Just in case Mr.
President and his cortege of advisers or “miss- advisers” have quickly
forgotten as they are wont to, let us give them the benefit of doubt by
reminding them or bringing them back from the margins of reason that we have
long gone past the era of military junta where decrees are promulgated
according to the whims and caprices of the de-facto leader but are met with
little or no confrontations by the masses but rather, their bootlickers and sycophants
massage their egos by telling them how ingenious they are, at the pass of each
decree just to keep their jobs, be in their good books and to make sure their
coffers don’t go arid this is even when it is clear that such promulgations are
not only bereft of logic but only serve the narrow-minded interest of the ruler
and have no direct or positive bearing on the general masses.
It was in the foregoing
scenario that a certain General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and the ‘wicked’
General Sani Abacha had the effrontery to suppress the activities of the
leadership of ASUU in the dark days of military rule even to the extent of
promulgating strike actions by the Union as a Felony just to ruffle their
plumage and keep them at bay. But while all such took place in those days,
while such highhandedness and inhuman use of power to the injury was allowed to
progress, it was not as though the leadership of the union feared the person of
the rulers of the day, but I want to believe, it was because as law abiding
citizens they were, while the rulers of the day, chose to define their laws and
the punishment that precedes from them thereto how it suits them, they had no
option but to dance to the dictates of the tune played by the piper even when
the tunes from them weren’t anything close to today’s ‘Kukere’, ‘Azonto’ or
‘Etighis’, but somehow, they managed to dance to them grinningly as though
enthralled in the maze of music but in reality, were only “suffering and
smiling” (apologies to the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti).
But those days are now
gone and are deposited in the archives of history where they belong and the
only lesson derivable from them, is to make sure that such unbridled abuse of
power do not find its way in our new discourse and whenever anybody
irrespective of the office they occupy, attempt to re-invent or resonate such
clannish use of power however mildly, we’d always rise in defense,
shouting to the top of our voices reminding them that whereas the military came
to power through the barrel of the gun, they came to power through the
instrument of the ballot bought with our commonwealth and filled on election
day for the candidate of our choice with our own hands and that the office lest
they forget, is meant to be held in trust for us. That at law, they are only
the Trustees and we are the beneficiaries or what may be called ‘cest que trust’
(him for whom the trust is held) and since we hold the forte, we must not allow
those we gave mandate take us for a ride, for if we do so, then our roles as
privies in this social contract or arrangement, becomes defeated.
Abraham Lincoln the 16th
president of the United States of America and the founder of modern day
democracy picked his words carefully when he propounded that a true democratic
government is one “of the people, by the people and for the people.” God bless
the man. Except I am mistaken, as I write this, it is approximately 5,300 days
since after Nigeria became a democratic state and whether we like it or not, I
must say though we haven’t had it any easy but we have been able to elect our
leaders successfully and successively through the instrument of the ballot and
we have also been able to setup and sustain a governmental structures that are
in consonance with what is obtainable in the near utopian democratic societies
to wit: a National Assembly, a Judiciary and an Executive arm that lacks a textbook
interference with the business of the legislative and judicial arm. A National
Human Rights commission and so many other paraphernalia of a democratic state
so much that I am tempted to consider the guillotine for anyone who betrays
common logic by calling this democracy of ours a nascent one. We have evolved
and our democracy is in full course therefore, it is our social and civic
obligation as citizens and as privies to this social contract, to make sure
that those whom we have relinquished the position to steer the ship of state,
albeit with their reiterated pleas, do not sway what we have only given them to
hold in trust for us, according to the trappings of their whims. The best they
could do, both legally and logically, is to return the “trust property” by
vacating the seat of power on which we have placed them. No more, no less than
by acting in deference and securing an apartment for themselves in the estate
of infamy.
We are concerned in
today’s column with the recent developments rocking our ivory towers so-called.
We must not rehash here, that students of Africa’s Largest Nation but not giant
nation (except in poor population and governmental ineptitude) have been at
home for almost 6 months as even the Almajiris that adorn the streets of Northern
Nigeria have uncannily caught wind of this ugly scenario, (don’t ask me how )and
so it is with the beggars that line up at the famous “iwo” junction in Ibadan and not precluding the auto old-parts dealer
at the ‘Obosi’ market in Onitsha, have all come to know one way or another that
the universities have been under lock and key( the administrative blocks
anyway, as the leadership of ASUU have come out to say that, at no time did
they lock the universities). Haven said that, we shall give no heed to the
genesis of the strike as it is our presumption that too many of us can say a
thing or two about what led to the avoidable imbroglio.
Of particular emphasis
is what a certain Barr. Nyesom Nwike, the Supervising minister of Education and
incumbent minister of State for Education even though we know the man’s
appointment amount to putting a square in a round hole as the man is by far,
more acquainted with the goings-on in the Rivers state government house and
Rivers state entirely more than he knows what has been the case with the
seething problem involving the leadership of ASUU and the Federal Government
(FG)- the two parties which he is meant to bring on the same page. A man who
whether he likes it or not, has to go down as the most erratic minister of
Education to oversee that gracious ministry. A man who visibly is best suited
to be a Labour leader by virtue of his “agbero-like” mien and wont to
aggressiveness. And so when with his latest outburst to the striking lecturers
asking them to return to classes or risk losing their jobs in an uncivilly
manner he was branded a thug, I couldn’t help but be in agreement with his new earned
sobriquet as nothing else could have captured what he exhibited last Thursday
as I watched the press conference from my 14” black and white television. Dear
Nyesom wike, we have passed that era where labour disputes are resolved in that
manner with threats of disengagement in order to browbeat the warring lecturers
back to class. Even Mr. President whom I’ve always held in high esteem, much to
my consternation gave his blessing to this undemocratic and ‘gestapoic’ conduct
so much that I am tempted to join ranks with those who’ve labeled him a
clueless president. No, and for emphasis purposes I must repeat, No, we have
gone past that era and we cannot recede back into such inglorious efforts at
resolving dispute that will only score us lower in the result sheet of
Democratic nations whose leaders have led in consonance or in faith with the
tenets of democracy thereby, further reducing GEJ’s chances of clinching the
Mo-Ibrahim price for African Leadership which has become a taboo for African
leaders to clinch in recent times, no thanks to their own unique but
unconventional style of leadership that is in constant conflict with democracy
canons and last to none.
Though I may be
directly affected by this strike but I cannot in desperation endorse the FG
latest ultimatum to the university lecturers. Not because I do not want to get
back to school and bag my LL.B degree that is taking forever to be clinched,
but because I happen to be a student in the school of thought that preaches
“Due Process” in the discharge of governmental duties and in the day to day
business of governance. As one hoping to partake in the ritual at the temple of
justice, I do not think I will be appeased in body and soul if I endorse this
act. Not only is it undemocratic, it betrays all doctrines of civility, equity,
good conscience and natural justice. It is the climax of governmental abuse of
political power and anyone who endorses such, in a democratic setting should
not be considered a democrat who understands that respect for everyman and
giving every man his due, is the blood that gives life to democracy. It is a
crude, caustic and discordant act that holds no place in virtue and Natural law
and thus shouldn’t be allowed to see the light of day lest we hand over to the
next generation a precedent that will destroy their societal ethos, if they
should stand by it.
I understand the FG’s
sorrow; I can see the corner that they are boxed in, I can feel their pain and
desperation but were we not told that uneasy lies the head that wears the
crown? Does leadership ever fail to come with its joys and sorrows or does it
ever fail to come with a price? This is the moment of truth. This is the moment
when our leaders (here, Mr. President) is expected to display his ingenuity and
adroitness at dispute resolution that will bring all the warring factions
together and leave footprints on the sands of time which subsequent generation
will learn from the philosophy. This is the time to prove to us, that yes, Leaders
are born. It is the time to show that Nigerians were no fools when they
collectively gave him their support and asking him to look after their affairs.
If GEJ’s way of resolving this impasse is the “agbero” or “motor-park” way he
has chosen to act by that ultimatum, then I am afraid, the Giant of Africa, as
she likes to call herself, is yet to get it right at leadership. Where is the
philosophy in that ultimatum that could be taught in schools someday? Is it
this ‘pharoahic’ or Gestapo way that will serve as leadership ingenuity? I hope
not.
Did not Dale Carnegie
in his book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” speak of Benjamin
Franklin, one of the Founding fathers of the United states and the 6th
president of Pennsylvania to have said, “If you argue and rankle and
contradict, you may achieve a victory sometimes but it will be an empty victory
because you will never get your opponents goodwill”? Or did not Siddhartha
Gothama who will later become the Buddha say, “hatred is never ended by hatred or
a dispute by a dispute but by tact, diplomacy, conciliation and a sympathetic
desire to see the other person’s view-point” these are philosophical words on
marble, but how has the FG ultimatum or totalitarian threat come close to this
wise and noble reasoning’s?
Is leadership all about
driving in motorcades and paying siren-visits to one particular high-profile occasion
or the other? Is being the first citizen all about flying in private jets from
one part of the world to the other and surrounded by a sea of aides who are
always willing to do their bosses’ bidding? Where is that skill and display of
leadership creativity and inventiveness that endears a leader to the peoples
heart which has set leaders like Mahatma Gandhi of India, Nelson Mandela of
South Africa, Ayatolla Khameni of Iran,
Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore apart from their counterparts? Is it by such vulgar
and aggressive rhetoric like, “Go back to the class or lose your job” or “you
are a Widow, Go and die” that leaders become great? Nigeria must be one hell of
a place to live in.
I may not share ASUU’s
sentiment in their strike as we have made that clear in a recent article. And I
have always been of the opinion that it is not just humongous funding that sets
a country’s educational system apart but rather painstaking efforts from
lecturers and in fact all stake but bot steak holders in the educational
industry and their avowed willingness to make lemonade out of lemon and
mountains out of molehills. But this is Nigeria where lecturers have chosen to
push career and profit kobo (any kobo) and since the only language understood
here, is money language, the lecturers have also learnt from it and in their
befuddled and warped wits, they think Oxford , Cambridge, Harvard etc. which
they like to make allusion to, were built on allowances for marking script,
allowances for research, allowances for hazard, transfer of FG assets to universities
and all the other allowances and clauses they have suddenly manufactured in
their bid to ride in the same posh cars as the fools that sit in our red and
green chambers discussing on how to float foreign accounts and syphon our
commonwealth to God-knows-where more easily instead of how to eradicate
‘almajiris’ off the streets and attempt a bridge of the ever widening chasm
between the rich and the poor, hence why we have called their bluff in previous
articles.
But be that as it may,
it does not give the leeway for GEJ, the thug, Wike and their degenerate ilk,
to do murder to logic or crucify common sense on the cross of whimsical
inanities, for to do so, is another invitation to national acrimony and another
soft-walk to Kigali. Instead of solving the problem, it will only add salt to
an already decaying injury and keep the same students they want to get back to school,
stay more at home. It is dictatorial and autocratic, hence why so many Civil
Society groups, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and other respected voices
have all come out to register their disapproval of the move.
Abraham Lincoln once
reprimanded a young Army officer for indulging in violent controversy with an
associate. He said, “No man who is resolved to make the most of himself can
spare time for personal contention still less can he afford to take the
consequences including the vitiation of his temper and the loss of
self-control. Yield larger things to which you show no more than equal rights
and yield lesser ones though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog
than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would
not heal the bite”. This goes out personally to Mr. President as nothing has
ever been achieved in an atmosphere of rancor and even if achieved, do not come
to stay.
I know that ASUU under
its incumbent leader, Nasir Fagge may be proving obstinate in this particular
fight as a result of the FG’s antecedents in recent history of going outside an
agreement, so their holding tight to the trigger is quite understandable
despite the much touted FG commitment to bring the whole imbroglio to an end,
this is even when the leadership of ASUU have not come out in the public to
acknowledge the receipt or payment of any kobo into any account. Also the
controversial death of professor Festus iyayi, who is laid to rest as I write,
may have bolstered ASUU to stand their ground as he who is already fallen
suffers not another fall hence, why they have preferred to sit tight and fight
it to the finish Irrespective of the fire and brimstone hurled at them from all
angles.
Whichever way it turns
out, this proves to be another big one for baba GEJ and his FG- how he handles
it, will be used for or against him to his credit or to his discredit come 2015.
He may choose to continue with his “motor-park” tactics and dig his own
political grave by giving his ever increasing traducers what to go to town
with. But this is not just about politics. This is about the common man, this
is about our educational system, and this is about our future which we were
promised a breadth of “Fresh Air”. If this is the Fresh Air, then I am sorry, I
rather live at a dumpsite. Violence Street has never led to Success Avenue. Let
GEJ and his FG be guided for this is another political dementia. God Bless
Nigeria.
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@RayNkah
