DOUBTS

By Kay Bello.

Needless to write I almost told myself, but a black ball pen would always inspire. Since April I disembarked from that whale-like bowel en route Doha, Qatar, into the waiting hustling and bustling of the tropical region- Nigeria, I have done what I could. A change panacea had been sold to the people. We all must have bought into it. But just four days ago – November 16, 2015, an evening of Monday- a time HID Awolowo was brought to Ibadan for an eternal rest, someone whispered : ‘’the anti-corruption crusade is a coded one, only the intelligent would know it as a ruse, fluke.’’ From our own end, The Coalition, we should have known- a petition at the Aso Villa, and the other at the Hallow Chambers- both we can’t figure out what ate them up- the special dogs at the President’s place, or the Kwara man’s breed?

After reading through few lines of, ‘’Nineteen Eighty Four,’’ by George Orwell (real name: Eric Arthur Blair), and his thought at its back, ‘’ In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act,’’ some writing spirit came into me as if exorcised from a possessed soul. Old time friends are gone, the one who once flanked the side of Prof. Adewole - the Health Minister. A friend and foe of communication background - and that is Obajuluwa, consumed by the desire to survive the poverty war. A slight war of words broke out in the hallow Chambers of the most populous black country recently over a paltry amount of N5,000 monthly for the unemployed graduates in Nigeria. Some said the All Progressives Congress (APC) kicked against it, while others said the PDP- People Democratic Party brought it up to mar the administration of the President. Then, I remember my friends who had been out of jobs now. Some out of jobs others out of school due to the collapsed system. But days ago, the presidency had promised the start of the N5,000 naira payment in 2016. Bravo, right? But would that solve the basic problems of the unemployed? I doubt.

I can’t pause here I resolved. A number of issues to write on: local, University community, after all their own Adewole came from the University Community I refer as ‘Animal Farm’, national scene, and the international community- but one way or the other all interwoven. Any I could write on, worth the writing I submitted. There is a saying that what happens here changes the world, I suppose. Still on old-time friends but now the supposed foes too. Lai Mohammed, Audu Ogbeh , Rotimi Amaechi, Babatunde Fashola, and a host of others, even Kemi Adeosun had been in different political offices- a recycling move some think. Ben Murray-Bruce-the ‘Nigerian Obama,’ so tagged, had been making some sense, one time via his Silverbird Television, else the Television Continental (TVC) or so would have thrown his voice script into the thrash can. From old-time friends to supposed foes, an energy of youthfulness I had seen, but positions best reserved for them by the ‘Radical Brothers’ and company are that of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), and it had been rumoured Tokunbo Salako has an interest in such. Also, positions quite demeaning for political thuggery may have been reserved as well.

Labzy, a pseudonym, parades the Oyo State secretariat having lost election into the Students’ Unionism with the hope of a comeback in 2019 to tell those who felt he was not good enough that he could deliver from all fronts even the deliverables in terms of emotional satisfaction for the Radical Company. I had heard the scream so loud from the facebook ‘loudspeaker’: ‘’ leave the University of Ibadan for us, your mates are in Abuja riding cars.’’ Few I could pinpoint as riding cars, building houses or have built, getting married in a time of economic downturn, and political bashings and insincerity: ‘Dogara me, I Saraki you’’ or vice versa had dominated the pages and screens, as the fuel scarcity bites harder. The ‘Jagaban’ of Lagos State may have invested politically, but the Atiku’s permutations towards 2019 is what should give the Ebora of Owu sleepless nights. ‘’ PDP woos Saraki, others,’’ is a headline that would make El-Rufai of Kaduna State to immediately call the Code of Conduct Tribunal to hold on to the jugular of Saraki till 2018, if not 2019 or ‘forever’. Femi Falana, Rotimi Akeredolu, and Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s names were missing as ministerial nominees. Someone told others, somewhere in Ibadan before the editorials were unleashed: ‘’ Femi Falana did not go to see that man in Kaduna.’’ But why and for what? ‘’My age would limit my performance,’’ by the President is a statement no Nigerian must take with a pinch of salt.

A duty to screen the likes of Prof. Isaac Adewole, Rotimi Amaechi, Babatunde Fashola is a reflection of how the President can live up to expectations. That I know, the trio had petitions against them in the public domain. ‘’Mr President, your list of Ministers is not worth the long wait.’’ I remember Mr. President hurriedly submitted his ministerial list having arrived from the United Nations General Assembly. The haste revealed to Nigerians the recycling nature of the polity. The second list came within a short time the first was submitted, but did we ask: ‘’ Did Mr. President actually submit those ministerial nominees for screening by the agencies like Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, and the Department of State Services (DSS) among others, even the Code of Conduct Bureau.

Accused of always discussing more with the foreign media, Mr. President should be told to give some respect and recognition if he has not been doing so to our own ‘’ brown envelope’’ media. At least they write too, and broadcast. Maybe the President had felt the foreign media are more truthful or objective since they are not having Nigerians as their paymasters: he who pays the piper dictates the tune. But the Tinubus should dictate the tune of The Nation, Television Continental (TVC) in Nigeria for the good of APC in particular.

A wave of self-determination or separation is sweeping through the Eastern part of the country – the Biafran agitations, but they must know that this agitation led to the 1967 civil war, and the likes of Gowon and Obasanjo are still around. Gowon and Obasanjo would call the agitators miscreants and different unprintable names since they (Obasanjo and Gowon) saw to the end of the war and oneness of the country. Ojukwu who championed the war fled, later returned to become a political warlord, as Achebe wrote in his favour in, ‘’ There was a country.’’ Achebe today is not alive to see the agitations. During that time, Achebe went on exile in United Kingdom to become refugee. Would the Biafran agitations create refugees just like that of Syria and Iraq? Only time would tell, I love to express.

For a proper self-determination or independence process, I think the ‘Biafrans’ should take some lessons from what happened between Ukraine and Crimea, and Scotland and England, as recent development. Won’t a well-organized referendum do, just like it was done in Scotland? I doubt if the present government of the day would allow such independence or cession especially due to the fact that the so-called Biafran region has oil deposits that some cabals see as their means of livelihood or political power. The agitations may be about a good number of people, but the agitators must know that the cabals who had been in the political history and offices holding sway of the country for too long would stop at nothing to ‘keep’ the country together . This is my shilling for the Biafran agitators that do not belong to the political elite class in Nigeria.

France just declared war against ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Levante) after the killing in Paris, but Nigeria and other countries had been battling insurgency years back. Someone wrote a letter to Mark Zuckerberg of facebook, expressing views on the call that people should pray for France. Should people not pray for Nigeria: on our Chibok girls especially? This was the view of the petitioner which I share part of. But another wrote that the call for the release of the girls from the Boko Haram Marauders went viral at the international community making comparison between the disappeared Malaysian MH370 and the Chibok girls an international debate. I doubt if those bombing actually would ensure rights of civilians especially the most vulnerable (children and women) when Syria or Iraq will be bombed further (as it has been). Migrants, refugees alike from Syria are being rejected by the US States, especially due to the recent development in France. There was a report that the France massacre may have been orchestrated in Syria, executed in France. Remember the Charlie Hebdo’s case? A media organization was attacked in France by terrorists over publication that satirized Muhammad. Any act of terror must be condemned in its totality, but further human rights violation may be underway in Syria and Iraq. Hope the likes of Amnesty International are watching, not only when the military is killing civilians in Nigeria that Amnesty should come with: ‘’ Stars on their shoulders, Blood in their hands.’’ Practically, the terrorists are more or less cowards hiding among the civilians and at times using them as shield, but when that human flesh goes up which will it be: that of the terrorist or of the innocent civilian? I doubt if the ‘assassins’ as carried in the news of days ago would not extend their tentacles to countries like Germany, Switzerland or other neighbouring countries. I read on facebook days ago on the timeline of a friend in the United Kingdom that there is a move or agitation to look into the freedom given the Muslims community in the United Kingdom. Real Muslims must be distinguished from the extremists or terrorists.

Waves of uncertainties or unprecedented negative developments may bring doubts on political, economic or social developments, but as a nation the country under the leadership of Muhammadu Buhari must be sincere with the anti-corruption crusade, though that he had surrounded himself with people of questionable character (Prof. Adewole Isaac as Health Minister inclusive) is enough to cast a shadow of doubt on his promises and plans. However, he can check their excesses, but if the Ministers fail to declare their assets as he promised, it is not morally correct to brandish any anti-corruption weapon or dagger. Before we could wink, a four-year term will be over. And this is a reminder to Mr. President to not renege on his campaign promises as the school children are still salivating for their daily school meals, and the unemployed graduates are impatient for jobs that would provide food, clothing and shelter. When no jobs or money to keep body, soul and spirit together, the teeming youth population becomes readily available tools in the hands of politicians who have their children in oversea institutions receiving better teaching and trainings, then ‘Awelsu’ and ‘Oly myk’ (humans) come to mind: two friends and foes capable of doing ‘follow follow’ ( as sung by late Fela Anikulapo Kuti) for the Nigerian politicians. A stitch in time saves nine.

Punch line: Hope we won’t have ghost unemployed graduates next year!?


First published on November 20, 2015.