By Mike Odeh James
Inroduction :
One of Nigeria’s famous activist, Mr .Idah in a chat with our Correspendent explains his actions, activities and perspectives as regards Nigerian politics and economy
Can you tell us about yourself and your activities ?
I am a Director, Special Representative and Envoy at the Africa Region Headquarter of one of the United Nations’ leading Human Rights governing bodies, the INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, IHRC, in Nairobi Kenya.
I am charged with the speedier provision of gainful sustainable employment of Africa’s youth across the entire continent comprising at least 54 countries under a UN partnership programme; INTEGRAL QUINTESSENCE – INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AFRICA PAGEANT, IQ-IHRAP – which was commissioned 12th January 2022 in Abuja, Nigeria.
What are your personal interests in the unravelling political season
in the Federal Republic of Nigeria?
My personal interests in the current political season in Nigeria border across three major aspects:
The fact that I am first, a Nigerian
The fact that political leadership is a huge component of the level of success we are aiming for at IQ-IHRAP, and,
The success of an apt political leadership in Nigeria would be a huge leverage for our envisaged success across the rest of Africa shortly
Amongst the three above major considerations, you would notice that the two secondary items pertain to our work at IQ-IHRAP looking to succeed exceedingly across the entire continent of Africa and how critical Nigeria’s future is to such an ambition.
Now. As a Nigerian, I, like the vast majority of Nigerians never knew that a people and their government could ever go through the sort of experiences we were put through in the out-going nearly one decade! From my personal introduction, you would realise that I am not only an international diplomat, I am a high-ranking international human rights activist possessing a continental reckoning as one of Africa’s best thinkers as a solution-provider in the pertinent fields of human capital development and governance consultancy – I am a governance expert.
Now therefore, I must speak from both the historical and development perspectives of the experience I refer to – in order to better converge my thoughts on the pertinent personal interests I have in our current unravelling political season.
Historically, Nigeria was contending with the problems of local terrorism, insurgency, secession and a sudden spike in transnational criminalities like kidnapping for ransom, armed robbery,.
Chief amongst these gruelling national insecurities were the secessionists in the far north-eastern flank and in the South East. The secessionism in the North-Eastern flank had become a more unravelling destructive national phenomenon towards the end of the Olusegun Obasanjo’s government and recorded its greater menace during the Goodluck Jonathan Regime translating as one of the chief reasons why that Government failed in its attempt at the elections to win another term of office!
The entirety of our populace were actually convinced that the sole or major objective of the insurgents and secessionists in the North Eastern flank of Nigeria was the deepening of the Islamic religion by condemning and eradicating modern western-style education!
Chief amongst the itinerary of achieving such a new developmental paradigm were the banning of education of the girl-child (this was the reason why nearly 300 girls in a certain secondary school at Chibok in Maiduguri were targeted and abducted from their school in one single day during the GEJ Government – most of whom are still in captivity till this day – others married away to the soldiers of fortune who had kidnapped them – several others killed being used as bomb mules in suicide bombings which were rather rampant at the time! Nigerians believed that the sole objective of the secessionist and insurgents in the North Eastern flank being, – to bring an end to Western Education remained the reason why they were called BOKO HARAM (Boko – meaning western BOOK-based education; HARAM – meaning forbidden)!
Against the background of the above prior thoughts, the vast majority of people everywhere across the world believed that sooner than later, BOKO HARAM would realise the folly in their objective of waging war and would dissipate and fizzle out because they had come at such a time when the entire world had matched on developmentally beyond the point when anyone with sound reasoning would be asking whether or not, western education was relevant or compelling to the future of humanity! It was seen largely as laughable that any serious social agitation would target to eliminate Western education of its entire people!
Little did we and the rest of the entire world know that we had seen nothing yet!
With the coming onboard of the present national government into power, it would appear that every dynamic of the secessionism in the North Eastern flank changed drastically leading to the reawakening of similar previously dormant and latent potentials across other major parts of Nigeria!
Within the first year or so of the coming into power of the current government, the wave of the predominantly North Eastern based Boko Haram uprising began to pale away in the wake of the appearance of high level well-co-ordinated, deliberate trans-national insecurities! There was an obvious and rather glaring explosion in the rates of terrorism and criminalities – the latter of which transformed from the regular petty local gang-based affairs – while still not sparing the regular common-man victims, to small scale military-like operations targeting leaders of thought, captains of industry excluding only one section of the social divide in Nigeria – these attacks did not target northerners but concentrated vigorously on especially the South Easterners and South Westerners.
As a result of the impact of this loop-sided victimisation of Nigerians of the Southern region, the South-Eastern based Independent Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, commenced with a more vehement response through their umpteenth agitation to secede from Nigeria.
A similar previously lesser unknown but often mooted Oduduwa Nation agitation also for the first more noticeable time, erupted in the South West led by a certain Mr Sunday Igboho – calling for a Yoruba state to secede similarly, from Nigeria!
With the commencement or continuation as well as the gradual intensification of anti-national hostilities, came the more disturbing transformation of Nigeria’s terror profile from a mere religious anti-western-style order to ‘conquistador’-quests!
The battle ground that Nigeria had become saw the swelling of the actors to include the more menacing ISWAP bolstering the BOKO HARAM ranks although they were often portrayed as counter-acting or counter-balancing or opposing forces! One thing of a fact that emerged and which bothered the average Nigerian the most however was the ROLE or FUNCTION of the Nigerian Federal Government in all these!
With long-standing retired military leaders like Gen. T Y Danjuma GCON coming out openly to warn Nigerians to take up arms wheresoever they could find arms to defend their selves against invading forces from without led and aided by the Armed Forces of Nigeria, every Nigerian was bewildered as to what precisely had become of the country.
Then spuriously too, sundry Islamic, Northern dignitaries – leaders of thought and opinion captains in their own rights began to make categorical statements centred on the fact that the Islamic Northern enclaves in Nigeria were actually claiming their rights and titles to the WHOLE OF NIGERIA – which rights and titles have been acquired when, in colonial or pre-colonial times, their ancestors had achieved a TOTAL conquest of Nigeria as a whole! These notable Northern and Islamic leaders made such openly disturbing and felonious claims without any attempt by any authority of State challenging them whatsoever!
Soon thereafter, several voices began to emerge to warn the minority ethnic nationalities in the Middlebelt and other northern regions of the looming plans to militarily exterminate them!
Additional voices emerged also that claimed that the entirety of the regions of the South-East and South West had already been covered by secret military camps of well equipped murderous troops co-ordinated by actual Nigerian soldiers simply waiting for the critical signals – just to strike and systematically exterminate the entire populations of non-northerners within those targeted areas!
To add credence to all these and to bolster the dismay and despondency of most Nigerians in the face of all these remained the action and inactions of the Nigerian Government!
The Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria simply appeared to disappeared in the midst of all these mis-fortunes and ill-winds blowing right across the entire landscape! The Government transpired as the more corruption riddled one ever in the history of the country! The leading public officials who ordinarily ought to be saddled with the responsibilities of assuring and assuaging Nigerians have long long since been labelled as crass liars defamed and discarded by Nigerians and the entire world a long time ago!
They gained global notoriety during the events of the disturbing youth-driven nationwide protests of 2020 which ended with the massacre of the youths in the hands of the Nigerian military at the Lekki toll gate plaza in Lagos in the month of October of that year – 19 days after the marking of national independence!
While the worldwide circulating media footage from that sorrowful and harrowing episode as carried by global media platforms such as the BBC, CNN and others showed that Nigerian soldiers arrived the scene, opened fire on unarmed peaceful protesters and killing them, the officials of government responsible for public image and perception management decided to go the inglorious paths of denying graphically evidenced events by disputing and disparaging the youths!
The Government went on in its ill-advised path to condemn the world press for not taking sides with it against its own people only for the Public Commission of Enquiry set up by the very same Government of Lagos State on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, to investigate the events of the youth protests and the ‘allegations’ of the killing of Nigerian youths by the Nigerian Military, to come up with its own more damning final official report which admitted wholesomely to the facts that indeed a great number of youths were not only gunned down and killed at the Lekki Toll Gate Plaza on the night of 20-10-2020, they were killed by the same very Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria – and most of the bodies of the slain youths were removed from the scene of the massacre by the Armed Forces to hide evidence of their dastardly crimes no matter that they deprived the families of those murdered the honour of more respectfully burying their children!
Now with the above select and very minute account from the entire overwhelming catalogue of mis-development or compelling under-development of the Nigeria in the out-going 8 years, I must state that the historical commendation of Nigeria was indeed a worrisome enough outcome to warrant the sort of unprecedented interests in Nigeria’s unfolding current political season.
On the other hand, developmentally – we would say that Nigeria had never had it so good!
Now do not get me wrong from the outset: we are unable to – which is also to say, we hardly speak wrong of events in development terms – we more certainly eschew the knowledge of good o bad in development tenses. We do concede to the fact that whatsoever is termed wrong at a particular time or era soon enough turns around as right before long: time is the controller of precedence and for every seeming disadvantage, advantages loom large – whether or not we see them or not and whether or not after seeing them we agree with them or not – remain entire other discussions for another time!
Now, pertaining to the picture of dire circumstances we have found ourselves as a people – look at the outcome! It took all the above precedence – no matter how anyone chooses to weigh them, for Nigeria as a nation to turn out with the phenomenon of a Peter Obi!
What do I mean?
I will NOT say anything in this interview concerning Mr Peter OBI – the person – because I do not know him and at this material time, I do not need to know him so closely to be able to say what I have to say here. I will not say anything concerning his character as a person: I will strictly confine my opinions to the circumstances surrounding his emergence as a frontal presidential prospect and the projection of Nigeria into the future by the trajectory he appears to be commending from the perspectives of what the people of Nigeria (one amongst whom, I certainly am – like the vast majority of every one else), see of him and his bearing!
Permit me to also add even more categorically that I am no politician and I will not therefore be obliged to make politically correct statements here. I prefer to remain whom I naturally am within the context that connect me with the subject matter herein: I am a technocrat – a thinker who must at all times commend to the people the only right, true and worthier routes to go for the good of everyone at all times! I am a worker guided by the book and I will always live by the book – so to speak.
Now having said the above, pay close attention: I have always held that the worst make the worse look better … therefore, the worst can hardly give us our bests! The worst can at best, leave us with our bad! As they say, in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king! This does not mean that the best ought never to be sought at all costs
In line with the above persuasion, Mr Peter OBI is a phenomenon indeed because it would appear that the entirety of our current surrounding circumstances ignited Mr Peter OBI’s star qualities coupled with the undoing of the two major political parties – which obvious undoing happen not to be our subject herein at this material time. Mr Peter OBI is the product of our long-standing self-deception – the deception that we have started and continued indeed with a world-class standard democracy! That was and is still a big lie – our democracy since the inception of the fourth republic has turned out only the worse of our leaders progressively beginning from the Obasanjo Government and dove-tailing progressively to this critical point in time.
This is therefore to state yet quite categorically again that my indictment of Government herein did not and was not intended to be of only our current government; the fact that most of our misfortunes have come to a head cumulatively during the tenure of this Government is actually the outcome of a natural process by which every natural concourse in development are probed.
All standard and applicable acts of development result in improvements and greater ease of achievement with time progressively while conversely, all mediocre activities result in greater difficulties, failures and downturns that must ultimately end in implosions upon which outcome, a new beginning must commence and be embraced by all at usually great costs!
Now having said all the above, what ought therefore is my position at this point in time – my working pivot – going forward?
I will say without fear or favour that my guiding working principle is CAUTION – the keenest possible protection of the fragile nationality and patriotism of the Nigerian people both at home and everywhere across the world!
Any further continuing failure of Nigeria constitutes a monumental drawback for every African across this entire world! You have absolutely no idea of the extents to which the entire African race worldwide consider Nigeria – not withstanding how badly Nigeria has been painted already! The special pride of place Nigeria holds in the hearts and minds of the world owe absolutely nothing to the conduct or deliberate doing of the Government of Nigeria – it has been most directly observed that the Nigerian people are indeed the victims of their governments overtime!
Juust imagine what Nigerian musicians and filmmakers have achieved WITHOUT any reasonable and deliberate input of government! Our people have earned a near total revamp of their global image across this entire world as an intelligent, sophisticated and a determined people leaving our governments in especially recent times, to emerge as the people’s actual scourge – a shame actually – but the question remains, is the government aware of this? Perhaps- yes!
Then again, the question is also, can any government be aware of such a reputation of itself – seeing as it were, how governments especially across Africa are composed of persons who rather than embrace morality and truth – would rather grand-stand, debate and deny obvious truths – nobody ever resigns from governments in Africa no matter how obvious or deliberate their wrong doings are proven to have been! This could be a discussion for another day.
So, like I said, caution! – my watchword is caution. It would be against the backdrop of this term, CAUTION, that I wish to very carefully and in strictly technical terms, scrutinise our current mutual political transition especially as it revolves around Mr Peter OBI.
I am unable to divorce my position from the above indictment already of the mediocre party democracy we have long since adopted in the fourth republic!
Political parties cannot and are NOT supposed to be funded by politicians! Should such a rule obtain anywhere, the outcome could NEVER be democracy – the funding of any political party by its members only sets up a bludgeoning dictatorship worst than any previous military rule which we all wish we have left behind for good!
The positions within the political parties ought to be accessible to all citizens with the requisite reputation, commendation and work-rate commensurate thereabout to such offices from top to bottom! The political parties in Nigeria have so obviously degenerated into fiefdoms or personal properties of either some individuals or of one or few groups of the powerful! The one who pays the piper determines the tune!
This is so obviously the sad fate of both of Nigeria’s two leading political parties which circumstances have thrown up Mr Peter OBI as the shining light and star personage of the unfolding show of shame and recrimination that the two bewildered parties have so obviously become!
So, your question now must so obviously be – is Mr Peter OBI the best Nigeria can have right at this moment? My answer from all the above is equally quite obvious already: NO – Mr Peter OBI is only the best that the mediocre political party method in Nigeria can bring about but he is NOT the best that Nigeria can offer itself!
But – hold it right there! – I am not saying Mr Peter OBI cannot work or will not work! Far from it. What I am saying is that with the realisation of salient truths as have been mentioned here so far, our watchword becomes more emphatically functional:
CAUTION!!!
With Mr Peter OBI already in the frontal concourse of the Presidential race – we cannot afford to met any injustice to him whatsoever! We ought to never condemn ourselves as a people in all our great numbers, to even contemplate any injustice to that man – he would, before the Almighty, become a judge over us and condemn us if he so choses to – should we dare to! We only owe him and ourselves the staggering responsibility of being the more cautious as a people – which ordinarily is one of nature’s hardest things for any people to do corporately!
Now then, what exactly do I mean by being CAUTIOUS? Cautious of what, in what way and of what?
Now, while it is natural to always and consistently hope for the best, let us for once think and speak in reverse since we are intending to be cautious. We have already thought of the best in the past and this is where we have gotten to with that kind of thought! Now, perhaps we should prepare for the worse and see about mitigating whatever we assume in this thought to constitute our likely or impending danger! The Yoruba say, ‘as we do not know what death is, let us look at sleep!’
The questions to ask ourselves will therefore pertain to what bad qualities we have observed in all the governments we have elected so to speak, before now. We will thereafter be better positioned to address such observed ills as they may pertain to Mr Peter OBI and his impending government – God willing.
My personal observation and questions imminent are as follows:
Massive Carpet Crossing Chaos: The envisaged victory of the Labour Party will indeed be a huge miracle and one of the surer sign of this would be the massive manner in which it would result in a massive carpet crossing by long serving and newly elected public officials.
Now the questions surrounding this possibility remains will such occurrences not jeopardize the smooth off-take of a such a new government headed by an equally new president and his vice? There can be no arguing the high likelihood o a great number of elected and appointed public officials jostling so as to fill in the relevant offices of Government which ought necessarily to be filled by persons from the Labour Party or as the President may deem fit in his own rights
Interference in Government and governance by close cronies: As observed of the current Buhari Government, the influence of close relatives and cronies in government and governance can no longer be waved away; the ethics of public leadership have waned in recent history giving room for close relatives and cronies of the President and the Vice President to speedily position themselves in vantage positions – most of which they turn around to use in unethical conducts, side businesses and other informal clout enabling conduct all in the shadow of Mr President’s office or the narrow corridors of the Presidency.
Formation of Cabals of any kind: Everyone would know, as a student of social trends, how so easily bad habits and qualities are copied and duplicated! The gravest antecedence of the Buhari Government that may very easily rare its head in the impending Peter OBI Government in Nigeria remains the likelihood of cabals both at the Presidency or at specific sectors or economic segments for the purposes of control, influence and other selfish, unethical yet not easily detectable profiteering!
The likelihood of greater and more anxious Rule of Force by insurgents from the South Eastern region: Mr Peter OBI cannot be deterred from his run for the Presidency not-withstanding the fact he comes from a region that is home to long standing insurgents – because none of the three major tribes in Nigeria are without reasonable levels of insurgent and secessionist fervours already! The case of this is further compounded by the historical fact that Mr Peter OBI hails directly from the same South Eastern State that championed the 1969 – 72 civil war in Nigeria! No matter the facts that the Government of Nigeria and the victorious Nigerian Army back in 1972 declared a NO VICTOR – NO VANQUISHED at the end of the war, we have all lived in and witnessed the very obvious bias the South Easterners have been subjected to since that war – to such extents that every calculation had denied South Easterners any proximity to the Nigerian Presidency till now! Mr Peter OBI is therefore the first and only South Easterner gunning for the Nigerian Presidential Palace so directly and without recourse to any local superficial arrangements other than the power of the ballot, to see him to success – possibly. All the other instances when South Easterners have achieved the closest to the high offices of the land, they had gotten to such offices largely on the basis of negotiated consideration and only in accordance to the whims and caprices of the other two larger and looming ethnic majorities! This is not withstanding that Presidential succession order is proclaimed to reflect the provisions o the Nigerian national constitution wherein every Nigerian is assured of their equal rights to all privileges, positions and opportunities including their rights to contest for and WIN the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
The inexperience of new public officials in public governance policies and programmes formation, formulation and their execution: Mr Peter OBI has built what could most easily be described as a new cult following amongst Nigerians given his long standing high acceptance levels across several and still rising considerations! Such a high standard and ever growing expectation from the people and members of the new government create a huge pressure occasioned by the eagerness with which the people wish to taste relief and every other easing-off of their long standing discomforts, pains and hardship across so many facets of national life and socio-economic considerations – too numerous to mention here at this material time!
These pressures are quite capable of causing long lasting and very costly errors by a new government!
Middle-Belt Times 