Anambra guber: APC clears Godwin Ezeemo for September 2 primaries

Godwin Ezeemo, foremost gubernatorial aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming November 16 election in Anambra State, has been cleared by the party to contest the primary election scheduled for September 2, 2012. This is contrary to rumours that made the rounds yesterday that the renowned philanthropist and business mogul has been disqualified, leaving Chris Ngige as the party’s sole candidate.

Speaking to newsmen in Abuja, Ezeemo, who has consistently maintained that the only way the good people of Anambra could have a befitting governor was if and only if the process of electing the person was free, fair and credible and if all the candidates were given a level-playing field, said his clearance was a sign that internal democracy has come to stay in the party.

Recalling that the primary election to choose the APC flag bearer in the forthcoming election in the state had been mired in controversy ever since some aspirants and their supporters apparently started making deft moves to avoid the primaries, Ezeemo said, “With my clearance, however, the party has demonstrated that it does not intend to be swayed by the gimmicks of those who do not wish to go to the polls to test their popularity but want to take power through the backdoors.”

He further expressed a firm belief that a free and fair primary election for the purpose of electing a flag bearer for the APC in the forthcoming Anambra governorship election would make the party stronger, stressing that in the end, “Anambra people have the ultimate right and final say on who governs them”.

The Godwin Ezeemo Campaign Organisation, therefore, urges all peace-loving people of Anambra State and other well-meaning progressives to come out en masse at the APC office Awka at noon today to give the people’s hero a resounding welcome as well as all the necessary support.

A people without a sense of history

CHUKS OLUIGBO

Many Nigerians do not often remember what happened yesterday. And this inability to remember seems to me the greatest impediment to our nation-building process. There’s a general lack of a sense of history. People don’t remember the past. They just don’t care – or they think it’s not important to remember.

And our politicians know that we have a very short memory, that is why they rape us and plunder our heritage today and come back tomorrow to pat us on the back and beg for our votes only to get back into power tomorrow and start the raping and plundering afresh. They know we won’t remember that we were raped yesterday, even if the aftertaste lingers on our lips, even if their stinking semen is still spattered on our laps.

That is why a man like Ibrahim Babangida who annulled a free and fair presidential election in 1993 would have the effrontery to come out 14 years later and claim to be a democrat and ask to be allowed to contest presidential election in a democratic setting; that is why the newly formed All Progressives Congress (APC), which claims to be progressive, would court this same Babangida to join in their fold; that is why Atiku Abubakar would vilify the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the worst terms imaginable in 2007 when he had a convenience marriage with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) only to come back in 2011 to contest the PDP primaries; that is why Umaru Dikko, who had a huge scandal as chairman of Presidential Task Force on Rice during the Shehu Shagari administration (remember the shameful 1984 ‘Dikko Affair’), would be appointed chairman of PDP disciplinary committee in 2013; that is why the Federal Government would deem it fit to appoint Salisu Buhari, a disgraced former Speaker of the House of Representatives (removed as Speaker for certificate forgery), as a member of the Governing Council of a first-grade university, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; that is why the 2010 Yar’Adua saga is replaying itself, shamelessly, in Taraba State as I write this; that is why politicians recycle the same campaign promises every four years and we are taken in by their eloquence – because we do not remember.

This inability to remember, I think, is also partly responsible for the lack of patriotism we see everywhere in the country. How do you expect patriotism from a generation that does not know the country’s national emblems and what they stand for? How do you expect them to wear clothes with the green-white-green crest instead of the American flag? How do you expect them to watch Nigerian League instead of European League?

Now listen to this: Some weeks back NTA Newsline went to the streets to ask Nigerians to recite the second stanza of the National Anthem. The discovery was terrible – many were not able to remember even the first few words of the anthem, and those who could remember couldn’t go beyond the fourth line. Same with the National Pledge. So, how could they be patriotic? How could they show any form of allegiance to Nigeria? Worse still, it occurred to me that those folks interviewed by NTA Newsline might not be the only culprits. How many of the guys in the ‘hallowed chambers’ of the National Assembly and the state assemblies claiming to make laws for us can say The Pledge without stammering?

Way back in primary school, there used to be a subject called Social Studies, where we were exposed to aspects of Nigerian and world history. That was where we learnt about the traditional nationalists such as King Jaja of Opobo, Nana of Itsekiri and Oba Ovoranmwem Nogbaisi of the Benin Kingdom who stood against European imperialism and paid dearly for it. We also learnt about Herbert Macaulay, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa, Akanu Ibiam, Anthony Enahoro and other nationalists who fought to wrestle Nigeria from the hands of the colonialists. And then we were taught about Mungo Park, The Lander Brothers, David Livingstone, Lord Lugard, Flora Shaw, Florence Nightingale (also called ‘The Lady with Lamp’), Mary Slessor (who stopped the killing of twins in parts of Nigeria), and the other colonialists and the humanitarians who accompanied them. Are subjects like Social Studies and History still being taught in our schools today? And so, really, as P. O. Esedebe, emeritus professor of History at UNN, rightly asks, “How many of our countrymen and women in private employment, public service, politics and business – how many of them have a nodding acquaintance with the history of the nation-state they are serving or aspire to serve?”

Yet our government preaches patriotism. In their bid to immortalise so-called heroes past, successive governments have named universities, airports, stadia, university hostels, streets, major roads, and other monuments after these heroes. Now how many of today’s youths know who these heroes were and what roles they played in the development of the country? For instance, the Enugu airport is named after Akanu Ibiam. Who was Francis Akanu Ibiam and what did he stand for? You’ll be shocked that not up to a handful of people, youths as well as the old, in the South-East know that he was the first Igbo medical doctor. Who was MKO Abiola? Who was S. L. Akintola? What about Anthony Enahoro, Murtala Mohammed, Kenneth Dike, Aminu Kano, Nwafo Orizu, and a host of others?

A people’s history is their pride. There is a saying that a sense of history is a sense of sanity, and not to know what happened before one was born is to remain perpetually a child. Unfortunately, many of our leaders and people view history as a dead past that should be allowed to bury its dead. They tend to believe that there is no connection between the past and the present – and future. But how can you understand the present without reference to the past?

Esedebe’s position on this matter comes in handy: “Nothing can be explained in human affairs without reference to the past. A group of people cannot talk for long without referring to the past. It is the only means whereby we may understand the present. Hence it has been described as the collective memory of mankind. A man who loses memory of what went before will be a man adrift. He would not know where he came from and where he intended to go or what he wanted to do. The same is true of society. History is to society what remembered experience is to the individual. Like individuals, communities strive to learn from their mistakes and derive encouragement from their triumphs.” Enough said.

At Ijegun-Egba jetty, it’s fun all the way

CHUKS OLUIGBO

You do not consider it particularly worth your while at first, especially because you got there about 3pm, a little too early in the day, you will later discover, for the fun to really begin. But you don’t give up. Your friend has told you this place is fun, and you are bent on finding out if all he said was true.

 

So, you look around for a place to sit, then you notice the beautifully arranged concrete platforms on the pavilion facing the seemingly endless water body. You also notice the plastic seats and tables arranged a little farther off, also facing the waterfront, but you opt for the former where you can have a clearer view of the sea. And as you relax, you begin to have a rethink as you feel for the first time the refreshingly cool breeze emanating from the unfathomable, impregnable bowels of the sea. Then, as time lapses, the place begins to fill up, the fun begins in earnest, and you see reason to thank your friend for introducing you to this place.

This is Ijegun-Egba jetty, a place of unending fun, sights and sounds. Facing the high sea which stretches from Badagry to as far as CMS on the Lagos Island, connecting to the Atlantic Ocean on both ends, but which many operators and regular visitors to the place know simply as river, Ijegun-Egba jetty offers more than just fresh sea breeze and relaxation. From the long stretch of the sea to the beautiful greenery comprising coconut and other trees lining the entire length of the shore on the opposite side of the jetty, the array of boats of different colours resting on the walls of the jetty awaiting passengers, boats arriving and taking off from the jetty, or occasional speedboats cruising on top speed on the high sea, you are guaranteed of one thing – your eyes will never lack for beautiful sights.

 

Apart from the pavilion, many relaxation spots dot the whole area around the jetty. In any of these spots suya (chicken and beef), fish (boiled, roasted or grilled), pepper soup and other delicacies, plus an assortment of drinks – from soft drinks to beer and wines – are available on request. And the intriguing thing is that virtually all the spots sit on the edge of the sea so that while chilling with your bowl of grilled fish and beer you are not denied the pleasure of the beautiful sights and the refreshing breeze. Plus a number of daily-needs shops have sprung up to ensure you lack nothing.

Of course, the melodious sounds and party beats coming from the speakers in almost all the joints add to the fun and can make party freaks want to get up and shake their bodies, yet it can at times get too loud for comfort.

If you care, you can take a ride in one of the boats to any of the villages across the sea – Ibasa, Ibeshe, Irede, Ikare, Iyagbe, etc – but your surest bet will be the Ibeshe beach which is another tale of fun on its own. A trip to and from Ibeshe beach will cost you only N400. But if you don’t wish to visit Ibeshe beach or any of the villages, you can simply pay N1,000 for a refreshing boat ride on the high sea.

While on the high sea, you don’t have any reason to fear as life jackets are available for every passenger on board. But accidents are very rare here as the boat operators are usually very careful.

While you catch your fun, you are sure to see mobile photographers hanging around and making gestures at you. Don’t be scared, they are only there to help you capture and document the moment just in case you forgot to come along with your camera.

Developed and promoted by Oriade Local Council Development Area, the jetty, located in the Ijegun-Satellite area of Lagos, off Lagos-Badagry Expressway, is accessible through Finiger bus-stop. When fully developed, it is hoped that ferry service will be available from the jetty to CMS, with provisions for park and ride.

So, welcome to Ijegun-Egba jetty. But before then, here’s a caveat: you may need to bring along your jacket or sweatshirt because the sea breeze can really get very chilly, often defying the heat of the blazing sun – or you might just go back home nursing a cold.

The ‘truth’ Fani-Kayode told the Igbo

CHUKS OLUIGBO

If you want to hear the truth about yourself, the best person to ask is always your enemy because your friend wouldn’t want to hurt you. It’s most likely your enemy who would be bold enough, in a fit of anger, to call you ‘smelly mouth’, and then you would be so ashamed that you would go look for the best and most effective mouthwash in town to cure your halitosis. Your enemy would have done you a world of good. I think this is what Femi Fani-Kayode (FFK) has done for the Igbo, even though I don’t believe he is an enemy.

I will not dwell on all the points that the former aviation minister raised in his article “The bitter truth about the Igbos”, which, understandably, has gone viral on the internet and social media. Just to say that while he was wrong on many counts, choosing to stand history on its head, on the issue of ownership of Lagos, he merely re-echoed what Alhaji Usman Liman said in the Northern House of Assembly in February-March 1964: “North is for Northerners, East for Easterners, West for Westerners, and the Federation is for us all.” Here are portions of Fani-Kayode’s article to illustrate my point:

“I have never heard of a Yoruba wanting to give the impression to the world that he is an Igbo, an Ijaw, an Efik or a Hausa-Fulani or claiming that he is a co-owner of Port Harcourt, Enugu, Calabar, Kano or Kaduna. Yet more often than not some of those that are not of Yoruba extraction but that have lived in Lagos for some part of their lives have tried to claim that they are bona fide Lagosians and honorary members of the Yoruba race. Clearly, it is time for us to answer the nationality question. These matters have to be settled once and for all...

“Lagos and the southwest are the land and the patrimony of the Yoruba and we will not allow anyone, no matter how fond of them we may be, to take it away from us or share it with us in the name of ‘being nice’, ‘patriotism’, ‘one Nigeria’ or anything else. The day that the Yoruba are allowed to lay claim to exactly the same rights and privileges that the indigenous people in non-Yoruba states and zones enjoy and the day they can operate freely and become commissioners and governors in the Niger Delta states, the north, the Middle Belt and the south-east we may reconsider our position. But up until then we shall not do so. Lagos is not a ‘no-man’s land’ but the land and heritage of the Yoruba people. Others should not try to claim what is not theirs...

“Guests, no matter how welcome, esteemed, cherished and valued they are, cannot become the owners of the house no matter how comfortable they are made to feel within it. Those guests will always be guests. Lagos belongs to the Yoruba and to the Yoruba alone. ALL others that reside there are guests, though some guests are far closer to us than others. The Igbos are the least close, the most distant and the least familiar with our customs and our ways.”

Well, I think Fani-Kayode has given the Igbo a raw piece of his mind, and he made sense to me. I’m not particularly interested in what the Nigerian constitution guarantees Nigerian citizens; the constitution has hardly protected any citizen at critical moments. You may also argue that, as a former federal capital, Lagos is a peculiar case, but does that make it any less a Yoruba territory? So, beyond the insults, half-truths and the outright distortion of history that he dished out, what I think FFK has said to the Igbo is this: you may have contributed to the development of Lagos, but you really have no stake when the chips are down. So, go back home and develop your homeland.

If we understand it this way, then it will boil down to the very same thing some of us have been telling ourselves for aeons. Some months ago I did a two-part piece “Igbos, think home!” published in BusinessDay. Before then I had asked, “Are Igbos suffering from collective amnesia?” In “Igbos, think home!” particularly, I urged the Igbo Diaspora to begin to think of returning some of their investments to Igboland. This is basically because, following ugly incidences in many parts of the country in recent times, not a few Nigerians are asking: can this country ever be one? They are right in asking – don’t mind the hullaballoo about centenary celebration.

This is certainly not what we all desire, but for now it’s the reality we know. The Nigeria of our collective dream has yet to happen – a Nigeria where every citizen, irrespective of his ethnic nationality or state of origin, can freely live in any part of the country without any fear of molestation, and be counted as a bona fide citizen of that area and have equal rights and privileges with every other person there without any discrimination, without being constantly reminded of whence he or his father before he came. Until then, let’s continue to think along ethnic lines; let’s continue to live with these primordial divisive sentiments – the very sentiments that Femi Fani-Kayode’s article has again brought to the fore.

So, while we wait for that Nigeria to happen, I continue to urge my Igbo brothers in Lagos to heed Fani-Kayode’s warning and desist from desiring Lagos as their own. Lagos does not and cannot belong to the Igbo. Igbo people in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria should remember that they are in those places to make money. Make your money quietly and go back home to develop your homeland. Let’s stop arousing hatred and jealousy through ostentatious flaunting of wealth. Let’s shed off this forgetfulness, this amnesia that has eaten deep into our fabrics. And let’s stop pursuing an ever-elusive pan-Nigerianism and invest at home. In the Nigeria that we know, Igboland is all we’ve got.

And then, I have to say that I do not believe that FFK spoke for the Yoruba people. But at the same time, I do not doubt that he already has a large followership among the Yoruba youth. If you doubt this, google FFK’s article and read the reactions trailing the post. That is why I expect well-meaning Yoruba elders, in the coming days, to dissociate themselves from FFK’s article and tell him to stop preaching hate. Not to do this is to arouse suspicion of complicity.

To conclude, what I said in the first part of “Igbos, think home!” can bear repeating here: “Supposing, just supposing, considering the vagaries of our daily existence in this hole of a country, something happens to Nigeria right now? Sorry to say, but given the unquantifiable loss the Igbo have suffered, in man and material, in riots across Nigeria since 1953, it would be most tragic if, this time around, the Igbo are caught napping, with all their eggs in one wrecked basket.” A word should be enough for the wise.