National Conference Too Critical To Be Left To The Flip-Flopping Presidency Of Goodluck Jonathan

By Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Since I first made known my initial reaction to President Jonathan’s proposed National Dialogue/Conference, the daggers have been out against me. The paid public relations gangs of the administration and some sympathizers have gone into overdrive in the media and public fora to denounce me for the position I have taken. I thought I ought to enjoy the same right they have exercised by supporting Jonathan’s conference to also reject it and make my reaction known. Unfortunately it does not seem so. 

But I have news for them. I will not take anything I have said back on the proposed National Dialougue by this present administration. I insist that the planned national dialogue is a ‘Greek’ gift and public deception. I say beware of the Greek gift; let us first of all, ask a series of questions. 

The government's proposal is a walk down a back alley that leads only to a dead end. It has the same empty taste as sitting down to dine after all the food has been eaten and the table cleared. 

I intend to raise fundamental questions/interrogations in the following response. I am known to have always reviewed the message or policy action of government after which I simply proceed to respond to the message and not the messenger. But this time around, my focus and response is to the messenger and not the message essentially. Questioning the messenger and his motives is my mission here as a Nigerian and a political leader. Also, in warning against Jonathan’s proposed Conference, I will put forward a few practicable suggestions. 

The core questions to ask here is how credible, reliable and capable is the current President to be able to midwife a critical conference such as this? Will this President be sincere enough to let all the issues that are on the agenda be exhaustively discussed at the conference? Will this President have the guts to implement fully all final resolutions of the conference without fear or favor or any pandering? 

This is an administration that has been known to have flip-flopped on so many critical issues of national importance. President Jonathan was part of two issues of national importance in the recent past; Amnesty and the Uwais Panel on electoral reform. We all know what has happened to these two issues. The Amnesty conceived from inception has been corrupted and hijacked by the President’s clique. It is one of Nigeria’s drain pipes. A slush fund for political expeditions and a conduit to siphon money to the boys. 

The Uwais Panel report gathers dust and suffers from constant cherry picking. What about the much-publicized SURE-P initiative of this administration? Another ill-conceived and fraudulently implemented program of this administration. Billions of naira have so far disappeared into private pockets and the treasury still bleeds. I can go on and on. Is this the leader we want to trust with organizing a National dialogue or is it conference they call it? Where is the capability? Where is the sincerity? Where is the presence of mind? 

Recent Nigerian political history bears me out in this instance. Recall the call for a Sovereign National Conference began in earnest in the latter phase of the political transition programme of military president Ibrahim Babangida. Claiming that it was laying a solid foundation for a democracy that will endure, the regime turned Nigeria into a laboratory for all manner of political stunts. 

Nigerians came to conclude that the regime was pursuing a not-so-hidden agenda of self-perpetuation and called for a Sovereign National conference to replace a transition programme that had clearly lost its momentum and its direction. 

Next door, in Benin Republic, a Sovereign National Conference was being staged to chart a new course for a country that had virtually come to a standstill. Its crisp, bold and purposeful proceedings resonated in Nigeria, and Nigerians yearning for such a conference embraced the Beninoise model. 

The military regime seemed at a point to embrace the concept, too, and even tried to enlist some prominent citizens to translate it into practice. But when it appeared those citizens had taken the regime more seriously than it took itself, the regime scuttled the idea and decreed jail sentences for anyone purporting to stage a national conference. 

Then came the presidential election debacle of June 12, 1993, and with it, renewed calls for a Sovereign National Conference. The election crisis swept out the military regime, but not before it had planted a surrogate, the so-called Interim National Government, a clueless outfit that lasted three months but drove Nigeria to the edge of ruin, until it was overthrown by General Abacha. 

To win public acceptance, Abacha promised to stage a National Conference with “constituent powers.” This was another act of bad faith, for Abacha packed the assembly with his hand-picked nominees. Those who were not his nominees were products of an election that was widely boycotted, persons who could hardly be described as authentic representatives of their constituencies. The conference exercised nothing close to the “constituent powers” Abacha had promised. The five political parties that emerged from the constitutional framework designed by the Assembly all ended up endorsing Abacha as their presidential candidate. Abacha’s death ended the charade. Knowing that Nigerians were no longer prepared to put up with military rule, Abacha’s colleagues hastily put together a constitution to serve as the legal framework for the civilian administration inaugurated in 1999. 

The constitution was not published until it came into effect. It was not debated. Those who took office swore an oath to defend a Constitution they had not seen, and the provisions of which they did not know.

Soon, it became clear that it was riddled with grave defects. Despite its portentous preface, “We, the People,” it was not a people’s constitution. The people played hardly any role in its writing. It did not reflect their yearnings. Some legal authorities even went so far as to call the document a forgery.

And so, demands for a Sovereign National Conference broke out afresh, to design a new constitutional order for Nigeria, one anchored on the core principles of federalism and warranted by the preface, “We, the People.”

Then came the Obasanjo’s constitutional review process by the National Assembly in the twilight of his administration. The process came up with 118 recommendations most of which were far reaching and dealt with critical and contentious issues of nationhood. It became ill-fated due to the failure to smuggle in the third term tenure extension provision. The rest, as they say, is now history. 

Now, we are about to embark on a similar futile exercise. And here is why. Until some two to three months back, our demands for a sovereign national conference found little sympathy in the Executive and Legislative branches of government, until some three weeks ago when Senate President, David Mark, issued a qualified endorsement. Then, in his National Independence Day Broadcast, President Jonathan Goodluck, announced to everyone’s surprise that the Federal Government would indeed sponsor a National Conference, at which Nigeria’s ethnic nationalists would discuss and negotiate the terms of continued association. 

Within days, Dr. Jonathan named a chairman and members of a committee to advise on modalities for staging the conference and submit a report within one month. 

I, like other well-meaning Nigerians, must welcome this shift. It is an admission, at last, that the wide cracks in the national fabric can no longer be papered over, and that the time has come for fresh thinking on fundamental problems, the existence of which has for too long been denied.

Yet, President Jonathan’s epiphany–if epiphany it is and not an expedient calculated to enhance his 2015 reelection bid – should be subjected to searching questions.

It is difficult to lay aside the suspicion that his sudden conversion is all about 2015. Otherwise, why the sudden endorsement of a National Conference, not merely in principle, but with a rush toward some form of implementation? What has happened that was not already in play in all those years during which the authorities rejected demands for a National Conference?

Second, it is also difficult to lay aside the suspicion that the government is now embracing the idea with a view to watering it down, if not smothering it altogether. What its proponents have been canvassing is a Sovereign National Conference organized by the sovereign people of Nigeria, not one staged by the government. Government will figure in that Conference only as a facilitator, not as organizer.

Many of the ethnic nationalities clamouring for a Sovereign National Conference are contesting nothing less than the legitimacy of the Nigerian State as presently constituted. It cannot be an answer to their misgivings that the Federal Government, the agent of that state, is set to take charge of a Sovereign National Conference designed to chart a new path.

Third, Dr. Jonathan did not indicate whether the Conference will be sovereign or exercise constituent powers. That omission is not reassuring. What Nigerians have been demanding is a Sovereign National Conference whose decisions can only be ratified or rejected by the people in a national referendum. There is no room for a Government White Paper or Blue Paper or Paper of any colour whatsoever in such a scheme.

Fourth, it must be asked whether this is an opportune moment for the conference, when the ruling party is in disarray, a large portion of the country is convulsed by Boko Haram violence and killings, and permutations over a general election have already taken centre stage in the affairs of the nation two years ahead of schedule.

Would staging a National Conference in such a setting not overheat the polity? Would it not be better to defer the Conference until after the general elections? There is still so much to do to ensure that the election is free and fair, conforms to the best practices, and represents the true will of the people. 

Though I remain an unrepentant supporter of a genuine Sovereign National Conference, I am suspicious of this present concoction because it is half- baked and fully deceptive. Government's sincerity is questionable, the timing is also suspect. Now that this government is sinking in a pool of political and economic hot water of its own making, it seizes hold of the national conference idea as if it were a life jacket. 

This government habitually puts the wrong leg forward. In the face of debilitating terrorist attacks by Boko Haram, kidnappings across the country and a general insecurity, this government wants to open up another political front by hurriedly organizing a national conference. This rankles the brain. 

This government has not the honesty, foresight, tolerance and objectivity to hold a National Conference of any type. This government is so partisan and parochial, it can’t even hold its own party together. How dare it even think it can organize a national conference that lives up to its name by being truly representative of all the nation's constituent parts! At most, all they can conduct is a conference comprised of one section of their party and those shell, artificial civil society groups that purport to reflect the public's mind, yet do nothing but spew government propaganda and get paid good naira for their service. This government cannot hold a National Conference anymore than a comatose man can stand and hold up a candle that the rest of us might see our way to a better Nigeria. 

Before embarking on new public relations ploys to whitewash its tarnished record, the government should treat some long outstanding issues and matters. This government cannot give what it does not have. 

If the conference must be held now, we must return to the spade work already done by the Obasanjo government in the aspect of constitutional review. Let the Jonathan government bring it out, remove the third term toxic component and set up a technical review committee to examine the 118 recommendations therein. We must continue from where we disagreed.  Nation building is a progressive work and to totally jettison the considerable spade work already done is to set back the hands of the clock. Time is not on our side.

Secondly, this government should implement the Uwais recommendations on electoral reforms. That report was the work of imminent Nigerians and it was done after widespread consultations to constituencies far and wide. We all know that our electoral system is broken and unfair. If the President has done nothing to fully implement this corrective report that would fix a system so blatantly broken, why would he implement recommendations of national conference if those recommendations do not suit his narrow purposes? The government should first implement this important work in order to demonstrate to Nigerians that it can hold and honor the outcome of a National dialogue.

This government should do so to show that it has nothing to hide and is willing to engage in the upcoming electoral contest on a level playing field. 

This government must first show good faith for Nigerians to believe them. President Jonathan is not the man to give Nigerians a true National Conference. He can only give us a “Jonathan Conference” as bitter icing on the sour cake his government has become. This government lacks the presence of mind and the decency to implement a national conference. 

This administration has not achieved any tangible transformation because it has no concrete goals. Now it tilts and staggers under the weight of insecurity. Claims of transformation and of building an economy that is robust and institutions of democracy, by the President shows someone who believes fiction is more important than fact and imagination is more genuine than reality. While I would not mind such a person to be a leading figure in our Nollywood film industry, I am frightened that he is the chief resident in Aso Villa. 

Both in timing and in style, previous administrations adopted the same tricks of National Conference as a framework to structure their agenda to which people presented memoranda and attended plenaries before realising it was a trick. This government's offer of a National Conference is a wingless bird. It will not fly. The advisory committee set up to design a framework and come up with recommendations as to the form, structure and mechanism of the process will soon find out they are on a journey with no destination save the wall of futility. 

Yes, we need to talk. However, we need a national conference that is truly sovereign and not one dictated by the reactionary and regressive elements of the ruling party. This is not the way to clear Nigeria from danger. This is a selfish ploy that will place the nation deeper in darkness and indirection. 

Nigeria is adrift and unless we start a discourse aimed at updating and improving our political economy and its structures, we might wake up one day from a night devoid of dreams because we have turned into a nation devoid of hope. 

However, an imposed national conference by individuals who have shown total disdain for anything nationalistic that does not unduly benefit them and who have demonstrated lack of respect for the opinions of others because they are in “Power” will have little success. It will be an empty and expensive futility with no true dividends for a people wanting their leaders to show them a way out of the pit and not a way deeper into it.  

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu 

He's the former Governor of Lagos State and National Leader of  opposition party APC.

TheParadigm

Femi Kuti Laments: Nigerians Voted Obasanjo, Jonathan, The Same Corrupt Politicians

By BENJAMIN NJOKU

The 2013 edition of Felabration,a week-long concert which celebrates the life and times of Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti commences from Monday, October 14 through 20 at the Afrikan Shrine, Ikeja, Lagos. In this interview,  Femi Kuti, the eldest son of Fela went down memory lane, recounting the story of his late father, his music  and ideologies. He also talks about what the fans of Afrobeat music will expect at this year’s Felabration among other issues.

Felabration

We learnt that Rita Marley will be headlining this year’s Felabration. Why is she not here today?

She sent a message few days ago that she was not feeling fine, and might not make it to the event. However, she will be represented at the festival by the head of  her foundation, Rita Marley Foundation.

What’s the financial implication of organising this festival?

We have no major sponsors at the moment. Fortunately, most of the artistes are performing for free. We have been very lucky that the likes of King Sunny Ade, D’banj, Wizkid, Pasuma, and many others, have been performing for free. This year, they will grace the stage again. But we usually pay a token to the up and coming artistes as a way of supporting them. However, Nigerian Breweries Plc  has promised to come on board next year as a major sponsor of the event. We are hoping that as from next year, Felabration will not be talking about financial difficulties.

What’s new in this  year’s Felabration?

I think what will always be new is the enthusiasm of the crowd. The festival runs from Monday through Sunday. It kicked off last Monday with school debate. Wuri Modern College won the competition  last year. The Felabration usually kicks off with school debate because we are trying to introduce new  things other than music. There will be symposium where the likes of Femi Falana, SAN,  will be in attendance. The  festival will kick off properly next week Tuesday. It will run till Saturday and closes on Sunday.

Is  Bob Marley’s son still going to  make it to the festival?

I think he’s having problem with obtaining visa. He has agreed to come and the contract has been finalized. We are waiting for  him to obtain his visa. If he succeeds, fine. We  are expecting a lot of Afrobeat bands from America, Ghana and other African countries. Our local artistes such as Tuface, Kwam 1, Davido, Wizkid, Eedris and other superstars including myself will be on duty.

Apart from finance, what other challenges are you encountering?

I think the major challenges are finance and security. We would love a situation where we would pay the artistes handsomely and dictate the pace for them. But now, they dictate the pace for us. The artistes  decide when and when not to perform on stage. Felabration bends to everybody’s rules. The next thing is to get the museum working. Apparently, Lagos State government  has purchased the piece of land beside the museum  which we use as car park. But we are still looking for major sponsors that will drive the museum. We have big dreams that we want to put in place.

With this year’s Felabration coming up, would you  say  you have achieved the dream of setting up the festival?

Definitely. We are all Nigerians and we know what it means to run a festival at that level for 13 years. I think we have to be applauded. It’s a feat that hasn’t been achieved in Nigeria. All the great festivals we know in Nigeria are no longer functioning. We have never heard any security challenges in the past 13 years. With the crowd of over 10,000 people attending the festival, I think we have to be commended.  Now, Felabration is observed across the world, especially in major cities of the world. The event my sister, Yeni started has grown big and stronger.

One would have thought that the Fela broadway show would have boosted the festival?

I’m sure you know what it cost  them to  be in Nigeria  then. They are a cast of about 50 people. By the time you talk about their flight tickets, accommodation, and so on, you would know what I mean. I think it was the Lagos State government that sponsored their trip to the country. Eventually, what we are going to be focusing on is discovering new talents and more bands. I will like  a situation where we do not have only hip-hop artistes on stage.

Fela’s biopic

*Fela celebrated

Aside Felabration, what is the family’s stand on Fela’s biopic being produced by an American company recently?

I don’t know about it. There are many things I don’t know about. I know that they have been working on the biopic for the past five years.

Andrew Dosumu, a British Nigerian director was chosen to direct the biopic and Nigerian international actor, Chiwenta Ejiofor is being touted to act Fela in the biopic?

It is the same biopic that we are talking about. This is a biopic that has been in the making for about five years now. I’m sure you know it is not the kind of film that you can produce overnight. They have to capture the burning of the house, the soldiers…If they are going to do a movie of that magnitude, it’s going to be a great movie. It is going to take time. They have been talking about this movie for ages now.

Does the family have any plan to do that?

No. We are only going to give them  the license to do it. We have a legal team that deals with all of these things. My own duty as a member of the estate is to give the approval. I have signed the contract several years ago and I know, it will take another two to three years before this dream will materialize.  I know that the first contract we signed for five years ought to be renewed if they have not completed the production of the film within the time frame.

They started talking about the film when my father died but eventually the contract expired. So, they had to renew a new contract. This is because there is no money in the music business. That’s why the family has been very lenient when discussing with all these people because we all know about piracy. Everybody is downloading Fela’s music, so you have to be very understandable. We have a good legal team  that handles all these stuffs for the family. Of course, we have to protect the integrity of the family

Fela and his music

Looking at it holistically, do you feel comfortable that a Nigerian  who has practically lived abroad all his life is playing the role of Fela?

I’m sure if they do a movie, it will be great. Now, let us look at the broadway show. Critics say that it was too Americanised. They did not want to show Fela’s story from the Nigerian perspective. They wanted the American and the international market to understand the Fela story. See how Fela was misunderstood even when he went to the United States.  It was after his death that people started evaluating his music. What he was doing? He married 27 wives in his lifetime, how dare he? This man was against feminism.? They gave him different kind of names. He was completely misunderstood because he wore pants, he smoked marijuana. He had issues. He had serious issues whether  we liked it or not. At his death, people were celebrating him but in his lifetime, he was broke before he died.

What they did was to tell the Fela story for the average international market to watch and understand it. If  you did watch them, you would notice that the dancers could not dance the Afrobeat music. For you, the man was speaking American English. But you would have every reason to believe that the Fela you know was not being acted but if you look at it from the neutral perspective like you didn’t know Fela, you would understand the story and even weep for him.

The day I watched it, I cried. I cried because I knew where they were coming from and I saw the audience. Probably, they have not heard about Fela, the Americans were saying, it made them want to listen to his music to know more about Africa. It opened their minds to so many issues. Now, they are studying Afrobeat in many of the schools and universities in America, Germany, France, Sweden, Australia, everywhere. There are over 20 American bands playing Afrobeat at the moment.

Over the years and given what is happening in the country today, will you say your father has been vindicated or  misunderstood while he lived?

I will answer in the affirmative. He was grossly misunderstood for a purpose because he saw corruption and he knew what corruption was going to do to the country; those involved in corruption wanted to get away with dictatorship and corruption which was what he was against. And because he used his own unconventional way of protesting, it didn’t go down well with the authorities.

Then the authorities controlled the media up to a point until after Daily Times, when other media houses started springing up because we have to remember that it was only government newspapers and TVs  that we had then. So, the story was told from the government’s perspective until The Punch, Vanguard and other magazines were established. Fela’s story could be seen from another point of view.

We have to understand where Fela was coming from in the 60s. Where did the problem start? What was the cause of his problem? And maybe, because he was already a stubborn character, he was going to make matters worse and that was his character and that is the character that people now love.  What kind of man was he, that many people ran away from him, or even compromised him. But  he didn’t have to go through all those beatings? So, I think, he was purposely misunderstood but yes, he has been vindicated.

But you are a different specie?

Femi Kuti performing

I would say, I am probably more diplomatic because I have learnt from what I saw of him. First, you have to understand the political climate which we live in. Let us remember who voted for Obasanjo? Except if we want to be dishonest with ourselves, Obasanjo won the first election, clean and clear. What would Fela have done if he was alive and this same Nigerians still went to vote for this same Obasanjo? Didn’t they hear Fela sing about this man?

Then, it is still these same Nigerians that were criticising this man and they know it. Let us look at our incumbent President. He was declared wanted by the EFCC when he was governor of Bayelsa State and you voted for him. That case was pending in court when Yar’ Adua  made him his Vice. Opposition parties should have objected to his selection. But they didn’t. Again, his former boss late Yar ‘ Adua whom he served under  had a seven point agenda. Where is it today? Jonathan promised that if anything happened to him that he would follow his footsteps. Has him followed his footsteps today?

There are many things you have to understand as Fela’s son. Did Nigerians not hear what Fela talked about? Are they not feeling the same pain that Fela felt when he was alive? Nigerians are still voting for the same corrupt politicians.

Are you worried that government has not been able to honour your father after his death?

Not at all. The people will always honour my father and he will always be celebrated worldwide. Even Lagos state has honoured him. Even if the family doesn’t celebrate him, Fela has gone beyond the shores of Nigeria. As we speak, New York, Paris, England, Japan, Australia, New Zealanmd, China, Malaysia, among others still celebrate him.

At over 50, some people say it seems you have become more sexually active?

That is not true, I am no more sexually active. When you see a beautiful woman, when you reach my age and you have responsibility like myself, you  will know what I am talking about. Before now, as a young man, you would want to go after her.   There are many nights I go and sleep alone not because I don’t have girlfriends or want a girlfriend, when I think of the responsibility I have  in my life, I will immediately have a rethink.

The women in my life also have responsibilities. I can tell you that the mothers of  my  children, we stay together, we are very serious. You could say we are husband and wife but I don’t believe in marriage. I just don’t understand why one man will say I pronounce you man and wife, in that case. I pronounce myself man and wife. I am very different from my father but in a lot of ways like him.

Like I couldn’t understand why he married 27 wives. When he married them, he divorced them. I didn’t have a problem with my father’s wives but my mother did.  When the problem started in Kalakuta, for us it was fun. Many things have changed. Of course I am very much sexually active but when I consider the problems my shoki has given me, it dies quickly.

NewsRescue

GEN. MOHAMMEDU BUHARI WITH THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.

General Muhammadu Buhari, an icon of unity, religious tolerance and believe in the only true and Almighty God.GEN. BUHARI WHILE VISITING THE ARCHBISHOP EXPRESSED HIS CONDEMNATION AGAINST GAY MARRIAGES. HE ALSO EXPRESSED THE NEED FOR ALL TO WORK TOGETHER FOR A PEACEFUL WORLD. Buhari is the only head of state that jailed a popular and respected Muslim cleric "Iman" for preaching violence. General Buhari has never been seen parading himself with Islamic clerics, even though he is a devout Muslim. He sees himself as father to both Muslim and Christians. General Buhari till date has staff in his office in Kaduna who are Christians. Show me a retired general, president, or even Col in the south who is a Christian but have Muslims as his personal staff. late Ojukwu before he died has none, Ekwueme has none etc. Show me a picture where General Buhari was kneeling down or went to a popular Muslim clerics for prayers or to commission a Mosque. General Buhari never commissioned a Mosque as a head of state. General Buhari is Muslim with one wife, decent and disciplined children. General Buhari is a devout Muslim, but never had any special Islamic training as a scholar. General Buhari picked a radical and popular pastor as his running mate. Which Christian has picked a popular and radical islamic preacher as a running mate. General buhari is an example of a leader that should be followed. HE IS NOT A RELIGIOUS FANATIC. FACTS SPEAKS

 — with Innocent Eboigbe Ehiz and 16 others.

African governance

OVER the past 12 years overall governance has improved in 46 African countries, accounting for 94% of the continent's population, according to the latest Ibrahim index, which scores 52 African countries (it excludes Sudan and South Sudan since they split in 2011) on the basis of four broad categories. All countries have shown improvements in the area of "human development," which measures education and health care. Yet only 20 increased their scores in the "safety and rule of law" category, which looks at the murder rate and corruption, among other things. Although cross-border clashes have declined, internal conflicts have increased since 2008. Releasing this year's index, Mo Ibrahim, the Sudanese telecoms magnate who set up his foundation in 2006, appealed for an end to recent fashionable talk of pessimism versus optimism on Africa—and called instead for "Afro-realism".

Intolerance In The Name Of God

By TOLA ADENIYI
 There must be something in the character of the Semitic people that the three major religions emanating from their region are about the most intolerant of one another and also crudely and fiercely intolerant of other religions and faiths. It is both curious and baffling. And I believe the issue of intolerance calls for a serious study even up to PhD level. This issue of intolerance has engaged my thoughts for almost 5 decades, and each time I try to dismiss it or simplify it, it refuses to go. Being a proud Yoruba person, a Mecca Pilgrim and Jerusalem Pilgrim, member of a race that is arguably the most tolerant on planet earth, especially in matters of faith and humanism, I find it difficult to understand what on earth could have been responsible for the claim ferociously held by some people that their Supreme Deity, whoever that may be, is a JEALOUS entity. The elementary question to ask is ‘If such Supreme Being is truly supreme and superior to ALL other beings and entities, what and who should the Deity be jealous of?’ Why should it be said of that Deity that He/She/It does not tolerate flirtation with any other being? Especially so when it is believed that all other beings and matters in the entire conglomerate of Universes are subordinate to that Supreme Deity? I am inclined to believe that the Semites, that is all those who speak Semitic language, Arabs and Jews, were the most possessive human beings that were ever created. And they so possessed their wives and partners to the extent that any one found in an adulterous situation with their ‘possessions’ must be stoned to death publicly. It is logical to assume that since they believed they were created in their Maker’s image, that Maker must be a very possessive and irredeemably jealous Being! They see the mirror of themselves in their Creator! There could also be other reasons and factors. Mankind has always known that there are generally several doors and avenues that lead to destinations. But a people who for whatever reason stick to illogicality that there could only be ONE way that leads to the stomach, only one way that leads to their parents’ house would not surprise any one if they dogmatically hold to the belief that any one who does not share in that obvious illogicality must be hated, despised and condemned. The Yoruba race believes that there is only ONE Supreme Intelligence. And they hold that Supreme Essence in splendid awe. They realise that no one could ever claim or ascribe one single name to that Entity. So the Yoruba call the genderless, timeless, ageless, space less, limitless Being, ADIITU, the Inscrutable. Not a man, not a woman, and not it! The Yoruba also went further to deify [like all cultures on earth have done] any and all human beings who in their life time had exhibited exceptional prowess in any field of human endeavour and raised them to the pantheon of gods. Such gods are the deities the Yoruba celebrate [NOT WORSHIP]. The Yoruba spiritual thought is totally different from the spiritual/religious thought of the Judaic/Euro/American. The Yoruba may offer sacrifices and supplications. All religious cultures of the world do. The mode and form of the sacrifices and supplications do of course vary from culture to culture. I have dwelt this much on my background to underscore why I should be amazed that any one could be intolerant of another person’s perception of his or her understanding of the Supreme Being whom no one, repeat no one, had ever seen except through imagination and the millions of that Being’s creation, The Yoruba who celebrate Obatala will join their fellow beings who celebrate Orunmila whenever they have their festival or festivity while the adherents of the Shrouded Spirit called Egungun will join their friends to celebrate Sango. The point being made here is that we spend too much energy interpreting the African religious codes with the Judaic/Arab/Eurocentric lenses. And that is at the core of our problems as adherents of faiths we least understand, regardless of pretensions to the contrary. The world, and most particularly the African world which is suffering from third degree colonialism and imprisoned mind, must move away from the scourge of intolerance which has more or less paralysed every rational thought and move into the world of self discovery and renewal. Nobody is qualified to claim that he or she is fighting for the Christian God or the Muslim Allah or for that matter the Yoruba Olodumare. I hesitate to make a comparison between these given concepts of the Supreme Being. The history of religions that I have devoted a great deal of my time to, and my study of the creation of the IDEA of God, known to many cultures in more than a million names do not suggest to me that the Yoruba Olorun is the same Entity as the Christian God or the Muslim Allah. For starters the Yoruba Olorun does not have a goddess! And the Yoruba cannot conceive of the idea that their Olodumare has a mother! Be that as it may, the world will be a much better and much saner society if we desist from holding to the erroneous and totally baseless notion that one religion is superior to another or that one faith is the Appian Way while another faith is the slaughter house called the Express Road in Nigeria . No human culture is superior to another culture, and no culture is better than another culture. All cultures have their values and their shortcomings. And if we agree that every religious thought is culture based, there will be no sensible reason to be intolerant of any other person’s religious or spiritual persuasion. We cannot, and should not continue to run the affairs of the world with inherited prejudices. And the sad part of it all is that majority of those who profess one faith or the other are merely regurgitating what their parents or grandparents introduced them to. We have a cliché like “I am a Catholic because my parents and grand parents are!” The Creator of this beautiful world did not put in this incredible orderliness for the inheritors of the earth to unleash so much disorder and hate into it. Our Creator did not imagine that a set of people will be using religion as excuse to deny fellow human beings statehood simply on account of religious disposition. Were the Creator to be a quarter as intolerant as members of the human community, there would be no single person left on the surface of the earth. We should stop being intolerant in the name of the Supreme Being. No human person is qualified to be His/Her/Its advocate! Do not submit your happiness to the whims and caprices of others… —–Tola Adeniyi

NCN

Flying in Nigeria: Be Afraid, Very Afraid-confessions of a Pilot

Diaspora By Ekerete Udoh

The encounter was pretty fortuitous. I had gone to a have lunch at a restaurant somewhere in Ikeja GRA, and was busy doing justice to the chilled bottle of Gulder beer, while waiting for my food to be served, when the gentleman who was addressed by the friend who had accompanied him as ‘captain’ walked into the restaurant and sat right next to me.

There was a certain air of professionalism and savoir-faire about him and soon, the journalist in me- ever curious kicked in. I wanted to initiate some conversation with him- just friendly conversation. “Are you in the armed forces, since you were addressed as ‘captain’? I had asked, trying to break the ice, Displaying a willingness to also engage me, he had answered in the negative “I am an airline captain. I fly planes” he had intoned, and considering the tragedy that had occurred last week, with the crash of The Associated Airline that was conveying the corpse of the late Ondo state Governor-Dr. Olusegun Agagu to Akure, I felt a strong push to ask the captain some pertinent questions about the state of aviation given his experience as a captain and an aviator of more than 30 years as he had told me.

As most of the readers of this column would have known, I am very particular and concerned about safety and how friendly our skies are for air travel, having last year, to the glory of God, narrowly missed the Dana Air that crashed on June, 3, and my earlier experience aboard a British Airways flight from JFK, New York, to Heathrow Airport, London, in 2005 that caught fire upon take-off, but managed to make an emergency landing that was truly miraculous.

The captain was surprisingly candid and answered all my questions without hesitation. “The state of our aviation” he had told me point-blank, “is not too encouraging. We take a lot of things for granted with  safety. We cut corners on things that demand strict compliance with what obtains elsewhere. For instance, there are some aircraft parts that may have ‘timed-out’ and need to be replaced with newer versions. We sometimes allow those parts to remain because they are still functional and the newer ones are too expensive. That should not be. The manufacturers of those aircrafts were conscious of the fact that at certain point, those parts need to be changed. I have seen maintenance being carried out on aircrafts in the open space as opposed to being done in hangers- that should not be. We skirt around vital issues of safety, and that again, should not be.”

I asked the captain if he had ever been pressured by his employers to fly an aircraft that he knew was not completely airworthy, but had to be ‘managed’ to the next destination. He looked at me for almost a minute and in a very concerned tone said “yes, I have” and added rather reassuringly that “that has stopped   over the years and as we speak, I will not jeopardize the safety of my passengers whose lives have been entrusted under my care.”

One area the captain harped on ceaselessly was the emotional and psychological state of our pilots and how that is very critical to the safety of passengers. He went ahead to illustrate that with a personal experience. “When I used to fly with one of the airlines (name withheld) and it was run by white guys, I remember coming to work one day and did not exhibit my normal exuberant self. The MD had invited me to his office and asked what the matter was, and I told him the truth that I had a little issue with my wife that morning at home and that I was ok. He looked me straight in the eye and said I should go home and resolve the issue and return to work in three days. In his considered opinion, I was not in the right emotional/ psychological state of mine to fly and the safety of the passengers was of utmost concern to him.

How many of our operators today pay such attention to the emotional state of our pilots? I am aware of the fact that some pilots in the employ of some our airlines are owed salaries for months. How do you expect a pilot who is struggling to pay his bills and meet some basic financial obligations to his family to be in the right frame of mind to fly? Someone once told me that airline business is not supposed to be run by black people, since we seem not to pay attention to critical issues in the industry. I refuse to buy into that notion, but I must confess certain things I have seen in the industry almost has forced me to think the guy may have been right. Look at even the simple issue of parking space at our airports. Do you know that pilots don’t have parking slots at airports allocated to them, as is the case elsewhere? A pilot who is scheduled to fly say at 8 am, may have already been stressed by the time he mounts the cockpit, having already circled around for minutes, looking for parking space for his car- that is if he does not have a driver. Such minor thing can impact negatively on the pilot’s state of mind.”

When asked how safe it is to fly within the Nigerian airspace, the captain was brutally frank “It is relatively safe, I must say. But you should fly those airlines that have been audited by foreign technical partners. Any airline that you see some expatriates fly with regularly, tells you that their employers and their embassies must have been satisfied with the auditing that those airline technical partners had carried out, because those partners will not compromise safety, neither will they cut corners unnecessarily. “

As the captain made his exit, I did an analysis on what he had just told me, and I became very afraid and angry. Why should safety in air  be compromised based on the need to make profit? Why would an operator willingly put an aircraft up in the sky that he knows is not airworthy? According to sources, one of the airlines whose operational license was suspended almost had a mishap because an engine packed up on a flight from Port-Harcourt to Lagos, but thank God, the second engine was able to power the plane to landing.

I hope and pray that the regulatory agencies of the industry will put the safety of passengers first over and above all other considerations. Nigerian is adopting the best practices in so many aspects of our globalized space, and these are very heartening. We must extend same to our critical sector of aviation. Air travel is considered the safest means of transportation; it should not be a scary proposition in Nigeria.

Ms. Stella Oduah, Minister of Aviation

ThisDay