Sabella Ogbobode Abidde

Why Do African Men Go Home to Marry?

There are no readily available data from the US State Department as to
the number of Africans who join their spouse, fiancé or fiancée in the
United States every year. From private conversation and observation,
one is assuming that about three thousand Africans make such journey
on a yearly basis. Of this, some seventy percent are from English-
speaking Africa, and roughly eighty percent of these claim to be
Christians. Of those who engage in such rituals, more than ninety-five
percent are men.

The immigration process can be trying, and costs lots of money,
resourcefulness and perseverance! But why do African men go though
this tortuous immigration process? Why do African men go home to marry
instead of marrying the women they've wined and dined and romanced
right here in the US. Most of these women (who are already in the US)
are well-educated, well-read and well-traveled; they are well mannered
and have, in most cases, proven their trustworthiness. They are women
of two worlds: they know Africa and also understand the West.

In spite their advantages and pluses, the vast majority of these women
are very likely to lose their boyfriends to women back home. But
really, why do African men go home to marry the “unknowns” instead of
marrying the proven and the reliable here in the US? Anyone who has
lived in the United States for a good number of years can easily
attest to the fact this is not an easy country to live in. It is a
very individualistic and very challenging society and is at a variance
with agrarian societies like ours.

So, once you find a woman you like and love and respect and do get
along with, what is the point returning to the continent to find the
inexperienced? If you already have a woman who makes your heart skip
beats and you fancy her worldview, what's the point returning to
Africa to proposition the raw and the unrefined? And after several
years of putting up with your eccentricity, infantile behavior and
messy bedside manners, what's the point dumping her for the greenhorn?

Why Do African Men Go Home to Marry? Well, granted a thousand men have
a thousand different reasons for going home to marry, there are common
threads as to why they do what they do: (1) because they can; (2) most
men are under the illusion that the women they knew back home are
innocent, un-spoilt and virginal; (3) it could be an ego-boosting
exercise; (4) it allows some men to mask their failures and
shortcomings since the women who are already in the US can tell where
they are on the social and economic ladder.

Additionally, some men want their women to look up to them since it
makes them appear more than what and who they really are (at least in
the initial stages). And then there those who will tell you African
girls in the US have all “gone bad…rotten…too exposed…too
independent.” And of course, there are the traditionalists who will
never marry anyone outside of their ethnic group.

I am reminded of a friend in Seattle who once told me there was
nothing else he could “teach” his girlfriend in terms of romance and
sex. She rocked his world in every way imaginable. In the end though,
he went home to marry a “village girl.” She pretended for a while, but
later proved to him that “everything a Yankee can do, a Naija woman
can also do.” Shortly thereafter, he also realized he was her one-way
ticket out of her misery and poverty in Nigeria.

There are many more similar stories. I have heard it all, and seen it
all. I also know that the majority of such marriages start collapsing
within 2 years. The American society has a way of Oprahlizing even a
meek girl from Timbuktu or Aba.

When it is all said and done, the African male is perplexing. He can
be enigmatic. He can be everything and sometimes, nothing. He can be
sweet and loving and caring and benevolent and at the same time
oppressive. His life is full of contradictions. In so many ways, he is
a wounded animal as a result of his historical past. Once, he was the
primary breadwinner. Once, he was the head of the household. Once, he
was the man who moved mountains and parted the heavens so it rained.
That was a time long gone.

The modern times have not been exactly good to him because of the
multiplying effects of globalization and modernity. Even though the
outside world is depriving him of his manhood, he has found a way to
make part of his world his playground. His home has become his
playground. And in this playground, he is the captain. He is the sole
captain. No co-captains. His words and wishes are the law.
Globalization and modernity may be creeping in on and chipping away at
his manhood, he has found a way to protect his playground. Or so he
thought! To make his thoughts a reality, he marries a greenhorn.

But you see life has a way of getting back at us. Sooner or later,
Karma will come to play. Life is dynamic. Ever changing. Never static.
Therefore, yesterday's greenhorns will become the “ever-present and
ever-knowing” of tomorrow. The innocents will lose the mist in their
eyes and become like all the women that came before them. Though the
preceding assertion is not empirically grounded, one can not but
notice that “greenhorn marriages” dissolve quicker -- mostly within
five years with or without offspring.

More often than not most of these marriages are not based on love or
affection. Most are not even like the marriages of yester-years: a
contract and a union between two families. On the part of the
greenhorns, it is mostly about the need to escape the prevailing
abject poverty and hopelessness that has engulfed most African
countries. Most of these women wanted a way out of the misery in
Kenya, Guinea, Liberia, and Eritrea and elsewhere.

In Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Madagascar and Mauritania, it is about
running away from the fetid and stifling conditions that stunts dreams
and kill optimism. Therefore, when presented with the opportunity to
hop, they pack and run! It should be noted here and now that it is not
all the women who come to join their husbands fit this profile. A good
number come for the right reasons.

As for the men who go in search of these women, well, their mindset
has been discussed. What needs to be added is the fact that most are
never happy because they got what they never bargained for: stunned,
disappointed and underachieving wives who never knew about 40-60-hour
work week; women who never knew there are no dollar minting factories
down the street, that America is not what they saw in the movies and
magazines, that America is not a world of instant riches and glamour.
You toil and toil and toil!

The unfamiliar can be mind-sapping, you know. These women see ghosts
and dream of “bad-bad-bad-things.” Depression and identity crisis then
sets in. Those who can't cope then leave their husbands and marriage
and try to go it alone believing their lots would be better without
the “extra baggage.” Big mistake, for most!

As for the men, well, some will plead with, cajole or trick their
wives into going into the nursing or CNA profession assuming the women
were not already one back home. The nursing profession, they believe,
is a sure avenue for making money and living the good life. Be it in
Houston, Seattle, Dallas, Miami, New York and every where in between,
African nurses abound.

They are everywhere working mostly the night and graveyard shifts,
toiling day and night and away from their husbands and children just
to make ends meet. With no time to smell the roses or to wonder at the
beauties that surround them, they become strangers in the world they
live in.

Why do we wine and dine and romance our women if we have no intention
of marrying them? Why do we whine and complain when we see them lay
their eggs in the nest of other races? Why do we sneer at them when
they turn the “ideal age for marriage” and are unmarried? And why do
we slap the culture page at them when they have children out of
wedlock? It is a shame the way some African men in this country have
treated and continues to treat some of our women. It is truly a shame!

Mr. Sabella Ogbobode Abidde
PhD Candidate/SYLFF Fellow
Howard University Washington DC
Cell Phone: 202-290-8191
Sabi ... @gmail.com

Mugabe's Zimbabwe and the African Union

Zimbabwe looms large on the continent's landscape; and indeed, it looms large on the African consciousness. You cannot think of the continent and not think of Zimbabwe. It is like the Nile: colorful and magnificent; and aside from Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana and South Africa, the country rests between the Limpopo and Zambezi. And as Ali Mazrui, David Basilson, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and others have averred, Zimbabwe is seductive, rich in history, intriguing, and a cathedral to many of the continent's secrets.

For 6000 years or so, Zimbabwe was home to the Khoisan and the Bantus. It's colonial era was from 1888 through 1965, followed by the Unilateral Declaration of Independence and the Civil War (1965–1979); and then by its political independence in 1980 by way of the Lancaster House Agreement, and then its gradual decline.  Zimbabwe, like most African countries, has had several intriguing personalities: Ian Douglas Smith, Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa, Canaan Sodindo Banana, Ndabaningi Sithole, Joshua Nyongolo Nkomo, and Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

Of the aforelisted, Mugabe is the most enigmatic. He looms large over his country. He is feared and loved, despised and adored. At home and abroad, he remains unmoved and polarizing. He was a freedom fighter of no mean feat. To the White Rhodesians, he was a criminal, a fox; to continental Africans, he was a hero -- a hero who led his people to the Promised Land. To be sure, Robert Mugabe was good for his people. He was good. But with time, he turned out to be like most African leaders: leaders who devour their own eggs and truncated their people's hope and aspirations. Today, he and his country are now a shell of their original image.

In the last ten years or so, Mugabe became a pariah. But not totally. He has his ardent supporters. There are those who believe that he was being scapegoat because of his refusal to kowtow to western dictates (especially Britain and the US). And that his land policy was inimical to western interest. But for the land palaver, they reasoned, Mugabe would have continued being a darling of the West. Whether this is true or not, is a subject for another time. But really, after ten years in power, what more does Mugabe want? What was he hoping to achieve in his dying days that he could not and did not achieve in his early years in power?

In recent weeks, especially in the period leading up to and after the sham elections, the heat was turned up. Domestic opposition ratchet things up, and so did a segment of the international community. The intermestic objective was simple: Mugabe must go…Mugabe must go! But Mugabe went nowhere. He defied everybody. At 84 years of age, he was sworn in for a sixth term. He is bold, so bold he even attended the recently concluded African Union (AU) summit at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. His government told the West to “go hang or kiss the donkey's ass.”

Through it all, all the African Union and its collections of despots and dupes could do was to adopt a resolution “calling for talks in Zimbabwe between the ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change to create a government of national unity… It came at the end of a day in which leaders appeared split over how to treat Robert Mugabe.” And when the Kenyans wanted to act righteous, they were simply reminded that their hands were -- in reference to the recently concluded election Kenya “dripping with blood…raw African blood, and they are not going to be cleansed by any amount of criticism of Zimbabwe.”

According to published report, “The United States' top envoy for Africa said she was sure that African leaders were taking a much tougher line with Mugabe in private than their public statements suggested.”  The Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Jendayi Frazer was quoted as saying: “I do believe that the tradition of an AU summit is to reserve their strongest criticism for closed door sessions, particularly at the head of state level…I would suggest not to take the soft words of the opening plenary as a reflection of the deep concern of the leaders here for the situation in Zimbabwe.” Now, what Africa is she talki

In the same vein, “The US ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad said he was preparing to circulate a draft sanctions resolution among Security Council members and was “cautiously optimistic” it would be approved…The United States is consulting with others to introduce a resolution perhaps this week to impose focused sanctions on the regime.” Also, “Italy announced that it was recalling its ambassador to Harare as a "political signal" of its disapproval of the regime.” Oh really? I can imagine Robert Mugabe and his posse smiling and giving the West his middle finger. What a foxy old man!

Being pragmatic, and knowing the cesspit that African leadership is “the continent's longest serving head of state, Gabonese President Omar Bongo, insisted that African leaders should accept Mugabe's poll victory.”  “He was elected, he took an oath, and he is here with us, so he is president and we cannot ask him more.” In fact, not many African leaders, privately or publicly, is going to contradict Omar Bongo. They all know how they got into power: illegitimately! And they know they are like Mugabe, and in some cases, worse than the strongman of Harare.

Mugabe knows his colleagues and contemporaries. He understands their mindset and their worldview. He knows nothing will ever happen to him. Threats of expulsion are simply what they are: empty and meaningless threats. Even if the opposition had won, the sad and ironic part is that Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai would most likely have done to his people what Mugabe is now doing. The African continent has a long history of such men and situation -- men who came to power shouting “human rights, democracy and development” but once in power, become monsters i.e. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda who has been in power since 1986.

The African Union (AU) does not have the moral authority to condemn Mugabe. The union may want to believe otherwise, in reality, it does not have the clout to do and undo. It is safe to say that more than 90% of African Presidents have done -- at one time or the other -- what Mugabe did. So, in a way, they sympathize or at least understand what Mugabe did.  Secondly, the AU does not have the political will to go beyond rhetoric. What can the AU do? What should it do? The body is mostly a collection of despots and western puppets. Thirdly, the AU does not have the military or economic power to effectively interfere in the internal affair of another country.

Except for two or three other countries, any African country that interfere (economically, politically or militarily) in the affairs of another African country, will most likely incur the wrath of its people and see its own internal cleavages expand and self-implode. This is so because virtually every African country has weak institutions and fragile foundations.  And since virtually every African country is weak and fragile and is delinked from its people, on what basis will any country call for a “higher moral ground” in Zimbabwe? African governments are about the same: corrupt, inefficient, self-serving and morally bankrupt. Therefore, there will be no moral indignation vis-à-vis the events in Zimbabwe.

Asking the AU to do anything about Mugabe would be like asking a band of thieves to repent, forsake their ways and become saints. It is not going to happen in my life time. Symbolically, the AU could (1) Sternly and unambiguously condemn Mugabe; (2) Plead with him to respect the rule of law; (3) Ask for a revote or for a critical reformation of the electoral process; and (4) Advise Mugabe to co-opt the opposition into government and or to offer his main rival, Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai, one of the Vice Presidential positions.  In order word, Mugabe should be advised to consider “unity government or government of national reconciliation.”

Beyond the aforesaid, the election and the swearing in of Robert Gabriel Mugabe is a foregone conclusion. In closing, if Mugabe is not assassinated, or if there is no military or palace coup against him, he will most likely die in office. Bob, as my Zimbabweans friends and colleagues like to call him, is here to stay for another one or two terms. African leaders come to power to steal and kill and mismanage, and if possible, to die in office. This sequence has been the history of contemporary African leadership. What's the irony here? Simple: Mugabe just emboldened another African despot! And the people? They are on their knees…praying to God.

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What Do Africans Owe Africa?

It is impossible to tell, with any degree of certainty, how Africa would have turned out without slavery and colonialism. All we can do is guess, make conjectures. Nonetheless, considering the fate of other peoples in other continents, and considering also the history of the continent, it is safe to say Africa too would have had its fair share of historical-unavoidables. Overall, one does not share in the excessive romanticism of the continent and its past; moreover, one does not have a hangover over slavery and colonialism. The time to move on has long gone.

Unfortunately, too many Africans -- encouraged by African leaders and continental elites, and some scholars -- have made it fashionable to blame slavery and colonialism for all that ails the continent. And then, there are the religious leaders who harp fatalism into the consciousness of their followers. And so it is that a sizeable number of Africans have refused to take personal responsibility for the continent's failure and recklessness. Day in and day out, they wait for a God or for a Rawlings with magical wand. In addition, they look to the West for direction and for handouts. How sad, how mistaken!

Africans themselves must take back their own continent; they must take back their own countries. The West can help, but for the most part, Africans must do the unthinkable and the painful to regain their world. As it is, Africans are afraid: they are afraid to sacrifice their conveniences and their lives, and are very much afraid to venture beyond the veil. This timidity is more pronounced in the post-independence generation -- a generation that is given to immediate gratification, laziness and gullibility. For the most part, they imitate absurdities from other regions.

Almost forty years after most African countries gained independence, the continent continues to have a striking resemblance to the Africa of the 18 th and 19 th century. Any wonder then that some commentators have insinuated that the continent was better off colonized. Indeed, in one country after another, the conditions are similar -- similarities that are manifested in low quality of life. In virtually every country, the average African has been betrayed by the intellectual class, the military cadre, and by the civil society (selling out to the oligarchy and to foreign agents).

For Africa to advance, certain unorthodox steps have to be taken. The suggestions here can be improved upon. However, one must take into consideration the fact that for more than forty years, all types of paradigms and approaches have been rendered and tried to no avail. It is time to think and act unconventionally. Trepidation will not help. Fear will not help. Dithering will not help. And neither will the little-little things. It is time to be bold. It is time to think of our countries as ours, to think of our continent as ours -- as our personal domain.

What is the condition of things in Central Africa ? Is life better for them today than it was three or four decades ago? In Cameroon , Paul Biya is milking his people dry just as other leaders do in Central African Republic , in DRC, Equatorial Guinea , Gabon and Congo . Does anyone know what's going on in East Africa ? Save for Tanzania , the region has been a killing field for a while now. Southern Africa is getting messier by the day. The world is not sure of what to do with Robert Mugabe; and in South Africa , an alleged rapists/rogue is set to take over government. West Africa is dominated by a limping giant.

Of all the problems facing the African continent -- weak institutions and the crisis of governance, the enmity between the rulers and the governed, the inability to draw lines between public and private goods, preliterate and fatalistic citizenry, the sheer stupidity and low self-esteem of African leaders, etc, etc -- the question of leadership is the most pressing. Beginning with Ghana in 1957, to South Africa in 1994, contemporary Africa has not had more than five first-rate leaders. Since leadership is the bane of the continent, why not act on it?

In “What Does the World Owe Africa ?” I suggested a series of steps to be taken by the Western world. Here and now, I am suggesting a series of steps to be taken by Africans to rescue their continent from misery and squalor. There are twelve steps Africans must undertake to reclaim their continent. Today, I offer five: five things Africans owe their continent! First, assassinating certain leaders would be justified. Who will or who would have shed honest tears at the funeral of Said Barre, Issayas Afewerki, Idi Amin, Samuel Doe, Teodoro Nguema, Arap Moi, Robert Mugabe, King Mswati III, Joseph Mobutu, Hissene Habre, Gnassingbe Eyadema, Sani Abacha, and two dozen others or so.

None of the aforelisted would have been missed had their lives been snuff out 2 years into their reign. Killing them would have done Africa a world of good. Indeed, “There are times when assassination is necessary in order to change the course of history.” Left alone such death-deserving leaders will kill the hope and aspiration of others. And they did. Secondly, meting out “Chinese treatment” to corrupt officials will help stamp out crooked and nation-damaging behaviors. This method calls for the impartial probing of assets and the forfeiture of assets that were dubiously acquired followed by the physical elimination of the guilty so long as it is legally sanctioned.

Why do we execute armed robbers? Why do we execute those who commit treason against the state? Simple: we do because their actions are heinous. If an armed robber steals $1,000.00 we execute him or send him to twenty years in prison; but when a politician steals $2,000,000.00 we turn blind eyes to his crime. As drastic as some of the proposed measures may sound, they are entirely necessary if Nigeria is to free itself from the abyss. They are crucial if we care about our welfare and about the type of society we want to bestow on future generations.

Third, the revival and strengthening of the legislature and the judicial; the education and reeducation of the people and the introduction of a new political and governing system would be in order. Most Nigerians are weary and wary of the military establishment. Still, we ought to fashion a governing system that allows for both to coexist. For instance, the American or British style system does not seem to augur well for Nigeria 's peculiar condition. Fourth, the office and institution of traditional rulers should be abolished. These institutions have, in most cases, been a hindrance to development.

Also, Africans must consider taxing religious houses (save for the Traditional African Religions). Churches and Mosques are money making endeavors. Lagos State for instance could easily earn $50 million a year from the thousands of churches and mosques that litters the State. Revenues earned could be used to clean up the streets and ease traffic congestions. Religion may be good for some people, but, for the past two decades or thereabout, the Abrahamic religions have become a source of instability and underdevelopment in the continent.

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A critical appraisal of modern Africa by both Eurocentric and
Afrocentric scholars reveals several factors as to why the continent
is the way it is after several years of independence. Both
perspectives, in spite of the occasional optimism, agree that the
continent is mostly stagnant: undeveloped in some areas,
underdeveloped in others and plagued by disorder, poverty, and
volatility in all areas. Even for Africans, the continent is a
continuous body of complexities and complications and of almost
impenetrable landscape. Why Africa is the way it is has been a subject
of empirical and systematic studies by scholars (at least) since 1957
when the African Studies Association came into being. After all these
years, the continent is still the playground for domestic and
international forces whose reasons for being, it seems, are
exploitation, thievery, and conquest.

The Africa continent nags and confounds in spite of the “causes,
effects, and roadmaps” that has been propagated and submitted by
different schools, scholars and institutions. From Marxism to
Modernization and from Dependency to other systems of thought that are
cogent or feeble, palpably silly or condescending -- hypotheses about
Africa abound. There are commentators who believe it is impossible to
understand Africa without having a deep understanding of the suffering
and calamities wrought by slavery and colonialism. When condensed,
their thinking is that without slavery and colonialism -- Africa, with
all its kingdoms, empires, and city states -- would have gone on to
become a thriving and dominant civilization.

These scholars and commentators point to the residual effects of
slavery and colonialism as some of the psychological and physical
hindrances that continues to wreck havoc on the continent and its
people. Nonetheless, recent philosophy and accepted wisdom is that
Africa has had time to correct most of the imbalances that have come
to characterize it instead of continually playing victim -- whining
and using slavery and colonialism as a cop-out for its weaknesses,
excesses and foibles. Africa, it is averred, is not a peculiar
continent: everything that has ever happened there has happened
somewhere else: wars, slavery, colonialism, natural or man-made
disasters, ethnic conflicts, corruption, etc. While others are putting
their houses in order, Africa seems adrift. Hopeless.

And so one wonders what the world -- especially those who participated
in the inglorious Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 -- owe the continent
if slavery and colonialism are the starting point of Africa's
debacles? Also, one must wonder as Roel Van Der Veen wondered in What
Went Wrong With Africa and ask “why, despite the rising prosperity
elsewhere in the world and widespread changes that took place on the
continent itself, Africa failed to break free of poverty” and other
fetidities. The answers are not limited to weak institutions and the
crisis of governance, the enmity between the government and the
governed, the inability to draw lines between public and private
goods, and the sheer stupidity and low self-esteem of African leaders.

The point here is not to reduce the continent's crippling challenges
and self-immolating tendencies to a few choice words or even sound
bites. Moreover, it is not the aim of this treatise to ignore or
minimize the injurious and predatory role exogenous factors and
concerns have played in the life of the continent. Still, one must
ask: “What Does the World Owe Africa?” What must the world do to bring
Africa out of its doldrums? Such a question can not be exhaustively
treated here. One can only try; and others must join the debate.
Therefore, consequential and time-stamped dialogue is needed if we are
to find our ways out of the current rut. I am not sold on foreign
intervention in Africa's domestic affairs, but this is one of those
times when the West must work in concert with the people of Africa to
effect changes.

For instance, London, Paris, and the White House know the right people
and the right groups to work with in order to effect these changes.
Until now, they have principally collaborated, cooperated, and
coordinated their efforts with parasites and leeches. Their approach
may have been useful and beneficial during the Cold War era; and
indeed, it may have served them right in a capitalist environment. But
in today's world -- more so into the future -- their method of
operation will be very costly and destabilizing. In order words, if
nothing is done to arrest the African-malignancy, the West itself will
not escape the foul winds blowing from the Indian and Atlantic Oceans
and from the Mediterranean Sea. The continent's social, economic and
political problems will be theirs to sort out.

In a globalizing and borderless world, how long does the western
society think it will be before the core and color and composition of
their societies change drastically? What's to be done by the West? A
series of steps needs to be taken: (1) not to allow funds from African
elites and ruling class to be deposited in their financial
institutions and also to  not allow any kind of investments i.e. in
real estate and the stock markets; (2) not to allow African leaders,
along with their proxies and family members, from receiving medical
treatments in their hospitals; (3) not to allow the children of these
leaders and the elites to come to the West for training or university
education; (4) except for meetings at such places as the United
Nations, to decline all visa applications by African leaders, their
ministers and governors and immediate family members; and (5) allow
Africans to access western courts so African leaders can be sued when
war crimes and crimes against humanity are committed.

At the very least, the aforesaid steps need to be taken by Western
Governments if the African-malignancy is to be arrested. That is the
least the West can do for Africa. It is what the West and the world
owe Africa. Not aids. Not handouts. Not loans. What the world and the
West owe Africans is simple: stop Africans leaders and the elite'
access to your educational, health and financial institutions. Their
assets should be confiscated and returned in a future date when a
responsive and responsible government is in place. In addition, for
the next twenty-five years, give the average Africans access to your
courts to enable them sue their leaders for crimes against humanity.

In a country like Nigeria, the ruling elites, along with their friends
and family members have ways of stealing and depositing their loots in
western banks without fear of prosecution at home or abroad. In the
same country, medical facilities are not fit for human consumption. It
is why the President and his Ministers fly to Germany and other
western nations to get treatment for the common cold and flu. As rich
as Nigeria is, the country does not have a first-rate trauma center;
the vast majority of its citizens do not have access to quality
medical care. In a literate world, the Nigerian government tacitly
approves and condones illiteracy by their attitude towards education.
Students are housed in dilapidated buildings with outdated
infrastructures when their leaders and their family members have the
luxury of quality education and first-rate healthcare in the West.

The United States and her allies must stop behaving as though there is
nothing wrong with Nigeria and with the African continent. You cannot
turn blind eyes to those who continue to steal our resources and bring
them to your countries. By your actions and inactions you encourage
theft and all kinds of dishonesty. You encourage antidemocratic
behaviors; you wholeheartedly encourage the illegal trading of dreams,
hopes and aspirations. But most of all, you encourage the
underdevelopment of a whole group of people and their land. What does
the world owe Africa? Simple: help us put a stop to the bastardization
of our land before it is too late. Let unconscionable African leaders
and the elites roast and rotten in the inhumane conditions they have
created.

Sabi ... @gmail.com.com

Coming Soon…
What Does Africans Owe Africa?

Witchcraft and the Impurities in the African Mind

Africa is an inimitable continent, rich in complexities and
contradictions; rich in nature's wonders, yet, filled with man-made
miseries and fetidities. It is both rich and poor and is inhabited by
people who are at once happy and miserable. The African life is pulled
and pushed and contradicted by different poles: primeval sentiments,
superstition, religion, culture, and modernity. The biggest challenge,
of course, is the morbidly superstitious life fueled by poverty and
ignorance.

Superstition, poverty and ignorance accounts for why, many decades
after most societies have progressed, the African life is still loaded
with primitive passions and preliterate conditions. Kenyans and
Nigerians recently demonstrated their primitiveness. On April 22,
2008, the Reuters news service reported that the Kenyan Police “jailed
19 people suspected of burning to death 11 elderly Kenyan men and
women accused of being witches in a case that has horrified the east
African nation…A mob in the Kisii area of west Kenya went from house-
to-house identifying people on a list and burning them to death in
their homes.” In a similar incident in 1983, “eight elderly people
from Kisii were also accused of witchcraft and burned to death in
their huts by a mob.”

Responding to the dastardly event in Kenya, Samira Edi wrote: “This is
manifestly a remnant of a gory past…which preys on the gullible minds,
the primitive instincts of the emotionally vulnerable, the unsure, the
challenged, the weak, the easily manipulated, the insecure… With
certain mystical beliefs, Africans are hunkering in the bunker,
offering themselves up to be brainwashed, in the monumental mistaken
belief that through some cryptic power of black magic or other
mystical forces, they could influence situations and things around
them….And they all come crawling out; the dark deeds of the devil --
voodoo, witchcraft, ritual killings, exorcism, barbarism,
hallucination…”

A month after the sad and regrettable event in Kenya, the Vanguard
Newspaper (May 22, 2008) reported that “a cat allegedly turned into a
middle-aged woman after being hit by a commercial motorcycle… One of
them, it was learnt, was able to escape while the third one was beaten
to death, still as a cat though.” An innocent woman, a mother, a
sister, an aunt, a citizen of Nigeria was beaten to death in the
presence of a crowd, and no one was decent enough to stop the murder,
to stop the barbarity. But of course these types of events are very
rampant in Nigeria -- a country rife with phantasms and mass hysterias
induced by tales of the missing penis, missing scrotums, missing
breasts, shrinking brains, and witchcraft lore.

There are several interpretations of witchcraft. Used in different
context in different societies and in different era, it could mean a
number of things. In general however, witchcraft is associated with
the supernatural, with magic and with evil deeds. There are historical
testaments of witchcraft in all societies, one of the most famous
being the Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692.  About
three dozen innocent people were killed and hundreds more suffered
unimaginable indignity.  But more than any society in the world, the
Africa society and belief system is excessively rife with such belief.
Even though such beliefs are dying out in most societies, it continues
to thrive and assume epic proportion in the African continent.

In Nigeria for instance, the incidence, accusations and extrajudicial
sanctions against witches are routine. And no where is this more so
than in the Niger Delta region where kids as young as 10, and even
younger, are ostracized or killed on mere suspicion. Widows are
sometimes accused of witchcraft in cases where their husbands suffered
sudden or unexplainable death. In this part of Nigeria, tragedies and
misfortunes that are beyond the consciousness or comprehension of the
natives are mostly credited to witches. It doesn't matter the level of
education, virtually all the inhabitants of the Niger Delta share in
this belief: what cannot be explained, is caused by witches.

Amongst the Ijaw ethnic group, the cost and implication of witchery
are expensive. For instance, the so-called witches are generally never
accorded the dignity of land burial as their remains are usually
thrown into the river.  It is therefore not uncommon to find corpses
floating in the rivers and Ijaw waterways. The children and immediate
family members also suffer from public ridicule and suspicion; they
may be maligned, shunned and disassociated from village events. To be
thought of as the children of a witch carries heavy penalty. The
villagers may wonder if (even you) have been “infected and afflicted”
and have the power to do them in.

Belief in witchcraft and all such phenomenon is a product of deep-
seated fear, ignorance, backwardness, illiteracy of the mind,
gullibility, self-loathe and an inability or refusal to take
responsibility for ones stupidity, failings and shortcomings. The rest
of Nigeria is not different in this regard: if your car malfunctions,
you blame the witch; if you have heart attack or stroke or other
medical conditions, you blame your father's second or third wife; if
you do poorly in school or if you are denied admission to the school
of your choice, you blame the woman down the road. Witches are to be
blamed for everything!

According to Tracy McVeigh of the Guardian (UK), “Evangelical pastors
are helping to create a terrible new campaign of violence against
young Nigerians. Children and babies branded as evil are being abused,
abandoned and even murdered while the preachers make money out of the
fear of their parents and their communities.” Indeed, pastors have now
taken the leading role in pointing accusatory fingers at the innocent.
The white-garment Churches are especially notorious for these. One
wonder how many men and women -- especially women -- have been accused
of evil, and who forever lived a lonely and dejected life? Even in
death, they are slandered. For generation thereafter, their children
and grandchildren may even suffer from such lies and hate.

There are several ironies to the belief in witchcraft; one being that
even among the western educated Africans, there is a widespread belief
in the omnipresence and omnipotence of witches. There are Africans,
who, even with advanced degrees in science and technology and with
residence in the US or other western countries they still belief in
witchcraft, voodoo and other so-called supernatural entities. Perhaps
there is something about the African mind that makes it difficult to
wipe it clean of impurities. “In the Middle Ages people were convinced
there were witches. They looked for them and they certainly found
them.” Today, Africans are still looking and finding and burning them.

What happened in Kisii (Kenya) and in Port Harcourt (Nigeria) was
nothing short of murder. Innocent men and women were killed. A proper
examination of events will reveal that those responsible for the
deaths reveled in the outcomes. They killed as a matter of routine.
They killed without regards for decency and for human life. How sad!
Sadder still is the fact that none of the killers will ever be brought
to justice. The larger community will do nothing about it, and neither
will the government. Such insouciance is a staple of the African
society -- a society where human life is cheaper than a cow. And of
course, such and similar killings will happen again and again and
again. From Sudan to South Africa, and from Senegal to Tanzania, it
happens on a daily basis.

Mr. Sabella Ogbobode Abidde
Washington DC 20059
Tel: 202-290-8191
Sabi ... @gmail.com

Pat Utomi, Reuben Abati in Nigeria's Political Discourse

About four decades ago, Professor Ali Mazrui -- one of the world's
leading intellectuals -- defined intellectual as a person “who has the
capacity to be fascinated by ideas, and has acquired the skill to
handle some of those ideas effectively.” Today, intellectuals are
thought of as those who have “shown distinction in their own field
along with the ability to communicate ideas and influence debate
outside it.” Some may not know it, but Nigeria once had a rich
reservoir of first-rate intellectuals. However, the social psychosis,
economic deprivation, authoritarianism of the state and the political
instability at the tail end of the twentieth century sent the majority
of the intellectual class into exile. There they have remained ever
since.

Today, intellectualism is no longer a craft many Nigerians are eager
to engage in. The pursuit of wealth and the maddening pursuit of
banalities are now at the apex of most people's list -- leading to a
mammoth vacuum in the richness, rigor and versatility of public
discourse. That said, there are some intellectuals, at home and
abroad, who still influence public conversation. I do not have a
definitive list, but there are people like Omoyele Sowore, Sonala
Olumhense, Wole Soyinka, Okey Ndibe, and Abubakar Umar. And then there
is Reuben Abati and Pat Utomi.

If you didn't know it, you'd think Dr. Reuben Abati is the only voice
in the Nigerian media. He is everywhere: from print media to the radio
and from the internet to the television. On a consistent basis, he
whips his wisdom and declarations on virtually every matter under the
Nigerian sun. There are those who think Abati has a lot so say, but
without depth and consistency to the things he says. Not one to rock
the boat or swim against the tide, he feels safe and secure and
content in the calm harbor; not for him the probing and passionate
style of Okey Ndibe; and certainly, not for him the investigative and
Jihadistic style of Dele Giwa.

Some of his critics averred he doesn't even have the truth-seeking
style of Sonala Olumhense, but he has two things going for him: (1)
his populist and pandering style; and (2) his copious submissions. But
above all, he has the survival instinct of a fox. It is uncertain
whether he is afraid there might be a can of worms waiting to be pried
open. Still, it is difficult to begrudge a man who is as smart as he
is and has such staying power. He seems to understand quite well the
need to survive in Nigeria's ocean of malfeasance.

Reuben Abati, in spite of his celebrity status, is, quite frankly,
despised by a lot of his contemporaries. You don't hear too many top-
rate journalists or writers say nice things about him. They loathe his
supercilious and his I-can-do-no-wrong-I-am-untouchable-I-am-better-
than-thee attitude. The major complain against him is that he is too
cozy with AGIP (Any Government In Power). He wines and dines with the
rich and the powerful, the military and the civilians, the sinners and
the saints. He enjoys the celebrity life, the good life. And then
there is Pat Utomi.

Professor Utomi's latest salvo, “Nigeria's Public Space And Reason
Embattled” (The Guardian, Tuesday May 20, 2008) is an interesting
read. It is difficult to know his mindset at the time he composed the
piece. What is clear from the tone of his rendition is that he was
irritated. His displeasure was directed at a number of groups: the
newspaper reporters who are not “deep enough to see beyond black and
white…the Diaspora based internet warrior raining down vituperations
from the comfort of American suburbia” and the “beer parlor pundits.”
He posits that the “Nigeria's public space has a character of the
simplistic, devoid of capacity to deal with nuanced engagement, and
very often leaving reason embattled.” How ironic; “if you live in a
glasshouse don't throw stones.”

Was Pat Utomi expecting the Reporters who recorded his statements to
read his mind? He said what he wanted to say and what he said was what
was reported. He could have said he was misquoted. But to say the
reporters couldn't read between the lines or that they couldn't see
beyond black and white is, in my view, irresponsible. Essentially, he
was shifting culpability. He should have taken responsibility for what
he said. If he misspoke, he will be forgiven; but shifting the blame
for his utterances is uncalled for.

His jabs and uppercuts at “Diaspora based internet warrior” was
careless. If he didn't already know, well, this is the time for him to
know: billions and billions of information are online; millions of
people around the world conduct businesses online; thousands of
schools and institutions are internet based; and indeed, because of
the continuing integration of global systems, millions of people, on a
daily basis, go online to do what needs to be done. Until the last
decade or thereabout, the preferred place for gathering information
was the physical library or field work. Today, the internet holds much
more information than any physical space in any library can ever
accommodate. And so, there is no shame being an “internet warrior”
safely ensconced in the safety and “comfort of American suburbia.”

Utomi blames everybody but himself. He went on to say “the central
truth of my public life is that democracy is about accountability, not
just in terms of financial propriety, but also in terms of stewardship
for responsibility…The more irritating part is that anybody who is
familiar with my views will know I have always worried about obsession
with yesterday to the detriment of tomorrow.” Wow, this is clearly a
man who is worried about and has his mind firmly set on the judgment
of history and posterity. That being the case, a simple advice is in
order here: he should be careful of his pronouncements. He cannot have
it both ways: he cannot say and unsay, he cannot seem to be endorsing
corrupt practices and at the same time condemn it.

To the extent that Professor Utomi is calling for civility and
liberalism in public discourse, he is correct. No one should ever
advocate or acquiesce to destructive and iniquitous public discourse
-- discourses that are not likely to add value to our national culture
and political space. That said, we cannot, in the name of civility and
open-mindedness allow doublespeak, hypocrisy or self-serving and
calculated speeches meant to deceive the uneducated, the
unsophisticated and the gullible. We cannot, as a young and growing
society frown on or berate those who question their leaders or doubt
their truthfulness even if from intellectuals like Chief Patrick
Okedinachi Utomi.

No one has a monopoly of wisdom. And no one should be afraid to speak
up if and when they sense misdirection or duplicity in the public
discourse. No society can thrive without its intellectual class. At
the same time, no society can prosper without those bold enough to
question, to doubt and to call to order the misplacement of thought.
After all, as James Baldwin intoned, “The obligation of anyone who
thinks of himself as responsible is to examine society and try to
change it and to fight it -- at no matter what risk.” An earlier essay
may be deemed unpleasant to the learned Chief, but it was necessary
for the sake of our country. No aspersions or disrespect was intended.

Finally, it needs to be pointed out that there was an air of contempt,
of deplorable hubris in the totality of what Pat Utomi said. That he
roams the Nigerian political/intellectual space unchallenged, does not
give him the license to speak condescendingly to those who disagree
with his position. He may be used to reporters kowtowing to his every
wish; he may be used to his domestic audiences' silence and acceptance
of his blanket assertions, but he should not expect the same of
“Diaspora based internet warrior in the comfort of American suburbia.”
To be a big fish in River Benue is not the same as being a small fish
in the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean.

Mr. Sabella Ogbobode Abidde
PhD Candidate & Sasakawa Fellow
Howard University, Washington DC 20059
Cell: 202-290-8191
Sabi ... @gmail.com

The Nigerian Presidency and the Igbo Nation

The bulk of this essay was first published in the summer of 2004.
However, after reading Mr. E Ejike Anyaduba's exposition, “Igbo: A
People In Search Of A Leader,” (Daily Independent, Thursday May 15,
2008), I thought I revisit a subject that has confounded me for
several years. Although Anyaduba's essay has an historical undertone,
but really, his starting point was the failed abduction of a sitting
governor, Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige. The writer went on to chronicle
some of the “anomalous situation,” and the “comical nonsensical act”
that has come to characterize the Ndiigbo. He went on to take a swipe
at the “avalanche of political jobbers who masquerade as Igbo
leaders.” Either way one looks at it, Anyaduba is correct, but he did
not tell the whole story.

Astute observers of the post-1983 Nigerian political scene are aware
of the fact that the Igbo are their own worst enemy. One cannot but be
perplexed at the miscalculations and self-immolating tendency of the
Igbo elites. A once proud people, a once proud nation has allowed
itself to be the ball, to be dribbled every which way. I wonder: what
are the average Igbo bankers, farmers, housewives, teachers, traders
and miners saying about the indiscipline, infighting and rascality of
their current political leaders. Beginning in the 1930s through the
1970s, the Who-Is-Who of Igbo Nation were men at the top of the class:
men of substance, men of integrity and when they spoke even the
heavens listened. The reverse is the case today. The mighty is
falling.

As someone who grew up in all the four regions of the country -- and
having been a witness to the brilliance of the Igbo Nation -- I never
knew a day would come when they essentially would give their opponents
the tool with which to curtain and weaken their role, place and
significance in the Nigerian enterprise. It is hard for me to imagine
Nigeria without the Igbo. It is even harder to imagine what Ndiigbo
have done to themselves. What happened to the Igbo? Well, I am not
capable of such critical analysis. I leave that to people like Okey
Ndibe, Peter Claver Oparah, Levi Obijiofor, Moses Ebe Ochonu, Rudolf
Ogoo Okonkwo, and Ozodi Thomas Osuji. They can tell us why the Igbo
are where they are today. It is not pretty. I guess that is one of the
facts Ejike Anyaduba was getting at.

One could argue that within the context of Nigerian politics and
society, and indeed within the context of African politics and
society, the Igbo have made it and have it all. They have everything
but political power, political influence, and political currency --
especially at the presidential level. Collectively, the Igbo are
wealthy, educated, and intelligent. These are people with global
influence, strength of character, élan and self confidence. The Igbo
nation has attributes most other Nigerian nations can only dream of;
and are what most other nations are not. The Igbo made and makes
Nigeria better. Any wonder then that the Igbo can do without Nigeria;
but Nigeria and her myriad nationalities cannot do without the Igbo?
Take the Igbo out of the Nigeria equation, and Nigeria will be gasping
for air.

This being the case, the “political misfortune” of the Igbo is not
only puzzling and bewildering; it is a source of concern to this
commentator. It also should be a source of concern to other Nigerians
and especially to the Igbo themselves. How did a people this
intelligent, this savvy, and this contributive and participatory got
shut out of the corridor of federal power and continually being
deprived the chance to attain the highest seat of Nigeria's political
power? How? Why?

I begin by summarizing some of the reasons (I have been given) as to
why a Nigerian of Igbo lineage have yet to be elected the executive
president of Nigeria: (1) that the Igbo seem to be suffering from
Germanic Complex; (2) that they easily succumb to the Hausa-Fulan/
Yoruba politics of divide-and-conquer; (3) that they are ferociously
independent and so do not want to follow the command of a single
leader; (4) that the persistent political infightings and betrayal
amongst the Igbo elite and centers of power has been a hindrance to
their goals; and (5) that the Igbo are content with dominating the
economic arena and have therefore given up all hope and struggle for
political power.

There are no empirical evidences to support all of the aforementioned
reasons; and even most of the anecdotal evidences, as presented to me,
are weak. The exception is reason number four: the infighting amongst
Igbo elites and between centers of power, plus the psychological
issue. This psychological factor has two related components: mistrust
of the Igbo by other ethnic groups, and the unspoken determination of
the Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani to deprive the Igbo of their rightful
place in the Nigerian polity. In other words: the North and the West
have a deep-seated mistrust of the Igbo and so are hell bent on
restricting, containing, and denying the Igbo their political right.
Added to this is their subtle message to other minority groups: the
Igbo, as a group, are not to be trusted!

The West doesn't think much of the North and the North have contempt
for the West; yet, both regions have found a way to grudgingly do
“political business” and engage in “political prostitution” to the
detriment of the Igbo nation. This unholy alliance has its root in the
1966/67-1970 Nigerian Civil War.

The relationship the Yoruba and the Hausa-Fulani have with the Igbo
reminds me of the relationship the Israelis had with Yassar Arafat and
the Palestinian Authority: distrust, misconception and hatred! The
Israeli worldview is shaped by their sense of history, their sense of
isolation and sense of persecution. In this case, the Hausa-Fulani and
the Yoruba remembers the events of 1966/67-1970, which have negatively
affected their thinking and seem to believe the Igbo had and will
always have untold aims towards their wellbeing.

Essentially, the North and the West have not rid themselves of their
prejudices and hatred of the Igbo. They have been using their
jaundiced perception and misreading of history to thwart the Igbo
presidential aspiration. It is this psychological rut, in addition to
the infighting and unnecessary wrangling between Igbo power centers
that adequately accounts for why the Igbo have been denied the
presidency. For the Igbo to become the Nigerian President therefore,
they first have to devise a way to speak with one voice and unite
under a single visionary leader/power center. The most difficult part
would be curing the North and the West of their psychological wounds.

It doesn't help that the Igbo have all these centers of competing
powers that seems to be doing Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto and Minna's
bidding. And yes, it is admirable that the Igbo are building what may
someday rival the successes of Taiwan and South Korea. But that is not
enough! It won't be enough!  It also doesn't help when they cut proven
leaders like the great Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and many others all
in the name of politics. How many Northerners are sticking knives,
pins and arrow into Abacha and Babangida? Both men are not even in the
same class as the Ikemba Nnewi -- one of the rarest of all men -- yet,
some Igbo take pride in dressing him down!

At the individual level, some Hausa-Fulani have great relationship
with some Igbo. Same can also be said of Yoruba elites with fruitful
relationship with some Igbo. But that is not enough. These friendships
and relationships should be extended to the presidential arena. The
Igbo have made significant and measurable contribution to every
community they have settled in. And Nigeria became what it was because
of the Igbo. The Hausa-Fulani and the Yoruba have been at the helm of
Nigeria's national affairs and the result has been dismal. It is time
the Igbo take control and command of Aso Rock.

This article is not suggesting that the colluding groups covertly met
and agreed to stop the Igbo from become Nigeria's executive president.
No. This conspiracy is borne out of an unspoken agreement; an
unconscious collusion, if you will -- though, it is not beneath the
Nigerian ruling elites to nod in agreement on how to hinder Igbo
presidential hope. Stranger things have happened in Nigeria, you know!
Nigeria cannot be greater than what it is if the Igbo are excluded
from the presidency. It is sinful and injurious to continuously point
-- consciously or unconsciously -- to the unfortunate events of
1966/67-1970. Come to think of it: the Igbo suffered the most and are
owed a world of apology.

Sabi ... @gmail.com

Mr. Sabella Ogbobode Abidde
PhD Candidate & Sasakawa Fellow
Howard University Washington DC 20059
Cell Phone: 202-290-8191

Speaking of Religion, Speaking of Women

Friends and group members recently lost loved-ones. Commiserating with
them became awkward since I don't pray or call on a supposed higher
power. All cultures and religion have prayers and poems and requiems
that accompany such moments. With that in mind, how do one console the
bereaved without, in one form or another, mention God? You wish the
bereaved “God's grace” and “God's love,” and then ask God to “grant
you the fortitude to bear this irreparable lose.” “God” also comes
into the conversation as in when people say “God Bless You!” I have
generally greeted such supplication with silence or, I'd say something
like “Thanks!” or “you, too.” I can never ever bring myself, even if
in a perfunctory matter, to mentioning God or to pray. I can't do. I
won't do it.

I wasn't always an atheist or an agnostic. Nevertheless, I cannot
tell, with any degree of certainty when I first began to pull away
from the norm or when I began to close my eyes and my heart and my
senses to religion and to spirituality and to any notion of an
omnipotent and omnipresent being. Frankly, I am not sure whether I am
an agnostic or an atheist. I vacillate between the two. I have no way
of knowing or proving there is a supreme being; I have no way of
proving there isn't one. Either way, it doesn't really matter to me
since religion or spirituality has no place in my life.

I am not searching for some great answers; I am not in quest of a big
mystery, some great unknown. I formally abandoned the Church in 1989
and have only stepped into one on three occasions. My best friend
cajoled me into attending service on two consecutive Sundays in 1993
(in Lagos); on another occasion, I waited in a Church foyer until a
friend's children completed their baptism rituals (in Norman,
Oklahoma), in 2004. Otherwise, going to Church on Sunday or on any
other day is the last thing on my mind, praying to a deity or to any
other supernatural being doesn't occur to me.  There is a common
saying: “there are no atheists in foxholes, well, I have been in many
foxholes and haven't flinched.

To save myself a whole lot of headache, I could lie; I could put on a
show like so many people do -- people who claim to be Christians, who
claim to be sons and daughters of God. Beyond that I could put up an
act and say I am a born again. I could be like some people I know who
preach fire and brimstone, shouting their lungs off -- claiming to
have a direct line to God. I could claim this and that and everything
in between. I could claim to have the ability to make the hearing and
visually impaired hear and see again. In Christendom, as with other
religion, one could claim the unclaimables. But very few indignities
compare to the indignity I sometimes suffer in the hands of some
fanatics.

First, I always get the evil-look when I tell gatherings that I don't
pray and don't want to join them in their prayer sessions. In such
moments, it is not unusual for someone to say “If you don't want
prayers, do you want curses and evil spells…if you are not serving
God, you must be serving juju.” Indeed, not a few have asked what type
of god I serve. One such person showed up in my one-bedroom apartment,
looked around and quipped: “You no dey go Church…you no be Christian
and you no be Muslim…I fear you oo” The belief is that if I am not a
Christian or a Muslim, then, I must be “something.” What that
“something” is beats me. I get a kick out of people's misplaced
suspicion. I pity them.

And secondly, some people don't know how to relate to me. They act and
speak as though my irreligiosity is some kind of communicable disease,
something and somebody to avoid at all cost. It is as though my
irreligiosity negatively defines who I am, shapes my worldview, and
impact my sense of right and wrong, my humanity, my benevolence and my
essence. It is as if without faith, I am nothing. Foolishly, some tell
me I will burn in hell unless I change my ways and accept Jesus Christ
(and then going as far as quoting John 3:16 to me). Nigerians, that
is.

I sometimes wonder if Nigerians “invent” religion, especially
Christianity. On the exterior, they are more Catholic than the Pope,
more pious than Vatican Saints. Mario Azevedo it was who said,
“Throughout the centuries, religion has played a crucial role in the
destiny of man. It has shaped his outlook of the universe, provided an
explanation of his existence, and impacted his political, social, and
economic behavior…brought harmony, strengthened the bonds of
brotherhood among peoples of the world…it has likewise caused untold
suffering…” In Nigeria and amongst Nigerians, religion has been a
source of suffering and disillusionment. It has made a sizeable number
of Nigerians fatalistic and indolent.

Beginning in my undergraduate years at Saint Cloud State University in
Minnesota, there was never a time I did not read up on religion,
especially the major religions of the world: Judaism, Islam, Taoism,
Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. In recent years,
because of scholarly requirements and the encouragement of Professor
Sulayman S. Nyang, I have been reading up on Traditional African
Religions by way of John Mbiti, Bolaji Idowu, Placide Temples,
Geoffrey Parrinder, Kofi Asare Opoku, and Benjamin Ray. In the near
future, I intend to delve into the academic works of Professor Wande
Abimbola (See http://www.wandeabimbola.com/ ).

For unknown reasons, the more I study religion, the farther I get from
it; the more learned I get, the greater the distance between
spirituality and my daily life. Education seem to have allowed me to
decide for myself “whether there is a God in heaven or not. To ask
questions of the universe, and then learn to live with those
questions.” I do not know whether God-seekers will ever find or know
him now or in the future, I do not know whether a day will ever come
when humans will “come before God and account for their deeds on
earth,” and I certainly do not know if paradise awaits anyone. No one
knows with any measure of certainty if there is a God. All they can do
is guess, or hope there is one. Others go beyond guessing, they
believe; they worship and praise and bow before him. As for me, I do
not know and do not want to know.

Another cost to my irreligiousness is finding a suitable and
marriageable African woman. Put another way, after all these years, I
am yet to meet an African woman who is an agnostic or atheist or who
is comfortable with one. No matter how Americanized or westernized,
they seem to hold dear to their religious faith. Without any type of
empirical backing, African women seem to be more religious compared to
their male counterparts. In Churches at least, they are usually the
first to arrive and the last to leave. Except for the inner sanctum,
they seem to be in charge of everything -- including nurturing the
young and the newcomers. Women take matters of faith and spirituality
very seriously. And that probably accounts for why snow will rain on
Lagos before an African woman agrees to marry an atheist or an
agnostic like me.

Nothing else seems to matter -- smartness that borders on brilliance,
versatility, kindness and generosity of the heart, great culinary
skills, fine lineage, great sense of ethics and morality, etc -- and
even if they matter, they seem pale in comparison to the religious and
spiritual requirement of African women. In a way, that is good. It is
good because it allows one to cross all racial boundaries.

Sabi ... @gmail.com

Mr. Sabella Ogbobode Abidde
PhD Candidate & Sasakawa Fellow
Howard University Washington DC 20059
Cell: 202-290-8191

The Duplicity and Hypocrisy of Pat Utomi

Karl Kraus it was who said “corruption is worse than prostitution. The
latter might endanger the morals of an individual; the former
invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.” Political
prostitution and corrupt practices are two of the evils that have been
chipping at Nigeria's moral fiber the last three decades. There are
Nigerians -- irrespective of their level of education and their socio-
economic background -- who are immersed in both: they are political
prostitutes, and are corrupt in every which way. Some are wise enough
to know who and what they are and have kept quiet; others are not so
smart, they are like the kettle, calling the pot black. This manner of
hypocrisy is very rampant within the Nigerian socio-political and
economic space, accounting why it is difficult to separate the saints
from sinners.

A lot of Nigerians think highly of Professor Pat Utomi. They love and
respect him. They believe he is a new breed of politician: smart,
forward-looking, with refined ideas and refined intellect. During the
last presidential election, there were Nigerians who swore on their
ancestors' grave -- vouching for the integrity of a man they believe
is beyond reproach, beyond suspect. At home and abroad, his utterances
and countenance was of a man with no skeletons in his cupboards. He
spoke and walked around like a Saint. His every word and
pronouncements were, for the most part, digested without being
dissected. After all, he was and still is, Patrick Okedinachi Utomi.
When he speaks, people listen. And rightly so, but his last utterances
were uncalled for: they were vexing and corruption-encouraging. Not
only was he wrong, he was exceedingly wrong!

According to The Punch (Online Friday, 9 May 2008),  Chief Utomi
“criticized President Umaru Yar'Adua's decision to probe the Central
Bank of Nigeria's $462m investment in the African Finance Corporation…
He said that there were limits to looking backwards, stressing that
the probe of the AFC was capable of embarrassing the country… even if
due process was not followed, it is not enough to embarrass the whole
country.” Damn! The whole interview was nauseating, vexing, dubious
and nonsensical. Utomi sounded like a man who was in the know or knows
something about what really went down. And he lied; he lied when he
said, “friends abroad were calling ‘what's this about AFC and CBN? Why
are hatchets been drawn all over the place? Can't you people focus on
nation building?” What in the world is nation-building? And what is
Pat Utomi talking about?

What is nation-building when you cannot hold people accountable for
their bad actions? What is nation-building in the absence of
transparency and accountability? What is nation-building without good
governance? If you mismanage $462 million today (without penalty), you
may be emboldened to misappropriate $642 million the next time --
which is exactly what has been happening to the nation's economy in
the last three decades: people failing to be responsible and
government refusing to sanction irresponsible actions. If President
Yar'Adua listens to Utomi and the likes of Utomi, others will be
encouraged in their reckless and criminal behavior. Four hundred and
sixty two million dollars is not chicken-change. And even if it were,
there is the need to follow laid out accounting procedures; there is
the need to follow the law. Those who knowingly abbreviate and violate
the law must be held accountable. Now, if Pat Utomi is publicly asking
the President to look away, one wonders what type of advice he gave
previous presidents vis-à-vis the economy and on issue relating to
corrupt practices. By the way, what would a President Utomi do when
confronted with such financial recklessness?

Pat Utomi must have been kidding when he said such a probe would
embarrass the country. How, how in heaven's name could a bank, any
bank misappropriate that much money. It is the negligence and or
criminality of those involved in the shady deal that is embarrassing
to the country. And in fact it would be more embarrassing and
disgraceful if the President of Nigeria or the Nigerian National
Assembly fails to act. It would be a grave injustice, a dereliction of
duty not to act, not to probe. Pat Utomi's advice is flawed,
embarrassing not only to the country, but to all men and women
clamoring for good governance. The Central Bank is not an ordinary
bank. It is the bank to all banks. It is the institution responsible
for the financial wellbeing of the nation. It is the institution other
financial institutions and vested groups around the world reference in
gauging the health of the nation's economy. A string of the blunder in
question is capable of casting suspicion on the nation's economy. And
that will be the real embarrassment.

In all of these, here is the irony (if not outright duplicity): two
weeks earlier, Utomi had called on “Nigerians to play active roles in
the fight against official corruption and injustice in the
country.” (See Rise up against corruption, Utomi urges Nigerians.
Punch Online, Thursday, 24 April 2008). He was quoted as saying
corruption thrived in Nigeria because “most of us have failed to
challenge perpetrators. Everyday in this country, we are being robbed
of our property, and most of us keep docile about it.” In a related
mater, Utomi said: “When some people argued that Ribadu was going
after only the enemies of the then President (Olusegun Obasanjo), my
response was: ‘Let us first catch the enemies of the (then) president.
After he has finished with the enemies, then, the (then) President‘s
friends will be available to be caught.” What a sad and unfortunate
commentary, what wrapped logic on the part of Chief Utomi.

One of the reasons we (as a country or continent) have not been able
to achieve real development -- development that is human-centered and
which gives preference to basic human needs -- is the pervasiveness
and institutionalization of corruption: embezzlement, bribery, and
other forms of shady practices. When you can not entrust the national
treasury to the president or his appointed agents, who then can you
trust? When you can not entrust the constitution to the attorney
general and minister of justice, who else can you trust to obey the
laws? When parliamentarians are busy lootings and cavorting with
midnight-girls, who is there to write appropriate laws and keep an eye
on the presidency? When men like Pat Utomi are not being consistent in
their condemnation of corruption, then, almost all hope is lost in the
effort to salvage our battered and decaying nation.

Wasn't there a time in the history Nigeria when people were afraid of
being branded thieves, when people guarded their reputation and family
name with all their might, a time when rogues and street urchins were
easily identifiable, a time when to be considered a thief meant being
a social and religious outcast? In modern Nigeria, I know of no more
than five adults who are afraid of going to jail for stealing the
people's money. Most are not afraid to be associated with scatology.
Why should they be, after all communities across the county now
welcome, and coronate known thieves; churches and mosques now have
special prayers for pen and armed robbers. We have a country where the
president and the vice president, along with all the state governors,
parliamentarians and high-ranking officials are all known or suspected
thieves.

That must be the real embarrassment. With the kind of statement Pat
Utomi is quoted to have made in recent weeks, well, all hopes are
dwindling for any kind of salvation.

Mr. Sabella Ogbobode Abidde
PhD Candidate & Sasakawa Fellow
Howard University, Washington DC 20059
Cell: 202-290-8191

Ojo Maduekwe And Nigerian Foreign Policy: A Dissenting Opinion

Nation-states have national security interests -- be it tactical or
strategic, immediate or long term. And they generally pursue two
fundamental goals: national security and autonomy. Whenever and
wherever possible, they add a third: cooperation with other states at
the global level, especially when such endeavors are in concurrence
with their core and or instrumental interest. In the case of Nigeria,
one could argue what those interests ought to be especially in an
increasingly interrelated and integrated world and more so since
Nigeria has been a laggard; but such is not within the cope of this
rejoinder. This is about a clash of perspective, a dissenting opinion
vis-à-vis Dr. Sam Amadi's treatise: Ojo Maduekwe And Nigerian Foreign
Policy (Daily Independent, Monday May 5, 2008).

For almost two decades, Nigeria has been adrift within the global
system. Unclear and unsure about its role and place within such
anarchical system, she has not been able to find her voice, define and
defend her goals, or assert itself within the comity of nations, or
even look after the common and general interests of her people at home
and abroad. Nigeria is today living off its past glory, impersonating
her once fine self. Diplomatically speaking, there has been nothing
good to talk or write home about. But frankly, the country is adrift,
drowning in its own incompetence. A country that will not provide
basic human needs to the majority of her citizens cannot perform
better globally. In order words, an incompetent government (at home)
cannot be a beacon of humanity abroad.

As stated in an earlier composition, almost one year into the
administration of President Yar'Adua, the External Affairs Minister
seems to be Missing-In-Action. If Yar'Adua is anything like his
predecessor, then, Maduekwe will have no prayer, no voice and no
significant role in shaping the country's foreign affairs. As far as
domestic matters goes, no one is quite sure where the President is
headed; same is true of international affairs. Even so, one is
interested in knowing what the scope of interest of this President
will be. So far, nothing impressive has been articulated, and nothing
significant has been ventured. What was true yesterday is also true
today: Yar'Adua has no discernable goals or governing ideologies.
Maduekwe is in the same boat, but Sam Amadi laboriously tried to
convince his readers otherwise. He failed!

Abbreviating the opinion of the External Affairs Minster, Sam Amadi
quoted him as saying, “no matter how much we may be tempted to malign
Nigerian domestic policies, there is little dispute that its foreign
policy has been nothing less than a huge success.” Amadi went on to
say that “What the minister modestly failed to add is that his
leadership of Nigerian foreign policy in the past months has
tremendously added to this success story.” Wrong, wrong, and wrong!
One can understand the reasons behind Maduekwe's self-adulation. A man
ought to be able sing his own praise even if no one is doing it. And
in this case, no one is singing it because there is nothing to
celebrate. One could go from A to Z and not find a single achievement
that can be credited to the minister.

Nigeria's foreign affair is still in the same boat it was before he
(Madukwe) came into office: stagnant, unresponsive, and lacking in
direction. What, exactly, is the purpose of Nigeria's foreign policy
and how does she intend to achieve it? What are the core values his
ministry intends to pursue and or have been pursuing in the last nine
months? In what ways are the minister's ideas and ideals reflected in
the nation's foreign policy? So far, what have been apparent are the
minster's big-talks, grand schemes and hyperbolism. He plays to the
gallery. He shifts his cards and shifts his hands. He sings and dances
just to impress and impress one man only: President Yar'Adua. He's
been hugely successful at that; but has been a huge disaster as far as
the nation's foreign affairs goes.

Nothing has changed with Nigeria Embassies. For decades now, they have
been nothing more than enclaves of ethnicity, favoritism and
indolence. Most are citadels of corruption and psychosomatic abuse.
Any wonder then that the majority of Nigerians dread going to their
country's embassies? In several of these places, you'll have no prayer
if you needed consular or legal help. At the level of things one could
physically measure, Maduekwe's score card reads F; same for his
intellectual advancement of Nigeria's foreign policy. With these and
several other failings and foibles, Sam Amadi should tell us how
Minister Maduekwe's reign has been a huge success. And Ojo Maduekwe
himself should tell the nation what he is doing to turn things around.
Oh well, may be the minister needs additional nine months to justify
his continued appointment.

In the words of Sam Amadi, “an assessment of Nigerian foreign policy
success under Chief Ojo Maduekwe cannot escape a scrutiny of his
concept of ‘Citizen Diplomacy'… citizen diplomacy was misconceived to
be a revision of Nigerian traditional foreign policy focus… Some hasty
commentators who did not wait for full articulation of the ingredients
of the ‘new' foreign policy shot it down as not a foreign policy
option.”
Well then, what in heaven's name is citizen diplomacy? When the
minister himself tried articulating it, it was nothing but mumbo-
jumbo. It made no sense. It was not anchored in a globalizing and
post-911 world, and neither was it anchored in the reality of modern
Nigeria.  Scholars, practitioners and public intellectuals were all
dumfounded at its worthlessness.

Dr. Sam Amadi has some political capital and name recognition in place
where it really matters; but I suspect some of his gains will begin to
exfoliate as a result of his claim that “The foreign minister is
justified to claim that this is the last bus-stop in foreign policy
articulation. We cannot get better than this, at least in terms of
policy articulation.” Nonsense, arrant nonsense! Everything good can
be improved upon. There is nothing within the academy, the policy
market or implementation arena that is ever static. You either regress
or make progress. As far as Nigeria's foreign affairs went, there were
constant changes, challenges and progress as evidenced from the era of
Jaja Nwachukwu through Arikpo Okoi, Joseph Garba and Bolaji Akinyemi.

If Sam Amadi thinks and believes that “We cannot get better than
this,” then, Nigeria's foreign policy (intellectualization, design,
implementation and articulation) is in one helluva of a mess.
Mediocrity must never be our last stop. And indeed, Sam Amadi's
reputation suffered some more when he recklessly averred that “Chief
Ojo Maduekwe's contributions to foreign policy success in Nigeria are
mainly in three categories. Firstly, he has creatively connected
diplomacy to governance by emphasizing the ideals of citizenship and
political accountability…Secondly, he has increased the productivity
of the foreign affairs ministry by refocusing it to efficiency and
value-addition. Thirdly, his memorable participation in international
forums has increased Nigeria's reputation and played the country into
a holding role for democracy and rule of law in Africa.” The aforesaid
will most likely induce smirk and mockery from serious and progressive
scholars and practitioners of foreign affairs. Minister Ojo Maduekwe
is not now “capable of taking our foreign policy to the next level.”

In essence, Ojo Maduekwe And Nigerian Foreign Policy is nothing but a
polishing and repacking assignment. It is what it is: the first in a
series of efforts to help retain Maduekwe in a cabinet shakeup.  Dr.
Sam Amadi -- Special Assistant to Nigerian Foreign Minister, Director,
Center for Public Policy & Research and Senior Policy Advisor 6th
Sense Consulting -- should in the future save us the trouble of
another PR campaign. It is embarrassing. Very embarrassing!

Mr. Sabella Ogbobode Abidde
PhD Candidate & Sasakawa Fellow
Howard University Washington DC 20059
Tel: 202-290-8191
Sabi ... @gmail.com

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Waiting for God, Waiting for: Rawlings

How many Nigerians live abroad? No one knows; no one knows, with any
degree of certainty, the number of Nigerians who have lawfully
emigrated within the last thirty years. Records are not kept, and even
when they are, such records are not reliable because of a variety of
reasons including, but not limited to the fact that false identities
can easily be assumed. The government also does not know the number of
passports it has issued to bona fide Nigerians; it does not know, and
will never know -- from now until the end of time -- how many non-
Nigerians have Nigerian passports.

The Nigerian government doesn't even know the numbers of Nigerians
there are. Census figures, from the colonial era to the present, are
either inflated or deflated, depending on the region, the state or the
local government. Sadly, there are several things the Nigerian
government does not know, including the amount of oil it has sold, how
much it received in rent, the amount of money it has in its treasury,
and how much has been stolen from it. Because the government is bad
with numbers 1-3 billion dollars worth of oil are stolen every year by
legitimate and illegitimate sources. I doubt if the government even
knows the number of employees in its foreign missions.

In a social and economic sense, there are seven types of overseas-
Nigerians. Be it in the Asia-Pacific Rim countries, North America or
Europe, the typology is the same. For the purpose of this discourse
however, overseas-Nigerians are re-categorized into four immigration
related groups: (1) those waiting for God; (2) those waiting for
Rawlings; (3) the emotionally damaged; and (4) the denial-indifference
group. When it is all said and done, it doesn't really matter which
group one belong: perpetual migration has a way of jabbing and sapping
the human spirit. To be away from ones motherland, to be away from
familiar grounds and scents and voices and faces is not as easy as
some may think.

Will there ever be a reverse migration of Nigerians? Frankly, I do not
foresee a time -- anytime within the next quarter of a century -- when
such is will take place. Speaking in abstraction, the stars have to
align in the proper order for such phenomenon to take place: several
positive things have to happen at the right time and in a sustained
way for there to be reverse migration. But when you consider the fact
that for more than a quarter century Nigeria has been on a slippery
slope to damnation, a lot -- a whole lot -- has to be done before the
free-fall can be slowed, halted, and a turn around undertaken.

Consider the state of our political and cultural institutions.
Consider the state of our educational institutions. Consider the state
of our national culture. Consider also the attitude of Nigerians
towards their country and their government; but beyond all that are
the loss of faith, the abundant cynicism in our national psyche, and
our indifference towards truth and honesty and personal
responsibility. Too many things have gone wrong for far too long that
extraordinary efforts are needed to make simple gains. It's good to be
hopeful, but there is nothing hopeful and promising about Nigeria.

Most Nigerians born in Nigeria after 1983 are damned. Such Nigerians
are consigned to a culture and a life rife with excesses, lethargy,
avarice and misery. What can Nigeria offer and what has Nigeria been
offering such people? When your country does not love or want you,
what do you do? When your country does not take care of your basic
needs, why should you care for her? In this and other instances,
patriotism or nationalism means nothing; it holds no special meaning
for such Nigerians.

For the post-1983 Nigerians therefore, Nigeria does not exist the same
way it existed for previous generations. In our anger and desperation,
we tend to forget that there was a time our country was awash with
heroes, intellectuals, capable minds, and men and women of essence.
Naming names from a bygone era is not necessary. But how many heroes,
intellectuals, capable minds, and men and women of élan could one name
in today's Nigeria? The country, as far as I can surmise, is missing
the right sets of leaders with the right set of training, mindset and
worldview. The people and their leaders are lacking the courage and
the political will to confront their history and their future.

The future of Nigeria is at stake. But no one should worry about the
US intelligence estimate which predicted that the country may
disintegrate sometimes within the next thirteen years. Nigeria is not
going to breakup. Not with all that Black Gold. Not in my life time.
But if oil is found in commercial quantity in all the regions of the
country, well then, all bets are off. Until then, what will come to
pass is the vicious and deepening cycle of grand theft, stupidity,
callousness, indifference, confusion, hopelessness, poverty of common
sense, and the establishment of physical and mental hell in the
country -- exacerbated by insatiability, ethnic politics and religious
fanaticism.

In all of these, continental Nigerians are not oblivious to what is
happening to them and to their country. No. They are concerned. They
are worried. They want solutions. But they lack the courage and the
political will to retake their country. So, much like their foreign-
based counterparts, they are waiting for God -- the omnipotent,
omnipresent, omniscience God -- to solve their problems. Within a
twenty-five year period, the vast majority of Nigerians have come to
believe that only God can solve their problems. And so they wait. They
wait for God. They wait for God to solve man-made problems. With hand
folded, eyes to the heavens, they wait. They pray. They wait. And pray
some more.

Those not waiting for divine intervention are waiting for a Rawlings.
The hope is that someone will come along to dig up decayed and
decaying roots; sanitize the air, bury the garbage, and help them make
sense of their country. Murtala Mohammed couldn't get to it; and
Buhari was thrown out before gains could be made. Democracy or no
Democracy, somewhere in the back of their minds, a great many
Nigerians yearns for a forthright or benevolent dictator: someone to
clean up all the messes. Either way one looks at it -- by way of
participant observation or statistical and institutional analysis --
Nigeria is in a rot, in a deep pile of shit. Forgive the vulgarity,
but how else could one say it?

Continental Nigerians are waiting for God or for Rawlings. And so are
their foreign-based brethrens. They want to return home, but they
can't. Every so often they call home to see if things are improving.
They occasionally visit to see and experience things -- needing to be
convinced that things are improving. They scout cyberspace for news
about the economic and political conditions. At every turn, they are
disappointed. They are saddened. They become depressed. They know they
could do better in Nigeria, but Nigeria doesn't want or need them. And
no matter how successful and well-placed they might be in the western
world, they will never be truly accepted. They will always be
different, will always be foreigners, not fully fitting in. It hurts.
Truly, it hurts to be second or third.

If you are a teenager or if you are in your twenties and thirties,
living abroad can be fun. But once past 40, life in a foreign land
becomes tedious. Past 50, it becomes depressing. Past 60, it may drive
you insane. Past 70, you may not know it, but others may know you are
a walking-dead. There are certain things a six or seven figure salary
cannot replace: the joy of being Home. It is why they hope that things
will improve so reverse migration can begin.

Overseas-Nigerians are waiting to return home. They have no history of
armed struggles or political activism, so armed resistance or
resistance of any sort is out of the question. Nigerians are not good
at dying. They hate death. When they die, they die not for their
country, but for ethnic or religious causes. Courage and audacity is
not part of their makeup, so they'd rather just whine and whine and
whine. And when they are not whining, they are praying for some sort
of divine intervention; otherwise, they are hoping for Rawlings.

There will be no God and there will be no Rawlings. Nigerians,
wherever they may be, must take back their Homeland. The must wake up
and begin the journey to recapture their Motherland. No one will do it
for them. Not a God, not a Superman. They must do it themselves.

Sabi ... @gmail.com

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A People And Their Migration Pattern

Aside from the old-Soviet Union, and perhaps, modern Russia, I can
think of no other country in modern times that has lived or is living
far below its potential. No where on the face of the planet would one
find a people as confused and flabbergasted about what to do with and
about their country than Nigerians. For Nigerians, Nigeria has become
a joke, a riddle, and a source of sadness and disappointment. Frankly,
what to do with and what to do about Nigeria is one of the great
mysteries of the modern era: a country once destined for greatness is
today a brittle skeleton, a dust bowl.

Every now and then, I come across Nigerians who were men and women of
substance and great intellect when Nigeria was a hopeful land. These
Nigerians reminiscences about a country, a culture and a political
space that once was; a land that had so much potential, so much dreams
and so many possibilities. Catching up with the West, in terms of
growth and development, was one of their mantras. It was not to be.
The civil war put a let on their aspirations.

In the years immediately following the cessation of hostility, some of
the embers and the energies returned. Nigerian universities and
institutions of higher learning were home to some of the continent's
best. And so were the Civil Service and the Judiciary. Rent from oil
and other resources made it possible for Nigeria to project herself
continentally and globally. There was no doubt that the country's
place within the globally system was going to be secured within three
decades. At the very least, the country was going to be the Mecca for
the Black race. That was the thinking. The expectation.

However, a series of self-immolating factors, including but not
limited to coups, poor leadership, institutional dishonesty, ancient
fears and suspicious, along with external interferences, helped bring
the country to her knees. The gains of the post-independence and post-
civil eras all evaporated. The air was gradually knocked out of the
nation's lungs. And so it was that beginning in the late-1970s, until
the present time, the country has been in a doldrums, in a rut: unable
to pull itself up from three decades of morbid slumber. In the
intervening years, about 1.1 million professionals, along with their
kids and spouses, fled the country.

Consequently, the country's institutions deteriorated; there was and
continues to be a breakdown of social structures; mediocrity became
the norm; high crimes were legalized; and foolishness and stupidity
became fashionable. Not minding the costs and the inconveniences,
Nigerians fled to whatever country that will host them. Nigerians fled
everywhere, from Israel to Afghanistan, and from Timbuktu to Iceland;
they went everywhere. Today, Nigeria has more “scattered, suffering
and miserable people” around the world than any other country.

Some cannot return home; others will not return. Not now, at least.
Too many have nothing to return to, nothing to aspire to. It is hard
to quantify the cost of such forced-migration on the people and on the
country. How do you quantify the psychological and spiritual loss; how
do you quantify the economic, social and political loss to the nation?
If the current trend is not inverted, Nigerians may be the first and
only people -- in the modern era, at least -- with a country, but
without a homeland.

Immigration is not new. It is to be encouraged. It is necessary. It is
part of the human evolution and human experience. There have been
great migrations in history. In Africa for example, there was the
Bantu and the Trans-Atlantic Migrations. In Europe, there was the Serb
and the Irish Migrations, including the Ostsiedlung Migration
(German's eastward expansion). In the United States of America, there
was, between 1914 and 1950, the exodus of African-Americans out of the
Southern belt to other regions of the country. When such large
migrations take place, the effect can be seen in both the departing
and the receiving territory. In the long run, it is always a net-gain
for the receiving country.

The problem with the Nigerian-style immigration is the pattern, the
scope and the pull-push factors that gave rise to such movements. If
Nigeria had not stagnated, seventy percent of those in exile would
never have left; what's more, seventy-five percent of those who left
would have returned within a decade. Ten percent or so completely
forsakes the country. For the vast majority however, they return or
think of returning only after they've spent the better and most
productive years of their lives abroad. They return to die or to be
buried.

Why are Nigerians not returning home in their prime and in great
numbers? Well, there are five possible explanations for this trend.
The first falls under economic and time factor: It is either they are
waiting for their kids to grow and enter college/university; or they
have mortgages to offset, or have retirement benefits to look forward
to. By the time two or three of the aforementioned takes place, they
must have begun to gray and in the fourth phase of their life.
Secondly, there are concerns over space and acceptability. In order
words, the Nigerian economic, political and social space may not be
big or expansive enough to accommodate all those who wish to return.

The space is not big enough, and it is not growing at a fast enough
space. Adding to this difficulty is the issue of personal security and
basic needs: availability and easy access to education and health
care, sustaining infrastructures, social services, and a conducive
environment for one to grow and prosper. Why forgo the predictability
and comfort of the West for the vagaries of an exhausting and
predatory Nigeria? After fifteen, twenty or more years in the West, it
is not easy to just pack ones bag and leave. There are several
cultural factors one has to deal with, including reverse-assimilation
and or reverse-acculturation. Such fears are not to be minimized.

And finally, there are those for whom the US, Canada, Germany, Mexico,
New Zealand, France or wherever they call home is now Home. They have
planted their seeds and their roots; they have invested in their new
country. For such people, it makes no sense and neither will they
entertain the idea of uprooting and returning to Nigeria. For such
group of people, Nigeria becomes a distant memory: the land of their
ancestors, but not the land of their offspring. There is a subset to
this group -- a group that warrants further research: Nigerians who go
abroad just to deliver their babies (with the intention of giving such
children a better chance at life).This phenomenon says a lot about how
Nigerians think about their country. For others, such moves are
nothing but ego-trip and or a way to boost their social-status.

As was alluded to earlier, there have been great migrations in human
history. Reverse migrations are not that common. They are rare. Still,
there was the movement of South Africans back to their country after
the collapse of the Apartheid system; there was the reverse migration
to Israel when it became a state in 1948 and again after the collapse
of Soviet Union. And in very recent years, there have been noticeable
movement of people back to Ireland (a move spurred mainly by its
economic growth and development). In view of the aforesaid, will there
ever be a reverse migration of Nigerians to Nigeria? It is hard to
tell…

To be continued in “Waiting for God, Waiting for Rawlings.”

Sabi ... @gmail.com

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If President Yar'Adua Dies

There is nothing unusual about presidents dying in office. William
Harrison was the first US president to die in office. The last was
John Kennedy. In all, there have been eight sitting Presidents who
died by way of illness, natural causes or assassination. Franklin D.
Roosevelt for instance died of cerebral hemorrhage. In Nigeria, three
chiefs of state have died in office: Johnson Aguyi-Ironsi was murdered
in 1966; Murtala Mohammed was assassinated in 1976; while Sani Abacha
died under mysterious circumstances, in 1993. Whether they were
deposed, resigned, or assassinated, the rumor mills have always been
rife with conjectures about the health and sanity of Nigerian leaders.
Yar'Adua is not an exception: there are lingering questions about his
mental and physical state.

Ever since he came to national prominence, there have always been
speculations about his health. In recent days, there has been news
account of his being flown to Germany for medical treatment. No one
knows for sure what the matter is, leading some to speculate he has
incurable cancer of the lung, disease of the liver (cirrhosis) or
kidney problems.  In the early days of his tenure, it was derisively
said he was flown overseas to be treated for the common catarrh.
Outside of the walls of the presidency and his doctors' office, no one
is sure of what ills the President; what's for sure is that the
President has had periodic health challenges. But what if he dies or
become incapacitated by his health problems?

Following the order of succession -- and in order not to create
leadership vacuum -- the Vice President takes over from the President
in the event of death, incapacitation or any other reasons prescribed
by law. Simply put: Vice President Jonathan Ebele Goodluck is mandated
by the Constitution to take over the President's responsibilities in
case of foreseen or unforeseen situations. The 1999 Nigerian
Constitution is very clear on such matters. Chapter V1 for instance
states that:

Whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and
the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that
he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to
discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a
written declaration to the contrary such functions shall be discharged
by the Vice-President as Acting President (145)

The Vice-President shall hold the office of President if the office of
President becomes vacant by reason of death or resignation,
impeachment, permanent incapacity or the removal of the President from
office for any other reason in accordance with section 143 of this
Constitution (146).

In the later years of the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency, the President
sidelined his Vice President, Atiku Abubakar. Whether the President
was gravely ill or not, dying or not, on vacation or not, Abubakar
Atiku's role was reduced to that of a bench-warmer. The relationship
between the two men was so bad that it reminded one of the Wars of the
Roses. In the end though, both men self-destruct; and are likely to be
severely condemned by history and posterity. From all indications, no
such antagonism exists between President Yar'Adua and V-President
Jonathan. Both are opposites of their predecessors; and also seems to
be pawns in a larger game of chess. Of the two, Jonathan is the
weakest and easily disposable. Today, he holds the office in name
only. He wields no political power or any type of influence and has no
budgetary control of any sort.

The Vice President is not in charge of anything or anybody. He is like
a trophy, seating in silence on the dusty shelf of the President's
underlings. Occasionally, he is allowed to make hollow pronouncements
and attend worthless seminars. When President Yar'Adua is hale and
hearty and alert, he “inquiries into this and that,” but otherwise,
the real rulers of the country are a dozen or so men including Baba
Gana Kingibe (Secretary to the Government); General Abdullahi Mohammed
(Chief of Staff); General Abdullahi Sarki Muktar (National Security
Adviser); General Luka Nyeh Yusuf (Chief of Army Staff); Mahmud Yayale
Ahmed (Minister of Defense); and Shamsudeen Usman (Minster of
Finance). Four other Northern State Governors are also said to be part
of the oligarchy.

What happens if the President dies? Constitutionally, Vice President
Jonathan Goodluck takes over. But it is not as simple as that. Two
questions follows: Is Nigeria ready for an Ijaw President; and more
importantly, is Northern Nigeria ready to forgo their planned eight-
years in office? I do not foresee a time when a Northerner will not be
either the president or vice president. This time around, the
presidency, they believe, is theirs for keeps for eight years. With
that in mind, here are the five likely scenarios should Yar'Adua
becomes incapacitated or dies:
•     Buhari “wins” at the Supreme Court, in which case a Northerner
continues as the President;
•     After “due consultation,” Jonathan remains the VP, but a Northerner
is brought in as the president;
•     Jonathan Goodluck ascends the presidency, but only ceremonially, a
titular president, guided by a very powerful vice president;
•     Something untoward happens to Jonathan Goodluck that makes him wish
he remained in Bayelsa State as the governor; or
•     A military coup d'etat takes place…

However, should any of the aforementioned conjectures come to life,
the foundation and fragile unity of the country may be severely
tested. First, it will embolden the Niger Deltans, especially the
segment that favor secession, to make bold their demands for a
separate nation-state. Secondly, it will provide an avenue for the
Yoruba to boldly challenge Northern hegemony. Both groups have been in
a relationship of convenience for more than fifty years. Thirdly, the
Igbo are likely to split between ardent Biafrans and those who favor
“one Nigeria.” Either way, there will be fire on the mountain, flood
in the valley, and rumblings in the jungle.

From the beginning of time, on the territorial space call Nigeria was
a band of roaming groups, kingdoms, emirates, empires, caliphates, and
stand-alone groups. But without taking into consideration the vast
differences in cosmology, mythology, religion, ethnicity, and the
people's aspirations, the British colonial administration created
Nigeria in 1914. Independence followed in 1960. Then and now, there is
no sense of nationhood or a sense of belonging. Therefore, a
miscalculation on the part of the North, East or West may “correct the
mistake of 1914.” May be not! May be not! No group in Nigeria,
oligarchy or not, is ready to allow for disintegration. At least not
when there is abundant oil in the Niger Delta, the same Niger Delta
that is home to Jonathan Goodluck.

In so many ways, Musa Yar'Adua and Jonathan Goodluck are different.
But somehow, in a twist of fate President Obasanjo brought them
together and dumped them in the lion's den. Both men are camera shy
and also lack charisma; both men would rather remain in the
background, not to be heard and not to be seen; and both men had no
presidential ambition. It could be argued that both men are made for
the classroom or for farming and fishing; and both men are predisposed
to be pushed around. Now that they've both been dropped off in Aso
Rock, there must be days and nights -- long days and long nights --
when they are unable to sleep or think or drink or eat, causing
President Obasanjo for all the troubles he caused them.

Sabi ... @gmail.com

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Critics, Commentators, and Gadflies

I do what I do on this and other sites only as a leisure pursuit. But
considering what I have gone through in the last couple of months, and
more so in the last couple of days, I have come to have greater
respect and admiration for writers, critics, gadflies, and social
commentators. How do they do it? How did they survive all the
barrages? How did they survive all the stress that comes with being
the nation's conscience? I bow and doff my hat to them many times
over! But really, it must have been some sort of calling to do what
they do day after day, month after month, and year after year.

As a boy growing up in all the regions of the country, I was fortunate
to have known and admire some of our nation's consciences. In all
those years, I followed their activities, their pronouncements and
tribulations. For me, theirs was the life every Nigerian ought to
emulate. There were institutions and gadflies like Bala Usman, Bala
Mohammed, the Ransome-Kuti family, Tai Solarin, MCK Ajukuchukwu, Wole
Soyinka, Ayodele Awojobi, Gani Fawehinmi and many others. Theirs was
the type of life I yearned for: to question and to make life better
for others. Somehow, things happened -- things that hindered my
dreams.

I am fond of telling friends that my life in Nigeria was a joy. From
Lagos to Ibadan, from Jos to Port Harcourt, and from Oshogbo to all
spots in between, it was, for the most part, a delight. I grew up in a
Nigeria where I did not imbibe the misery and the poverty that was
common to so many. Mine was not a wealthy and sheltered life, but a
life that was reasonably safe and secured and happy and rich in so
many other ways. It was a life that allowed me to see and feel and
dream life's possibilities. It was a life that allowed me to see far
beyond my locality -- making religion and ethnicity and other primal
emotions extraneous. I was unfettered by a lot of the baggage some
people carried around.

In the last couple of months, I have been thinking, wondering what
these men and their female counterparts must have gone through; how
they must have suffered in the hands of the government and its
sympathizers. Their lives must have been difficult considering what
they endured: the aspersions, the abuses, the blackmail, the
detentions, the harmful insinuations and false rumors, and the
entrapments and the cajoling. What a hard and difficult life it must
have been. Thinking about it now, we may never truly know what these
men and women went through in their valiant attempt to make life
better for us all.

Some of them made the ultimate sacrifice: they gave their lives so we
may live and prosper. Whether we truly appreciate such men and women,
is hard for me to tell. After all, we do not have monuments for our
heroes; we do not have befitting landmarks; and in fact, we do not
formally celebrate heroes' day. At least not in a befitting manner.
Ironically, we recognize and celebrate mediocrity; we applaud the
third-rate, the leeches and the vagabonds. We hail and prostrate
before and after thieves and cheats.

Left to the sycophants and their masters, our society will be filled
with thieves, toadies and their proxies. Excellence, transparency and
accountability would become illegal. No one will be allowed to
question government, their policies and their intentions. For these
classes of people, politicians and government officials can do no
wrong, and all those who criticize them or raise objections to their
policies should be considered enemies of the state (who must be
extralegally dealt with).

Several societies around the world are either stagnant or regressing.
In most of such societies, there is an illusion of progress and
modernity. Backward societies -- as James Baldwin have said -- wants
an obedient citizenry "which will simply obey the rules of society."
However, "if a society succeeds in this, that society is about to
perish. The obligation of anyone who thinks of himself as responsible
is to examine society and try to change it and to fight it -- at no
matter what risk." And really, the cost can be high and taxing.
Consider what happened to Fela Anikilapo-Kuti.

What happened to Fela was a crime of the highest order. Nigeria should
apologize and compensate his heirs. Beyond what was done to Fela,
consider also what the entire Ransome-Kuti family went through: the
harassments, the detentions, the inhumane and dehumanizing treatments.
I cannot think of a single family, anywhere in Africa, whence so much
humanity, sacrifice and loyalty to the nation and the state oozed. And
to think that we folded our arms in spite of the family's sacrifices?

Segue... I Digress...Sort of...
In a series of discussions with one of our intellectuals/gadflies, I
was told of communist-style blackmails, assassination attempts, direct
and indirect financial enticements, and assurance of political
appointments for friends and family members. And then there are the
complicated entrapments. "If you are not vigilant and prayerful," he
said, "your name and reputation will be rubbished, your career ruined,
your public standing compromised. Imagine what they did to Tai
Solarin: four decades of excellence was almost soiled..."

Either as a result of my arrogance or my naïveté, I have always said I
can never be trapped, enticed, or bought; or willingly cheapen my name
or reputation. After all, I am who I am and who I am does not lend
itself to meaningless crimes. I am also the kind of fellow that does
not make it easy for my opponents to have a leg up on me or make it
easy for others to stick it to me. Oh, was I confident or what?
Whatever it was, five years after I started criticizing thieves,
fools, vagabonds and street urchins, it almost happened to me: my
opponents almost got me. What happened?

What happened? Well, stay tuned. Until then let me ask you: how do you
secure political appointments in Nigeria? Say you wanted the position
of a commissioner, what do you do? How do you go about doing it? How
much does a position cost? Would a sixty-five dollar apparel do the
trick? Assuming I gave the chief-of-state and his underling a combined
sixty-five dollars apparel, would that be enough to secure a
commissionership? Until then, here are some of the lessons I have
learnt:
*       If you are a social commentator of any sort, learn to sleep with one
eye opened;
*       Outside of best friends and trusted family members, you must assume
that your phone conversations are being recorded;
*       You must assume/know that your emails and letters are being saved
and may be used against you at the opportune time;
*       You must assume that your opponents and their proxies are watching
your ever move wherever you may reside;
*       You must be careful at whose home you eat and drink and get playful;
*       You must assume that one or two people around you is a paid
informant;
*       You must know that once you engage in the art of criticism, you will
offend dozens of people, most of whom will be gunning for you;
*       Whatever you say or do in private with others can never remain
private;
*       Be ready for you father, mother, sisters, brothers and other family
members to be abused, called names and ridiculed;
*       Be ready for rumors and made-up stories to be told about you and
your lifestyle;
*       And if you must travel, travel in "secrecy" and thread softly once
you arrive in your "opponents" territory. Nigeria has too many
"unknown soldiers."

Nigerian Journalism and The Guardian Newspaper

Nigeria is in a mess. And no profession, save for party politics,
mirrors what the country has become more than the journalism
profession. Today, Nigerian Journalism is in a state of disarray. One
could even say journalism have been in a state of putrefaction in the
last decade or so, so much so it is becoming harder and harder to
vouch for the integrity and sincerity of the Fourth Estate. No one
needs convincing: the profession is in dire need of reorientation,
reeducation and even rebirth. It does! More than any time in the last
sixty years, the profession has become a cathedral of excesses, a pool
of duplicity. However goes journalism goes a nation. In Nigeria, both
are going to the dogs.

Without a doubt, the journalism profession still has men and women of
unblemished character; men and women who are beyond reproach:
professionals able and capable of holding their end of the stick
anywhere in the world. But the number of such men and women are
dwindling, they are in the minority. A reliable source within the
profession puts the number of such decent and respectable
professionals at less than ten percent of today's practicing
journalists. The same source intoned that because journalists are
products of the society they live and practice in, it is delusional to
expect otherwise.

If that is the case, then, we as a nation are in trouble and are at
risk of loosing our humanity. Journalism, along with the Judiciary and
the intellectual class, is the soul and the conscience of self-
respecting societies. Consequently, if our journalists are corrupt,
then, we are in trouble; if our judiciary and the intellectual class
are corrupt, then we are in bigger trouble. In the scheme of things,
we can afford to hang our politicians, but not our journalists. In
yester years, the aforementioned group -- journalists, the judiciary
and our intellectuals -- shined light on our soul and on our dark
passage ways.