The Lords of Chaos

The Lords of Chaos

There is a city called Lagos

Home to the Lords of Chaos,

Bearing the Colours of Jaundice and Hades

They abhor order!

A melee is always better

There’s a constant belligerent battle; the arena?

Everywhere there’s tar

No one escapes unscathed

How do I know? Look around you

And you’ll see that almost every chariot is smeared,

With the Colours of the Lords of Chaos.

The "City" without Walls

2012 was a year of missed opportunities by the Jonathan administration.  The N2.3trn scam in the oil sector, ironically uncovered by the government’s attempt to foist higher fuel prices on the populace, was a great big opportunity to send a resounding message about corruption. The hearings at the House of Representatives were televised, published and analyzed daily. Some of the less jaded amongst us waited with bated breath for the torrent of consequences, we thought to ourselves “surely heads will roll; this level of corruption cannot be swept under the carpet…not even in Nigeria” It’s been over a year now and no one has gone to jail, Diezani-Allison Madueke is still the Minister for petroleum and the ‘subsidy’ gravy train is still rolling. The other big scandal of the year also emanated from the subsidy probe – Farouk Lawan and the $500,000 bribe allegedly stuffed into his cap and garment pockets. Guess what? Lawan is still a member of the House of Representatives and he’s never been prosecuted. The bribe giver cum whistle blower, Otedola has never been questioned about his role in the whole fiasco. In fact, he remains very close to the Presidency as an ‘economic’ adviser.

Also in 2012 the newspapers were awash with stories of how Governor Fashola ‘arrested’ a colonel and a staff sergeant for driving on the dedicated BRT lane. All The articles had a triumphant ring to them; it was if someone was finally standing up to the inherent lawlessness in our society.  I was one of the happy ones because I thought that those two military officers would get punished and their punishment would be an example and a deterrent to would-be offenders.  In spite of my great expectations, they were handed fines by their military command and the thing is most people aren’t even sure they paid the fines. Fast forward to 2013 and the BRT lane has become a dedicated military lane shared with BRT buses; they now use the BRT lane brazenly, all proudly wearing their military uniforms, after all who’s going to stop them? And even if they get caught what’s the worst that could happen?

In the past few weeks, we’ve had the case of the Minister who apparently needs not one but two armoured vehicles to feel safe in Nigeria. The usual hullabaloo is on; every single headline of the past week was about Stella Oduah and her precious cars. Many people already know that it will blow over as soon as a bigger scandal surfaces; all will soon be forgotten and the Minister will get on with the business of protecting life and limb by acquiring more stuff.

These events are just a few of the sordid tales of corruption and lawlessness that occur on a VERY REGULAR basis in Nigeria. Anyway it would be extremely daunting to attempt to chronicle all Nigeria’s recent corruption scandals and the lawlessness that has become a way of life. I even think it might be an endless task because we have no respite from corruption and scandal in this nation.

The question is why does corruption thrive so well in Nigeria? Why has right become wrong and wrong become right? Why is it that everywhere you look somebody is breaking the law without a second thought? Some people will quickly say “oh it’s because we’ve got bad leaders” but bad leaders in other climes feel the consequences of their poor stewardship at some point or the other but not so for Nigeria. I don’t think that lawlessness is a unique Nigerian trait; anybody will attempt to break the law for some sort of personal gain if they can get away with it. Whilst most countries have deterrents in the form of commensurate punishment for law breakers, ours is a nation where a judge will give a fine of N750, 000 to someone who embezzled billions of naira of other people’s pension funds. Nigeria has become a country where people who are supposed to censure wrong doing will rather chastise the wrongdoer for getting caught! Farouk Lawan’s colleagues in the House of Representatives weren’t outraged that he took a bribe; they were outraged that Farouk made himself vulnerable by going to Otedola’s house to collect the bribe, thus giving the bribe giver the opportunity to trap him!

Consequences for wrongdoing exist to maintain law and order; traffic in the United Kingdom is orderly and controlled not because Britons (including thousands of Nigerians who reside in the UK) are robots who never have the urge to run red lights, hop lanes or drive dangerously but because there are stiff penalties for breaking traffic laws; just ask Chris Huhne and his wife! On the other hand, driving in Lagos is like navigating an asylum where you should always expect the unexpected simply because there are no consequences for dangerous driving.

The consequence of no consequences is a downward slide into anarchy; it is an open invitation to brazen criminality. No consequences promote a total lack of self-control on personal and national levels. A wise man wrote in the book of Proverbs “a person (substitute nation) without self-control is like a city without walls” Walls in biblical times protected cities against marauders and invaders; they ensured the continuous existence and prosperity of the cities and their inhabitants. It’s time we put our walls back up in this ‘city’ called Nigeria.

Is this the best we've got?

I just read a Time Magazine article about the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party that has been in power since 1994 in South Africa. The article described the current condition of the once revered party; the activities described in the article are more in tune with the Mafia than a political party. Assassinations, intimidation, embezzlement seem to be pretty common in the ANC of today. In a nutshell, the Party has regressed shamefully from the Tambo-Mandela ideals of years gone by.   

The situation of politics and power in Nigeria is not any better; In Nigeria we have people totally lacking in integrity at the helm of affairs. Leadership is clueless except when it comes to stealing state funds, in this regard, Nigeria is second to none. Some Government apologists may decide to nitpick and correct me at this juncture and say “we are actually the 35^th most corrupt country in the world according to Transparency International” these are the kinds of distinctions that our government’s spokespersons make. 

I have chosen to use the two most important black democracies as examples because I am really worried about the black race…I am very worried about the quality of leadership in my country and in Africa as a whole. It disturbs me that the two countries that should be beacons of hope to the rest of black Africa are failing so woefully. I am dismayed that the ANC which hitherto fought “the good fight” against Apartheid has become a party where blacks assassinate other black people. It has become a party where people who dare to speak against the powers that be are afraid to put their names in print for fear of lethal consequences. It is ironic that not too long ago, it was reprisal from the “Apartheid oppressors” that was thus feared.

In Nigeria we railed against our military rulers, we accused them of corruption and intimidation and eventually we got ‘democracy’ and heaved a collective sigh of relief.  But now I look back on 13 years of uninterrupted democratic rule and apart from gaining some semblance of respectability in the comity of nations due to the ‘democratic nation’ label, I can’t really see what else we’ve gained as a people. In fact it’s more painful when I remember that democracy is supposed to be “government of the people for the people by the people” This government is certainly not for the people; any Nigerian can tell you that.  In Nigeria, the Presidency spends over a billion on feeding annually, N2.2bn is required to build an additional presidential banquet hall, the Presidential fleet of aircraft appropriates N9bn per annum for maintenance; The Vice President’s lodge is going to cost the mind blowing sum of N16bn to build due to the Veep’s ‘taste’ and our legislators (who are perennially on some kind of recess) earn stupendous amounts of money for little or no work. All these happening in a country where we have not been able to achieve 24 hour electricity supply; where there’s no coherent health care system; where quality education at all levels is for the highest bidder; where most of our major roads are riddled with pot holes and ditches; where teachers and doctors have to go on strike to get paid...well you don’t need to be Albert Einstein to figure out who this particular government is for.

These things make me wonder why it’s so difficult to catch a break when it comes to good leadership in this part of the world. I would have expected the ANC to be all about bridging the gap of development created by years of racial repression. Is it idealism to hope that a party with a history such as the ANC’s would be all about social justice and the rule of law? As for Nigeria, it’s as if political leadership exists to dash our collective hopes for the country.

I wonder if some South Africans are asking “what has happened to our beloved ANC” just as Nigerians ask one another “is this what we waited for all these years; is this the best we can hope for?”

'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.