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2015: Why The Centre Must Hold By Yusuf Ozi-Usman

Yusuf Ozi-Usman
Yusuf Ozi-Usman

Though the political setting in Nigeria, as it is now, does not have the ingredients that made up Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, but the unfolding happenings, even the ones that are visible, seem to be portending the end product of Things Fall Apart.
That is when the centre is showing signs of not been able to hold any longer and is threatened because of vaulting personal or group ambition, being displayed wrongly.
In fact, when the political gladiators are hungrily eying the centre, and ready to trample on the nation’s unity or political stability or both, as it is gradually manifesting on the political horizon, the centre may end up, after all, not holding.
As a matter of fact, the political jig-saw Puzzle playing out in Rivers state is just a madness that is visible to all, but the scheming; the silence scheming in high quarters, for the acquisition of power at the centre, appears to pose more danger to this country than anyone would care to admit.
As a matter of fact, the political brinkmanship show in Rivers state is coming as a kind of rehearsal for the 2015 political and electoral war, and governor Rotimi Amaechi is only just too early to present the card, true or false, or indicate the hidden agenda to his brethren, for which they have become so much uncomfortable.
The political game being played, from behind the scene appears to be more divisive and dangerous for the health of the nation, because for one thing, it pitches the North against, in particular, the South South.
And, Amaechi appears to his brethren as playing a spoiler’s game for the President that is already gathering momentum, with ‘adoption’ mantra.,
The scenario, ironically, is gradually turning Amaechi, the prodigal son of the South South into a hero of sort, and of course, he is now the toast of the 2015.
This position emanated from what has actually becomes a public knowledge; that former President Olusegun Obasanjo has shifted his support for Jonathan and places it at the door step of the governor of Jigawa state and his long time foreign affairs minister when he held sway at the centre, in the person of Sule Lamido.
As a matter of fact, Obasanjo, Jonathan’s yesterday godfather, has always proved to political watchers that he can correctly read the political geography of this country and would never fail to want to be found in the right position at any given time.
The circumstances under which he threw up Jonathan behind the obviously sick Umar Musa Yar’Adua then are still fresh in the minds of those who understood Obasanjo’s calculation in 2009.
In deed, his initial calculation was to plant a South South man, straight away in the presidency, but when the North stood its ground that it would have nothing other than the President, he obliged them, knowing that democracy is all about number. What he eventually did that shut Jonathan into the Presidential seat is another subject for analysis at another time.
Now that the same North is back agitating for the same presidency, the very simple thing he thought he should do, in order not to be left in the lurch, is to go for his favourite in the North.
Rotimi Amaechi seems to be coming in with two possibilities to the Northern political agenda: either he would be peered with Sule Lamido in what may remain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or goes to the All Progressive Congress (APC) on the same platform (as Vice Presidential candidate) in the 2015 Presidential election.
Even more devastating to PDP is the rumour that speaker Aminu Tambuwal of the House of Representatives is being lured into the fold of APC with Presidential card.
And President Jonathan who may have been briefed about all these political schemings against his second term agenda would naturally, as he is surreptitiously doing, fight back and bear his anger on the traitor (s).
The worry is not that the President or his men are kicking too, but the crude way they are going about it.
Question is, when has it become a crime for a man to think of the next move he needs to make to remain relevant in the nation’s scheme of things? Or, better still, when has it become a crime for even two blood brothers to develop their individual political interests on different political platforms? Would the stronger of the two brothers kill the weaker one because the weaker one’s political plan is at variance with his own? And who would vow that it is any longer the democracy; where the space is narrowed to one-way?
It doesn’t speak well of a leader to resort to crude method of remaining in power or allows his men to do so on his behalf when their are options.
One of the options for President Jonathan, if he feels the carpet is about to be removed from under his feet is to also begin to think of a Northerner whom he would plant in PDP to slug it out with whoever APC or the ‘opposition’ in PDP would eventually present for the 2015 Presidential contest.
Clever scheming would always bring out brighter result, if sentiment to cling to power because a leader feels it is his birth right or because his kins men say so is divorced from political schemings.
We don’t need to pull down this house, this Nigeria because our ego is being touched. Unless there is more to it than ordinary watchers like us can see, the principle of democracy, which is predicated on freedom of association and choice (of political platform, etc) must be allowed to prevail. President Jonathan should be courageous enough to sack anyone in his cabinet that is flexing political muscles in his home state, otherwise, it would be taken that such cabinet member has his backing.
This is the only way Nigeria can remain intact after 2015.

Why You Should Be A Journalist? II By Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u

In the 21st century as some experts will argue, you do not have to worry about permanent employment, but permanent employability. Permanent employability is what makes you relevant anywhere, anytime and in any organization.
One profession in which I find this statement to be true is journalism. The most important word in my opinion for both practicing and would-be journalists is skill acquisition.
A combination of factors like the revolution in information and communication technology, the emergence of social media like facebook and twitter, the economic turmoil forcing media organisations to cut their budgets, the pressure on print and broadcast media to refocus their business models in order to attract advertising have made media organisations to be very selective in their recruitment of staff. So what are these skills that you need to acquire in order to increase your chances of securing employment, and make more impact in the practice of journalism?
The first is language acquisition. Whether in the broadcast or the print media, language is the key instrument. Apart from your own native language, combining two international languages at the same standard will make you a hot cake by media employers. Try and combine at least two international languages, either English and Arabic, Arabic and French, French and English, and with the way things are moving, a knowledge of Mandarin because of the economic rise of  China, Spanish because of the rise of some Latin American countries could be an advantage. For those in Africa an understanding of these international languages with Hausa or Swahili, both of which have international broadcasting organisations transmitting in them could be an added advantage. You can see clearly some examples in today’s newsrooms. The likes of Ghida Fakhry of Aljazeera, Ben Wedeman and Arwa Damon of CNN, BBC’s Zeinab Badawi are examples of the advantage speaking multiple international languages can have on the career of a journalist. In fact some of the ones I have mentioned have a modest understanding of the second language.
The pressure to report stories from areas that provide the raw material of news has made media organizations to rethink the informal policy of having only people with native accent of English, French or Arabic as reporters. The likes of Muhammad Adow of Aljazeera English, and Mannir Dan-Ali, formerly reporting for both BBC Hausa and BBC Focus on Africa are clear examples. Their reports are clear, incisive and analytical. Having both writing and broadcasting ability in these languages can make your CV glitter before employers. It is also an opportunity to showcase your talent and inform the people about issues relevant to them.
The next skill in the 21 st century is multimediality. Media organizations are interested in journalists who can adapt to different news platforms.
They want a journalist who is good for radio, but will also fit in television. They want journalists who can write analysis on their websites, and at the same time interact with audiences on Facebook and twitter. During the BBC social media summit in 2011, a statement made by the managing editor of the Washington Post, that: why should he employ a journalists who doesn’t have a Facebook and twitter account, instantly became viral on twitter. Using twitter and Facebook, journalists bring audiences to their media organization which is hitherto unheard of. Journalists like Piers Morgan of CNN have more than 3 million followers on twitter. Of course you and I are not that in that league, but the few hundreds or thousands of followers that you have could be an added advantage; in fact do not be shy of writing the total number of your followers on your CV, especially if the number is significant. That could be the difference between you and your competitor, especially if the media organization has someone in its management or interview panel like the managing editor of the Washington Post.A common mistake that some students make is that they hardly do anything to build their experience in university. They think graduating with upper second class degree, (2:1), or first class are enough to secure them jobs. Yes it is good to have a good result, but never underestimate the value of an average student who perhaps graduated with second class lower (2:2), but has multiple skills and practical experience, those skills that you overlooked could bridge gap between you and him, which might take you ages before you catch up with him. So be warned.

mjyushau@yahoo.com

University Lecturers’ Unending Strike: Shame Of Nation, By Deen Adavize

ASUUFrom the hindsight, there doesn’t seem to be any other nation, not even the so-called backward one, where higher education, in particular, has been toyed with and bastardized than the case of Nigeria, thanks to incessant industrial actions by the university lecturers, under the canopy of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Either by design or by accident, ASUU had worn a toga of war or strike action right from its conception in 1978 with succeeding government knowingly or inadvertently creating a fertile ground for such macabre-dance of ASUU, the strike specialist.
Indeed, over the years, ASUU has consistently resorted to strike action as the only alternative means of pressing for their demand.
ASUU, it would be recalled, succeeded Association of Nigerian University Teachers which was, itself, formed in 1965. ASUU has since then, undergone series of undesirable strike actions with devastating consequences, of stunting the qualitative growth of education.
Going down the memory lane, ASUU has been characterized with rifts, strike actions and demands that have never been met by the federal government.
It is important to understand some protracted strikes which have contributed to rapid decline of quality of our graduates from the Nigerian universities.
For example, in 1988 the union organized a Nation Strike to obtain fair wages and university autonomy. As a result, the military government proscribed the union on August 7, 1988 and seized all its property. The Union was allowed to resume in 1990.
In 1991, the Union declared another strike but was again banned on 23 August 1992. However, an agreement was fairly reached on September 3, 1992 that somewhat met several demands of the Union, including the right of workers to collective bargaining.
In 1994 and 1996, the union organized another strike, protesting against the dismissal of staff by the Sanni Abacha military regime. As a matter of fact, during the military regime, the universities’ academic calendar were greatly disrupted.
In 1999 when the country returned to civilian rule, many students, including the lecturers heaved a sigh of relief, thinking the civilian rule would be better than its military counterpart. Unfortunately, the situation continues in worse form.
The civilian regime too learnt fast the art of refusing to reach consensus with ASUU by permanently resolving the incessant strikes in Nigerian universities.
From 1999 to date, strike actions, of various type and degree of duration have become part and parcel of the academic calendar in the Nigerian universities.
In 2007, the union went on three-month strike and in May 2008, it held two one-week ‘warning strikes’ to press for their demands, including an improved salary scheme and reinstatement of 49 lecturers who were dismissed many years back.
In June 2009, the ASUU again directed its members in federal and state university nationwide to proceed on an indefinite strike over non-implementation of the agreement it earlier reached with the federal government. After three months of strikes, in October 2009, the ASUU and other staff unions signed a memorandum of understanding with the government and called off the industrial action.
As the federal government delayed the implementation of the agreement, ASUU, on September 23, 2011 issued a one week warning strike, and yet the government remained adamant on the agreement which consequently resulted to another declaration of a total, indefinite and comprehensive strike by the Union. The strike lasted for about two months. The strike was aimed at compelling the government to sincerely implement the 2009 Agreement which it freely entered into with it. The strike was however, suspended on 2nd February 2012.
It is so unfortunate that, less than two years after the Union resumed from one of the protracted strike, it called for another indefinite, total and comprehensive strike. What a shame for the Unions and the Nigerian government, and a disgrace for Nigerian educational system!
As the rift between ASUU and federal government remains intractable, there is much need for universities and other academic Unions to find another alternative means of pressing home their demands, so to avoid the devastating consequences of incessant strikes in Nigeria universities.
Such alternative should take cognizance of the quality of education for all Nigerians. Strike actions should not be turned into a deep-rooted endemic culture in our educational system.
As Professor Biko Agozi rightly said in one of his publications:
”The time has come for us to review the permanent revolution strategy of ASUU and see if the mode of protest has outstripped the means of protest and what needs to be done. The preferred means of protest by ASUU is the declaration of indefinite strikes. If we look around the world, it is clear that this means of protest is no longer as popular as it once seemed in the 20th Century.
“Indefinite strikes by university teachers are almost unheard of  in a modern university where the mode of struggle is predominantly intellectual and moral for obvious reasons.
If the universities in Nigeria are nowhere in the ranking of the top 1,000 universities in the world, it may not be simply because of inadequate funding but also because for large chunks of the academic year that university academic staff are on strike for legitimate reasons when they could be contributing scholarly growth that would propel our institutions into the list of some of the best in the world.” [myad]

Why you should be a journalist? By Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u

Muhammad Jameel Yusha'u
Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u

“Mass Comm ai kwas din mata ne” (Mass communications is a course for women), was a common adage we used to hear in our secondary school days. I can vividly remember the story one of my friends told me when I said I was going to study mass communications; he told me the story of a father who said he would rather his son or daughter become a street hawker than to study mass communications. Many parents assumed that for a child to be successful he has to study medicine or engineering or law or pharmacy or accounting or  economics or business administration,and so on and so forth depending on how lucrative the course could be.
Then the same people who castigate certain courses will be glued to their radio to listen to the announcement for the siting of the moon of Ramadan, in the morning the same father will either pick a copy of the Guardian, New Nigerian, Daily Trust, Punch, and in recent years Leadership, Blueprint, The Nation, and People’s Daily to find out what is happening in Nigeria and around the world; in fact if he has some shares he would monitor the pages in these newspapers giving up to date information about the value of shares in different financial institutions, at 9: 00 pm it is almost mandatory that every member of the household should leave the sitting area for the Oga at the top to watch NTA news.
When there is crises in the middle east like the Gulf War, popularly known in northern Nigeria as
yakin tekun fasha, he quickly switches to radio Kaduna to listen to Duniya ina Labari and hear how Abubakar Jidda Usman provides analysis of the war with such oratory and analytical prowess. In fact while Uwargida (the chief or head wife) is preparing breakfast, his attention is divided between the food and the vibration of the voice of Usman Muhammad, Isa Abba Adamu or Saleh Halliru of the BBC Hausa service, or Hadiza Isa Wada, Kabiru Fagge and Halima Djimrou of VOA, or Deutche Welle’s Ado Gwadabe and Umaru Aliyu, most of them retired but no tired broadcasters.
In fact the same castigator discouraging his children from studying mass communication and other journalism courses forgets that the first president of Nigeria, Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, the likes of Alhaji Abdullateef Jakande, Alhaji Magaji Dambatta, Alhaji Abubakar Imam, Ahaji Abubakar Rimi, Chief Segun Osoba and many more were at one point or the other working as journalists.
After joining the university one discovers an amazing trend, the interest by students from English language, sociology, political science, Islamic studies, library science, history, rushing to take courses in mass communications, and not all of these people are women. Then one begins to think that, there must be something in this course that is attracting people, and the answer is not far from us, it is simply marketability. Almost every state in Nigeria has a radio and television station, and perhaps a newspaper. At the federal level you have NTA and FRCN. Lagos is the hub of the newspaper industry with various newspapers and magazines. But this is just part of the story; almost every government parastatal has a public relations unit, the banks and other financial institutions have corporate communication departments, local governments have information officers, even in the military era, the governors, the president, the ministers have press secretaries, and having the word mass communication on your certificate helps in turning your qualification into a meal ticket in a market congested with university graduates searching for jobs. In fact my teacher Malam Jibrin Ali Giginyu, formerly of the Triumph newspapers used to say, journalism is too large to be filled by mass communication graduates only.
But what is the purpose of this long tale. It is simple, irrespective of what you think of journalism, it is a profession that provides job opportunities, and it is when the best, the honest and the brightest refuse to study or practices it, that others join to spoil the show. Beyond the traditional journalism practices of working in print and broadcast media, there are other opportunities locally and internationally. And in this series, I will mention some of those areas that might be of interest to students of mass communication and journalism, and those who would like to venture into this profession; what are the basic things you need to do to secure a job, what are the opportunities out there, but only few people can grab, and how can you improve your skills so as to make it difficult for employers to overlook your CV? Join me for an update

mjyushau@yahoo.com

Sulaiman Muhammed, Stolen By Death By Yusuf Ozi-Usman

SuleimanDeath is a thief at all times. Concluded! But, how would you describe a thief in the night: not armed robbers, but, if you like, the conventional thief, the traditional thief?
As a thief, he keeps vigil on you, calculates your movement and gesticulation, and just as you switch your attention, inadvertently to something else, away from what you were concentrating on before, he strikes.
You look around and find that your possession has been taken away.
Death as an invisible thief and like a thief, does the same thing.
However, death is so daring that it snatches its victim with some form of ruthlessness, whether or not such victim or his guardian is alert, vigil or all that stuff.
Death strikes whether you are surrounded with the most powerful army in the world, or whether such powerful army clutch in their hands, the most lethal weapons in the world.
As a matter of fact, death strikes its victim any where, any time, any how without any excuse or regret. The victim is not given the luxury of choosing where, when and how he would want to die.
If only death has a way of notifying its victim: if only there are signs of its visit at any giving time, perhaps, human being, one of the God’s creation, may have lived their lives differently.
I had the opportunity of discussing with a colleague, tony Ailemen, when we drove home in his car yesterday (Thursday) as death struck Sulaiman Ibn Muhammed ruthlessly, and our conclusion was that many people easily forget the ultimate thing; the beating heart, in their lives.
Because of forgetfulness of the people, about the frailty of this organ that makes the difference between living and dying, such people would swell up and beat their chests with vainglorious pride whenever they feel their egos are being tampered with.
Most of such people would boast about the power they possess: political power,  military power, official power, native power, wealth and so on.
Those are they who would always want people to know that they are special kind of creation, from the point of view of such power.
That is the kind of attitude, I told Ailemen, Sulaiman Ibn Muhammed detested and ran away from up to yesterday when the death came from God knew where, to steal him in an unusual place, at an unusual time and just when he was bubbling with life.
As a matter of fact, Sulaiman, as I knew him, was always imbued with the Islamic tenet which teaches Muslims to live their lives as if they would never die and at the same time, that they should live as if they would die the very next moment.
Sulaiman Muhammed, from the way he conducted his life, appeared to always prepare for his death at any time, just as he continued to plan to live eternally.
And when the ultimate end came yesterday morning, he bowed out gracefully.
He had, on that day, woken up hale and hearty, observed his early morning prayer as usual and as usual, prepared for the day’s work: the work that he had been doing for many years, from when he and I were in Democrat newspaper, Kaduna.
He had climbed the ladder in the world of journalism, from being a street-pounding reporter to being the Managing Editor in Daily Trust, no doubt, one of the leading newspapers in the country.
On that day, he arrived office as early as 8.30am all the way from Keffi, about 55 kilometre distance town in Nasarawa state to his office at Utako in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
For about a decade, he had gotten used to that daily chore of driving all the way from Keffi, crossing the madness called Mararaba-Nyanya road with its near impenetrable vehicular traffic.
His arrival in office in the early part of the day can be seen as unusual from the point of view of the fact that newsmen, especially editors, don’t arrive offices earlier than noon due to the nature of the job.
A few minutes after his arrival, he decided to go to his bank, First Bank Nigeria Plc at Area 3 to make some transactions before the “busy period” of the day in office began.
On getting to the bank, he stepped out of his car, in which he drove himself. But, before he could walk to the gate of the bank, he slumped.
In what looked like a make-belief home movie show, sympathizers gathered around and packed him into a waiting vehicle, heading for a nearby hospital.
Of course, under the circumstance, of confused state of affair, taking him to a hospital was the best option, but it was obvious that it was his corpse that was taken to the hospital. All the same, the medical officers on duty confirmed that which an average human being fears most: he was dead!
Sulaiman Ibn Muhammed dead!
The manner in which he died, and circumstance of his death and the place in which he died should combine to provide us, the living, a mouthful of food for thought.
And for Sulaiman Muhammed, his humility, his simplicity, his devotion to duty and commitment to the service of Allah, his love of humanity, his faith in the Aaa-limurghaib and his transparency in dealing harmoniously with all the creations of Allah would lead him straight to the beautiful garden of Allah, the Aljanatu Fridausi, to suffer no more.
That is the promise of Allah, to someone of Sulaiman Ibn Muhammed’s all-encompassing Godly mien. He, Allah, never fails!

Habba PDP! This Is Open Political Crudity By Yusuf Ozi Usman

The interest I have in what is happening in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), against the background of the controversial election of the chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) is not so much based on how a particular political party conducts its internal affairs than  how such affairs directly affect the entire system of election in an ideal democratic set up.
It is sad that Nigerians are daily being treated to the theatre of absurdity by a party that has gradually symbolizes electoral malfeaces, all in the name democracy.
And in any case, as a public affairs commentator, individual affair that does not have any much impact on Nigeria as a nation, would not worth as much as a whisper from me. What PDP, at the centre of the nation’s affairs and controlling a large chunk of the 36 states, does or does not do is not just a matter of whisper but a loud cry, in view of the implication such action would have on the nation from within and outside.
As a matter of fact, the manner in which the 36 wise and well-educated governors conducted themselves at the election of one of them to lead them, the way the same group of privileged few went about displaying rancour and bitterness and, above all, the way the PDP has come out to take side speak volumes about how the party has been mesmerizing Nigerians and, some gullible international communities on the previous general elections it “won.”
The party has clearly shown that it has all along been a master of the-more-you-look-the-less-you-understand on elections. The party’s sense of maneuovering and intrigues in broad day-light when it comes to election appear not to have any equal.
From all indications and from what is happening, PDP has obviously turned the spirit of election from what we were taught in school to something strange: the party has clearly shown its stuck-in-trade of pre-determining the winner of elections, against the spirit of election that says that one goes into it with the mind to win or loose.
In other words, PDP has shown that a pre-determined candidate would always win an election either by hook or by crook, and, indeed, more by crook, even crudely. And that where the pre-determined-to-win candidate is defeated by a stroke of hard luck, the party would resort to crudity and out-of-the-system manneuovres.
Of course, like I said, it doesn’t really matter who won the NGF chairmanship election between governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers state and governor Jonah Jang of Plateau state, but the way events are turning, it looks as if the power-that-be are insisting that since it is governor Jang they anointed, it is him that must win the election.
Even if it is Jang that won the election, why is the party in a haste to suspend Amaechi, using an old petition as an alibi?
If this is not the height of political crudity, would someone tell me what it is?

Lesson Nigeria Police not learn By Yusuf Ozi-Usman

Yusuf Ozi-Usman
Yusuf Ozi-Usman

The mass killing, in one fell swoop, of over 100 serving police officers at Nasarawa-Eggon in Nasarawa state, North Central of Nigeria, by a group of, in plain language, cultists, painful and dastardly as the incidence looked, was certainly a throw back into a long history of police wrong way of starting a just cause, especially in the Northern part of the country, in wrong way.

The mass killing of police and other security officers had earlier been witnessed in Bama, Borno state via the rampaging Boko Haram.
The thread that runs through the manner which police have been handling those considered to be constituting danger to the peace and tranquility of the society has remained the same: from the era of Maitatsine saga in 1981 through Boko Haram that has remained a thorn in the flesh of the country since 2010 to date to that of Nasarawa-eggon.
In the case of Maitatsine, like in almost all other cases, it was an attempt by the police to dislodge the adherents from their Yan Awaki enclave in Kano that sparked off one of the bloodiest battles which armed forces had to be drafted into so as to quell the insurgency. It was the same manner of trying to dislodge members of Boko Haram, resulting in alleged extra judicial killing of its leader by police in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital that sparked off anger amongst members of the group: the anger that has thrown many parts of the North into daily orgy of killing.
Report of what led to the killing of over 100 police officers in Nasaraw-eggon has similar trend: the police went to dislodge the worshipers of Ombatse Deity in the small, hilly town of Nasarawa-eggon but were resisted by members of the cult who lay ambush for the intruding police men, and perhaps women. The rest is now history.
The questions that have continued to linger have been: what kind of danger these groups (Maitatsine, Boko Haram and even Ombatse ) initially constituted to the peaceful existence of the society that would call for police intervention?
In the case of Maitatsine for example, Malam Marwa Maitatsine, the leader, was just doing his own kind of preaching to adherents of his doctrine but seemed to have attracted and infuriated those who were in power: who had ironically benefited from his supposed knowledge and “power” in the past. When police were later drafted in to arrest Marwa or chase him and his members away, they turned their other side, which was deadly.
For Boko Haram too, it is fresh in our memory that Mohammed Yusuf, as a leader of the group, never really attempted to force the doctrine of hatred to anything western education or, in Hausa language, Boko Haram, on anybody. Agreed that members of Boko Haram, the way their historical emergence was related, suddenly realized that western education was an evil they hated to have acquired (as most members were well educated) and they insisted on the Shari’a form of governance, they never, in reality, caused any confrontation to the constituted authorities.
Even if they did, it wasn’t just enough for the police to hunt them and going ahead to kill their leader without the due process of the law.
It really worries one that, it is only in the North the police are always eager to enforce whatever law that exists, on “undesirable” groups, and even going as far as trying to eliminate the leadership of such groups.
Come to think of it, the South West had and still accommodates, such “undesirable” groups as Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), the Area Boys or the Afenifere, one of which is being led by a stark illiterate in the person of Gani Adam: the South East has Movement for the Actualization of State of Biafra (MASOB), the South South has the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF) and many others in other parts of the country, but police in these zones of the country have never been excited or in a hurry to clamp down on them. Even the Niger Delta militants, represented by various groups, prominent among which are MEND and Asari-Dokubo-led Niger Delta Peoples Frontier Force (NDPFF), who had caused a lot of havoc to the nation’s economy were treated with respect. In fact, the views of some of their leaders on state and national issues, wild and treasonable as they really appear, are tolerated and subtly adhered to.
Of course, it is not uncommon to see some feeble attempts made by security agents to harass the leaders and members of such other “outlawed” groups in the country, but most of such attempts had never gone beyond arrest, detention (of leaders with executive treatment in the detention) and eventual continuation of the atrocity they were accused of responsible for committing in the communities.
From the way things are done in this country, impressions are being given daily that some Nigerians are untouchable because of their noise value while others are easily cowed and maltreated because they are not noisy.
It would not be out of place to say that the Obmatse cultists killed the large number of police drafted to go and pick their leader like a common criminal, out of panic and with fear that their leader might end up being killed the same way Mohammed Yusuf of Boko Haram was eliminated. It is also not too far to suggest that quite a number of “big” people in the society are beneficiaries of the Ombatse cultists and would therefore, not want a situation where the arrest of their leader would lead to their being exposed, which many people suspected was the case with the killed Boko Haram leader.
While the nation sympathizes with the Nigeria Police Force and the Ministry of Police Affairs for this gargantuan loss, time has come for the policing system to be re-directed from being used for settling scores or the divide-and-rule in the same country, to a more purposeful and peaceful one, with the aim of building a truly law abiding citizens of the country.
As the minister of police affairs, Caleb Olubolade said, the challenges before police today are more than before, stressing that what is important now is to restrategise and empower them the more.
I subscribe to that.

Vituperations Of Blood Hounding President Jonathan Man By Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u

The YouTube clip released by Alhaji Asari Dokubo will surely attract rejoinders from both sides of the parties uncomfortable with his vituperations. There is nothing new about that. There is also the likelihood that the issues raised will be confined to the 2015 elections, the Jonathan presidency, the north and south divide, the zoning arrangement within the People’s Democratic Party, and the future of Nigeria as a nation.
But to fully understand the content of his message, there is need to critically look at the message as a process of the production text. Text here does not simply refer to the written word only, it means the expression of a mental process that produces a meaning, such text can be verbal, written or sign language. It is also important to note that in order to understand the text in whatever form, we need to move from simple grammatical analysis, to the social analysis of language, because the text will best be understood, when you look at the social, economic, political and the environmental factors responsible for the production of the text.
This approach to the analysis of language has been developed and promoted by key scholars like Teun A Van Dijk in his numerous works such as Elite Discourse and Racism (1993), Discourse, Racism and Ideology (1996), Society and Discourse: How Social Context Influences Text and Talk (2009). This is in addition to numerous works published in the journals edited by Van Dijk such as Discourse and Society, Discourse and Communication and Discourse Studies. In addition to Van Dijk, the works of Norman Fairclough such as Media Discourse (1997), Analysing Discourse (2003), Language and Power (2001), are important reference materials that will help us to understand the social implication of the text.
Before analysing Dokubo’s statements, it is important to note that ordinarily he does not deserve a response, but the text he presented is a representation of the interest of the forces behind the text, which should not be ignored. Similarly, conflicts start when communication deteriorates, and peace is achieved when communication improves. The power to exercise political control, or resolve conflict is expressed through the text. Language is used to acquire, promote and strengthen political power.
Dokubo stated that “If any more attacks are carried out that affect our people, or we perceive that attacks are going to be carried out, we will carry out preemptive actions, and disproportionate reaction to any attack that is being planned…it is quite unfortunate that the oligarchy in the north, represented by the feudal Fulani’s, who migrated and invaded our land from Futajalo, and continue to show disregard and disrespect for the owners of the country they came into, and people have tolerated them for a very long time, but that will no longer continue…”,
As discussed by some of the leading theorists of the text such as Kinstsch and Van Dijk, when a person reads a text he develops a “comprehension process’ that helps him to understand the meaning of the text, this process can take three forms, either verbatim understanding, or a “semantic representation that describes the meaning of the text” or “a situational representation of the situation to which the text refers”.
The statement by Dokubo if read without understanding the context behind the speech, i.e. the current political climate in Nigeria, it would likely create two forms of understanding; that the people of Dokubo are under attack, which they will retaliate disproportionately, and the people responsible for these attacks are the feudal Fulani’s who invaded their land.
You see Dokubo is not the issue here, I do not even think the primary essence of his message is to Nigerian audiences. It is a strategy to galvanize global public opinion against the people Dokubo considered to be the invaders of their land. What he did basically is to invoke what in discourse analysis is called stereotypes. Although sometimes it sounds like a cliché, but stereotypes are ways of categorising people, by sorting them into different categories of good and bad, kind and evil. It is a strategy employed to demonize a section of the population, so that public opinion will turn against them, should there be an act of aggression against such people, they will receive little or no sympathy. This is how dangerous the use of language can be against a segment of the population. What Roger Fowler calls “socially constructed pigeon-hole”. In this case the stereotypes are the “feudal fulanis,’ “the invaders”, ‘from Futajalo”, “the Fulani marauders”. The same strategy was used to demonize Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez etc. In deed similar approach was used in the Rwandan civil war between Hutu and Tutsi.
Dokubo suggested that “the consequences of my arrest, Nigeria will be history”, “we will match violence by violence, we will match intrigues by intrigues, bullet by bullet, blood by blood, we are ready for them”, “they are parasites, they are burden on us, they have no reason whatsoever to be with us”, “these invaders must be expelled from our land, and we will follow it to the latter”. He concluded the statement with a threat that if he is arrested there will be no oil. That threat to me summarises the purpose of the message, drawing attention of the international community, the West in particular, the largest purchaser of Nigerian oil to once again support the reelection bid of Goodluck Jonathan, as the case was in 2011, with the quick recognition of the election results by the former American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The writers of the message read by Dokubo knew why they selected the language used. But they made one mistake; it was read by the wrong candidate, because when he was reading, it was clear there was a personality clash between Dokubo the militant, and Dokubo the political stooge. See who is talking, for, ne more lesson, when communicating a political message, dressing is an important component. But I was surprised that Dokubo dressed like a “Fulani invader from Futajalo.”

Yushau can be reached through:
mjyushau@yahoo.com

Presidency, Opposition In Theater Of Absurdity By Yusuf Ozi-Usman

Nigeria’s Presidency and the opposition political parties, notably, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) look set for the throwing of tantrums, in the manner of garage-like brawl at regular intervals. They look set to put all forms of dignity, in the process, into the garbage basket.
The Presidency, in particular, appears to have, with time, cut a unique picture of an institution that would brook no criticism or sarcastic comments from anybody, much less the opposition parties and their representatives. It looks ready to return fire for whoever dares it.
As a matter of fact, this attitude began to manifest right from the time Dr. Goodluck Jonathan rose to the position of Presidency, at which time Ima Niboro was his chief spokesman.
In short, the clear picture that has emerged over time, appears to have been ensconced in an African proverb that says: “if a madman tears your clothe in an open market, don’t let him go away without tearing his rag.”
The idea is that by the time you tear his rag, the madman would then know how it feels being naked, with the cold and wind playing deadly game on his body.
It is within this context that the Presidency is obviously operating, taking every criticism in its own stride: not allowing a criticism to pass without hitting back at the critic, at worse and defending itself, at best.
As a matter of fact, for some time now, hardly any week passes without Dr. Reuben Abati, the words-smith and fire-spitting Presidential spokesman being put to task to respond to, in particular, the outburst of the spokesman of the ACN, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who, admittedly, has become a thorn in the flesh of the Presidency.
The Sunday cross-firing of bitter words between the Presidency via Dr. Abati and ACN, via Lai with the spokesman of the opposition Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Rotimi Fashakin in tow, certainly speaks volume about the kind of Presidency and the opposition Nigeria is being saddled with.
Reacting to Lai Mohammed’s obvious vituperation that President Goodluck Jonathan administration is becoming a despot, Dr. Reuben Abati, speaking for the Presidency, likened it to standing the truth on its head and indulging in the politics of abuse.
Abati insisted that ACN and its agents should not be allowed to get away with what he called “their perfidy,” adding that President Jonathan is a democratically elected leader who is running a people-oriented, inclusive and progressive government.
Dr. Abati asked: “does Lai Mohammed know the meaning of the word, despotism, or is he just throwing the word around for onomatopoetic effect?” without providing an answering the question, he thundered: “the paradox is that those who do not allow freedom and equality in their own party or backyard, those who are well known as self-proclaimed Godfathers and closet despots, are the same ones who are now quick to accuse others of despotism.”
The ACN, he said, should start by removing the log in its eyes, insisting that President Jonathan is not a despot but that “ACN is the real abode of budding despots in Nigeria.”
The Presidential spokesman did not fail to react to the ACN’s allegation that there is a disagreement between the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and President Jonathan, saying: “Governor Amaechi has publicly stated that this particular allegation is a piece of fiction created by certain persons and the media. We insist that President Jonathan is not engaged in any quarrel or dispute with Governor Amaechi. “And it is wrong to use the matter of the aircraft that was grounded by the aviation authorities to concoct stories of persecution.
“The institutions involved have offered reasons publicly why they took their decision with regard to the unlicensed aircraft, which in any case is an asset of the state, not the Governor’s personal property. The President has nothing to do with that incident.
“The ACN claims that there is “a growing propensity to stifle the freedom of expression and freedom of the press.”
“The report by the Committee to Protect Journalists which the ACN quotes is not a comment on government-media relations in Nigeria. “This administration sees the media as a strategic partner in the business of nation-building. The government not only enjoys a robust relationship with the media, it continues to encourage the freedom of expression and of the press.
“Lai Mohammed tries to substantiate his dubious claim by seeking to build something on nothing. He tries in vain. The truth is that the Nigerian media is pluralistic, vibrant, independent and free; it has grown in scope, size and in terms of the freedom to practise under this administration.
“All lovers of democracy must join us in reminding the ACN and its spokespersons that they cannot pull down this house with mere spittle because our democracy is strong and solid and the man at the helm of affairs is a democrat and a progressive leader.”
Dr. Abati also on behalf of the Presidency lashed at the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) for daring to accuse President Jonathan of not being proactive on the Baga massacre, saying that it has become part of the CPC and its spokesperson to play to the gallery even when the occasion calls for maturity and sobriety.
“The problem with them is that they consider everything “very unacceptable” and in particular everything relating to President Jonathan. They deserve our sympathy.”

With the way things are going on between the Presidency and the operatives of the opposition parties, Nigeria may be heading to a new era of absurdity in governance: a situation where governance is reduced to blowing of grammar and reasoning above the heads of ordinary Nigerians at slightest provocation.

As a matter of fact, one would not be surprised if one wakes up one day to hear Alhaji Lai alleging that President Jonathan once a woman who delivered a baby boy, and the Presidency rising to react that President Jonathan had always been a man, with attempt to prove such assertion by producing all the pictures he had taken from his young days. Or Alhaji Lai alleging that President Jonathan has only one eye and Dt. Abati rising to occasion to say it is not true.
At such point, it would become difficult for Nigerians to understand what type of leader they have, for as another saying goes: “one may not be able to differentiate the madman from the healthy man if the two engage in a fight in an open market.”

In the hectic business of governance, one wonders where a leader would get all the time to be responding to every bit of comment coming from person or people that are virtually idle.

Dr. Datti Ahmed: Patriotism Is Not Made Of This By Yusuf Ozi-Usman

oziThere is no doubt that Dr. Datti Ahmed is a very important personality in Islam and in the Nigerian socio political setting, donning a patriotic toga. His importance and relevance on these two fronts is firmly rooted.
On the socio political front, it is on record that he contested the position of Presidency in the second republic, making him to be conversant with the leadership burden and of course, the Nigerian situation.

This became so, realizing the fact that he expectedly traversed the length and breadth of this country in the process of seeking for vote.
And on religious front, Dr. Datti is believed to be well-read not only in the Qur’an as is usual with an average Kano person, but also in all the Islamic religious jurisprudence.
The advantage he has by being one of the few Nigerians whom the government and top hierarchy of Boko Haram simultaneously trust to represent them on each side of the divide, stands him out too, on another count.
Dr. Datti was one of the 26 eminent Nigerians who President Goodluck Jonathan named on Wednesday last week on a committee, charged with drawing up the modalities for the granting of amnesty to Boko Haram. Conversely, he was also one of the few Nigerians who top notchers of Boko Haram named last year to negotiate with government on their behalf.
Such privileged position on both sides makes Dr. Datti a kind of special personality among his peers.
But, he seemed uncomfortable to serve on the 26-member Presidential committee and said so by rejecting his membership.
In declining to serve on the committee, Dr. Datti said that the government did not appear to be sincere. His reason was that President Jonathan’s government had earlier reneged on promises by the government, following the recommendations made by the first reconcilliatory committee he chaired to mediate between Boko Haram and the government.
Of course, no one would fault Dr. Datti in being skeptical about the sincerity of the government to implement the outcome of the committee on amnesty, whose membership he had rejected, citing also, the composition of the membership of the committee.
However, Dr. Datti might have deliberately or unknowingly misunderstood a few points in rejecting the offer to serve on the committee which is part of the efforts being made by all well-meaning Nigerians to find a lasting solution to the insurgency that had claimed thousands of innocent lives of Nigerians over the last three years.
He may not be faulted, however, in thinking and even concluding that the government might not implement the outcome of the amnesty committee, taking a cue from an earlier move he made, along with others. His may be a confirmation of an old saying that once beaten twice shy.
But in a matter of national importance: a matter that involves mass losses of innocent lives and properties, one is almost certain that Dr. Datti knows very well that every sacrifice that is available, even the improbable ones, need to be thoroughly explored. We are here talking about humanity generally, not religion.
Besides, as a confirmed Islamic scholar, it is also almost certain that Dr. Datti knows the Islamic religious injunction that forbids Muslims from casting an “assumption” on fellow human being (zeto zunubi) or rushing to conclusion on a matter that has not been started. Assuming that Jonathan government would not implement the recommendations of a committee that has not yet been inaugurated falls within such “assumption” or rushing to conclusion.
Yes, the Jonathan government might have earlier failed to implement some recommendations he made, as adjuncts to ending Boko Haram, but the question is was the circumstance under which such thing happened the same as the one now being presented?
Is it not the same President Jonathan who, last month made it clear in Yobe and Borno states that he would not grant amnesty to Boko Haram that has now set out to grant amnesty?
Dr. Datti knows as much as other well-bred leaders in this country that the only thing that is permanent is change: that leaders, and of course, human beings are conditioned to change all the times. Or, at least, make mistakes.
Using the past action of a person to judge his present or even predict his tomorrow is not fair, especially, in a matter that needs the contributions of individuals and groups.
As a matter of fact, if Dr. Datti had chosen to accept the offer to serve on the committee, he would only have been answering the national call to service to the father land, thereby engraving his name subsequently in gold, even if his best did not produce satisfactory result, through an act of man or by natural evolution of human life.
His rejection of the offer to serve the nation in what, to him, looks an insignificant committee or what seems far from his perception that borders largely on religion, is certainly not the way to patriotism. And as I knew Dr. Datti in the 80’s, he is never known to be in that light. Except, like I said, if he has changed!

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