A William Adams quote has recently gone viral. It reminds that: ‘There’s a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people’.
The evidence of how true this is can be seen from the show of military strength the morning after the announcement of the postponement of the 2015 elections. They went on exercise demonstrations which I witnessed on the streets of Lagos as I am told was the case in many cities around the country. The troops needed in the North East to wipe out BokoHaram in Six weeks, after five years of unsuccessful effort were somehow available to ‘to intimidate bloody civilians’, in the view of some people.
The truth was, I enjoyed watching the street exercise. From childhood one of my favourite spectacles has been watching soldiers in drills. If it was possible for me to join the Army, two magic moments could have been the lure; watching Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, then a younger officer, at the 1970 Independence Day Parade, and the late Gen. Joseph Nanvern Garba as a young Brigade of guards Commander were for me greater than watching a pop star. The purpose may have been to alert any potential protesters, after the postponement, that a mighty force lurks to respond, but for me, it was a nice pleasant throw back to an excitable childhood and early teens when a civil war raged and I saw soldiers both at the war front and in the rear, at Ibadan, after I resumed schooling there. This was as the soldiers were put to Rapid Result Truck Driving lessons at the Ibadan Garrison Organisation which I remembered more for its nice band, than with thoughts of War.
But talk about the street spectacles the day after the postponement of the elections got me thinking about how dutiful citizens unwittingly became so called enemies of the state. Having looked up at guns pointed at me, several times in the course of my life, by agents of the state, it seemed appropriate to reflect on how the state in search of real and imagined enemies, manages to make nation building more challenging.
First time a gun was pointed at me, execution style, was in a time of war. Had the trigger been pulled it would have qualified for war crimes, but no such trial could have taken place. Those who shot many in cold blood got away with it, a year earlier. It was at Asaba in 1968. Thousands of men had been lined up already and executed as they chanted ONE NIGERIA, a few months before. On this occasion, as a bunch of 12 to 15 year olds were being separated from the women and lined up, an officer showed up, and as the drama goes, slapped the NCO who was lining us up and ordered us moved to the refugee camp, from where a friend of my father, who was the Battalion Commander, ensured that I headed to Lagos where my father was and then to school in Ibadan where we actually were rather oblivious of a civil war taking place two hundred miles away.
Next time I looked at a gun threatening me, was as leading executive of a multinational company. I had joined a group of professionals to protest the annulment of the results of the 1993 Presidential elections.
If we excused that experience as an excess of military rule, the third time could not be so excused. That one followed the removal of so called petroleum subsidy in 2012. I thought something was wrong with pretending that petrol cost was all about subsidy. I had on several occasions challenged friends in downstream petroleum marketing that it was peculiar that in a margin-thin business that forced strategic thinking in which industry orthodoxy now recognised that to make money you take advantage of the traffic driven by the need for petrol to sell Groceries, hence Mobil’s Minimart, Total’s Bonjour, etc; that people assume that being a petrol retailer was presumed to be the installation of a money mint. I had a moral burden to make the point that what was called petrol subsidy was significantly a combination of corruption and inefficiency costs. I did not hesitate to answer the call of some young professionals to come out and demonstrate. Then the civilian government sent in troops armed to the teeth to stop a group of unarmed, as some say, Champagne drinking middle and Upper Middle Class people at ‘Occupy Falomo’ who just wanted their voices heard on how their country was being run, a group that at a point included some high court judges, retired and serving. For the third time in my life uniformed agents of the state pointed a gun at my face and looked quite determined to pull the trigger. The people had become the enemies of the state, in the William Adams context.
My hope and my prayer is let the people not be the enemy again. The cost of the people as the enemy for Nigeria has always been high. And this is beyond financial costs. If the nation building goal and the Common Good are kept in view it must be obvious that all being able to put hands on deck, in a cooperative way, will advance good, more quickly.
Lyndon Baines Johnson, President of the United States in the 1960’s put it in a way only a Texan could: It is better for all to be inside the house, pissing out, than outside the house pissing in. This mantra was picked up by the Malaysians as their Prime Minister back in the late 1980’s, Mahathir Mohammed, chased a vision 2020. The visioning process in Malaysia was about consensus forging to get most into the house so the pissing is majority outbound. The limited skill of Nigerian politicians for pulling towards consensus seems for some reason to be poor. The quarrels became personal, rather than on issues and competing prisms through which reality is filtered.
If leadership is to show sagacity in Nigeria, job no 1 has to be diffusing the time bomb of division. So far the moment has given us the most divided Nigeria has ever been in my opinion, on ethnic, religious, ideological, regional and partisan lines. Conversation does not seem civil anymore. Examples of how Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe would go campaigning for his Party and Chief H O Davies will be doing same on the opposing side and, in the evening, one will drive to the other’s home, and pick them up to go and have a game of Tennis and a drink after. How did we lose that ethic? I still recall stories by Alhaji Maitama Sule about being scolded as a young MP and Minister, for not going across the Aisle to ‘greet’ more like pay homage, to the opposition leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, an older person deserving of his respect as a result.
We owe it to both the promise of Nigeria and the future of our children to stop inventing enemies of the state and to provide a climate for culture of building bridges that grace the path to the Nigerian melting pot. There may be competing models of a modus Vivendi in Nigeria; from those who take federalism so far it is almost a Bhantustanisation of Nigeria, to those who want a restoration of the federalism of the 1960’s on the one hand; to those who prefer a strong centre, on the other hand; no matter the shade bridges matter. It is these bridges that should be the focus, and not making enemies of the many citizens whose main desire is to see a state they can be cheerleaders for.
Thank God INEC had the wisdom to pick Valentine’s Day for the original date of the Presidential election. Perhaps we can reflect on the true meaning of love for to lead is to love and love a people is to be willing to sacrifice self for the good of all. To make the people the enemy is not to love them.
–Pat Utomi, Political Economist and Professor of Entrepreneurship is founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership
All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation has welcomed members of the National Assembly back to plenary with a word of caution against taking any action that might affect the foundation of democracy in the country. A statement today by the Director of Media and Publicity of the Organisation, Garba Shehu said that members of the National Assembly are returning to plenary at a time when the country is passing through a phase of some surreptitious attempt to tamper with the sanctity of the election dates and the hand-over date. Garba Shehu observed that the commentaries coming from leading members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) about a sinister plot to compromise on the sanctity of theMay 29hand-over date portends a great danger to the integrity of Nigeria’s democracy. “We wish to welcome back to plenary distinguished members of the National Assembly. We also wish to call their attention to the fact that their resumption is coming at a time when some senior members of the ruling party are mouthing overtures over a surreptitious attempt to compromise on the sanctity of the election day and the hand-over date. “To the extent that the parliament is the heart of any democracy, our National Assembly members have a duty to ensure that they protect our democracy from the archeries of its enemies. “It is on this note that the we in the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation call on every member of the National Assembly to add their voices to that of millions of other Nigerians and stand resolute that the general elections hold betweenMarch 28 and April 8as scheduled and also that theMay 29hand-over date remains sacrosanct. “In light of the foregoing therefore, the APCPCO is standing at the side of millions of other Nigerians to say that any form of government beyond theMay 29terminal date of this incumbent administration, whose authority is not legitimised by the ballot box is unacceptable, unconstitutional and, in effect, null and void. “We call on the National Assembly to similarly lend its voice to that of the overwhelming number of Nigerians by proclaiming that any illegal government before or afterMay 29is unacceptable.”
Nigeria military has described what it called “unguarded utterances” of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as lacking in discipline associated with man of his calibre. “Much as the military desires to respect the old General and his views, it has become necessary to point out that his conduct and unguarded utterances. of late, has fallen short of the standard of discipline expected of an individual who has had the privilege of service in the military and risen to the status of a General. The behavior of retired General (Chief) Obasanjo has been so unbecoming and continues to constitute a serious embarrassment to the military before all who have reasonably and rightly adjudged the essence of military background in terms of the high value and standard it tends to contribute to statesmanship.” The military insisted that the motive of Obasanjo, as usual, remains unknown “but it is certainly less than noble or well intentioned. We dare say again that Chief Obasanjo’s assertions are false.” These assertions were contained in a statement entitled ‘Military Calls on Obasanjo To Show Understanding’ posted on its blog www.defenceinfo.mil.ng today: The Defence Headquarters was obviously questioning the verdict by General Obasanjo, alleging that President Goodluck Jonathan could use the military to subvert people’s will during the elections rescheduled for March 28 and April 11, 2015. The statement referred specifically to the remarks of a former President, as reported in the media where he stated his views on perceived state of the armed forces and the roles being allegedly played by the military in the nation’s political process in recent times. “The leadership and cross section of the military believes that the former President and retired General has every right to be interested in the actions and fate of the military. Hence, his views like many others will continue to be accorded the well-deserved attention. It is however noteworthy that most of his utterances lately indicate an attitude of playing to the gallery or indulging in politicisation of serious national security or military affairs. “For instance, the comments credited to Chief Obasanjo alleging that the postponement of the General Elections was to enable President Jonathan to use the Service Chiefs to plot a tenure extension is to say the least, very surprising. It is surprising indeed, considering the fact that the retired General chose to ignore the clarification and emphatic assurances of non-partisanship of the military as declared in a DHQ statement on the position of the Armed Forces in the ongoing political activities.” The military said that it felt constrained “to remind the old General that the world has moved beyond that parochial and self-adulating reasoning and mindset which he seems stuck to. Indeed, he needs to be told that by virtue of their better training, exposure, education, assessment and environment, the military personnel of today are already far beyond his level in their appreciation of democracy and it’s indispensability for the stable and prosperous society which Nigerians cherish. “In this instance, the military wishes to inform the retired General, that the institution which he bequeathed to the nation has .certainly developed beyond how he left it. The Nigerian military is now better placed to strive for the maintenance of the legacies and ethos of service, valour, subordination to constituted authorities, and nonpartisan commitment to duty and fatherland. It has to be restated that the military as an institution, is neither as inept in the discharge of its duties, nor is it being misused for political ends in the manner the retired General Obasanjo who was also a former President has possibly been made to believe. “Indeed, the system now strongly believes in Democracy as well as its structures and institutions to the extent that it will do nothing whatsoever to undermine or truncate the steady growth and development of the nation’s democracy. The military will remain professional as it keeps doing its best along with others to ensure adequate security and defence of the nation’s territorial integrity in this auspicious period in the country. “The Defence Headquarters will like to encourage Chief Obasanjo to be genuinely interested in the growth and sustenance of Nigeria’s democratic credentials. He is also enjoined to endeavor to improve in his understanding of intricate issues and try to encourage the military rather than continue with this tendency to indulge in imputation of ulterior motives to every effort, all for the purpose of discrediting well thought out policies or decisions related to the military’s roles in the polity. The support of all well-meaning elderly Nigerians remains vital in the onerous duty of working for the stability, defence, and peace of our country under duly constituted authorities in a democratic environment.”
Younger brother of Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state in the person of Isaac Fayose has launched a verbal attack on the governor, describing him as a shame to the family. The grouse of Mr. Isaac Fayose, a businessman, who owns Alibi Lounge in Lekki, Lagos was the failure of the governor to place newspaper advertisement in honour of their late sister, Bimpe Sorinou and a prayer session. Isaac expressed disgust with his elder brother for making what he call a scathing broadcast which he posted on a social media forum while he refused to honour late Bimpe Sorinolu with newspaper advertorials and a prayer session, on the occasion of her second year memorial. “Governor Fayose can rush to the media houses to place front page adverts of death wish for (General Muhammadu) Buhari (the Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), but cannot remember to place a quarter page adverts in remembrance of his sister, Bimpe Sorinolu who died of cancer exactly two years ago today. Shame!”
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), is worried that hate speeches, promoted by social media is constituting a major danger to the process of elections in Nigeria. This is one of the observations made today by the ECOWAS electoral monitoring team, headed by the former President of Ghana, Kufor when the team conferred with President Goodluck Jonathan today at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Briefing newsmen shortly after a meeting with President Jonathan today, one of the delegates, Salamatu Suleiman said that other observations which the team made in the course of the process leading to the postponed general elections have been documented and presented to the President. The same document, she said, would also be presented to the Presidential candidate of the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari before the new dates for elections, which are March 28 and April 11. The chief electoral observer of the European Union (EU), Santiago Fisas, also led his team to also confer with President Jonathan, who he said, assured him that the inauguration of the next president will take place on May 29th. “I think this is very good news because this is constitutional.” Santiago said that the team had also met with all the candidates for the elections, including General Buhari “just to have exchange views about the elections.” Asked if he believed that President Jonathan would keep to his word, the EU electoral monitoring leader said: “Yes. I don’t see why I should doubt that. The President said that publicly and also to us. We asked questions on security and he said to us that in a very short period of time the security situation will improve a lot.”
Croatia’s first female President, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, was sworn in today with a pledge to help kick-start the EU member’s ailing economy. The 46-year-old conservative former foreign minister and NATO official narrowly defeated her left-wing predecessor, Ivo Josipovic in an election run-off in January.
The leading member of the main opposition HDZ party will serve a five-year term.
“I will be a top economic diplomat of our country,” she said in her inaugural speech even as she pledged to do her utmost “to make Croatia a wealthy nation.”
“I want that after almost two years of (EU) membership, we all eventually start to live the life of a European Union member,” Grabar-Kitarovic said.
Hopes that EU membership would boost the economy of the small Adriatic nation of 4.2 million have faded.
The Croatian economy, hit by a six-year recession, remains among the weakest in the 28-nation bloc. Unemployment is almost 20 percent and the government forecasts a meagre 0.5 percent growth this year.
Grabar-Kitarovic gave her speech immediately after the swearing-in ceremony at Saint Marc’s square in the old quarter of Zagreb.
Apart from hundreds of Croatians and top local officials the inauguration was also attended by the presidents of Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovakia and Slovenia. Serbia’s Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic was also present.
The Croatian president has a largely ceremonial role.
Grabar-Kitarovic is the former Yugoslav republic’s fourth president since its independence in 1991. [myad]
Borno Government has declared tomorrow, Monday, February 16, as a work-free-day to enable the people of the state accord the Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari a rousing welcome to the state.
Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Ahmed Jidda who announced this in a statement in Maiduguri today said that the gesture is to enable residents of the state receive Buhari during his campaign rally.
“The Borno Government has declared Monday as a work-free-day. The declaration is to enable the people of the state welcome the APC Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, who will arrive in Maiduguri on a campaign visit on Monday.”
Jidda urged party supporters to come out en mass to welcome the visitor even as Governor Kashim Shettima enjoined all Borno residents “to come out en mass and line up the streets to welcome the Peoples’ General.” [myad]
All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation has sent a sympathy message to the families of eleven women political leaders who were burnt to death in a ghastly accident along the East-West road of Bayelsa state while coming from a political meeting with the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.
The death of the 11 women leaders, including a former member of the State House of Assembly and three Commissioners, occurred near the Old Ahoada Market road along the East-West road of Rivers State.
Those involved in the accident were a former member of the State House of Assembly from Brass Local Government Area and Special Adviser to Governor Seriake Dickson, Mrs. Ruby Benjamin, a former Commissioner for Women Affairs under the administration of Gov. Timipre Sylva, Hon. Gimbra Panowei, the wife of the Secretary to the State Government, Mrs.Elizabeth Allison-Oguru, and a woman leader from Otuoke community in Ogbia local government area, Madam Consider Amadi.
Also killed in the accident was the wife of the owner of a popular Montessori school known as Ayakpo International Schools, Mrs. Inamamu Ayakpor.
A statement signed by the Director of Media and Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, Garba Shehu today advised the families of all those who lost their loved ones in the tragedy to take solace in the comfort of God.
“It is with a painful heart that we commiserate with the People and Government of Bayelsa over the ghastly auto crash involving some supporters of the First Lady.
“We pray that God will grant the bereaved families the fortitude to bear the losses, while urging the People and Government of Bayelsa State to be comforted and strengthened by God even as they grief the loss of dear ones.” [myad]
Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari has assured that his government will run a market based economy; with clear and unambiguous regulatory framework and effective enforcement mechanism with zero tolerance for corruption. To this end, Buhari promised that his APC-led government will insist on cutting off wastages in order to have funds available for capital and development projects that will assure prosperity for all Nigerians. Director of media and publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, Garba Shehu quoted General Buhari as saying, ahead of his town hall meeting at the Nike Lake Resort in Enugu tomorrow, that his envisaged presidency will deepen a viable free market economy in the country. He promised that businesses will enjoy marked differences in the environment for undertaking their activities. General Buhari made it clear that Nigerian citizens in business, foreign investors and young entrepreneurs under the APC presidency will enjoy equal incentives and friendly business and investment climate. “It is envisaged that this will help them to participate and engage in productive economic and entrepreneurial activities geared towards the resuscitation and revamping of the nation’s economy and its capacity to generate millions of direct and indirect job opportunities for our teeming citizens.” The APC flag bearer stressed that his party’s national economic policy will support, and insist on diligent implementation of annual budgets to guarantee accountability and transparency in public resources management. “I recognise and appreciate that the world has changed with market based economy being the norm in an increasingly competitive global village. I know for a fact that no nation can exist in solitude and ignore the global trend; not even Russia and China, let alone Nigeria. “Make no mistake about it, the Buhari/Osinbajo government will run a market based economy; but with clear and unambiguous regulatory framework and effective enforcement mechanism with zero tolerance for corruption.” General Buhari said that in line with the party’s manifesto, an APC government will implement custom and import duties that support the prosperity of both indigenous and foreign investors and industrial development in the interest of job creation and the enhancement of citizens’ purchasing power. “We shall liberalise government’s incentives to the business community and ensure that few business interests do not enjoy undue advantages against majority of our entrepreneurs to the detriment of the national economic prosperity.” According to him, the APC government will be committed to encouraging the flourishing of micro, small and medium enterprises will be vigorously pursued in a manner that will give equal opportunities to all Nigerians with capacity and skills to generate wealth and invariably jobs. On corruption, Buhari promised to draw a line and look forward, adding: “we shall plug all loopholes of wastages of our common wealth and discourage money guzzling ventures, particularly in the oil sector, electric power and pension. The essence is to conserve resources for the massive infrastructural renewal needed to drive our economic and social system and generate massive employment for our jobless masses.” He stressed that an APC-led federal government will operate on the basis of rule of law and allow all cases already in court to continue without let or hindrance. “There will be no witch-hunt of political opponents and their business interests as every citizen will be equal before the law,” he promised. [myad]
Nigeria Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo has given Muslim scholars the task of preaching peace during and after the forthcoming general elections in the country. Speaking at a Town Hall meeting organized for Muslim preachers, Imams and Islamiya school teachers from across the North-western zone of the country, Namadi Sambo stressed the important role Muslim scholars play in shaping the moral values of the Muslim Ummah. The Town Hall meeting was organised by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Islamic Affairs, in collaboration with Coalition of Islamic Organization of Nigeria, and held today at the Umar Yar’ Adua Hall, Murtala Square, Kaduna. He remided the scholars the need for them to continue to imbibe the fear of God in the minds of their followers, and for them to lead in accordance with the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). He asked them to teach their followers the right kind of education and to sensitize them on the importance of peace and peaceful coexistence as well as respect for the law and authority of the State. Vice President Sambo reminded them too that Islam is peace even as he complained about the post election violence of 2011 in some parts of the country. He said that a moral burden has been placed on parents, teachers and Ulamas to ensure that such needless incidences are prevented in the future, adding that violence of any form can never be a means of expressing grievances. The Vice President appealed to the scholars to continue to assist government with prayers and positive counseling and to avoid inciting statements that are capable of breaching the peace. “It should be noted that, by the teachings of our faith, we shall account for our deeds in the hereafter. I therefore admonish you to live by example always and to do good for the development of our dear country and humanity.” In his speech, Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero of Kaduna State called on the people to be fair and just to their leaders. He asked them to always pray for the success of their leaders. He called on the people to desist from spreading rumours that are capable of causing disaffection among the people even as he appealed to the scholars to guard their statements. The governor said that his government would do everything possible to ensure that peace and tranquility prevailed at all times. [myad]
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All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation has welcomed members of the National Assembly back to plenary with a word of caution against taking any action that might affect the foundation of democracy in the country.
When The People Become Enemy Of The State, By Pat Utomi
The evidence of how true this is can be seen from the show of military strength the morning after the announcement of the postponement of the 2015 elections. They went on exercise demonstrations which I witnessed on the streets of Lagos as I am told was the case in many cities around the country. The troops needed in the North East to wipe out BokoHaram in Six weeks, after five years of unsuccessful effort were somehow available to ‘to intimidate bloody civilians’, in the view of some people.
The truth was, I enjoyed watching the street exercise. From childhood one of my favourite spectacles has been watching soldiers in drills. If it was possible for me to join the Army, two magic moments could have been the lure; watching Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, then a younger officer, at the 1970 Independence Day Parade, and the late Gen. Joseph Nanvern Garba as a young Brigade of guards Commander were for me greater than watching a pop star. The purpose may have been to alert any potential protesters, after the postponement, that a mighty force lurks to respond, but for me, it was a nice pleasant throw back to an excitable childhood and early teens when a civil war raged and I saw soldiers both at the war front and in the rear, at Ibadan, after I resumed schooling there. This was as the soldiers were put to Rapid Result Truck Driving lessons at the Ibadan Garrison Organisation which I remembered more for its nice band, than with thoughts of War.
But talk about the street spectacles the day after the postponement of the elections got me thinking about how dutiful citizens unwittingly became so called enemies of the state. Having looked up at guns pointed at me, several times in the course of my life, by agents of the state, it seemed appropriate to reflect on how the state in search of real and imagined enemies, manages to make nation building more challenging.
First time a gun was pointed at me, execution style, was in a time of war. Had the trigger been pulled it would have qualified for war crimes, but no such trial could have taken place. Those who shot many in cold blood got away with it, a year earlier. It was at Asaba in 1968. Thousands of men had been lined up already and executed as they chanted ONE NIGERIA, a few months before. On this occasion, as a bunch of 12 to 15 year olds were being separated from the women and lined up, an officer showed up, and as the drama goes, slapped the NCO who was lining us up and ordered us moved to the refugee camp, from where a friend of my father, who was the Battalion Commander, ensured that I headed to Lagos where my father was and then to school in Ibadan where we actually were rather oblivious of a civil war taking place two hundred miles away.
Next time I looked at a gun threatening me, was as leading executive of a multinational company. I had joined a group of professionals to protest the annulment of the results of the 1993 Presidential elections.
If we excused that experience as an excess of military rule, the third time could not be so excused. That one followed the removal of so called petroleum subsidy in 2012. I thought something was wrong with pretending that petrol cost was all about subsidy. I had on several occasions challenged friends in downstream petroleum marketing that it was peculiar that in a margin-thin business that forced strategic thinking in which industry orthodoxy now recognised that to make money you take advantage of the traffic driven by the need for petrol to sell Groceries, hence Mobil’s Minimart, Total’s Bonjour, etc; that people assume that being a petrol retailer was presumed to be the installation of a money mint. I had a moral burden to make the point that what was called petrol subsidy was significantly a combination of corruption and inefficiency costs. I did not hesitate to answer the call of some young professionals to come out and demonstrate. Then the
civilian government sent in troops armed to the teeth to stop a group of unarmed, as some say, Champagne drinking middle and Upper Middle Class people at ‘Occupy Falomo’ who just wanted their voices heard on how their country was being run, a group that at a point included some high court judges, retired and serving. For the third time in my life uniformed agents of the state pointed a gun at my face and looked quite determined to pull the trigger. The people had become the enemies of the state, in the William Adams context.
My hope and my prayer is let the people not be the enemy again. The cost of the people as the enemy for Nigeria has always been high. And this is beyond financial costs. If the nation building goal and the Common Good are kept in view it must be obvious that all being able to put hands on deck, in a cooperative way, will advance good, more quickly.
Lyndon Baines Johnson, President of the United States in the 1960’s put it in a way only a Texan could: It is better for all to be inside the house, pissing out, than outside the house pissing in. This mantra was picked up by the Malaysians as their Prime Minister back in the late 1980’s, Mahathir Mohammed, chased a vision 2020. The visioning process in Malaysia was about consensus forging to get most into the house so the pissing is majority outbound. The limited skill of Nigerian politicians for pulling towards consensus seems for some reason to be poor. The quarrels became personal, rather than on issues and competing prisms through which reality is filtered.
If leadership is to show sagacity in Nigeria, job no 1 has to be diffusing the time bomb of division. So far the moment has given us the most divided Nigeria has ever been in my opinion, on ethnic, religious, ideological, regional and partisan lines. Conversation does not seem civil anymore. Examples of how Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe would go campaigning for his Party and Chief H O Davies will be doing same on the opposing side and, in the evening, one will drive to the other’s home, and pick them up to go and have a game of Tennis and a drink after. How did we lose that ethic? I still recall stories by Alhaji Maitama Sule about being scolded as a young MP and Minister, for not going across the Aisle to ‘greet’ more like pay homage, to the opposition leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, an older person deserving of his respect as a result.
We owe it to both the promise of Nigeria and the future of our children to stop inventing enemies of the state and to provide a climate for culture of building bridges that grace the path to the Nigerian melting pot. There may be competing models of a modus Vivendi in Nigeria; from those who take federalism so far it is almost a Bhantustanisation of Nigeria, to those who want a restoration of the federalism of the 1960’s on the one hand; to those who prefer a strong centre, on the other hand; no matter the shade bridges matter. It is these bridges that should be the focus, and not making enemies of the many citizens whose main desire is to see a state they can be cheerleaders for.
Thank God INEC had the wisdom to pick Valentine’s Day for the original date of the Presidential election. Perhaps we can reflect on the true meaning of love for to lead is to love and love a people is to be willing to sacrifice self for the good of all. To make the people the enemy is not to love them.
–Pat Utomi, Political Economist and Professor of Entrepreneurship is founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership
[myad]