PARTY AND BULL***** 2

The NPP submitted some candidates for ministerial appointments as part of the ‘gentleman agreement’. Ishaya Audu, a vice presidential candidate of the party, among others, was selected as a minister. However, the accord hit the rocks in 1981, and Adeniran Ogunsanya, the chairman of the party, asked all ministers to resign; many did not heed his call and some transferred to the NPN (cross-carpeting is not new, is it?).

By 1983, the stage was set for the downfall of civil governance. All the political parties re-nominated their presidential candidates during the 1983 elections. Rigging was well pronounced and open; ALL the political parties rigged the election in their various spheres of influence. The electoral body, FEDECO proved to be highly incompetent.

Before the elections, Umaru Dikko and Chief Adisa Akinloye, openly declared that as far as they know, there were only two political parties in Nigeria: The National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and the Army (Titanic, anybody?).

A number of fraudulent elections were upheld by the Courts purely on technical grounds, however in a few cases, the courts reversed the election results, notably in the case of the Ondo State gubernatorial, hotly contested by Alani Omoboriowo and Chief Michael Ajasin. Omoboriowo (NPN)’s votes were inflated from 703, 792 to 1,228,981 while that of Chief Michael Ajasin (UPN) was deflated from 1,563,377 to 1,015,385. Expectedly, the illegality resulted in serious violence; houses were burnt and properties destroyed, supporters of the two political parties continued to clash until victory was returned to Ajasin (the writer was still quite young then, but recalls the pun on Omoboriowo (the child overcame wealth) to Owoboriomo (the child was overcome by wealth).

Another nail in the coffin of the Second Republic was the seemingly insignificant but highly consequential remark of Umaru Dikko that the Presidential seat was not for the highest bidder. It would have just passed for an ordinary remark, but for the person it was made to; A Yoruba millionaire, by the name Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (MKO), known to be a good friend of the Military. He had joined the NPN and was the State Chairman of the party in his home state of Ogun (although, with only one or two members in the State House of Assembly at Abeokuta, the NPN was virtually non-existent in Ogun State, the birth place of the revered Chief Obafemi Awolowo). He was expecting the NPN zoning to work in his favor in 1983 but it was decided that Shagari would run for a second term. He angrily quit Politics (or should we say he joined the ‘Second Party’)

By December 31, 1983 a voice hit the Nigerian airwaves:

Fellow countrymen and women.
I, Brigadier Sani Abacha, of the Nigerian Army address you this morning on behalf of the Nigerian Armed Forces…..

Nigerians all too gladly welcomed the military at this time. Having been told as a kid that as soon as Shagari was announced the winner of the elections, he said ‘Now that I have been re-elected, Austerity continues…’ my young mind was all too glad! To us, Austerity as dished by the NPN meant the disappearance of my favorite meals from the table.

Again, the government of Muhammadu Buhari offended MKO, and an ambitious Ibrahim Babangida (IBB) who allegedly also had his tracks to cover a la Gloria Okon saga got funded for the August 27 1985 take-over.

The Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) under the leadership of General Babangida prevented most ex-politicians from participating in politics. Only two political parties would be approved.

On October 7, 1989, the AFRC rejected all the six political associations presented by the National Electoral Commission, and accused them, inter alia of being led by leaders who were surrogates of banned politicians. In their place, Babangida decreed into existence two government funded parties, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) which he directed to be “a little to the left” in ideology and the ‘a little to the right’ National Republican Convention (NRC). Any Nigerian could join either as equals since they had no ‘founders’. This looked like a solution to money bags hijacking political parties, but some saw it as having the outlook of ‘government parastatals’.

An open ballot system, and Option A4, which required a candidate to seek nomination from the ward level to the local to the state and national level, and to win majority votes at all levels or an average of 50 per cent, paved way for what is adjudged the freest and fairest election in Nigeria’s history.

The earlier disqualification and ban of the likes of Shehu Musa Yar Adua and Olu Falae probably gave everyone the impression that IBB was setting the stage for MKO. The massive support he (MKO) had made almost every Nigerian consider his Presidency a fait accompli, until the June 24 annulment.

Mass protests, civil disobedience and pressure compelled IBB to ‘step-aside’ and hand over to a shaky Interim National Government (ING), the most unpopular government ever hoisted on Nigerians.

Barely three (3) months old, was the ING declared illegal by Justice Dolapo Akinsanya of the Lagos High Court, an outcome of a suit filed by MKO challenging its legality.

On November 17, 1993, the same voice that announced the demise of the Second Republic declared the Obituary of the aborted Third Republic, the only dispensation that never had a proper head was dead.

By selective amnesia, no one seemed to remember what Abacha did during the June 12 protests in Lagos. A man who deployed troops to silence protesters was suddenly the Messiah everyone was looking for.

I honestly feel repulsed that I would have to chronicle Abacha’s ‘transition program’ which ended in his own transition.

Key Pro-June 12 activists were appointed members of Abacha’s cabinet, initially with MKO’s blessings and ignored calls to resign even when it became obvious Abacha had plans of his own. While the internal wrangling continued, Abacha seized the opportunity to consolidate his power base.

Former allies turned to sworn enemies till date. Lateef Jakande, the charismatic Governor of Lagos State in the Second Republic who served as Minister of Works and Housing under the Abacha regime was kicked out, never to be welcome in the ‘circle-of-progressives’ again. Prior to that time, he was fondly called Baba Kekere (Small Daddy) because he was seen as the potential successor to the venerated Awolowo. Although Awo had died since 1987, the Yoruba would never forget the Free Education program that gave a literary edge to the South-Western part of Nigeria.

Ebenezer Babatope and Ebun Olu Onagoruwa were among the reputation causalities.

Abacha simply woke up one day and sacked his cabinet.

By 1997, with all ‘enemies’ dead, in prison, exiled or severely humiliated, the stage was set for Abacha to succeed himself as President (s)elect.

Then, ALL ‘five fingers of a leprous hand’ (to quote the late Chief Bola Ige), the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), the Committee for National Consensus (CNC), the National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN), the Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN), and the Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM), ‘adopted’ Abacha as consensus candidate………..

TO BE CONTINUED

PARTY AND BULL*****

Right from the Clifford Constitution and the subsequent formation of Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), (Nigeria's first political party) in 1923 by Herbert Macaulay, and clinching three (3) seats in the 1922 elections for the Lagos Legislative Council, all through the cacophony of I-am-about-45 Political Parties in Nigeria, the electoral system in Nigeria could best be summed up in one word: RUDDERLESS.

I look at the Nigerian debacle and I wonder if the Southern Cameroons ever had a picosecond’s worth of regret for opting in the 1961 Plebiscite to go with French Cameroon. Not as if I am of the opinion that they are better off or otherwise, but I can’t help wondering what their plight would have been in the complex contraption called the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

From the 1914 incongruous amalgamation through the Brito-Colonio-Clifford-Richard-Macpherson-Lyttleton's Constitutions, we wandered aimlessly through the 1960 and 1963 scripted Constitutions into the Militaro-Colonio-actually-Obasanjo-Babangida-Abdulsalami Abubakar Constitutions of 1979, 1989 and 1999 (maybe we will have another joke in 2019!).

Governor Lugard came with a script. The ‘Indirect Rule’ was simple. A bigger bully comes and promises the lesser bully the full permission to bully all others, as long as he submits to his own bullying, period!

In the North, the emirs retained their caliphate titles but were responsible to British district officers, who had final authority. The British high commissioners could depose emirs and other officials if necessary. Borno went down without a fight, Kano and Sokoto resisted and were ruthlessly dealt with to discourage further opposition. With the co-operation of the Hausa-Fulani (a great part of the Hausas had been absorbed by the Fulani Oligarchy), the ‘bigger-bully’ imposed the ‘lesser-bully’ on the entire North and allowed for the running of the dual system of law (Federal and Sharia). The Sharia (Islamic law) court continued to deal with matters affecting the personal status of Muslims, including land disputes, divorce, debt, and slave emancipation (think about this next time you read about the ‘Paedophile Senator’.. that’s all I’d say on that), this is what paved the way for the complexity of tribal and religious sentiments, and makes it almost altogether impossible to state the true source of conflicts in the North.

Missionary activities, and consequently Western Education were also heavily restricted (I know a lot of people get irked at the mention of Western Education, but we need to face realities here. At the time of the Graeco-Roman Empire, everyone had to learn Greek. The New Testament Bible was written entirely in Greek; even though the writers were mostly Hebrews. Western Education is rich because the Anglo-Saxon culture itself borrows copiously from the rest of the World. If four out of five people have a loaf of bread each and they all agree that each will give the fifth person half of theirs, the fifth man ends up with the equivalent of two loaves while the others are stuck with half).

In the South, the Indirect Rule had a relative measure of success among the Yorubas. The older empires had already been heavily weakened with the abolition of Slave Trade, and consequently the huge amount of wealth that was generated had plummeted. Lagos was formally annexed as a British colony in 1861. This was after Oba Akitoye, who had earlier been deposed and replaced by Kosoko for attempting to put an end to slave trade, secured the assistance of Britain to regain his throne. He died three years later and his successor, Oba Dosunmu concluded the treaty. The egalitarian minded Ibos and the other ethnic groups, right of the Lower Niger were the ‘defiant guinea pigs’ of this experiment. The Aro hegemony had been crushed since 1902. Not finding any ‘lesser bully’, the ‘bigger bully’ imposed their own bullies. One would need to read the award winning author, Chinua Achebe’s THINGS FALL APART to appreciate this better.

It is against this backdrop that Political parties, tended to reflect the make up of the three main ethnic groups: Hausa, Yoruba, and Ibo. By the October 1960 independence, The NPC (Nigerian people's Congress) represented conservative, Muslim, largely Hausa interests, and dominated the Northern Region. The party was allegedly formed with the blessing of the Emirs, to be capable of ‘counterbalancing the activities of the southern-based parties’.

The AG (Action Group), developed from the Yoruba group headed by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the Egbé Ọmọ Odùduwà, was a left-leaning party that controlled the Yoruba west. The NCNC (National Convention of Nigerian Citizens) was Igbo and Christian dominated, ruling in the Eastern Region. The NCNC would however, be the first to have a national outlook, mainly because of Late Nnamdi Azikiwe’s Pan African vision.

The first post-independence National Government was formed by a conservative alliance of the NCNC and the NPC, with Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, a Hausa, becoming Nigeria's first Prime Minister. The Yoruba-dominated AG became the opposition under the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

Disagreement within the AG led to the first major ‘cross-carpeting’ that laid the foundation for ‘decamping’ today. The late Samuel Ladoke Akintola broke away and became the Western Premier under the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) which was in an alliance with the Northern People's Congress (NPC), the party that then controlled the federal government. The politics of Human-Torch (burning opponents alive) began in the ensuing violence; perhaps, this will be the foundation for the spates of political assassinations we have today.

Things got very awry when Chief Obafemi Awolowo was arrested on trumped up charges of treasonable felony and clamped in jail in 1963. By this time, deep resentment was building in the Army. The Kaduna Nzeogwu/ Emmanuel Ifeajuna revolution of 1966 ended up with an ethnic taint. Most of the key rulers were Hausa; consequently, the Hausa recorded the heaviest causality. Unfortunately too, the killings showed a pattern: The Prime Minister, a northerner; the Premier of the Northern Region, and the highest ranking northern army officers. Only one Igbo officer (Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Unegbe) lost his life. Also killed was the Premier of the Western Region who was closely allied with the NPC. The fact that soldiers of Northern extraction were in the coup did nothing to erase the ‘Coup with tribal marks’ brand; nor the fact that there were Yorubas on both sides of aggressors and victims.

The July counter-coup, the massacre of Igbos before and during the Civil War, the ascendancy of the Counter-Coup soldiers (four of them became President) in Nigerian politics after the consequent decimation of Igbo officers, all served to shape Nigerian politics till date (quick PDP checklist, anyone?).

By the Second Republic, members of the proscribed parties (Military Regimes commence with the proscription of Political parties) based in the Northern section of Nigeria began to organize to form a northern party to prepare for a return to democracy. This time, they got collaborators from the South, and with the ‘Zoning Formula’, came up with a Yoruba chairman, a Hausa-Fulani President, with an Igbo running mate. The Yoruba chairman was none other than Augustus Meredith Adisa Akinloye, who had left with S.L. Akintola in the First Republic to form the Nigerian National Democratic Party. That was the origin of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).

The Action Group under Chief Obafemi Awolowo had morphed into the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). The other four parties, Greater Nigerian People's Party (GNPP), Nigeria Advance Party (NAP), Nigerian People's Party (NPP), People's Redemption Party (PRP) were not as strong. The PRP, in my opinion, is just the Northern version of the UPN in terms of ideology (the Talakawa concept was actually made popular by the late Mallam Aminu Kano, the founder of the PRP). Chinua Achebe did a brief stint in the PRP as the deputy national vice-president and would be remembered for the near fist cuff with the late Alhaji Barkin Zuwo (notoriously popular for stashing State funds in his bedroom and the Coke, Fanta Mineral Resources interview).

At this time, the Civil War had taken a heavy toll on the Ibos; the Nigerian power tussle had become more of between the Hausa-Fulani oligarchy and the relatively weaker Yoruba. It was against this backdrop that the 1979 Constitution attempted to ensure a National Outlook but eventually led to various pseudo-alliances, one of such is the NPP with NPN.

(To Be Continued)

Before the Bronx Trailer

STICKY BUMS AND HARDENED HEARTS

El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba of Gabon would go down in history as the world’s longest serving, sorry, ruling President.

Quite amusing is the fact that on the 7th May 2009, when he had to go seek medical attention for Cancer in Spain, the Gabonese Government only announced that Papa Bongo had temporarily suspended his official duties and taken time off to mourn his recently demised wife and rest in Spain!

His eventual death on June 8^th 2009 (or earlier, God knows) was vehemently denied to the extent that the foreign ministry summoned the French ambassador to protest about French media reports of Papa Bongo death, which according to his Prime Minister, were intended "to sow doubt in the spirit of the Gabonese for undesirable ends".

Internet services were cut; access to international media was restricted, till the game ended. And so, “El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba of Gabon slept with his fathers, and his son, Ali-Ben Bongo Ondimba reigned in his stead” (this reads so much like the chronicles of the ancient kings of Israel to me!)

In Niger, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Mamadou Tandja ran for Presidency in 1993 and lost to Mahamane Ousmane. He lost also in 1996 to the I-switched-from-bullet-to-ballot candidacy of Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, before winning at last in 1999.

One would think this man would approach the Presidency with a deep sense of sobriety; DEAD WRONG! In no time, his First and Second Terms expired and he wanted to self-propagate to a Third term. By 27th June, 2009, Tandja announced he was suspending the government and would rule by decree. By February 18^th, the Military had intervened.

Let me take you on a mental journey to France, the French Revolution (1789–1799). Before that time, society into Three Estates: First Estate (clergy); the Second Estate (nobility); and the Third Estate (commoners). The king was considered part of no estate.

The Clergy not only unabashedly adopted this system (animal farm, anyone?) but further classed themselves into Higher (Bishops) and Lower (parish priests, monks and nuns) Clergy. They paid no taxes; they also owned 10 percent of all the land in France, which was exempt from property tax. They however, paid a "free gift" to the state.

The second estate is what I called Pseudotalakawa in previous blogs. They were content with owning lands and some tax exemptions, so they could not be bothered about reform.

The third estate comprised all those who do not belong above and can be divided into two groups: urban and rural. The urban included the bourgeoisie, as well as wage-labor (such as craftsmen). The rural includes the peasantry, or the farming class. The Third Estate includes some of what would now be considered middle class. What united the third estate is that most had little or no wealth and yet were forced to pay disproportionately high taxes to the other estates.

If you are a late entrant, please read my early blogs to find a parallel with what we have today. Knowing however, that there are lots of people who dread clicking an extra button, I would place an excerpt here:

….Need I add that the word has Arabic roots, and that the Yoruba (Western Nigeria Language) word Talaka, meaning The Poor was derived from this root? The Hausas in Nigeria would define the Talakawa, in contrast with the Al-majiri( Destitute) and the Masu Sarauta (Aristocrats) simply as the Common Man, and it is the fundamental philosophy that change in the society rests on both the neck and shoulders of this people (Talakawa)...who else should we expect it from?

This is disputable, but it is said that the Revolution was provoked when the peasants complained they could not afford bread and the Queen replied: "Let them eat brioche." (brioche is a luxury bread enriched with eggs and butter).

In any case, the revolution began, and cannon bearing women of the Third Estate marched and precipitated the sack of the Monarchy. The King and the Queen were among those whose necks gave way to the guillotine.

I have observed the gross impunity on the part of brats who obtained political position under the aegis of their fathers and I shake my head with both pity and disdain. Apparently, it is not only our offshore-turned-hologram President that has Pedicarditis; there are so many with a worse kind, because, while his own case is a medical condition, these people actually have a mental condition!

When the military felt they could disregard the people, General Ibrahim Babangida (deliberately not adding the RTD thingie) had his own first dose. Massive demonstrations took place and he was compelled to ‘step-aside’; however, not without including a Trojan in the system. The Trojan would activate General Sanni Abacha (deceased) who unleashed a reign of terror. He crushed revolts by all means, yet with each one, another rose. He was going to have his way, anyway, as the Five-fingers-of-a-leprous hand (Late Bola Ige copyright) political parties endorsed him as a consensus candidate. But the the words of Abraham Lincoln rang through: ‘No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent’. Abacha died in office and that was all.

Honestly, I sincerely wish I don’t have to retract the ‘that was all’ because that was not all at all! The Trojan was still active; the death of Abacha was just the removal of a spawn virus.

Three new parties were formed. Actually two.

Late Bola Ige, who had played a prominent role in G34 (the group that sent a letter to Abacha to vacate office through Chief Solomon Lar), together with the others, gave birth to PDP. The Trojan was activated soon as retired Generals with junta-powered-megaloot invaded the Party like locusts.

There was a conflict of ideology. So, Ige left. The next point of call, All Peoples Party(APP) was not better (a good part of the members were those who supported Abacha’s self-succession bid). So, Ige and his colleagues left to form AD.

The decision to pull out of APP affected the choice of party system. Abdulsalami Administration had proposed a two party system. Party registration had closed by the time the South West leaders and their friends from other zones approached the electoral commission for registration. But the Chief of general Staff, Admiral Mike Akhigbe who had served as governor of old Ondo and Lagos States cautioned against denying AD registration. His contention was that the denial could result into a credibility crisis for the transition programme (Considering the June 12 debacle). By the ‘Doctrine of necessity’, the Electoral Commission invoked a clause whereby if only two parties qualified, the party which finished third would also be allowed through.

The bug produced Obasanjo, who was vehemently opposed by the Nigerian Students and a good part of the South-West, but the Yorubas, out of the desire not to rock the boat, resigned to the omo-wa-ni-e-je-o-se (He’s our son, let him do it) syndrome.

Obasanjo (PDP) won Olu Falae, the AD-APP candidate, by 62.78% to 37.22%. By 2007, the Trojan had morphed PDP into a win-by-all-means behemoth. In grossly flawed elections which spawned several overturns and re-overturns, Buhari, a retired General and former head of state, and the ‘worthiest opponent’ only garnered a fourth (6,605,299) of Umar YarAdua’s total recorded votes (24,638,063) in spite of concerns over the latter’s health. It became obvious that the PDP Presidential Primaries is the actual (s)election, even if a rabbit becomes the candidate.

So honestly, I would not blame Madam (Prof. Dora Akunyili’s copyright) for holding the entire nation to ransom and running a parallel government. I would not blame those soldiers that stood like zombies ‘awaiting orders’ while the genocide in Jos went on before their very eyes but did not hesitate to cut-off power supply at the airport to bring in whatever-was-in-the-ambulance-they-called-the-president. I would not blame that legislative brat that ignored the Youths’ voice of reason in spite of the fact that he belongs to their generation. I won’t even blame the soldier who reached for his gun while harassing Audu Maikori, the learned poet and young CEO of the Chocolate City record label on March 16^th, 2010, the day the Nigerian Youths found their voice and organized a peaceful rally in Abuja.

I will blame you if by 2011; you do not step out to vote against tyranny, I will blame you if you do not strive to ensure you are neither physically nor mentally disenfranchised.

The 300 Spartan warriors were no match for King Xerxes, as a matter of fact; they were crushed by his Persian army. But then, it was a pyrrhic victory.

BURIED CIVILIZATION

It baffles me a great deal how artifacts abandoned by Africans based on ‘fetish’ connections found their ways to British and French museums.

Egypt had to cut ties with the Louvre Museum late last year for France to agree to return theirs.

The Nigerian case is pathetic. In 1973, General Gowon was invited to Britain and was anxious to bring a gift to say thank you for British support during the Biafran civil war. He commissioned a replica Benin bronze but was disappointed with the result. Just before his departure, he telephoned Ekpo Eyo, director of the museum, to say he was coming to choose a gift. General Gowon soon arrived; and took one of the bronzes from the display. Dr Eyo was horrified, because it was quite ‘improper for the state to be raiding the museum’. The rest is History.

For General Gowon, I would only quote Mel Gibson in the 2002 American War Film, We were Soldiers: ‘we were soldiers once…and young’ because he is one former Head of State that still gives his all to the nation, most times, I feel the Gentleman is burdened by a lot of what went wrong that he is convinced he owes the Country a lot. He was only 32!

Unfortunately, that would not be the only time the artifacts were taken away with gross impunity. As a matter of fact, the most devastating raid was the Benin ‘Punitive’ Expedition of 1897 where the Palace was looted as punishment for Benin’s preemptive strike on Lieutenant James Robert Phillips who was on his way to raid the Palace anyway. Only two British officers had survived that strike.

An estimated 2500 artifacts were ‘stolen’ and redistributed till today to British, German and French museums and private owners.

France has magnanimously returned two Monoliths. The Queen Idia Mask, used as the mascot for the Second Black Festival of Arts and Culture still sits in the basement of the British Museum.

I know we have a dark history linked with our Arts, I know that but for Mary Slessor, the people of Calabar would probably still be casting their twins into the evil forest to perish, but I KNOW that it is hypocritical to keep these artifacts that you condemned as heathen!

Okay, the Benin people are around to demand for what was taken from them, what of The Nok Terracotta? We do not even know who those people really were because they ‘mysteriously vanished’ about 200 AD. As a matter of fact, the only reason we call their arts Nok is because they were dug up in the village of Nok near the Jos Plateau region of Nigeria while some Englishman was mining for tin.

Pits dug in the search for Tin abound in Jos till date. The search for tin and artifact thus attracted settlers to the city of Jos. With an altitude of 4,062 feet (1,217 m) above sea level, it enjoys a more temperate climate than much of the rest of Nigeria (average monthly temperatures range from 70° to 77°F or 21° to 25°C). These cooler temperatures have meant that from colonial times until present day, Jos is a favourite holiday location for both tourists and expatriates based in Nigeria.

That also meant that Jos attracted a lot of immigrants.

Then arose a man called Mohammed Marwa Maitatsine; a violence disposed Cleric who was born in Cameroon. His was a quasi-Muslim fringe group that eventually sparked religious riots in Kano in 1980, and Kaduna, and Maiduguri in 1982 after police tried to control their activities. The disturbance in Kano alone resulted in the deaths of 4,177 people between December 18 and 29, 1980. He was killed by Nigerian security forces in 1980 during the Kano insurrection. His followers were able to lead several insurrections after that spanned into the late ‘80s and a good number of those fleeing for refuge found a haven in Jos, this act of hospitality looks like what turned out to be Jos’ undoing.

In 1987, religious conflict took dark dimensions when unprecedented violence between ‘Muslims’ and ‘Christians’ erupted at secondary schools and universities. Clashes at the College of Education in Kafanchan, Kaduna State, left at least twelve dead and several churches burned or damaged. The rioting spread to Zaria, Katsina, and Kano in few days. Bayero University in Kano was closed after about twenty students were injured in clashes. In Zaria, Muslim students burned the chapel at the College of Advanced Studies and attacked Christian students; the riots spilled over into the town, where more than fifty churches were burned. A curfew was imposed in Kaduna State, and outdoor processions and religious preaching were banned in Bauchi, Bendel, Benue, Borno, and Plateau states. All schools in Kaduna and five in Bauchi State closed. The then President Babangida denounced these outbreaks as "masterminded by evil men . . . to subvert the Federal Military Government." He also issued a Civil Disturbances (Special Tribunal) Decree establishing a special judicial tribunal (which would sadly be used as the instrument to hang Ken Saro Wiwa and the remaining 8 Ogoni much later under a different administration) to identify, arrest, and try those responsible, and banned preaching by religious organizations at all institutions of higher learning. In June and July 1987, Kaduna State authorities twice closed the exclusive Queen Amina College girls' high school in Zaria after clashes between Muslim and Christian students. At a particular point in time, Kaduna became irrevocably separated into a predominantly Muslim North and Christian South.

All of a sudden, Kaduna ceased to be the hotbed and the ‘axis-of-evil’ tilted to Jos. President Babangida created Jos North in 1991 and with the modified vehicle plate number scheme; the Jos North came to be represented by JJN. JJN stands for Jasawan Jos North; Jasawa is the identity of the Hausas in Jos.

The Berom, Anaguta and Afizere were the indigenous people of Jos. But with the mining industry, Hausa settlers had multiplied. With an organized system of government, The Hausa settler population in Jos had a Hausa Chief in the Tin Mine settlements (There has been a Sarkin Jos since 1902!), which they answered to. The indigenous tribe primarily the Berom felt the need to also organize themselves politically, especially after converting to Christianity. With the British system of indirect rule, a Native Chief was preferred to a Hausa Chief because of their religious and ethnic peculiarities. In 1947 the title of any Chief of Jos became Gbong Gwom Jos. Unlike the conventional thrones, it is a political throne, with no initial basis in Berom traditions as the Berom people were an ethnic group with clan-centred leadership.

The complex power-play became the keg of gunpowder that would implode later. The Jasawan had grown and were economically relevant in Jos. A generation of youth who were born in Jos and had nowhere else to call home had been born (Palestine-Israel, anyone?) and the battle for the soul of Jos-North intensified.

Islam had always been valid for Hausa mobilization. This dates back to Usman dan Fodio (1754-1817) who emerged an Amir al-Mu'minin, a political as well as religious office, consequently with authority to declare and pursue a Jihad, raise an army and become its commander. A widespread uprising consequently began in Hausaland. This uprising was largely composed of the Fulani, who held a powerful military advantage with their cavalry. It was also widely supported by the Hausa peasantry who felt over-taxed and oppressed by their rulers.

Usman dan Fodio was a great ruler and brilliant scholar whose reforms and ideals birthed the Sokoto Caliphate in 1809. As it turned out, subsequent Sultans of Sokoto automatically became Heads of the Islamic community. Unfortunately, this heritage became a tool for manipulations too. The way an American is proud of Uncle Sam is about the same way the predominantly Muslim Hausa community is proud of the Caliphate.

Alas! Clashes began to originate out of flimsy reasons like a lady walking seductively or an alleged burning of Mosques by Christians during Church Service.

Is the Jos crisis Religious? Is it Political? I will not tell beyond this backdrop. Is it utterly senseless and inhumane? To that I say an emphatic YES!

CHRONICLES OF HIBERNIA-DARK REFLECTIONS

Can I disappoint you that I will not start my first post in 2010 with the health-or-death status of President Yaradua?

Nor will I start with the soft looking brat who wanted to blow the world through his balls and the fact that secure pornography a la body scans will now be available at Nigerian Airports, simply because Nigeria is desperate to prove her innocence before ‘Almighty America’.

For all I know, the Nation has been sick longer than the President and no one has ever really bothered.

My mind is more pre-occupied with that beautiful 11-year old whose foot was trapped under the rubble in Haiti. I am thinking more of Pat Robertson of Christian Broadcasting Network who said:

"And you know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French, you know, Napoleon the Third and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.' True story. And so the devil said, 'O.K., it's a deal. And they kicked the French out, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free, and ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor. That Island of Hispaniola is one island cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti, on the other side is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty, same islands…. "

In other words, according to him, Haiti is paying for a pact made with the devil! I would only want to know if the earthquake was selective, if churches or mosques or even the voodoo shrines were spared.

Haiti is actually paying for a pact, not made with the devil, but devils like the King of France who recognized the independence of the country in exchange for a payment of 150 million francs (an indemnity for profits lost from slave trade!). Devils that sponsored the 32 coups in Haiti’s 200 year history, devils that claimed large sums of money from the vaults of the National Bank of Haiti.

Let’s have some Chronicles:

In 1888 U.S. Marines supported a military revolt against the government.

In 1892 the German government supported suppression of the movement of Anténor Firmin (I need to read On the Equality of Human Races).

In 1912 Syrians residing in Haiti participated in a plot in which the presidential palace was destroyed.

In January 1914, British, German and United States forces entered Haiti to ‘protect’ their citizens.

The United States occupied the island from 1915 to 1934.

When the Duvaliers, Dr. François Duvalier, known as "Papa Doc" President of Haiti , 1957 –1971; Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc"), 1971-1986 were robbing the Country silly, they were largely supported by those ‘devils’ and the high interest loans that left the Country in the state it is in today were ‘generously’ provided!

When Jean Bertrand Aristide began asking France for reparation, that was when ‘corruption’ accusations came in, a rebellion ensued, and the US Marines, yes US Marines helped him on exile (Aristide himself said he was kidnapped).

So, really, I agree with Pat Robertson to an extent.

This Reparation thingie reminds me so much of the late Chief MKO Abiola; Nigerians! You are not likely to know the true story behind the annulment of the June 12 1993 Presidential Elections in this life, probably in the life to come, you stand a chance.

That was a digression.

Haitians were the first ‘Free’ Blacks, then Ethiopia, then Liberia. What do they have to show for it?

Ethiopia had Emperor Haile Selassie I, the man who played a vital role in the formation of the disbanded Organization of African Unity (OAU), which was replaced in 2002 by the African Union (AU). I don’t want to bring the Rastafarian part to this, but this man was kicked out and replaced by a wonderful tyrant: Mengistu Haile Mariam.

Liberia had William Tolbert Jr., I won’t call him a saint, and neither will I call him a sinner, but a US Army Special Force trained Samuel Kanyon Doe, had Tolbert murdered in his sleep and became the President of Liberia, which began the dark journey of Liberia through a brutal civil war, and the unleashing of Charles Taylor upon the people of Liberia. Charles Taylor would later allege he was raised by the CIA.

Thomas Sankara! The man who sold most of the government fleet of Mercedes cars and made the Renault 5 (the cheapest car sold in Burkina Faso at that time) the official service car of the ministers, converted the army's provisioning store in Ouagadougou into a state-owned supermarket open to everyone (the first supermarket in the country), was killed by Blaise Compaoré . This man still rules Burkina Faso till today! It is interesting that it was Thomas Sankara that changed the name of the Country from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso (the land of upright people).

Today, Burkina Faso occupies the sixth to last place on the Human Development Index.

If Patrice Lumumba had not been taken down by the CIA, would Mobutu have risen to rob that Zaire (name given by Mobutu)/ Democratic Republic of Congo silly?

For Nigeria, I will only say that someday, the ‘Classified Information’ will become declassified.

My heart goes out to Haiti; my heartfelt appreciation goes out to those who have raised funds, regardless of Race or Religion, for that Country, whose heroic efforts began the process for the end of Slavery and Paleo-Colonization.

Embattled Tiger Woods still got a $ 3 million donation out, Hollywood actors/actresses, Artists like Wyclef are reaching out, while Messrs ‘I-just-emerged-from-closed-door-meetings-with-God’ tell them that it is God’s punishment for them; Job sure has Miserable Comforters!