A few years back, on Wednesday July 7, 2010, to be precise, on the occasion of the public presentation of his book: Colonialism in Africa: Ancient and Modern, published in two volumes, Ben Nwabueze, erudite scholar and Emeritus Professor of Constitutional Law, openly advocated for a bloody revolution in Nigeria. Just how acute and unbearable the deficits in our national circumstance have become if such a notable personality who at the time he made the call was a member of the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC), could go to that extreme? But a revolution is a historical imperative; an abrupt change not within the contemplation of any existing social order. It will surely come whether we like it or not. Yet, Prof. Nwabueze was instantly opposed by his colleague on the PAC, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, who disagreed with him on the way out of Nigeria’s socio-political and economic quagmire.
A few years back, on Wednesday July 7, 2010, to be precise, on the occasion of the public presentation of his book: Colonialism in Africa: Ancient and Modern, published in two volumes, Ben Nwabueze, erudite scholar and Emeritus Professor of Constitutional Law, openly advocated for a bloody revolution in Nigeria. Just how acute and unbearable the deficits in our national circumstance have become if such a notable personality who at the time he made the call was a member of the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC), could go to that extreme? But a revolution is a historical imperative; an abrupt change not within the contemplation of any existing social order. It will surely come whether we like it or not. Yet, Prof. Nwabueze was instantly opposed by his colleague on the PAC, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, who disagreed with him on the way out of Nigeria’s socio-political and economic quagmire.
Alarmed at the unspeakable rate of corruption in the Nigerian system, Nwabueze, an elder statesman and pioneer Dean of the Law Faculty of University of Lagos, who is also a leading member of “The Patriots”, a group of eminent Nigerians crusading for an enduring change in the country, argued that only a bloody revolution can halt the embarrassing decadence in governance. Prof. Nwabueze expressed shock at what he called “the looting spree” at the National Assembly “where lawmakers vote billions of naira to themselves while those who voted them into the House live in abject poverty”. According to him, “people who were voted to serve the country go there to loot – you need to know what we (members of PAC) now know”. Circulating that the deterioration in the state of affairs was such that the country had been listed amongst the 11 failed states in Africa and amongst the 17 failed and most corrupt countries in the world, he argued that only a violent revolution like the one that took place in France in 1789 could change Nigeria.
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“I don’t believe in small changes; we’ve had ad hoc arrangements; Nigeria needs a revolutionary change, and it has to be bloody. Those who survive it will pick up the pieces. I cannot see Nigeria survive any other way”. declared Prof. Nwabueze. On his part, Danjuma who chaired the occasion countered that “a bloody revolution is not the best solution since such revolutions become untamable and consume everybody. Danjuma, a retired Army General who only recently made a public declaration that he made over $1 billion from an oil well allocated to him which he didn’t know how to spend, said: “Revolution devours its scions; it knows no friends or enemies; it is an exceedingly dangerous means of transformation. I am an optimist. I believe that one right man in position of authority can transform the entire country. We have not been lucky to have such a man but we shall muddle through.”
When Nwabueze made his call more than two years ago, a section of the media commended him for the courage to confront the matter head on, and vilified Danjuma for his cunning approach to the reality of the Nigerian condition. Thereafter, Olusegun Obasanjo former President and one of the defenders of entrenched reactionary interests in Nigeria went on air warning against a revolution. Obasanjo said that the rate of unemployment in the country and its concomitant apathy was bound to trigger a revolution. Shame on him! How many jobs did he create in the eight years two – terms tenure in which he wasted over N37 trillion? This revolution of a thing is no joking matter. The nation is truly in injury time. The Nigerian system is already bursting at the seams. The political class is recolonising Nigeria and we can no longer muddle through.
It is indeed regrettable that basic infrastructure and internal security, the key ingredients for productivity, economic performance and socio-political stability, are in their worst states, and that the seeming hopelessness as to solution, is such as would compel true patriots such as Nwabueze to openly express their anxieties. Government has done practically little, from 1999 to date, to address these issues and provide the necessary environment for citizens and corporate organisations to be positively engaged in one enterprise or another. That Nigeria, with proven gas reserves of 192 trillion standards cubic feet (scf) and appreciable endowment in quality coal and other resources, including foreign reserves in excess of $50 billion , cannot generate enough electricity to meet local demand, is a real shame. The political class should consider itself as unproductive and a liability to the country.
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Top government functionaries have been very unhelpful when they constantly indulge in unremitting sloganeering or willfully play down the gravity of the crises plaguing the nation. Just how much longer the Nigerian governing elite would persist in willful miss-government and perversion of democratic norms remains uncertain; yet one thing is sure: disenchantment has peaked among the people of this country and the clouds are thickening. Since 1999, Nigerians have unequivocally expressed their resentment at the several anti-people policies and criminal manipulation of the electoral process which undermines the capacity of the citizens to effectively influence political developments and governance through the ballot box. To say therefore that, given the escalating wave of insecurity in the country, Nigeria is not by any means better than any of the war-torn countries amounts to begging the issue.
If political unrest, turmoil, violence, conflicts and dislocations are the criteria that qualify citizens of a given country to seek asylum elsewhere as Nigerians are currently doing in large numbers, then there is a revolution in the land. It is shameful that more than fourteen years into a so-called democratic dispensation things are so bad that Nigerians are desperate to abandon their fatherland even to some less endowed countries. What is apparent is that Nigerians have lost faith in their government. Due largely to leadership failure, as government has proved utterly incapable of redemptive action, it is understandable that Nigerians are craving for change. But it is a revolution deferred, writ large!
EDITORIAL BY DAN AMOR
The Sanusi advocated ban
In apparent disregard or disdain for public opinion about his untamed utterances on almost every issue under the sun, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was on a familiar turf last Tuesday. At a dinner organized by the Northern Reawakening Forum (NRF) in Abuja Sanusi recommended the ban of religious and socio-cultural groups. He listed such associations to include: the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Afenifere, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Ja’amatu Nasril Islam (JNI) and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). He described the groups as political associations in religious and regional gabs which are self seeking, and jostling for political space and relevance. Sanusi who does not suffer fools gladly took the battle to the home front. But it was yet another war of blame which he will certainly lose like many others.
In less than24 hours after he fired the salvo, Northern elders under the aegis of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) faulted Sanusi’s misguided call. They argued that rather than lay blames for the nation’s political and economic woes at the doorsteps of religious associations, the failure of government to address the fundamental issues of development should be seen as responsible for the precarious situation facing the nation. In a swift reaction to Sanusi’s jabs, the ACF, through its national publicity secretary, Anthony Sani, pointed out that: “not all regional and religious fora are divisive as posited by Sanusi, precisely because their overlapping interests tend to reinforce the unity of the country. I believe their place in the order of things is to inspire national solidarity that comes with relative pluralism and not cloistered particularism”.
We cannot agree more with the ACF. It is part of our gregarious reality as a nation of 250 ethnic groups; more than 400 languages and numerous religions. Each region of the country is said to have a dual cultural make – up: a territorial nucleus inhabited by members of a cultural majority and a peripheral zone inhabited by cultural minorities. It is against this backdrop that political party formations evolved from the bowels of these trado – cultural and religious organizations. Whether you talk of the Ibibio Peoples Union, the Egbe Omo Oduduwa, the Ibo Union, etc, which eventually metamorphosed into full – fledged political parties, their cultural bases are therefore not in doubt. In fact, the Jam’iyyar Mutamen Arewa (Northern Peoples Congress) at the time of its formation as a cultural organization in 1948 – 49, was conceived as a centre of political collaboration for educated and progressive Northerners.
It is therefore preposterous for Mallam Sanusi to postulate without consulting history. Is there any constitutional basis to contemplate such a ban? Despite the flagrant misuse of some of these organizations, the position of the CBN governor ought to have been delivered with maturity and circumspection. Even at that, his opinion as governor of the nation’s apex bank could be taken to be policy statement. He should know better that banning such organizations, especially as they are not seen to be subversive, is unthinkable. It is a fact too patent to be disputed that Sanusi has always strayed from his official assignment as adviser to government on fiscal and monetary issues and banker of last resort, to dabbling in unwarranted socio- political and religious controversies.
It is therefore high time we re-examined the process of appointment and confirmation of the person that eventually becomes the chief executive officer of the nation’s apex bank. Certain things must be taken into cognizance before certain people are appointed into certain offices. Sanusi had once confessed at a function in Lagos that those whose appointed him as CBN governor knew his dispositions, idiosyncrasies and character traits and yet they gave him the plumb job. He has said that it is impossible for him to change his manners at old age. As the saying goes, old habits die hard. He deserves this benefit of the doubt. But it is the Presidency and the Senate which appointed and confirmed his appointment respectively, without a slant angle to the reality of his individualism that must explain to Nigerians why the nation must continue to bear the brunt of this executive and legislative delinquency.
On his part, given his position and pedigree, he should know that there are certain things that someone in that position cannot say or is not permitted to say. He is no longer embarrassing the government that appointed him in the first place; he is embarrassing every Nigerian. Yes, he is entitled to his right to freedom of speech. But the same chapter of the constitution that grants him that right also gives those socio-cultural organizations their right to exist. Sanusi should henceforth differentiate between himself as a Nigerian and as the CBN governor. He has made record as the most controversial CBN governor in the annals of the Bank in this country. Consequently, the Federal Government must define the parameters under which the CBN governor must operate. Enough of this mess!
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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