PENDULUM BY DELE MOMODU, Email: dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com
“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written
down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come…”
- 1 CORINTHIANS 10: 11
Fellow Nigerians, now more than ever, I believe History must be taught
in our schools. Every time I watch and observe our politicians, I come
to the conclusion that we’ve learnt nothing tangible from the terrible
mistakes of our tragedy-prone past. And it makes me ponder over that
profound Yoruba proverb: if it takes us 20 years to prepare for madness,
when are we going to go stark raven mad? It is a very important poser
to contemplate.
In case you are 30 or below that age, you could not have been more than
eight years old in 1993. As such, I won’t be surprised if you don’t
know the real story of Nigeria’s best election ever on June 12, 1993.
You probably won’t know much or anything about the winner of that
Presidential election, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola. I’m
almost certain that you would never have heard or known of Alhaji Bashir
Tofa, the NRC Presidential candidate who was mercilessly trounced by
Chief Abiola.
The June 12 election has been described as a watershed and as,
arguably, the fairest and freest election ever in the history of
Nigeria. Events leading to June 12 indicated that there were danger
signals ahead. Some people working in cahoots with the Ibrahim Babangida
government chose to destabilise the whole process for reasons best
known to them. It is such a long and ugly story many would not wish to
remember for its traumatic effect. The most unforgettable aspect of the
higgledy-piggledy was the attempt by these guys to stop the election
from holding and getting an injunction in the middle of the night. But,
somehow, Professor Henry Nwosu, Chairman of the defunct National
Electoral Commission, and his amazing team, managed to conduct an
election without parallel.
The electoral system used at the time was popularly known and acclaimed
as Option A4. It was a brilliant cocktail of an open ballot system
which was unique and very effective. Till this day, no one is able to
tell us what transpired behind the scenes that eventually led to such a
beautiful election being terminated at birth. Sadly, a new vocabulary,
annulment, was introduced into our lexicon. What should have been our
happiest moment soon became our worst nightmare. It won’t be wrong to
say our madness attained another level from that period.
The tales of what happened thereafter should be left for another day.
Nigeria took a plunge and hit the ground in a cataclysmic fall.
Everything that could go wrong started going haywire. We waltzed from
one crisis to another. Our propensity for self-destruction became
amplified and exposed to the world at large. The battle between the
military regimes and civil societies raged endlessly and left many of us
badly bruised. Some were flagrantly murdered, callously maimed,
maliciously jailed or compulsorily forced into exile.
For six agonising years, we groped in total darkness and our country
was on the brink of collapse. Miraculously, we managed to pull through
and Democracy returned. But there was a major snag. Those who fought and
struggled for the Democracy were not the prime beneficiaries. The
ubiquitous owners of our country still succeeded in keeping power to
themselves while the June 12 activists mercifully got the token
compensation of some parts of South West Nigeria under the aegis of
Alliance for Democracy. The People’s Democratic Party was an umbrella of
hard-core Republicans who dreamt of ruling Nigeria as a one party
nation for as long as possible, or even indefinitely. The rest is
history.
My heart skipped a few beats as I was teleported back to 1993 with the
rumours of plans to postpone the February 14 & 28 2015 elections.
What started as a joke was confirmed days ago by no less a personage
than our National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki. His main
reason was that INEC was not yet ready to hold a credible election
resting his influential view on the fact that about 50% of eligible
voters were yet to collect their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVC). This may
at first seemingly be a very sound argument, no doubt, but on closer
reflection and consideration of the facts it is not exactly so. Even if
this were the case, what is needed is to encourage and empower INEC to
fulfil its constitutional duty by ensuring that the neccessary materials
are provided well in time before the election.
Fortunately, the fears expressed by the NSA are unfounded. I was
opportuned to catch and watch the highly informative interview of
Professor Attahiru Jega, conducted by the cerebral Kadaria Ahmed on
Channels Television, just before this bombshell from The Royal Institute
of International Affairs, Chatham House, in London. For the first time
since 1993, I saw a ray of hope in our electoral process. Jega was very
confident, coherent and proficient. He answered every question fired at
him by the fiery interviewer with calmness and candour and I was
particular elated and extremely proud of this famous scholar. Perhaps,
the beautiful ones have been born after all, contrary to the cynicism
conveyed in the title of Ayi Kwei Armah’s novel, The Beautiful Ones Are
Not Yet Born.
Prof Jega has, on Friday January 23,at a press conference, re-affirmed
the commitment of his Commission to conduct the elections as scheduled
even in the troubled areas of the North East of Nigeria. Whilst he was
quick to admit that a significant proportion of PVC are yet to be
collected, Jega is confident that with the further extension of time
which has been granted for this purpose most people would have done so
before the election. There is therefore no cause for alarm. More
importantly there is no need for anyone to distract voters from
analysing the presentation of the issues by the candidates through
scare-mongering that raising the spectre of postponement will cause.
As far as I can see and feel, I believe Nigeria is heading towards a
successful election. The campaigns have been quite serious, minus a few
skirmishes here and there which I find objectionable and condemnable.
The near-physical attack on the President is as unreasonable as it is
suicidal. The burning of party offices and shooting of members of rival
parties are totally reprehensible. But the situation is looking so good,
expectations so high and the mood so exhilarating that all combined we
should have a commendable election next month.
There is no justification for postponing one of our most anticipated
elections. It is an opportunity to show the world that we are ready to
join the comity of other nations in their march towards global
relevance, importance and general advancement. INEC has come a long way
under Jega. A lot of investment has gone into keeping INEC alive and
running. In its so-called imperfection, INEC can be assisted to help
itself and help the rest of us. We can’t afford to throw the baby away
with the bathwater.
We already have more than enough problems to tackle. There is mutual
suspicion everywhere. No matter the righteousness of those in favour of
postponing the elections, they would always be countered by a
preponderance of doubting Thomas. Can anyone blame them? A woman whose
child was once killed by a witch would forever suspect every woman. Such
is the situation we’ve found ourselves today. Politicians have pulled
all manner of stunts and they are capable of anything. This is why
Nigerians find it difficult to believe whatever they are told no matter
how plausible.
My humble advice is that every Nigerian and friend of Nigeria must
support our Government and INEC to bring these forthcoming elections to
fruition. We’ve crawled for far too long. Now it is time to walk, if not
yet run. While it is true that Rome was not built in a day, I’m sure it
did not take forever.
TRIBUTE TO PETER ENAHORO AT 80
Long before I came into journalism, one name that inspired me endlessly
was no other than that of Mr Peter Osajele Aizegbeobor Enahoro, aka
Peter Pan. He was not just an accomplished prose stylist but a man of
style himself. His charisma complemented his amazing writing skills.
Journalists don’t come better than Peter Pan.
As an undergraduate student at the then University of Ife (now Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile-Ife), I encountered an international magazine
of superlative content and quality. It was known as AFRICA NOW. I was
stunned to discover that it was owned by a Nigerian. That was not all.
Africa Now was published out of London with a premium address at 50 Pall
Mall, not far from Trafalgar Square. To be honest, that was a big deal
at that time and even now.
I had missed buying the maiden edition in April 1981 but was lucky to
obtain the second issue in May 1981 which I have kept as fresh as ever
till this day. For a magazine published 34 years ago, it is interesting
to note that it attracted adverts from Ghana Airways, Union Bank, UAC of
Nigeria, BEAM Office Furniture, Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation, NAL
Merchant Bankers, African Alliance Insurance, Mercury Assurance Company
Limited, NICON, NNPC, Nigeria Airways, The United Insurance, NIDB,
Social Security Bank Ghana, Ark Stewart Wrightson Insurance, Sun
Insurance, First Bank, BEWAC, Eagle Gas, Honda, African Continental
Bank, UNIPETROL, MANDILAS, National Bank of Nigeria, WEMA BANK, SANYO,
NIGERLUX, etcetera. Such was the aura of that publication that it seems
organisations jostled to have their products featured in it.
That particular edition did a special focus on the second anniversary
of what was described as the foremost airport in Africa, Murtala
Muhammed Airport, which today has refused to live up to that reputation
despite various expensive renovations by various Ministers. The
Spotlight was titled, MURTALA MUHAMMED AIRPORT: TWO YEARS OF SAFE AND
EFFICIENT OPERATIONS. It was perfectly garnished with a panoramic
picture, perhaps an aerial shot, of the spectacular edifice that
reminded one of Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. There was an interview
with the then Managing Director, Alhaji A. T. Ahmed.
The magazine covered stories from every part of Africa authored by
reputable international correspondents. As I look through the pages of
my bound volume, I feel a sense of nostalgia. Peter Enahoro comes from
the family of the illustrious CHIEF Anthony Enahoro, who passed on a few
years ago. He was born on January 21, 1935, and attended schools in
Akure, , Warri and Ughelli. He would later pick up a career in the media
as an Assistant Public Officer at the Federal Ministry of Information.
At the age of 20, Peter Enahoro joined Sunday Times in 1955 and rose to
become Editor in 1958. He also worked as Editor of the Daily Times. He
was such a radical writer who toyed at a time with the idea of
revolution. During the Nigerian civil war, he fled into exile. Africa
Now had originally started in London but he started publishing the
magazine in Nigeria on his return home. One of his most popular works is
the book, ‘How To Be A Nigerian’, a satire about the Nigerian way of
life was published in 1966.
Whilst in exile Peter Enahoro worked as a freelance journalist and
later was corresponding editor with Africa Magazine. He returned to
Nigeria in 1979 but before then had published another book, ‘You gotta
cry to Laugh’, in 1972. In 1992, he published ‘The Complete Nigerian’
and in 2009 published ‘Then Spoke the Thunder’, his autobiography, which
was a chronicle of the crisis of leadership in Nigeria. In 1996 he was
made Administrator of Daily Times and tried to turn it around.
Please, help me raise a toast to one of Africa’s finest journalists and
a man od distinction and tase. May you live long in good health and
happiness, our own icon, Peter Pan!
ThisDay
