MINUTES after we rendered the last stanza of the national anthem with impressive passion, the lyrics put us to immediate judgement as the tales of woes that were painted had deep strokes that held their hues. Silence descended on the hall, making the voices on the devastations of oil and gas exploration – maybe, exploitation is better – in the Niger Delta, more eerie.

We had just sung:

O God of all creation,

Grant this our one request,

Help us to build a nation

Where no man is oppressed,

And so with peace and plenty

Nigeria may be blessed.

Each of those lines put us on trial as speaker after speaker discussed the report that John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu, 75, a retired Anglican bishop, and life peer, who was Archbishop of York and Primate of England from 2005 to 2020, delivered its summary in a quivering voice that appeared propelled by anger at what human beings can reduce other human beings to profit from oil and gas.

The words tumbled off his tongue in a rapidity that set his Swahili accent in a perpetual battle for superiority with the English language much like the same perpetual disdain the oil companies and Nigerian governments have for any ameliorations of the living conditions of the peoples of the oil-producing areas.

At the international conference on environment, the report of the Bayelsa Oil and Environmental Commission presented in Abuja on Wednesday, showed the dark sides of oil and gas production glittering from a documentary in which darkness was so pitched that no lighting could brighten it a bit.

Waters, farm lands, residences, animals, people are mere soots dressed in layers of the darkness of mis-managed oil spillages. More oil wells, more explorations, more millions of barrels per day mean more meaningless life for inhabitants of the areas, the least of whose woes is that they could be kicked out of their lands once substantial crude is found under their feet.

Oil pollution in Bayelsa, Nigeria Delta

The report, _An Environmental Genocide, The human and environmental cost of Big Oil in Bayelsa, Nigeria_, is scientific, used verifiable data, and drew from hundreds of interviews, visits to sites of pollutions, and engagements with affected communities, many of which had lost every hope of their cries being heard. All stakeholders were represented.

Communities had for over six decades been devastated, cultures lost, and future generations are guaranteed diseased existence from their polluted environments. The curse of oil has cost them the present. Those who make it to the future would arrive their destination loaded with toxins that could lower the quality of their lives to the point that they could be a different specie of the human race.

While other children would inherit healthy genes from their forebears, children born in Bayelsa would be of indeterminate genes because of illnesses that their parents have, foods and water that are polluted beyond considerable safe levels and the worsening settings of where they would be born.

Some diseases found in the Niger Delta are new, local to the areas, unknown or where they are known, the improvised peoples of the areas cannot afford the medications and treatments they need.

Central to these pollutions is oil spillage that the oil companies blame on sabotage, their way of blaming youths of the region for the spills. The report’s findings do not support this position.

“Analyses suggest that Nigeria’s pipelines are 565 times more likely to spring a leak per 1,000 kilometres than those in the EU,” says the report. About 21,000 kilometres of these pipelines ring the Niger Delta, taking products from over 5,000 oil wells to export terminals and refineries.

Oil pollution in Bayelsa, Nigeria 

Efforts to harness the travials of Bayelsa and the surrounding States into a scientific report that could be used in solving the problems that oil exploration has imposed on the peoples and environment of the Niger Delta, especially Bayelsa, were activated in 2019 by Governor Seriake Dickson who instituted the Sentamu Commisdion and received its interim report in 2020 before he left office. “I know that by 2021/2022 they submitted their final report which was presented in London in the House of Lords. I was delighted that they came to make a presentation of the final copy to the State, which has formally adopted it at the State Executive Council,” Dickson, now a Senator, and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, said at the event which he also chaired.

The completion of the report is a milestone, a lot of work still has to be done, Dickson said. “I call on all the Governors of oil-producing States, and the people of the Niger Delta generally, to rally round and use this report as a basis for our quest for a safer environment. All of us must rise up for Bayelsa and the Niger Delta and fight against environmental terrorism, which the Commission has clearly found to be a genocide,” Dickson said.

The report is unrelenting in its case against the oil companies and the slackness of the regulatory agencies. “A study conducted on pipelines in six States in the Niger Delta found that more than 70% of the pipelines were over 20 years old and over 40% were more than 30 years old with much of the infrastructure suffering from mechanical failures due to poor construction and maintenance,” according to the report.

More frightening pictures emerge as we peep through the darkness of oil production, the Nigerian version.

King Bubaraye Dakolo, Chairman, Bayelsa Traditional Rulers Council, was illustrative with his sketching of the destructions that oil exploration cause. “You can call me the living dead,” he said, using data from the report on the levels of toxins found in tests conducted on the inhabitants of the areas. They were horrifying data.

“Overwhelming tide of oil contamination and associated activities such as dredging, mangrove and swamp forest clearance, and artisanal refining has turned the Niger Delta – home to some of the planet’s largest mangrove and freshwater swamps, forests, and Africa’s largest wetlands – into one of the most polluted places on Earth. Bayelsa is one of the States most affected within the Niger Delta,”the report lamented.

“Since 2006, oil produced in Bayelsa generated over US $150 billion for the Federal Government and billions for the international oil companies that operate its wells,” said the report.

There is no evidence yet that a cent is kept anywhere for the $12 billion that the report said would be required to clear the pollution.

Governments are occupied with squeezing more oil and gas out of the areas than fix the damage to people and places. Nobody is being held responsible for the future of the people.

“Oil producers are already beginning to divest themselves of their onshore assets to evade potential liability for historic pollution. There is an urgent need for action now,” the report warns.

Dreary as the devastations of oil are, the most commanding news item was Honourable Alex Ikwechegh, of the House of Representatives, slapping his way to prominence by brutalising a taxi driver whose major or general offence was failure to realise that he was before Ikwechegh, who was so majestic that he wondered if people knew who he was, and that he was magical with his abilities to cause people to disappear.

Ikwechegh too is a subscriber to a “nation where no man is oppressed”.

Then Nyesom Wike talks down on residents of the Federal Capital Territory, calls them names, and nobody calls Wike to order. He takes his imperious bearings to Rivers State, sustaining different manners of lawlessness there. He too swore to the Constitution and attends events where the national anthem reminds him of our aspirations to “a nation where no man is oppressed”.

Fuel increases, continued brutality by security agencies, and the dedicated manhunt for Bobrisky all slap us, oppress us, and enlist us among the living dead.

As our governments, National Assembly, and all those who can do something about the Niger Delta, which they live off, turn blind eyes to the plight of the region, we should understand more, why they do nothing about the rest of us.

Can’t we just agree that we are building a nation where oppression is a national value?

 

Finally…

THOSE street beggars, some of them minors, accused of terrorism, and planning to change President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government illegally, should be released and compensated. There must be limits to ridiculousness.

 

ISIGUZO is a major commentator on minor issues

 

 

With a few days to the November 5, 2024  U.S. presidential election, the tempo of the campaign  has reached fever pitch, with the two candidates, Vice-President Kamala Harris ( Democrat )  and former president, Donald Trump  (Republican) in a dead run to the finish line. The final national New York Times/Siena  poll, published on 25 October 2024, had the two candidates deadlocked at 48% to 48%  for the popular vote.  Aggregate of national polls also project the election as neck-to-neck , with the two candidates tied at 48%, making it a cliff-hanger. 

Both candidates have carried the electoral battle to the battleground states which oscillate in their voting pattern  between the two parties, states whose votes can swing the election either way.  About 10 states are considered swing states ,  with seven of them – Michigan  15, Wisconsin 10, Pennsylvania 19, Georgia 16, North Carolina 16, Nevada 6, and Arizona 11, with a total of 91 electoral college votes – being of focal attention  in this race.  In 2008, former President Barrack  Obama won in eight of the states, Trump  took Michigan, Wisconsin  and Pennsylvania  in 2016 to clinch the presidency while in the 2020  election, Biden not only took back the three states  but also wrestled Arizona and Georgia  from Trump,  on his way to The White House.  

Two major issues have dominated the 2024 presidential election campaign , the economy and immigration with issues of abortion, Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender (LGBT)  and foreign policy taking second place.  The economy , under the Biden/Harris administration had experienced high inflation rate  and consequent higher cost of living felt by all. Trump highlights the improved economy under his administration before the advent of COVID-19, the global pandemic  that ravaged the world economy. Trump plans to use tariff on imports to raise revenue and as well protect local industries. Harris is for taxing the rich to generate revenue but laissez  faire on  unbridled imports, in spite of its  consequent drag on the U.S. economy, a manifestation of Democrats  Father Christmas disposition to making America a liberal market for imports.

On immigration,  while Trump  is not opposed to legal migration, he pledges  to stop the tidal wave of illegal immigrants from south America on its southern border and  to deport illegal immigrants. According to him,  illegal immigrants are polluting American way of life and taking the jobs of Americans.  Some dub this a racist agenda but it resonates well with Trump constituency.  Democrats are liberal on immigration and not committed  to forceful  removal of illegal immigrants, a stand that earns Democrats 65 % of Latino votes in southern U.S. States .

The issues of abortion  and LGBT  are not just election  issues but are matters which have deeply polarized America  to the extent that die hard conservatives have fire-bombed abortion clinics and launched murderous attacks on gay and lesbian  gatherings. Trump is opposed to LGBT and  an indiscriminate,  free for all abortion. Democrats, and particularly Kamala Harris, celebrate  LGBTs with Harris  insisting they  should be allowed to flaunt their sexual preferences !! She is a disciple of  Barrack Obama,  the evangelist for Gays and Lesbians,  who had threatened African countries which  enacted anti-Gay laws with sanctions !!! The audacity of it all.  The Democratic candidate’s vocal stand on LGBT has its cost in votes. 

Foreign  policy may be a muted election issue but it had in recent times crept into  American public consciousness  with Israel’s genocidal war against Hamas in Gaza for the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 incursion into Israel which left about 1200 Israelis dead and over 200 abducted and being held hostage. However, Israeli military killing over 40,000 Palestinians in its one year battle with Hamas,  has prompted unprecedented outrage  and demonstrations across  America, especially on university campuses,  against Israel and the Biden/Harris administration for its refusal to pressure Israel to agree to a ceasefire.  Vice President Harris risks loss of votes in this regard , particularly  in  the  crucial  swing state of Michigan with an estimated 200,000  Arab-American population.  On Europe, while Trump regards the Russia-Ukraine war as avoidable and pledged to bring it to resolution if elected, the Biden/Harris government  is inclined to perpetuating the war, recently pledging additional $20 billion military package to embattled President Volodymyr  Zelensky of Ukraine.  This runs counter to emergent American mood against avoidable war and its cost to American tax payers. The anti-war voters will be a loss to  Harris. These seemingly little losses of votes for Kamala can become significant  in tight election contests where razor-thin victory vote margins can win bountiful electoral votes. For instance, in the 2008 presidential election between senator John McCain ( Republican ) and senator Barrack Obama ( Democrat ) McCain  narrowly won Arizona state  with just 3, 903 votes out 2,887,725 votes cast  in that election !

TRUMP AND UPSURGE IN VOTER TURNOUT.  Trump’s  foray into  presidential election contest in 2016 as an unconventional outsider, as against the deodorized correctness of professional politicians,  literally took the political Establishment by storm,  and electrifying  the electorate. In the 2016 presidential election between Trump and former U.S. Secretary of State , Hillary Clinton, voter turnout was 136,787,187 ( 59.2%)  as against  129,139,997 ( 58.0%)  in 2012 , an increase  of  7.6 million voters.  By the 2020  election that pitted President Trump against  former Vice President Joe Biden,  the stakes got higher and so was the surge in  voter turnout, with 158,429,631 voters ( 66.8%) casting their ballot , an increase of a record   21.6 million voters over the 2016 turnout !  The turnout promises to be higher again in 2024. 

THE BIG BUCKS FACTOR .  Top billionaires, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Elon Musk have waded into the presidential contest. Gates and Buffett were one time  the richest men in the world  while Musk is the current richest man in the world.  Bill Gates donated $50 million to a  pro- Harris non profit organisation while Buffett who had endorsed Presidents Barrack Obama and Joe Biden has decided this time  around not to endorse any candidate, which, by inference, meant non support for Kamala Harris. On his part, Musk has not  only donated $75  million in support of a  Political Action Committee (PAC)  engaged in getting out the vote for Trump, particularly in the swing states, he has been actively engaged in political election campaigns with the Republican candidate. 

HARRIS LOSES MAJOR MEDIA ENDORSEMENTS.   Contrary to what has become a contentious media practice of endorsing presidential candidates, owners of major newspapers have stopped planned endorsements of Harris in this election cycle.  These newspapers include The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, America’s largest newspaper chain, The Chicago Tribune  and Minnesota  Star Tribune.  Gannett, owners of USA Today, in announcing the stepping down of Harris  endorsement stated  : “ our public service is to provide readers  with facts that matter and the trusted information they need to make informed decisions”. For decades, American media had brazenly violated  media code of ethics  which demands fairness,  accuracy and non partisanship in media content. 

PROGNOSIS .  Kamala Harris brought sunshine charm, infectious laughter and irrepressible energy into the 2024 American presidential election campaigns, that almost rattled Trump., and  which gave her an  initial momentum. However, this momentum  has since waned.  That  former President Obama had to complain that Black American men are not enthusiastic enough about Harris’s presidential bid  is indicative that she may not get the  huge Black American block vote of 87%  given to  Democratic presidential candidate Biden in the 2020 election. Her ardent advocacy for gays and lesbians will be another significant vote loss. During the campaign, Harris could not defend the administration’s performance record on the economy, but would rather launch into what she would do, if elected.  So, her biggest albatross is a national economy that is in the doldrums and which remains a big concern for the electorate who will be inclined to vote for a change in government for a new economic direction.  The omens are, therefore, dicey for Kamala Harris. 

As for Trump, he faces a formidable battle in the gang up of  America’s Political Establishment  - Democrats and Republicans – against his re-election. Former Republican Vice President, Dick Cheney, and his daughter, former Congress woman, Liz Cheney, lead the anti-Trump posse. Trump’s abrasive, and perceived crude manner will alienate votes. Ultimately, though, the parlous state of an inflation-wracked economy under the Biden/Harris administration and a sustained, aggressive grassroots get-out-the-vote mobilization have the prospect of tilting the presidential election outcome in Trump’s favour. This makes Trump the man to beat. 

 

Dr. Bisi Olawunmi, a Senior Lecturer, Department of Mass Communication, Adeleke University, Ede, is former Washington Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) and Fellow, Nigerian Guild of Editors ( FNGE ) Email : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Phone : 0803364 7571.             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professor Godini Gabriel Darah (GG Darah or simply “Comrade”, as we fondly called him) was one of our fire-spitting Marxist lecturers and staff advisers at the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife aka “Great Ife”. Respect, sir! But how “great” is “Great Ife” today when it does not even rank among the top 10 universities in the country? It seemeth the university authorities have been sleeping and snoring, living in past glory! OAU has repeatedly failed, year-in, year-out, to measure up among the country’s first-tier universities. What’s the matter is, however, a topic for another day!

Comrade Darah’s “Tinubu’s regionalism gamble” is my concern here today. In it, the professor of Oral Literature and Folklore who hails from Delta State displayed the crab mentality that is as intriguing as it is unfortunate. If you put a hundred snails in a container, you will need a strong lid over the container with another heavy metal or stone on top to still find the snails in place the next day. But put a hundred crabs in the same container and leave the top open (with no cover whatsoever), you will find all the crabs intact the next day without any fuss! As one tries to make an escape, the others pull it back! Crabs are a typical demonstration of the “Pull Him Down” syndrome!   

Maybe I should first let you read Professor Darah; when we return, we shall make a few comments. Darah wrote: "Pandef, Pandef, beware of false prophets masquerading in electronic garments. There is sour mutilation of historical facts in the narrative on 'How Tinubu Is Reversing The Damage Ironsi Did To Nigeria' attributed to Reno Omokri.

"During British colonial rule, Regions were created in 1939 and their elected governments were in office from 1951. The Regions were three in number: Eastern, Northern, and Western. There was gross inequality and injustice in the regional system. For example, the territory of the Northern Region was larger than the combined territory of the Eastern and Western Regions.

"This lopsidedness triggered agitations for more political restructuring. Furthermore, hundreds of minority groups were lumped with more populous and hegemonic ethnic groups. The situation in the Northern Region was more bizarre as about 300 ethnic groups were put under the political yoke of the Fulani-controlled Islamic Sokoto Caliphate.

"From the 1940s agitations for more regions or states rattled the colonial regime. The agitation of the oppressed minority groups for autonomy dovetailed into armed uprisings in the Benue-Plateau areas, leading to federal armed campaigns to quell them. At the 1957-58 constitutional conferences in Lagos and London, the demand for the creation of states caused stalemates.

"The British responded by setting up Henry Willink’s commission on the fears of minorities and how to allay them. The commission toured all of Nigeria and received bundles of memoranda from freedom-seeking minorities. The commission’s report did not support creation of new administrative units with the excuse that doing so could derail the march to Nigeria’s independence scheduled for 1960.

"But the agitations continued unabated after independence, culminating in the creation, by plebiscite, of the Midwest in 1963. The emergence of the fourth Region fired more insurgent demands. The military governments from 1966 inherited this unresolved problem. Gen Aguiyi Ironsi’s quibbling approach fuelled more intense agitation. Gen Yakubu Gowon, from the ‘ulltra-minority’ Ngas ethnicity in Plateau province, could not ignore the matter. Thus, on May 27, 1967, he created 12 states, six each in the northern and southern halves of the country...

"Therefore, from 1967, the idiom of federalism shifted from regions to states. There are now 36 states. The 2014 National Confab recommended 18 more in furtherance of a more balanced federal system for the 389 ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. Perhaps, with the exception of the Igbo and Yoruba separatist extremists, the option of returning to regionalism is not on the agenda of the other 387 ethnic nationalities.

"Therefore, President Tinubu is swimming against a raging historical flood with his “panel-beater” method of “smuggling” the issue of regional governance into the national political discourse. His efforts are likely to end up in fiasco because the existing States will not meekly accept the option of “impeachment” and unconstitutional replacement which President Tinubu’s regional gamble portents”. That's GG Sarah's clarion call or battle cry addressed to PANDEF (Pan Niger Delta Forum), which is like the AFENIFERE, OHANEZE, NORTHERN ELDERS FORUM, etc.

It is true there is no standard objectivity since “objectivity” is moderated by the individual’s subjectivity. This was writ large in Professor Darah’s “Tinubu’s regionalism gamble”. The summary is that he does not want a return to regionalism. He is okay with the present 36-State structure that gives the advantage to the North - 19 in the North and 17 in the South. If more States are created “in furtherance of a more balanced federal system for the 389 ethnic nationalities in Nigeria”, Prof. may not object, the clamour that we scale down the cost of governance notwithstanding! 

Funke Egbemode once aptly referred to the States as “begging bowls” that throng Abuja monthly for allocations from the Federation Account. Many of the States as presently constituted are not financially viable. The weight of the cost of governance is killing. Part of the argument - “insurgent demands” to Darah! - for regionalism is not fuelled by those Prof. called “separatist extremists” but by people who feel the country as a whole - all the four Regions - made better progress under the regional system of government in the First Republic and that a return to regionalism would reduce the cost of governance, cut wastages and accelerate the pace of development all over the country.     

There is, therefore, no “sour mutilation of historical facts” in the statement that the four Regions made landmark progress under the regional arrangement of the First Republic. That arrangement was also more “federal” than the present military-imposed 36-State structure that makes a mockery of federalism. Whereas Prof. used regions and states interchangeably, there were no states in Nigeria before the military take-over of 1966; all we knew were regions. And regions and states are not the same thing in the Nigerian context at least.

Now, Prof. was right when he said, “During British colonial rule, Regions were created in 1939 and their elected governments were in office from 1951. The Regions were three in number: Eastern, Northern, and Western. There was gross inequality and injustice in the regional system. For example, the territory of the Northern Region was larger than the combined territory of the Eastern and Western Regions. This lopsidedness triggered agitations for more political restructuring. Furthermore, hundreds of minority groups were lumped with more populous and hegemonic ethnic groups. The situation in the Northern Region was more bizarre as about 300 ethnic groups were put under the political yoke of the Fulani-controlled Islamic Sokoto Caliphate. From the 1940s agitations for more regions or states rattled the colonial regime. The agitation of the oppressed minority groups for autonomy dovetailed into armed uprisings in the Benue-Plateau areas, leading to federal armed campaigns to quell them”.

The “gross inequality and injustice” Darah spoke about were not in regionalism as a system but in the way it was skewed to favour some at the detriment of others. And when the “agitations” this engendered were to be addressed by the coalition government of Nnamdi Azikiwe and Tafawa Balewa in 1963, a new region was neither created out of the Northern Region where there had been armed uprisings nor from the Eastern Region where the Ijaws were becoming restive (witness Isaac Adaka Boro's short-lived revolution that followed); but it was from the relatively more peaceful Western Region that the Mid-west, where Darah hails from, was excised simply to weaken the West and prepare it for take-over by opposition forces, which eventually led to political upheavals in that region and the collapse of the First Republic.

Prof. simply said the Midwest Region was created “by plebiscite” in 1963; why was there no such plebiscite in the two other regions - the North and East - “in furtherance of a more balanced federal system for the 389 ethnic nationalities in Nigeria”? Darah conveniently side-stepped the fact that the creation of the Mid-west Region was, more than anything else, a North/East conspiracy to weaken the Southwest and marginalize the Yoruba in the politics of the First Republic.  

The creation of 12 states on May 27, 1967 by the then military Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, was portrayed by Prof. as a further attempt to address the agitations for a more balanced federal system; also conveniently ignoring the fact that it was a deft military strategy to cut the ground from under the feet of “rebel leader” Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and his secessionist agenda, which declaration came three days later on May 30, 1967.

So enamoured is Prof. with state creation that he gloated that “therefore, from 1967, the idiom of federalism shifted from regions to states…” It is not the “idioms of federalism” that shifted, it is federalism itself that gave way to military control and command structure where orders are rammed down the throat of everyone from an omnibus, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent Centre. What we operate at the moment is not federalism. Examples of federal states are there all over the world for us to compare and contrast with the caricature and contraption that we have here.

Darah said only the Igbo and Yoruba “separatist extremists” still savour the option of returning the country to regionalism while the other 387 nationalities are content with their “begging bowl” status as States. He needs to tell us where and when he conducted his survey or opinion poll! No matter how much we may camouflage or pretend, the words that we wield have a way of creating an expressway into our inner recesses. So the Igbo and Yoruba agitators are not “nationalists” or “freedom fighters”! They are not even ordinary “separatists” but “separatist extremists”! Call them “separatist terrorists” if that suits you better!

I am sure Darah himself qualified as an “extremist” in his days at Ife, if I remember correctly! Times and tides have changed, though! Comrade’s language today is that of the Establishment. However, there is nothing wrong in being an extremist or separatist. History is replete with extremists who have changed the course of history. Darah taught his students some of those extremists at Ife. Chairman Mao, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Karl Marx, Engels, Lenin, Cabral and a host of others. For decades, Nelson Mandela and his comrades were branded as extremists and terrorists. So also were Samora Machel, Robert Mugabe and a host of others. To be decorated with the badge of extremism like these our illustrious forebears is, therefore, an honour and not a reproach.

The crab mentality demonstrated by Darah is prevalent among the country’s ethnic minorities. Nigeria appears as their only sure bet. Can they stand or weather it alone? Do they have all it takes? What replaces for them the nebulous prestige of coming from the “Giant of Africa”? So, any ethnic group that exudes the confidence to run solo must be shot down. Whereas that is understandable, it is not a solution. Self-determination is a right recognised by the UN charter. Some have gone ahead. Others will surely follow. No crab will hold the Igbo and Yoruba down forever! 

 

Given the failure of governance so far in the Nigerian State, public analysts are wont to be seen as anti - government. In the circumstance, it's important that once - in - a - while little steps of sanity in the system are acknowledged and encouraged. We therefore applaud the  House of Representatives for it's rejection, last week, of an attempt to dismantle the religious neutrality of Nigeria's Constitution.

On Thursday, October 24, the media reported that a member of the House of Representatives, Hon Aliyu Misau from Bauchi State introduced a constitutional amendment bill in the House seeking to elevate Islamic law in the Constitution. The bill sought to alter Sections 24, 262, 277 and 288 of the 1999 Constitution by deleting the qualification "personal" to all references to Islamic law. Explaining the need for broader recognition of Islamic legal system, Misau argued that the "Constitution did not envisage the dynamism and development that may come into the country" citing the advent of Jaiz Bank as Islamic financial institution, in 2003. He therefore called for accommodation of Islamic commercial law and Islamic international law. He was supported by Abdul Hakeem Ado (Kano State), Saidu Abdullahi (Niger State), and Ahmed Satomi (Borno State).

Leading the front against the bill were Hon Solomon Bob (Rivers State) Bamidele Salam (Osun State), Jonathan Gaza (Nasarawa State), Ademorin Kuye (Lagos State) and Awaji - Inombek Abiante (Rivers State). Hon Bamidele Salam's caution on the secular status of the Nigerian State captured the thrust of opposition to the bill. Mercifully, the vexatious bill was thrown out after the first reading in a voice vote verdict.

The lawmakers who defended the multi religious character of the Nigerian State deserve commendation. They are to be applauded for standing up for the equality of religious faiths before the law. Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution states that the "government of the Federation or of a State shall not adopt any religion as State religion. By the letters and spirit of Section 10 of the Constitution, internal religious policies should not intrude in the common sphere of government and administration. No religion should be accorded such recognition as to dominate the public estate. And no religion should be favoured or elevated by singling it out for special treatment. 

In 2008, the Anglican Diocese of Awka filed application with the National Universities Commission for registration of Saint Paul University, Awka. The NUC approved the name of the institution as Paul University, pointing out that it's guidelines prohibits the use of religious markers in Nigeria's university system. To date, many Church - sponsored universities suffer the identity loss brought about by this policy of anonymity. And yet, Christianity is a way of life for about half of Nigeria's population. If Christian identity cannot be established in the name of universities and religious profession is also  deliberately omitted in Nigeria's census forms, on what superior grounds can extension of the Islamic legal system in the Constitution be founded?

I am impressed by the alertness of Hon Bob Solomon and his group. They must have seen through the veil with which the proposed amendment bill was draped. It's difficult to believe that in the emergency situation Nigeria's economic woes have forced on majority of the population, any serious - minded legislator will consider advocacy for personal religious interests on floor of the National Assembly, time well spent. How could anyone, of all the suffocating hardships Nigerians are contending with, be concerned with merely removing the word "personal" from constitutional references to Islamic law? Ordinarily, no one would, except where there's a deeper mix. And in the instant matter, there is.

Hon Aliyu Misau knows that some of us know where his eyes are set. The lawmakers who objected to his bill know the end game of Misau's harmless - looking bill, even if for political correctness, they chose not to specifically pronounce on it. Perhaps, more importantly, the proponents of the bill consider that they cannot accomplish their mission in one fell swoop. It's a long - term project. Because of the difficulties involved, the route of achieving one item at a time is also being explored. The agenda of Sharia has been on for a long time. And efforts at it will obviously continue. It takes no prescience to predict that this rejected bill will be represented in the National Assembly in the foreseeable future with slight modifications.

I doubt if there are any other issues that have generated as much divisiveness in the Nigerian polity as the quest for introduction of Sharia. This singular subject produced stalemates at the 1978, 1989 and 1994 constitutional conferences. At each juncture, it took the dictatorial power of military rule to force it's constitutional tolerance. But for the imposition of the military, Sharia would not have a mention at all in our Constitution.  Sadly, since the collapse of the First Republic, we have not had a people's Constitution, with wide input by civil society; subsequently ratified in a referendum.

In 1986, Nigerians were jolted with news of the country's sudden membership of Organisation of Islamic Countries, as the body was then called. Notwithstanding that Nigeria was under military rule at the time, the development  provoked outrage among non - Muslim population. The sense of betrayal generated by the secret admission heightened religious consciousness to the extent that top government positions were subsequently subjected to data analysis of their occupants' religion. Asked about the decision to join OIC at a public event at the time, then Chief of General Staff, Ebitu Ukiwe, had turned to the Chief of Air Staff, Ibrahim Alfa, seated next to him as he shrugged off the responsibility: "Was there any time we discussed the OIC at the SMC?" he asked. Many believed this was one of the reasons for Ukiwe's unceremonious removal as CGS.

Recently, we witnessed pitched battles in some States where Muslim students were insisting on wearing hijab in Christian - based secondary schools. The 2023 presidential election further showed how deep religious sensibilities run in Nigeria. APC's muslim - muslim ticket was viewed as disregard for Nigeria's Christian community. The perceived humiliation had the effect of mobilising support for Labour Party's Peter Obi as a counter force to religious marginalisation. It's also instructive that the candidates won majorly in areas associated with their religions.

 These should be sobering reality for those contemplating religious supremacy under whatever guise. It will not work. Aside the demand for equity, social stability and fair play, Sharia is not compatible with our common laws. The philosophies that underpin them are markedly different.

 

 

Afuba is Director, Public Administration Circle, Awka.