Families Of 40 Police Officers Killed In Kano Yet To Be Compensated.

 

Photo: Daily Independent Nigera

By SaharaReporters, New York

Members of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North heard today in Kano that compensation has yet to be paid to the families of the 40 officers killed in a Boko Haram attack on January 20, 2012.

 

A total of 192 persons, including security personnel from the Department of State Security Services (DSS), Immigration and Customs, were killed.

Members of the committee, who were conducted around the State Police Headquarters, were also told that the Command’s Bomb Disposal Unit has intercepted over 6000 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), most of which were detonated. They inspected assorted explosives seized from suspected militants of the Islamic sect.

Speaking during the occasion, the chairman of the committee, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, dispelled the notion of a contradiction between the work of his committee and emergency rule in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa States.

“Nigeria is not at war,” he declared, adding that even in countries where there is war, dialogue is also applied.

“No responsible government will sit down and allow a group of individuals to threaten lives and properties. The issue is that those who want to take the option of dialogue will have it; and those who want to continue to fight will continue to fight.”

The Committee also met with members of the bereaved families of the slain police officers, and the Alhaji Turaki promised that efforts would be geared towards their immediate compensation.

On The State of Emergency Proclamation By Amene Ter’Hemen.

By Amene Ter’Hemen

Let me begin this piece with a story.  Inno is a Nigerian in his early thirties, a graduate of Geography who has been searching from coast to coast for a job since he graduated in 2007. After two years of fruitless search for a job, Inno approached his uncle with the idea to start a business since he could not find employment. His uncle loaned him fifty thousand Naira (N50,000.00) and a stall. Inno was sure managing his business would be a piece of cake. However, after only six months of doing business, he was forced to close shop! The value of his stock had reduced to less than five thousand Naira (N5,000). Two months out of business, Inno went back to ask for another loan (this time a bigger one) to start his business afresh. When his uncle asked why the former collapsed, Inno said it failed because his capital was small, that if given more money, he will definitely and unfailingly succeed. If you were the uncle, would you trust Inno with your money?

In December 2012, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR declared a state of emergency in some local governments areas covering Borno state (5 LGAs), Yobe state (5 LGAs), Plateau state (4 LGAs) and Niger state (1 LGA). A few days back on April 14 2013, the President again in the exercise of the powers conferred on him by Section 305(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended declared a state of emergency in the whole of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.

Let me state it clearly here that this piece is not for or against the emergency declaration; my desire is for us to look critically if indeed the emergency declared about six months ago in certain parts of the federation achieved any positive results and to use the results obtained from that emergency rule to make a forecast of what to expect from the current emergency proclamation by Mr. President.

Below are incidences of violence recorded in these four states (Borno, Niger, Plateau and Yobe) after the declaration of emergency in December to date (there may be slight variation in the dates as a result of differences in media coverage):

Borno (emergency in Maiduguri Metropolitan, Gamboru Ngala, Banki Bama, Biu, Jere LGAs):
1/1/13 – Maiduguri, 30/1/13 – Marte LGA, 7/1/2013 – Maiduguri, 8/1/2013 – Maiduguri,
17/1/13 – Gwoza (), 21/1/13 – Maiduguri, 21/1/13 – Damboa, 22/1/13 (5pm – Maiduguri,
22/1/13 (7pm) – Maiduguri, 22/1/13 (10pm) – Maiduguri, 23/1/13(3am) – Maiduguri,
23/1/13 (8.30am) – Maiduguri, 18/3/13 – Maiduguri, 19/3/13 – Maiduguri,
19/4/13 – Baga, 29/4/13 – Bama

Yobe (emergency in Damaturu, Geidam, Potiskum, Buniyadi-Gujba, Gasua-Bade LGAs):
24/4/13 – Gasua (Gasua-Bade LGA),

Plateau (emergency in Jos North, Jos South, Barkin-Ladi, Riyom LGAs):
8/1/13 – Jos , 14/1/13 – Bachit (), 15/1/13 – Gero Village  (), 23/1/13 – Wase (),
23/1/13 – Barkin Ladi, 23/1/13 – Jos South, 27/3/13 – Plateau, 29/3/13 – Barkin-Ladi,
28-31/3/13 –Zilang, Mafang, Mifi, Attakar,

Niger (emergency in Suleja LGA): No recorded incidence of violence.

In Borno, there were sixteen reported cases of violent eruptions after the declaration of emergency, with at least twelve of them in the LGAs under emergency. In Yobe there is only one incidence of violence within the period; this occurred in one of the LGAs covered by the emergency. Plateau had 12 incidences with at least four of them in the LGAs covered by the emergency. So far, there has been no reported incidence of violence in Suleja LGA of Niger State. With this clear evidence and fact that the emergency rule did not solve the issue of violence in these local governments, how are we sure it will solve in the states where it has now been declared?

If we link this to the opening story, the JTF with the emergency rule could not quell violence in fifteen (15) local governments (less than any of the states within which the emergency rule has been declared in Nigeria), how are we sure they will do it in three states having a combined total of over sixty (60) local governments? (Adamawa = 21 LGAs, Borno = 27 LGAs, Yobe = 18 LGAs). I do not doubt the capability of our military but … Facts are facts, aren’t they?

There is a line of argument that most of these incidences occurred outside the LGAs initially covered by the emergency rule. Fair enough. But that argument when looked at closely exposes a very dangerous trend. It is a suggestion that the insurgents were not uprooted and destroyed as we were made to believe they would be; they were merely transplanted from the hot zones under emergency to cooler areas. If this is true, then we need to start preparing now to have in a very near future emergency proclamation to cover the states sharing boundaries with Adamawa, Borno and Yobe; then those that border them, then to those bordering these and the cycle continues except if this trend is already known and there are strategic arrangements to prevent its occurrence. Already, there are incidences in Taraba, Gombe, Bauchi and Jigawa states which border the states carrying the state of emergency tag.

In conclusion, let me offer my kobo piece of advice:
The Christian Holy Book the Bible says, “God will strike the Shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered” (Matthew 26:31). Please, permit me to recapture this verse to meet our contemporary challenge thus; “President Jonathan will strike Boko Haram sponsors and the foot soldiers will be scattered and rendered useless without a means to acquire arms and organize any attacks.”

If we are really ready to deal with this issue, what we need now is to go after those sponsoring these insurgents. President Jonathan once said there are some in his cabinet; Sir, are they still there? This is the time to strike them. If the sponsors are left to room free and the channels of sponsorship left open, the more foot soldiers you kill, the more new recruits will be obtained. There is something else to consider; if events such as Baga are allowed to repeat, it will fuel the crisis rather than solve it. Consider a man who goes out to look for food for his family coming back to discover his whole family is gone, his house and everything he has been laboring for over the years gone; it wouldn’t take much persuasion for such a man to take up arms against the government he suspects (or is made to believe) is behind his misfortune. If the emergency must yield the needed result of eliminating (or at least reducing to the barest minimum) the insurgency, the non-combatant civilian population must be protected by all means, and not only that, they must be seen to be protected.

If the President desires to deal with this insurgency once and for all, he should empower the military to use the intelligence at their disposal to go after those sponsoring the insurgency. Anything short of this is like a 90 year old woman going for cosmetic surgery with the hope her looking younger will make her live longer; it wouldn’t happen. Or like treating malaria with paracetamol hoping that as the fever and headache go down, the malaria too will go; it wouldn’t happen. Until you are ready to remove the roots, don’t waste time cutting the branches, the tree wouldn’t die; and until you are ready to treat a treatable disease, managing the symptoms wouldn’t do you any good, but make your situation worse over time.

I wish the president, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR and his security apparatus wisdom and understanding as they deal with this situation.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters

Albert Chinualumogu Achebe Is Not Dead! By Imoh Colins Edozie.

By Imoh Colins Edozie

I encountered Chinua Achebe as a teenager growing up in Benin City in the then Bendel State. It was a meeting that changed my perception of life. It was an immersion and learning experience into the culture of our people.  As a young boy living in Benin City, cut off from his roots and not knowing about the culture of his people, the meeting with Chinua Achebe in form three through Mr. Damien, an Ishan man from Uromi as the facilitator, will never be forgotten.

 

Things Fall Apart was the literature text we studied. Mr. Damien took his time to explain every word. By the end of the first term we had not gone past page 30. It was captivating. I can still feel the words as it was explained to our  young minds; for example, …”Proverbs are palm oil with which words are eaten.” It was a personal period of growth and learning. I looked forward to each literature day to learn more about our people from a teacher through Chinua Achebe.  We can learn a lot from each other, if we put less attention on the messenger, but on the message. The universality of this experience reinforces the place of Achebe in history, where a teenager learns about his people from his work taught by a person who has no first-hand experience of the culture.  In Achebe’s words:

…It is only the story that can continue beyond the war and the warrior.
It is the story that outlives the sound of war-drums and the exploits of brave fighters.
It is the story…that saves our progeny from blundering like blind beggars
into the spikes of the cactus fence.
The story is our escort; without it, we are blind.
Does the blind man own his escort? No, neither do we the story;
rather it is the story that owns us and directs us.
–Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah (1987)

Achebe tells a story that is alive in an age where people are regularly, by choice or situation, cut off from their roots. His story becomes the experience that people will never have. As generations pass, without the older people to pass on the baton of knowledge, we diminish. It is in this light that we will NEVER forget his work, for his story becomes that story nobody will tell the generations to come.

A casual look at our society today tells us that the generation coming will have nothing about our culture to talk about,  What will they say. When we lose our identity it becomes greater than the fear Okonkwo had:
“Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate that the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself.”

Achebe had conquered this fear for many, His works will live forever in our heart.

As his final rites begins, I read with a sense of amusement the various tributes by people who just recently took caution to the wind as they rain abuses on the revered  old man, forgetting his words: “Age was respected among his people, but achievement was revered. As the elders said, if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings.”

Achebe had both, he had age and an achievement that is unequalled. He ate  with kings, yet we did not see him as such. As stated by the prophet Isaiah he was “a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” for our country. It is this grief for our country that led to my 2nd encounter with Chinua Achebe.

In 2004 he rejected a national honour explaining that “for some time now I have watched events in Nigeria with alarm and dismay”. He further stated:

“Forty-three years ago, at the first anniversary of Nigeria’s independence I was given the first Nigerian National Trophy for Literature. In 1979, I received two further honours – the Nigerian National Order of Merit and the Order of the Federal Republic – and in 1999 the first National Creativity Award. I accepted all these honours fully aware that Nigeria was not perfect; but I had a strong belief that we would outgrow our shortcomings under leaders committed to uniting our diverse peoples. Nigeria’s condition today under your watch is, however, too dangerous for silence. I must register my disappointment and protest by declining to accept the high honour awarded me in the 2004 Honours List.”

I was thrilled by that singular act of defiance of the powers that be to make a point. It shows a courage and selflessness that is lacking in Nigeria. It was meant to be a rallying point for progressive minded people to unite and begin the quest for transformation in the country. Alas we did not take it up. We lost the opportunity. In the words of Amanze Obi:

“There were many who knew as much as Achebe did. But there was hardly any that had the courage of an Achebe to speak up. Posterity will hold him out as the conscience of a nation that is ill at ease with the facts of its history.”

That act of Achebe touched me so much that my first son who was born a few weeks after Achebe’s rejection of the National Honour  was named Chinua. I did that to  commemorate  that singular act. It was an act of courage.  Every time I look at my son, I will remember Albert Chinualumogu Achebe. He lives forever for the Iroko did not fall!

—-Imoh Colins Edozie is an activist; he lives in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. He can be reached on: colinsimoh@gmail.com

 

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters

Nigeria’s Northern Elders Will Soon Come Home To Roost! By Paul Omoruyi.

By Paul Omoruyi

Lately, there has been so many “elderly rascality” taking place in Nigeria. From Gabriel Igbinedion’s complete disregard for the law of the land on election-day in Edo State to the recent preposterous and outlandish statements by Northern Elders Forum (NEF) regarding Nigeria’s Government fight against Boko Haram, elderly rascality is on full display all over Nigeria.

 

Like the Governor of Edo State (Comrade Adams Oshiomhole), it is time for young Nigerians to end any form of allegiance or modicum of respect they have for these crooked elderly rascals. They have run out of ideas and have no solution to the myriad of problems bedeviling the Nigerian State. They have mortgaged our future for their momentary selfish interest and self-aggrandizement.

On May 21, I listened with dismay Prof. Ango Abdullahi, spokesman for NEF interview with Peter Clottey of Voice of America. It will be an understatement to say I was infuriated. I was enraged because I am not a Northern or Southern Nigerian. I am a Nigerian. My International Passport does not say “Northern Nigerian or Southern Nigerian”. It says “Nigerian”. Any Nigerian should just be as pissed off by what Prof. Ango said in that interview.

For more than three years now, Boko Haram has been freely marauding around the North; killing innocent Nigerians. A daily massacre that can only occur in failed states. Over these years, I was very concerned that President Jonathan has no inkling about the first responsibility of government – to protect the lives and properties of the citizens.
“When will Jonathan take control of the situation?” I kept asking. Even though I am a staunch critic of Jonathan’s uninspiring government, I am of the opinion that he was overly patient with Boko Haram before declaring a State of Emergency.

It is interesting to know that why Boko Haram’s carnage was taking place, the so-called NEF was not aggressively engaged with their community to end the violence. Instead, they selectively, reluctantly and sporadically make insipid inflammatory statements.
Until May 21, I did not know that Prof. Ango had true visibility into the degree of violence taking place. Now that the Nigeria Government has woken up to reality and taken decisive steps to stop the terrorists, NEF has suddenly become vociferous and wants to sue Nigeria Government for Human Rights violation? It makes me wonder where NEF patriotism lies.

In the interview, Prof. Ango said: “There is sufficient evidence, from our point of view, in terms of human rights violations that have been going on with a lot of impunity in the last three years or so around the activities of the government and its agencies and around the country…I think it’s because nobody seems to really take the matter seriously to draw attention, not only to other parts of the world, to the Nigerian authorities themselves.”
He proceeded to say, “what we are doing now is to organize our evidence that would make it possible for us to make a very strong case against the government and its agencies, or up to individuals who may be complicit, in terms of the human rights violations that have been taking place in the last few years,”.

Are you kidding me? One thing that NEF must be reminded of is that whatever temporary goal they want to achieve by the Boko Haram’s bedlam in Northern Nigeria, it will boomerang and come back to bite them real bad. The hen will always go home to roost. Soon, NEF will come home to roost if they do not address the situation for the sake of future generations!
They have to take cue from the kidnappings in the Southern part of the country. The crooked politicians trained and gave the youths weapons during elections to fight the opposition. After elections, the youths used the same weapons and training to kidnap the politicians, their relatives and acquaintances.

The kidnappings are so bad now in the South that during Christmas and New Year celebrations so many politicians run away from their towns to live in Lagos or Abuja because they are afraid of being kidnapped. Fortunately (yes fortunately!), they will continue to suffer from the same violence they perpetrated in the country because of their greed.

Like the politicians in the South, when the rubber meets the road, the Northern Elders will run away from their towns and homes. They cannot enjoy for long the pleasures and wealth gained by knowingly or unknowingly aiding and abetting violence. The weapons in the hands of the youth today will be used to kidnap them and members of their families. In no distant time, the same weapons will be used to kill and maim their sons and daughters over the slightest provocations.

I am not the prophet of gloom and doom. History simply repeats itself when ignorant people refuse to learn; and those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it!
Terrorism and violence in any part of Nigeria is violence against all Nigerians. It should be condemned collectively and not selectively.

God bless Nigerians and Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Paul Omoruyi (Blog – www.diasporascope.com)
eng.p.omoruyi@gmail.com

 

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters

Achebe And Institutional Memory By C. Don Adinuba.

By C. Don Adinuba

When Chinua Achebe was  returning to Nigeria for the first time in 2001 since he had a car accident in 1990, I advised the then governor of Anambra State, Chinwoke Mbadinuju, to name a very important street in the state capital for the distinguished man of letters. The governor accepted enthusiastically. He went to see Achebe in his hometown of Ogidi with his commissioners and principal officers of the state legislature. On seeing Achebe in the wheelchair, Mbadinuju burst into uncontrollable tears. The governor managed to announce that Anambra’s Three Arms Zone—the road which connects the state judiciary, legislature and Government House—would henceforth be known as Chinua Achebe Avenue.  This event was well reported in the media. A lot of people hailed the christening.
Alas, you can never understand the ways of Nigeria politicians. Mbadinuju, a British-trained lawyer who holds a doctoral degree in political science from Cornell University and was even head of the Department of African Studies at the State University of New York, decided to reverse himself without any sense of embarrassment.  A few months after he paid a courtesy call on Achebe and announced the naming of this very important street for him President Olusegun Obasanjo visited Anambra State. Christian Uba, a pipsqueak  created by the Obasanjo government to ruin values in the state, advised the governor to change Chinua Achebe Avenue to Presidential Avenue so as to—wait for it—make Obasanjo happy. Mbadinuju  accepted the advice from this barely literate young man, a leader of the coterie of nasty characters whom Achebe was to describe in 2004 as renegades desperate to turn Anambra State into a lawless and bankrupt fiefdom.

With the change of name, Mbadinuju’s Anambra State lost an excellent opportunity to make a powerful and far-reaching statement about Nigeria’s social values, about the new direction in which the Nigerian social order should be going. No street or monument has to this day been named for any Nigerian writer, living or dead. Since the 1990s in particular, writers and artists have rarely been recognized in the country, as all honours are now bestowed on only people of power and money. In countries like France where writers and philosophers are well regarded, streets, roads, monuments and other important places are named for them, and not politicians. It is, therefore, gratifying that the Nigerian Senate, despite being peopled by crass philistines,  has passed a resolution asking the executive arm to name the National Library in Abuja after Achebe.

The naming of significant places after credible and worthy individuals constitutes what French scholars call places of memory or institutional memory. It says a lot about the values of any given people. Like blood which is central to our survival, values are not always visible but without them no society can exist. Writing in the forward to The Closing of the American Mind, a tour de force by the preeminent American conservative thinker, Allan Bloom, the American Jewish writer and Nobel prize winner, Saul Belo, describes values as the standard by which a society judges an action or idea, accepts or rejects it. It is revealing of our warped values that the Anambra State government during the military regime changed Achalla Road, one of the biggest streets in Awka, to Prince Arthur Eze Avenue. Eze , the government contractor who said that Nigeria would cease to exist if Sani Abacha did not transmute to civilian president in the late 1990s, was awarded AfDB contracts for the supply of portable water and provision of electricity in rural areas in Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu states as well as for the building of an industrial park in Awka—all totaling $110m. But he –for want of a better expression—made a mess of a boiled egg. His chairmanship of Premier Brewery—the third largest brewery in the country after Guinness and Nigerian Breweries, both in Lagos—led to the death of the Onitsha-based firm. His assumption of the Orient Bank board chair resulted in the death of the bank, with Paul Ogwuma’s Central Bank banning him from being on the board of any Nigerian bank. Still, the same contractor was last year given a high national honour.

Obasanjo began the aggressive and brazen process of devaluation of national honours and, by extension, our values. Three months after The News magazine published in 2003 damning reports, complete with photos and verifiable addresses, about monumental personal corruption by the then Inspector General of Police, Obasanjo conferred a high national honour on Tafa Balogun, only for the latter to be tried and jailed for unconscionable graft when he fell out of favour with Obasanjo. Three months after he was nominated to be a minister and Nasri el-Rufa’i  accused Deputy Senate President Ibrahim Mantu and Chief Whip Jonathan Zwangina of demanding a N54million naira bribe before he could be confirmed. Still, Obasanjo gave both Mantu and el-Rufa’i national honours at the same ceremony. This was in 2004. Achebe was also nominated for another national award on this occasion, and he promptly turned it down in protest against the awful manner the country was being run. As though to exacerbate the devaluation of our values, Obasanjo chose the eve of his departure in 2007 to give the country’s two highest national awards to incoming President Umaru Yr’Adua and his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan,  “in anticipation that they will do well!”

Achebe’s rejection of two attempts to honour him since 2004 were greeted with deafening national applause because the national honours do not seem any more to be worth the paper on which they are written. Things have become pretty bad in the last 14 years. In 1979 when the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) was instituted in recognition of outstanding academic, intellectual and artistic achievements, Achebe was the first laureate, and he was subsequently bestowed the Member of the Niger (MON) award. Despite receiving innumerable international and foreign awards, the only ones on Achebe’s personal letterhead were the Nigerian ones, namely, NNOM and MON. But when our honours and values became bastardised on a grand scale, Achebe began to dissociate himself as much as possible from the Nigerian government awards.

Still, it is imperative that Nigeria honour Achebe in a big way in death. Restoration of the very honours he rejected in life is utterly out of the question.  Rather a significant institution or monument has to be named for him, in consonance with the French philosophical practice of “places of memory”. Let us show for once that it is not only politicians who should be immortalized in Nigeria. The Chinua Achebe memorial need be institutionalized on the national level. Achebe was for decades  a worthy ambassador of the African world on the global scene.

Adinuba is head of Discovery Public Affairs Consulting.

 

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters

The Achebe I Knew By Chido Onumah.

 

Columnist:

Chido Onumah

“Indiscipline pervades our life so completely that one may be justified in calling it the condition par excellence of contemporary Nigerian society”- Chinua Achebe, The Trouble with Nigeria.

 

Prof. Chinua Achebe, literary giant, celebrated author, humanist and patriot par excellence, who was buried yesterday, was Nigeria’s gift to Africa, and indeed, the world. Like most people, I first encountered Achebe through his numerous books before I met him in person. I shall return to the unforgettable encounter with him four years ago.

Anywhere you go around the world, there are certain things about Nigeria that feature prominently in conversations with those who want to know about the country: corruption, the various forms of advance fee fraud or 419 as it is known locally, ethnic/religious strife, football – when Eagles were really super, and of course, Chinua Achebe or Things Fall Apart, the literary classic that has sold millions of copies and has been translated into more than 50 languages.

A decade ago, I was in the tiny Caribbean Island of Haiti where I had gone to work with and report on people living with the dreaded HIV/AIDS. Amongst the first persons I met in the rundown capital, Port-au-Prince, was a Haitian dentist. Immediately I introduced myself as a Nigerian journalist, the first question he asked, to my utter surprise, was “Do you know Agbani Darego?” I had been away from Nigeria for some time and did not know much about Miss Darego (Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, 2001) though I had read a report of her being the first Black African to be crowned Miss World in 2001.

I answered my interlocutor in the affirmative. He gushed about how beautiful Miss Darego was and Nigerian women were in general. He said he had met a few while studying dentistry in the US. Next question, Chinua Achebe. Of course I knew Achebe. I had read Things Fall Apart, but had not met its celebrated author. My friend then went on to tell me his Things Fall Apart story.

I have had many such encounters, the latest being during a study tour of Kenya in June 2012. It is mark of the greatness of Achebe and the impact of his literary prowess. There are a few Nigerians I grew up admiring. Achebe was one of them. The others being the literary genius, Prof. Wole Soyinka, the iconoclast Prof Chinweizu, and my ideological mentor, Dr. Edwin Madunagu. I read most of their work and followed their activities closely.

For some reason, in my young mind, I felt Achebe was not “political” enough. Then I read The Trouble with Nigeria. It reminded me of my political bible, The Communist Manifesto. You could read it a million times over and it would appear fresh each time because of its eternal verities. Achebe believed in Nigeria. That much was evident in his statement that, “There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else”.

However, Achebe did not let his love for Nigeria blind him to the fact that, “Nigeria is not a great country. It is one of the most disorderly nations in the world. It is one of the most corrupt, insensitive, inefficient places under the sun. It is one of the most expensive countries and one of those that gives least value for money. It is dirty, callous, noisy, ostentatious, dishonest and vulgar. In short, it is among the most unpleasant places on earth”.

Three decades after Achebe wrote those words, Nigeria remains a country adrift, a soulless nation where rulers pervert justice and babies are bought and sold like commodities. Today, ethnic bigots, religious zealots and all manner of charlatans and imbeciles bestride our political, economic and social space.

Four years ago, my organisation, the African Centre for Media & Information Literacy, launched a project titled “Make Your Votes Count” as part of efforts to conscientize Nigerians, particularly our youth, on the need for active participation in the electoral process by voting and protecting their votes. We had gotten permission from some of the personalities we used in the promotional posters and banners, including Profs. Wole Soyinka and Pat Utomi. We needed to get in touch with Prof. Achebe whose image we had also used.

So when I received information that Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, USA, was hosting the first ever Achebe Colloquium on Africa in December, 2009, I went in search of Achebe. I arrived New York City in early December 2009, in a whirlwind tour of the US which took me to Washington DC, Maryland, Boston and Providence, to promote our project. That was when the Turai Yar’Adua cabal in Nigeria was running amok.

Omoyele Sowore, the irrepressible publisher of Saharareporters.com hosted me. An interview at Saharareporters’ studios was followed by a joint interview on the situation in Nigeria at the National Public Radio (NPR). I left Sowore to pursue my other programmes. We connected again at Boston’s Logan International Airport a few days later on our way to the Achebe Colloquium.

We were joined in the one hour drive from Boston to Providence by Prof. Richard Joseph, the John Evans Professor of International History and Politics at Northwestern University, Illinois, USA.  Known as the “father of prebendalism”, Prof Joseph, an expert on African governance, political economy, and democratization, was at one time a lecturer in political science at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and University of Khartoum, Sudan.
Expectedly, our discussion focused on the situation in Nigeria; how a country with so much promise had been brought to it knees because of bad leadership. I arrived the Achebe Colloquium with so much foreboding. I didn’t know if I would be able to see Achebe and present my “gift”. I shared my apprehension with a former schoolmate, E.C. Osondu, an assistant professor of literature and resident of Providence who said he felt Achebe would like the poster we made in his honour.  I also talked to Sowore who agreed to introduce me to one of Achebe’s sons, Chidi. As it turned out, my worry was misplaced.

The introduction done, Chidi, who obviously was impressed with what I wanted to share with his famous father, asked me to wait for an opportunity to approach Achebe once the crowd around him had thinned out. Getting the crowd around Achebe to ease off was not going to be an easy task, but I was prepared to wait. Prof. Soyinka, Achebe’s archenemy in the eyes of “literary hustlers and motor-park intellectuals”, walked in and exchanged pleasantries with Prof. Achebe who was in a wheelchair at the back of the hall. Other dignitaries followed as participants trickled in.

I did eventually get a chance to introduce myself and my mission to Prof. Achebe. I told him how honoured we were to have his words and image as one of the faces of our electoral project. I presented the colourful posters to him and just as I was thinking of the right words to convey our apology for not seeking his permission, he looked up at me and in a measured tone said, “I like this. I’ll keep it”. I handed him extra copies which he placed on the table in front of him. He talked briefly about why we needed to get our electoral process right. I was elated. Of course, I didn’t miss the photo opportunity, a request Achebe graciously granted. I knew how busy he was and I did not want to abuse the privilege. Mission accomplished, I took my seat amongst other participants.

The 2009 Achebe Colloquium on Africa with the theme “A Nation in Crisis and the Urgency of National Reform” was well attended and a huge success. Nigerians at the event included Prof. Okey Ndibe, Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, former Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani, Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra State, Prof. Bolaji Aluko, VC, Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State and Emeka Ihedioha, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. The communiqué at the end of the Colloquium noted that “elections in Nigeria have become progressively worse in quality over the years, and that this fact has gravely affected the country’s international strategic significance”.

I left the Achebe Colloquium fulfilled. Achebe was a dogged fighter. He taught us courage, sacrifice and optimism even in the face of adversity; he taught us love for country, not in the manner our rulers have debased the term and made us a laughing stock around the world. We should, therefore, celebrate Achebe in death rather than mourn him. While celebrating Achebe, we need to discover “where the rain started beating us” as a nation. We need to have a genuine and peaceful national dialogue which Achebe so eloquently espoused rather than the current monologue of threats and bombs.

I was thinking of approaching Achebe to write a blurb for my new book, Nigeria is Negotiable, when I received the news of his death. For Nigeria, Africa and humanity in general, Achebe’s death is a huge loss. It is sad that many of those whom Achebe had nothing but contempt for while he was alive for the way they desecrated our nation are the ones crying loudest and lining the streets to honour him in death.

My utmost hope is that nobody will mourn all those who have brought us to this sad end; those who make our women die at childbirth and children from preventable diseases; those who have turned our young men to drug addicts, kidnappers, militants and terrorists and our young women to victims of the sex trade.

For those who have made a vocation of “explaining” why Achebe was not awarded the Nobel Prize and diminishing him in the process, I have just three words: shame on you!

conumah@hotmail.com

Source: SAHARA REPORTERS.

Righteous anger…

By Bobby Schuller, Hour of Power Pastor

“Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘that my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.’”
-Matthew 21:12-13

When dealing with a person’s anger, people often say to me, “I hear pastors talk about righteous anger all the time.” Is there any other kind of anger than righteous anger, my friends? Anyone who is angry believes he or she is righteous. However, is there anyone righteous but One?

Yes, the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy made me angry. I hope it made you angry, too. That’s okay. The bombings in Boston – those made me angry, too. I hope they made you angry, as well. That’s okay. That’s righteous anger. Nevertheless, did the anger help me do anything? Did it help me accomplish anything?

People ask about Jesus in the temple. He was angry. Yes, Jesus cleared the temple because Jesus is perfect. Jesus never says to his disciples, “You go clear the temple.” He does it himself because he’s the perfect one.

Righteous anger will happen once in awhile, but it ought to be geared towards defending the powerless. That’s it. That’s the only time when anger is allowed. Righteous anger should be only when the strong bully the weak. In those cases, then you can be righteously angry.

Prayer: Dear Lord, you are teaching me day by day that anger should be left to you. It doesn’t accomplish anything in my life. But when someone stronger is hurting someone weaker, then I will take my cues from you as to when to use my righteous anger in a positive way to help those being abused. Amen.

Devotion: Describe a time when you felt true, righteous anger.

Tragic Ending.

But evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse.
2 Timothy 3:13

Recommended Reading
2 Timothy 3:10-17 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Timothy%203:10-17&version=NKJV )

A tragic but bizarre story appeared in Florida newspapers earlier this year. A sixty-eight-year-old man in the Panhandle had just driven into the driveway of his home and stepped out of the car to open the gate. He left the car door open, and his excited dog jumped into the vehicle, somehow hit the accelerator, ran over the man, and killed him.

Listen to Today’s Radio Message ( http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio.aspx?tid=email_listenedevo )

The point of the story is that some days we feel like strange forces are accelerating history. The human race is careening into the Last Days with an alarming speed. The Bible teaches that evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:14-15).

As Christians, we needn’t worry about what lies ahead. We know whose hand is guiding history.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake. To guide the future, as He has the past.
Katharina A. von Schlegel, hymnist

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Nehemiah 8-10

By David Jeremiah.

To Make a Positive Change, Make it Emotional.

Matt Bell

Making an important lasting change in our life can be tough.  We vow to get out of debt, but old habits are hard to break and we just can’t seem to make progress.

In their book, Switch, Chip and Dan Heath offer helpful insights into the challenges of change, along with practical steps for succeeding.

What often gets in the way is the battle that takes place between our emotional side and our rational side.  To emphasize which side usually wins, they use an Elephant as a metaphor for our emotions and a Rider as a metaphor for our rational thoughts.  The Rider may appear to be the one in charge, but the Elephant, with its sheer heft, can easily resist anytime the Rider tugs on the reins.

In my first post about Switch, I described one of three surprises the Heaths came across in researching the process of change: What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity.  Being crystal clear about the destination and scripting the critical steps to the destination helps overcome the Rider’s tendency to over-analyze.

Now let’s address their second surprise: What looks like laziness is often exhaustion.  To keep a beefy Elephant moving in the right direction requires more than logic and will power; it requires an emotional appeal.

Find the Feeling

The Heaths cite research showing that “Change happens in highly successful situations mostly by speaking to people’s feelings.”

They explain that most people think change happens in this order: Analyze, think, and then change.  In reality, though, it happens like this: See, feel, and then change.

In other words, trying to bring about a change through analytical arguments or how-to guidance alone isn’t enough. To get out of debt, for example, you need some knowledge about what it’s going to take, but you also need to infuse the desired change with emotion – how you’ll feel once you’re out of debt.

Which Emotions Are Best?

You could tell yourself that if you don’t get out of debt, things will only get worse.  You could lose it all – your car could be repossessed, your house could be lost to foreclosure.  And sometimes, the Heaths note, negative emotions are needed to get us moving in the right direction.  The fear associated with an eviction notice may be what it takes to get us talking with our mortgage lender.

However, in most cases, the Heaths say the research is clear that positive emotions are more helpful in bringing about a desired change.  They tend to foster creativity, openness to new ideas, and other traits that are helpful in bringing about our desired change.

Want to get out of debt?  Dwell on how good it will feel to be free of debt once and for all.

Shrink the Change

Making a big change, like wiping out $20,000 of credit card debt (something I know all about), can feel overwhelming.  The Elephant in us would rather numb the pain at the mall.

That’s why it’s important to set yourself up for small wins.  It feels good to make noticeable progress.

When tackling debt, I recommend going after the lowest balance debt first, regardless of interest rate.  It’s the most easily attainable win as you work toward becoming completely debt-free.

While it will help to pay more than the minimum due, that, too, can feel overwhelming.  That’s why I encourage people to “fix” their paymentsas a first step.  That’s a very simple step anyone can take and it’ll really speed the process of getting out of debt.

We Are, Therefore We Do

One of the Heaths’ most interesting findings has to do with how our identity drives our behavior.

Parts of our identity are set at birth – our nationality, our ethnicity.  But parts can be chosen, such as our occupation.  The Heaths describe several examples where change came about through the conscious cultivation of a new identity, such as the factory workers who were encouraged to see themselves as inventors and became amazingly creative at coming up with ideas for new products and finding new ways of running the factory more efficiently.

I believe very firmly in this idea.  As I’ve written before, our culture conditions us to see ourselves as consumers.  And yet, by definition, to consume is to use up, squander, and spend wastefully.  That goes a long way toward explaining why so many people have so much debt and so little savings.

Consciously rejecting that identity and seeing ourselves as builderscan help us use money in constructive ways that enable us to build lives of meaning, purpose, and joy.

What About You?

How do you see the Heaths’ guidance about our emotions impacting your life, either in a change you’ve already made or in one you’re working on right now?

Matt Bell is the author of three personal finance books published by NavPress, including the brand new “Money & Marriage: A Complete Guide for Engaged and Newly Married Couples.”  He teaches a wide variety of workshops at churches, conferences, universities, and other venues throughout the country.  To learn more about his work and subscribe to his blog, go to: www.mattaboutmoney.com.

Praying For Grace To Be Shielded In The Fire Of His Love.

Lord Jesus, I join my brothers and sisters in one accord, we ask Thee to endow us with extraordinary grace to remain always ready and prepared for Your return, grace that will equip and empower us to live in the hope of Your resurrection power each day and we beseech Thee to fill us this day with resurrection hope and the courage to witness to that hope, this we ask this through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen, Amen and Amen.

Jehovah Jireh, we pray Thee to give us a new revelation of Yourself as the Bridegroom awaiting us, His bride and we call upon You to draw our hearts to You and allow us to help prepare the way for others to become Your bride as they accept the sacrifice of Your Son, we pray in Jesus Name. Amen, Amen and Amen.

Risen Jesus, we welcome You to live in us, we pray that Your resurrection will revive us, in body, soul and spirit and we desire that You will plant in us Your resurrection seed that we may be both Your field and harvest this day, tomorrow and for the rest of our days till the return of King Jesus, this is our sincere prayer this day, as we pray in Jesus Name. Amen, Amen and Amen.

Holy Bridegroom, we long to be Your bridal warriors, dear Saviour, and been shielded in Your grace to fight the good fight of faith in Your power, strength and may our hearts be strong in the fire of Your love, we ask this through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, A victorious Hallelujah and Triumphant  Hosanna to Our Soon coming King.