Chuks Okocha, Sufuyan Ojeifo and Mustapha Shehu
2 October 2008
Abuja — October 1, 2008, Nigeria's 48th independence, was not only marked with pomp and ceremony in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
It was also celebrated with the solemn determination of the FCT administration to honour the nation's forgotten heroes, some of whom were hitherto seen as "dissidents".
But President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and his deputy, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, turned down their own honours.
According to them, succeeding administrations can name things after them if they are found worthy.
FCT Minister, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar, said at the Eagle Square, Abuja, where Abuja residents celebrated the anniversary yesterday, that his administration would right the wrongs of the past.
"In nation building it is crucial for administrators to put the past and the present in perspective in order to properly situate the future. Injustices of the past and the present imperil the future," he said.
"We are using today, the 48th birthday of our beloved nation, Nigeria to give honour to those deserving it by according them permanent presence in a city destined to be Africa's greatest," he said.
A total of 80 streets, roads crescents and closes were named in honour of deserving Nigerians who were not considered worthy of such by past administrations.
Some of them like Prof. Wole Soyinka, late Afrobeat King Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and radical historian, Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman, who have brought international recognition and national honours to Nigeria, featured prominently on the list.
Also honoured are former vice-president Atiku Abubakar, late Prof. Chike Obi, late Claude Ake, Profs. Umaru Shehu, Babatunde Fafunwa and Ishaya Audu.
In the religious and spiritual realm, those honoured include Cardinal Ignatius Ekandem, Sheikhs Nasir Kabara, Abubakar Gumi, Dahiru Bauchi, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Bishop David Oyedepo and Arch Bishop Ganaka.
In the traditional rulers category, the memories of their royal highnesses Adeyinka Oyekan of Lagos, Etsu Nupe Umaru Sanda Ndayako, Shehu Umar Garbai el-Kenemi of Bornu, Abdullahi Bayero of Kano, Obi Ofala Okagbue of Onitsha and Alake Oyebade Lipede of Egbaland were also honoured.
In the world of entertainment those honoured included late Mamman Shata Katsina, Sunny Okosun and Sunday Akanite, popularly called Oliver de Coque.
Although the street naming is supposed to be thematic, like in Garki I and II where they were named after states and local government headquarters in Nigeria and in Maitama District where they were named after land formation such as rocks and rivers, Modibbo said: "they also offer an opportunity for honouring stakeholders who have contributed to the development of a geographical entity."
Modibbo said some of the names like in Maitama where about 70 per cent of the streets are named after American, European or Asian rivers had "no relevance or affinity to our existence, history or culture."
The gentlemen and women honoured have paid their dues, according to Modibbo.
"They come from different fields and endeavours," he said.
Also on the list are women whom the FCT minister described as "apostles of peace, unity and development" such as Margaret Ekpo, Hafsatu Ahmadu Bello, Hannah Idowu Awolowo and Ajoke Murtala Mohammed among others.
He said they "are clear testimony of the honour, courage, intellect and beauty of Nigerian womanhood."
In the academia, Modibbo disclosed that great minds such as Soyinka who won a Nobel Prize for work done in "a language that is not even his mother tongue," and late Chike Obi will be honoured.
Also honoured are late Bob Marley, who revolutionised reggae music and Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican activist and African nationalist who pioneered great scholarly works and the concept of African nationalism.
Malcolm X, who taught black people to stand up to their dignity, Rosa Parks who single-handedly confronted discrimination and late Martin Luther King Jnr also featured on the list.
The sporting heroes singled out for the honours included Africa's queen of track, Mary Onyali, Austin Jay-Jay Okocha and Nwankwo Kanu who are living legends of their generation as well as Sam Okwaraji who slumped and died on the turf at the National Stadium, Lagos while playing for Nigeria.
Other names that will adorn the streets of Abuja were those of labour leader number one, Michael Imodu; former NLC president Hassan Sunmonu; radical female politician and activist, Gambo Sawaba; the Japanese Professor emeritus of Architecture who headed the technical team that drew the Abuja master plan, Kenzo Tange, and the Nigerian on the team, Prof. Akin Mabogunje.
Meanwhile, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) has, however, rated Nigeria low as it marks its 48 years of independence.
ANPP said that it was disappointed that at 48, Nigeria is still approaching the crawling stage of human development.
In a statement in Abuja made available to THISDAY, ANPP said it was disappointing for a man of 48 years to still be approaching the crawling stage of human development when that man is already a fully grown and mature adult.
This was the view of the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Emma Eneukwu, who said the party regretted that up till the present moment the country was still battling to survive from breakdown of development by fighting a lot of vices.
According to the party, the vices are man - made and could only be eradicated if the Federal Government was determined to do so.
"It is those vices that are militating against our national development. Corruption, indiscipline, injustice and deception are the major and pronounced problems hindering our growth. Our leaders should embark on stringent measures to fight these vices. The moment these vices are eradicated in our polity, then the desired result will be achieved," the party said.
The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) also described President Yar'Adua's Independence anniversary speech to the nation as "an orchestra of deception emanating from a failed regime."
CNPP has thus called on Yar'Adua to "resign in the absence of culture of honesty."
The CNPP statement issued yesterday in Abuja and signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, reads, "Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), after a careful analysis of President Umaru Yar'Adua's Independence Day speech, regrettably rates the speech as an orchestra of deception emanating from a failed regime.
"President Yar'Adua had, for the umpteenth time, tried to deceive Nigerians that he has nothing to do with the nine years misrule and failed regime of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); otherwise when did continuity of the construction of roads, electricity, water, education, health and other contracts already awarded and duly appropriated by his mentor Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, amount to quick-fix?
"Is 16 months too short for an effective leader to galvanize the abundant human and material resources of the country to fix our physical infrastructure deficit?"
The CNPP said further: "The height of the orchestra of deception was also exposed when President Yar'Adua, in his speech, said: 'Fellow Nigerians, our economy is on a strong footing with an average growth rate of 6.9%, a single digit inflation, external reserve of about $63 billion '
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