Follow Us on Google
INTRODUCTION
As an historian and writer, I like to recall the past. The reason is that the past gives birth to the present. The present foretells the future. Today is the tomorrow we discussed yesterday. On the 14th of June, 2017 (about three and half years ago), I wrote the following article in my ‘HARD FACTS’ weekly column in The Sun newspaper. Recent events have brought forth its relevance and currency. I have, therefore, decided to reproduce it here today, lock, stock and barrel. Has anything really changed? It is left for you to decide.
The article:
The genesis
The genesis of the brouhaha caused by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo’s recent appointments erupted when some “Northern leaders” led by Dr. Ismaila Farouk, Abubakar Tsav (former Lagos CP), Balarabe Musa (former Kaduna State Governor), Dr. Junaid Mohammed and Arewa youth leader, Shettima Yerima, lampooned Osinbajo for practising nepotism, clannishness and cronyism as reflected in the “narrow and sectional interests, in his appointments”.
Specifically, Osinbajo was accused, after the accusers’ avowed “forensic analysis,” of systematically favouring “members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) and his Yoruba tribe.” Accusing Osinbajo of allowing only “Ogun dialect” to be spoken in his office, the accusers pointed to Dr. Okey Enelamah (Minister of Trade and Investments), who was deputy and, later, successor of Osinbajo at the RCCG, Banana Island, Lagos. They hold that Dr. Alex Okoh, DG, BPE, is Osinbajo’s “RCCG brother,” while his Special Adviser as Lagos State AG, Ogun State-born Ade Ipaye (Osinbajo’s defence team prefer to call him Abdulrahman Ipaye, to show the Muslim connection), is his Chief of Staff. Wait! Laolu Akande, of Ogun State, had to be ferried down from his New York base, to be Osinbajo’s media adviser, they lamented.
For Osinbajo’s chief economic adviser, one Ambassador Dipeolu (Yoruba) clinched it. Tsav specifically says 80 per cent of Osinbajo’s personal staff are from the South-West, while Farouk says nine out of 10 of his principal officers are of his Yoruba ethnic group.
The defence
Not quite so, Osinbajo’s SSA on Legal Matters, Dr. Bilikisu Saidu, posited. She argued that two, out of Osibanjo’s three special advisers, are Muslims: Senator Babafemi Ojodu (another Yoruba, of course) and Mariam Uwais (Kano State). She says director of protocol is Ambassador Gwary (Yobe State); while “those in charge of welfare and health in the office of the VP, are mostly Muslims”. Bilikisu says with éclat and flourish that, “those who serve the VP’s meals are mostly Muslims”; while “75 per cent of security operatives… and all cooks and stewards attached to Osinbajo are Muslims and Northerners”. Equation balanced, she enthused. Really?
Where are the so-called minorities?
The irony of these figures bandied by both sides of the divide is that only three of Nigeria’s 374 ethnic groups (Sociologist Onigu Otite); or 470 (Bangura); or 394 (Hoffman); or between 550 and 619 (Wente-Lukas) ethnic groups, that speak about 521 languages (nine of them now extinct) are being discussed. Just because they are the major ethnic groups! Where are the other ignored ethnic nationalities? Oh, I remember. They are clappers, observers, spectators, hewers of wood and drawers of water in the Nigerian project. Nigeria, we hail thee!
I have serially criticized PMB for his nepotistic and lopsided appointments (well over 80 per cent of his appointees are Northerners!). And can the Acting President really afford to fall into this same ignoble booby trap like his boss? Et tu Osinbajo? I cannot excuse the erudite professor of law at all, taking cognizance of the strong case made by his accusers, and the unconvincing, desultory and perfunctory defence by his SSA.
This country belongs to all of us, for crying out loud. I did not hear any so-called “minority” name like Ette, Umukoro, Osigbemeh, Iornem, Attah, Edokpolo, Tienabesoba, Idoko, Yang, Bitrus, Yakowa, etc. I strained my neck and cracked my brain, but never saw names of Binis, Igbos, Annangs, Ejaghams, Ikweres, Andonis, Angas, Bachamas, Ogonis, Bambukos, Bassas, Biroms, Bomboros, Bunus, Powatiyes, Chambas. Fault me, if I am wrong. I giraffed my neck, but could not find names of Dakas, Dandawas, Ebus, Etsakos, Akoko Edos, Gbeddes, Esans, Ogonis, Gures, Isokos, Gbagyis, Unemes, Gwozas, Urhobos, Igalas, Weppa-Wannos, Ijumus, Ijaws, Kagoros, Itsekiris, Tivs, Idomas, Katafs, Ebiras, Komas, Orons, Nupes, Taroks, Shuas and the Zurus. Where are they in the equation of this amorphous amoebic country?
We cannot go on like this. What is it in that Aso Villa that corrupts, that taints, that makes commonsense and reason vacate their lofty seats? What is in that enclave that taunts and courts unnecessary tension and national implosion? I do not know. Do you?
The panacea
This is why we talk about true federalism and restructuring. When I crusade for restructuring, some who are ignorant of the term get jittery. They think, erroneously, that it means break-up or balkanization. No. It is simply a holistic re-arrangement of our warped federal system, which is actually unitarism. It is about shedding of weight and devolution of powers from an over-pampered behemoth, elephantine centre to the poor beggarly federating units (states and LGAs). It is about enthroning social justice, equity, egalitarianism, mutual respect, ethno-religious tolerance and acceptance of Nigeria’s linguistic, religious, gender and tribal plurality. It is an affirmation of our Dolly Patton’s glittering “Coat of many colours” that constitutes the beauty of our country.
If we were operating true federalism, the recent appointments made by the Acting President, which like those of his “Oga”, President Buhari, before him, were heavily skewed in favour of his Yoruba ethnic and religious groups, would not have generated the volcanic hoopla and ruckus they engendered. If true federalism existed in Nigeria, the Arewa youths with the covert backing of their shadowing elders and elite would not be issuing quit notice to the Igbos. The Igbos, Middle Belters, Afenifere, Niger Deltans, will not have responded with equal, even more force and venom. Reconsider restructuring now so as to urgently put an end to various agitations currently going on in the country. The clock is ticking. God save Nigeria.
