Yoruba People And The Bola Tinubu Cross

By Olusegun Adeniyi  

Many Yoruba people voted for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar or the Labour Party candidate, Mr Peter Obi, during the 2023 general election. This despite knowing that the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, is their kinsman. 

*Buhari and Tinubu 

It is on record that Tinubu lost Lagos State to Obi and Osun State to Atiku. It is also on record that people from other ethnic groups voted for Tinubu. In fact, a few of his supporters outside the Southwest were almost violent in their endorsement of the man who is now our president. Former Niger Delta militant leader, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo is one of such people. 

Is Bola Tinubu Settling Scores?

 By Ugo Egbujo

Tinubu has become an unabashed  chauvinist. It’s a hard watch. It doesn’t bode well for national unity. Tinubu’s critical appointments have become the most lopsided in the history of this country.

*Tinubu

A Yoruba is the police Inspector General. A Yoruba is the EFCC Chairman. A Yoruba is the Head of the DSS. A Yoruba is the Attorney General. A Yoruba is the Chief Justice of the Federation. And Tinubu, a Yoruba, is the President and overseer of all instruments of coercion. The entire criminal justice system is in the hands of one ethnic group.

Nigeria In Disarray: Waiting For Damnation

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu  

This Fiction Called Nigeria: The Struggle for Democracy by Adewale Maja-Pearce; (Verso, UK, 6 Meard Street, London; Verso, US, 388 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York; 2024; 185pp) 

Adewale Maja-Pearce does not pull his punches in his prolific engagements in public intellectual pugilism. He packs quite a punch, and comes strongly recommended by such eminent worthies as Jeremy Harding of London Review of Books who writes thusly: “Adewale Maja-Pearce is Nigeria’s most dependable journalist.” 

There is no denying the fact that Nigeria as a country is in dire straits. It is as though Africa’s most populous nation is forever thrust in suspended animation, especially after the heavily flawed 2023 presidential elections. Incidentally, Adewale Maja-Pearce starts out with these words: “This book was written against the background of the 2023 elections.” 

Humphrey Nwosu: Unsung Hero Of Nigeria’s Democracy

 By Tonnie Iredia

The death a few days ago of Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the outstanding Nigerian who supervised the famous June 12 1993 presidential election no doubt reminded many Nigerians of how best to organize an election. Although the winner of that election was never formally declared, everyone knew who it was and across the globe, the contest was unanimously accepted as the best Nigerian election in history. The accolade is yet to change.

*Prof Nwosu 

Those who knew Nwosu’s strength of character especially those of us who worked with him on the elections must have been elated for the first time hearing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in a tribute describing Humphrey Nwosu as “as a bold and courageous administrator as well as a patriot and national asset,” who played a major role in shaping Nigeria’s democratic journey. The description was simply apt.

The Nigerian Alignment Is Faulty

 By Owei Lakemfa

It was a triumphant occasion. The venue was the Muhammadu Buhari Cantonment, Giri, Abuja. The joyous occasion was the destruction of over 2,400 illicit arms. The chief celebrant was the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, NCCSALW. The five-star guests included the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, members of the National Assembly, representatives of the service chiefs, heads of other security agencies and top military brass.

The man given the honour to set fire on the arms, was the National Security Adviser, NSA, Malam Nuhu Ribadu. He waxed lyrical as he carried out this task. However, his claims that soldiers and policemen were selling arms to terrorists, bandits and criminals, were within days, challenged by the Defence Headquarters.

A Smoke-Free Nigeria Is Possible: Lessons From Sweden’s Successful Tobacco Harm Reduction Strategy

 By Akinwande Puddicombe

Tobacco use remains one of the most pressing public health challenges of our time, responsible for more than 8 million deaths annually worldwide.

Despite decades of anti-smoking campaigns, over 1.1 billion people still smoke, and the numbers remain stubbornly high, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Globally, the healthcare burden caused by smoking-related diseases continues to strain resources, yet millions of smokers find it difficult or impossible to quit.

Tinubu’s Cabinet Rejig As Red Herring

 By Adekunle Adekoya

My fellow countrymen and women are incurable optimists. As the grind got harder and life became more brutish and nasty as a result of the economic policies the president chose to adopt and implement, most Nigerians continued to look at the brighter side of life, praying and hoping that things will get better.

*Tinubu
In the hope that things will get better, many started calling on the president to reshuffle his cabinet. To those making the calls, inactive ministers are somewhat responsible for the short end of the stick that government policies handed them.

Regional ‘Development’ Commissions: A Perversion Of Regionalism In Nigeria

 By Olu Fasan

Every senator and every member of the House of Representatives who voted to create a regional ‘development’ commission in Nigeria claim it is a game-changer that will radically transform the geopolitical zone concerned. But that’s not true; rather, it is another unaccountable federal agency that will induce the squandering of public funds and do little to support regional development.

Tinubu

Similarly, every president who signs into law a bill to establish a regional ‘development’ commission has fostered another opportunity for patronage politics and all types of corruption and abuse of entrusted power.

Defamation: Actress Halima Abubakar Apologizes To Apostle Suleman

“I admit that I made false allegations against you; and also regret my actions and the damage I caused to you, your wife, Dr. Mrs. Lizzy Suleman, your family, and the leaders of the Omega Fire Ministry...I humbly ask for your forgiveness..."

 *Apostle Suleman and his wife 

Nigeria And Her Ravaging Hunger

 By Ejike Anyaduba

Nigeria relishes the moniker - the giant of Africa - which she blazons like an armorial bearing. With enormous resources and a population of about 250 million people (Professor Lumumba, the Kenyan lawyer and activist, thinks she is more than that figure) she can afford to boast about her giant status. 

But that is not enough. Nigeria accounts for one sixth of Africa’s population which stands at about 1.4billion. This population has a chance of growing more if nothing catastrophic happens by way of natural disaster or a split as was the case with Sudan - erstwhile Africa’s largest country until the secession of South Sudan in 2011. 

That Message From The World Bank

 By Sunny Ikhioya

Last week, the Senior Vice President of the World Bank group, Mr Indermit Gill, addressed the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and made profound statements. But what caught the attention of most Nigerians was his statement that: “This is only the beginning. Nigeria will need to stay the course for at least 10 to 15 years to transform its economy and become an engine of growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.” 

Nigerians are asking: why do we need a whole 15 years to get out of the woods? If the leadership does the right thing, can’t we achieve significant progress within a regime circle of four years?

Enough Of IMF/World Bank Puppets

 By Nick Dazang

Individuals, corporate entities and countries which succeed are those who plan for the long haul, provide for contingencies and keep their eyes firmly on the ball. They think long-term; they delay immediate gratification; and they deny themselves in the knowledge that things will turn out well in due course.

Such individuals, corporate entities and countries do not cut corners. They follow due process. They are transparent. They only tweak their policies to align with their long-term goal(s). Their leaders complement these qualities by demonstrating emotional intelligence; by delivering good governance; by demonstrating prudence; and by exuding respect and fellow-feeling for their compatriots.

Will Ondo Enjoy A Seamless Governorship Election?

 By Tonnie Iredia

It is the turn of the people of Ondo State, Southwest Nigeria, to pass through the ordeal of a governorship election in the country. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the body empowered to organize elections in Nigeria has since scheduled Saturday, November 16, 2024 as voting day for the contest. Indeed, as far back as May 25, 2024, INEC had published particulars of nominated candidates from 17 political parties.

But if what happened in nearby Edo State on Saturday October 21, 2024 is a good guide to the conduct of an election, Ondo people should be prepared to take whatever they see as an election. After all, politicians in the state cannot pretend to be unaware of the battered election process they have had in the last 8 years.

Freeing Nigeria

 By Obi Nwakanma

By every index, Nigeria as a nation, has very nearly, finally collapsed. It is held together now only by a very weak thread called fate.

*Tinubu

Basically, Nigeria has slipped to the symbolic phase of nationhood. It can only perform symbolic actions of nationness: convoke a parliament which only sits symbolically because it is actually not a parliament; issue laws, which carry only symbolic authority because they have no life, and are unenforceable; issue executive papers that have no administrative force, because it is not connected to institutions that serve citizens. There are no citizens.

Petrol Price And Economic Enslavement Of Nigerians

 By Adekunle Adekoya

AS each day dawns in Nigeria, the economic omens are getting more and more bothersome, sending  wave after wave of apprehension about how to make ends meet down the spines of most of us, except, perhaps, those permanently connected to sources of unending funds, like politicians, clergymen, and motor park operatives, known as agberos.

These three classes of Nigerians are about the only ones seemingly immune from the excruciating impact of the economic policies of the government in power. They are immune from it because the systems in which they operate is wired to generate money that they can spend at will without let and hindrance, and the sums available are simply humongous.

Who Will Tell Mr President?

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Who will tell Bola Tinubu that his 16-month-old presidency has reduced Nigeria to a living hell? Who will tell Mr President that there is great suffering in the land? Who will tell him to stop insulting Nigerians by his off-handed comments? Who will tell Tinubu that Nigerians are reeling from his ill-digested reforms and the incessant careless, brusque and inconsiderate jibes from the likes of Senate President Godswill Akpabio at the expense of longsuffering Nigerians is adding insult to injury?

*Tinubu

But wait a minute, is Mr President aware that he has reduced fellow citizens to hewers of wood and drawers of water? Chances are that he is. At least he admitted that much in his 2024 Independence Day speech on October 1, when he said: “Fellow Nigerians, as I address you today, I am deeply aware of the struggles many of you face in these challenging times. Our administration knows that many of you struggle with rising living costs and the search for meaningful employment.”

Cabinet Reshuffle? Tinubu Is The Problem, Not His Inept Ministers

 By Olu Fasan

Ever since the presidency confirmed that Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s ineffectual president, would reshuffle his utterly incompetent cabinet, speculations have been rife about who would be in and who would be out. The Guardian newspaper set the hares running with a front-page story titled: “11 ministers, senior officials may go as Tinubu reshuffles cabinet.” 

*Tinubu

Then, Dr Doyin Okupe, a former presidential spokesman and director-general of Peter Obi’s presidential campaign, now a fawning Tinubu loyalist, said that Tinubu’s two-week trip to Europe was not, contrary to the presidency’s claim, a holiday but “an essential break to carefully consider changes in his cabinet without undue interference”. Nigeria is probably the only country where a president must cocoon himself in cosy foreign hotels to “wilfully separate himself from officials, friends, and associates” in order to appoint or reshuffle his cabinet.

Of course, Nigeria is a global outlier, exceptional in many perverse ways. Here’s a country where a president can do anything, and where the citizens are indifferent to whatever their president does. In his book titled Reclaiming the Jewel of Africa, Dr Olusegun Aganga said that then President Goodluck Jonathan once remarked that “the Nigerian president was vested with so much power that it was best to check oneself in the exercise of those powers”. In other words, in Nigeria, only the president can check himself, no one else can check him. And if you have a president like Tinubu who likes to exercise power arbitrarily based on his hunches and predilections, everyone just has to accept and live with the consequences. For, let’s face it, there is no accountability for bad executive decisions or failures in Nigeria. 

Think about it. A key test of leadership is judgement. A leader must exercise sound judgement and make good decisions. Tinubu fails that test. Truth be told, in a true democracy, with proper checks and balances and accountability mechanisms, Tinubu would be held to account for the way he has mismanaged Nigeria through poor judgements and bad decisions since he assumed power. Held to account? How? Well, first, peaceful protests are legitimate tools of democracy. Second, the media should be fiercely intolerant of bad governance. And, of course, third, the National Assembly should never be the president’s poodle. 

But what happens in Nigeria? Well, the public and the media are all bark and no bite. As for the National Assembly, it simply rubberstamps everything Tinubu does and rewards his failure. For instance, it was recently reported that the National Assembly wanted to establish a university and name it after Tinubu. And some states have named airports after him. What a country! Why is being a president in Nigeria not about self-sacrifice but about self-service?

Dr Aganga added in his book that “the Nigerian presidential constitution vests so much power in the president that only conscious and conscionable exercise of these powers can save the holder of the exalted office from themselves”. Surely, if Tinubu consciously and conscionably exercises presidential powers, he will reject any attempt to deify him. He will know that he has done absolutely nothing transformative and life-enhancing in his one-and-a-half years in office to deserve an airport or a university being named after him. It is a mark of Tinubu’s self-entitlement and utter insensitivity that he is making the presidency about his self-glorification and personal comfort. According to one recent report, “the Presidency spends N16.06 billion to buy foreign currencies for international trips in one year.” That’s the extent of Tinubu’s profligacy and extravagance amid excruciating pains across Nigeria.

All of which brings us to the so-called cabinet reshuffle. Now, if a president has to reshuffle his cabinet within one year of constituting it, what does that tell us about his judgement? Everyone knows that Tinubu was not thinking about good governance when he formed his cabinet. Rather, he was thinking about his personal and political interests. As result, his ministers fell into three categories: those, like Nyesom Wike, he appointed to return political favours and shore up support for his re-election bid in 2027; those, like former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State, who lost elections and who, for personal reasons, Tinubu wanted to rehabilitate; and his longstanding acolytes in Lagos State, who are  supposedly technocratic but are personally too close to him to be genuinely technocratic. 

Last year, I wrote a column titled “Tinubu’s ministers: A bunch of political rewardees and cronies” (Vanguard, August 10, 2023). I argued that Tinubu should have appointed ministers from the pool of Nigeria’s brightest and best, but put party, politics and self above country. It took Tinubu three months in office before picking his ministers. Yet, he came up with such a hollow cabinet. Those now hailing him for wanting to reshuffle his cabinet should, in fact, be questioning his judgement and leadership.

As Tinubu was swearing in his ministers on August 21, 2023, I was being interviewed on News Central TV along with Dr Elijah Onyeagba, Nigeria’s ambassador to Burundi. Dr Onyeagba said it was all about Tinubu, not his ministers, because he was in charge. I was aghast. I told him a president is as a good as his team, and a cabinet reflects the president. If a president is visionary and focused on problem-solving, he will assemble the best possible team. If he is fixated on politicking and the next election, he will assemble a mediocre team of yes-men and yes-women, who see their positions as political favours and owe loyalty to their benefactors. Tinubu’s cabinet is full of such people. 

For instance, not long ago, Heineken Lokpobiri, the minister of state for petroleum resources, said he owed his appointment to Wike. Of course, nothing qualifies him for the position beyond cronyism. That unfitness was evident when, recently, Lokpobiri said that Nigeria “is expecting $50 billion worth of investment in the oil sector before the end of the year.” At a time when international oil companies, IOCs, are deserting Nigeria in droves, and when Western governments are no longer investing in fossil fuels projects in developing countries, Lokpobiri was saying that foreign investors would pour $50 billion into the oil sector by December. 

The thoughtless comment so irked Dr Rueben Abati that he upbraided the minister on Arise TV, telling him to “keep quiet” if he “has nothing to say”, adding that “he doesn’t know what he is talking about, and constantly puts his foot in his mouth.”

But I repeat: a cabinet reflects the president. Matthew Parris, a British writer, once said that every government needs “the presiding intellect with the intelligence to grasp the problem.” That requires leadership and judgement. Tinubu has demonstrated neither as president. That’s why reshuffling his cabinet will change nothing. A fish rots from the head down! 

*Dr. Fasan is a commentator on public issues

Kwankwaso Makes Me Laugh

 By Ochereome Nnanna

“I’m bigger than Peter Obi politically, I’m his elder brother, I’m a PhD holder, I performed better than him when I was a governor of my state. I’ve no problem with deputising Peter Obi, but only if certain conditions are met…” – Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, in a recent interview.

Let us analytically examine the above statement, and you will see why Kwankwaso makes me laugh. The former governor of Kano State and leader of the New Nigerian People’s Party, NNPP, betrays his confused state of mind, egotism and delusion in making this spurious claim. He claims he is “bigger” than Mr Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, during the 2023 elections, without justifying his claim. He cannot justify it because it is a blatant lie. Let us look at the official figures as released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

As Multi-Dimensional Insecurity Ravages Nigerians

By Adekunle Adekoya

Last week I opined that in terms of security, our dear nation is still at 100 level. To those who know, 100 level, in our clime, is generally used to refer to the first year of study in a university. In other countries, 100 level students, or JAMBites, here, are also called freshmen. Compared with many countries, Nigeria is a fresher in terms of security, and yes, some fellow African countries, lumped together as the Third World. Much of what goes on here is simply not tolerated next door in Benin Republic. 

On a trip to Cotonou a few years ago, I was amazed at how the gendarmes (police) there controlled traffic by merely blowing whistles. I saw, on that trip, how a truck that rammed into a street light pole on the highway was arrested and detained. I was also told that the vehicle will not be released to its owners until they have paid the cost of repairing the damaged street light pole. Here, that happens daily, and government bears the cost. In any case, most of the street light poles don’t give light, so nobody bothers.

Nigeria Where It No Longer Pays To Work!

 By Dele Sobowale

“How can productivity work in a place where you have ten people clustering an office, no electricity, trek to about 11-storey building. Labour punches the button to work no matter what.”     

– Dr Tommy Okon, Trade Union Congress, TUC

Dr Okon has captured only a fraction of the miseries of millions of “employed” Nigerians. Before reaching the office to start climbing the stairs, he/she might have trekked up to eight kilometres from home to get there. In reality, the relationship between employers and employees in Nigeria today is much closer to the seventeenth century slave and slave owner arrangement. After going through the hazards, including no breakfast everyday, he might still not get paid at the end of the month. Nigerian workers, at all levels in many organizations, now constitute the largest group of involuntary philanthropists in the world now.

Election Disputes: Go To Court, Which Court?

 By Tonnie Iredia

There is nothing new about elections in Nigeria. Except for the annulled June 12 election, we have never had a free, fair and credible process because our politicians know that voters don’t believe in them. It is worse that it is the ruling party which uses all organs of government to ensure the right candidate does not win.

The new system in which voting is open but collation is manipulated dates back to 1999 when former American President Jimmy Carter led the international election monitoring group. Carter told reporters that the number of voters on the voting queue was different from the results that were announced. In other words, the mischief that needs to be cured in Nigerian elections is the collation process. Everything is usually changed during the process to overturn the correct results with the strong telling the weak to go to court.

Niyi Osundare To Receive Golden Key Of Smederevo At Prestigious Serbian Poetry Festival

 

Renowned Nigerian poet and academic, Professor Niyi Osundare, has been named the 2024 recipient of the prestigious “Golden Key of Smederevo” award. This decision was made by the Awards Committee of the 56th International Poetry Festival “Smederevo Poets Autumn” at a meeting held on July 15, 2024. The award will be presented at the festival, which takes place from October 15 to 17, 2024, in Smederevo, Serbia. 

Nigeria Is Failing At 64; Sadly, Its Leaders Are In Denial

 By Olu Fasan

Every nation that secured independence from its colonial rulers celebrates the freedom annually, as Nigeria did recently on its 64th Independence anniversary. However, such events transcend the symbolism. The real worth of an independence anniversary lies in whether a nation is better off today than it was at independence.

On that score, several former colonies have advanced in leaps and bounds. For instance, India of today is a world apart from India of 1947.

Nigeria’s Democracy On Tinubu’s Leash

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

As a journalist, I admire cartoonists, the visual artists who draw and create engaging captions, for their genius. They are not only creative and original, but also investigative, often incorporating humour, wit and satire in their works. When they are in their element, they graphically capture the imagination of the audience, as the trending cartoon in the BUSINESSDAY newspaper showing President Bola Tinubu having his day in the sun with his four ‘dogs’ – agbero, judiciary, INEC, police – has done.

“I will not be running in 2027 election… I can walk comfortably,” Tinubu crowed. It was simply ingenious, such that a senior journalist who forwarded it to me gushed: “I have never seen a more meaningful cartoon.”

It aptly illustrated the phenomenon of “state capture,” and why many Nigerians believe that 2027 is already a done deal for Tinubu. The cartoon also illustrates what it means to have capacity in Nigerian politics, a euphemism for political brigandage.

Nigeria’s Unity: A 64-Year-Old Lie

 By Charles Okoh

Nigeria was 64 last Tuesday. On that day in 1960, expec­tations were high and the country’s founding fathers had lofty dreams about a nation that was destined for the top with all the resources, both natural and human. However, 64 years later, it has been a dashed dream thus far.

In 64 years, leadership has com­pletely failed the nation. Myopia and greed have left us in the middle of nowhere like a ship in the sea with incompetent crew and no compass.

Who Is Afraid Of Regional Government?

 By Ayo Baje

“To fight against untruth and falsehood. 

To fight for our memory; of what things were like. That is the task of the artist. 

A people who no longer remembers 

has lost its history and its soul” 

– Alekzander Solzhentsyn 

The recent wave of opposition against the proposed re-introduction of regional government, stirred by some senators – mostly from the northern geo-political zone of the country is both paradoxical and unjustifiable.

Nigeria Is Not Yet Independent

By Casmir Igbokwe

From today, we will most likely begin to behold Nigeria’s national flag and colours, green-white-green, in many public places. This is in commemoration of Nigeria’s independence anniversary. On Tuesday, many of us will clink glasses and chant, ‘Happy Independence, Nigeria’. Our President will probably make a national broadcast to mark the day. Every October 1, we celebrate our independence from British colonial rule. But the question is, are we truly independent?

On a cursory look, it appears we are independent. But Like the Greek Titan, Prometheus, we have probably been condemned to eternal torment for our transgressions. Though we attained self-rule from Britain in 1960, we are yet to master the art of ruling ourselves effectively.

As Mr. President cools off in London…

 By Casmir Igbokwe

Soon after President Bola Tinubu made a futile attempt to raise the hope of Nigerians in his Independence Day broadcast on October 1, 2024, he jetted out to London on a ‘two-week vacation’. A statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, indicated that it’s a working vacation and a retreat to reflect on his administration’s economic reforms. Really!

*Tinubu

Nigerians are used to governance by deceit. Not a few citizens doubted this story about vacationing to reflect on economic reforms. They wondered why the President should travel to London to do that simple task. Are the air conditioners in Aso Villa not cooling his brain well enough? Well, we have to believe because we have no choice. If you protest, security agents could arrest you and slam terrorism charges against you.

Independence And Bread Queues

 By Ugoji Egbujo

In the middle of the road, the van was parked. People gathered. It was Independence Day. The country was 64. The van was laden with bread. The hungry, young and old, filled the streets, panting. Soldiers were everywhere, as if the van was carrying bullion. Old women jostled and shuffled stoically. Nobody looked shamefaced. Their faces told the story of their helplessness. The people who brought the bread came with cameras. Perhaps they would love to be called Renewed Hope Missionaries.  One by one, lucky adults were handed a loaf each. One by one, they left. The crowd throbbed. 

The distribution happened in the middle of the road. Nobody cared. The priority was food. Everything else could as well be suspended. A loaf of bread costs N1500. The bread dispensers bounced about like they were extending the life expectancy of the people.  It was a worthy cause in these times of abject lack. Because they could have diverted it to a local market and fattened their purses.  So they deserved the gratitude from the genuflecting old men and women for the miserable handout. 

Abiola, Tinubu And I On A Derailed Train

 By Owei Lakemfa

I am excited. After about two months in police cells and the Kuje Maximum Prison, three #EndBadGovernance protesters: Michael Lenin Adaramoye, Mosiu Sodiq and Opaluwa Eleojo, are back home. They are on bail. They join the trio of Loveth Angel, Nuradeen Khamis and Abayomi Adeyemi, earlier let out on bail.

Incredibly, they face treason charges. Not because they were anywhere near where violent protests erupted, but a sort of vicarious liability. They are resident in Abuja but the authorities are holding them liable for the violent protests in other parts of the country.

Nigeria: What Is The Meaning Of Independence?

 By Sunny Awhefeada

I must begin by confessing that the title of the present discourse is not my invention. It was what I thought was an innocent question from Isio, my eight-year-old daughter. The day was Monday, the eve of this year’s Indepen­dence Day anniversary and the time was morning just before seven o’clock. As has been the norm since 2008, I already had the key to the car in my hands waiting as my wife dressed Isio up for school so I could take her on school runs when she shot the question, “Mummy, what is the meaning of independence?”

Thinking it was an in­nocuous question from a child who want­ed to know what independence was or is all about, my wife began to explain to her. Isio retorted saying, “I know what inde­pendence is” and gave a brief overview of the subject matter before going on to do an expose on what provoked the question. She took on a rhetoric note saying, “I am asking the question because what is the meaning of independence when people are not happy. People are suffering. Peo­ple are hungry.

People are afraid because of insecurity. People are dying. There are no good roads. There is no regular elec­tricity. Fuel is very costly. That is why I asked, what is the meaning of indepen­dence?” Obviously she has been reading newspapers and watching the news like her older siblings. I usually compel them to read newspapers during weekends and make them watch the news. My wife and I exchanged uneasy glances and heaved when our daughter was done talking. We were both disturbed. I glanced at her again and again through the rear mirror imag­ining what was going on in her mind that morning as I drove her on the seven and a half kilometers journey to school.

My fear that morning, and even till now as I write, derives from my concern for Isio and her generation and also for Nige­ria our beloved country that is being laid waste as a result of bad leadership and complicity of the led. If a child that is less than ten years old and in primary school could be so intensely aware of the sordid and sorry condition of our country then things must have gone bad if not “worse and worst” for too long. My recall of my earliest critical engagement with Nigeria should be around 1986 when I had attained teenage.

That was the decade of the na­tion’s economic downturn when families had to starve or invent strategies that earned them survival. It was around that period that the Structural Adjustment Pro­gramme (SAP) was foisted on the nation to sap the citizens. Our childhood conscious­ness was assailed by hunger and we knew that something was giving way. The other indices that presently buffet us were then unknown or incipient and of unfelt conse­quences. Therefore, at that level of teenage awareness my critical engagement with Nigeria was not as intense, deeply con­scious and heavily indicting as that of my eight-year-old daughter in the present era.

The question, “what is the meaning of independence?” is not really Isio’s question alone, it is the question of the children of her generation and Nigeria owes them answers. Nigeria is the space in which that generation, just like mine, found itself so whatever contradictions that have made life unlivable and unbear­able for them must be tackled and resolved by Nigeria, and by Nigeria I mean those of us who sired the generation. But are we ready to address and redress the situa­tion? I doubt and strongly so. The “trouble with Nigeria”, apologies to Chinua Ache­be, has become infectious and almost in­curable. 

When Achebe did a diagnosis of the country’s ailing condition in 1983 in his insightful and refreshing monograph The Trouble with Nigeria some people na­ively thought that the views expressed in that treatise will light the nation’s path and lead it to some redemptive destination. For so all-encompassing and thorough was that analysis that readers thought an understanding of the thoughts shared in that pamphlet would constitute the silver bullet for the eradication of our woes. Un­fortunately, the problems multiplied and became inveterate phenomena.

Looking back one is wistful to the point of tears in remembrance of what inspired my generation. The stories our parents, especially our mothers and grandmothers, told us about independence and the hope it held and the untold joy its realization brought to them on that day in 1960 when the green-white-green flag displaced the Union Jack thrilled us. Our social stud­ies, government and history textbooks contained the inspiring stories of the in­dependence movement and its eventual attainment.

Our teachers, great teachers that they were, also zestfully taught us about the ideals and beauty of the activ­ities that culminated in independence. It was a frenzied moment that held the thrill arising from the infinite possibilities of freedom. Ghana’s founding President, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, gave thought to the feeling generated by independence when he told his countrymen to seek first the political kingdom and every other thing would be added onto them.

Critical observers of the Nigerian and African condition should now reach the conclusion that the euphoria that greet­ed the anticipation and attainment of independence was misplaced. While the struggle for independence was ongoing there were Africans whose interests were largely selfish and they wasted no time in subverting the ideals of nationhood in new nations that they liberated from co­lonial bondage. 

If historians and social scientists didn’t see that cankerworm that gnawed at the body politick of the newly independent nations, African writers from Nigeria, to Ghana, Kenya, Somalia, among others, saw the pernicious trait and they aptly depicted it in their writings. Wole Soyinka’s pessimism in A Dance of the Forest, Chinua Achebe’s corrosive A Man of the People, Ayi Kwei Armah’s bleak The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born, Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s indicting A Grain of Wheat, all point to the African writer’s capacity to see beyond the frenzy and revelry that greeted independence. The crises that have held us down have always been there incip­ient and unnoticed for a long time except for the clairvoyant.

Nigeria didn’t and couldn’t celebrate her 64th independence anniversary be­cause the phenomenon no longer has meaning. It lost its significance many years ago. Rather than celebrate and me­morialize the day, Nigerians held their breadth and were tensed up in anticipation of the unknown. The nation was milita­rized as security forces poured onto the streets to preempt protests calling for an end to bad governance and clamouring for good governance.

The new wave of protest which began in August was intended to end bad governance and all its attendant ills. It was not about regime change, but a call for responsive and responsible leader­ship. The protest organizers, patriots them all, insist on continuing the protest on 1st October, the day of the nation’s freedom in 1960. Afraid of freedom and uncomfortable with good governance, those holding the levers of power rolled out military tanks to put unarmed civilians clamouring for good governance in check while bandits and terrorists are enjoying a field day in many parts of the country.

Independence has truly lost its meaning to the extent that those ruling Nigeria have become afraid of freedom from bad governance. Nigeria has been dubbed a failed state. It has been named among the most unsafe places to live in the world. It has been awarded the unflattering medal of the most corrupt country in the world. It has also been de­scribed as enmeshed in multi-dimensional poverty. These are real, scary and biting reality to the point that a child could ques­tion the essence of our independence. May be we should bring back the colonial mas­ters. After all, did government not give us the old national anthem when we asked to be governed right? Let the old colonial masters return in the same token!

* Awhefeada is a Professor of English