub like Nnewi could thrive without a major fire station.

Few could tell us how, in the whole of Anambra State, only one major fire station thrives. Few have lamented that fire is a special corollary of development. Not a place like Nnewi should be allowed a second without the full gear to fight one of humanity’s major foes. Nnewi has a variety of businesses from cars to electronics to food to pharmaceutical. It is seen as an epicentre of the Igbo inventiveness. Many turn profits out of bonfires, whether it is the Chicason company, or the cell phone makers, or car battery firms. A fire begins with a spark. The spark in this case comes from neglect, the failure to provide the infrastructure of safety. As Robert Herrick notes, “A spark neglected makes a mighty fire.”

The reports had it that the fire department came all the way from Awka, Anambra State capital. It took about two hours to arrive at the scene of the holocaust. Too late. The pictures are scary. Fumes darken the air. In brilliant omens, fire burns structures while human bones pop and flesh singes. Many scurry away in fright. Bodies fall and the bush, as in the war that lasted 30 months in the 1960’s, become refuge.

Is this tragedy a story of complacency? As one of the city dwellers said, if the disaster happens today, Anambra State is still not ready. It is like the apocalypse. Earth residents know it is coming. They cannot prepare. They cannot pray. They cannot run away. They can only develop stoic reserves and hedge themselves with fatalistic resolves. The day comes and disaster will happen. As Thomas Hardy wrote in his novel, Tess of the Durbervilles, ”The people down in those retreats will not stop saying in their fatalistic way: It was to be. There lay the pity of it all.” That is what Nnewi, Anambra, is subjected to. That tragically is the story of Nigeria.

They can learn from Lagos, where every local government hums with state-of-the-art fire equipment. In spite of the plethora of fire incidents in Nigeria’s largest city, fire hoses spout water and the men respond in good time. That does not mean tragedies cannot happen. Fire does not wait for anyone. Like water, it is a good servant. But to quote a line from the Aesop Fables, it’s a “bad master.” Corporate firms are now asking the Lagos State government to help them in establishing fire-fighting systems. When fire of this sort happens, individual companies anywhere have inadequate facility to fight it. That is why anywhere in the world, fire stations are nearby. In the United States, every county has one. When it is a mega fire like the Nnewi case, they get help from other counties. That can happen in Lagos. But in a place like Anambra State, where one station can only limp, the situation calls for urgent attention.

Wrong, Haruna, wrong

Columnist Muhammed Haruna took on Bishop Matthew Kukah last week and took exceptions to his views on Islamic practice in the North. I am not interested in wading into the issues he raised. But I just want to make a correction. Haruna admitted that Muslim women are forbidden to marry unbelievers, including Christians. He wrote this in response to Kukah’s praise of the Yoruba pious liberalism. But Haruna remarked wrongly that Christians, like Muslims, are not allowed to marry outside their faith, because Paul said Christians should not be equally yoked with unbelievers. A mischievous allusion!

Paul said that with regard to sin and works of darkness. Neither Paul nor any true Christian would call a Muslim work of darkness, even if they share a different faith. Christ said let the wheat and tears dwell together. On marriage, Paul made it clear in 1st Cor. 7: 13 and 14 that a Christian man or woman can marry an unbeliever if they are pleased to do so, and they can even be sanctified by it. So there! Haruna should read his Bible before erring on sacred matters.

- In Touch, The Nation newspaper, 04/01/2016

WHY SHOULD THE POT CALL THE KETTLE BLACK?

Ophikpokpo Enivwenaye Augustine·

 While we blame government for every perceivable ill in the society, not many of us can humbly take responsibility for our individual inadequacies.

And this is not mentioning our inability to take responsibility for our collective inadequacy of habitually voting into power, the wrong leaders. Now there are some things that government should never be blamed for; especially if the citizenry have refused to take the needed initiative.

Government should not be blamed for the perpetual dirtiness of your apartment.

Government should not be blamed for the blocked drainage system of your compound.

Government should not be blamed for your failure to fix that light bulb in your apartment.

Government should not be blamed for your inexcusable habitual lateness to work.

Government should not be blamed for your pathetic addiction to collecting bribe.

Government should not teach you how to love your spouse.

Government should not teach you how to provide for your family. No job?

(Must everyone be employed by the government? Why not look for other dignified job opportunities?)

Indeed, government should not always be blamed for every conceivable problem in our society most especially our individual failings.

But government could regulate and assist your initiative. So those Nigerians who delight in blaming the government for its failure to provide for their welfare and so wickedly decide to lead obdurate, reckless and wayward lives, committing unnumbered and unmentionable atrocities, constituting private and public nuisance against fellow citizens and the government, have no moral right to blame anyone for their virtual inevitably doomed end.

For there are many Nigerians who have experienced disappointment and bitterness in different aspects and stages of their lives as well, still they refused to give in to life of excuses, indolence and crime. So why blame government for every problem in the society? The government may be bad, agreed. But are you doing your best as a citizen?

ON THE FALLEN WHEELS OF PATRIOTISM

- By Augustine Ogechukwu Nwulia

                                                                       

A patriot is never the man who wears the robe of his people in disguise and treats them with disdain. He is a man believed to be a custodian of civility with a deep ethical value; orchestrated by obligatory socio-conscience for his country.

Most times, I often ponder; when did we as a nation loose the flair for patriotism? ..that is if it ever existed. Or maybe it was just a mere word when we first learnt about it, probably one of those fitting-dramatic character that one is expected to play in the society. Something the late literary icon Professor Chinua Achebe referred to as "...false imagery of ourselves".

Now, where do I begin from? Certainly, from the top. After all, leaders were supposed to lead by example. I think we lost patriotism, the very moment our 'supposed elected leaders' alternated governance as profitable jobs and employment; where employees (elected public officers) systematically became the employers. The baleful enthronement of de facto leadership guided by an esoteric ordinance.

Governance, with particular reference to administrative positions in this country have been replicated as mere profitable jobs. A newly devised avenue for desperate individuals; frustrated business and professional moguls and dubious persons with questionable character to capitalise on.

This malady and unholy practise, has of today, increased tremendously in every strata of the nation's public service. As it stands, the number of credible public officers available in the country cannot be compared to the number of mal-administrators looting the nation's treasury; as a way of enriching themselves and their folks at the expense of the masses. Where lies patriotism?

The endorsement of individuals/candidates into key positions in government have always been emphasised as the people's right and sole-responsibility, but the style and method of governance when they eventually emerge; is never the people's business. In the same manner the people may never be abreast with reliable information as it concerns the utilisation and disbursement of public funds. It has become a regular occurrence to learn or read about public embezzlement of funds by public officers on the news-media, who may never face any harsh penalty for their continuous misappropriation. After all, we were told that "government-money is nobody's money", it is highly dependent on the ability of individuals in government to steal legally; especially under the comfort of immunity.

Legislators are no longer accessible and accountable to the people they claim to serve and 'supposedly represent'. In the same vein, constituency allocations have also been pocketed as personal salaries by legislators. In fact, nobody seems to know anything about constituency projects any longer. Moreover, most of the legislators live in a well-developed satellite towns; which is not in anyway close to their respective constituencies. Upon recess, they proceed to foreign cities for vocation. A report has it that a group of legislators believed to be members of a State House of Assembly in Nigeria sometime ago, embarked on an over-sea trip to a foreign country, on a purported claim of "Parliamentary training".

These are few out of the numerous excesses of our government tricksters, the same set of representatives who may only visit their constituency when another election beckons. Where lies patriotism?

I have also not forgotten about council chairmen and councillors who have suddenly become rich overnight; commanding fleets of cars in their respective abode and garage. The same set of leaders asking for an autonomy for the Local arm of government.

There are reports of fraudulent practises within the Local government council across the country; where council leaders are deliberately substituting the names of council staffs with ghost workers; thereby enjoying the dividends of an unchecked payroll system of invisible staff-strength. Where lies patriotism?

Do we also fail to mention the fact that there are sharp practises in hierarchy elevations and promotions in the government civil service. How about the laxity and mal-administration perpetrated by agents of public institutions across the country. Where lies patriotism?

Party-politics in Nigeria have sudden become an avenue and medium of propagating group/sectional discord, where desperate individuals can foster their entry into governance.

Democratic principles and ethos has since been buried in our nation's political history. Call it P.D.P, A.P.C, A.P.G.A, L.P, D.P.P among others; none has been able to formulate feasible policies that touches the needs and yearning of the Nigerian people. Party manifestos have since been substituted with personal and sectional interest, occasioned by the adoption of 'Propaganda-politics'.

Parties are no longer interested in verifying the credibility of their candidates; all they desire is a 'reputable-cabal' who can foster the gimmickry of governance particularly the quest for a take-over. Where lies patriotism?

We have suddenly been traumatised by a new wave of political, ethnic and religious violence. None; not even the government or its main opposition have been able to combat, and unmask the unknown forces behind the numerous insurgent attacks across the northern region of the country. Where lies patriotism?

We were told by the late South African leader and legendary Papa Nelson Mandela that "...Education remains the most powerful weapon you can use in changing the world..." Unfortunately, our educational system here in Nigeria seem to have lost it's value and efficiency. From the preliminary stage to the tertiary level, the system of education have been muddled up. Tutors and administrators of tertiary institutions in Nigeria seem to have lost the flair for teaching, they are rather concerned about financial inducements and politics, than educational reforms.

Apart from the usual routine examinations, there are no proper mechanism or system of assessing and verifying the quality of education the student receives. In the words of Cardinal Newman "...knowledge, indeed, when exalted into a scientific form is also power, not only is it excellent in itself but whatsoever such excellence may be, it is something more, it has a result beyond itself..."

The media, is also not left out in the scheme of social obligation. They have overtime been adorned as watchdogs of the society, the mouthpiece of the oppressed and the protector of the people's rights.

The media have been saddled with the responsibility of educating, enlightening and disseminating accurate information to the masses. But unfortunately, media news and contents has since been commercialised in this country. Where lies patriotism?

Let me conclude this piece with the words of Professor Achebe "...True patriotism is possible only when the people who rule and those under their power have a common and genuine goal of maintaining the dispensation under which the nation lives. This will, in turn, only happen if the nation is ruled justly, if the welfare of all the people rather than the advantage of the few becomes the corner-stone of public policy..."

Thanks for your time.

- Comrade Augustine Ogechukwu Nwulia, Freelance Writer and Social Commentator wrote from Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Published June 4, 2014. The Black Diary Press

A FOOLISH ATTEMPT BY A GOAT TO BARK AND BITE

By Chief Victor Umeh

 Watching Valentine Obienyem, the psychologically harassed, thoroughly depressed, visibly restless and ever-sweating hanger-on of Mr. Peter Obi combine the roles of an ADC, Orderly, Messenger, Washerman, Houseboy, Shoeshiner and other sundry and doggy odd jobs; one is often choked with pity which gives way to sadness and repugnance, even to the point of throwing up. That is why it is with great reluctance that one is joining issues with him.

 In other words, Val does not need to be dignified with a response whenever he raves like a lunatic in Nigerian Newspapers. He knows where he rightly belongs: the back side of mansions where eavesdropping and hearsay are the favorite pastimes. He is not privy to execute discussions and decisions. There is no way he can be in a meeting with me, the Ohamadike 1 of Igboland, Chief Willie Obiano and Mr. Peter Obi. He may be permitted to serve drinks and thereafter fly out of the window. Why Mr. Peter Obi has not called him to order is very baffling. He has badly damaged whatever is left of Obi’s reputation and goodwill. He has alienated Obi’s friend from him. When the going was good, I severally advised Obi to fire him, but Obi would not listen.

 In his latest outing (Daily Sun, 24th November 2014) Valentine had the effrontery, the shameless boldness to stand up to me, the revered Chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). The Ogbunigwe of Nigeria. I must state immediately that I am a Chief and that I am eminently capable and dangerously equipped to defend myself, physically, metaphysically, spiritually, whatever. However, I will not allow myself to do that. Ohamadike is too elevated, too sophisticated, too polished, too dignified to descend to the level of a certain errand boy and begin to exchange words with him. Ohamadike will not indulge Val in such luxury. Val is just like an overfed bird, who after a hefty meal decided to challenge his god to a wrestling contest.

 In the said interview, Obienyem was asked what informed his boss, Mr. Peter Obi leaving APGA, hear the saucy and cheeky man, among others he said: “Look at what is happening in APGA today, one man Chief Victor Umeh is the beginning and end of the party. The decision of my boss to leave the party was a great one. We note with happiness that he fulfilled his promise to Ojukwu and handed over to an APGA government. Besides the fact that he has also widened his horizon and placed him in a vantage platform where he would serve the people of Anambra State, Ndigbo and Nigeria from the centre as he has been doing and dreaming on expanding”. Rubbish. To start with, I, Chief Victor Umeh is neither the beginning nor the end of APGA. APGA is one of the most disciplined, organized and well-structured parties in Nigeria with my exalted self as the National Chairman. I have no dual roles or responsibilities. My only crime is that I am very energetic, charismatic, effulgent, accessible, courageous, and intelligent and up to par. I leave to the billings of that office. I have never prevented anyone from performing his duties in the party and no officer of the party has ever complained that Chief Victor Umeh obstructed him from performing his or her legitimate duties.

 On whether Peter Obi fulfilled his promise to Ojukwu or not. This is not the forum for that, the day Peter Obi will be taken up, this matter will be dissected, and Peter Obi’s hypocrisy will be exposed. But suffice it to say that even the wife of the late Ezeigbo confirmed it in one of her recent interviews that Peter Obi vowed to Ezeigbo that nothing would ever make him leave APGA. That Peter Obi told her (Bianca) that over his dead body would he leave APGA. So, what is small boy Valentine talking about? And the point that Peter Obi joined P.D.P to serve Anambra and Nigeria is complete balderdash and nonsensical nonsense. Truth is that he was deceived. He was made to believe that as soon as he decamps, he would be made a Minister in view of the fact that some Ministers would resign to pursue their political aspirations. Apart from that, he imagined that the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan so much loves him and could possibly position him to be his successor. It was a matter of self-interest and parochial reasoning. Now anyone can take a bet. Peter Obi will neither be appointed a Minister nor made to succeed Jonathan. At best, he could be South-East Co-ordinator of TAN working under the big-for-nothing Dr. Ifeanyi Uba. He is now politically stranded because he never expected this backlash. Within the P.D.P. circle, he is not trusted; the general feeling is that if he could do this to a party that labored for him for over 10 years, what else can’t he do.

 For us to have a better picture of the man Valentine Obienyem is hopping and panting after, let us take a recent view from a man who has known him for over 30 years, a Legal Luminary and Traditional Prime-Minister of Nnewi in the person of Barr. Ofili Nwosu, hear him: “Let nobody be deceived his (Peter Obi) defection to P.D.P is a non-issue. He is trying to protect something. He is giving the impression that P.D.P stakeholders came to beg him. If Peter Obi is what he paints himself to be…. on the day of that declaration, half of APGA faithful would have flooded that place. Look at Governor Miniko’s experience. By Peter’s action, he has called Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Ikemba Nnewi, Dike Di Oramma Ndigbo, Amuma n’ Egbeigwe Biafra, Odenigbo Ngwo, Ezeigbogburugburu, the General of the People’s Army a fool. Evil that men do live after them”. He wrote this in article titled: Peter Obi, A Soul In Bondage. (Vintage Saturday, November 22, 2014).

 Back to that impetuous young man called Valentine, let us take a look at another of his hogwash reasoning, hear him: “If he cared for APGA’s growth, how would he remain the Chairman of the party and yet be vying for Senatorial seat?. If this is not the highest exemplification of greed and selfishness, I wonder what is”? How can the small Valentine be talking to me like that? Can puny Val now sit down to be tutored? In the first place, there is nowhere in the Electoral Law where it is forbidden that by holding a party office, you cannot contest election. The position I am holding is not a Government appointive position which requires me to resign before contesting. Even Governors, Senators and others who are on elective positions do not resign before they contest. Rt. Hon. Edwin Umeezeoke was the Chairman of ANPP while at the same time the Vice-Presidential candidate of the same party. Pastor Chris Okotie is the Chairman of the Fresh Democratic Party as well as the Presidential candidate. In 2007, Chief Felix Modebelu from Nnewi was the National Chairman of Liberal Party of Nigeria as well as the Anambra State Gubernatorial candidate, one could go on and on citing instances. So it has not offended any part of the Electoral Law if Chief Victor Umeh decides to serve out his tenure.

 In any case, since when has Val become an Electoral Umpire who decides who and on what ground one should contest election. Since when did goats begin to bark and bite? What gave Obienyem the audacity and temerity to face Ohamadike, Udu, Ekwekekwe, Oku, which I am based on titles given to me by communities, including his own community of Agulu?

 Val Obienyem is not somebody I should be crossing words with. I am one of Val’s Benefactors, When he presented his book on Ojukwu to the public in 2006, I gave him N100, 000. Is this how to re-pay me? Now that he is satiated, his first instinct is to chop off the fingers that fed him. He should know that he cannot do that with me as my fingers are iron.

 Lastly, let us understand that goats neither bark nor bite, it is not in their nature. They can only bleat. Dogs bark and sometimes bite. When important personalities like myself and others are discussing germane national and international issues, a certain Val Obienyem should steer clear; he should not foul the atmosphere with his odorous fart in the hope of attracting attention. And this is a warning to Val, any pim from him again, I will expose him. If he thinks his bic is hot, mine is hotter.

 Chief Victor Umeh, National Chairman, APGA, Ohamadike