Tony Momh
2 November 2008
column
Because man is an inseparable part of the order and discipline that keeps God's Creation permanently in motion, he struggles for a breath of fresh air whenever what happens in the environment in which he finds himself is suffused with stench.
That environment may well be as small as the cell in which Fela wrote his name when he was at Alagbon Close or it may be as vast as the whole Nigerian terrain and the rot that the newspapers are daily telling us is the catch of political hunters in the corridors of power.
While some can hardly feed, we have gory tales of collusive manipulation of public funds at all the tiers of government and in all government departments and agencies. It is as if everyone is apprehensive about their days being numbered and, so, hungrily accumulating material wealth that they think they can take along to their graves!
They have eyes but do not see the coffins that bear the remains of the rich and the poor, the two who in spite of what had happened between the time they were born into here and the time they must go back, have something in common - a coffin, a cloth wrapped over the body, and a grave that is six feet deep. May be those who are living will have a lot to pounce on when those who stole must quit the stage and go there to account for their deeds.
But something must be there to cheer you up because in spite of what has been done to you, you are a child born to live. And if that little thing is not here, why not look over your shoulder to know if it is elsewhere. I discovered during last week that it is visible outside of here, and those who still believe in the power of hope celebrate it.
As some members of the Board of Trustees of the Nigerian Media Merit Award and the Award Nominating Panel of which I am chairman flew into Kano the other day to put finishing touches to this year's hosting of the 2008 awards, my gaze fell on a piece in the Vanguard newspaper I was reading. It had to do with a prize a former African president won.
Before my eyes fell on the piece, everything I read seemed to be the boring routine - how Nigeria had withdrawn from hosting the FIFA Under-17 World Cup because of the heavy loading of the budget which the government said it could not bear; petitions flying right and left about the inflated cost of the vehicles procured for use of committees of the House of Representatives; the anger over a Senate committee recommendation that before you have access to information of public interest, you must go to a high court for an order so to do; the cry of a governor that he was being hounded by those who want him to open the vaults for allocations to the state to be shared; the plan by the lawmakers to probe the allocation of N5trillion to the Niger Delta as if they have oversight functions over states of the federation which are autonomous; the degenerating conditions of structures, both material and human.
So sickening were the reports that I felt my face light up when I saw the piece under reference on page seven of the Vanguard. Botswana's Festus Mogae had won the Africa leadership prize.
The shine on my face was later to increase when Ambassador Segun Olusola and I went to see one of the most optimistic leaders this country has produced, Alhaji Maitama Sule, Dan Masarin Kano.
But the smile turned to sorrow when I read something about my own state and what mistrust can lead kinsmen to do to themselves. I think that because of the lessons that Mogae's contribution to sane leadership provide, I should take it last so that we do not end this column with tears in our eyes and pain in our hearts.
You see, the Edo people are a homogeneous group. Their history is reflected in any area of human endeavour you can imagine. The Benin Empire history is there for everyone to see on the west coast, from the Cross River State through the Delta and Ondo and Lagos states to Benin Republic and Ghana. Its art works sustain the most popular museums in Europe.
Festac 77 mask that the British refused to release was replicated by the descendants of those who gave it to the world.
The raid on the Edo Homestead symbolized by Omo N'Oba N'Edo Uku Akpolokpolo during the British invasion dislodged more than 30 shrines, each representing the reign of an oba, from the time of Eweka about 1215.
All the artifacts were taken away and were we, the Edos, to have even one percent of the wealth these collections earn for the museums where they are displayed, our cultural headquarters, Benin City, would reflect the planned state which the early visitors from Europe saw and appreciated.
Earlier than any other dynasty in this country, the homestead of the Edos was known to early European explorers and the Omo N'Oba by 1872 had established diplomatic relations with Portugal. Between the 15th century and the 17th, a lot of movements out of the cultural home took place. My people from Auchi left Udo in the 1480s and every other group has its story to tell why they left, but not one of them can deny their origin.
In modern times, we have had three major groupings in the Edo family: the Benin People of Edo South, the Esan People of Edo Central and the Afenmai People of Edo North.
Out of the population of about three million in the last census, Edo South accounted for 52.1 per cent, Edo North 29.6 per cent and Edo Central 18.3 per cent.
The proposals for the delineation of constituencies is what is bringing bad blood into the Edo family and it is not good news for those who have accommodated themselves over centuries to go to war in the name of scoring political advantages which will not work in the final reckoning.
The area that is now threatened in the arrangement proposed by the Benin People as reflected on page nine of the Vanguard of Sunday, October 19, is to share Esanland between Edo South and Edo North, an arrangement that will wipe Esanland from the map of Edo State because in both North and South, they would be minorities.
The political advantages we are pushing, in the name of population, is valid on the face, but the constitution we are quoting also provides that the diversity of the peoples should be taken into consideration in accessing positions at the federal, state and local government levels.
Reading the constitution without the checks and balances written in there is like a coup maker reading a book on how to topple a government without reading the chapter on the consequences of failure.
The advert published in the Vanguard shakes my faith in family relationships when it claims that it is endorsed by our cultural father. I do not know what others think, but I believe that if any political arrangement leads to undermining the status of any of the groups in Edo State today, be they Benin, Esan or Afenmai, we may have a problem on our hands which may open wounds that cannot be easily healed.
The Omo N'Oba must rise above his immediate environment and perform the role of cultural father of the Edo People, call a meeting of all stakeholders and stop the ill-advised call to make the Esan People a point of reference only in history.
The call on the Oba of Benin is advised by the obvious advantages peace and leadership have over war and self-serving policies. And this is where Maitama Sule and Mogae come in. Maitama Sule, Dan Masanin Kano, is a joy to be with in private and in public. I have listened to him speak at many a fora and I have always wished that the prayer he says to end his speeches should be like the pledge we have been reciting in our schools since the 70s.
It is a prayer that God gives us good leaders who would not be corrupt, unjust, without discipline et al. Although his sight seems to be failing, this great son of Nigeria is still hopeful that Nigeria will achieve greatness in spite of the fact that indiscipline has placed it far behind the starting block when at independence, it was rated with India and Brazil as three countries that world should watch to transit into the big league.
In the year of our Lord 2008, we are dreaming of being the first of the biggest 20 by the year 2020 and all the structures that would lead us there are being dismantled before our very eyes, through mismanagement, indiscipline and official accommodation of greed and theft.
But Maitama Sule has never been president of Nigeria. So we have no living leader to celebrate. And that is why, for a breath of fresh air, we must go to Botswana, with a population less than that of Edo South senatorial district where Festus Mogae conducted an election without taking advantage of his position as officer in charge of the structures claim that without him, the country would ground to a halt. Today, he is a proud former head of state, and African, and the world sings his praises, the latest being the feather he has added to his cap.
The feather he added to his cap is the Mo Ibrahim Prize worth $5 million aside from another $200,000 which he will earn every year until death. Botswana became independent in 1966, has never had military intervention in its affairs because there had never been any reason for it.
The country has maintained and sustained a multiparty democracy. Humble Mogae would not claim credit for the success story of Botswana he ruled as president from 1998-2008. Hear him, "I did not create the democracy in my country.
I consolidated it and deepened it by practiced, accountable governance, respect for the rule of law, independence of the courts, respect for human rights, including women's rights".
With the AIDS pandemic ravaging the country, Mogae did not throw up his hands in helplessness. He confronted the problem and the drugs he supplied to his people to alleviate their suffering have come to bear the name of "Mogae's tablets". I ask whose "tablets", material, or spiritual, will remind us that we have leaders who want to serve?
With the latest confession of Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State that he is being pestered to join the PDP, it is obvious that the ruling party is seeking the absent sheep in a flock that would work only if the number is one hundred.
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