The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has vowed that it will ensure that no regional President emerges during 2023 election.
The regional group listed the qualities of the Presidential candidate the North will support during the election.
Speaking at a book launch in Kaduna, NEF Chairman, Prof Ango Abdullahi said the North will support a Presidential candidate who will lead with integrity, competence, compassion and the fear of God.
He asserted that the region will support a candidate who does not seek to benefit from strategies that exploit the ethnic and religious diversity of the region.
Abdullahi maintained that the North will not support a candidate that fails to convince that he will radically improve the quality of governance and the integrity of leaders.
However, the elder statesman said the Northern region will participate in all political and electoral activities as equals and with respect to other Nigerians who respect them.
“We will not support a candidate that fails to convince that he will radically improve the quality of governance and the integrity of leaders.
“Second, Northerners will not be intimidated into making choices that do not improve the chances of real changes in their current circumstances.
“We will participate in all political and electoral activities as equals, and concerning other Nigerians who respect us.
“In the north, we consider attempts to create divisions and conflicts around religion as hostile acts.
“We have paid a high price in conflicts around religion in the North, and we do not need to do more. Our insecurity and collapsing economy do not discriminate between Christians and Muslims.
“We cannot seek solutions from them as Muslims or Christians. I have to state here that we are witnessing some of the crudest and most unproductive campaigns to create divisions between Hausa and Fulani people, and create distances between Christians and Muslims in the North.
“We warn that these contemptible attempts will fail because they find no support in history going back centuries, or in the recent past.
“While we differ in faith and ethnicity, history, geography and our experiences in living as Nigerians have created roots and bonds that cannot be destroyed by desperate political gambits.
“Third, we will be more critical than all others over who wins our support. We bear scars from governance by one we substantially voted into power twice.
“Northern votes will make a major impact in the 2023 elections as well, but they will be cast by people who are now wiser and more discerning.”
Following the Court ordered routine visit by Counsels to detained leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu , a team of his lawyers has checked on him at his detention camp in Abuja.
Leader of the team, Mr Ifeanyi Ejiofor, explained that Kanu is in his usual high spirit, especially on hearing the news of the release of his foster mother, Mama Biafra.
In a statement released in Abuja on Friday, the Counsel disclosed that his client was in high spirits to establish his innocence in the charges.
The statement reads in part:
“The Court-ordered routine visit to our indefatigable Client – Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was conducted at the DSS Headquarters, Abuja, where Onyendu is still being held in solitary confinement.
“The visit was still conducted in strict adherence to the new DSS protocol, introduced to distort the status quo.
“Onyendu was comprehensively briefed on the holistic legal approach being adopted to secure his unconditional release. All “t’s” have been crossed and “i’s” dotted, thereby setting the stage ripe for the main business of the 11th day of October, 2022, to proceed unhindered.
“We are doing all that is legally permissible to ensure that the outing will be recorded as a fruitful one.
“Onyendu is profoundly enthused by the line of actions as itemized towards achieving the desired and best result, which he classified as top notch.
“We wish to reiterate that confining Onyendu in a solitary space is no doubt, a grave infraction of his rights, and an established act of torture clearly spelt out under our laws, and which violation is no doubt aimed at breaking his spirit.
“Nonetheless, Onyendu remains very strong in his conviction as he has defied every strategy adopted by the state to break him. He is resolute and uncompromisingly firm. Self determination is a right recognised under our laws and other international laws and instruments.
“Onyendu was particularly enthused after he was fully briefed on the news of the release of Mama Biafra. He could not hold his excitement on hearing the long awaited news.
“He thanked me in particular, and my legal team for our outstanding professionalism that has always guided our strategy towards rescuing UmuChineke detained in various facilities of the Nigerian Security Agencies.
“Our new methodology, which will always remain discrete is a compelling one and result oriented, and Onyendu encouraged us to keep up the good work.
“Now that Mama Biafra has been released pursuant to an application for the enforcement of her fundamental rights I had earlier filed on her behalf, we shall continue with the suit to ensure that she is adequately compensated for the period of time she was unlawfully detained in solitary confinement.
“We wish to assure Umuchineke that we are not leaving any stone unturned towards ensuring that all those still languishing in custody are released.
“Idara Gold and others are in our top priority, as our team are aggressively pursuing their release. Please be assured that it shall all end in Praise, UmuChineke.
“Onyendu extended his sincere regards and love to you all, UmuChineke, while soliciting for your continued unrelenting prayers and support.”
No fewer than 80 princes vying to become the Alaafin of Oyo will soon be interviewed, according to Chief Mukaila Akanji, the Head of Oyo Princes. One of the contestants is a former Methodist Archbishop of Ilesa and Ibadan, Ayo Ladigbolu, the magazine has learnt.
This was disclosed in a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan, the state capital on Thursday by Director, Media and Publicity to the Alaafin of Oyo, Bode Durojaiye.
The names, Durojaiye said have been submitted to the Basorun of Oyo, High Chief Yussuf Ayoola, who doubles as the regent of the town. He said a committee has been set up to interview the contestants for the ancient throne of Alaafin which became vacant after the Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III joined his ancestors in April this year.
The late Alaafin reigned for 52 years and died at the age of 83.
The statement said, “At the end of the meeting, it was resolved that all the contestants should, as a matter of utmost concern, attend a peace meeting on Saturday, September 3, 2022, at the Agbala Ogun Hall, in the Palace.
“Thereafter, from next week Monday till Thursday, contestants will appear for interview on daily basis.
“There will be a break on Friday, as no interview will take place, to pave the way for the Jumat service. The interview will resume on Monday, the 12th, and last till the 15th of September, 2022.”
Recall that Ladigbolu in June revealed his ambition to become the next Alaafin.
The 84-year-old cleric said he joined the race following “countless appeals and pleas from far and near.”
“Especially those who are knowledgeable about my devotion to, and undying commitments to the greater progress and prosperity of Oyo Town, and my undeniable records of current contributions to uplifting the Yoruba culture as well as the honour, glory and splendour of the Alaafin both here at home and in the global community.”
He said he’s not too old to succeed Oba Adeyemi because his age “is the greatest asset”.
“Most importantly, age has never been a negative factor in the selection of an Alaafin,” he said.
“All previous Alaafins in New Oyo except one have had the advantage of age and maturity from which both Oyo and Yoruba Nation have benefited. The only odd single circumstance came about due to exigencies known to historians and most adult members of the public in the 1970s.
“Nobody is sponsoring me to seek an opportunity to better serve a community which I have served and helped for about 40 years as a responsible citizen and community leader.
“The people are actually urging me and appealing to me to join the race. The pressure is not limited to well-meaning adults but also includes a lot of the common people who have been touched one way or another by my patriotic enthusiasm for the growth and development of Oyo Town and the Oyo Metropolitan Community.
“While I don’t have any sponsor, I can claim the support of many admirers who crave continuity and smooth transition. Thank you for raising these questions,” Ladigbolu said.
Ecobank Nigeria Back2School Loans scheme will assist parents who are already agitated about how to pay school fees as students prepare to go back to school soon, the Pan African bank has said.
The Jubril Mobolaji Lawal-led commercial bank said it made the loan scheme available to customers due to the value it placed on education.
Unveiling the scheme in Lagos, the Head, Consumer Banking, Ecobank Nigeria, Korede Demola-Adeniyi said the loan offerings also come with other Back2 School gifts for customers who take advantage of it, as soon as they receive school fees payments to their Domiciliary accounts.
The bank said the scheme has given parents the freedom to care of other financial burdens without getting worried about school fees, adding that the bank has a trajectory of taking care of various customers’ needs.
According to Demola-Adeniyi, the scheme is available to new and existing customers, noting that this is the perfect time to open an Ecobank account or reactivate dormant ones, in both local currency and foreign currency, to enjoy all the benefits of the Back2School Scheme.
She said, “we are aware that our customers are diverse with different needs and belong to different segments of the society hence we are always coming up with initiatives like this to cater to our various target markets” . In the same vein, the bank is offering competitive rates on FCY inflows whether as fixed deposits or as cash collateral for loans.
Speaking on the dynamics of the scheme, Daberechi Effiong, Head, Consumer Products, stated that loan offerings are available to all categories of customers in paid and self-employment.
“Customers can either opt for the Employee Credit or Cash backed Back2School scheme based on their cashflow,’ she said.
The cash backed scheme gives customers access to competitive interest rates on their funds while accessing the Back2School loan. For the Employee Loan, customers can access up to N20 million for the purpose of school fees payment. The low-cost loan also comes with flexible tenors, the bank said
Effiong listed the benefits of the Back2School scheme to include, convenient repayment with flexible tenors to match customers’ cashflow, the competitive interest rate on loans, the competitive interest rate on deposits for cash-backed loans and foreign currency inflow, exciting Back2School gifts, additional N5 per dollar on remittance inflows received and easy access to other loan products including the Buy Now Pay Later scheme with SPAR.
The total debt stock of the federal and 36 state governments stood at N41.6 billion, the Debt Management Office, DMO has said.
The Office made the revelation barely one week after the minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed warned that the country’s debt could rise to over N50 trillion next year as the federal government is planning to borrow more to finance critical infrastructure in the country
Speaking on Thursday in Abuja the Director General of DMO, Patience Oniha said the debt owed by the federal and state government as of March 2022 stood at N41.60 trillion.
The DMO boss disclosed this during her appearance at the ongoing engagement on the 2023 – 2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Policy Paper held by the House of Representatives Committee on Finance yesterday.
She blamed the shortfall in revenues for the rising debt, adding that 85 per cent of the debt is owed by the federal government.
She attributes the rising debt to government overhead and personal costs, noting that until these issues are addressed there’s no end in sight to borrowing.
According to her, “the debt stock of Nigeria and that includes the federal, state governments and the Federal Capital Territory was N32.92 trillion. By December 2021, it was N39.556 trillion.
“As at March of this year, we published quarterly, it was N41.6 trillion. On the average, the federal government is owing about 85 percent of the total debt.
“We have been running deficit budget for many years and each time you approve a budget with a deficit, by the time we raise money, because when you approve it is giving us a mandate, authority to borrow, it will reflect in the debt stock, so the debt stock will increase.
“Also note that states are also borrowing. So we add their own. They also have laws governing their borrowings and as debt stock increases so does debt service.
“Until the issues of personnel, overhead and capital expenditure are properly addressed in the budget, borrowing would not stop.”
Oniha said the nation’s debt is still manageable compared with other countries with a higher debt-to-Gross Domestic Product, GDP ratio.
She said Speaking further, she said Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP “is low but for debt service-to-revenue ratio, we are very high. So, if you look at tax-to-GDP ratio of these other countries, they are in multiples of Nigeria.”
The DMO DG however warned against a situation where debt servicing will be so high that it will leave no funds for capital projects, adding that governments at all level should find ways to expand the revenue net.
“Sustainable means you can service your debt without difficulty, without it consuming all your revenues because you have very little for other projects. You must look at revenues very closely and I think the discussions you have had with the Customs is one part of it.
“There are many other revenue generating agencies. So, we must increasingly begin to look out our revenue for funding our activities as opposed to deficit.
“We talked about N11 trillion deficit and borrowing for 2023, how much is the revenue there? When we looked at the first tranche that was N10 trillion for full year of subsidy and N9 trillion for subsidy next year and the size of the borrowing was 62 per cent of the budget. That’s high.
“The responsibilities, I think, are on both sides. Query the various expenditure lines and see what it is we can handle. So, if the deficit is lower, the borrowing will be lower and that’s how to grow on a slower pace,” Oniha said.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has taken a swipe at the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu. He dismissed Ayu as an arrogant ingrate who was brought from the gutter and installed PDP National Chairman.
Wike was reacting on Thursday to Ayu’s interview with the BBC Hausa Service where Ayu referred to those who want him to step down as the National Chairman as children who don’t know why or hoe the PDP was formed.
In response to Ayu, whike commissioning the Omerelu internal roads in Ikwerre Local Government Area, Wike said: “These children you said we are brought you from nothing,”
Wike challenged Ayu to show himself as a man of honour and integrity by fulfilling his promise that he would vacate the Chairmanship seat if the Northern region produces the Presidential candidate of the party.
Wike: “Somebody said those of you who said the right thing must be done are boys, they are children. You can imagine what power can do. You can imagine how ingratitude, how people can be ingrates.
“I thought as the Chairman of a Party who wants to win the election, your business is to bring peace to the party; your business is not to divide your party, your business is not to show arrogance.
“Dr Ayu said we are children. Yes, the children brought you to be chairman of the party. The the children brought you from the gutter to make you Chairman.
“Ayu, you were impeached as Senate President. Ayu you were sacked by Obasanjo in his administration. Arrogance cannot take you anywhere.”
“I had kept quiet thinking that we will reconcile but since you brought arrogance to say you were elected where did you campaign, show me where your poster was in this state.
“He is telling us that we are children, a man who is inconsistent and ran away from the party, telling those of us who spent our time to make sure this party doesn’t go down, now has the audacity to tell us we are children, we will tell you, you are the prodigal father.”
“I had kept quiet thinking that we will reconcile but since you brought arrogance to say you were elected where you did campaign, show me where your poster was in this state.
“He is telling us that we are children, a man who is inconsistent and ran away from the party, telling those of us who spent our time to make sure this party doesn’t go down, now has the audacity to tell us we are children, we will tell you, you are the prodigal father.”
The Governor said that the PDP Chairman does not have the party’s interest at heart but was only concerned with spending the N14 billion proceed realized from the 2022 primaries conducted across the country, to his benefit.
He added that Ayu’s intention is to ensure that he has a large share of the funds in PDP’s coffers, and making sure it is diverted into his private account.
“Ayu is not concerned about the progress of the Party, particularly, reclaiming all elective public offices in other parties. He is just a prodigal father that cannot be trusted with any important task”.
Hewarned that PDP may suffer major setbacks during next year’s general election should the party allow Ayu to continue administering the party’s affairs across the country.
The Governor stressed that his grievances against the PDP National chairman were not personal but in the interest of the hundreds of members that have been marginalized by Ayu’s leadership style since his assumption of office.
The call for the autonomy of Local Governments has once again been put on the front burner of discuss by the Leaders of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE. They have called on the anti-graft agencies to track the Local Government allocation in the past seven years.
NULGE alleged that State Governors have continued to divert and misappropriate Local Government funds, at the detriment of LG Workers and the administration of the LGs.
This has once again renewed the call for the speedy passage of the Local Government Autonomy Bill, arguing that this would ensure financial independence for the 774 councils in the country and also address the challenges of insecurity and unemployment.
At a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, the President of NULGE, Ambali Olatunji, cautioned State Governors against inducing and conniving with the Legislature to stop the passage of the Bill.
Olatunji lamented that only 10 states have passed the LG Autonomy Bill and further encouraged the other States to endorse it as quickly as possible.
He, however, accused some Governors of holding secret meetings with the Speakers of State Assemblies to prevent the States from passing the LG Autonomy Bill in the ongoing Constitutional Amendment.
“The Governors are elected to govern the state as a whole, local government chairmen are elected to govern the Local Government. It is painful when you see the amount allocated. Sometimes, the Local Governments are allocated up to N120 million, N90mn N80mn (from the Federation Account). Ask yourself what gets to the Local Government. At times, it can be N10mn, N5mn; some don’t get more than N2mn. Where is the money going? We call on the EFCC, ICPC and NFIU to track Local Government allocation in the last seven years and tell us what has been done with them.”
The NULGE stressed further that full autonomy for Local Governments in Nigeria would help solve the challenges of insecurity and unemployment, noting that both are local issues that could be addressed by the councils.
“What we are witnessing today; be it harrowing poverty, joblessness, hopelessness, banditry, or insurrection has a deep root in the lack of a functional local government system. Every security challenge is local; the solution to it is local.
“If the Local council has been focused and efficient, all these rural roads would have been upgraded; they can also organise local security and intelligence gathering. We will end insecurity if every community is safe in the hands of local security,” he noted.
A Group under the aegis of Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance, NTCA, has urged the Federal Government to operationalise the Tobacco Control Fund, which is targeted at helping in reducing the impact of tobacco in the country.
The NTCA is a member of the 182 parties to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which pledged to take action to reduce the impact of tobacco in their countries.
At a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, Oluwafemi Akinbode, Chairman of the Group, said sustainable funding was critical to achieving the objective of the WHO FCTC.
Akinbode said, “This is what informed the inclusion of the provision to establish a Tobacco Control Fund in the NTC Act, 2015, to ensure the protection of public health from the destructive effects of tobacco in Nigeria.”
According to him, the Federal Ministry of Health through the Permanent Secretary, who was represented by the National Coordinator, Non-Communicable Disease Division, Dr. Dolapo Sanni promised to make the Tobacco Control Fund fully operational within one month.
He said “We have watched and waited patiently to allow the ministry enough latitude to make good their promise. However, we are no longer at ease as it is now over two months since that pledge was made without any sign of fulfillment.
The continued delay in the operationalisation of the fund is tantamount to self-injury on the FG. Revenue that should accrue to the fund from the issuance of licenses to tobacco manufacturers and distributors is being lost.
“Also, the unavailability of an operational account for the payment of licensing fees makes the operations of tobacco manufacturers, importers, and distributors in the country illegal, as the companies have no licenses to back their operations.
“It is also deeply concerning that the tobacco industry with its awful public health implications is indirectly being granted a ‘license-free-holiday’ and is allowed to operate in Nigeria without licenses because of the government’s continued failure to make the Tobacco Control Fund operational.
“It is not a secret that tobacco control activities in the country are grossly underfunded and this ugly delay negatively impacts important tobacco control work.
“The tobacco industry has continued to dangle monies before the government in the guise of corporate social responsibility. The Tobacco Control Fund will give the government the impetus to do what it needs to do and to call the bluff of the ‘Greek gift’ from the Tobacco Industry.”
Akinbode urged the Ministry of Health to step up to its responsibility and make the Tobacco Control Fund fully operational as soon as possible.
He added: “The Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Finance, and the office of the Accountant General of the Federation must also play their roles in the setting up of the account to ensure that the revenue loss is closed, and the Fund is running as prescribed by the NTC Act, 2015.
Nigeria has lost a lot of funds that should accrue to it through licensing of Tobacco Industry players. This is one of the dangers of not having the Tobacco Control Fund fully operational. This dangerous delay must stop.”
Also speaking, the Research Associate, Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa, Austine Iraoya, said the inability to operationalise tobacco control funds by the government gives the tobacco industries a free-for-all process and it promotes illegal manufacturing and sales of tobacco in the country.
“Nigeria made a commitment to the Tobacco Control Act and part of the commitment is to have funds dedicated for tobacco control and these funds are not things we are asking the government to diversify, these are funds that should be generated from the tobacco industry.
“Looking at it, the inability to operationalise tobacco control funds gives the tobacco industries a free for all process and it promotes illegal manufacturing and sales of tobacco in Nigeria. It also promotes illegal exports and the revenues that should be gathered for their operations are lost and we can’t continue to pay lip service to it,” Akinbode stressed.
Like many Nigerians, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has reacted to the visit to former President Goodluck Jonathan, at his Abuja home, by the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu was a surprise visitor to the home of Jonathan on Tuesday. He was accompanied on the visit by his running mate, Kashim Shettima and six APC Governors.
Since after the visit two days ago, reactions have been coming like claps of thunder for and against the visit. Some people blame Jonathan for giving Tinubu audience. They called him weak. Not surprising. They angrily remember the contempt in which Tinubu held Jonathan.
While Jonathan was Nigeria’s President, Tinubu was a thorn in his flesh. For five years, he deliberately attacked and tormented Jonathan. He lied against him. He ridiculed him. He insulted him as well as his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan. He used the worst form of propaganda against Jonathan and the Jonathan administration. He called him clueless. So, it was a surprise that Tinubu led a delegation to visit Jonathan, to consult Jonathan on his 2023 aspiration to the office of the President. Tinubu was mainly instrumental to Buhari’s victory over Jonathan.
But others commended Jonathan for his humility, for his good heart, for being so forgiving, for being a statesman, and receiving Tinubu and company.
But the PDP is not amused. Tha Party says it is scandalized by Tinubu’s visit to Jonathan.
In a statement dated September 1, the PDP mocked Tinubu for visiting Jonathan. And told him not to shine with photo ops with Jonathan. The Party said the visit to Jonathan was a desperate move by Tinubu to distance himself from the Government of the day and whitewash his own image.
Following is the full text of the statement signed by PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba.
“Nigerians are scandalized over the disgraceful and hypocritical attempt by the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other APC leaders to distance themselves from President Muhammadu Buhari over the abysmal failure of the Buhari-led administration in which they are principal actors.
“In a desperate design to whitewash their battered public image, identifying with the obvious successes of the PDP and in an attempt to posture as statesmen, the APC Presidential Candidate, his running mate, Sen. Kashim Shettima and other APC leaders shamelessly orchestrated a photo opportunity with the distinguished and successful former President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“This is a patriotic Nigerian leader whose PDP-led purposeful and successful government the APC leaders viciously harassed, constantly insulted, labelled, sabotaged and discredited for their selfish power-grabbing enterprise.
:Nigerians have not forgotten how Asiwaju Tinubu callously vilified and pilloried Dr. Jonathan, spewed hate against his administration and reportedly funded a near riotous protest which was inflamed by concocted economic lies, propaganda and false statistics to discredit the Jonathan-led PDP administration.
“Nigerians can equally recall how Sen. Shettima as governor of Borno State sabotaged and frustrated the Jonathan’s administration in its effort to curb insecurity in Borno State.
“Records still have it on how the APC Vice Presidential candidate as governor of Borno State failed to act on a security report and directive to close schools in remote parts of Borno State and relocate students to the more secure capital of Maiduguri to write their GCE examinations; thus creating the opening for the cruel abduction of school girls in Chibok, Borno State.
“Nigerian will also note how the then Governor Shettima abdicated his duty as chief security officer and reportedly withheld vital security information in preference to non-state actors including terrorist elements, thereby frustrating the timely rescue of the abducted Chibok girls.
“It can also be recalled that after the infamous abduction, the principal of the school was subsequently appointed as a commissioner in Borno State by the then Governor Shettima; a development many considered as a compensation for her alleged role in the abduction.
“It is, therefore, ironic that these same APC leaders who also spent the last seven years insulting and harassing Dr. Jonathan now shamelessly arranged a visit and photo opportunity in an attempt to launder their image and hoodwink Nigerians from the atrocities and monumental evil they brought to our country.
“It is indeed provocative that after turning our nation into a vast killing field by emboldening terrorist elements to massacre our citizens; wrecking our once robust economy, elevating corruption to an official state policy and turning our nation into the poverty capital of the world, APC leader are seeking to beguile Nigerians again.
“We are aware that these APC leaders have lined up several illusory antics to mislead Nigerians ahead of the 2023 general elections, but they must know that Nigerians have moved on and cannot be swayed by propaganda, lies, false promises and photo ops with successful individuals.
“What is expected of APC leaders at this moment is to apologize unreservedly to Dr. Jonathan, the PDP and Nigerians for the life-discounting situation they have foisted on our nation in the last seven years. After that they should quietly quit the stage, take valedictory pictures with terrorists, political thugs and election riggers since they cannot have any space among well-meaning Nigerians.”
If you haven’t had a good laugh, you have not been with him. And anyone who knows him knows I’m not joking. The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has the rare gift of humour.
Not the run-of-the-mill kind that forces a courteous half-smile. It’s the kind that extracts the prey while putting the cat completely at ease; it just cracks your rib.
It works in good times and in bad. And just as he has done in the last nearly over two decades of being clergyman and public intellectual, Kukah deployed this gift again in a conversation about his new book also meant to mark his 70th birthday in Abuja.
What gripped me was not his thoughts on the book that Monday night inside the cold bookstore where the organisers dug out an impressive space for the event. Or the searing questions gently delivered by the moderator, Chido Onumah, to which he responded with clarity and painful irony.
It was Kukah’s sport, his use of anecdotes and stories to reinforce his answers. He took his examples from everyday life, occasionally deploying self-deprecation in ways that said more than the content of Broken Truths, which in itself is an extraordinary collection of lectures and reflections on the enigma called Nigeria.
Here’s one story, for example. A certain distressed fellow got his phone number through only God knows how. The fellow had been trying to get a government contract. It turned out, as it always does in the Nigerian story, that he could never hope to get past stage one if he didn’t know any big man.
Kukah, obviously after a siege of multiple calls from the distressed fellow, yielded and took the call. After hearing him out, the clergyman explained that he was not a big man and therefore couldn’t help. The distressed man persisted that all he wanted was to mention Kukah’s name as his “sponsor.” Nothing more.
“That’s fine,” an exhausted Kukah replied. “Go ahead if you think that would help your case!” The man did. And it worked. He got the contract just by mentioning that Kukah was his “sponsor”.
Bishop Matthew Kukah
In a sense, the story of the distressed man who needed to drop Kukah’s name to find a way is at the heart of the brokenness of Nigeria eloquently captured in Kukah’s collection, his fifth book in 29 years.
It’s ironic that even as he marks his 70th birthday he is still writing about the same Nigerian problems he wrote about as head of Communications of the Catholic Secretariat in Lagos decades ago; problems he also repeated in lectures, articles and public speeches as he advanced up the ecclesiastical ladder.
To use one of his numerous painful metaphors on Monday night, things appear to have improved mostly in “regression”. It’s a conundrum famously called the “Writer’s Misery”. SonalaOlumhense, one of Nigeria’s most famous prose stylists, touched on this dilemma on his 60th birthday when he said one of his biggest frustrations was complaining about the same things that he complained about when he was 18.
Another story Kukah shared on Monday night was how identity politics has been weaponised. As a faith leader, he has worked to build bridges and promote religious harmony with other outstanding faith leaders including the Sultan of Sokoto. Yet, if this election season proves anything, it’s that there’s still a long road to travel as politicians insist on defining their campaign, not by the issues, but tribe, religion and ethnicity.
As to how he deals with his own identity crisis, he said he is pleased that his village, Anchuna, is not on the map of Nigeria. “When I’m in my state, Kaduna,” he said, “my state comes first and then my village, Anchuna. Of course, the situation changes when I’m out of the country. Then, I’m first a black man, a Nigerian and so on.”
Then he told another story of how once when he went to visit a senior clergyman, his host was so engrossed in watching a boxing match that he hardly noticed his presence. “After the boxing match ended”, Kukah said, “I asked him who he was supporting. He looked up, puzzled and asked me, ‘What kind of question is that?’”
“Isn’t it obvious to you that I’m supporting the black man?”
Identity politics is not a crime. But its salience, especially in the developing countries, is worsened by superstition and the dangerous monopoly of opportunities by the ruling elite. Two books make this point eloquently: Francis Fukuyama’s Identity: Contemporary identity politics and the struggle for survival, and Yuval Noah Harari’s epic, 21 lessons for the 21st century.
While the former explains why identity politics is the new nationalism in modern politics, the latter chides secular people who are at a loss for the grip of religion on politics.
Of the three spheres of influence in human development – technical problems; policy problems; and identity problems – Harari wrote, while religion has receded in the first two, replaced largely by advances in research, science and rational thinking with more beneficial outcomes, it still dominates identity politics. Regrettably, however, this is the area where God serves man, the result has been more harm than good.
Back to Broken Truths. Why broken truths? Onumah asked the question twice, though I was sure it was not the first time Kukah would be asked. After all, outside theology, there is no single version of the truth, a fact which Kukah also acknowledged.
To illustrate the point, he cited the work of the National Human RightsViolation Investigation Commission set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and headed by Justice Chukwudifu Oputa to bury the ghost of the Abacha era, especially, and bring healing.
Kukah, the secretary of that commission, said it appeared, on the face of it, that Obasanjo meant well. The world was, of course, excited by the South African model, copied from the earlier model in Chile. Obasanjo thought Nigeria could use these examples, too.
He wanted truth, and possibly reconciliation and closure for the scores, if not hundreds, whose rights were abused under Abacha and even going back. But Nigeria, being Nigeria, many turned up at the commission with petitions unrelated to the committee’s work and demands beyond its brief.
And Obasanjo, being Obasanjo, the former president also wanted his own truth, his own way! So, while he was eager to set up the committee and make a show of its work, he was far less enthusiastic to follow through with the committee’s recommendations. In the end, what was supposed to mend, still left behind brokenness from which we struggle to recover even today.
Yet, Kukah said, the illusion that one acceptable version of truth can come from a commission is overrated. It is so, he said, in South Africa, which we love to hold up as the perfect model of truth and reconciliation, as it is in Nigeria, where the mismanagement of diversity remains a plague.
“Apartheid did not end because truth happened and Whites suddenly realised it was important to discard the system” he said. “It ended because apartheid became unprofitable.” Whose truth? Story for another day, Kukah said.
This 11-chapter, 259-page highly endorsed book covers a variety of subjects extensively. It sometimes reads, as Kukah himself admitted, like The Argumentative Indian, the book by the 2005 Nobel Prize winner and Indian, Amartya Sen. Broken Truth shows that given Nigeria’s complexity, its triumphs, travails and endless self-flagellation, however, the argumentative Indian could learn a thing or two from here.
But where did the rain start to beat us? In essays from his thoughts on national cohesion to the existential crisis in the education sector and from human rights issues to the place of Nigeria, and especially its youths, in the future, Kukah insisted that the foundation of today’s crookedness was laid by the military.
“If the military did not strike when it did and the politicians had been left to find their footing”, he said, “we would not be where we are today.”
Is there hope of cohesion, any sign that the broken truths would mend someday? “Categorically, my conclusion is that a great future awaits our nation,” Kukah said. “But for that to happen, we need to create new myths, move away from the distorted pictures that have emerged from the writing (and works) of our respected artists who present only the worst of our nation.”
Those who look at Kukah solely from the lens of his theological dialectics or his intellectual rigour as a thought leader might find his book a bit of a heavy lifting.
But not to worry, after watching a viral video of him dancing to Kizz Daniel’s Buga challenge, his sequel might yet be from the repertoire of anecdotes and humour which he started writing during his work as secretary of the human rights violationcommission.
Surely, even broken truths presented as humour have their healing virtue.
