“By doubting we come to question, and by questioning, we perceive the truth.” (Peter Abelard, 1079-1142)
5 Questions on ... Mr. President’s and Lagos State
Perceptor did mention in the last blog that Mr. President’s ministers seemed to be just warming up when it came to the business of waking up trouble. What Perceptor didn’t realise was that they were actually warming up for the Main Nyanga Act itself.
Main Nyanga Act, you ask? Why, Mr. President himself of course! Step forward Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua. Signatory to a letter to Lagos State Governor Raji Babatunde Fashola. A letter dated the 14th July 2009 in which he gave Fashola 14 days to revert to the “constitutionally recognised 20 local government areas instead of the 20 plus “37 illegal entities” i.e., the Local Council Development Areas, failing which Mr. President threatened “I shall be compelled to direct that necessary action be taken by the relevant organs of State to defend the Constitution and preserve the authority of the Federal Government.”
Now, the 14th of July is celebrated as a national holiday in France to mark the day on which the French people rose up against their aristocratic and royal oppressors by storming the notorious Bastille prison in Paris. So Perceptor cannot help but think of this 14th July letter as Mr. President’s Bastille Day letter, Mr. President’s attempt to ‘storm’ the citadels of Lagos State (as it were).
But more to the point, Perceptor is intrigued! Perceptor is alarmed! Of course, Governor Fashola has given a riposte which Perceptor cannot but admire for its beautiful balance of admonition, warning and law (whichever of Mr. President’s SAN’s wrote that Bastille Day letter would need to remember that not only is Fashola himself a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, he has probably more serious and weighty ones in his quiver than the Yar’Adua/Aondoakaa administration can muster) which has quite wrong-footed Mr. “Rule-of-Law” President as well as portraying him as callous and uncaring because he didn’t in that letter or at any other time express any sorrow to the Governor of the state where the Atlas Cove attack took place.
Now, even though Mr. Fashola has answered the main issue, Perceptor is still left with some possibly less important questions ...
1. Perceptor notes that the letter of 14th July 2009 gave Governor Fashola 14 days to carry out his instructions. Is this the type of timetable that we can now look forward to at the Federal level?
More than TWO YEARS after he announced his intention to declare a State of Emergency in the electricity supply business, Mr. President seems content to watch darkness creep across the land. His explanation for this, and for everything else that he hasn’t taken any action at all on while the situation deteriorates, is that he is “studying the situation”. Those who gave him the nickname “Baba Go-Slow”, as well as all the rest of us, including Perceptor, will be astonished that he now expects Governor Fashola to jump to obey in only TWO WEEKS! Perceptor asks whether this is the speed at which Mr. President himself has been acting? Since the Development Areas are creations of legislation enacted by the Lagos State House of Assembly which would have to repeal its law before Fashola could disregard it, Perceptor wonders whether Mr. President will be demanding a similarly speedy level of legislative activity from the National Assembly? For example, on Electoral Reform? (Just a “for instance”.) Perceptor will naturally be delighted if Mr. President and the National Assembly can act as quickly as he appears to expect Lagos State to act, but honestly, Perceptor thinks that it might be a good idea for Mr. President to LEAD BY EXAMPLE in this case ...
And before you say anything about power, Yes, Perceptor knows that the government has warned contractors handling power projects against delay, but what if they too are “studying the situation”? What then eh? Please Have Candle Near ...
2. What exactly is the “authority of the Federal Government” that Mr. President is going to be compelled to preserve?
Perceptor suspects that Mr. President doesn’t really understand what a Federation is supposed to be all about. What makes him think that the Federal Government has any authority over the Lagos State Government? It may be that because, according to Nasir El-Rufai and others, he hardly ever attended Council of State meetings when he was Governor of Katsina State, or because when he did, he didn’t mind it if then President Obasanjo dressed all the governors down and talked to them like naughty schoolboys. Perhaps he thought that because he and others allowed themselves to be bullied, he could try it out himself now that he is Mr. President. Perceptor thinks that this is a bad precedent in any case, but in addition ...
Perceptor is reminded of a famous put down delivered during some US presidential election campaigns – first to Vice-Presidential candidate Dan Quayle, who had attempted to cast himself as a latter-day President John F. Kennedy, and was told: I knew Jack Kennedy. And Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.
Perceptor would never claim to have a close personal knowledge of President Obasanjo, but still, Perceptor – in advising Mr. President not to attempt the Obasanjo style of trying to force state governors to do what he wants – thinks it appropriate for Nigerians to say: We knew Olusegun Obasanjo. And Mr. President, you’re no Olusegun Obasanjo.
3. Perceptor joins Governor Fashola in wondering whether Mr. President doesn’t have rather more important and urgent matters to attend to?
Let’s see, ... Darkness across the land ... Kidnapping from Abia to Kaduna ... collapsing roads throughout the country ... Economic meltdown ... JTF operations and virtually a state of war in the Niger Delta (including ultimatum from Delta State students – Mr. President isn’t the only one who knows how to impose deadlines!) ... Explosion and slaughter of innocents at Atlas Cove ... how many is that now? Six? Er, ... Strike by University Teachers ... and er, Oh YES! Murder and mayhem in five (or is it six, seven or eight?) states across the northern part of the country by the Boko Haram religious fanatics who have decided that no Moslem should have what they imagine to be ‘Western Education’ (an agenda that strangely enough, seems to tally with the Yar’Adua policy of returning Nigeria to the Stone Age of darkness, closed universities, unmotorable roads etc.), with police stations attacked and razed to the ground, policemen killed, journalists seized and held hostage, counter-offensive by the Army and Police. That IS quite a full plate of trouble isn’t it? It is possible that Mr. President thought that one more mess of trouble wouldn’t make that much difference, but ...
At times like these, Perceptor looks across the Atlantic and notices that questions are also being asked about whether US President Barack Obama isn’t taking on too much in his first months in office, what with two shooting wars, North Korea and Iran, the Middle East, the economic meltdown and so on. Even though you might say that these are situations that Obama inherited, Americans are wondering whether this really is a good time to go for health care reform. Or to put his nose into the “Gatesgate” affair. But if Obama can juggle six crises – inherited and created – at a time, why shouldn’t President Yar’Adua also juggle lots of crises, even if he made most of them himself? Well, Perceptor doesn’t pretend to know Barack Obama personally. But still, we’ve come to know him a lot more than we know our own President, courtesy of a properly contested nomination and election campaign, pictures of Obama running with his dog, walking briskly from one place to another ... (OK, even if he plays 26 hours of squash every day, have you ever actually SEEN our own Mr. President running or even walking briskly anywhere at all?) So, at the risk of repetition, Perceptor, in considering all these crises that President Yar’Adua already has, and whether it is wise to go and wake another sleeping trouble before finishing dealing with the ones already on his table, Perceptor is forced to say: We know Barack Obama. And Mr. President, you’re no Barack Obama ...
4. Is Lagos State the only State that has created ‘Development’ areas?
Just a question really. Because Perceptor can understand that nobody wants to increase the number of local governments for Lagos State because that might mean having to pay Lagos State more money, but lots of other states have also found their own local government set-up unwieldy and re-drawn their maps, but didn’t call them Local Government Areas. That way they couldn’t get any more money out of the Federation Account. But Lagos State isn’t getting any more money out of the Federation Account either, just the same amount as for the 20 Local Government Areas, only it’s dividing it up into 57. Why is that the business of Mr. President? And if it IS his business, why is it only the Lagos State development areas that are his business?
Or could it be that Mr. President is spoiling for a fight? Could it be that Mr. President is worried that people have been saying that Fashola is “trying”? (Yes, of course Perceptor realises that “trying” is not the same thing as succeeding, but since nobody but paid hacks and sycophants are accusing Mr. President of even trying ... ) Could it be that Mr. President thinks that if Lagos State turns to rubbish, he will start to look good by comparison? Is he worried that the plan of plunging Lagos State into total darkness hasn’t achieved quite the crippling effect that he had hoped? Oh dear, more questions ...
5. So who really wrote the letter anyway?
We all know that Mr. President graduated with a degree in some kind of science, and that he is not a ‘learned friend’. And honestly, though Mr. President claimed that it was after “careful consideration” that he had become “inclined to the firm belief” that the 37 development areas were unconstitutional, Perceptor, even IF Mr. President is really capable of keeping so many problems in view, or even if he thought that it was more important to abandon the other crises facing his administration so that instead of “studying the situation” of those crises, he could instead devote himself to “careful consideration of the issues at stake” in the Lagos State Development Areas, even IF all that were true, Perceptor doesn’t quite see the hand of Mr. President in the letter. Might there perhaps be a clue in the petulant complaint that Lagos State had held elections into 57 local government councils instead of 20 “against the express advice of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice”? Hmmmmmmm. Perceptor of course wonders, as must Governor Fashola have wondered, why he should take the advice of the HA-G who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria quite alright, but hardly the sharpest legal knife in the drawer, when he has his own Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, as well as himself being a SAN.
But could this letter be a development of that ignored “express advice”? Is it the work of the HA-G? Or was it cobbled together by a committee of disgruntled PDP apparatchiks and political jobbers who quite frankly, lack any sense of timing AT ALL?
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The Meaning of Words: ULTIMATE HUMILIATION
When Elizabeth Ohene, former BBC reporter and presenter, lately a Minister in the now ended administration of President John Kuoffor of Ghana, was crowing with delight to the BBC over what she called “the ultimate humiliation” for Nigeria, i.e., the decision of United States President Barack Obama to make democratic well-governed, peaceful Ghana his destination on his first visit to ... er, well, to Black Africa (this is what we have to tell ourselves to get over the fact that he’s actually been to undemocratic non-Black Egypt twice already), Perceptor, like most Naijas dismissed the woman and her impudent foolishness. If he no wan come, make him no come! Wetin concern agbero for overload? Will we die if he no come? Is his own country perfect anyway? Etc. etc. etc.
So Perceptor wasn’t feeling humiliated at all, and even felt sorry for the way that the Ghanaians had to sit down and be lectured by headmaster Obama, and to try to puff his 21 hours in Ghana into a ‘two-day visit’. No, Perceptor was not feeling humiliated at all, let alone ultimately humiliated.
Until Foreign Minister Ojo Madueke stepped in to the picture. Oh dear. It was at that stage that Perceptor began to feel humiliated. Bad enough that Ojo seemed to think that being invited to the tail end of the G8 meeting in Italy to be paraded as one of the world’s charity cases (when all Mr. Prez had to say was Yes, please bring that money you promised). But for Ojo to then come back and start – the only word for it is blabbing – to come back and start blabbing about a conversation that he claims to have had with Barack Obama in Italy, during which Obama allegedly held him by the shoulders and said that he would be visiting Nigeria “very soon”, and said something about “where Nigeria goes, there goes Africa”, i.e. that Obama acknowledged Nigeria’s leadership role in Africa ... THEN Perceptor started beginning to feel really humiliated.
What Perceptor wants to know is WHY did Madueke feel that he had to come back and reveal this alleged conversation? If Obama told him that he was coming to Nigeria “very soon”, why not wait until the “soon” had become a fixed date? As for the “leader in Africa” stuff, even IF Obama said it, does his saying it make it true? And if Nigeria is in fact a leader, will his not saying it make it untrue? Does Nigeria need to hear from Obama before she knows whether she is a leader or not?
But humiliated though Perceptor was beginning to feel, it was when the US officials denied the discussion that Perceptor finally knew the real meaning of “ultimate humiliation”. Perceptor doesn’t think that they were necessarily being malicious and seizing an opportunity to disgrace Nigeria in public. Perhaps they could have kept quiet and just ignored Ojo’s blabbing. Maybe, just maybe, they didn’t want a false impression to continue circulating. Fact is that in discussing a forthcoming visit to some African countries by other US officials, someone asked them something like: Nigeria’s Foreign Minister says that President Obama has told him he will soon be visiting Nigeria, can you give us a date on that? And if that’s what happened, well, they had to give an answer didn’t they? But why didn’t Ojo KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT IN THE FIRST PLACE? If he had, perhaps Perceptor and other Naijas would have been spared the ... ULTIMATE HUMILIATION.
More Strikes for the Comrade Governor ...
Honestly, Perceptor doesn’t know why the people of Edo State bothered. Bothered to riot and kill themselves when INEC announced a fake election result and put someone else into the Governor’s Lodge at Benin instead of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. Because the way things are going now, Perceptor wonders whether they are actually getting anything different from the PDP man who was foisted on them in the first place.
Perceptor had to ask these questions when Perceptor opened the Sunday papers and saw, to Perceptor’s shock, the birthday greetings being addressed to Mr. President’s wife, who was clocking 52 or some such on the 26th of July. No, Perceptor cannot be shocked that people will waste good money, good TAXPAYERS’ money to say ‘Happy Birthday’ to a single non-governmental individual through a full page colour advertisement. What shocked Perceptor was that there was a birthday greeting from the so-called ‘South-South First Ladies’ to the nation’s First Lady. The advert was dotted with Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua’s picture (large) and six pictures (small) of the wives of the governors of the states which make up the South-South region. One of whom was the wife of the Edo State Comrade Governor. Perceptor doubts if private money was used for this advertisement. But even if it was, why should the Comrade Governor’s wife be found in such company for such a cause? Is that supposed to be progressive? Why should the wife of an Action Congress/Labour Governor be joining wives of PDP Governors for birthday greetings?
So that was bad enough. Then on Monday, Perceptor opened the papers to find this headline: “Anenih remains my leader, says Oshiomhole”. REMAINS? According to Oshiomhole, Anenih was his leader even before he became a member of a political party. Well, when did the Comrade Governor join a political party? Perceptor wants to believe that it must have been after he stopped being President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (illegal otherwise actually ...) But still, he said Anenih was his leader BEFORE he joined a political party. How much before? Again, according to the Comrade Governor, he had a “very personal and privileged relationship with him” because “certain people” used him to “lobby leaders for certain privileges”. That would be when Adams was NLC President then. That would be when Anenih was Minister of Works. When Anenih was in charge of the federal roads across the country. One of which was what the whole nation came to know as the Benin-Ore ‘expressway’ (ha ha!) We got to know about it because the condition of the ‘expressway’ – which had nothing express about it – was so notorious during the time that Anenih was spending billions allegedly building, repairing and maintaining roads. So, what exactly was it that that made Anenih the Comrade Governor’s leader? Honestly, Perceptor doesn’t know why the long-suffering people of Edo State bothered.
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