THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 2014
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Republic of the mind and thralldom of fear • Continued from page 11 by enemy forces is clearly no army at all, but a sitting duck. We cannot recommend that we all sign up and join the uniformed corps as they make their rescue sorties into caves and swamps in the forest, not only to destroy the enemy but now, primarily, to rescue our children who were violently abducted from their learning institutions to become lets not beat about the bush, let us face the ultimate horror that confronts us, so we know the evil that hangs over us as a people, to become sex slaves of any unwashed dog. Those children will need massive help whenever they are returned to their homes. To remain in denial at this moment is to betray our own offspring and to consolidate the ongoing crimes against our humanity. There is no alternative: we must take the battle to the enemy. And this is no idle rhetoric; the battlefield stretches beyond the physical terrain. We are engaged in the battle for the mind which is where it all begins, and where it will eventually be concluded. And that battlefield is not simply one of imagination, it is one of memory and history, our histories, what we were, and a consciousness of the histories of others - what happened to them in the past, how they responded, and with what results. My dear colleagues, there may be hundreds of soldiers out in the forests of Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, but this battle is very much our own., primarily ours, and we should display as much courage as those who are dying in defence of what we value most, as writers, and consumers of literature. At least I like to believe so, to believe that nothing quite comes quite that close to our self-fulfillment as the liberation of the mind wherever the mind is threatened with closure. This is what is at stake. At the core of this affliction, it is this that is central to the predicament of our school pupils wandering through dangerous forests at this moment through no crime that they have committed.We sent them to school. We must bring them back to school. Why did this nation move out of its borders to join other West African nations to stop the maniacs whose boastful agenda is to cut a bloody swathe through communities of learning, of tolerance and peaceful cohabitation? What does a united world say to the agents of heartbreak and dismay when religion powered mayhem is unleashed against innocent workers gathered at prime time in a motor park to resume their foraging for daily livelihood? It has happened before, let us not forget that, by the way! What, in short, do Book Fairs say as we learn of the steady, remorseless assault on the seminal places of culture, ancient spiritualities and book learning. We have not so soon forgotten the destruction of the monumental statues of Buddha, the historic monuments and tombs of Timbuktoo, her ancient manuscripts repositories of Islamic scholarship that pre-date the masterpieces of Europe’s medieval age? The true moslems, the authentic strain of the descendants of the Prophet Mohammed, pride themselves as people of the book, hence those lovingly preserved manuscripts of Timbuktoo, treasured and tended through generations of moslems. In such circumstances, whose side do we take, when children are blown up and slaughtered in their school dormitories, their teachers and parents hunted down for daring to disobey that phillistinic fatwa that forbids learning? Do we remain in our barracks? And I am not speaking of military barracks! For it has not just begun, you know. We are speaking of the prosecution of a war that, four years ago already, was already galloping to its present blatant intensity. That it has attained the present staggering figures that numb our humanity with the abduction of female pupils to serve as beasts of burden for the enemy, does not disguise past failures, self-inculpating silences, and even tacit collaboration in places. Try as we might, we cannot insulate ourselves from the horrors to which our children are daily exposed through a fear to undergo, even for our own instruction, the vicarious anguish of others. First, it is futile, the ill wind currently rattling our windows will shortly blow down the flimsy structures we erect around our heads. Symbolism is all very well and - yes indeed - no one should underestimate the value of this symbolic enclave whose mandate we shall be acting out over the next seven days. The palpable products albeit of words only that emerge from within this symbol however is what constitutes the durable product, reinforcing morale and conveying to the maimed, the traumatized, the widowed and the orphaned, the suddenly impoverished, displaced, the bereaved and other categories of victims a sliver of reassurance that they are not abandoned. And why should they feel abandoned in the first place? Why not indeed? Permit me to impose on the leadership of this nation a simple, straightforward exercise in empathy. I want you to imagine yourself in a hospital ward, one among many of the over a thousand victims of the latest carnage in Nyanya do remember that the actual dead and wounded are not the only casualties. I could refer you to JP Clark’s ‘Casualties’ for a penetrating expression of the reality of the walking wounded however, let us take it step by step, let us retain within the territory of physical casualties imagine that you are one of them, on that hospital bed. You find yourself in the role of playing host to the high and mighty. You are immobilized, speechless, incapable of motion except perhaps through your eyelids. The guests stream in one by one, faces swathed in concern-local government councillors, ministers, legislators, governors, prelates, all the way up the very pinnacle of power, the nation’s president. They even make promises, free medical treatment, rehabilitation, etc etc. They take their leave. Your spirits are uplifted, you no longer feel depressed and alone. Considerately mounted eye level on the opposite wall is a television set, turned on to take your mind off your traumatized state and provide some escape for the mind in your otherwise deactivated condition. A few hours after the depar-
•Soyinka ture of your august visitors, you open your eyes and there, beamed live, are your erstwhile visitors participating in chieftaincy jollifications a few hundred miles away, red-hot from your sick-bed. A few hours later, the same leadership is at a campaign rally, where the chief custodian of a people’s welfare is complaining publicly about an inside job that is, someone had allegedly diverted his campaign funds to unauthorized use. That national leader then rounds up his outing with a virtuoso set of dance steps that would put Michael Jackson to shame. That is all I ask of you: to undertake a simple exercise in human empathy, asking the question as that victim, what would you think? How would you feel? That is all. Would you, playing back in your mind the reel of that august visitation, would you feel perhaps that the visit itself was all a sham, that those sorrowing visitors were merely posing for political photo shots, that the faces were studiously composed, their impatient minds already on their next engagement on the political dance floor? Or would you feel that this was a time that a nation, led by her president, should be in sackcloth and ashes figuratively speaking of course? That there is something called a sense of timing, of a decent gap between the enormity of a people’s anguish and business as usual? And do let us bear in mind that that dismal day in Nyanya went beyond a harvest of body parts, of which yours could very easily have been part, there was also the dilemma of two hundred school children, some of whom could very easily have been your own vanishing under violent conditions. Would you think that perhaps, in place of the dance floor, a national leader should have been holding round-the-clock emergency meetings on the recovery of those girl children, mobilizing the ENTIRE nation and by entire, I mean, entire, including the encouragement of volunteers, for back-up duties to the military, demonstrating the complete rout of the prolonged season of denial, the total
transformation of leadership mentality in the nature of responses to abnormalities that are never absent, even in the most developed societies. If anyone requires contrasting models of simple, commonsense responses - not even the responses of experts, just leadership - then look towards South Korea. That tragic ferry disaster that overcame schoolchildren on an outing was not even a case of deliberate, criminal assault on our humanity. It was a human failing, probably of culpable negligence, but not part of a deliberate act of human destabilization. It was a frontal, in-your-face assault. Study the nature of leadership response in that nation! Today’s media carry headline banners that nearly two hundred children remain missing. Even if it were twenty, ten, one, is this the time for dancing? Or for silent grieving? What is the urgency of a re-election campaign that could not be postponed in such circumstances? Will the yardstick of eligibility for public office be the ability to dance to Sunny Ade or Dan Marya? The entire world regards us with eyes brimful with tears; we however look in the mirror and break into a dance routine. What has this thing, this blotched, mottled space become anyway? It is a marvel that some still wave a green-white-green rag called a flag and belt out one of the most unimaginative tunes that aspires to call itself a nation anthem. It has become a dirge that is what it is - a dirge, and what we call a flag is the shroud that now hovers over a people that are even incapable of the dignity of self-examination, self-indictment, and remorse, which would then be a prelude to self-correction and self-restitution, if leadership were indeed attuned to the responsibilities of leadership. To sum up, one would rationally expect that the leadership mind, belatedly applied to cautionary histories such as YOUR FATWA DOES NOT APPLY HERE, will courageously attune itself to an altered imperative that now reads: YOUR FATWA WILL NOT APPLY HERE. This would be manifested in a clear response to the enormity of the task in which the nation is embroiled. Not all national leaders can be Fujimori of Peru who personally directed his security forces during a crisis of hostage-taking; no one demands bravura acts of presidents. However, any aspiring leader cannot be anything less than a rallying point for public morale in times of crisis and example for extraordinary exertion. Speaking personally now, my mind goes to the lead role played by President Jonathan in this nation in the erstwhile campaign to BRING BACK THE BOOK an event at which we both read to hundreds of children. So where are the successors to those children? The reality stares us in the face: Among the walking wounded. Among the walking dead. In crude holdings of fear and terror. Today, we shall not even be so demanding as to resurrect the slogan BRING BACK THE BOOK, leave that to us. It will be quite sufficient to see a demonstrable dedication that answers the agonizing cry of: BRING BACK THE PUPILS! Emperor Nero only fiddled while Rome burned. There is no record of him dancing to his own tune. There is, nonetheless, an expression for that kind of dance it is known as danse macabre, and we all know what that portends.
2015: Ijaws plan to install governors in Delta, Rivers HE Ijaw ethnic group in the Niger Delta region may have concluded plans to install their kinsmen as governors in at least four of the nine states of the region in the next elections. Our investigations revealed that key leaders of the ethnic group in Rivers, Delta, Edo and Ondo are unhappy about their political fortunes, in spite of their numerical strength in the states. A source said Ijaw leaders are particularly unhappy that in spite of their population in Rivers, Delta and other states, they have been mere peripheral political players. According to the source, “You know that democracy is about number and population. Yet despite being the fourth largest ethnic groups in the country, we only have one Ijaw governor (Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa) and that is probably because Bayelsa is a homogenous Ijaw state. “In Delta, for instance, we are the largest ethnic group in the south, yet an Itsekiri man was able to emerge governor (Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan), while we cannot boast of ever producing a governor, deputy governor or even the Secretary to the State Government (SSG). “This situation has to change and we are working on it from all the angles. We will ensure that in the next election we produce a good number of Ijaw governors and work towards greater influential positions in state, where we are not in control,” the source, who asked not to be named, stated. Findings by our correspondent show that machinery has been set in motion in
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Shola O’NEIL, South-south n Regional Editor Rivers and Deltas towards actualising the dream of an Ijaw governor in those states in 2015. In Delta State, the Ijaw leaders, particularly those from the Izon Ekosotu (Ijaw Council of Elders), have swung into action in this regard. The move has resulted in the birth of the Delta Izon Congress (DIC), which is working underground to ensure that an Izon (Ijaw) man or woman succeeds Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in 2015. “The plan is to install an Ijaw governor in 2015 and we are capable of achieving this target,” a member of the Brig Gen Cletus Emein (Rtd) –led DIC, who spoke on condition of anonymity stated. The Nation also gathered that some members of the DIC were actively supporting former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Peter Godsday Orubebe, who visited the group recently as part of his ongoing consultation. Although Gen Emein, who is DIC Interim Chairman, reportedly told Orubebe that the group would assess other Ijaw aspirants, there were strong indications that Orubebe may get the nod of the DIC. The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) has also joined the fray in canvassing for an Ijaw governor in some states of the Niger Delta region. It was gathered that the IYC, which is the umbrella body of Ijaw youth groups, was using Delta to make their case for Ijaw governors in the region.
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IYC Western Zone, comprising Delta, Edo and Ondo states, speaking through Preye Okaba, said it was the turn of the Ijaws in Delta, stressing that there was no agreement that the highest office in the state would rotate within the political districts. Similarly, the Supervising Minister of Education, Mr Nyesom Wike, is poised to do battle with the Ijaws in Rivers State over Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s successor. Wike is believed to be angling for the top job, and he is reportedly being backed by Dame Patience Jonathan, even though he hails from the same ethnic group as the incumbent governor. Recently, Rivers Ijaw elders including Prof Dagogo Fubara, Alabo Biekpo Jack, Amaopusenibo Diri, Dr Francis Minimah and others insisted that it is the turn of the riverine people (mostly Ijaw) to lead the state. Among other things, they said, “… equity demands that 2015 is the turn of the Riverine Ijaws to take a shot at the governorship of Rivers State.” Their feelings were re-echoed by the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Asari Dokubor, who said it was wrong for Wike and other Ikwerre indigenes to aspire to succeed Governor Amaechi. Similarly, there were also reports of plan by the Ijaws in the riverine areas of Ondo State to produce Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s successor in 2016, with the Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta Affairs, Hon Kingsley Kuku, allegedly warming up for the race.