A Man Without Fear By Sonala Olumhense

A lot of Nigerians were disgusted last week when they were told that Mr. Goodluck Jonathan had left for Brazil. I was not one of them. Did you see his departure photos? To his left as he strode to the presidential jet was his wife, Nigeria’s most powerful woman for five years. That was a strong punch for those who consider Jonathan a “dull” man: out on a business trip, and he took his madam with him. That is not the move of a dullard; that is the move of a master. Right there, as he headed for the safety, the beauty and the beachfronts of Brazil, he ensured that the First Family was safe. Was it the right time to travel? Let us think about just this month alone and you will agree this man needed a holiday. June had barely dawned when that awful Dana jet crash happened, remember? Someone important was needed to cry in public and whom did we call? You got that right: Mr. Jonathan. The Aso Rock Warrior was the one we dragged to the poverty and the grief of Iju-Ishaga. We gave him a handkerchief and he obliged the entire country by weeping into the cameras. Since then, we have set up other scenarios and other cameras, and he has obliged us by weeping for the people of Kaduna, and then the people of Zaria and then the people of Yobe. Last weekend, I hear the church pastor simply passed a microphone to Mr. Jonathan and asked him to speak about the disaster in Kaduna. The president wept! That was just Sunday. And the situation was so bad that Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa declared a 24-hour emergency. Kaduna, now synonymous with insecurity and violence; now infamous for the slaughtering of the innocent as they gather to worship, now a byword for Muslim cowards disguised as militants to murder the unarmed and the peaceful; now a symbol of Nigeria’s descent towards hell. Kaduna, where peace returned for a few ticks of the clock. That lured the embattled governor to relax the emergency by a few hours, only for that to become the opportunity for fierce reprisal attacks and counter-reprisals on a religious basis. The governor slapped the 24-hour emergency back on. And all of that was within a space of two weeks in June. But it was also while that was going on, remember, that one organization announced that it has information that Boko Haram is getting ready to bomb Ibadan and Lagos. It was during the same period that members of the National Youth Service Corps, where there were still such people in parts of the North, were begging for protection, and to be allowed to go home. Knowing what we now know, during that same time the United States must have been informing Mr. Jonathan of its intention to declare Boko Haram a terrorist organization, or at least to brand some of its leaders as terrorists. I have to presume that Mr. Jonathan receives daily security briefings from relevant officials. If so, his briefings since the First of June must have quite strident. Remember, this is the month that Mr. Jonathan promised to vanquish Boko Haram, which would suggest that he knows what he is doing. In other words, while the Jonathans were looking at a map of Brazil, the more important map was really of Nigeria, where ethnic, religious, ethical and political fissures are now alarming. What does a current map of Nigeria show? A country frozen by religious extremism marching westwards and southwards from the North-east; a country frozen by decreasing economic activity occasioned by corruption, lack of electricity, and fear; and a country frozen by poor leadership. I think that is why Mr. Jonathan, who once admitted his administrative naiveté, left the country last week. The man had had enough, as there is nothing on his resume to indicate genuine motivation or commitment. This is why it may suddenly be clear, to most Nigerians, exactly whom President Jonathan listens to. Last week was not a week to listen to anyone who advised staying on the job in Nigeria, wisely sending off to Brazil, the Vice-President: the same advice we once offered to Umaru Yar’Adua in favour of Mr. Jonathan. Regrettably, last week was one in which to listen to praise-singers who tell him how lucky he is; that he can do no wrong and nobody can take the presidency from him; that he can budget the national budget for his own kitchen and fly the skies unafraid when his countrymen are falling out of the skies in rickety and unsupervised aircraft; those who tell him to feel free to fly to any destination of his desire because he can rule from there. Six months ago, Mr. Jonathan faced his first crisis when he abruptly inflated fuel prices claiming he was withdrawing a fuel subsidy. Even he knows that the only thing that was being subsidized was corruption at the highest levels, but he has not done anything about it. As part of his response to the strikes that ensued, Mr. Jonathan said he would reduce the size and cost of government. He has not honoured that pledge; his government is unrepentant and last week he travelled with a contemptuous and bloated delegation of 116. His government also said at that time it was providing 1500 buses to ease the burden of transportation on Nigerians; I know nobody who has seen a single one of them. What this means is that there is a context to Mr. Jonathan’s flight from Nigeria last week: the question of credibility. The actual question being asked last week was not why Mr. Jonathan should travel abroad but whether he is taking Nigeria’s problems seriously. It is significant that as soon as he left our shores, Vice-President Namadi Sambo and the elite security chiefs held a high level meeting, apparently one Mr. Jonathan did not think important enough to hold before his departure. The conundrum is whether Mr. Jonathan does not know what to do, or does not care enough. I think it is both. It is startling that the highest meeting on security in the land would hold in his absence, at a time of the highest challenge to security and the unity of Nigeria, in the month of his greatest challenge. Equally remarkable, during the same trip, he got Owoeye Azazi, the National Security Adviser, fired. He obviously did not want to have to tell Mr. Azazi by himself. He has yet to fire any of his many corrupt Ministers. I think Mr. Jonathan fails to understand that while leadership offers tremendous power, it is no vacation. Leadership is a responsibility that, when deployed with wisdom, character and commitment, ennobles and elevates a people and rewards the leader; but used with manipulation and shallow-mindedness, can catapult the leader to shame and oblivion. General Sani Abacha and Mr. Jonathan’s successor offer easy examples. Now, can Jonathan rule from anywhere, Minister Labaran Maku? Of course. But first, he can do so only if he was ruling in the first place. Mr. Jonathan seems to conceive of himself only as an actor: playing the part of a man who is pretending to be in charge. The final question, then, is whether Mr. Jonathan can lead from anywhere, the most important question Minister Maku did not raise. The answer is that you cannot lead from an aircraft, a teleprompter, a laptop or from another man’s country, if you never led in the first place, or if you are only an actor who plays a leader. Ours is a nation in fear and on the brink. What we need is a hands-on leader who is afraid of neither man nor Time. Mr. Jonathan seems to tremble before them all. • sonala.olumhense@gmail.com Source: Sahara Reporters

NPL: Southern teams playing under pressure -Anyansi

NPL: Southern teams playing under pressure -Anyan Anyansi By: MADUABUCHI KALU Date: Sat, 06/23/2012 - 20:59 Chairman of Enyimba International Football Club of Aba, Chief Felix Anyansi Agwu, has expressed concern over the worsening security situation in the country particularly in the northern part of the country. According to the board member of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), there is the need for security to be improved in the country as insecurity is having adverse effect in every facet of our national life particularly football. He said due to the deplorable security situation in the country particularly in the north, southern teams are now playing their matches under intense pressure as they are always playing their matches in north with apprehension and as a result can't concentrate while performing their legitimate duties on the field. Said he :“Well, I would like to say that Southern teams in the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) are playing under pressure due to the security situation in the country. As I speak with you, there is much pressure on southern teams whenever they are playing matches in the north due to the deplorable security situation in the country.” “It is obvious that southern teams due this security concerns, hardly give their best because of lack of concentration as the players' attention is divided between the work at hand and the issue of security.” Speaking further, the Abia State-born football administrator called on the NPL to ensure that there is improved security in stadiums across the country, so that teams would be rest assured that there is no cause for them to entertain fears while on the field of play. “In view of the security situation in the country I would like to use this opportunity to call on the Nigeria Premier League (NPL), to ensure that security is improved in all stadiums across the country, as it will go a long in ensuring that players give their best for their teams”, he said. Culled from The Sun Newspapers Nigeria.

Akinwale: Naming and renaming

ON May 29, 1999, terminal date of 16 years of military rule inaugurated by the December 31, 1983 coup that brought in Muhammadu Buhari, it was thanks to a generator that I was able to watch the inauguration of Olusegun Obasanjo as President of Nigeria. On May 29, 2003, I watched his inauguration for a second term, thanks to a generator. On May 29, 2007, I watched the inauguration of Umar Yar’Adua, thanks to a generator. On May 29, 2011, I watched the inauguration of Goodluck Jonathan, thanks to a generator. And on May 29, 2012, I watched his nationally televised speech marking Democracy Day, thanks to a generator. Yet in that speech, President Jonathan not only told his audience that Nigeria was getting better, he challenged the commitment of Nigerians to democratic ideals by the timing and modality of his announcement that he was changing the name of the University of Lagos. Recall that during the Abacha era, Walter Carrington, American Ambassador to Nigeria, was outstanding in his support for the pro-democracy movement in Nigeria. When the military left, Bola Tinubu, one of the leading lights of the pro-democracy movement, became Governor of Lagos State. To honour Carrington, he changed the name of the street on which the American Consulate is located from Eleke Crescent to Walter Carrington Crescent. He did not seek the consent of anyone. He acted by executive fiat. We ought to have protested. We did not. Recall that in the city of New York, the name of a street in the neighbourhood where the Nigerian consulate is located was to be changed to Kudirat Abiola Corner. The Mayor of New York City did not just go ahead, he sought the consent of the owners of the city, the people of New York. There, the understanding of the relationship between the city, the citizens, and elected officials of the city is different from what obtains here in Nigeria. In a true democracy, leaders know that they neither own the land nor own its people. They would therefore not act without the consent of the people. Here, Nigerian political office holders act like they own the land and its people. And, since they owned the land and its people they can do anything to both. Who owns the University of Lagos? The answer: the Federal Government of Nigeria. But who owns the government? Answer: if indeed we live in a democracy, the people own the government, and, by extension, own the university. But if the people do not own the government then the government fails to meet the defining criterion of democracy, which is government of the people for the people and by the people. Since our political office holders believe that government owns the land and its people, they can change anything that belongs to the people any time. So, on October 1, 1978, the military junta led by General Obasanjo changed the Nigerian national anthem since independence, “Nigeria, we hail thee”, to “Arise, O compatriots”. Nigerians were not asked if they wanted the anthem changed. Their views did not matter. It was under military rule. And that was two years after the Lagos Airport was renamed Murtala Muhammed International Airport. Some other major roads, monuments and landmarks were either renamed after him or after Col. Ibrahim Taiwo, Military Governor of Kwara State, who was assassinated during the abortive coup in which Muhammed was assassinated. There are more examples. In 1987, when Obafemi Awolowo died, the military junta led by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida changed the name of the University of Ife to Obafemi Awolowo University. Nigerians were not consulted. In 1996, when Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s first indigenous Governor-General and first President died, the Abuja International Airport was named after him. There was no prior consultation of the people. No one protested. It was during military rule. Now, we are supposed to be living in a democratic dispensation. But during the first four years of return to democratic rule, there were governors who named and renamed monuments and landmarks in their states according to their whims and caprices. Names used could either belong to the governor or to his father or mother, or to his spouse. Not too long ago, President Goodluck Jonathan changed the name of the Liberty Stadium in Ibadan, built while Awolowo was premier of the old Western Region, to Obafemi Awolowo Stadium. The stadium has not hosted a football match for years. Its dilapidated state is less than a shadow of what the Awolowo administration built. That stadium hosted the replay of the 1972 Challenge Cup final played between Bendel Insurance and Mighty Jets of Jos. It hosted Group B matches of the soccer event of the 2nd All Africa Games of January 1973. It hosted the Group B matches of the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations. It also hosted some group matches of the 1999 Under-20 World Cup. Rather than renovate the stadium, which would have honoured Awolowo, it was renamed. This time, it happened in a democracy. Yet, there was no consultation, no discussion, and no protest. These examples provide the context for commenting on the change of name of the University of Lagos to Moshood Abiola University. No one would doubt that Abiola laid down his life for democracy to thrive in Nigeria. When we sing in our national anthem, “the labours of our heroes past shall never be in vain”, such words apply to him. He eminently qualifies to be called a hero. And a people that fail to recognise its heroes will never accomplish anything heroic. President Jonathan wisely recognised this fact when he said in his address to Nigerians: “The greatest tribute that we can pay to him, and other departed heroes of Nigeria’s democracy, is to ensure that we continue to sustain and consolidate our democratic institutions and processes...” With these words, there is no great risk of contradiction in asserting that he most probably acted in good faith when he renamed the University of Lagos after Moshood Abiola. Yet, the modality and timing of this renaming show us clearly that on the very day we were supposed to be celebrating democracy, we were acting in a way that is antithetical to the values of democracy. It is even more disturbing that the change of name was announced while the University of Lagos was mourning, in fact, at a time it was getting ready to bury its highly esteemed Vice Chancellor, Prof. Shofoluwe. Democracy is about representation, consultation and accountability in conversation. In concrete terms, the people elect one of their own into office to represent them in government. As their representative, he or she must be in constant consultation with the people so as to feel their political pulse and know what they think on any issue of governance. The political office holder must constantly give an account of his stewardship as people’s representative. All this is done by conversing with the people and not by talking down on the people. And where the people show their discontent because this process is observed in the breach, it takes a wise political office holder to take back his words. Such action does not amount to weakness. To be heading for the wrong direction while you insist that you are not going back is not a sign of wisdom, and whatever is not a sign of wisdom is not a sign of strength even when it is a sign of power. Humility is strength. The greatest tribute that the present class of political office holders can pay to heroes of our democracy is to respect democratic values and the people who voted them into office. That Abiola’s victory at the June 12, 1993 presidential elections was annulled was an act of utmost disrespect for the people of Nigeria. That a foremost university was renamed after Abiola 14 years after his martyrdom without appropriate consultation, and in utter disregard for the Act of Parliament that established the university, insults the people. Such an act pays no tribute to the memory of a man who laid down his life so that a government of the people for the people and by the people might thrive in Nigeria. As published by Anthony Akinwale in The Guardian newspaper Nigeria of the 18 June, 2012. • Father Akinwale teaches Systematic Theology and Thomistic Philosophy at the Dominican Institute, Ibadan.