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Tag: Hope Eghagha

  • Hon Francis Oborevwori: A new Sheriff is coming to town – By Hope Eghagha

    Hon Francis Oborevwori: A new Sheriff is coming to town – By Hope Eghagha

    If the winning streak of PDP in Delta State elections from 1999 till date is summoned to predict the forthcoming general elections, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Francis Oborevwori is poised to succeed Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa as Governor of Delta State come May 2023. To those who know, for Sheriff Oborevwori, it has been a long, rough, busy, and tumultuous ride from the struggle for power as a union, ‘street’ boy to being a political heavy weight in the politics of Delta State. What else can we say about a man who became Speaker of the State House of Assembly with such a humble background?

    Oborevwori has God to thank for His great benevolence and the incumbent governor for having faith in him when perhaps nobody gave him a chance. Sherrif? some have asked? As his ardent field workers would say ’The state has been Sheriffied! Poignantly, the spirit of Sheriff, the new would-be Sheriff in town has caught on. The slogan ‘Have you been Sheriffied? caught on like wildfire in the PDP camp and spread in the State. Sheriff’s humility is legendary. Social media pictures of Sheriff bending on one knee to thank Governor Okowa drew criticism from some. But it was an acknowledgement of the mobilizing role of his benefactor. No one should begrudge him for this!

    For the Okpe people, easily the clan with the largest population in Urhoboland, the choice and emergence of Sheriff Oborevwori as PDP was the result of many years of asking that the Okpe be given their due in political reckoning. So, early in the race, after the DC 23 announcement of the final three contestants, His Royal Majesty (Major General Mujakperuo, Orhue the 1st), the traditional ruler of Okpe people where Oborevwori is a chief, rolled out the pomp and pageantry of Okpe royalty, openly blessed and endorsed Oborevwori as a worthy representative of the Okpe people for the coveted seat of Governor of Delta State. Sheriff for Governor became a project of the Okpe people, ‘our own Sheriff’ as senior chiefs (I quote Chief Robert Onome) of the kingdom captured it.

    But beyond this, Sheriff’s victory is victory for Urhobo, victory for consensus-building and victory to the State. This ought to be a model to the country- how to manage cultural and ethnic diversity, how to manage a polity with fairness, equity, and justice. Very early in the race to winning the governorship slot, there were contestations on the status of rotation; that is, was rotation of the governorship slot among the three senatorial districts a convention, a gentleman’s agreement; was it to be rotated among the ethnic group in the senatorial districts. Finally, reason prevailed and the received perception that it was the turn of the Urhobo to produce the governor won the day.

    A congratulatory message to Chief Sheriff Francis Oborevwori is in order. From the rough and tumble of street life, he has managed himself well. To be able to manage the House of Assembly for six years without any form of rebellion showed that he enjoyed the confidence of his honourable colleagues and the State governor. Early in the year, some twenty-two honourable members of House endorsed him for governor. It is only a man who is wise in the techniques of survival that can navigate the rough waters of politics at that level. Obviously, his choice is a popular one within the PDP in the State. With the number of votes which he garnered from delegates during the primaries, it is obvious that the party has made a popular choice. To be sure, money was spent on delegates. Indeed, all contestants splashed money on delegates to win them over. Naira and dollar rain fell on delegates in the days before the primaries. We have God to thank for the spirit of sportsmanship that permeated the exercise. The exercise was broadcast live on AIT for the entire world to see. True, some felt aggrieved asserting that the incumbent governor mobilized all the ground forces to support his favoured one. No one who is familiar with elections in Nigeria will fault the governor for sticking out his neck in support of his anointed one!

    Now that the primaries are over, it is time to plan for the general elections. PDP is well established in Delta State, with men and women of timber and caterpillar planted in the twenty-five LGs in the State. In every unit, every ward, and every Local government, PDP has men and women who have held some position in the twenty-three-year reign of the Party in the state. The election therefore will see these stakeholders go to the trenches in a titanic battle with APC candidate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege for the gubernatorial chair. It will not be a fight between Oborevwori and Omo-Agege. Oborevwori will be the symbol of the PDP. It will be a fight between all the PDP bigwigs and their passionate foot soldiers in the field. Party faithful know what it means for a change of occupant of Government House would be. So, all hands must be on deck to deliver Sheriff. For the Urhobo nation head or tail, they win. Two worthy Urhobo sons will slug it out come February 2023.

    This therefore is a congratulatory message to Ukodo Okpe, Right Honourable (Chief) Sheriff Francis Oborevwori, the man who has electrified the state with ‘Sheriffied’ anecdotes. This is a tribute to a man who started in the streets but did not end there. He peered into the future and decided that formal higher education was the way to go. He therefore embraced education and took first and second degrees. He took a Bachelor of Science degree from Ambrose Alli University in 2004, and a Master of Science degree from Delta State University Abraka in 2010. As for the names issue in his certificates that came up before the primaries, he dismisses it with a wave of the hand. He affirms that he attended the schools which are indicated in the certificates and that there is no inconsistency in his records. The state certainly has not heard the last of this. As opponents are getting ready for the courts, his legal team is also prepared to puncture all the arguments of inconsistency in certification and identity.

    The real test of the self-acclaimed ‘Street Boy’ when he becomes governor will be in the art of governance. He plans to run an all-inclusive government which will put a crack team together on education, human capital, industrialization, and political engineering. On a personal note, I thank him openly for the role he played during my kidnap ordeal in 2012, a role which made then Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan re-appoint him Senior Security Adviser. Mandated by the State Governor and the fatherly and concerned Orodje Okpe to ensure my safe return from the den of kidnappers, Sheriff Oborevwori, working with retired Admiral Kpokpogri and other security officials, made my official residence in Asaba his home for two long weeks, counselling my wife, tracking the kidnappers till I was released after sixteen days! I remain grateful!

    Knowing that he is a product of political re-engineering as crafted by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Oborevwori is likely to rise to the occasion and silence critics with the Big Dreams of an Urbane Street Boy from Osubi. Then, the people of Delta State would know that indeed there is a New Sheriff in Town! Once again, Ukodo Okpe my ‘omizu’, I say congratulations!

    Professor Hope O. Eghagha (BA, Jos; MA; PhD, Lagos) MNAL

    Department of English

    Faculty of Arts

    University of Lagos

    Akoka Lagos

    NIGERIA

  • Jokers in Power! – By Hope Eghagha

    Jokers in Power! – By Hope Eghagha

    The rulers of Nigeria are jokers. Not comedians. Comedians can and often do positive things. Jokers don’t; they can’t. Ali Baba, Gordons, I go dye, Basket Mouth and Okey Bakassi could make you laugh, shed tears, and forget your sorrows. Of course, you would feel good after the dose of comedy. Besides, an erstwhile comedian in Ukraine has taught the world how to govern, how to be tenacious, to be inspiring, both at peace time and when a country is at war. He has become a hero overnight. He will never be forgotten in the story of resistance. He did not flee the country to deliver speeches from exile. He stood like a soldier.

    I am very sure that if Boko Haram miscreants were to attack Abuja, all the jokers masquerading as rulers would scamper out of Nigeria, away to Europe and America, perhaps disguised as persons of the opposite sex! Already, several of them cannot visit their hometowns and villages. The other day, those scoundrels attacked the home state of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and kidnapped a traditional ruler!

    Abuja is a composition of jokers in the corridors of power. They may look serious. But they are indeed jokers. They are joking with the destiny and lives of millions of hapless citizens. I wonder if Aliko Dangote or Tony Elumelu or Femi Otedola would agree to hire those jokers as managers in their businesses! Certainly, a serious business concern like MTN will not hire these jokers to conduct business on their behalf. A joker is ‘someone who likes telling funny stories or doing stupid things to make people laugh’! How many of us watched the Frank Spencer serial? Frank was the joker in the comedy ‘Some Mothers Do have Them! Did I get the title right? Some countries do have them, can be used to develop a Sitcom of how Nigeria has wobbled in the last eight years! A joker could also refer to a ‘person who has done something that annoys you! As we all know, jokers are not to be taken seriously. Achebe refers to them as ‘efulefu!

    Today I am going to play the joker by describing the jokes and jokers who bought Expression of Interest Forms in PDP and APC. The first joke was the cost of the form, fixed by a government that rode into power on the anti-corruption horseback! A whopping one hundred million naira! Someone did a quick math and concluded that the salary of the President for eight years will not sum up to one hundred million. We all thought it was a joke, we thought that only a few persons would cough out that amount of money to buy a worthless sheet of value, whose value was ascribed than earned. Alas, the joke was on us! A long queue soon grew from the ashes of greed and infantile optimism. Some who could not manage a Ministry opened loud mouths to proclaim aspiration to the Presidency. Labour and Productivity and Education ministers wanted to be President though under their watch all federal universities had been shut down for three months! In their wild thinking if a man as competent, sagacious, purpose-driven, healthy as the incumbent could ruin the country, who would doubt their own skills and energy since they did not spend weeks or months in London hospitals! So, our beloved President, Technical Conqueror of Boko Haram was their model.

    Serving Ministers and a few legislators all filed out to ogle the national pie. Soon, it became clear that what the aspirants had fallen into was a bazaar to build a war chest for the forthcoming elections. The Executive branch of government attempted to scuttle the provision in the Electoral Act that could have made aspirants remain in office while jostling for power they know will not get to them! It failed. The greatest joker of them all was the CBN Governor! This man has been the only CBN governor to get a second term in the last thirty or so years. Not satisfied, while sitting atop the affairs of CBN he thought he could meddle into politics. Having exposed himself a card-carrying APC member he is the biggest joker of then all!

    But the Joker was on them. After collecting osusu of one hundred million naira each, Baba Aso Rock told them to resign. See the rash of withdrawals! Including the controversial Attorney-General and Minister of Justice who had bought luxury cars for delegates and other political persons in his home state. He had set his eyes on Government House in Birnin Kebbi. Alas, he has had to shelve his dream.

    While the APC hierarchy was dancing naked in the public square, PDP was swimming in a pool of self-delusion. It was announced that the man who flew PDP flag in 2015 had teleported to APC, and that Miyetti Allah had bought forms for him! He denied it. News came that he is still in PDP. Right now, Oga Joe escapes classification. PDP had preached zoning the Presidency to the south as a policy. Now, there is pussyfooting. The policy has somersaulted like a man struck with the notorious love juju ‘magun’ and opened the presidency for anybody! The price tag of Expression of Interest form was not as high as that of APC. You know, being outside government, they are not privy to the contents of the national honeypot. Yet, these are jokers? How did we land in this hot stew with fires as hot as hot can be?

    How can anybody take these fellows, including their oga, seriously? The young people are watching askance at the men and women dancing in the public square. These are people who cannot manage a firm of three persons, now entrusted with the destiny of millions!

    Sadly, these jokers are not making us laugh. They are making buckets of tears for millions of families. Let us tell them that the circus show should end. A new spirit should come down. To be sure, the jokers will not part with power without a fight. So, those who want the jokers out of power must rise to the occasion and use the ballot box to chase the baldheads of town!

     

    Professor Hope O. Eghagha (BA, Jos; MA; PhD, Lagos) MNAL

    Department of English

    Faculty of Arts

    University of Lagos

    Akoka Lagos

    NIGERIA

  • The killing of Citizen Deborah, our own Malala – By Hope Eghagha

    The killing of Citizen Deborah, our own Malala – By Hope Eghagha

    Last week the video of a body set ablaze by a mob went viral on social media. It was preceded by the still picture of a lady dressed in red lying on the ground in a grotesque manner. Life was no longer in her. She had succumbed to savagery and jungle justice by overzealous morons who accused her, found her guilty and executed in a most barbarous manner reminiscent of the Stone Age. She died a most horrendous death in the hands of her class or school mates. She was stoned to death by students at a College of Education. The barbarous act was carried out by some teachers of tomorrow. What kind of educators would these teachers be in future? Do they recognize Nigeria? Do they realise that Nigeria is not an Islamic Republic, that is, supposing an Islamic Republic will tolerate such a murder? How are the killers better than bandits or terrorists currently plaguing the northern part of Nigeria? We have allowed a monster out of religion, fighting wars for God who obviously did not ask us to fight for Him!

    It turned out that it was the body of Citizen Deborah Yakubu, a student at Shehu Shagari College of Education Wamako Sokoto, who had been murdered because, according to her traducers, she blasphemed the name of Prophet Mohammed. In a class WhatsApp platform, she had complained that the platform had been inundated with religious posts and that the platform should be used for what it was created for. Her traducers claimed she made some uncomplimentary remarks about Prophet Mohammed. Later a sweaty nincompoop, with the dark looks of a savage, released a video in which he claimed gleefully that he was the one that killed the lady in question. This in 21st century Nigeria? This is unacceptable. It is indicative of the deep division between world view of extremists in the north and the rest of the country.

    The ugly news has not been carried by cable network stations. If it happened in Afghanistan or the Middle East, her death would be on the airwaves. Fortunately, and appropriately, the Sultan of Sokoto, leader of Muslims in the country, has spoken against the murder. But he should not stop there. We expect him to personally get involved and ensure that the killer is paraded before the press as a common criminal. Except he does this, we would see the condemnation as mere lip service. The irrepressible Father Matthew Kukah has also condemned the murder and called on the government to fish out the perpetrators for the right punishment, stating that ‘’the only obligation that is owed her immediate family, her fellow students and the school authorities is the assurance that those who are guilty of this inhuman act, no matter the provocation, are punished according to the laws of the land’. Writer Gimba Kakanda wrote on a Facebook post: the barbarism that transpired in Sokoto today has no basis in Islam, and it indicts us all. This culture prevails because past self-appointed punishers of blasphemers got away with their crimes. Whether in Islamic jurisprudence or our secular law, there’s no place for jungle justice, no matter how any offended mob feels’.

    But the misguided zealots don’t feel any remorse. Some posts which followed the gleeful announcement on social media are instructive. The killer whose photograph is prominently displayed on social media boasted: ‘I killed her. I burnt her. You can see the matchbox I used in setting her ablaze’. One Muhammed Mode Gagi wrote, just as Bilyaminu Ladan, Sirajo Isiya and Balkisu Umar Ibrahim that: ‘You have done well, may God increase the status of Prophet Muhammed (s.a.w). Sufiyenu Yabo then concluded it: ‘Praise be to God. May Allah reward you with paradise! Which God? My question is if the head of Muslims has called it murder, from which book did the young Muslim boys and girls learn that to inflict jungle justice on a woman who supposedly blasphemed is carrying out a divine injunction?

    I must state from the outset that no one has the right to insult another religion, either directly or indirectly. Christianity and Islam are the two major religions in Nigeria. Adherents must their boundaries. To insult Prophet Mohammed is unacceptable. But it also unacceptable for an individual to take the life of another citizen in the name of religion. This is how religious wars start. Pause for a minute and imagine what it would be if Christians in Sokoto decide to take the life of a Muslim youth in vengeance. Or if in the Christian-dominated south a Christian family carries out a reprisal attack. An endless cycle will start, the end of which no one can predict. Therefore, the Sokoto State government must rise to the occasion and bring the culprit to book.

    There had been other killings in the name of religion in the past. In 1995, one Gideon Akaluka was decapacitated by Muslim fanatics for blasphemy. Nothing came of it in the form of punishment on her killers. In June 2016 Mrs. Bridget Agbaheme was brutally murdered by suspected Islamic extremists in Kofar Wambai market Kano state, over allegations that she blasphemed the name of the Holy Prophet. Except the government takes a decisive action against such criminals, more of such acts will occur in future.

    The killing is most incendiary. It is provocative. It could trigger off sectarian war. As we know, religious wars are difficult to contain. Christian Association of Nigeria should get actively involved to ensure that Deborah does not die in vain. Justice must be pursued to serve as a deterrent. The NBA and allied associations must rise to the occasion. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN) as urged NBA-SPIDEL not to hold any conference in the State where a Nigerian citizen has been brutally murdered and burnt to death…we should make a statement to the government by cancelling the Conference and hold it in a neighbouring State in the North’.

    What has given Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai an international stature? It is the attack on her person by religious extremists because of her stance on education. Deborah is our own Malala, and she should be accorded that status. Her death in the hands of ignorant and defiant zealots diminishes all of us. I expect the President, the State governor and high-ranking state officials from the North to condemn the killing and order the arrest of the killer. The College management should suspend the suspect pending full investigation. There will be no love lost between the killer squad leader and other Christian members of the class and indeed all other Christian students in the College. Some acts, small as they are, help to define a nation. Except the government punishes the killer, the government would inadvertently be promoting the emerging narrative that there is no ‘One Nigeria!

    POSTSCRIPT: After submitting the essay, further developments made me return to my submissions. The culprits were appropriately arrested, leading to mass protests. There have been riots in Sokoto, with houses and properties belonging to non-Muslims being targeted. Alhaji Atiku has withdrawn his condemnation of the killing of Citizen Deborah. He has lost votes, thereby. The State government has imposed a 24hour curfew. But soldiers ought to be drafted to quell the riots that have led to destruction of lives and property. This is no way to grow a federal republic! Government must stand firm! Mr. President must condemn the arsonists.

    Professor Hope O. Eghagha (BA, Jos; MA; PhD, Lagos) MNAL

    Department of English

    Faculty of Arts

    University of Lagos

    Akoka Lagos

    NIGERIA

  • Obi for President, Zulum for Vice President – By Hope Eghagha

    Obi for President, Zulum for Vice President – By Hope Eghagha

    The proper and complete title of my essay is ‘Peter Obi for President, Babagana Zulum for Vice President – a Proposal by an idealist! One of the first responses I received when I published the title online was ‘If wishes were horses, beggars would ride! I can imagine he followed that post with a foxy chuckle. But I know I will chuckle last. We are in desperate times. We need a desperate remedy. We can no longer commit the future of this country to practicing politicians who have turned the theatre of politics into an absurd one! Politics is too serious a business to be left to politicians who often think about the next elections and the views of the imaginary ‘people! Let us give a thought to forming a Government of National Unity using the framework of the 2023 elections, with both parties sheathing their swords for the survival of the country, led by the incumbent President who I believe would like to reunite the country after bombing our cultural diversity with nepotic appointments and body language!

    It is time to think out of the box. We are in an emergency. If Nigeria must survive and grow, if Nigeria must attain its full potential, then we must work on the process of producing leaders. The American model of democracy in terms of the power of the majority always having its way has not worked for us. We are not sure of the veracity of population claims. Population figures have been politicized. For example, to contend and stick to the point that the north has a greater population and must always produce the President of the country is a recipe for a split of the federation. I have other suggestions about constituting the cabinet once my suggested candidates emerge as leaders. Apart from constituting a youthful cabinet, women with a solid background should work as Ministers. I am sure some politicians reading this would say I am crazy. I am not. I am very sane and patriotic!

    Another reaction I received was that the two men are from different political parties. And I said so? Is there any real difference between APC and PDP? The current Chairman of APC was a member of PDP before he decamped. The politicians see the political parties as Special Purpose Vehicles. My proposal is therefore a patriotic extension of that perception. Besides, I had preceded my submission with a potent rider: we are in desperate times; we need desperate solutions. A combination of these two men in the presidency with the hope that Zulum will succeed Obi after eight years will end the unhealthy jostling and bustling currently distorting the national space. To achieve this, we need the cooperation of all stakeholders, acting on the Doctrine of Necessity. At the forefront of this effort should be President Muhammadu Buhari. But because I am almost certain that he will not initiate such a move, I am calling on the Sultan of Sokoto, Ooni of Ife, Obi of Onitsha, Orodje of Okpe, Oba of Benin, Middle Belt Forum, the Etsu Nupe, Arewa Consultative Forum, Afenifere, Ohaeneze Igbo, PANDEF, Chief E.K. Clark, Christian Association of Nigeria, MURIC, and other patriots to summon a national meeting and give this proposal serious thought. Recall that after the June 12 debacle, it was such a consensus that produced two persons of Yoruba extraction that gave way for an Obasanjo Presidency. The denial of the presidency to MKO Abiola and his subsequent death created a big tension in Yorubaland, his own folks who did not massively support him ab initio. We need that type of intervention again. Nigeria is crumbling. Nigeria is bleeding. Nigeria is dying. The politicians who led us into this cesspit cannot redeem us from it!

    In proposing these two men, let me state clearly that I have met Peter Obi only occasionally, twice at state functions and often at the airport where we flew together from Lagos to Asaba or from Asaba to Lagos. He would always stay with us in the open lounge, avoiding the VIP lounge, carrying his bag even as Governor. He would hold discussions with ordinary people anywhere and everywhere. At a state function where he had to wait for the event to start, he sat with his State Commissioners, and they were having discussions there in a circle in the open and he sat there like an ordinary mortal, not specially dressed with the airs of a pompous emperor. Not a tin god! I have not met Zulum in person. I have read about both men and think that they can change the fortunes of the country, if we work out a joint ticket on the platform of PDP, APC having just completed a two-term tenure in office.

    Peter Obi was Governor of Anambra State for eight years. He gave a good account of himself as the Number One Citizen of the state in terms of accountability, projects and the entrenchment of the rules of engagement. He brought decency into governance. He preached and practiced prudence, cutting costs and removing wastes. He has struck a chord with the people of Nigeria, especially the young people across the country. He has a different perspective to governance. He has put himself forward to be President and has made some definite promises about changing the Nigerian story. He has spoken about ‘investing in education and exporting graduates’ and increasing diaspora remittance from $20bn’. Add to these the current clamour in the southern part of the country that the presidency should rotate south, particularly to Southeast, and give the Igbo people a sense of belonging. Let us give Peter Obi a chance.

    Professor Babagana Zulum is incumbent Governor of the troubled State of Borno. In the midst of hunger, poverty, and the highest level of insecurity, he has governed well to the satisfaction of both the ruling party and the opposition in the state. He has concentrated on his job and gained a huge following across the country. He is from the north. To work out an agreement that he should run with Obi in 2023 would be putting two men who have a made a name in the public sphere as good administrators would reduce ethnic tension, guarantee a solid future and promote national cohesion.

    I got responses to the proposal online, ranging from the skeptical to the supportive. Lovely Nyoreme Obodozie asked: ‘Omo! Will they allow this sweet combo? Anthony Ogene wrote: ‘What a fine combination! But can it become a reality? Both are not moneybags and power drunk! Yet another responder Angela Agoawike wrote: ‘Excellent combination for the sake of Nigeria! Aguonye Onyema George summed it up: ‘Government of National Unity. We need it now! Need I say more?
     

    Professor Hope O. Eghagha (BA, Jos; MA; PhD, Lagos) MNAL

    Department of English

    Faculty of Arts

    University of Lagos

    Akoka Lagos

    NIGERIA

  • Politics without bitterness – By Hope Eghagha

    Politics without bitterness – By Hope Eghagha

    Politics is all about a contest of ideas and programmes. When persons contest for a position, it is not possible for all of them to win one seat. A victor must emerge. Two persons cannot occupy the same seat at the same time. It is in the character of human beings to swallow the pill of defeat with disappointment. Some take a loss to the extreme- bitterness. Bitterness leads to violence or force or something destructive. To be bitter in the mind after a loss in elections is a sign of personal immaturity. Certainly, when the defeated candidate knows that he was cheated of victory, there could be bitterness. But bitterness is injurious both to the soul and the polity.

    In the Second Republic, one Presidential candidate on the platform of Great Nigeria Peoples’ Party (GNPP), Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim, from Borno state, consistently preached the doctrine of politics without bitterness. He preached against malice, rancour, hatred, and the divisiveness which came with losing an election. Of course, everyone was conscious of the bitterness and hatred which followed the general elections in 1965 and how the Southwest and later Nigeria could not be the same again. The intense personal and political rivalry between Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Samuel Akintola had thunderous and disastrous consequences on the entire polity. The narrative of the ‘wild wild west’ came into the political lexicon of Nigeria. When the Southwest became ungovernable and the federal government took sides with Akintola, a new dynamic came into the polity. ‘Operation Wetie’ through which violence was unleashed on opponents of the mainstream Southwest party defined the peak of violence in the annals of the country.

    So, when the military rulers finally allowed a return to civil rule in 1976, Chief Awolowo set up the UPN without much ado. In the Southeast, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, along with some stalwarts from the Southwest, started the NPP, while NPN was started by a broad spectrum of politicians in the country. After a major disagreement with the NPP, Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim led a faction of political stalwarts from the NPP to start the GNPP as a breakaway faction. His doctrine of ‘politics without bitterness’ continued to ring a bell. To be sure, there was always allegations and counter allegations of rigged elections. The NPN was determined to rig or fight its way into the Southwest led by Chief Richard Akinjide, Chief Adisa Akinloye and a few prominent stalwarts of the NPN whose brand and ideology of politics ran counter to that of the domineering personality in the Southwest. Chief Awolowo fought Alhaji Shagari’s victory up to the Supreme Court until verdict was given after Chief Akinjide made the infamous argument about twelve two thirds. Akinjide was rewarded with the position of Minister of Justice and Attorney General. But bitterness was in the hearts of many. This erupted in the second term election of 1983 which the UPN alleged mass rigging after an unpopular candidate Chief Akin Omoboriowo was declared winner of elections in Ondo State, defeating the popular Papa Ajasin. The conflagration which followed was reminiscent of the 1965 violent eruptions.

    Politics without bitterness was and is still relevant till date. Often intraparty fights are deadlier than interparty disagreements. We have also experienced interparty contestations which turned out to be fatal. But the seed of discord could either be internal or external. Fierce fighting within parties is deadly as I argued earlier on. This often happens when aspirants believe that once they are nominated at the primaries, victory at the polls is almost certain. Internal dissensions with AG and the UPN are apposite references. The NCNC and NPN at different times seemed to have managed their internal challenges better than the rest.

    The journey towards 2023 has started. The political gladiators are more interested in grabbing power than addressing the problems facing the electorate. This was the point made by the Imam in the mosque at Apo that earned him a sack. The acrimony which has followed Professor Yemi Osinbajo’s declaration of interest in running for President has been very toxic. Why? What has a mere declaration got to do with betrayal?

    Some extremists have started comparing the Osinbajo-Tinubu situation with that of Awolowo-Akintola disagreements. Nothing could have been so dissimilar. Some analysts have traced the Awo-Akintola disagreements to appropriation or misappropriation of state funds. In the case of Osinbajo, having served the nation with great humility under the incumbent President, he exercised his right to contest for the nomination just like any other aspirant. The field is not too crowded because Osinbajo has thrown his hat into the ring. Tinubu loyalists consider the fact that he dared to express his interest as an affront. Come on? What law has he broken?

    Democracy is bigger than all of us. No one should think that they can control the destiny and actions of anybody forever. It is against the rule of nature. It is possible that Tinubu does not carry the degree of venom in his heart which loyalists display in sponsored articles in mainstream newspapers and on social media. There is therefore no need to set the two men against each other. Let there be a contestation of ideas and a test of popularity at the APC primaries. If both men were placed on a scale at this time for popularity in line with the mood of the season, I can bet that Osinbajo will come out tops.

    2023 is just another year for another set of elections. Those who violently took power by snatching ballot boxes in the First Republic have all gone away from the scene. Those who killed for power have all gone too. They will face their Maker for the acts of destruction which they carried out in the name of electioneering. The power of man is ephemeral. To be fixated in the gutter of calumny and violence, physical and verbal is not to grow. Let the people be the deciding factor in 2023.

  • Much ado about Presidential ambitions – By Hope Eghagha

    Much ado about Presidential ambitions – By Hope Eghagha

    There is something akin to the paranoid about our reaction to aspirants to elective positions. I use ‘our’ rather loosely to refer to netizens who constitute the most vocal group of the polity. This is especially so with presidential and governorship ambitions of some politicians in some of the states. No doubt, there is some paranoia about the likes of Senator Orji Kalu, Professor Osinbajo, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, Senator Bola Tinubu, former Imo State governor Rochas Okorocha, Alhaji Yahaya Bello and a few others declaring their interest to contest for president of the Federal Republic. The sub-text in the paranoid response is ‘You too? In other words, by our estimation, such fellows should not attempt to exercise their fundamental right as enshrined in the Constitution of the land.

    Perhaps there is a reason. There is the remote fear that given our political antecedents, the system could produce anybody, fit or unfit, that the cabal of clandestine rulers of the country favours. The narrative is that the people do not have a say in who becomes president or governor. For most aspirants therefore, the real fight is to get the party nomination. Else any unpopular or unfit candidate of any political party will meet their waterloo at the polls. But deep down there is a vote of no confidence in the electoral system.

    To be sure, anyone, that is any Nigerian who is of age and is not an ex-convict has the right to signal interest in the presidency. It is left for the electorate to make the ultimate decision. This is how it works in a democracy. The party internal mechanism produces its candidate after going through a screening process. The party decision should be based on certain criteria that have been fully discussed. In preparing for the general elections in 2023, there is something to be said for the presidency moving south after eight years of power in the north in the spirit of power rotation. Yet, the PDP has thrown the contest open to all fit and proper persons, no matter their regional background. There is the feeling that the PDP took this decision to calm the nerves of one of the strong aspirants within the party. It is now left for the screening and elective processes to conclude the matter.

    While all the jostling was ongoing, we hear such inane and anti-democratic statements from the incumbent rulers as ‘I will not hand over power to Mr. or Mr. B! is it the duty of an outgoing president or governor in a democracy to choose who to hand over power to? What if the people think differently? It shows the anti-democratic mindset of the practitioners of democracy who currently hold the reins of power. The APC under President Muhammadu has mismanaged the country, especially in relations between and among the ethnic groups. The most obvious failure is in security. In a normal country, the APC would be jittery about facing the electorate. The PDP would be drumming on the ineptitude of the ruling party as the country prepares for general elections. No party that has decimated the social and economic lives of the people ought to be returned to power in the next elections. No party that has kept all strategic political appointments in the north should return to power. All politicians who kept silent while an elected president whom they could hold accountable drove a knife into ethnic unity deserve to rule this country. No party that opposed any step to ward re-ordering the political structure of the country should return to power. But sadly, in Nigeria, there are primordial and extraneous factors that shape election matters.

    If truth be told, we need new hands in the saddle. Nigeria is too complicated to be left in the hands of persons who want to do business as usual. The old, grizzled politicians have led Nigeria into a mess. The future is uncertain. The economy is in a terrible shape. There is hunger in the land. There is anger in the land. The personal weaknesses of the incumbent president have affected the nation negatively. The narrative of the absentminded leader has finally taken a toll on all segments of the polity. It is tragic. In old age, there are certain things we should not embark upon. No old man should inflict himself on the electoral process in Nigeria.

    Most of the aspirants have brought themselves forward as a way of negotiating their future. They know that they will not get the party nomination. They know that they do not stand in a chance before the electorate. But it inflates the ego of politicians to proclaim that they were once presidential or governorship candidates. No more. Some who could not govern their tiny states effectively, some who do not remember the names of their wives, some who left jail on technical grounds, some who are facing corruption charges in the court of law are all in the field. We should lose no sleep about them. The system will reject them, I hope.

    2023 will be a make-or-break election. The greatest threat which is facing the nation is that of insecurity. The Buhari administration rode to the sear of power with so much promise and hope. The APC promised to end the insurgency in the north. The APC promised to end darkness in the land by making electricity available to the people. The APC promised to restructure the country. The APC promised to fight corruption to a standstill. The APC promised employment for the youth. The APC promised to stabilize the naira and make it more powerful. The APC promised to end strikes in the universities. As we write, all the federal universities are paralysed by a strike by all the unions. What has been the experience of Nigerians under the APC-led Buhari administration? An abysmal performance. The level of despair in the country is palpable. All presidential aspirants should be held accountable, should address these issues.

    Nigeria must take itself seriously. That is the only way Nigeria will be taken seriously. That is the only way serious things can emanate from Nigeria. That is the only way Nigeria can be respected in the comity of nations. To choose a presidential candidate for all the wrong reasons is a sign that we are not ready to leap out of the stranglehold of poverty, hunger, and disease!

     

    • Professor Hope O. Eghagha (BA, Jos; MA; PhD, Lagos) MNAL
    • Department of English
    • Faculty of Arts
    • University of Lagos
    • Akoka Lagos
    • NIGERIA
  • That Sermon in the Mosque – By Hope Eghagha

    That Sermon in the Mosque – By Hope Eghagha

    Human beings, especially powerful people, often take offence at criticisms which they find offensive even if the contents of the criticism were true. This defensive attitude seems to say: do not say anything that could embarrass me even if you are right. Across the world, officials of government often go after critics whom they perceive as enemies. Will Rogers once wrote that ‘if you ever injected truth into politics, you have no politics. Governments tell lies, try to hide the truth often. It is the duty of the citizenry to dig deep and uncover the truth using the media. The Freedom Charter guarantees free speech. Yet free speech could cost one his job or limbs or life! Notorious President Idi Amin of Uganda was once quoted as saying that he could guarantee ‘freedom of speech before free speech, not after!

    Reactions of government to criticisms could be mild or extreme. Even in the biggest democracies, free speech could sometimes be expensive despite constitutional guarantees. The harshest reaction to criticism is that of silencing the critic through death as in the experience of Kamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who lost his life in the Saudi Embassy in Turkey. Journalist Dele Giwa also lost his life in a parcel bomb attack in October 1986. There are also other ways of silencing critics too. The finances of the critic are attacked. There is physical harassment by security agencies. Have you ever been trailed by security men or some shadowy figures? Has a spouse received threat messages? There is also the sack option. Today I am writing on the sacking of Chief Imam of the National Assembly Mosque Abuja Sheikh Muhammad Nura Khalid.

    Until April 1, 2022, Sheikh Khalid had a job, as a cleric in charge of a Mosque, doing Allah’s work which commands always speaking the truth. The Prophet Muhammad states that ‘adhere to truthfulness for truthfulness guides to Paradise’. We are told further that ‘Islam emphasizes not only the duty to be honest, truthful and trustworthy, but also the social obligation to always support truthful people, to associate with the truthful ones and to keep their company’. With this arcane and powerful injunction in mind, that fateful Friday, while preaching the sermon the fearless cleric made comments on the security situation in the country which the chairman of the Mosque Management Committee Senator Saidu Dansadau found unbecoming. Khalid was suspended from office even before the echoes of the Imam’s words died off!

    In the sack letter, the Committee stated that it regrets ‘to inform you that from today the 4th day of April 2022 you have been disengaged from the services of the above-mentioned mosque. Continuing, the Committee tried to create a context for the sack when it observed that ‘this action is occasioned by the non-remorseful attitude you exhibited following your suspension on 2nd April this year’. Sheikh Khalid had been suspended shortly after preaching the bomb of a sermon which practically called out the government of the day in a lucid and convincing manner, without diatribes, without insults.

    The sheikh had preceded his talk with drawing attention to the ‘relationship between the Ramadan and supplication’. ‘this is very important at a time when Nigeria is facing a very serious challenge’, the Imam said, ‘everything is not working well. People are dying. Our roads are not secure. Most of the parts of the country are not secured. The government is always telling us what we don’t understand that they are doing their best, and we deserve more than that their best.’ He also said that people should vote in 2023 only if security of life is guaranteed’.

    Dansaudu did not find this funny. In the sack letter, he stated “Akamakallah, you know better than me by the teaching of Islam, the essence of administering punishment is to correct behaviour. Unfortunately, your media reaction to the suspension creates the impression that you are not remorseful, NOT to talk of humbly reflecting on the consequences of your utterances. Leadership demands a great sense of responsibility. If our words do more harm than good to larger interest of the country or the public. We have a responsibility to maximum restraint for the good of public. It is obvious however, that you don’t seem keen to modify your Friday sermon to be reflective of the volatility of security situation in the country. You are an influencer; your words carry a lot of weights (sic), your words can make or mar our situation. Your words can be taken advantage of by mischief makers, those responsible for these security challenges or enemies of the country for their devilish agendas.’ Really? If this ascribed power is true, then Dansaudu has taken a step that will give the government sleepless nights. The Imam is not keeping his mouth shut. He has found another mosque where he can preach the truth without let or hindrance. The teen CNN hero Malala says that ‘you can shoot the body you can’t shoot the dream!

    The Committee wrongly focused on the messenger not the message. What the imam said reflects public opinion in the land. The politicians are jostling over 2023. Even the APC government that should hide its head in shame for failing the people is struggling for power in 2023. With the dismal security situation in a government led by a general, how does this party think that Nigerians will entrust the fortunes of the country to her in 2023?

    Senator Dansaudu is an elected official of the state. He is a legislator and not a member of the Executive Arm of government, the target of the attack. He ought to stand on the side of the people just as the cleric took sides with the people. There have been too many deaths arising from insecurity. Not everyone can stomach the criminal ineptitude or connivance between state and non-state actors and keep quiet. The perception is that the government is unwilling to deal with the situation and most people are willing to sell their conscience. The government is used to having people who would rather pray than complain. Too many. Therefore, Khalid’s statement sounds like an incitement. ‘In a room where people unanimously maintain silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot’.

    Government should encourage persons like Khalid to speak up. The man has gained more following. I didn’t know him before. I didn’t not hear the sermon in question until the fire-brigade attitude of the Committee brought it to my attention. Fix the security situation. Let our roads be safe. Let our homes be safe. Confront the scoundrels who have seized the road between Abuja and Kaduna and other roads in the country and exterminate them. Stop kidnap gangs from attacking homes and seizing people for a ransom in Abuja and elsewhere. Make the southeast governable. Except the government deals with the security situation, it is a no-no about winning in 2023. In a democracy, it has passed a vote of no confidence on itself for the 2023 elections. Listen to the message. Get your eyes and hands off the messenger.

     

    Professor Hope O. Eghagha (BA, Jos; MA; PhD, Lagos) MNAL

    Department of English

    Faculty of Arts

    University of Lagos

    Akoka Lagos

    NIGERIA

  • A prayer for divine Intervention – By Hope Eghagha

    By Hope Eghagha

    O! compatriots and kinsmen, when storms destroy the farmlands relentlessly for seven weeks, termites eat the crops for seven weeks, our children die in the hands of kidnappers while serving the nation, earthquakes shake the land at night and in the day, terrorists walk the land at night and in the day, bandits rule the nights, kidnappers rule the day, herdsmen carry AK-47s to harass the innocent of the land, herdsmen seize farmlands that do not belong to them, when government says we should cede our lands to foreign herdsmen so that we may live, young men slaughter ladies, harvest their body parts, rape their mothers for ritual money, when so-called pastors bury live human beings in their altar in your name, when non-state actors rule some states, when injustice sits in the court of justice, death becomes second skin, it is time to run to the divine for restitution, for divine intervention.

    To whom do we cry, who do we call, when bandits become an alternative government, stronger than the army of the land, stronger than the government that claims we elected them? Do we still have the moral right, are we qualified to still call on you when there is so much pollution in the land, when blood touches blood? Do you have a controversy with us? O God of Jeremiah Awolowo, God of Benjamin Azikiwe, God of Balewa, what have we done to deserve this plague that calls itself a government, a government which stays supine in the cold luxury of Abuja while scoundrels snuff out lives with reckless ease? Is this a curse on us your poor children for rejecting good governors for ethnic jingoists? Is this a visit of the serpents which you unleashed on the stubborn Jews at Mount Hur during the exodus? When shall we have a Serpent of Brass? When shall the messiah come? Who will save us from the apostates in power? Who Lord, who? Who do we cry to when an Imam is suspended from the altar because he cries aloud about the failure of the State to stop killings?

    Our nation bleeds. Our hearts fail us for fear. Too many strange things are happening in the land. There is food. There is meat. Yet, some of us kill human beings and eat flesh? Fierce looking young men and women seize informal power in some parts of the land and impose their own rule, spilling blood of the innocent? Even during the civil war, we did not live in such hopelessness. Is this the apocalypse so long in prophecy? My pastor assures me it is not yet the Great Tribulation. If this is not the Great Tribulation yet we are gnashing our teeth, the sea is boiling, the mountain is melting already, what would the Day be when you shall throw us out of the land? It is not a story to tell. It is not a good story to pass on. What must we do O Almighty father! A goat does not suffer the pains of parturition when elders are around! Who do we cry to when the locusts eat our food and decimate our farms? Who, Father, who?

    Dear Father, Devil is on the loose, Fire is on the loose, this could be our noose, unless we cut the noose! Someone loves the noose, he rigidly fiddles for the noose, because he has nothing to lose, if we all face the noose, for the noose is the news he has for the mews of mewing children. Our necks are tightened by the black noose, black patriots cry about the noose, even white strangers cry about the black noose, yet fat messengers of the noose indolently remain on the loose to praise the hands of the noose till the raging fire of the noose consume us with herdsmen’s noose. Who shall tell the news of the noose?

    They said they would change the land. They said they would provide power supply. The gods of Abuja said they would bring down the cost of gas. They even promised to end the reign of terror. They promised to end Boko Haram. But they have become Boko Haram to the hungry citizens of the land. They refused to call black, black; they gave it another name. They refused to brand the terrorists of the northeast as terrorists. They branded the boys in the east as terrorists and outlawed their organisation. Killers roam the land, protected by some unwritten codes of dishonour! Who shall save the land? O Lord God, arise and save your children.

    So it was Chinelo, the nation’s young daughter, trained as a medical doctor, ready to leave the land to pursue her dream was bombed to death by bloodthirsty hounds. She was shot. Posted her picture. Called for help. Attack dogs of the gods in Abuja called her names. And she bled to death. Will her blood not haunt the land if her killers walk the land with impunity? What makes the gods of Abuja believe that their reign should continue in post-2023 elections? Why should they show their faces in the ballot? To deceive the people? Do they think we are morons? Is that they believe our votes will not count? That the result of the elections is written already? O Lord! Have mercy on us and send down the rain!

    Everything has got its time and season. Let this be the time for restoration. Let the locusts go away. The suffering in the land has a distended stomach. It can eat up everybody except your mercy comes from above. Save us that we may be saved. Help us that we may be helped. Heal us that we may be healed. If a pregnancy could be hidden, we would hide this one. Who gave them the power to ruin lives in such an impudent manner? Who gave them this nonchalance over what matters to your children who cry to you daily? Is that an affliction from you?

    Arise o Lord, arise as in Mount Perazim. Arise and bring succour to the land. Overturn, O Lord, overturn, and overturn and let your Mercy sit on the throne in the land. We have no one but thee!

  • Clannishness in the Nigerian University System – By Hope Eghagha

    Clannishness in the Nigerian University System – By Hope Eghagha

    The nauseating rot which has permeated the sociopolitical fabric of Nigeria has insidiously crept into the Nigerian university system with disastrous consequences. It is not a surprise because the universities are inhabited by Nigerians who cannot be extricated from the currents of their geographical environment. To be sure, it did not start today. It has simply reached an offensive crescendo, what with the fetish, absurd drama that took place at Obafemi Awolowo University Ife last week over the appointment of a Vice Chancellor. Not even our revered dramatist Professor Wole Soyinka could have crafted that negatively thrilling drama that shook genuine academics to their souls! Need we refer to the ugly fight in University of Lagos that compelled the exit of Professor Eni Njoku (Easterner) in 1962 and his replacement with Dr. Saburi Biobaku a Westerner?

    As a young man I remember reading Chukwuemeka Ike’s novel The Naked Gods which is set in the 1960s where aspirants to Vice Chancellorship got involved in some fetish nonsense. The novel is about ‘a display of power and self-aggrandisement of academics in the quest for the position of the Vice Chancellor of the newly established Songhai University’. If literature is a mirror of life, I leave the rest to readers on what fed the writer’s imagination in producing The Naked Gods. Indeed, the naked, blemished gods of Ife descended from their pantheon to desecrate the academic walls of the Great Ife University last week.

    Having been in the university system since 1978, I can with some authority comment on this gradual but sure descent into infamy, obsequiousness, and lust for power, especially in the appointment of principal officers in the universities. Juju, including burying live cows, fetish pots at junctions, and babalawos on campus have been part of the unhealthy game. It was the bloody fights that preceded second terms of VCs that made the government change tenures to a single five-year term. The VCs have become infinitely powerful, both administratively and in determining the future of the institutions. The average VC presides over funds’ disbursement at different levels. The fierce struggle for the position is not over who will do the utmost research or produce excellent students or attract funding to the university. It is about power. Power over their peers. Power over funds. Power to relate with the men in the corridors of power. And this is tragic. It is true that we have had and continue to have some excellent Vice Chancellors, men and women who run the system on Committee’s basis without trying to muscle their way against enemies, real or perceived. Such men are to be commended. We need more!

    Last week, the nation was shocked when videos of some persons dressed in fetish robes and carrying objects associated with ‘juju’ pranced about the premises of Obafemi Awolowo University to protest the emergence of a Vice Chancellor who they claim is not an indigene of Ife. How Chief Awolowo would have shed tears if he could see the nonsense that took place in an institution which he established following the egalitarian principles which still held sway in the 1960s! The people of Ibadan had also clamoured for an Ibadan indigene to be appointed Vice Chancellor of the national and international institution last year. The federal universities at Ilorin, Jos, and Benin among others are institutions which have cornered the Vice Chancellorship for indigenes of the community which hosts the university. This is a disgrace. Shame to academics who champion the ethnic card in appointing persons to office that require academic and research competences. The federal universities are in cities. But the ethnic groups which claim ownership of the cities under consideration do NOT own the universities.

    Because the university is a place where truth, honesty, ideals, and learning are upheld, ought to be upheld, this town-gown incestuous relationship and influence is dangerous to the survival of university education. Often, when ASUU highlights the challenges of the educational system in the public space, it ignores the internal problems of the universities. If ethnicity becomes the most important factor for appointment to academic positions as we are told currently happens in some universities, then our universities are in trouble. The university idea accommodates all shades of competent persons irrespective of their beliefs, religion, orientation, and racial/ethnic background. In some universities except one is an indigene they cannot act as Head of Department despite being the most senior academic. This dangerous nonsense happened when Abia and Imo States were split and people from the other side could not enjoy the full benefits of the system! When Ekiti State was created out of Ondo State, academics of Ondo extraction were virtually thrown out of the campus!

    While the charade at Ife was playing out, news came that one Dr. Toyin Tofade, obviously a Nigerian of Yoruba ancestry, will from July 1, 2022, become the first Black woman to serve as president of Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (ACPHS), US, in the college’s 141-year history. Toyin, it is interesting to observe, took her first degree from Obafemi Awolowo University! A Nigerian who had her initial studies in Nigeria can head an institution in America, yet Ife indigenes and their counterparts in some other universities are clamouring for indigenous Vice Chancellors! Shame on such ethnic jingoists.

    Only academics can restore sanity to the university system in Nigeria. The universities in the big cities fare better than the provincial ones which seem to live like the ostrich. University of Lagos has a good mix in employment. Traditionally, University of Lagos has a Deputy Vice Chancellor among the three Deputy Vice Chancellors who is not Yoruba. Good for the image of the university. But can an Igbo man be appointed Vice Chancellor in Kano even if he spent all his years there? Will ethnic politics allow the emergence of a Deltan as VC of UNN? Can a Yoruba man be appointed Vice Chancellor in Makurdi? Can a non-Yoruba emerge as Vice Chancellor in Unilag? Can a northerner be VC in Delta State University? Can a Yoruba be appointed Vice Chancellor in Sokoto? Only the military governments achieved that through cross posting, a practice was later jettisoned with the advent of democracy. These are disturbing questions that the universities need to interrogate and provide answers to if they must compete favourably in the global academy.

    Finally, it is retrogressive to think ethnicity or ‘indigeneship’ in an academic institution where excellence should be the determinant of upward movement. The fetish monkeys at OAU should be fished out. The academics who encouraged them by default or design should be banned from heading the university. Except we remove the toga of ethnicity in running our universities, those centres of learning would remain clannish and glorified institutions of academic masturbation.
     

    Professor Hope O. Eghagha (BA, Jos; MA; PhD, Lagos) MNAL

    Department of English

    Faculty of Arts

    University of Lagos

    Akoka Lagos

    NIGERIA

  • That Dirty Slap at Awka – By Hope Eghagha

    That Dirty Slap at Awka – By Hope Eghagha

    Last week, the otherwise serene but joyful, smooth transition of power in Anambra State was marred by an ugly, shameful brawl between two high profile, supposedly dignified women of Igbo extraction. It turned out that were anything but dignified and noble. Highly placed persons who throw decorum to the wind in a public space simply prove that they have a poor perception of their role as models for the people that they lead. And they ought to be called out for their ‘agbaya’ behaviour and their ignominious display of juvenile rascality in their old age!

    The two women – one, the outgoing First Lady of the state, Mrs. Ebele Obiano (55+), reputed to be abrasive and hyperactive, once reported, while ‘half clad’, to have ‘hit people with broken bottles’, and it took combined efforts of men of the DSS and Police to stop her. The other, former beauty queen, widow of War Lord Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu himself the physically attractive Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu (54 years), the lady who decades ago defied her father Chief Christian Onoh and married the love of her life, a man old enough to be her father. It is reported that Ebele taunted Bianca with words unbecoming and the latter responded by dishing out a dirty slap on the face of the obviously surprised Ebele.

    We have not heard from Receiver Ebele. But Slapper Bianca has given a version of the shameful misconduct that in a sane clime will be treated as assault and battery. ‘While I ignored her verbal onslaught as advised by people sitting around me’, Slapper Bianca reportedly wrote, ‘I requested twice that she refrains from touching me with her hands. She proceeded to do so yet again and tried to touch my head and remove my head-tie. It was at that point I stood up to defend myself and gave her a dirty slap to stop her from attacking me’. Sometimes, great people are not wise, says the good book. You slapped a First Lady to prevent her from attacking you? Not even a kindergarten child would offer such a puerile defence or explanation!

    Sadly, the focus of that day has not been the epoch-making speech of Governor Chukwuma Soludo. Bad news travels faster than good news. ‘The Dirty Slap at Awka’, a fitting title for a work of fiction has gone viral. Different memes and punchlines have been creatively and mischievously developed by Nigerians. Most of it not salutary. ‘How to slap a Bitch! ‘If you Ebele me, I will Bianca you! ‘If two women dey fight, na the wowo one go dey at fault- Warri proverb! ‘I’m not surprised, her father as governor slapped a Bishop! ‘Biancanized Slap- A hot slap that sets one ablaze! And the bomb of them all with vulgar connotations: ‘Now I understood it when Patience Jonathan said ‘Ojukwu is dead, but his manhood is still alive! And many more! Nigerians have a penchant for creating laughter out of the tragically absurd.

    Almost a week after the ugly incident, the rumpus caused by the two viragos have dominated the headlines. Not Soludo. Not Obiano. Not the continuous victory of the entrenchment of sanity in the once volatile political terrain that was Anambra. Do we remember how Dr. Ngige was kidnapped as governor of the State? Do we remember Okija Shrine and the antics of one scoundrel per excellence whose name equals the acronym of one of the oldest banks in Nigeria, the bank owned by Tony Elumelu?

    Public brawls are often associated with the hoi polloi, the agbero and area boys and girls of city life. To exchange physical blows in public is an indication of lack of self-discipline, poor character, and a display of infantilism. A variant of such fights sometimes erupts in parliament by some men in that dignified chamber. It is often over strongly held views. Women of the upper class, that delicate gender, are expected to restrain themselves from exchanging blows. Being upper class in education and character, such persons ought to show restraint. As for Bianca who was once a beauty queen, etiquette obliges not to engage in acts that could bring the crown to disrepute. To be beautiful in the exterior and carry the character of a motor park tout is the greatest contradiction in character formation. To be a First lady and cause a brawl during a State Event is unbecoming and such a woman should not be referred to as First Lady in the annals of Anambra history. Former Governor Sir Obiano as I know him is a gentleman. If his wife has been as terrible as she has been painted, he must have endured her excesses with great patience.

    In all the fight between the two women remind us of disagreements between women in the past that later had reverberations throughout a region and the country – that of Lady Ferreira Akintola and Chief (Mrs.) HID Awolowo. But they carried themselves with some dignity though the animosity was deep rooted.

    Public officials should know that their behaviour is observed by the rest of us, old and young. Teachers who preach against violence to students will have to explain to pupils and students why two women of Age 50 and above could have degenerated. Theirs is not a good example. We have passed the age of slugging it out physically to prove a point. Perhaps Bianca simply copied the model of her late husband who was reported to have tailed Umaru Dikko into the toilet during the 1995 Constitutional Conference and gave him a slap because Dikko had made some disparaging remarks about him on the floor of the Conference. If this account is true, Bianca learnt from the master himself. Yet such behaviour is an anomaly is a country where rule of law is respected. The two women ought to apologise to all girls and women, the people of Anambra State and the entire country for their shameful conduct on a day of renewal and reaffirmation of hope.

     

    Professor Hope O. Eghagha (BA, Jos; MA; PhD, Lagos) MNAL

    Department of English

    Faculty of Arts

    University of Lagos

    Akoka Lagos

    NIGERIA