THE LOTUS-EATERS

“…It is, therefore, with a brave heart, with confident hope, and with
faith in my unalterable destiny, that I go from this twilight into
the darkness, unshaken in my trust in the Providence of God that a
glorious dawn will come on the morrow…”

-Chief Obafemi Awolowo before the High Court before

Being sentenced for Treasonable Felony in September

11, 1963

If in the words of the Late Chief Awolowo, 1963 was a shift from twilight to darkness, I really wonder what I would describe some Forty-Seven years after.

The Pogrom in Jos, the graduation from Bows, Arrows and Daggers to guns and bombs that conveniently miss out a particular group, the irrepressible Hydra Headed Boko Haram whose strength, contrary to the norm spiked since their leader Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf was allegedly killed-in-transit, the emergence and spread of ransom demanding kidnappers all over the Country all serve as portent of even darker days to come.

The killings in Jos conveniently took a new dimension few months to the polls, about the time voters’ registration is set to commence, and up till now, there is a criminal silence on the part of the Government. Backtrack to February 1999, where the PDP convention took place in Jos, would such a thing have happened? The thanks that Jos gets for playing a significant role in the formation of Nigerian Democracy (however flawed it is) is the incessant deliberate attempt to wipe out its populace!

Jos is not a stranger to hosting Political Conventions, as a matter of fact. A brief read into Nigerian archives (the few ones you can find) points clearly that conventions have been held in this town since Nigerian Independence; that is actually beside the point.

What hurts is the pervading numbness of Nigerians in the face of an imminent implosion that threatens to consume everything in its way!

The problem with Jos is not the Jasawan (Hausa settlers) nor the native Anaguta, Berom and Afizere, it is not the Dan Fulanis nor of those giving guns to the Dan Fulani; APATHY is the problem!

Apathy on the part of the Islamic Clerics who go on air to condemn the violence, but do NOTHING to identify with the people in distress, apathy on the part of even the Christian Association of Nigeria who are ‘afraid to say anything to heat up the polity’ but leave gory pictures for website circulation, apathy on the people who never follow up the trial of the arrested culprits to ensure a thorough investigation is done. We don’t care, do we?

I had my Secondary education in Jos and I recall one incident out of many. Being a first timer in a Boarding School, an older relative, who was a class ahead of me, was placed in charge of my finances by my Mum. The ‘friend’ squandered my allowance and by the time the Term was over, I had nothing left. Either the School Authorities envisaged it or something; Junior Secondary I students were meant to go with the first Flight from Jos to Lagos.

By the time we got to the airport, both my flight ticket (which we usually submitted to the School Authorities upon resumption) and my boarding pass were ready, and I was good to go, but for one snag: I had to pay a Five (5) Naira airport tax (those were the days a Los-Jos-Los Return Ticket cost only Ninety Six (96) Naira)! I had no money left, but a combination of ego and stupidity made me tender my ticket for screening (not as if I really had a choice), the dude placed the Five Naira stamp on my ticket and I turned mute when I was meant to pay. Eventually someone advised I talk to the authorities and I walked up to the Station Manager of the Jos Airport who in turn referred me to the Commercial Manager.

Over two decades after, I still recall the man’s name and I am quite certain I’d pick him from a crowd till date. Mr. Sidi Abani (that’s his name) just took one look at me and the first word that came out of his mouth is ‘You are hungry’ he took me to the Staff Canteen, made sure I had a plate of pounded yam, left me in his office while he goes out to sort the problem, and ensured I got the free Airforce C-130 Plane which had limited slots for Command Secondary School Students and involved a lot of scramble.

He assigned an office assistant to carry my heavy box and I did not have to scramble. I never got to thank him enough, but I am so sure there are countless others this man went out on a limb for.

What’s the point of the story? I just painted a picture of what Jos used to be. All the man saw was a poor pre-teen in need of help, not some ‘ngbati-ngbati infidel’ (Ngbati-ngbati is a derisive term used to address those of Yoruba extraction; adapted from the penchant of the Yoruba for starting sentences with ‘It was when (Nigbati)….’ ).

Fast forward to today; If Soldiers deployed to protect citizens could look on in the face of carnage, it is about time to realize how low we have stooped as a people.

According to Wikipedia, In Greek mythology, the lotus-eaters were a race of people from an island near North Africa dominated by lotus plants. These plants provided the primary food of the island and were narcotic, causing the people to sleep in peaceful apathy.

It unnerves me that Africa was mentioned in the myth; equally unnerving is the mention of ‘narcotic’ and ‘apathy’ in one sentence.

I look at the Nigerian situation and many times, I wonder if there isn’t some Voodoo expert who has his pins stuck in Nigerian (i)dol(l)s.

Pray, tell, what is your reaction when you hear reports of the incessant wastage of lives all across the nation? I have a maxim ‘A Corpse is a Corpse till that Corpse was your Pops’ .

At the just concluded PDP Primaries, a moment of silence was held for ‘Members of our great Party’ and there was not a single mention of Jos! Except as a subliminal.............To Be Continued

Plumbline -Dead Presidents

THE BRAT CALLED DIM BANKS

I am honestly done with politeness, taking time to be pretentious about being nice while gritting my teeth in silence.

This is Rantimus; if you can’t stand the heat, just stay out of the kitchen.

On the 14th of November, 1969, a brat was unleashed on unsuspecting Nigerians and the entire world.

Let me start with his ‘enviable’ background.

His father, Suarau Olayiwola Alani Bankole is a businessman and chieftain from Ogun State. He is the Chairman of West African Aluminum Products (WAAP) Plc. He holds the Yoruba titles Oluwo of Iporo Ake and Seriki Jagunmolu of Egbaland.

This Oluwo of Iporo Ake was a staunch member of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and contested for the gubernatorial seat, both in 1979 and 1983. He was also in the defunct NRC from 1989 and moved on to the ANPP before settling down with PDP in 2000. Anyone with a keen sense of election trends in the South-West of Nigeria would know that until the 2003 intrigue masterminded by the Ebora Owu (Daemon of Owu, a ‘city’ in Ogun State) himself, Olusegun Obasanjo (the former Head of State who, unlike George W. Bush that got Al Zaidi’s shoes coming for his face, was attacked instead by a mad man), The South-West usually voted along Progressive lines.

Matter of fact, claiming to be an ‘Awoist’ automatically earned you a seat. Even the intrigue that brought in Chief Omololu Olunloyo in Oyo State in 1983 and almost brought in Akin Omoboriowo in Ondo State was so short-lived that the attendant violence ushered in the Military and took us back for almost a Century.

Against this backdrop, if you read the Party and Bullsmilk series, it does not take a lot of convincing to know the basic ideology guiding such a Politician.

But my grouse is with his son.

A certain Hairdresser and beauty therapist, who became a Member of the House of Representatives under the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 1999, was ‘reelected’ in 2003 shortly after switching camps to the PDP. She became the first Female Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives in 2007. Then came the 628 Million Naira (about US$5 million) House-Renovation/ Official Car purchase Scam and she had to resign her position. But not until in an ironical twist, Hon. Aminu Shuaibu Safana, the chairman of the house's Committee on Health and a staunch supporter of Etteh slumped and died in the heat of the Comedy of errors.

By October 30, 2007, Etteh resigned and a certain Dimeji Bankole was elected on the First of November, 2007 as Speaker, beating his contender, George Jolaoye, by 304 votes to 20 (4 abstentions). In his address, he said:

"I am taking over the mantle of leadership at a very difficult time. But these are hard times, we need to build confidence again and assure the populace that we are still their representatives. I want an independent house that Nigerians will be proud of, this is my first task."

It is extremely sad and appalling that people are not held responsible for their utterances on this side of the divide. Exactly how has Dim Banks assured us that ‘they are our representatives’? By suspending 11 members who accused him of fraud and even came up to show items allegedly purchased fraudulently under his watch before the media? Etteh went down for 628 million; Dim Banks had 52 Billion hanging on his head in the name of ‘Travel Expenses’. Messrs Onigbogi and Idahosa have been recalled, one on the alibi that he was ‘remotely’ suspended (he was in India when the incident occurred) and Idahosa on the grounds that he has now realized “every house has rules”.

Both members apologized before the committee; they have withdrawn their court actions, standing down their allegations against Dim Banks. They have been cleared, and asked to resume sitting and tender a public apology.

What apology? That they lied against Dim Banks? That is Libel! It also qualifies for Sedition, worse still, Treasonable Felony! Does that imply that the items allegedly purchased fraudulently and displayed before the Camera for us all to watch was all ‘cooked up’? Then they must be brilliant illusionists who have mastered the art of whipping up our emotions wrongly!

Alternatively, are the allegations real and they are only announcing that ‘hey, we have been starving since we got locked out’? CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME??? AM I TALKING TO MYSELF?

Anybody that believed Dim Banks on November 1, 2007 must have been under intense delusion.

Check out his educational background: From Lara Day Nursery and Primary School in Lagos, through Baptist Boys High School (1985) to ‘A’ levels in Albany college (1988), and BSc Economics, University of Reading (1991); Military Technique Strategic Studies, University of Oxford (1992), Public Finance Management, John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (2005).

The simple implication of this record is that a good part of his higher cognitive life was not spent in the Country, period! The last time he really was here, before he showed up in the House of Representatives (I still stand in doubt of the NYSC discharge certificate he presented but then, who can argue against Certificate A417575, registration number FCT/FRN/97/99823 and the Orientation camp in Kubwa, Abuja? ) was in 1987/1988.

Those of you that want to vote along the lines of petty things like Age, Tribe, Religion, here is something to ponder. Dim Banks is only a Post-Independence kid. Matter of fact, he was born towards the end of the Nigerian Civil War. If he had waited a couple of months, he would have been classed as one of the ‘Kids’ of the ‘70s.

He only became the Speaker because of the PDP zoning formula which limited the Speaker to the South-West Geo-Political zone. He became the Speaker exactly two weeks to his 38^th birthday. This dude speaks the English language like he is in competition with the Queen of England! Other than that, he is as hot-headed as his command of the language.

I still recall his July scuffle with the lame-duck Governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel. While I don’t really give a hoot about either of them, the fact that a seemingly innocuous commissioning took the dimensions of a Tokyo-Eleweomo-esque (go figure that) fight speaks for itself.

However, the last straw that dragged me out of the Writers’ Block is his latest remark during the House of Representatives meeting with the Presidential Task Force on Power. He was reported to have spent a record five minutes after which he ‘declared’ the work of the task force, and by extension, the Federal Government ‘null and void’

His reasons being that the road map did not have the input of the House of Representatives, nor did the government deem it necessary to consult ‘stakeholders’ before formulating the roadmap.

Who are the stakeholders? Wait for it…

Bankole stated that no consideration was being given to importers and suppliers of generators, which by his estimate is A BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY THAT NEEDS TO BE PROTECTED!

Could someone please shut this BRAT up before further damage is done?

PS: The Brat has a blog: http://dimejisbankole.com/

Check out music from Plumbline (Street Cleric)

PARTY AND BULL***** (CONCLUSION)

…..No one was going to stop Abacha. With possible opponents either dead, clamped in jail or on exile, the stage was set.

Until June 8.

I recall seeing the shroud wrapped around the mound that once was the most-dreaded ruler in Nigeria. The corpse was tossed in the cargo section of the plane for onward dispatch to Kano.

His successor, General Abdusalami Abubakar was all too eager to quit the scene. There was, however, one obstacle: MKO Abiola. Should his 5 year old mandate be given? Would he forgive those that ensured his incarceration and killed his wife? A dramatic twist came in when the then U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan and the then Commonwealth Secretary General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku visited him in detention, and the latter addressed a press conference in Abuja saying that Abiola had given up his mandate. A quick rebuttal came through Chief Gani Fawehinmi after which another meeting came up with envoys from the United States, Mr. Thomas Pickering, Ms. Susan Rice and William Twaddel.

Abiola suddenly took ill after he was served tea by Ms Susan Rice, and after a 90 minute battle to save his life at the Presidential hospital, he was pronounced dead.

Abiola’s death would dramatically alter the course of politics of the Fourth Republic.

The ensuing transition programme was ‘designed’ to placate the South West over his death. Hence, the only presidential aspirants of South West descent contested the 1999 presidential election where Chief Obasanjo (PDP) recently released from prison won over Chief Olu Falae of the Alliance for Democracy/ All People’s Party alliance (refer to my April 1 post, Sticky Bums and Hardened Hearts).

It is my opinion that Obasanjo won because he looked more like the survival specimen of the keepers of the status quo. The dark secrets of the military looked secure with him having hung in the dark basement of the sordid past of a country desperately in need of amnesia.

The Fulani oligarchy felt safe with him, the South-East, having been played out of the APP ticket (up till this time, because the bulk of supporters of Abacha’s self-succession bid were in this party, the APP was derisively called Abacha People’s Party) when the relatively unknown Ogbonnaya Onu was picked and dumped to pick up Olu Falae, tilted towards Obasanjo’s PDP; and the South-South, probably with the hope of eventually benefiting from the PDP ‘zoning’ formula, followed suit.

The gullible religious folks swayed his way as well, since they heard he had become ‘born-again’ during his incarceration.

At the time of the election, Obasanjo was the ‘only Southerner accepted by the Northerners, the only Civilian accepted by the Military, and the only Christian accepted by Muslims’ he donated 130 million Naira, as well as several cars to his political party. For a man recently released from incarceration/death-row, that was a very questionable feat, but no one could be bothered. By May 29, 1999, most of the Retired Generals were card-carrying members of the PDP, with few ones in APP.

Perhaps this militarization of politics is the root of the sudden escalation of politically motivated killings in the Fourth Republic.

As a matter of fact, 1999 till date has the highest record of political assassinations in the history of Nigeria. September 1, 2002 would show how low we had sunk when the local branch chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and his wife were shot and the killers used a truck to run repeatedly over their dead bodies.

The Nigerian Police Force not only attained an apogee of incompetence, it became the order of the day that Politicians and Journalists were either killed by robbers, drug barons, or clowns.

It is interesting to note that Capital Punishment, till date, is yet to be a deterrent to crime. The establishment of Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (2000) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (2003) has only served to heighten despair for those interested in the fight against corruption. Billions of looted funds got resolved as ‘family matter’ in particular, when the culprit is a member of the ruling PDP. Part of what was stolen is returned in exchange for ‘soft-landing’ where the corrupt politicians upon conviction spend short terms in ‘EFCC guest-houses’ and they are released to go-and-sin-more-but-be-more-careful.

Why would a grown man, a then serving Governor, knowing the implications of libel, insist that Chief Tony Anenih wanted to kill him ‘the way they killed Chief Bola Ige’ and all of a sudden we hear nothing more?

These are the issues gnawing deep at my heart, draining my pen of every substance. By the time you are reading this, the tally of over 352 Nigerians that have died of Cholera in just 3 months would have increased. I would not even bother about the statistics of those that have been killed navigating through our ‘road-infested-potholes’ (that sounds, wrong, does it? That is the only way I can explain when you have more pot-holes than roads), nor those that have been killed since Medical Doctors embarked on Strike Action because of poor remunerations.

No, they do not matter, they are not Politicians…All we want to talk about is Zoning, Election, The-Biggest-National-Cake-Ever-Baked, Party and Bullsmilk! (Yeah, I got you on that!)

Before the Bronx (MP4)

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