'GEJ na my oga, I must to do better for am'

I just read Dr. Abati’s piece in defence of President Goodluck Jonathan and I was shocked by the initial name calling on Dr. Abati’s part then I remembered that Abati now has competition in the person of Dr. Doyin Okupe.

Dr. Abati refers to Mr. President’s critics as “…all the cynics, the pestle wielding critics, the unrelenting, self appointed activists, the idle and the idling, twittering, collective children of anger, the distracted crowd of Facebook addicts, the BBM-pinging soap opera gossips of Nigeria …army of sponsored and self-appointed anarchists” Now the question I have is: did Dr. Abati belong to this group of ‘anarchists’ when he was a critic himself or is he exempt because he dished out his own criticism in erudite language from the op-eds of national dailies rather than the  ‘open access’  social media?

Dr. Abati also goes on to describe these critics, whom he obviously dislikes a great deal, as ‘unintelligent people’ who spew ‘stupid clichés’! This poses another question: is the yardstick for intelligence and wisdom unquestioning support for President Jonathan?

I know Dr. Abati is doing the job he was paid to do (Mr. Akinnaso take note, Dr. Abati is paid to defend Mr. Jonathan and not just  Federal  Government policy) but I would have expected him to be a bit more circumspect in his language.  After all he is trying to show ‘unintelligent people’ a better way, he is trying to enlighten the ignorant ‘soap opera gossips’ of Nigeria and I had hoped that Dr. Abati, with all his ‘intelligence’, would have adopted a fact based but persuasive style of argument.  Does one convince ‘unrelenting pestle wielders’ to have a change of heart by hurling insults and being shamelessly condescending?

Whilst reading Dr. Abati’s piece, I could almost hear the desperation in Dr. Abati’s tone and it made me wonder who the desperate party is in all this – is President Jonathan desperate for good press or is Dr. Abati desperate to keep his job? Dr. Abati seems to have forgotten that President Goodluck Jonathan is in office because a large section of these ‘unintelligent’ people voted for him and by that token Dr. Abati earns an income because these ‘distracted facebook addicts’ pay taxes!

Even if one were to take Dr. Abati’s article at face value and decide to examine the ‘facts’ of his arguments in defence of his boss, what can any ‘intelligent’ person (Dr. Abati has no time for unintelligent people) eke out of his article?  What is the crux of Dr. Abati’s argument except “take my word for it, I’m very close to Mr. President, I dine with him so I know him better than all you distant rabble rousers” Why should anyone take his word for it? He is not exactly a neutral third party who is just doing what he believes to be morally right in this matter; Dr. Abati is literally writing for his ‘bread and butter’!

Finally, I can’t help but wonder why a temperate, intelligent, humble and tireless servant of the people, at least that is what his ‘close personal aide’ or in social mediaspeak ‘BFF’ would like us to believe, needs not one but two spin doctors.

Poor Dr. Abati

Opinion editorials are never unbiased because they simply express opinions; in fact, it is the height of naiveté to think that anything you read in the papers is unbiased (even scientific/academic research can be manipulated to suit a desired outcome). In the light of this, I am not going to point out the obvious leanings of the authors of the editorials I refer to in this blog; after all, we all have friends and loved ones and it is only natural to want to showcase their best sides. It is a natural instinct to speak up for a friend. It shows loyalty and consistency when we stand by those we call friends in the face of adversity and for this reason I can sympathise with Dr. Reuben Abati’s friends in the media. I have read two articles in as many weeks in defence of the beleaguered erstwhile social critic and I’m beginning to wonder if there’s some sort of ‘Rehabilitate Abati’ movement unfolding.

Be that as it may, sometimes it is possible to expose more than was intended in defence of a friend. For instance, I never knew that the late Chairman of The Guardian Newspapers advised Abati against working for the Government but Mr. Sabella Abidde revealed this in his column in The Punch Newspaper 2 weeks ago. Now, that in itself is telling, coming from a man who knew firsthand what working for the Nigerian Government can entail for the well meaning citizen who longs to change the system from ‘within’; needless to say, Dr. Abati did not heed that particular piece of advice. 

Mr. Akinnaso, on the other hand, decided to resort to hair splitting to show the tenuous distinction between Dr. Abati’s and Dr. Doyin Okupe’s roles. He subtly implied that Dr. Abati’s role is nobler than Dr. Okupe’s because the former is about defending policy while the latter is about defending the person; he explicitly states that Dr. Okupe, and not Abati, is the attack dog. I find this argument rather facetious because policies are not spontaneous occurrences, devoid of human input. Every policy has a human being at its core, people conceive policies so it is unnecessary nitpicking to say someone is defending policy and the other one is defending the person behind the policy. Any honest person will admit that the policies of a political leader are the yardstick by which his/her character is judged, so if you defend dishonest, anti-people and retrogressive policies, it also means that you defend a dishonest, anti-people and retrogressive policy maker. I do not have the privilege of knowing how Mr. President treats his household pets (if he has any) or his next door neighbours, his policies (or lack of them) are the only insights I have into his character.

Back to the issue of unintentionally revealing too much in the heat of passionate defence, I never knew (i.e. before reading Mr. Akinnaso’s article) that Dr. Abati’s job description did not include defending the person but only the POLICY. Abati could have fooled me with all his utterances during the massive protests against the removal of fuel subsidy earlier this year. From the information generously provided by Mr. Akinnaso, it is safe to say that Dr. Abati went way beyond his remit on several occasions. During the uproar against the removal of fuel subsidy, Mr. Abati didn’t just defend the POLICY, he went further to criticize the people who dared to challenge the President. He expressed his disgust at people who did not ‘respect’ the person and office of the President. The ‘disrespect’ he referred to was the people’s anger against an unpopular policy (the last time I checked we were living in a democracy and not under an absolute monarch who must not be questioned)

My advice for Dr. Abati’s sympathisers: please sympathise a bit more discreetly in order to save the last shreds of your friend’s dignity; these articles do not help his cause. They only draw more attention to Dr. Abati’s waning popularity and get people wondering why such a ‘good’ man is suddenly in need of such strident defence.

individuals make up the collective

“The Black race is still at war against poverty, against disease, ethnic conflicts and underdevelopment. This must be addressed. There is the need for Nigeria and Jamaica and indeed the rest of the world, to come together to reduce the level of those artificial forces that have kept the majority of our people from making progress” - President Goodluck Jonathan.

I read this excerpt from Mr. President’s speech in Abimbola Adelakun’s op-ed today and I couldn’t help but wonder if the President’s speech writer was writing tongue in cheek. Was s/he trying to tell GEJ something? I wondered how anybody with any iota of responsibility could read that speech with a straight face.

Is Mr. Jonathan not the person in charge of a Government that oversees staggering corruption? In my view, the sheer scale of corruption in Nigeria guarantees poverty, disease and ethnic conflict. Is he not the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in a country where a violent group kills and maims at will just because they can whilst our president wrings his hands helplessly and alludes to forces trying to bring down his Government? Persecution complex aside, I would have thought that somebody with the might of the state behind him would be able to take on adversaries with courage; after all he flexed his muscles when peaceful protesters were trying ‘destabilise his government’ by demonstrating against the removal of fuel subsidy.

 This is the President of the country where the citizenry do not have a right to enjoy the benefits of being from an oil rich country whilst those who are fortunate enough to get into Government either by election, selection or patronage distribute it amongst themselves in the guise of allocations, appropriations, contracts and subsidy payments! I am glad that Mr. Jonathan used the word artificial to describe the problems of the black race which means that he knows that they are man-made. The problems facing the continent and black people everywhere can no longer be laid squarely on the shoulders of the former slave and colonial masters, they may have created the right atmosphere but most of our present day problems have been created by the black race and it is time the leadership started shouldering their responsibilities. 

As the saying goes ‘charity begins at home’ and Mr. Jonathan hasn’t exhibited the will to tackle all the so called ‘artificial forces’ that have kept the majority of Nigerians from making progress. And come to think of it, Nigerians represent the majority of the African race as the country accounts for about 15 -16% of the African population and up to 25% of the black African population. If Mr. Jonathan decides to stay at home and tackle poverty, disease and ethnic conflicts in Nigeria, it would go a long way in solving the collective problems of the Black race.  

I am tired of Nigerian leaders who jet around in style from country to country to proffer solutions to the ‘black’ problem while forgetting to deal with the Nigerian problem.  I don’t know if our President has ever heard of the Latin saying nemo dat quod non habet; before going abroad to talk about collective solutions, he should remember that individuals make up the collective. He should reflect deeply on what he as an individual leader has done or contributed to alleviating poverty, disease and ethnic conflicts in his own sphere of influence.

why should we give a damn?

I love watching the Olympics. I don’t know why but I think it’s an event that reflects the best of human character. At the Olympics, I see achievements gained against all odds, I see determination and tenacity and I see the discipline that is reflected in the final performances. At the Olympics, I discover a sympathetic and empathetic side of myself; I am tremendously happy for the gold medallist who obviously deserves his/her medal and I’m sad for the unfortunate athletes who lost out on medals in spite of their best efforts. As a Christian, I’m also aware of Ecclesiastes 9:11 being fulfilled in some of the competitions because at times, the underdog takes the medal (did anyone watch the 200m men’s butterfly event?)

 The London 2012 Olympics has been fantastic to watch and for now it’s my sole source of TV viewing. As a citizen of the world it is pleasant viewing but as a Nigerian…in BlackBerryspeak ‘can’t watch’. I don’t know what I expected but I just felt that a country of over a 150m people should be able to excel at something.

I know that serious Olympic medal contenders generally start preparing more than 2 months to the games but that didn’t stop me from hoping for a bronze medal at the very least. I know that the performance of our athletes in London is just a reflection of the Nigerian situation but the performances of countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa made me hopeful. These countries have their own share of poverty, disease and corruption but they still managed to get onto the medals table; in fact South Africa is in the top twenty on the medals table. Some racists might say that it is the South Africans with the paler complexions that are getting on to the medals table and I am going to say it is the South Africans with the darker complexions that have been in leadership for over 20 years so they must be doing something right as far as sports is concerned. Anyway being black doesn’t preclude superior performance; the track events are virtually dominated by the black race so why can’t the most populous black nation get a medal? To further buttress my point, the reigning king of the tracks is a black man after all.  

There are certain sports that require lots of financial investment in order to achieve Olympic medals and this explains the dominance of the richer countries at the top of the medals table. However, Kenya and Ethiopia have dominated middle distance and long distance races long enough for me to know that money isn’t all that is needed for stellar Olympic performance. If it was merely a question of money, then Nigeria should be light years ahead of several of her sub-Saharan African counterparts.

Nigeria’s performance at the Olympics is a reflection of poor planning, selfish leadership and a cringe worthy celebration of mediocrity. We have become a country that doesn’t “give a damn” about excelling at home or abroad. And why should we care anyway? What does it mean to be Nigerian? What does Nigeria exemplify? Until we can collectively answer these questions positively, national excellence will remain an illusion.