THAT ATTEMPTED COUP IN ABIA STATE

THAT ATTEMPTED COUP IN ABIA STATE

Sam Hart

There is no point mincing words. We will call what transpired in Abia State yesterday, June 30, 2016 what it is exactly – an attempted civilian Coup-de-etat.

Or how else do you explain a phenomenon where a Certificate of Return is issued to a private citizen to go and take over as Governor of a State when there is a sitting Governor presiding over the affairs of the State? 

Granted that Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court gave a judgment declaring Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah as the purported rightful Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2015 Governorship elections in Abia State, is the highest court in Nigeria the Federal High Court? What happened to the Court of Appeal? Don’t we have a Supreme Court again?

Is it not a thing of amazement that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under Professor Mahmoud Yakubu that has acquired a reputation for inability to conclude any election no matter how simple, is now suddenly a bastion of efficiency rushing to carry out a court order?!

Watching INEC National Commissioner in charge of the South East, Amb. Lawrence Nwuruku sweat, vibrate, fidget and labour on Channels Television to justify the Certificate of Return they issued to Uche Ogah, it would be glaring to all that there is more to the action they took than meets the eye.

Amb. Nwuruku said that INEC got an order to immediately issue a Certificate of Return to Uche Ogah based on the Federal High Court Ruling which led to the action they took. No mention was made of the Notice of Appeal filed by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and the accompanying injunction stopping anyone from acting on the Federal High Court order pending the determination of the Appeal. It has since emerged that the Notice of Appeal and Stay of Execution was received at INEC Legal Department by a Salisu Ibrahim by 12:50pm on the 29^th of June. Why then proceed to issue Ogah with Certificate of Return on the 30^th? Who’s script are they acting? 

Even non-lawyers and lay men are aware that there are legal and judicial processes of determining a matter. That an attempt was made on the office of the Governor calls for concern as it then means that any individual with means can conspire to overthrow a sitting Government.

Mention has been made of the involvement of Abuja in this matter, mention also has been made of Bourdillon but for now, those mentions can only be left where they are mentioned. The implications of any truth to those mentions are better left unimagined.

Abia is one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria. What is the end-game of the current attempt to plunge the state into anarchy and lawlessness? Are contiguous states immune from a constitutional crisis in Abia State? Is Abuja immune? When you start a fire, there is no telling where the fire will spread to. Let us be careful of setting a dangerous precedent that will have grave implications for our fledgling democracy.

Everyone thought that with the judgment of the Supreme Court affirming Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu as Governor of Abia State, the question of the rightful Governor of Abia State had been put to rest but alas, there is no telling the length of mischief a desperate mind can conjure.

The question then becomes why always Abia? Every other state in Nigeria has concluded electoral litigations and moved on with Governance. Why should the case of Abia State always linger? Why are our elites this way?

In neighbouring Anambra State, virtually all those who opposed the emergence of Chief Willie Obiano as Governor are all working one way or another to help develop the State. Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah was candidate of the Labour Party in the same election that produced Willie Obiano, today, he is the biggest sports philanthropist in the State and has emerged the Chairman of the State Football Association spending huge personal resources to develop the state’s sporting industry. No week goes by without a photograph in the papers of Peter Obi making one donation or the other to schools, churches and associations. What about Dr. Cosmas Maduka of Coscharis? Prince Arthur Eze, etc. they are all complementing the efforts of government in the development of the State.

In Abia State, the story is different. The business and political elites will rather work at cross purposes with the Government and sabotage developmental efforts than work for the betterment of the State.

Everybody is in agreement that Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu is on the right track with the development of Abia State. From infrastructural development to skill acquisition programme for youths to free meals for school pupils, it has been one commendation or the other.

Who then will be the greatest loser in the current political uncertainty playing out in Abia State? The Governor is only but human. No matter how strong he tries to be as a person, he is no doubt affected by what is going on. Contractors and development partners will slow down their commitment to projects in the state and there will be general anxiety.

The one thing I am sure of is that this fight is not even for Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu. The residents of Kamalu Street, Ukaegbu Road, Umuola Road, Ehere Road, Umuocham Road, Dr. Chima Nwafor Road, Oomne Drive, Owerri Road, Echefu Street, ENUC Road, Hospital Road, Jubilee Road, St. Michaels Road, Azikiwe Road, East Road, Park Road, School Road, Pound Road, Okwunka Road, Cameroun Road, Queens Road, Owerrinta Road, Kaduna Street, Abam Road, Awolowo Street, Umuwaya Road, Road II, Federal Low-Cost Housing Estate, Niger Road, Uwalaka Street, Factory Road, Okon-Aku, Imo-NdiNkpa, Abiriba, Nkporo, etc and indeed, the other beneficiaries of the numerous projects Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has been able to put in place within just a year in office with minimal resources will rise up and speak for him.

Most importantly, anybody that tries to sow strife and anarchy in Abia State will reap the attendant consequences. Those who believe their desperation and inordinate ambition supersedes the peace of the state will get what is coming to them.

The Lord shall fight this battle and we shall hold our peace.

Go tell it to all that care to listen; Okezie Victor Chibuikem Ikpeazu is Governor of Abia State until 2023 by the grace of God. Surely they shall gather against him but one by one, they shall all scatter.

Obugi ya ji onweya. Amara Chukwu ji ya aka. Onye na nwa ya na anwa na efu.

This too shall pass.

Peace.

Sam Hart

MR. PRESIDENT, WE ARE NOT FEELING THIS CHANGE

March 22, 2016

His Excellency

Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR

President, C-in-C of the Armed Forces

Federal Republic of Nigeria

State House – Abuja

MR. PRESIDENT, WE ARE NOT FEELING THIS CHANGE

Greetings Mr. President with best regards of the day.

I was prompted to write this letter to you after reading the one written to you by my brother and friend Japhet Omojuwa. It was the inimitable Prof. Chinua Achebe that said that if you do not agree with what someone else has written, then you should write your own. Japhet did not comprehensively speak for me in his letter so I have decided to write my on letter to you.

A caveat sir; this is going to be a frank letter. I will spare you the accolades and commendations. I have a feeling that you are getting a bit too much of them which is why we are where we are. I am going to be as candid as I can be while striving to remain deferential and respectful in accordance with the high office you occupy.

That been said, permit me to go straight to the subject matter of this missive.

POWER COCOON

Mr. President, I am afraid that you have gotten to power and have been so swept up in the cocoon and bubble at the Villa that you have forgotten the people that put you there in the first place. Your appeal has always be the fact that there are people willing to unconditionally stake all they have on the line for you but your attitude since you assumed office has been to display an almost disdainful neglect of your primary constituency. You have come across in recent times as aloof, irritable and impatient with your people. You do not bother to talk to us and when you do, preferably to a foreign news medium during one of your numerous trips abroad, it is always with an air of someone far removed from the daily realities of the people he is governing.

Mr. President, what was that full ceremonial welcome at the Abuja airport complete with a colourful Scottish guard of honour and red carpet all about? In the midst of all the troubles we are daily facing, someone around you thought that that was okay and you basked in it all without a trace of embarrassment? I wager that the old Muhammadu Buhari who was in touch with his loyal faithfuls would not have condoned that charade for whatever it was worth but this new one is so far removed from us that he believed it was okay. Sad. We are watching.

STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONS

Mr. President, permit me to quote American President Barack Obama during his trip to Ghana: “Africa does not need strong men, it needs strong institutions.” Sadly, Mr. President, you have displayed all the trappings of an African strong man who wants to be held over and above the institutions in his country. So far, this presidency has been all about you. Why have you been issuing directives to institutions of state to carry out their statutory functions? Why are you directing EFCC to arrest so so and so? Why do you insist at every interview that CBN will not devalue the Naira? Would it not be better to strengthen these institutions and encourage them to carry out their statutory functions without executive interference? Is there no organic process for these bodies to carry out their functions without the need for a Presidential directive? Mr. President, do us a favour, step back and allow these organs of government perform their functions. Thank you.

WAR ON CORRUPTION

Mr. President, you have not left anyone in doubt about your desire to fight corruption. Indeed, this has been your strongest badge of honour till date. You are indeed fighting corruption but the method leaves a lot to be desired. We are back to the days of elaborate media trials and all noise and zero substance. Mr. President, we have seen this before. It usually does not lead to convictions. After the media cacophony, because time was not devoted to diligent investigation and prosecution, there is usually not enough evidence to convict the accused and they end up walking or the trial takes forever. Would it not be better to gather all the facts and put together a water-tight case before approaching the courts rather than this current tactics of leaking tidbits of on-going investigations to the press and creating a media storm that may not hold water at the end of the day? The other day, it was your official twitter handle tweeting allegations against Col. Sambo Dasuki. How did it get to that level?

Again Mr. President, this is not about you. This is about Nigeria and Nigeria is bigger than you. Kindly ensure that this war on corruption is fought procedurally so that its effect can permeate the system and ensure that never again shall we return to the days of the locust. Already, the initial Buhari fear is waning. Masu gudu sun bari gudu. They have seen that it is all bluster and little depth so they have returned to their old ways. Mr. President, the goats are still very much in the barn and they are having a fill.

BUHARINOMICS

Mr. President, your economic policies are difficult to pin-point. Nigeria is no longer the premier investment destination and things are really difficult. In certain decisions you have taken relative to economic policies, it is as if you are engaged in the Criminalisation of enterprise. From the Forex regime to economic policies, it has been one befuddling confusion after another. Surely, we can do better than this. And while we are on this topic, it is no longer expedient to blame Goodluck Jonathan for everything wrong with Nigeria. You have been in charge for 10 months sir. Start showing us your own workings and stop blaming others.

OSTENTATIOUS GOVERNMENT

Mr. President, under your watch, we are poor yet we are acting rich. I am hard-pressed to find justification for your retention of the full Presidential Air Fleet 10 Months into your administration. Your greatest personal attribute is your frugality and your disdain for ostentation but it sadly has not reflected in your Presidency. I know you have heard of the Magufuli effect in Tanzania. Where then is the Buhari effect in Nigeria? Where is the cut-back on wastages? Where is the attitudinal adjustment to our economic realities? Some of the provisions in the 2016 budget make it difficult to take this change serious. Not just you but your Ministers are living large. Upon their inauguration, a statement was issued that Ministers will only move with two cars. We all applauded but alas, we did too early. That was a hoax. Your Ministers drive by in Abuja daily in convoys of upwards of 7 cars complete with Pilot and Escort vehicles. Where is the change?

SOCIAL REALITIES
Mr. President, let me make this as clear as possible: There is suffering in the land and I do not see any urgency on your part to fix this. From the difficulty in getting fuel to worsening power situation and so on, Nigerians are groaning.

Your Ministers have been largely ghost workers since their inauguration. If it was a private company with 6-month probationary perform-or-be-sacked policy, they would all be gone because there is no sign of their impact after 6 months of their appointments.

What we are getting daily is you and your party denying promises that were made to us during the campaigns or waiving them aside like unrealistic demands of truculent children. Incidentally, they were not demands, they were promises freely made by you and your party to Nigerians as benefits of change from the former party to your party. Now that you have been elected, you are distancing yourself from those promises. We are observing. You will need our votes again.

CONCLUSION
Mr. President, this is the truth and perhaps the most important message in this letter: You are losing your most ardent supporters. Those who used to vociferously defend you all over the place are not so bothered anymore. They either keep quiet when you are being castigated or worse, join the complainants. Granted that you have good intentions for Nigeria but the truth remains that intentions are not enough. Ability must match intentions and at the moment, there is a disconnect between your good intentions and the demonstrated ability to implement them. There is something that your political advisers failed to tell you in the euphoria of your electoral victory last year. Granted that a lot of people voted for you as a person but there is yet an army who voted not necessarily for you but AGAINST the status quo obtainable at the time due to disappointment with the way things were. Those ones are independent thinkers and they are not beholden to your party or your persona and trust me, they are in the majority.

This is no longer about Jonathan supporters and Buhari supporters. This is about Nigeria and the way forward. I am involved. You are my President until at least 2019 and you are accountable to me. I write you this out of a sense of patriotic obligation in the hope that you will take the contents to heart and make the necessary adjustments. I do need you to succeed. I need Nigeria to be great for my children and I. I trust you to do the needful failing which, 2019 is not far away. We will meet at the polling booth.

Regards sir.

Sam Hart

hartng@gmail.com

ALBERT CHINUALUMOGU ACHEBE - 1930 - 2013

Albert Chinualumogu Achebe; 1930 – 2013

On Monday, March 18, 2013, I had a 10am appointment to keep in Zaria, Kaduna State in Northwest Nigeria. I arrived Zaria minutes before 10am but a bereavement in the palace of the Emir (Traditional Ruler) of the town meant that everyone of prominence in the town had to be at the Emir’s Palace to commiserate with him – including my hostess.

The meeting that was to have held by 10am did not hold until 10pm that same day. I did not know how the time flew. I was engrossed. It turns out I have always had a copy of Chinua Achebe’s ‘There Was a Country’ in my car but I had not quite gotten around to reading it due to a packed schedule save for the introductory chapter. Thus, it happened that for the 12 hours I was idle in Zaria waiting for the person I came to see, I was engrossed in reading the book and it was a captivating read.

Granted that I have read a couple of works by Chinua Achebe, as all post-teen Nigerians doubtless have, ‘Things Fall Apart’ being the natural poster-book for us all, I felt an unusual closeness to Chinua Achebe as I was reading ‘There Was A Country’ for the book was indeed an intimate account of his life and times. The smooth-flowing prose favoured by Chinua Achebe meant that any reader of his work can easily be transposed to the scene of the event to capture a 3D-like appreciation of the events being narrated by the writer.

Thus it was that within the same week I had finished reading ‘There Was a Country’ and the life of Chinua Achebe still very fresh in my consciousness, the news came that he had passed on. I must confess that the news of his death shocked and saddened me far more than I ever thought it would especially for someone I supposedly did not know. But there lies the greatness of Albert Chinualumogu Achebe. Even for those who never met him, the moment you read his work, you instantly share a bond of affinity with him that cannot be translated. He lives in your heart and his works influence you in more ways than you may care to admit.

A couple of points are worthy of note regarding the life and death of Chinua Achebe.

1. Virtually all the people he mentioned as his contemporaries in school went on to become great and renowned people in their diverse fields of endeavour. From politics to medicine, law and the arts, his generation was a treasure trove of excellent achievers who made their families and nations proud. An appreciation of this fact immediately leads to a depressing comparison of the quality of education they received compared to what is obtainable today. The schools he mentioned where their young and fecund minds were nurtured to excellence have since run to seed. They are a shadow of themselves and there is virtually nothing cheer-worthy coming out from them from the least to the highest of them. Imagine if our standard of education had continues like it was in the days of Chinua Achebe and his peers? It would have been that a great percentage of the population in Nigeria and Africa would have been great minds developed to the maximum thus translating into rational thinking and intelligent decisions which would have engendered human, material, political and socio-economic progress for us all.

2. The news of Chinua Achebe’s demise was first broken by Nigerian news organizations before their western counterparts got in on the act. If you are active on twitter, you would have noticed that the first news, albeit cautiously, came from a couple of Nigerian-run news websites before other mainstream international media caught on and confirmed the story. That is a clear departure from the past where Africans rely on the western media for breaking news on events happening to Africans.

3. And most gratifying is the unanimity and seemingly boundless scope of the grief that poured in at the confirmation of the news of his death. It was as if the world was united in mourning Chinua and it was a most fitting tribute and testament to the life and times of Chinua Achebe that world leaders were writing dirges and elegies for him. Virtually every major news organization locally and internationally had something to say about his life and death. From New York to Tokyo, London to Johannesburg, Stockholm to the Caribbeans, everyone had a story about Chinua Achebe to share. Most touchingly, the Nigerian Media celebrated one of the greatest Nigerians to have lived. The day after he died, major dailies devoted their front pages to images of Chinua Achebe with several of them writing front page Editorials and devoting multiple pages to carrying countless reactions to his death locally and internationally. No man could wish for a more honorific tribute upon his moment of passing to the great beyond.

4. Did Chinua Achebe know that he was on his way home? ‘There Was a Country’ was released a couple of months ago and it contained explosive materials, information and opinions that meant that the book was debated – and is still being debated – rather heatedly thus ensuring its popularity and widespread readership. Chinua Achebe the great storyteller ensured that he told his own story shortly before going home. As he admonished in one of his works, if you do not like the story that someone has told, tell your own story.

Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, great son of Africa, literary icon, voice of integrity and probity, the great Iroko, a lion of his tribe in every ramification, trailblazer, hope-inspirer, griot, wordsmith, erudite storyteller, nwakaibeya, ezi nwafor Ogidi, Naa n’udo.

PIB, CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW AND OTHER RELATED MATTERS

PIB, CONSTITUTION REVIEW AND OTHER RELATED MATTERS

Nigerians are a peculiar people. It is very easy to get our temperatures to rise. We like getting angry without properly understanding what is getting us angry. Various factors are responsible for our anger. 1. Sometimes, we are angry because we do not have the full picture of a situation and the extent to which we are informed is offensive to our sensibilities. This type of anger can be staved off by making sure that the full picture is presented at all times. Where it is a government agency presenting the information, then massive sensitization must be carried out to ensure that most (it is impossible for all to agree) of the populace understand what the policy is all about. 2. Other times, we get angry because some people we look up to for directions or like they say in twitterland, our overlords, are angry hence, it is only natural that we join in the anger. This type of anger is quite dangerous. It defies reason and commonsense, it is borne out of the need to please another person and maybe curry some favour from them. In street parlance, it is called ‘buying the case’. You get angrier than the supposed offendee and bring down the roof. Larger goals are subverted and an otherwise good cause is truncated because someone needs to be seen to be angry.

3. The third and base reason for our anger is financially induced anger. It is just below the anger for the benefit of the overlord. This time around, you have sold your right to even think and rationalize the situation for yourself. You have been paid to do a bidding and you must do it. At regular intervals, we are entertained by placard carrying people at the gate of the National Assembly voicing their displeasure over one matter or another. Sometimes, when you call one of those young men or women aside to enquire what the cacophony is about, you get a blank stare. They usually scream the loudest and are ever willing to turn violent if need be. They are of a dangerous specie.

4. Now every once in a while, there is actually genuine anger because rights are being subverted and latitude is being taken which if unchallenged, could grievously harm the interests of individuals or sometimes, large sections of the populace hence the need to speak up.

Every follower of events in the National Assembly will notice that on a regular basis, tempers flare up. Within and outside the legislature, issues tabled for discussion on the floors of the two chambers of our National Assembly are scrutinized, analyzed and thoroughly fleshed out to be sure that there are no hidden motives behind them other than what is visible to the naked eye.

At the moment, the two hottest items on the table in the National Assembly are the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and the Constitution Amendment Bill. The PIB has been pulled and dragged from all directions and it has been pummeled, vilified, defended and harangued by different sections of the populace according to interests sought to protect. If you look closely at all those shouting for or against the PIB from their rooftops, you will be able to situate them amongst one of the four groups of angry people enumerated above. My only fear is that most of those who are angry may end up falling among the first three categories of angry people and only a fraction will pass the 4^th test.

From Oil Companies to politicians, lawmakers to youth leaders, Governors to Community Chiefs, everybody has weighed in on the PIB and tempers have risen on numerous occasions complete with vociferous cross-country exchange of broadsides and attendant threats. You have to be inhuman not to feel some pity for Madam Diezani Allison Madueke. The amount of time she has devoted to pitching the merits of the PIB is enough to get a major enterprise going but it just seems as if the more she tries to convince us all of the wonders of the PIB, the more determined opponents of the bill become that it will not see the light of the day or as a compromise, if it does, the chunk of flesh in the Bill would have been stripped living it a skeleton of its original incarnation.

To make matters worse, the PIB contains too much big grammar and rocket science-like terminologies to make it easy for a lay man to understand. The way we are wired, we are naturally suspicious of anything that is not readily understandable to a layman. It can then be argued that most of the opposition to the PIB is coming from those who do not at first reading, understand what it is all about. If it contains all these high-falluting technical phrases, then there is something fishy about it. Why wasn’t it written in plain English? Were the framers trying to pull wool over some people’s eyes? Ah. Lots of questions, few answers.

I sincerely hope that by the time the PIB is eventually passed, it will still have enough substance to meet the aspirations of its originators.

The 2^nd issue that is generating equal if not proportional heat is the attempt to comprehensively review our constitution. Initially, there were calls for a conference to discuss Nigeria. The champions of those calls irked our Lawmakers by prefixing their conference with the term ‘Sovereign’. The argument from our ebullient Lawmakers was that as elected representatives of the people, the mantle has fallen on them to speak on behalf of their constituents so exactly on what premise, authority or representation would the SNC purveyors be congregating?

Finally, the National Assembly took up the gauntlet and after some emergency amendments to serve the purpose of the last general elections, they decided to carry out a comprehensive review of the document some naysayers still insist does not represent the aspirations of ‘We the People’ as it was handed down to us by the military.

In Nigeria, best intentions – whenever they can be found – do not always play out the way we planned them. Already, brickbats are flying and tempers are simmering. A previous attempt to present the report of the Committee that undertook a nationwide tour to ascertain the wishes of the people was aborted. Fresh invitations have been sent out inviting all stakeholders to a rescheduled date for the presentation of the reports. Already, feelers are that some initially muted objectives of the exercise have been truncated. Others were either stillborn or declared dead on arrival. There are threats that if a zone doesn’t get A, then another zone will not get B. State Creation, Local Government Autonomy and Revenue Allocation formulae are some of the hot-button subjects the Lawmakers are trying to address. Angry people are being mobilized on all sides of the divide and they have been put on notice to express their anger once the report does not contain certain expectations.

Anger is good, anger is a motivator, anger is important but at least, get angry for yourself and not because you feel you need to or because you were asked to or worse, because you were paid to.

@hartng

WE ARE ALL VERY SELFISH PEOPLE

On Monday, April 1, 2013, in the spirit of the celebration of Easter, and as an annual tradition, the church I attend, The Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA) decided to organize an outreach visitation to a remote community where we would go bearing good tidings in form of items of clothing, foodstuff, a mobile clinic and generally share love with a people who ordinarily would not have had anything to celebrate.

So it was that for this year’s Easter outreach programme, we chose a community by the name Dobi in Gwagwalada Area Council of Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory. Gwagwalada is about 80 kilometers away from the Abuja City Centre while Dobi is a further 50 kilometers from Gwagwalada main town inside the recesses of the council.

We set out from Abuja at about 10am and there were more that 200 cars with an average 3 people inside every car. On our way, we soon ran out of tarred roads and had to do about half the journey from Gwagwalada on dirt roads. It was ironic that such a rustic community existed a mere 130 kilometers from the razzmatazz, affluence and scenic splendour that is Nigeria’s capital city.

Upon arrival at Dobi, we headed to the community centre which is essentially the open play field of the local, government-run primary school in the community. Upon sighting the obvious strangers, the people of the community started coming out – cautiously at first and later, upon ascertaining that we meant no harm, they trouped out enmasse to welcome their august visitors.

We soon organized them and started off with medical attention for kids (immunization, de-worming, essential vitamins and other preventive medications against sundry ailments). We had enough doctors on the team and they soon set up on-site consultations and issued prescriptions which were dispensed by the on-site pharmacy – all free of charge.

From medicals, we moved them to the section where they got clothings, footwares, foodstuff, mosquito nets and other essential necessities. It was a scene of joy, of gratitude and of appreciation.

The church had earlier sunk a borehole for the community as the closest water source hitherto was kilometers away – and the water was of suspect hygienic condition.

At some point, we decided to go into the houses to attend to those who were too ill, too old or too weak to come to the field. We took the goodies to them into their houses. Those whose medical conditions we could not handle onsite, we referred them to the Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital with whom we had made an arrangement for free treatment of those we would be referring to them.

One thing struck me as we were engaged in that outreach at Dobi on April 1, 2013; we are really all very selfish people!

Here we were in a community without electricity. The only water they have being the one we sunk for them. Life in this community consists of joining the community engagement of farming as soon as you can put one step in front of the other.

We saw kids that were content to wear faded and worn out clothes, footwares were a luxury, kids of indeterminate futures, kids that have obviously started out in life with a handicap. A handicap of location, a handicap of backwardness, a handicap of no access to essential necessities of life. Yet we live in jaded oblivion an hour’s drive away from them. We whine about irregular power supply, we raise a mighty ruckus when we can’t get the toys we want (adults have toys too) and we generally carry on in a huff whenever we are subjected to the slightest discomfort.

The children of Dobi did not choose where they were born. The children of other locations where they experience strife and turmoil making it impossible to have what you and I consider a normal upbringing did not choose where they were born either. We were fortunate to be born into the families and communities that we were born into which afforded us a head start of education, civilization and a promise that if you follow a certain path, fair chances are that your life will be guaranteed a progressively positive outcome.

So what do we do with all that privilege, we whine, we eat and throw away the leftovers. We keep clothes in our wardrobes that we do not wear in years, we crumple our nose and contort our faces at the slightest discomfiture. We have grown to believe that so long as we and our immediate family are comfortable, then it’s all good.

We are simply put, very selfish people!

The people of Dobi thought me a lesson. It’s not just enough to perfunctorily stop by at a motherless babies home on your birthday every year, it’s not just enough to selectively give to the needy, it’s not just enough to be nice to your neighbour. It’s a good place to start but it’s not the destination. The decision we must all take is to remember those who were not as fortunate as we were. As God blesses you and you advance in life, do not think of yourself alone. Spare a thought for those who did not choose where they were born. A borehole, a new class room block, books, clothes, a community skills centre, an irrigation project, whatever your income bracket, there is a project that you can execute at a community like Dobi near to you.

If we all make a conscious decision to spare a thought for those who are not as fortunate as we are, then perhaps, we will stop being as selfish as we all apparently and incidentally are.

WHO DO NIGERIAN YOUTHS LOOK UP TO?

I grew up in the North. I was born in Sokoto State which probably qualifies as the nethermost part of Northern Nigeria. I attended a Secondary School dominated by children and wards of the Sultan and his ranking cabinet members.

I lived briefly with an Uncle whose house was adjacent the Sultan’s Palace. This afforded me the opportunity to befriend members of the Sultan’s household and earned me visitations at the Sultan’s Palace.

I was equally exposed to the Northern idiosyncrasy, their beliefs and general view of life. I can recite several Quranic passages and I’m quite comfortable around my Muslim friends. The only line I did not cross is becoming a Muslim despite the earnest persuasions of my friends and classmates. Save for the resort to extremism by certain misguided elements in the Islamic faith, the average Northerner is a nice guy. Their word is usually their bond and they take life quite easily.

They are not moved by ostentation and unbridled ambition. The average northerner is not thinking of building ten houses and having ten cars parked in major capitals of Nigerian and foreign countries. His religion has thought him to be Spartan, contented and unobtrusive.

That is why I agree with northern elders who frown at the ‘westernisation’ of core northern norms and values. They fear that the undue embrace of western cultures will erode the core values of the north.

It is for this reason that you see a shoe repairer or your neighbourhood ‘aboki’ who sells sweets and detergents being able to support two wives and several children. They simply cannot be bothered about the aspirations and pressures of the corporate world.

That is why they can sleep soundly and snore to boot because they are a contented lot.
As someone who grew in the North, I was able to inculcate some of those cultures of northerners. I am a full blooded Igboman but I am not moved by what moves my peers. I live and work in Umuahia, Abia State but I sense an underlining difference in values between our people and others. Here, you have to ‘gbuo ozu’ to be reckoned with.

The word itself should have sounded an alarm to those who live by its dictates. The literal meaning of ‘Igbu Ozu’ is killing a corpse! Its figurative meaning is that you have acquired wealth. You have arrived. You have bidden goodbye forever to the shackles of poverty. That is all that matters and however you attain that feat is your problem. Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson must have been talking about us when he sang Get Rich or Die Trying.

Whatever happened to the old order of live honestly, go to school, get a job and rise through the ranks? For instance, I know people who are not necessarily rich but yet, they are icons of society. I know a Bob Ogbuagu, I know an Anagha Ezikpe, I know a Joshua Ogbonnaya, a Bath Nnaji, Earnest Ojukwu and several others who though not rich by worldly reckoning, live a distinguished and honourable life. Why can’t they be our role models?

I am worried, very worried about a trend that has crept into the Nigerian system unnoticed and seemingly unchecked. Our youths no longer have value for hardwork, diligence, contentment and patience. They want it all and they want it now.

Ask the average Nigerian youth who his hero or role model is today and chances are that he will mention the name of the neighbourhood fraud kingpin and the dishonest politician. They are awed by the flashy cars, the bevy of beauties that flock around them and the humongous houses they live in. nobody pauses to ask how the wealth came about because it is all seemingly immaterial.

He more often than not has a retinue of youths hanging around him and aping him. They pimp for him, do errands for him that their parents should never hear of and they hope to be like him some day.
More often than not, he is not educated or at best, ill-educated yet he is a role model to many. As the rave of the moment twins P-Square will say, I dey See Danger, Wahala Dey!

The other day, I was reading in the news about the scandalous mass failure in NECO examinations nationwide. This is Nigeria. We have since moved on and the media that cried blue murder have since latched unto other news. We all can’t be bothered so long as we are not immediately affected.

Every Nigerian is a Local Government unto himself. PHCN does not give us light, no problem, we purchase a generator, no pipe-borne water, we sink a borehole. Our schools are in shambles, we send our children to private schools, no qualified doctors at our public hospitals, we go to private hospitals or for those that can afford it, they go abroad. Nobody is asking questions. If others can’t afford it, it’s their problem. Yet we expect all to be well.

Now the question is, for how long shall we continue like this? Nigerians are the most travelled people. By the Grace of God and the benevolence of my employers, I have been privileged to travel to 10 countries and about 14 States in America.

Each time I want to travel and I get to the airport, I am struck by the mammoth crowd at the airport waiting to ‘check out’. 80% of those who travel do not intend to return until they can ‘show’ that neighbour, aunty, girlfriend, etc who thought they would never be up to any good. How they intend to acquire the means to show these people is anybody’s guess.

On airplanes and at International airports, I see top government officials. Nigerians are the most travelled people on earth. Now the question is why can’t we translate what we see abroad to positive developments back home? Why are we condemned to wallow in mediocrity and backwardness?

I came to Abuja in 1998. I joined the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Desire of Nations Parish and I can say that that was the beginning of the change in my life. I listened to thought provoking messages by my Pastors, Ikenna Okeke, Odun Emeasealu, Kingsley Uluocha, Austin Ekhakheme, etc. I had leaders in Okey Chikwendu, Bona Nwosu, Bankole Okpashi, Rogers Nwoke, Tolu Jinadu, Mudi, Femi Blaize, Okey Uche and the likes.

The church was a conglomeration of young professionals who knew where they were going to. Average age was 32 and everyone was up beat and positive. We stuck together, shared in each other’s joys and pains and watched each other grow. It was very easy to aspire to greatness because you could see greatness all around you. Young professionals who were diligent in what they did and who were all evidently headed for the top of their various callings.

Now why can’t we replicate that spirit nationwide? Am I being idealistic? You decide. Why can’t we uphold diligence, patience, hardwork and perseverance as a means to nation-building? Each and every youth has a chance at being an Oil Company Executive, a Bank Manager, or a top executive somewhere.

I have friends schooling abroad. One is in his final year reading Law and already, he has offers from top Wall Street firms queuing up to sign him up on mouth watering offers once he graduates. He is not thinking of Yahoo, he is not thinking of being a drug courier. He is actually keeping them all waiting while he concentrates on passing his bar exams!

Now we don’t all have to work for firms when we leave school. I was in Paris in February for an African Leadership Conference and the Guest Speaker was Mo Ibrahim of Celtel. He traced Africa’s problem to our mode of education. He advocated a paradigm shift in our University system from the current professional curricula which prepares our graduates for the job market to entrepreneurial approach to education which enables our students aspire to start up a business when they leave school.

Now my head is not in the sky. I know there are impediments to that approach in Nigeria from the seemingly intractable power conundrum to the Olympian climb of getting capital for new businesses but for as long as there are people who have surmounted those challenges, we can make it.

I have an NGO, Caring Heart Foundation, which I am using to pair young students with successful executives and entrepreneurs in the society. I believe we can all do something about this situation in our various stations and together, we can contribute our own quota towards the building of a truly great and forward-looking Nigeria.