Breaking up Nigeria

                                                   
                                              Leonard Shilgba


Calls for "restructuring" Nigeria these days are becoming so loud and frequent, some being unpretentious euphemisms for break-up of Nigeria. Being a fellow that has written copiously about  an improved coupling of Nigeria, I am disappointed at the hypocrisy that I read about concerning the subject.
Are the calls for "restructuring" not becoming a mockery? When certain people, who live off public offices  or hanker after appointment into public offices don't have their way, then they join the choir of "restructure Nigeria." Ask them to tell you what they mean and you will be nauseated by their simplistic ignorance. I think the deviously selfish and openly unlearned have seized upon a serious national cause to ingratiate their lusts. Thus a genuine subject, just like many others in our politics, has sadly become a victim of the blister of corruption.

The comedians who are perfecting their acts on the podium of "restructuring Nigeria" must be enjoying themselves lately, no doubt; except that they should be advised to seek another subject that will make them funnier.Let us ponder the break-up of Nigeria. First of all, where have the apostles of Nigeria's break-up derived their authority from?  Have they conducted a referendum among the citizens of their intended nation groups before asking President Buhari to call a referendum on Nigeria? And did President Buhari campaign on a referendum on Nigeria? Surely, the mandate Nigerians gave President Buhari is different. I should think that if any Nigerians wish to have a referendum on Nigeria, they should look out for and support a candidate for the presidential election who would run on that agenda. They should not be so impatient and seek to smuggle in such a referendum and foist it on a sitting president who never campaigned on it, for that would be corruption. David Cameron only did what he had campaigned on, so why manipulate Buhari into a Cameron?
 Besides, why the haste; why not take the decent route of patient build-up to gain legitimacy on their cause? A few people here and there forming various associations or "pressure groups" on "self-determination" cannot earn more than news media blips. None of  those groups can approximate either in authority or organization to the Ojukwu Biafra machine,  even which failed to crank up when it mattered most.  What is worth doing should be done well. Our separatist agitators must show some seriousness.

There is nothing wrong when a majority of a nation group chooses to break away from a country; but in order to avoid painful failure and anarchy, three things must happen:

1. An undisputable leader for the cause (separation) must emerge. No nation group in Nigeria can presently claim to have such a leader; Niger Delta, Igbo, Yoruba, Tiv or Middlebelt, Hausa or Fulani, etc., have no such leader at the moment.

2. Connection and trust between the elite and the masses must be strong and unyielding. The corruption among the elite  has created a chasm between them and the masses, too big to be filled with the filler of trust.

3. Enlightenment of the people about today's plight and the beautiful fruits of the Promised Land must be complete. Do you tell your ethnic folks how badly they have fared in Nigeria? Let them know how better their fortunes will be in the new nation you now tell them of. Show them the fruits of evidence in this "wilderness" called Nigeria. Demonstrate to them now how just, fair and kind to them you will be then. Don't tell them you will be born again then, you will not be corrupt and oppressive then,  and that you will suddenly acquire the skills of statecraft then. If you are not better at home with them than the pharaoh you point out to them, why must they follow you to the unknown?

Solidarity Against Corruption

                                                                Leonard Shilgba

I endorse this punch editorial against corruption.

If President Buhari takes his foot off the pedal in order to indulge certain corrupt Nigerians who are now fighting back against his onslaught against corruption, we are done for. I can see clearly the various masquerades and masks behind which those despicable cowards are hiding: Niger Delta Avengers and similar militants, Biafra agitators and separatists, and propagandists against "islamization agenda" whose only likely converts are the gullible, illiterates and uneducated in the art of deceit. Why did all those pitiable souls go to sleep during the regime of plunder, corruption, impunity and barefaced rapacity only to awaken now that a squeeze is being pressed against sleaze, easy loot and careless waste of resources; when people are being called to account for spending and living above their means?

Are those corrupters instigating the bombings of Nigeria's oil infrastructure as a blackmail? Do they think they can extract a deal against the public interest? Those that are now raising their voices for "restructuring" of Nigeria as a solution, do not seem to get it. I support and have proposed some restructuring myself. I have faulted the poor and hasty organization of Jonathan's National Conference of 2014 without an operational clause of a referendum first inserted in the constitution. But I am no fool, and I hope you are not one.

I urge Buhari to step up this fight even as the "militants" step up the bombings:

1. I support the set up of Special Courts to handle corruption cases. Corruption cases should be handled as an emergency. The Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 should be strictly enforced; and I agree that corrupt judges should be identified and quickly taken out of the system.

2. Institutional corruption should be fought in a more vicious manner. Directors, heads of MDAs, Vice Chancellors, provosts, etc., must be held responsible and quickly punished for delay in payments, overpayment, and contract frauds. Why, for instance,  would TETFUND interventions in a university be delayed for more than three years while private companies are paying into the funds yearly? Why should NUC hold back funds meant for federal universities?  I call on President Buhari to confront all forms of corruption in the education sector as he is doing in others. Is it not disgraceful to hear that Vice Chancellors who are unwilling to part with certain percentages of allocations will find difficult accessing such?

3. I endorse setting time limits for corruption litigations just as we have for election matters. Buhari should explore some executive orders if the National Assembly is too inured to corruption to act in the public interest.

If President Buhari can succeed in whittling down corruption in Nigeria in his first term, then Nigerians can see the benefits and consider some improvement on our union
in the second term. Some are quick to argue  that corruption is fueled by the structure of the country but fail to convince how their proposed restructuring will change us. We cannot afford to excuse corruption. I also wonder why the Niger Delta militants don't see any cause to confront their governors who steal or waste their 13% derivation gain. This explains who might be their benefactors in their heinous acts.

No let off, dear president. And insist on full recovery, full prevention and full reward of the faithful.

WATCH OUT FOR MY PIECE ON BREAKING UP NIGERIA

Saraki, Ekweremadu, and Democracy

                                                        Leonard Shilgba

Democracy does not equate to lawlessness nor inequity. It is headlined by the rule of law, rule of the people, and rule of processes. By rule of law, it excludes dictatorial or fascist tendencies; by rule of the people, they choose their representatives at their pleasure, who serve according to the people's values; by rule of processes, arbitrariness is disallowed.

Senators Saraki and Ekweremadu have been taken to the temple of justice in Nigeria, not straight to the gaol,  to answer to certain charges. Does democracy, even Nigeria's democracy, frown at this? I doubt so. Why then is this cry against this? Why does Ekweremadu think that democracy is thereby being stiffled by the prosecutor (or the Executive)?

Democracy thrives only as enlightenment catches on like wild fire among the people. University degrees alone do not translate to enlightenment.  I should think you will agree with this. Evidence abound in Nigerian social media: Lack of critical or logical thinking; intemperate use of language; and petty distraction from the theme of discourse. All these give Nigerians away as generally  lacking in intellectual dexterity and objectivity required to enervate democratic culture. I have come to this conclusion, not lightly. Consistently, Nigerian readers, in their comments on just any news report or opinion article, eargerly, like a herd of untamed animals, descend the overworn path of ethnic and religious bigotries, while the real matter is left wrapped! "Cows eat grass; this animal eats grass. Therefore, it is a cow." This is a kind of unsound argument that most Nigerians make. The backlash of poor education offered in our schools is now here upon us. The solution? We must restructure our school curriculum and learning activities to include public debates and speaking classes, compulsory history classes, and Writing classes. Furthermore,  we must scrap this "Science Students" and "Art Students" dichotomy from our secondary schools, and review our General Education offerings in our universities so that each student takes a bit from every category of the knowledge fields available. We are producing uncouth and ignorant citizens who can't interprete social dynamics nor decode roots of social tensions; whose constant parroting response is, "Break up the country; we are being marginalized; that is an Islamization agenda; this is selective anti-corruption fight, and so on and so forth," who are masters in the art of superstition and conspiracy theory, but unlearned in the polish of critical thinking.

We are producing citizens who erroneously assume that only lawyers must read their country's Constitution and tell them what it contains. To the Constitution O patriots! If you speak as a contrarian, it is because there is no light in you.

Senators Saraki and Ekweremadu must leave the public space in peace and face their legal matters as decently as possible. They should learn from Senator Clinton, who has not accused President Obama yet of being controlled by a "cabal" or of "dictatorial tendencies" only because of her "running battles" with the FBI over the email scandal. We ought to know, and those two senators and the whole Nigerian Senate ought to accept that it would be contradictory of the principles of democracy to:

1. Summon the nation's chief law officer and prosecutor to a committee of the Senate over a matter that is already before a Court of law, more so when the matter involves two of their top leaders.

Another notable example: Very lately, eyebrows were raised and disaporovals expressed only because former President Clinton met with US Attorney General? Do you know why? She (the Attorney-General) is the one to prosecute Senator Clinton should an indictment be made against her by the FBI! But here in Nigeria, even after the Nigeria Police investigated the Senate forgery allegation and thereafter submitted a report of culpability to the Attorney-General of the Federation, who has already filed the matter in a Court of Law, Senate presumes to invite him over the same matter! Where is integrity? And where is the non-interference mantra that some talk about?

2. Request or expect the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to interfer with any legal proceedings, for that would be obstruction of justice.

Our lawmakers must not be found in the toga of lawbreakers. Let everyone have their day in court, and show by sound evidence why they have the law on their side. And if any prosecutions are "politically motivated", that could not be an acceptable plea or argument of innocency.