Focus
Mobilising Citizens For Sustainable Democracy In Nigeria: The Power Of Editors (I)
I am honoured to be amongst you, members of The Nigerian Guild of Editors, today and to be asked to be your guest speaker at your 2022 annual conference. The topic of my lecture today, Mobilizing Citizens for Sustainable Democracy, the Power of Editors, was chosen by you. I therefore assume that you want an opinion of one of the consumers of your production rather than one of you. Let me however disclose that even though I am a lawyer and an economist and therefore not a journalist, I have been Special Assistant to President Shehu Shagari, of blessed memory, on Information. I have also been, for about eight months, Nigerian’s Minister of Information and Culture under H.E General Abdulsalami Abubakar. I am therefore fairly abreast with working among journalists, making rules and influencing law making with regard to your profession and managing some journalists in areas where I have worked. This makes me an exceptional consumer of your product.
The following questions will need to be answered before we dwell on the topic for today’s lecture.
(i) Who is a journalist in Nigeria?
(ii) What qualifications must you have in order to practice journalism in Nigeria?
(iii) What statutes govern the professional practice of journalism?
As far as I know, unlike other professions like Medicine, Engineering and Law you basically require no particular professional qualification to be an editor. Current practices however require you to have a good knowledge of English language, knowledge of media production and communication, ability to read and communicate effectively in English, excellent written communication skills, ability to work with others, digital skills and membership of Nigerian Union of Journalists.
The danger in this lack of professional certification is that there are absolutely no possibilities of disbarring a journalist on the basis of dereliction from professional regulations except through disciplinary measures of the Nigerian Guild of Editors or the National Union of Journalists. Civil and criminal law are however awash with provisions on libel, defamation and misrepresentation that not only affect all citizens but may be more relevant in checking excesses in the practice of journalism. It is in this respect that I congratulate you for having a virile association of Nigerian Guild of Editors and the Nigerian Union of Journalists which through their internal rules can sanitize your profession of bad eggs whose demeanor may earn you unwanted bad reputation. I know that I speak the minds of many Nigerians in urging you to activate your professional organizations in codifying your rules and ethics in such a manner that public confidence can grow in your ability to uphold the truth.
Nowadays it has become habitual for notable politicians to own large media houses in order to protect themselves from media onslaught and also take on their adversaries in political propaganda.
In their book, The Elements of Journalism, Bill Korac and Tom Rosensties hold that a Journalist’s first obligation is to the truth. They wrote that, “All truths-even the laws of science – are subject to revision but we operate them in the meantime because they are necessary and they work. Journalists must seek a practical and functional forum of truth. It is not truth in the absolute or philosophical or scientific sense but rather a pursuit of the truths by which we can operate on a day to day basis”
Continuing they wrote that, “the Journalist’s truth is a process that begins with the professional discipline of assembling and verifying facts. The Journalists try to convey a fair and reliable account of their meaning, subject to further investigation. The Journalists first loyalty is to citizens. The Journalist whether a media corporation answering to advertisers and shareholders or a blogger with his own personal beliefs and priorities must show an ultimate allegiance to citizens. They must strive to put the public interest – and the truth – above their own self-interest or assumptions.”(1)
As I was preparing for this lecture it occurred to me that in mobilizing citizens for sustainable democracy in Nigeria, the editors must first of all agree on the most fundamental problems facing Nigeria before they can mobilize citizens to take informed decisions about who can deal with the fundamental problems. As I was reading through the maze of reports on the issues for determination in the forthcoming election, I received a report of views of our colonial masters at the formation of this nation and after, presented by Dele Ogun, Convener of The Fatherland Group, National Liberal Club, Whitehall, London. In his speech entitled “Nigeria And Britain After Elizabeth”, which I thought I should share with you, he said quoting
Oliver Littleton Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Chandos, who said in his 21st May 1953 contributions to Emergency Debates on Nigeria’s Constitutional future, in the House of Lords, one week to Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation
“Recent events have shown that it is not possible for the three regions of Nigeria to work together effectively in a Federation so closely knit as that provided by the present constitution. HM’s government in the UK while greatly regretting this, considered that the constitution will have to be redrawn to provide for greater regional autonomy and for the removal of power of intervention by the centre in matters which without detriment to the other regions be placed entirely with regional competence. It is at the same time necessary to ensure that the common economic and defence requirements of all regions are secured”
He also referred to
Sir Detor Smithers,Parliamentary Private Secretary, to Min of State and Secretary of State in the Colonial Office 1952 – 1959, Sec Gen Council of Europe 1964 – 69 writing in Times on July 15, 1998who said,
“During the negotiations for the Independence of Nigeria the view of the Secretary of State at that time, with which I agreed, was that in Nigeria, we should attempt to put together a large and powerful state with ample material resources which will play a leadingpart in the affairs of the continent and the world. This was attractive but it involved forcing several different ethnic and cultural groups into a single political structure
The negotiations were complex and very difficult, the chief problem as I remember, relating significantly to the control of the police and the military. In the retrospect of 40 years, it is clear that this was a great mistake which has cost many lives and would probably continue to do so. It would have been better to establish several smaller states in a free trade area.
In exculpation, it must be said that we did not then have the examples of the collapse of Yugoslavia and of the Soviet Union before our eyes. It should now be clear for all but the wilfully blind to see, that it is extremely dangerous to force diverse racial and social entities into a single rigid structure such as that which is being built upon the foundations of the Maastricht Treaty. Recent history suggests that it would be best to complete the development of the Common Market and to call a halt to political integrations in Europe that we all know about Brexit”
Concluding his speech Dele Ogun said, “I turn to the French Philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau”, “The problem is to form a forum of association which will defend and protect with the whole common force, the person and good of each association and in which each while uniting himself with all, may still obey himself alone and remain as free as before. This is the fundamental problem of which the Social Contract provides the solution for. He then called for the Orange Union in contradistinction to union of the Apple. When you peel the skin of the Orange, you will see the segments sitting comfortably side by side together making the composite whole, whilst when you peel the skin of the Apple you will see the indistinguishable mess. That Orange Union in which the ethnic groups uniting to make the whole an association in which they may obey their own priority and remain as free before. (2)”
When mobilizing citizens for sustainable democracy the most important challenge is to identify the major problems of the country. Dele Ogun identifies the structure of the country as our most fundamental problem.
Our current constitution was fashioned by the military. It is not autochthonous. In law it has no validity. It was neither a product of an elected assembly nor that of a public plebiscite. Nobody voted for it except a group of military unelected officers. Its character is based on distribution rather than production of wealth. It collapsed the pre independent agreement of the component parts of this country (represented by their elected officials) as the basis of our Federation. It relied on dependence on oil wealth as a basis for our common existence. Consequently the previous grand cotton production, the groundnut pyramids, the palm oil drums, the palm kernel pyramids, the rubber plantations, the cocoa plantations have all disappeared giving way to over dependence on oil, imports and federal dominance in wealth creationwhichhas eluded us. Local initiatives in agricultural development has given way to white elephant projects, subsidy, dead refineries, oiltheft, falling standards in education, low food production and health care.(Give examples of your childhood experience in education, health and food production)
Arising from these explanations editors must focus attention on the views of candidates on restructuring. Whenever restructuring is raised, some erroneously think that the whole essence is to regionalize the control of oil resources and deny non-oil producing areas of the revenue accruing from oil. Far from it. It was never so in the past. The Federal Government still had, in the past, a percentage of all mineral production from the regions. Besides, a model based on sharing of Government revenue must give way to a new structure that will challenge and drive productivity in different regions across the country. This new model must take into account that the factors driving productivity in today’s world are no longer driven by fossil oil but rather the proliferation of a knowledge-based economy. The restructuring of Nigeria into smaller and independent federating units and the devolution of powers to these federating units to control exclusively their human capital development, mineral resources, agriculture, and power (albeit with an obligation to contribute to the federal government) is the only way to salvage our fledging economy. Restructuring will devote attention to the new wealth areas, promote competition and productivity as the new federating units struggle to survive. It will drastically reduce corruption as the large Federal parastatals which gulp Government revenue for little or no impact dissolve and give way to smaller and viable organs in the new Federating units.
Those campaigning against restructuring in Nigeria have painted an unfortunate and untrue picture that those of us in support of restructuring are doing so in order to deny the Northern States who have not yet any proven oil reserves of the ability to survive. This is unfortunate. The new model we propose for Nigeria recognizes that revenue in the world today is promoted by two main sources namely, human capital development leveraging on technology to drive the critical sectors of the economy and agriculture. Ten years ago the top ten companies in the world were the likes of EXXON Mobil, Shell, and Total. Today the top eight companies in the world are represented by technology related companies. They include Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Amazon and lately Twitter.
The example of Netherlands in Agriculture is also relevant here. The Netherlands is the 18th largest economy in the world. It has a land area of about 33.9,000 square kilometres. Niger State, one of Nigeria’s 37 administrative units has about 74,000 square kilometres. Netherlands, four years ago had over $100 billion from agricultural exports annually, contributed mainly by vegetables and dairy. Nigeria’s oil revenue has never in any one year reached $100 billion. Northern Nigeria is the most endowed agriculturally in Nigeria. Its tomatoes, carrots, cabbages, cucumbers, tubers, grains, livestock and dairy feed the majority of Nigerians in spite of its huge reserve of unexploited export potentials. In a restructured Nigeria, Northern Nigeria with the right agricultural policies will be the richest part of Nigeria.
Our analysis here must be viewed from the background that datelines have been fixed by OECD countries and China for the cessation of production of automobiles and machines dependent on fossiloil. This development and the new technology for production of shale oil in the United States has made world dependence on Nigeria’s crude oil a rapidly declining phenomenon. All over Europe and America, electric cars are now a first preference for first time buyers.
In the face of this economic reality, the population reference Bureau predicts that Nigeria will in 2050 become the world’s fourth largest population with a population of 397 million coming after China, India and the United States of America. This is only 30 years away!!
Any other country in our situation would have declared a state of emergency long ago to plan for the day oil price will fall!!!
Saudi Arabia is investing $110 billion to develop its estimated 200 trillion cubic feet of wet gas by 2036. When completed it will provide $8.6 billion annual income and add $20 billion annually to its gross domestic product. This is apart from the production boost its economy will receive from an increased, cheaper and diversified source of energy.
Right now research has reached at an advanced stage in the United States on a new all – solid – state hybrid solar cell based on organic-inorganic metal halide called PEROVSKITE (CH3 NH3 PBX3) which using solar power technology has the capacity of turning sun light into energy and expanding the science of medical imaging in newer and more profound dimensions. The photoelectric power conversion efficiency of the Perovskite solar cells has increased from 3.8% in 2009 to 22.1% in 2016, making Perovskite solar cells the best potential candidate for the new generation of solar cells to replace traditional silicon solar cells in the future. Light absorption and photoelectric conversion has become better, more efficient and a threat to oil based economy!!
Research has also advanced in the US and Europe on 5G telecommunications which has achieved an improved quality and speed of internet communications that promotes new models of self-driven cars, better movies downloads, improved road navigation and a new medical diagnostic tool called the Tricorder. China is already deploying 5G technology through its mega telecommunication company called Huawei
A new cellphone battery called Grapheme batteries will be developed soon to replace lithium batteries. These grapheme batteries will charge in 20 minutes instead of the average 90 minutes for conventional lithium batteries. It can stand 1,500 charge cycles instead of the 300-500 cycles of lithium batteries. It isalready at trial stage
Israeli former Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has recently informed the world of his country’s new digital explorations. Apart from discovering the cure for cancer and the capacity to make life interminable, Israel can by drone technology determine the chemical deficiency of a plant in a farm without setting foot on the farm. It can also cure the deficiency by drone technology without entering the farm.
Nwodo, a former minister of information, and president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide presented this paper during 2022 All Nigerian Editors Conference in Owerri, Imo State November 9-13.
USA has also advanced drone technology with the capacity to go to war and shoot from self-driven drones and kill decisively without risking any human life in the field. Recently this technology was used to exterminate an Iranian General considered a huge security threat to the United States.
These discoveries underline the importance of education in National Development.
According to UNICEF, one in every five of the World’s out of school children is in Nigeria. Even though primary education is officially free and compulsory, about 10.5 million of Nigeria’s children aged 5 – 14 years are out of school.
In 1970 when the war ended and I gained admission into University of Ibadan to study economics, studying in a Nigerian University was such a pleasure. To begin with, my roommate then, Okey Ezeokeke and I lived in a two in one room apartment. The university laundered 8 clothes per week for us (trousers and shirts). In addition, two sets of bed sheets were laundered for us weekly. Our shower ran twenty four hours, our toilets flushed always. In each hall of residence we had a bar and buttery where you could have cold drinks and confectionaries at affordable prices directly from breweries and the university catering department. You were also allowed to entertain your guests at these air-conditioned lounges.
Each faculty had a library apart from the central university library. Every journal published in the world was available in our libraries within two weeks of publication. We had a university press which made publication of books by our lecturers easier and the books affordable. The university had a busy bookshop which sold text books, journals, magazines and novels. Accessibility to knowledge was guaranteed even without digital technology. Lecturers were encouraged to publish.
Because of their scholarly publications, they were demanded globally. Every year so many lecturers were engaged inprominent universities all over the world. Every year several lecturers served out their sabbatical and returned with new knowledge, new exposure, modern cars and a global and cosmopolitan saga. Many students developed ambitions to become lecturers. The first class graduates were retained as assistant lecturers to take us in tutorial classes. The tutorial classes explained the lectures, deepened our knowledge of the subject matter and took us through past question papers in order to widen our comprehension and prepare us for examinations. Suddenly all these have disappeared. Instead, handouts have taken over because they are sold for extra cash by lecturers even when they contain very little or represent copying or plagiarism!!
When you don’t buy them, class reps note you and report you to the lecturer and in some cases it is counted against you in the exams. Vice Chancellor after Vice Chancellor fight this menace but they persist because the bench mark has fallen, the incomes have fallen, the foreign lure no longer exists because our degrees have become worthless. Businessmen and Politicians as well as pretty female students get degrees without attending lectures!! If the source of knowledge is contaminated, like a contaminated water reservoir, can you get clean water? Once upon a time, a seating Governor was admitted as a student in one of our universities, he pretended to attend lectures inspite of his busy schedules, which made it impossible for him to attend all his lectures, but he was awarded a degree. Is such a degree respectable? Does this kind of practice recommend such a University as credible?
This brings me to the question of what form Nigeria will assume under a restructured arrangement and how its restructuring can be brought about. Two basic models have been canvassed for restructuring in Nigeria. A conservative model aimed at maintaining the status quo has been proposed to mean simply a shedding of some of the exclusive powers of the Federal Government, like issuing of mining licenses, permission for constructing of Federal roads and shedding of regulatory powers over investments in critical sectors of the economy like power and mineral resources. This model merely scratches the surface of the problem. It avoids the fundamental issue of devolution of powers.
The second model calls for a fundamental devolution of powers to the States as federating units and a lean Federal Government with exclusive powers for external defence, customs, immigration, foreign relations and a Federal legislature and judiciary to make and interpret laws in these exclusive areas.
This second model proposes states as the federating units with two different approaches. The first approach simply wants the States as the Federating units and a Federal Government with limited powers. It wants the states to control a percentage of revenue accruing from their areas and contribute an agreed percentage of such revenue to the federal government.
The second approach proposes the states as the federating units with a Region at each of the six geopolitical units whose constitution will be agreed to and adopted by the states in the geopolitical region. The regions will have the powers to merge existing states or create new ones. There will be regional and state legislatures and judiciary dealing with making and interpreting laws made in the respective political entities. This approach proposes a revenue sharing formulae of 15% to the Federal Government, 35% to the regional government and 50% to the State Governments.
To achieve a national consensus on this subject requires a national discussion. Regrettably, the ruling party, APC which promised restructuring in its manifesto after two years and four months in office appointed a committee to define what sort of restructuring it wants for Nigeria. The matter ended there. The Committee report after being adopted by its National Executive Committee was never implemented by the Government. To make matters worse, none of the other political parties have come up with any clear-cut route for achieving a consensus on this matter.
The National Assembly itself is a reflection of the deep ethnic divisions in the country and the Northern majority conferred on it by the military makes it highly unacceptable to Southern Nigeria. Recent resolutions made by it on devolution of powers have not helped the situation.
In the recent past, following massive disenchantment by our youths, self-determination groups have sprung up in Nigeria. The self-determination groups include IPOB, Boko Haram MASSOB, YELICOM, Arewa Youths, Niger Delta Republic and Republic of the Middle Belt.
Of all these groups IPOB and Boko Haram have been designated as terrorist organizations by the Federal Government. This development in relation to IPOB is unfortunate. Book Haram is an armed organization which has attacked and occupied Nigerian territory hoisted its flag and appointed local authority governments
It has abducted and abused Nigerian women kidnapped and imprisoned many and killed over two hundred thousand people. It is still involved in guerilla warfare against Nigeria yet the Federal Government is negotiating with them. No member of Boko Haram captured by the military is under trial, as far as I know. Members of this Federal Government are on record for condemning the previous Government for brutal murder of Boko Haram members and condemning the retired Chief of Army Staff for zealous prosecution of the anti-terror campaign. Members of the sect who confess to a change of mind have been received along with their abducted female partners in the Presidency and rehabilitated even by recruitment into the army. Today, the country is threatened by a new rise of Islamic insurgents.
The declaration of IPOB as a terrorist organization is in my view hurried, unfair, and not in conformity with the intendment of the law. Whereas I am not completely in agreement with some of the methods of IPOB like it’s inappropriate and divisive broadcast, the uncontested evidence given by the Attorney General of the Federation in an interlocutory action claiming that IPOB attempted and/or actually snatched guns from law enforcement agents are, if proven, merely criminal offences. They do not constitute enough evidence to meet international law definitions of a terrorist organization. Happily, the United States Embassy in Nigeria, sometimes ago, shared this conclusion and asserted that the United States Government does not recognize IPOB as a terrorist organization. This same unarmed IPOB that is being stigmatized by the Nigerian government had its members murdered in Asaba, Nkpor, Aba and Port Harcourt simply for having public demonstrations without the Federal Government ordering a judicial inquiry. Instead, after I called for one and Amnesty International provided evidence that 150 of them were killed, the Chief of Army Staff then, set up an inquiry composed of serving and retired army officers thus abandoning the rules of natural justice which prescribes that you cannot be a judge in your own court. The Nigerian Press should investigate these assertions and bring a peaceful resolution to this impasse.
The Igbos in Nigeria see the treatment of IPOB as unfair, discriminatory and overhanded. They see the move as an attempt to encourage a profiling of Igbos in the international security arena.
We know of other self-determination groups in Nigeria that are armed and have destroyed government and private sector installations and wells and have taken several Nigerians hostage that government prefers to negotiate with rather than label them as terrorist organizations.
Fulani Herdsmen otherwise called the Fulani militants have ravaged farms in Middle belt, South West, and South Eastern Nigerian killing several farmers in the process. In January 2016 they killed 500 farmers and their families in Agatu in Benue State. In Enugu State, they murdered more than 100 farmers in Ukpabi Nimbo in April 2016. Photographs depicting them with automatic rifles trend in the entire world media, yet not one of them is facing criminal charges, nor is Operation Python Dance being conducted in the areas where they ravage and kill, and the Federal Government describes them as criminals and treat them with levity notwithstanding their classification by the Global Terrorist Index as the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world (see British Independence Newspaper, 18th November 2015). The London Guardian Newspaper of 12th July 2016 indicated that Fulani Herdsmen killed one thousand people in 2014. Today the numbers reached five hundred thousand. A medium security prison was invaded in Abuja and detained terrorists allowed to escape without any resistance from our security forces.
Apart from domestic security, our economy is bleeding due to several other reasons.
On 23rd October 2022, Nduka Orjinmo writing for BBC News, Abuja reported that “In Delta State, thieves built their own 4km (2.5miles) of long pipeline through the heavily guarded creeks to the Atlantic Ocean. These barges and vessels blatantly loaded the stolen oil from a 24 feet oil pipe visible from miles on the open waters. “Crude oil is Nigeria’s main export but production and revenue, has been dwindling for years because of thieves. Authorities say, “oil production fell from 2.5 million barrels per day in 2011 to just over 1 million in July 2022, according to the regulator (making it impossible for us to meet our OPEC production quota).
Authorities also say that more than $3.3bn dollars (£2.9bn) has been lost to crude oil theft since last year and at a time when other oil producers are having a petro dollars splurge, Nigeriacan’t even meet its OPEC production quota. And it is not that the country can afford to lose money to thieves as it is gripped by widespread poverty and heavily indebted.
Nigerian’s oil industry has a documented history of corruption, from an unending fuel subsidy scheme where no one actually knows how much is imported, to the shadowy allotment of oil exploration blocks. Chief Ekpemupolo known as Tompolo is the security contractor with the responsibility of unearthing this large scale crude oil theft. Commenting on the thieves, he said in Channels TV that”many of the security people are involved because there is no way you can load a vessel without settling (bribing) the security people in that region”.(3)
Carl Milton Bernstein, an American investigative Journalist and author while a young reporter for Washington Post teamed up with Bob woodward and both of them uncovered the crimes which led to the congressional investigation of Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of Richard Nixonas President of the United States of America. This is the power of Journalists or dare I say of editors. Why have the Nigerian editors been unable to unravel the massive robbery of our oil reserves or the subsidy looters?
Nigeria’s present problems are worse than Watergate scandal. We have a total collapse of confidence in our government. When a Federal Accountant Generalis facing charges of acting in cohort of other Federal Civil Servants, consultants and representatives of the Federal Government for stealing Government funds and the case is going through such a sluggish delay but Nnamdi Kanu’s acquittal can in a few days bereversed by the Federal Court of Appeal, it simply means that ridding our country of corruption is not a priority.
Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Anthony Enaharo as journalists stood their grounds in fighting colonial rule. A fight to defend our hallowed values and the soul of our nation is the greatest act of patriotism. Your pen is of inestimable value when you use it patriotically to salvage our value slide and the rudderless movement of our state vessel. The Nigerian editor has enormous power in exercising his freedom of expression as enshrined in our constitution.
You must set the agenda for this coming election. That agenda must require our candidates to speak up on their policies regarding:-
(i) Fighting corruption
(ii) Restructuring
(iii) Transiting our country from a consumption economy to a production economy.
(iv) Stopping the brain drain occasioned by the exodus of our best brains to more promising climes
(v) The overthrow of merit, prudent management and accountability in the public services
(vi) Our overblown and over financed legislatures
(vii) A scrutiny of our Judiciary which exposes corruption and several other negative tendencies that compromise justice
(viii) The incapacity of our armed forces, previously respected in international peace-keeping operations in the Congo, Liberia and lately Gambia but now appearing to be completely overcome by Boko Haram to the extent that our School Of Infantry can be easily invaded by terrorists not to talk of our farmlands in Katsina, Kaduna and several other states
(ix) You must interrogate the failure of the Nigerian Police Force leading to the ENDSARS riots.
(x) We must interrogate the Arab Spring and its aftermath in order to avert its occurrence here.
(xi) We must examine stories of nations like Israel and USA
(xii) We must thoroughly investigate the readiness of INEC to conduct a free and fair election. Will the servers breakdown again?
Any leading Presidential candidate who doesn’t have well thought out policies on these issues is not fit to lead Nigeria.
We hear today of speculation regarding the health condition of our Presidential Aspirants. We have a President who has spent so many days out of his eight year tenure in foreign hospitals not to talk about the cost of treatment. This makes it a national imperative to investigate the health of Aspirants to that office.
Tobi Aworinde of the Punch Newspaper told us on August 1st, 2021 that our current President has spent a total of 201 days on foreign medical trips since his assumption of office seven years and seven months ago.(4) This figure will be updated when he returns from his present trip. In any other clime, the National Assembly would have amended the electoral laws to provide for independent medical examination for all Presidential Aspirants. It is not yet late for such an amendment to be made.
As editors, you are the authors of reforms on national values, ethics and conduct of aspirants and holders of public office. Your power is coterminous with the nature of your work. In a way you wield and sustain the conscience of the nation. You help, on the basis of your informed editorials to cultivate our values and standards for public office holders. I believe that if you conducted a careful inventory of properties of some past and present public office holders including civil servants and members of the judiciary, you would expose so much as to provoke an inquiry into how some of those assets were acquired.
To who much is given, much is expected. As editors in the public and private media you have a pivotal influence in the affairs of this country, you have the wherewithal to progressively reform our values. You can stop the disdain with which our children hold us, for destroying their collective patrimony and heritage by acts of omission or commission. You can help to rebuild their confidence in our country. Already they are in a rage which can consume us if we don’t act fast.
Remember Harold Macmillan’s words to the British in the wake of Nationalists movements in Africa. He said, on a visit to South Africa on February 3rd, 1960, in a speech to the South Africa Parliament, “We have seen the awakening of national consciousness in peoples who have for centuries lived in dependence upon some other powers… The wind of change is blowing through this continent and whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must accept it as a fact and our national policies must take account of it” (5)
I like to end this speech by quoting William Shakespeare, in Julius Caesar, where he said “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood leads to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”
Nigerian editors, arise and defend our country
Arise and interrogate our politicians and businessmen.
Arise and define our politics
Hesitate and be defined by history
I thank you for your kind attention.
By: John Nnia Nwodo
JOHN NNIA NWODO
OWERRI, IMO STATE NOVEMBER 2022
Focus
Reminisces On Tributes To Mrs Adeline Ndalu Jaja
Live not as though there
were a thousand years ahead of you. Fate is at your elbow; make yourself good while life and power are still yours,” so said the Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius, who had spent valuable time in meditation, and from deep moments of reflections.
The counsel was in recognition of death, nonetheless, as a marker of the ephemeral nature of life. A necessary end, that would come when it may, and never cared at what age of a person it strikes. So, at 87 years, death struck and Mama, late Mrs Adeline Ndalu Jaja (Nee Ohochukwu) yielded and was taken to glory.
Late Mrs Adeline Ndalu Jaja (Nee Ohochukwu) was mother-in-law to the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara. Mama was a loving mother to her first daughter, Lady Valerie, the wife to the governor.
Mama’s death weighed heavily. The feeling was painful. The memories traumatic. Death, always left pain of loss that ran deep, discomforting and grave. When it happened, it affected, not only the surviving kin, the children, church, but the entire community because it would be a serious loss to it’s identity and continuity.
It was on Saturday, March 16, 2024, that the earthly remains of Mama Adeline Ndalu Jaja (Nee Ohochukwu) returned to mother-earth in a blaze of glory. She was buried in Opobo Town, the capital of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The events that led to the interment were wrapped up as a festival of sort. This was despite the fact that, originally, the plan was to have solemn sessions, such that offer an atmosphere to encourage deep reflection, remembrance and to celebrate the life of Mama.
Regardless, all outlined intentions were achieved. It was festival cum solemn assemblage. Many people were attracted to attend, across spheres, professions and vocations. Tributes were in rich supply, paid.
First, it was the Service of Songs at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Mile One, Diobu, in the heart of Port Harcourt City on March 13. Then, the Funeral Service held at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Opobo Town on Saturday, 16th March. The outing and Thanksgiving Service was on Sunday, March 17, at the same church venue.
All those who attended bode farewell to Mama. They left with unforgotten experiences of what they encountered, which was how well Mama lived, as conveyed in the tributes that were paid.
The witty, energetic, and optimistic personality of the Matriarch were sumptuously acknowledged. She taught many persons the lessons of how to embrace and celebrate life. Mama was generous with what she had, defended the weak because she was outspoken and brave. She was never shy to stand in the gap, looked out for the less privileged, promoted the common good as a disciplinarian, and with visionary leadership, shaped many lives positively.
Born on May 17th, 1936 at Nkarahia, Isiokpo in Ikwerre Local Government Area, Mama was an enterprising business owner and remained a devout Christian until her death. As an unrelenting activist, she uplifted humanity, worked to promote timeless virtues that make life valuable. She was the third daughter of four children born to late Elder Maxwell Wahusie Ohochukwu of Isiokpo in Rivers State and Margaret Uwakwe from Umunjam, Mbieri in Mbaitolu Local Government Area of Imo State.
Mama attended the St. Peter’s Primary School in Isiokpo where she got her First School Leaving Certificate, and eventually graduated from standard six. She got employed into the Nigerian Police Force in 1962 and eventually retired in 1997.
Late Mrs Adeline Ndalu Jaja found love in late Senibo Ebenezer Gberepikima Jaja (Senior), and eventually married him. She was blessed with five children, and the wife of the Rivers State Governor was her first daughter. Her worldview was shaped by the values of hard work, respect for others, integrity and perseverance. She died on December 17, 2023.
Reminisces of the tributes to Mama are compelling and memorable. Governor Siminalayi Fubara recalled how close he was with Mama when he spoke at the Service of Songs: “Mama was a great woman. She made me marry her daughter because of what she saw in me. When Mama believed in you, she would go all out for it. I feel so sad that all the mothers in my life; my mother and my mother-in-law, that would have enjoyed their support to me, have all passed.”
While speaking at the Funeral Service, Governor Fubara harped on the need for people to learn lessons from the life that Mama lived. He said: “We are all here this afternoon to say bye-bye to Mama. But I want you to go home with something. And by the grace of God, I don’t think there will be any counter to the point I will make.
“How do we live our lives? Can we live in such a way, that when we are no more, our names can open doors for our children? That is what I want you to go home with.
“Mama has lived her life, and it has opened a lot of doors for her biological children. Even those people that are close to Mama, when you mention that you know so and so person, doors will open.
“So, I want everybody here, to go back and reflect on it. You must live life, so that when you are no more, and our children who are left behind when you are gone, when they mention our names, let that name open doors for them. I feel that is the greatest virtue parents should leave for their children.” Serious food for thought!
But one of the most touching is this from Governor Fubara: “Mama was not just my mother-in-law; she was more than that. From the very day I became a member of their family by marrying her daughter, she took and related with me as her son. A strong woman of faith, my family and I enjoyed immense love, support, and prayers from her presence in our lives. She was always there for us throughout her lifetime.
“Though we mourn her departure, I cannot but be proud of Mama’s remarkable lifetime of service to the nation, God and humanity and her legacy of positive impacts and accomplishments.
“As a police woman, she was respected for her honesty, discipline, and fairness. As an entrepreneur, she was focused, hardworking, and resourceful. As a devout Christian, she loved and served God in diverse ways, and contributed to the development of the church in her community, Opobo. She was also an exceptional woman, a responsible mother and grandmother, a disciplinarian, yet compassionate, generous, and always there to lend a helping hand to everyone who came her way.
“I will forever cherish the great moments she shared with my family and me, and be ever thankful to God for the fact that Mama will continue to live because of her positive impacts and glorious legacies.”
Another tribute inspiring introspection from Wife of the Governor, Lady Valerie Fubara reads: “Indeed, my mother was an inspiring soul, who was always there for all, even when they come with their challenges of any kind. Her home was widely open to all, as her hospitality made people around her feel important.
“Mummy was the most loving, humble, compassionate, understanding, family-oriented woman, and one of the most beautiful souls one could ever ‘encounter’. If there is reincarnation, I will choose you a million times. Your life was indeed a blessing, your memory a treasure!”
That event was also attended by the Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri. He paid his tributes too, saying: “I know how I felt losing a father at 88 years, and so, no matter how old your parents are, whether it’s 100 years, it can be painful. But we would have wished that she would have died thereafter, particularly against the background that her daughter today is the Number One Lady of Rivers State, but we can only wish it, but God decides when anyone of us would go. So, I urge you to take heart, as her legacies and memories will continue to be a guiding light for you and the family.”
Rivers State Deputy Governor, Prof Ngozi Odu said, “During her lifetime, Mama was known as an amazing woman who positively touched the lives of many with her kindness, grace and the love she shared with those around her.
“She was a police officer who was loved and erected because of her integrity, diligence and commitment in the discharge of her duties which will forever be remembered by all those who knew her.”
The Head of Rivers State Civil Service, Dr George Nwaeke, wrote: “Mrs Jaja’s remarkable legacy, as reflected in her age of 87 years, reminds us of a life well-lived, imbued with wisdom, love and lasting contributions to her community. We can only imagine the depth of your loss but hope you find solace in the memories you shared with her and the knowledge that she touched many lives in meaningful ways.”
Her son, Dr Ebenezer Gberepikima Jaja (Jnr) said, “If this, however, is the last time I get to say goodbye to mother, I will do it with the knowledge and understanding that I consider myself to have been gloriously blessed to be your son.
“You touched not only my life, but the lives of many others by your selfless and countless acts of kindness. Mama, you always gave and never expected any favours in return – not even when you needed it. You were a no-nonsense disciplinarian who made me stay within certain parameters, which I had to obey to be on the up and up. You always ensured I stayed focused and on course in everything I did. Your discipline was based on love, God’s fear and ultimate care. You were also generous, almost to a fault.
“You were a fulfilled and accomplished woman. The evidence is obvious and manifest in us, your children, who you raised uprightly, successfully, and worthily… Sorrow is not enough to wash away your wonderful memories. You were simply the best; just knowing that you are the apple of God’s eyes is enough for us. I love you but God loves you more!”
Her second daughter, Engineer Vanessa Donald Banigo also reflected on the life Mama lived, saying, “Though as a fact that death is inevitable, regardless of the age, I would have wished my beloved Mummy could live forever… Your departure has somewhat placed me empty, as I could recall living with me, you became my guardian angel, and a source of strength… With you, I never had any reason to say I am broke, because you were always there to lend or give me instead.
“You taught me how to be bold and strong in the storm of any challenges, because you were a woman of wisdom. You taught me that prayer is the only source of greatness. Words alone cannot express how I feel right now. I truly miss you Mummy! You have fought a good fight, may you be crowned with the crown of glory in the heavenly kingdom”.
The St. Andrew’s Anglican Church of the Niger Delta Diocese said, “With each step, she illuminated the path of righteousness, her unwavering faith, a beacon in the times of darkness. Though trials and triumphs she held fast to her beliefs, in every word spoken, in every gesture relief.
“Her kindness knew no bounds, her compassion, profound, in serving others; true joy she found with a heart full of love, she touched lives near and far, leaving behind a legacy that outshines every star.
“Paying dues with diligence, fulfilling each vows, her commitment to serve an example unsurpassed. Though she is departed from our earthly sight, her presence lingers, a guiding light. For in the hearts of those she touched, she will forever remain.
“A faithful woman now free from earthly pains. As she joins the church triumphant, let us rejoice and sing, and not mourn, for she has found eternal peace on angels’ wings.”
Bishop of the Diocese of Evo, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Province of Niger Delta, The Right Reverend Innocent Ordu, said, “We thank God for giving Mama a long and fruitful life during which she touched the lives of many positively by her honesty, sincerity, integrity, devotion and selfless service to her family and the community.
“Your Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, this death of your dear mother-in-law must have come to you as a rude shock, particularly at these challenging times when her presence and admonitions would have been a great source of support and encouragement to you. We urge you, however, to be of good comfort, knowing that she us now resting in the arms of the Lord after her labours here on earth.
“Our dear Lady Valerie, what counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that determines the significance of the life we lead. Your mother is an expression of thus fact. More so, a mother’s love, they say, is eternal. We, thus, encourage you to hold on to that infinite love of your mother and let it be your guiding light.”
The Chief Medical Director of Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, Prof. Chizindu Alikor said: “Auntie Ploice was a remarkable soul who embodied strength, warmth, kindness and commitment to family and community. She was a beacon of wisdom, a custodian of history, and a source of inspiration.
“Her presence lit up every room, and her giggling was a melody that brought joy to all fortunate enough to share in her company. She approached life with resilience, and a unique blend of grace and determination that left an indelible mark on everyone around her. Her role as a mentor and guide extended far beyond familial bonds; she was a source of support for all who sought her wisdom. Her compassionate nature and genuine interest in the wellbeing of others made her a pillar of strength in times of joy and sorrow alike.”
Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu said, “Your mother’s unwavering dedication and professionalism as a police officer leave an indelible mark on the history of the Rivers State Police Command… Throughout her distinguished career, she served with distinction in various capacities and State Commands, including Edo, Abia, and Rivers states… While we mourn the loss of a remarkable individual, we draw strength from the profound impact she made during her lifetime. Her commitment to service and the invaluable legacy she leaves behind will continue to inspire generations to come.”
Chairman, Nigerian Legion, Rivers State Command, ACG Rev Canon Charles Hart said, “We mourn with you and celebrate the extraordinary life of a remarkable mother, who was, indeed, a mother to all. She was a shining example of motherhood, kindness in her services to the people of Opobo Clan.
“Whilst her death has left a gaping void among the ranks of mothers, I encourage you, however, to take solace in the fact that she lived a fulfilled life and left behind an enduring legacy.”
The Accountant-General of Rivers State, Uche Ideozu said, “The demise of your dear mother at this time is not only a great loss in your beloved family members and close relatives, but also one that affects the good people of Rivers State at large. Because we cannot question God for choosing to call her home at this particular time, we can only but take solace in the fact that He permitted her to leave her footsteps in the sands of time.”
Also, the Forum of Permanent Secretaries in Rivers State said, “Sir, the passage of Mama came as a great shock not only to the Permanent Secretaries in the State Civil Service but to the entire people of Rivers State. We have truly lost a virtuous mother and a great daughter of the State who served her fatherland as a police officer and contributed immensely to the peace, security and development of Rivers State and Nigeria in general.
“We are, indeed, saddened by her sudden departure at this time that her motherly love, care and wisdom is much needed to move Rivers State forward. However, as mortals, we cannot question our Maker, the Almighty God.
“We kindly urge Your Excellency and your entire family to be consoled by the fact that Mama was a great mother who lived a life worthy of emulation, created positive impact while she was alive and was loved by all. She would be greatly missed.”
Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Chairman, Dr Enyiada Clifford Cookey-Gam said, “Your mother was a peaceful and disciplined police officer, who served the nation meritorious in her days of service. She was a quintessential mother, and a good Christian. Indeed, her death is an irreplaceable loss to you and your family. However, may the impeccable lifestyle she lived, and the loving memories of your mother console you at this time of grief.”
The Queen Osunju Jaja House said, “We are indeed, short of words but we are consoled that she lived a good and peaceful life before her sudden demise. She was indeed a kind woman who extended her kindness and love to all those who interacted with her in her sojourn on earth. Her pleasantries, firm mien, hard work, discipline, industry, and good official conduct in public service bear testimony to the great personality of Late Mrs Adeline Ndalu Ebenezer Jaja. We are indeed proud of her that is why we call her ‘Mama Police’”.
Rev Dr. Peter Finebone and Evangelist Ibiene Peter Finebone emphasised that: “As a retired police officer of the Nigerian Police Force, Mama was a peace-maker and a disciplinarian, which she inculcated to her children. She was a woman of many feathers and of distinct characteristics.”
These are only but a few of the flurry of tributes paid in honour of late Mrs Adeline Ndalu Jaja, at activities celebrating her final interment in Opobo Town. These tributes would remain stark reminders of the legacies she left behind. Like they say, these are memories that would remain indelible in history for centuries to come. Goodbye Mama!
Chukwudi is the Chief Press Secretary to the Rivers State Governor, and writes from Port Harcourt.
By: Nelson Chukwudi
Focus
The Belligerent Rantings Of Tony Okocha
Discerning minds are definitely amused by the new found occupation of Rivers State Caretaker Committee Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Tony Okocha. It is amusing because each time he speaks or writes, he apparently exposes the height of his crass ignorance. Rivers people, however, know exactly where he draws his energy from in his new found hatchet job.
Rather than face the task of adequate representation of Rivers State in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), he rather chooses ignominy and belligerent ranting as an insane alarmist. Anyway, that, of course, is the only way he could possibly justify the filthy lucre from his demigod and benefactor.
Indeed, one would not have dissipated energy dignifying Tony Okocha with a response, considering his unstable character which inspires his bunch of false and uninformed diatribes. Made toxic by his rabble-rousing antics, he now can be aptly labelled “Toxic Tony Okocha”.
All caught-up in his toxic state, Okocha deliberately refuses to see through logical reasoning and constructive criticism. Instead, he chooses fiction over empirical facts.
In his recent tantrums, he has been quixotically sounding sarcastic in his posers.
He apparently chose devilish propaganda without corresponding empirical evidence as he failed in his uninspiring tirades of comparing Rivers State with Borno, Lagos, Kaduna, Niger, and Akwa Ibom States without showing the benchmark for such tasteless exercise.
Today, it is obvious that the main man in Rivers State engaged in foolery and falsehood as his article in trade is Toxic Tony Okocha. Just for filthy lucre, he has been quite unreasonable with his campaign of calumny which does not reflect the reality on ground in Rivers State. Someone should educate Okocha that his approach is definitely not the right way to play the role of opposition.
Toxic Okocha needs to stop this deliberate attempt to distract by focusing attention on efforts to reconcile a fragmented and factionalised APC in Rivers State. Okocha needs to stop this meddlesomeness in the workings of the State Executive Council and the relationship between the Executive and the Legislature, which he is partly instrumental to, and focus on bringing all APC members together and holding regular Executive Committee meetings with all stakeholders in his party.
Any living citizen of Rivers State that in his clear conscience supports Tony Okocha’s perfidious perdition and foolery is not only wickedly complicit to the machinations of servitude, but an enemy of strategic development that is being propagated by the Governor of Rivers State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara.
Which responsible citizen will be unhappy that civil servants are being promoted and earmarked to earn corresponding wages? In fact, Tony Okocha and his cohorts have not been happy that the funds their demigod had been covetously syphoning are now being used for the welfare of Rivers workers. So, his assignment is to discredit every good effort of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
It is instructive to inform Toxic Okocha that Sir Siminalayi Fubara is judiciously deploying the resources of the State for the utmost development of the State and the welfare of the people.
Furthermore, Okocha now sanctimoniously sees Rivers women half naked in protest against servitude and reckless intimidation of their sons as abominable, but never saw any infractions or condemned it, when in 2019, the same women protested half naked to defend their mandate that they freely gave to his benefactor. What a hypocrite? A case of removing a speck in another man’s eye but having a log in your own eye.
Okocha attempted to query Sir Siminalayi Fubara for expending Rivers State resources without an approved budget. Indeed, one can truly see that Tony Okocha is suffering from fixated amnesia, perhaps hallucinating on the idea of Governor Fubara re-presenting a budget already passed and signed into law to an assemblage of men suffering from legitimacy questions. The legitimate members of Rivers State House of Assembly have done their bit on the 2024 budget, and the budget is already operational. If Tony Okocha is aggrieved and not satisfied with it, he should go to court to challenge it. Period!
In the eyes of Tony Okocha and his benefactor, Governor Siminalayi Fubara is guilty of their own infractions, but in the eyes of the law and the good people of Rivers State, whom SIM holds their mandate, Governor Fubara is well acquitted and doing the right thing to totally liberate them from the shackles of servitude and criminal greediness.
Apparently, in Rivers State, we live in two worlds: one that accommodates all Rivers people with Sir Siminalayi Fubara; and the other where Toxic Tony Okocha and his benefactors live with the wicked intention of perpetually enslaving and suffocating the people for their selfish interests.
It may be trite to reiterate, but it is a fact that whatever revenue accruing to Rivers State is being prudently utilised by Sir Siminalayi Fubara to better the lots of the people. We need not remind Okocha that, because of his crass ignorance, he could not drive his earlier narrative of Siminalayi Fubara squandering over N140billion. This is because he did not remember that Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s signature project, the Port Harcourt Ring Road is worth over N195billion, with a down payment of N150billion. Of course, the project is funded with a loan serviced from the State’s monthly allocations. Besides, Governor Siminalayi Fubara has also embarked on several other life-impacting projects that the wicked will pretend not to see in their blind criticism. The projects include the 20,000 units low income housing; rehabilitation of the Aleto-Ebubu-Eteo Road; the Bori and Elelenwo internal roads; the extended 12.128-kilometer Egbeda internal roads; the rehabilitation of various roads in the Port Harcourt metropolis; the N4billion MSMES fund; payment of WAEC/NECO fees; completion of all inherited projects from the previous administration, the State Government intervention to boost the productive capacity of the DADTCO Rivers State Cassava Processing Factory, and efforts already in top gear to resuscitate the Rivers Songhai Integrated Farm, and other agricultural transformation investments of Government abandoned by the previous administration for eight years, among others. Does Okocha need all the projects of Government ongoing in the 23 local government areas listed for him to realise that he has been delusional?
In fact, Tony Okocha acknowledged that Governor Siminalayi Fubara is also paying the corresponding wages to the promoted civil servants in the State in addition to the Christmas bonus they received. He should also know that Governor Siminalayi Fubara is paying pension and gratuities, including death benefits of retirees that were abandoned by his benefactor for eight years. The Rivers State Secretariat Complex now has water and power supply, a huge infrastructure investment, providing working offices for thousands of Rivers people but was also abandoned for eight years. These are funds his benefactor was initially frittering away in the past while Rivers people languished in abject poverty.
Similarly, the calculated attack by Okocha on Governor Siminalayi Fubara is nothing but an assigned, coordinated political propaganda to taint the efforts of Sir Siminalayi Fubara. It is clear testament that as a crack technocrat, Sir Siminalayi Fubara has been quite prudent in resource management since his assumption of office. So, insinuating, without facts, that he is sponsoring rallies of the SIMplified Movement across the 23 local government areas under the disguise of thanksgiving with Rivers State fund is nothing but imaginary summation.
One wonders if Toxic Okocha is not aware that Sir Siminalayi Fubara is gaining organic support from Rivers people, old and young, just because of the strategic policy actions that are directly affecting their lives positively. In fact, he should know that liberated Rivers people are ready to mobilise and mop-up whatever funds they may have anywhere to galvanise support for Sir Siminalayi Fubara to enable him succeed. He does not need to spend state funds to gain the people’s support. No. The earlier Toxic Tony Okocha and his cohorts realise this, the better for their health before they relapse into incurable high blood pressure.
Tonwei, a public affairs analyst, writes from Port Harcourt.
By: Ebare Tonwei
Focus
Fubara : That Akpabio’s Needless Outburst
Sir Siminalayi Fubara is the current Governor of Rivers State. Godswill Akpabio is the current President of the ninth Senate. The latter was two-time Governor of Akwa Ibom State and Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs. The former was the Accountant-General of Rivers State under then Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, with whom he is now estrangedz.
Both Amaopusenibo Siminalayi (Sim) Joseph Black-Fubara and Godswill Obot Akpabio met on Saturday, March 9, 2024, at the funeral ceremony of late Access Bank chief, Herbert Wigwe, who died alongside his wife, son, and a friend in a helicopter crash in the United States.
Fubara, being the governor of the late Wigwe’s State, was the chief host of the retinue of mourners at the obsequies of the Wigwes, while Akpabio who also hails from the South South geopolitical zone as the deceased and the governor, represented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
You would expect that protocols allowed the governor to dictate the pace of the ceremony even if the President of Nigeria or his representative was there.
I dare to say that Akpabio misrepresented the President of the federation by what he said thereafter.
Ask me how.
A grieving Fubara took to the stage to explain the vanity of life. He did it so eloquently and his speech reminded those present that this life is not worth the struggle. He wondered why we had to struggle to kill, maim, get political power, become rich only to die the way the Wigwes died.
“This one has to do with our political class. What is all this struggle about? You want to kill…, you want to bury. What is it all about?” he asked.
His speech was moving, even though it sounded too harsh on the political class to which he belonged. It moved many to tears. Those who thought they had shed enough tears since the deaths occurred cried a little bit more considering the circumstances and its connection with the governor’s speech.
But not for Akpabio. Everything to him is politics. There are no bounds when it comes to playing it. It does not matter whether the occasion is a burial ceremony or a church service. He must seize every opportunity to play to the gallery, and that was exactly what he did at Isiopko last Saturday.
“If there’s nothing in it, don’t struggle,” he fired back at the governor. No respect for protocols. No regards to the nonagenarian father of Herbert.
He took the microphone and told Fubara to stop shedding crocodile tears. He told the state chief mourner that if he felt the struggle was not worth it, he should not get involved in it.
He did not understand the import of the governor’s speech. He could not just as he did not understand that he goofed when he announced in the hallowed chambers of the Senate that money had been transferred to the accounts of the Senators to enable them to celebrate Christmas. When his attention was drawn to the gaffe, he tried to correct himself in the most annoying manner possible. He gleefully announced that it was not money that was sent but prayers.
Watching him that day, I felt like a child in a kindergarten. I wondered if he understood the harm his open microphone gaffe did to struggling Nigerians who were irked that while they were thinking about where their next meal will come from, their leaders were sharing money like children sharing cabin biscuits at a children’s end of year party.
He is known to have spoken on many occasions in a manner that is beneath the office he has occupied and the current one he occupies.
Nigerians may have gotten used to politicians’ loose talk that nobody bothers anymore. Many public officers speak in like manner when discussing serious issues ailing the nation.
But what surprised zzmany was that at Akpabio’s level and the position he occupies, he ought to know that certain things are better left unsaid. Even if Fubara did not sound tough like his predecessor/godfather, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike, the fact that the occasion was a funeral ceremony would have taught him to exercise restraint and leave that petulant response for another time, maybe when they meet to settle the roforofo fight between Fubara and Wike.
You see, my friends, in civilised climes, the likes of Akpabio should be in one federal correctional centre, awaiting trial over corrupt allegations levelled against him while serving as governor.
Unfortunately, ours is not a sane clime or a civilised one. Therefore, no court of law has, will ever commit such characters to jail terms for what they did while holding public trust.
It is for this and other reasons that the likes of Akpabio will never learn that words have meaning and that, like the Yoruba will say, ‘it is not every cloth that is spread outside.’
Akpabio displayed a worrying behaviour in his response to the speech by the governor, and all who have his ears should whispper to him that the future generation looks up to leaders like him to show them the way. He should be told that, like Fubara said, this life is fleeting and is not worth the fights and struggles.
Here today. Gone tomorrow.
The Wigwes were here and they are now gone forever.
So shall Akpabio and all those who are privileged to hold publuc offices and who see politics as ‘door or die affair,’ and who have no qualms how it is played.
Words have meaning. Let those who use them weigh their public utterances. History does not forget.
Chukwuelobe is a public affairs analyst and former media aide to former Governor of Rivers State, Dr Peter Odili.
By:
Fred Chukwuelobe
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