Issues Of Religion, Politics And Socio- Economic Violence In Nigeria: A Catholic Response By Solomon Asemota Esq., (SAN)

Introduction: The Principal of
Immaculate Conception College (ICC)
Rev. Fr. Ofuegbu came to my home
(next door to the college) to invite me
to deliver this lecture and I did not
hesitate in accepting his request. How
could I, when as a form one (1)
student in 1954 and, in 1958, the
pioneer, some would say, first Head
boy or Senior Prefect of the College, I
am expected to lead by example as one
of the first ‘products’ as it were, of the
College. I am particularly grateful to
Rev. Father Stephen, Rev Fr. Jones and,
above all, Father Joseph Donnelly all
three of the Society of African
Missionaries (SMA) who, I am proud to
say, moulded my character and those
of others who were privileged to have
passed through ICC to make us useful
citizens of our country and pride to our
alma mater.
This topic titled: Issues of Religion,
Politics and Socio-Economic Violence
in Nigeria: A Catholic Response,
provides me a wide ocean to navigate.
I have drawn from my experience as a
child in Jos, Northern Nigeria, where I
became proficient in speaking the three
major languages: Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba
in that order and I had to leave and
return to my native Benin for secondary
school education and to learn Benin or
Edo language.
I began my career as a teacher here in
Benin for six months before enlisting
in the Nigeria Police Force as a Cadet
Sub-Inspector in 1959 thus providing
me an opportunity to be occupied with
the law in Nigeria for the past 54
years. This is not a thesis of a
university professor or the submission
of a senior Counsel before the
Supreme Court but an innate
understanding of a stake holder in the
Nigerian Project. As a stake holder, I
see the Nigerian project in terms of
what Nigeria is or should have been
having witnessed the lowering of the
Nigerian flag at the Race Course later
re-named Tafawa Balewa Square in
Lagos on October 1, 1960. My
strengthened understanding of
Religion, Politics and socio-economy
in Nigeria was enriched by week 12 of
the year 2013 when we were blessed
with a new Pope, a new Archbishop of
Canterbury and the sad event of the
death of Iconic author of “Things Fall
Apart” Prof. Chinua Achebe. I have in
this paper singled out Wole Soyinka to
state that confraternity and cultism are
now different from what the Laureate
and his colleagues founded when the
Pyrates Confraternity was birthed.
He became a Noble Laureate in 1986.
I have suggested that we need to
recognize that Liberal democracy and
full blown Sharia are strange bed
fellows and that the “invisible
government” in Nigeria may be
responsible for the unresolved murders
in our country. Finally, I stressed the
need to transform this invisible
government the way the Council on
Foreign Relations in America was
transformed if we must have one,
establish a Truth and Reconciliation
Commission either temporarily or
permanently and re-write our
Constitution with fewer provisos
especially on the Chapter dealing with
Human Rights to reflect a Federal
system devoid of unitary “ambushes”
thus ensuring the Freedom of Religion
based on 100 years of living together
as a country. In this way, Nigeria
should be able in my view to narrow
the gap between her and the
developing countries of India and
Brazil.
Violence Without Boundaries
On March 12, 2013, the Governor of
Edo State, Comrade Adams
Oshiomhole and the Attorney General
of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed
Bello Adoke SAN were shown on
national television engaged in serious
argument and being prevented from
engaging in fisticuffs. It turned out
that both high officials had a
disagreement over the AGF’s handling
of the investigation into the death of
one Olaitan Oyerinde who served as
Personal Assistant to Governor
Oshiomhole. The Daily Trust on
Monday, March 13, 2013 reported the
incident thus:
“Oshiomhole, Adoke almost came to
blows over Oyerinde murder
Edo state Governor Adams Oshiomhole
and Attorney General of the Federation
(AGF) Mr Muhammed Adoke almost
came to blows yesterday at the
presidential villa over handling of
prosecution of Oshiomhole’s aide,
Olaitan Oyerinde. The public officers
were at the Council Chambers of the
Villa before the commencement of
yesterday’s Council of State meeting.
The incident occurred when Adoke
approached the governor and joked
about the wrongful referral to him by
Edo State Attorney General of the
ongoing prosecution of the suspects in
the murder of Oyerinde, who was killed
by assailants last year in Benin City.
But the governor took exception to
Adoke’s statement, arguing that the
matter was referred by the Police to the
AGF contrary to the claim by Adoke.
Oshiomhole rose on his feet from
where he was seated and charged
towards Adoke only to be restrained by
Governor Ibrahim Dankwabo of Gombe
state and Governor Emmanuel
Uduaghan of Delta state. Oshiomhole
accused the Justice Minister of not
showing reverence to the office of the
governor and this resulted into a
heated argument. This incident
happened in the presence of journalists
and former Head of State. Gen Yakubu
Gowon, ex-President Shehu Shagari
and Chief Ernest Shonekan before the
arrival of President Goodluck
Jonathan. Oshiomhole told newsmen
later that he was angry because Adoke
had trivialized a murder case that he
(the governor) was committed to
unraveling. He said that if Adoke could
not respect him as an individual, he
should respect the office he occupies
because he was duly elected unlike
him that was appointed.”
[Emphasis supplied.]
Although this is an unfortunate
incident there is a very good lesson to
learn from it
What is clear from this disagreement is
that ordinarily, the Governor of Edo
State and the Attorney General of the
Federation both products of Liberal
Democracy, are supposed to be on the
same side of a political ideology –
Democracy and Rule of Law.
Unfortunately, because of ideological
and party differences in the country
they had to disagree on how best to
handle such a heinous crime as
murder. The Attorney-General was on
one side of the ideological divide – the
‘invisible government’ while
Oshiomhole was on the side of the
victim. This, in my view, is the bane of
Nigeria and there is in my view an
ideological war that has been ravaging
Nigeria since the amalgamation of
1914 has made the needed unity of her
component parts into one country not
only very difficult but impossible to
realize.
Two Ideologies in one country, one
Visible and the other Invisible
Before independence (1958 to be
precise), Sir Henry Willink who was
chairman of the Commission appointed
to inquire into the fears of the
minorities and the means of allaying
them referred to this ideology as “a
system of rule and of society of which
an important ingredient is the
operation of Muslims law”. Since the
amalgamation of 1914, the two
ideologies have operated side by side
in Nigeria. First, this ideology was
promoted and enhanced by colonialism
and indirect rule. At independence,
Democracy and Rule of Law coupled
with Muslim law co-existed until the
Zamfara full blown sharia law, that was
copied by eleven other states, which
placed a wall between liberal
democracy and sharia. This dual
system was considered necessary by
the colonial government and promoted
to aid the system of indirect rule
imported from India to the North but
later extended to the South. Lugard
wrote that “the policy of the
Government was that these chiefs
should govern their people, not as
independent but as dependent rulers”
with the British as the indirect rulers
and the Emirs as the direct rulers or
the other way round. With respect to
education Lugard wrote: “the natural
suspicion and dislike with which the
Christian government was first
regarded by the Muslims rendered it
inadvisable, even if it had been
possible to embark on any educational
effect at first”; he went on to say that
“Government did not interfere in the
indigenous Koranic schools, in which
reading and writing in the Arabic and
Ajemi character, and memorizing
passages from the Koran formed the
curriculum. They (the Koranic
teachers) were estimated at some
25,000 with over a quarter of a million
pupils. These Koranic schools had
produced a literary class known as
‘Mallamai’, learned in Arabic and the
teachings of the Koran and
commentaries from whose ranks the
officers of the Native Administration,
the Judges of the Native Courts and
the exponents of the Creed of Islam
were drawn. They are a very
influential class, some of them very
well read in Arabic literature and law
and deeply imbued with the love of
learning”.
This, no doubt, explains why about 100
years later, we now have Boko Haram
translated as “Western Education is
sacrilegious” and the mallamai’ using
the almajiris to protect their religion
and profession. After colonialism and
the adoption of Democracy and Rule of
Law at independence in 1960, a
conflict of two ideologies developed
and this not only led to rivalry but also
an ideological war and the
introduction of an “invisible
government” for the rule and
protection of Muslim law – Sharia.
No Un-Written Crime
There is a trait among us Nigerians
which is our penchant for ignoring
rules and written agreements, a
situation whereby we ignore written
words for unwritten customs, which
mean different things to different
people. In his book titled In Our Days
Dr F. A. Ajayi SAN recalled an
argument which took place at the
Constitutional conference of 1958
thus:
“Chief Rotimi Williams said by virtue of
that provision no one would be liable
to be punished for an offence on the
ground that he has committed a
contravention of some provisions or
the other as Sharia law is not written
down as criminal code in any form but
late Alhaji Muhammadu Ribadu quickly
interjected that the statement betrayed
what he termed the “ignorance” of
Chief Rotimi Williams as a non-Muslim
because, the Alhaji went on, all
Muslims knew that Sharia law is a
“written law” [page 424]
This led to a constitutional provision –
section 21(7) in the 1960 Constitution
that states that no Nigerian shall be
punished for a crime unless under a
written law. Later, in our constitutional
development, we added “that no
Nigerian can be discriminated against
by circumstance of his birth” which, in
effect, means that no Nigerian is a
bastard.
The Genesis of the bad Blood, between
the North and South
In the book titled “My Life”, Sir
Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto
wrote in the chapter dealing with crisis
in Lagos of how an attempt to cajole
the North into independence was
resisted. With the benefit of hind sight,
the North was correct in resisting call
for independence in 1956 made by
Chief Enahoro’s motion of 1951. As a
matter of fact, the South itself was not
ready and one now wonders whether
Nigeria was ready for independence in
1960 when it was eventually granted
on a ‘platter of gold’ according to Dr
Nnamdi Azikiwe. The motion for
independence moved by Chief Enahoro
in 1951 generated bad blood between
the Northern and Southern leaders. Sir
Ahmadu wrote “I then made the
shortest speech that I have ever made
and possibly one of the most
important: I rise to associate myself
with the last speaker. The mistake of
1914 has come to light and I should
like to go no further — I was very
angry and so were we all”. He went
on:
“We never liked our sojourn in Lagos
and this had been worse than usual.
The Lagos politicians had certainly
gone out of their way to stir up trouble
for us. We found that it was by no
means over when we pulled out of Iddo
station. Whenever the train stopped,
we were surrounded by angry crowds
of demonstrators. Even when we
slowed down by village crossings we
were assailed by boos. I was warned
before I left Lagos that it would be
unwise for me to leave the train, but I
was not going to be cooped up for fear
of a lot of scallywags of railway
employees. I got out at each stopping-
place to stretch my legs. W e hoped
that when we crossed the border that
we should be all right, but all the way
up to the line even to the last station
before Kaduna, the railway people and
Southern elements gave us no
peace.” [page 134]
“We were all not only angry at our
treatment but indignant that people
who were so full of fine phrases about
the unity of Nigeria should have set
their people against the chosen
representatives of another Region while
passing through their territory and
even in our own. What kind of trouble
had we let ourselves in for by
associating with such people” [page
135]
Sir Ahmadu Bello further considered a
break up but gave up the idea noting
that:
“Two days before this meeting – this
is, the Saturday (18th May 1951) –
trouble broke out between Kano City
and Sabon Gari, the area outside the
walls occupied by ‘native
foreigners’ (mostly Southerners). This
was the culmination of a series of
incidents in the past few weeks which
had had their origin in the troubles in
Lagos. While the Action Group in
Lagos had been the prime mover, they
had been supported by the NCNC.
Here in Kano, as things fell out, the
fighting took place between the Hausas
(especially from the ‘tough’ suburb of
Fagge) and the Ibos; the Yorubas (of
the Action Group persuasion) were,
oddly enough, out of it. Very large
numbers were involved on both sides
and the causalities were severe in
numbers, though not in proportion to
the crowds involved. The rioting went
on all through Sunday and into
Monday morning: peace was
reluctantly accepted by the
combatants, though they were in fact
very tired by then. In the end, there
were 31 deaths and 241 wounded.
The number of police injured was very
small and no troops were employed,
though we had them standing by.”
[Pages 136 – 137]
My suspicion is that the disturbances
were in retaliation of that by the Action
Group from Lagos to Kaduna against
the NPC members. Unfortunately, the
Igbos had to bear the brunt because
they were about 100% Christians while
the Yorubas have a large number of
Muslims. Today, we now know the
danger of organizing criminality at
local level with the attempt on the life
of innocent Emir of Kano Alhaji Ado
Bayaro. It may be pertinent at this
juncture to recall that in the Niger
Delta, some politicians aided by a
sitting President, organized some
youths, armed them with sophisticated
weapons in police uniform to
intimidate the populace and rig the
election in 2003. This they did
successfully and fictitious figures were
entered into electoral forms even
though no real election took place.
After the elections, these youths were
abandoned with their weapons. Their
frustration led to the wanton
kidnappings and later full blown
militancy from which Nigeria is yet to
recover. These are examples of ethnic
based and state sponsored violence
that has done Nigeria no good. This
has to stop for a peaceful Nigeria.
Culture as an Impediment to
Modernization
Apart from the war between democracy
and the system of rule and society of
which an important ingredient is the
operation of Muslim law, there are
cultural hang-ons which make
leadership in Nigeria (indeed in most
African countries) very difficult. Daniel
Etounga Manguelle in his piece titled
“Does Africa Need a Cultural
Adjustment?” in the book Culture
Matters wrote in part:
• “The African works to live but does
not live to work. He demonstrates a
propensity to feast that suggests that
African societies are structured around
pleasure. Everything is a pretext for
celebration birth, baptism, marriage,
birthday, promotion, election, return
from a short or a long trip, mourning,
opening or closure of Congress,
traditional and religious feasts.
Whether one’s salary is considerable
or modest, whether one’s granaries are
empty or full, the feast must be
beautiful and must include the
maximum possible number of guests.”
—
• “A society in which magic and
witchcraft flourish today is a sick
society ruled by tension, fear, and
moral disorder. Sorcery is a costly
mechanism for managing conflict and
preserving the status quo, which is,
importantly, what African culture is
about. Therefore, is not witchcraft a
mirror reflecting the state of our
societies? There is much to suggest
this. Witchcraft is both an instrument
of social coercion [it helps maintain
and perhaps even increase the loyalty
of individuals toward the clan] and a
very convenient political instrument to
eliminate any opposition that might
appear. Witchcraft is for us a
psychological refuge in which all our
ignorance finds its answers and our
wildest fantasies become realities” —
• “Witch doctors surround African
presidents, and nothing that really
matters in politics without recourse to
witchcraft. Occult counselors,
responsible for assuring that
authorities keep their power by
detecting and neutralizing possible
opponents, have power that the most
influential Western advisers would
envy. The witch doctors of¬ten amass
fortunes, and they sometimes end up
with official designations, en¬joying
the direct exercise of power.” —
Mangelle went on to consider how we
can welcome these weaknesses. He
wrote:
• “We must however, destroy all
within us that is opposed to our
mastery of our future, a future that
must be prosperous and just, a future
in which the people of Africa determine
their own destiny through participation
in the political process. In doing so,
we must be mindful that culture is the
mother and that institu¬tions are the
children. More efficient and just
African institutions depend on
modifications to our culture.” —
• “We must go to the heart of our
morals and customs in order to
eradicate the layer of mud that
prevents our societies from moving
into modernism. We must lead this
revolution of minds-without which
there can be no transfer of technology-
on our own. We must place our bets
on our intelligence because Africans, if
they have capable leaders, are fully
able to distance themselves from the
jealousy, the blind submission to the
ir¬rational, the lethargy that have been
their undoing. If Europe, that fragment
of earth representing a tiny part of
humanity, has been able to impose
itself on the planet, dominating it and
organizing it for its exclusive profit, it
is only because it developed a
conquering culture of rigor and work,
removed from the influence of invisible
forces. We must do the same.” —
Let us examine the points raised by
Manguelle. In Nigeria, the serious
issue of Amalgamation of 1914 is now
being turned into a feast and money
making affair rather than for
conducting a forensic constitutional
and historical audit of the 100 years of
our amalgamation. Witchcraft and
voodoo still flourish and today, we are
still being ruled by tension, fear and
moral disorder. It is not only witch
doctors that now surround some of our
leaders, priests, pastors and imams
have joined in the business and have
amassed fortunes including private
jets. I agree completely with
Manguelle that we need to join Europe
and America to “develop a conquering
culture of vigour and work removed
from the influence of invisible forces
and invisible government and the
operation of non-democratic and
unwritten laws”.
Confraternity to Cultism
I have made these observations
because a Nigerian leader must be
able to appreciate the web he or she
has to navigate, a factor which makes
leadership in Nigeria unique. I was
privileged some years ago, as counsel
representing the National Security
Organization (NSO) and the Police at
the Justice Akanbi Judicial
Commission on students’ riots over 20
years ago in some universities to learn
firsthand, how cultism evolved in
Nigeria. A brief reference to the object
of three “cult” groups in Nigeria will
show that they had lofty objectives and
ideals. Yet, their modus operandi are
heinous, evil, deadly and murderous.
Dr Ogaga Ifowodo in his paper titled:
The Transmogrification of
Confraternities into Violent Secret Cults
in Nigerian Universities wrote:
“The Pyrates Confraternity or the
Seadogs, the oldest. It was founded,
according to the history published on
its website, to combat class privilege
or elitism, affectations or the blind
aping of British colonial culture and
social mannerisms, tribalism,
discrimination, convention or stasis,
and social injustice of any kind. Its
members also sought to live by the
code of chivalry — to defer to and
protect the weaker sex (presumably
from gender discrimination as well,
although this is not explicitly stated).
In other words, its primary concern
was to do whatever it could to ensure
that the first university college in
Nigeria would produce thinkers and
visionaries and not yes-men and
women dying to cast themselves in the
image of the coloniser. — The only
possible cause for apprehension about
their activities, which were carried out
in the open, was, perhaps, their
frightening insignia of skull-and-
bones. This spelled danger to “the
ordinary undiscerning observer,” as
they acknowledge, but it was meant to
symbolize a lofty idea: “a constant
reminder” that all mortals will, in the
final analysis, be reduced to bones.
And, that while still in body, flesh and
spirit, they are enjoined to “do
whatever you can now for the sake of
humanity.” The logo was, in addition, a
symbol of the Pyrates’ radical
egalitarian humanism: after death,
when all has been turned into dust and
ashes, skulls and bones will not be
differentiated and we would be
remembered only by our deeds while
alive. As far as manifestoes and
rationales go, theirs has to be one of
the most admirable.
Buccaneers, founded in 1972 at the
University of Ibadan, we find similarly
stirring sentiments. Again, in its own
words, the Buccaneers are a
confraternity of “men who seek (sic)
very high morals and a vision to
contribute meaningfully to society …
[and] to provide exemplary leadership
for the larger community.” Its
objectives include the denunciation of
“oppression, corruption, tyranny,
human rights violations and all forms
of societal abuse” and an abhorrence
of “non-progressive conventions that
are detrimental to the societies we live
in.” By using the plural “societies,”
Buccaneers imply that this is an aim
that extends beyond Nigeria to any
society anywhere in the world in which
a member might live at any point in
time. — The Supreme Eiye
Confraternity was founded on the idea
of Afrocentricism; that is, a focus on
Africa as the primary source of its
beliefs and practices.
The Eiye Confraternity was founded in
1965 at the University of Ibadan by
students described as “patriotic and
visionary,” according to its own
history, “with a commitment to
excellence, desire to make positive
impact on the socio-political psyche of
the student populace and Nation at
large.” At its inception, it went by the
name Eiye Group but became the Eiye
Confraternity four years later. The
founders of the Eiye Confraternity, we
are informed, “believed strongly in the
espousal of the traditional African
teachings towards human and spiritual
excellence against the backdrop of
colonial subversion of the African
mind.” The confraternity claims to
believe “in the traditional teachings of
the ancient African oratorical practices
and NOT Voodoo.
the Neo-Black Movement, more
popularly known as Black Axe, merely
expressed the same idea in the more
overtly political concept of Pan-
Africanism, an ideology of race-wide,
and so trans-continental, liberation of
mind, body and territory. It was formed
at the University of Benin in 1977,
according to the objectives stated in
its organ (accessed online), The Arena,
to “promote activities that will
encourage Black people towards the
full exercise of the human spirit, the
re-awakening of all its Inventive,
Creative and Moral Capacities”; “stand
against all acts of racial contempt and
conflict, exclusion, discrimination and
intolerance”; “engage in researches on
African traditions and culture;”
“internalize and evolve realistic
approach (sic) towards providing
solutions for Africa’s problems;” and
“enhance and promote the image of
Black people all over the world.” Not
surprisingly, the Confraternity was
formed in the heat of the euphoria
surrounding the 2nd Festival of Black
Arts and Culture in Nigeria, more
popularly known as FESTAC ’77.
De Norsemen Kclub, otherwise known
as Vikings. According to the official
website of the Vikings, its objectives
are to direct the energy of its members
towards economic development in all
spheres of national and international
life; wipe out unemployment,
unproductiveness, and poverty, “first
on board our ship, then the nation at
large”; establish respect for human
dignity and sanctity of human life;
encourage labour and intellectual
industry; preserve the environment
from degradation and the promotion of
national and international peace;
uphold “God as the Foundation of our
ship” and abhor in its totality all
ethnic, religious, racial and status
discrimination. They also struggle to
protect the oppressed and the weak of
the society by promoting “corrective
measures for defence of the masses
against all social vices militating
against its progress,” such vices as
deprivation, corruption, injustice,
victimization, and undemocratic
measures. As if these goals were not
clear enough, the Vikings reiterate their
“main objective” as the “fight against
sacrilege, vandalism, smuggling,
hoarding, trespass, touting, conspiracy,
pilfering, terrorism, and
insubordination, extortion, impropriety,
kidnapping, piracy, intrusion, hijacking,
quackery, bunkering, banditry, political
extremism, false alarm, and guerrilla
warfare.”
Despite the lofty objectives projected,
their actions and the promotion of
cultism are different as they
encouraged riots, murders etc. and
have converted these confraternities
into cults.
Conversion to Cultism
A secret society is organized around
the principle of exclusiveness and
secrecy. It places very strict limitation
on recruitment and screens its
activities from the public gaze. For a
criminal society or illegal groups
operating underground, secrecy is the
condition of the group’s existence and
this is maintained as far as possible
over the whole range of its activities.
The majority of secret societies are
exclusively or predominantly male.
They admit only men to membership
though they often allow women roles
in a subordinate association. This is
true of tribal secret societies, in the
preservation of religious and political
functions that are considered vital to
the well-being of the tribe. Ogaga
Ifowodo wrote:
“the military regimes’ patronage of the
confraternities as allies against the
resistance the military was unable to
crush on the campuses. Basing his
view on findings by another scholar,
Rotimi rightly points out that
confraternities were not violent at all
when they emerged in the 1950’s. That
was until they were “high-jacked” by
military governments who were
anxious to consolidate their hold on
university students who challenged
their authority. By the time of the 1988
anti-fuel price hike, whose flashpoint
was the University of Jos, it had
become clear to General Babangida
that virile student unionism posed a
potent threat to his power.
Consequently, confraternities, whose
activities had become less open the
more violent their squabbles became,
were employed as a ready and willing
reactionary force to “neutralize”
student unions and their “anti-
government activities.”
What is clear to me now is that the
military regimes after 1975 operated
both “visible” and “invisible”
governments concurrently with the
latter handling the “dirty” jobs.
Wole Soyinka as Role Model
I was in Lagos recently when Professor
Wole Soyinka was honoured with the
First Awolowo Prize for Leadership.
The Nigerian Tribune of Wednesday,
March 6, 2013 wrote in part:
“When despotism threatened to seize
the land in the guise of electoral
rascality in the First Republic,
Soyinka’s courage was on display in
challenging the puppet government of
the Western Region and its
unimaginative minders outside the
region. For this, he was detained and
put on trial. Before and after the civil
war started, Soyinka exemplified
bravery in refusing to leave the
business of war to the assumed
‘practitioners’. He fought his own civil
war against the verbiage of violence-
prone actors who refused to see
reason in a peaceful settlement of
fundamental differences among a
people united by fate. In the post-war
years of military rule, he deployed
literature in deploring bad governance,
wastage, and unreason.
In the Second Republic (1979- 1983),
Soyinka joined the more ideologically
leftist People’s Redemption Party
(PRP) in providing an alternative to the
political consensus organised around
the dominant conservative and
progressive tendencies in Nigerian
politics. As the Republic degenerated
into an orgy of corruption and violence
under a chronically inept leadership,
Soyinka utilised his artistic flair in
expressing contempt for, and
mobilising the people against, the
inanities of power.
In the post-Second Republic era when
military marauders sought to end
Nigeria’s history with their inflationary
despotism, Soyinka returned to the
barricades, in prose and politics, in
organising for the possibilities of
democracy and national revival. Both
at home and later in exile, he was the
conscience of the nation, lashing out
against minuscule despots and their
murderous assaults, while mobilising
global public opinion to end the
juvenile totalitarianism that the
soldiers attempted to impose on
Nigeria. In all these years, Soyinka
embodied a gigantic validation of
human freedom. Justice, he poetically
insisted, remained the first condition of
his humanity.
Since the start of the Third Republic,
despite advancing years, Soyinka has
remained steadfast in leading a
movement not only for the survival of
democracy, but also for the
fundamental restructuring of the
federation to ensure Nigeria’s
continued survival as a corporate
entity. While questioning the basis of
nation formation, both in theory and in
practice, as Obafemi Awolowo also
eloquently did, Soyinka, like Awolowo,
remains an unquestioned believer in
the limitless possibilities of a well-
governed Nigeria.
Soyinka opposes the violation of
human spirit and human solidarity in
attacking the subjection to vicious
deities by wild religionists, and the
banality of evil as manifested in
autocratic rule. He challenges the
spread of ignorance masquerading as
the multiplication of educational
opportunities in a country that has lost
both a basic understanding of the
university idea, and the organizing idea
of knowledge production. He opposes
the imposition of crudity and spite as
the directive principles of governance,
and stands up to glorified murderers
who occupy the highest offices in the
land, while standing with the afflicted
and the affected in many the zones of
discomfort and grief around the word.
Soyinka is the epitome of the thinking
man as a citizen of the world.
The Nigerian Tribune felicitates the
incomparable mind that is today being
honoured in the name of the departed,
but matchless, leader. [Emphasis
supplied]
Wole Soyinka as one of the founders of
the Pyrates is a living legend who
should be emulated by all
confraternities and not only the
Pyrates Confraternity. Those who
suggest that this transmogrification is
as a result of the “ideological” war
going on in Nigeria may not be off the
mark especially when government
prefers vigilantes to state police and
empower party stalwarts and militants
as leaders as opposed to honest and
decent Nigerians in prosecuting a
relentless war against Democracy and
Rule of Law. Wole Soyinka wrote on
Thursday 25th March 2013 “that
Nigeria is on the brink and President
Jonathan must take proactive steps
that would prevent the Nation from
going into another round of civil war”.
Week 12 of 2013
Week 12 of 2013 is a momentous year
for Christians all over the world. It
signaled the election of Jorge Cardinal
Bergoglio as Pope Francis on Tuesday
March 19, 2013 and the enthronement
of Most Rev. Justin Welby as the
Archbishop of Canterbury two days
later.
The epochal event was reported by
CNN thus:
“When Jorge Bergoglio stepped onto
the balcony at the Vatican on
Wednesday March 13, 2013 to reveal
himself as the new leader of the
world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, he made
history as the first non-European Pope
of the modern era, the first from Latin
America, the first Jesuit and the first to
assume the name Francis.
The new pope then quickly made
another kind of history, breaking with
tradition in his first public act before
the 150,000 people packed into St.
Peter’s Square. Rather than bless the
crowd first, he asked them to pray for
him.
The willingness by Francis to dispense
with tradition was interpreted by a
Vatican spokesman as a sign he will
be willing to chart his own path in
other ways.
We have a pope who probably upset
some people tonight by not following
the formula,” the Rev. Tom Rosica said.
The pontiff also broke with another
tradition by refusing to use a platform
to elevate himself above the cardinals
standing with him as he was
introduced to the world as Pope
Francis.
He said “I’ll stay down here,” reported
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of
New York and the President of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops, “He
met each of us on our own level.”
Francis, wearing white papal robes,
appeared on a rain-soaked night to the
throngs shortly after being elected by
cardinals in what apparently was the
fifth round of voting on the second day
of the conclave.
As Pope, Bergoglio takes the helm of a
Catholic Church that has been rocked,
in recent years, by sexual abuse by
priests and claims of corruption and
infighting among the church hierarchy.
The 76-year-old Bergoglio, who served
as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, is
the first Pope to take the name in
honor of St. Francis of Assisi, revered
among Catholics for his work with the
poor. St. Francis is viewed as a
reformer of the church, answering
God’s call to “repair my church in
ruins.”
The pontiff is considered a straight
shooter who calls things as he sees
them, and a follower of the church’s
most social conservative wing.
As a cardinal, he clashed with the
government of Argentine President
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner over his
opposition to gay marriage and free
distribution of contraceptives.
What’s in a name?
Bergoglio’s selection of the name of
Pope Francis is “the most stunning”
choice and “precedent shattering,”
Allen said. “The new pope is sending a
signal that this will not be business as
usual.”
The name symbolizes “poverty,
humility, simplicity and rebuilding the
Catholic Church,” Allen said.
St. Francis of Assisi was born in 1181
or 1182 the son of a rich Italian cloth
merchant, according to the Vatican
website.
After “a carefree adolescence and
youth,” Francis joined the military and
was taken prisoner. He was freed after
becoming ill and when he returned to
Assisi, Italy, a spiritual conversion
began and he abandoned his worldly
lifestyle.
In a famous episode, Christ on the
cross came to life three times in the
small Church of St. Damian and told
him: “Go, Francis, and repair my
Church in ruins,” Pope Benedict XVI
said, according to Vatican’s website.”
In Pope Francis first homily he said in
part:
“It is indeed this love that urges the
Pastors of the Church to undertake
their mission of service of the people
of every age, from immediate charitable
work even to the highest form of
service, that of offering to every person
the light of the Gospel and the strength
of grace. This is what Benedict XVI
wrote in his Lenten Message for this
year (n.3). “Sometimes we tend, in
fact, to reduce the term “charity” to
solidarity or simply humanitarian aid.
It is important, however, to remember
that the greatest work of charity is
evangelization, which is the “ministry
of the word”. There is no action more
beneficial – and therefore more
charitable – towards one’s neighbor
than to break the bread of the word of
God, to share with him the Good News
of the Gospel, to introduce him to a
relationship with God: evangelization
thus becomes the highest and the
most integral promotion of the human
person. As the Servant of God, Pope
Paul VI wrote in the Encyclical
Populorum Progressio, the
proclamation of Christ is the first and
principal contributor to development
(cf. n. 16).” [Emphasis
supplied]
He has since his enthronement
demonstrated that he is the pope of
the people and for change.
105th Archbishop of Canterbury
I was fortunate to have been invited to
the enthronement ceremony of the
105th Archbishop of Canterbury. I
knew Justin Welby by reputation some
years ago; he as an Executive of Elf
Petroleum Paris and I, a Local Non-
Executive Director Elf Nigeria Limited.
He was part of the team for conflict
resolution in Coventry Cathedral with
my friend, Canon (Dr) Stephen Davis
who helped to resolve the Niger Delta
militancy. It was quite an experience
to be part of the 2,000 people inside
the Cathedral. In the British Guardian
newspaper of Friday, March 22, 2013
Sam Jones and Nick Hopkins had this
to say:
The name’s Welby, Justin Welby –
risky trips
During his time at Coventry Cathedral,
the oil man-turned-cleric focused on
conflict negotiation and reconciliation,
travelling to some of the world’s most
dangerous places – Iraq, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Nigeria and the Palestinian territories
– to broker deals and seek peaceful
solutions. As a recently published
biography reveals, the Archbishop’s
globetrotting adventures began in
1981 when he and his wife, Caroline,
joined the Eastern European Bible
Mission and embarked on a trip to
help Christians persecuted under
communism. The couple, who had
been married for two years, loaded
bibles into a secret compartment under
the floor of a specially adapted camper
van and drove to Nicolae Ceausescu’s
Romania where they posed as tourists
to carry out their smuggling mission.
The trip was a taste of things to come:
21 years later, Welby became co-
director of international ministry at
Coventry Cathedral with Canon Andrew
White, who is now the Chaplain of St
George’s Anglican Church in Baghdad.
In May 2003 the two men drove from
Jordan to Baghdad where they met the
Coalition Provisional Authority, the
transitional government after the
invasion of Iraq, in Saddam Hussein’s
old Republican Palace and decided to
reopen St George’s. The archbishop’s
later missions took him to Nigeria,
from where he twice phoned his wife to
ask her to pray for him as he felt he
was in mortal danger, and where he
was once told that the price on his
head stood at $30. “I couldn’t decide
whether to be insulted or afraid,” he
said later. Despite his humorous
dismissal of the danger, those close to
him dreaded the trips, with the
Archbishop of York, John Sentamu,
admitting: “My heart is in my mouth
every time he goes to Nigeria.”
On his homily at the inauguration – he
said among other things.
“For more than a thousand years this
country has to one degree or another
sought to recognize that Jesus is
the Son of God; by the ordering of its
society, by its laws, by its sense of
community. Sometimes we have done
better, sometimes worse. When we do
better we make peace for our own
courage to be liberated, for God to act
among us and for human beings to
flourish. Slaves were freed, Factory
acts passed, and the NHS and social
care established through Christ-
liberated courage. The present
challenges of environment and
economy, of human development and
global poverty, can only be faced
with extraordinary courage.
In humility and simplicity, Pope Francis
called us on Tuesday to be protectors
of each other: of the natural world,
of the poor and vulnerable. Courage is
released in a society that is under
the authority of God, so that we may
become the fully human community of
which we all dream. Let us hear
Christ who calls to us and says “Take
heart, it is I, do not be afraid”. ”
He concluded this by saying
“There is every possible reason for
optimism about the future of Christian
faith in our world and in this
country. Optimism does not come from
us, but because to us and to all
people Jesus comes and says “Take
heart, it is I, do not be afraid”. We are
called to step out of the comfort of
our own traditions and places, go into
the waves, reaching for the hand of
Christ. Let us provoke each other to
heed the call of Christ, to be clear in
our declaration of Christ, committed
in prayer to Christ, and we will see a
world transformed.”
I also wish to recall what Pope Francis
said to wit:
“the Catholic Church will be a
compassionate NGO (Non
Governmental Organization) when it
focuses on its primary religious
mission”.
Unfortunately, in Nigeria today, most, if
not all NGOs, have become PGOs –
Pro-Government Organizations that
seem to relegate to second place their
primary missions.
Chinua Achebe: Obituary of Nigeria’s
renowned Author
Chinua Achebe of Nigeria who died at
the age of 82, was revered throughout
the world for his faithful depiction of
life in Africa. He wrote about the
effects of colonialism and its aftermath
as well as political corruption and
attempts to introduce democratic
reforms. Chinua Achebe said that any
good story or any good novel should
have a message and a purpose. His
first novel – the groundbreaking Things
Fall Apart, published in 1958 – dealt
with the clash between Western and
traditional African values – and how
traditional norms and values had been
undermined. Translated into more than
50 languages, its focus was on the
traditions of Igbo society in south-
eastern Nigeria, where he grew up.
“The white man is very clever. He came
quietly and peaceably with his religion.
We were amused at his foolishness
and allowed him to stay. Now he has
won our brothers, and our clan can no
longer act like one. He has put a knife
on the things that held us together and
we have fallen apart,” one of the
characters said. He wrote his novels
in English and defended the use of
English, a “language of colonisers”, in
African literature. After he won the Man
Booker International Prize for his work
in 2007, he told the BBC that African
literature was important for the wider
literary world, and for African states
themselves. “What African literature
set about to do was to broaden the
conception of literature in the world –
to include Africa, which wasn’t there.
“The stories we tell, are intended to
help us solve the problem of this
failure that has overtaken the early
sense of joy and happiness when
Africans became independent and
received their self-determination.” ; As
a boy growing up in colonial Nigeria
he excelled at school. According to the
AFP news agency, he described his
parents as early converts to
Christianity, with his father becoming
an Anglican religious teacher and
travelling the region with his mother to
preach and teach. Achebe later won a
scholarship for undergraduate studies
at what is now the University of Ibadan
and became fascinated with world
religions and traditional African
cultures. After graduation, he worked
at the Nigerian Broadcasting Service
and soon moved to the metropolis of
Lagos, where he met his future wife,
Christie Okoli. They married in 1961
and went on to have four children.
Nelson Mandela said Chinua Achebe (l)
“brought Africa to the rest of the
world” He gained worldwide attention
for Things Fall Apart, which was
published two years before Nigeria
gained independence from the UK in
1960. As well as writing novels he
was also an academic. In 1975, his
lecture – An Image of Africa: Racism in
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness – became
the focus of controversy, for its
criticism of Joseph Conrad as “a
bloody racist” and was later
published. Former South African
President and anti-apartheid fighter
Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years
in jail, once said that in the company
of Chinua Achebe’s novels “prison
walls fell down”. He also said that he
was the writer who “brought Africa to
the rest of the world”. Much of his
work reflected his belief that his own
country had failed to realize its
potential. After a car crash in 1990
which left him partially paralyzed and
in a wheel chair, Achebe moved to live
in the US – only returning to Nigeria
infrequently. But he continued to write
his novels, poems and essays and, in
his later years, was an outspoken critic
of the Nigerian government. He has
twice turned down the offer of a title
Commander of the Order of the Federal
Republic, once in 2004 from Nigeria’s
then President Olusegun Obasanjo and
again in 2011 from President Goodluck
Jonathan. “What’s the good of being a
democracy if people are hungry and
despondent and the infrastructure is
not there,” Mr Achebe told the BBC in
2004, explaining his decision. “There is
no security of life. Parts of the country
are alienated. Religious conflicts spring
up now and again. The country is not
working.” Last year, he published a
long-awaited memoir about the brutal
three-year Biafran war – when the
south-eastern Igbo region tried to split
from Nigeria in 1967. He had acted as
roving Cultural Ambassador for Biafra
at the time, but for more than 40 years,
he remained silent about his war
experiences. More than one million
people died during the conflict and, in
the book, he accused the UN of
standing by, like Nigeria’s government,
as Biafra was crushed. “You see we,
the little people of the world, are ever
expendable,” he wrote.
Culled from BBC London
May his gentle soul rest in peace.
Amen.
Evangelism
Evangelism is the highest expression
of love so says Pope Francis as
evidence of ‘my brother’s keeper’. You
love the other man so much so that
you want him to be saved “The
transmission of the Christian faith
consists primarily in proclaiming
Jesus Christ in order to lead others to
faith in him. From the beginning, the
first disciples burned with the desire to
proclaim Christ: “We cannot but speak
of what we have seen and heard. And
they invited people of every era to
enter into the joy of their communion
with Christ.” And Whoever is called ‘to
teach Christ’ must first seek the
surpassing worth of knowing Christ
Jesus’, he must suffer ‘the loss of all
things… in order to ‘gain Christ and be
found in him’, and ‘to know him and
the power of his resurrection, and [to]
share his sufferings, becoming like him
in his death, that if possible [he] may
attain the resurrection from the dead”
and as lay apostolate the burden of
evangelism is more on us, in my view
than the priests and the religious, we
meet non-Christians, non-Catholic in
our daily lives like the early Christians
– our brother’s keeper, our honesty
etc. endears others to us which make
them join us and be like us. The
burden becomes heavier in the
Nigerian setting because one needs to
appreciate not only the situation but
what gave rise to it. Thankfully, you
have five examples of leadership
before you; Professor Wole Soyinka,
Pope Francis – 105th Archbishop of
Canterbury and Chinua Achebe and of
course Nelson Mandela. They are role
models and worth emulating.
The Invisible Government
I have alluded to this form of
Government where in I suggested that
the military operated two Governments
one Visible the other Invisible. It is my
contention that the Invisible
Government is still in operation to this
day. As a matter of fact, it seemed to
have taken roots with the overthrow of
General Yakubu Gowon in 1975 and
Shehu Shagari’s Government in 1983.
The sole objective of the Invisible
Government in my view, is to use all
means possible to convert Nigeria into
a country with “a system of rule and of
society of which the important
ingredient is the operation of Muslim
Law”. I was fortunate recently to listen
to the great orator, Maitama Sule at
“The Patriots” meeting when he
referred briefly to the “Invisible
Government of America” as those who
made sure that the spiritual aims and
objectives of the founding fathers
remain relevant. I was also able to lay
hands on the book titled The Invisible
Government by Dan Smoot. In the
foreword, the author wrote:
“The meeting which the Council on
Foreign Relations arranged in the
Soviet Union, in 1961, was more
important than President Kennedy’s
meeting with Khrushchev, because I
am convinced that the Council on
Foreign Relations together with a great
number of other associated tax-exempt
organizations, constitutes the invisible
government which sets the major
policies of the federal government,
exercise controlling influence on
governmental officials who implement
the policies; and, through massive and
skilful propaganda, influences
Congress and the public to support the
polices.
I am convinced that the objectives of
this invisible government it to convert
America into a socialist state and then
make it a unit in a one-world socialist
system.”
The Council on Foreign Relations of
America in 1961 failed to convert
America into a socialist’s state united
in one world socialist system. Today,
the Council on Foreign Relation is very
influential in the promotion of
Capitalism, Democracy and Rule of
Law not only in America but
throughout the world.
In the case of Nigeria, the invisible
government has dual objectives
(a) To protect and defend the
advantages enjoyed by the north since
amalgamation. In particular the
balance of power which weighs very
heavily and in some cases unfairly in
favour of the north, such as
representations at national assembly,
revenue allocation and federal
character application.
(b) To convert Nigeria to an Islamic
state and then make it a unit of one-
world Islamic system. As a matter of
fact, Nigeria by choice is a Muslim
state having voluntarily applied for
membership of the Organization of
Islamic States. The invisible
government is to ensure that Nigeria
remains an Islamic state through and
true
It has become very clear to the world
that liberal democracy and political
Sharia cannot co-exist peacefully in
our country. Some of us have long
suspected that the overthrow of
General Gowon in 1975 was
ideological because the officers who
overthrew him were northern officers
who participated in the Civil War when
he was Commander in Chief. In other
words, they were comrades in arms.
There is no doubt that the coup
plotters were also motivated by
ambition and lust for power but the
overriding reason was ideological. In
his book Beckoned to Serve Shagari
wrote:
“Muhammad Carpenter was Nigeria’s
Ambassador to Italy at the time the
coup took place at the end of the year
1983. He said that during that year, he
was able to gather very authentic
information about some suspicious
movements by some highly placed
Nigerians who had been passing
through Rome from London en route to
Egypt and one or two Balkan
countries. Most of these travelers who
were frequently in transit at Da Vinci
Airport, Rome were senior military
officers, serving and retired, together
with a well-known Nigerian business
tycoon. Ambassador Carpenter, with
the help of his security agents, was
able to trace their destinations as well
as the purpose of their journeys
eastwards. He gathered that these
people were planning a coup against
my government. Towards this end, they
had chosen the Egyptian style of
military coup in which the plotters
used General Mohammed Neguib as a
scapegoat to achieve their ends. He
alleged that these conspirators had
carefully studied Colonel Abdel
Nasser’s style of military coup and
military rule and were determined to
implement same in Nigeria. He gave
me the names of those involved but
regretted that he was unable to do this
at the right time because he could not
trust anyone except himself to convey
this information direct to me.
Unfortunately, however, the military
struck before he could find an excuse
to come home to Nigeria and report the
matter to me.”
[Page 470] [Emphasis supplied]
One therefore suspects that the
conduct of the AGF in the Oyerinde
case is a continuation of the protection
of the policies of the invisible
government which has been
responsible for the unresolved murders
of some prominent Nigerians including
one of the predecessors of the AGF-

Chief Bola Ige SAN. The Arab Spring
has shown that even in Arab countries,
democracy is a threat to Rule of Islam
and the conflict in these countries
suggest that we must appreciate the
futility of experimenting with a multi-
religious country when developed
countries, over the years, have opted
for secular states especially after
fruitless and futile wars fought for
years over religion. There is need, in
the circumstance, that we must not
only respect section 10 of our
Constitution – “The Government of the
Federation or of a State shall not adopt
any religion as State Religion” but
promote and enforce same. We are
very fortunate to be alive in this Year
of Faith and the advantage of Pope
Benedict XVI pastoring of the world,
who showed us Catholics (and indeed
humanity) how and when to retire.
This, to my mind, is the beginning of
change in the Catholic Church. Then
came Pope Francis a Jesuit. The
Jesuits always identify with the poor
and, in the case of Nigeria, where 70%
of the people are poor, the gesture is to
be appreciated. Poverty has also been
identified as one of the reasons for the
present insurgency of Boko Haram.
Therefore, a Catholic Priest with three
jeeps in Nigeria sends a wrong signal
to the Catholic lay faithful and the
world.
There was no pre-independence unity
among our founding fathers
From my experience and study I have
come to the conclusion that there was
no unity among our founding fathers.
They disagreed as to the date of self-
government and as a result, the east
and west got self-government before
the north. They disagreed on the police
in the hope that some form of regional
police might be established. They
disagreed on the special status of the
federal capital city if Lagos. The north
was determined that Lagos should
never return to the west and had
support of the east. The north also
objected to federal funds used for
education and health for Lagos, a large
police force and fire brigade. The
Lagos town council seemed to want to
evade most of the liabilities that fall on
normal town councils. The minorities
question was discussed and no
agreement was reached and had to be
referred to a commission, the Willink
commission. They disagreed on
revenue allocation and the matter was
also referred to a commission. Tafawa
Balewa was appointed prime minister
without consultation by governor
general. Ahmadu Belo wrote:
I retained the leadership of the party
and did not hand it to him on this
occasion: they do not understand that
the premier of any Region is not any
way subordinate to the Prime Minister:
our paths are ,in fact, quite separate
and our functions do not overlap: in
the Regions the Prime Minister is only
concerned with his Federal matters and
not with Regional affairs. He is, of
course, a welcome and an honoured
guest.”

So where was the national unity being
trumpeted by some orators. Nigeria
was three countries at independence
and remains so, with only the Yoruba’s
accepting their faith with the
minorities, while the Hausa Fulani still
believe and worked for one North. The
Ndigbo calculated the mistakes of the
past at being assimilated wherever
they lived, now Ndigbo must retain
their identity while at the same time try
to assimilate minorities. Ndigbo that
did not have a House of Chiefs at
independence now have more
traditional rulers than the rest of
Nigeria put together with Eze-Ndigbo
outside their ancestral home and as far
away as Ghana. We need to come
together to promote unity of nation and
purpose.
Religious Leaders as Traditional Rulers
I remember telling Father Cyril Ofegbu,
Principal of ICC and the Brother
Seminarian with him that we Catholics
need shepherds not traditional rulers.
I think I should explain. In the book
titled: My Life Sir Ahmadu Bello, the
Sardauna of Sokoto while discussing
Northern Administrative System stated
that “the Committee noted that the
appointment of Chiefs-in-Council as
Native Authorities, under the Native
Authority Ordinance, would, in no way,
affect the traditional status of an Emir
as the religious head of his Emirate.”
[Page 77] [Emphasis supplied]
As one of those who helped in the
rebirth of the Christian Association of
Nigeria (CAN), I am in a position to
state that we tried to ward off the
influence of some Islamic traditional
rulers who wanted to elevate some
pastors and priests to the status of
traditional rulers. Those of us who
were privileged to be shepherded by
Irish Priests and Bishops, found this
new status of Priests and Bishops as
“traditional ruler” wrong and
uncharitable to say the least. Once
this status is conferred, they are first
co-opted into the invisible government
as PGO and thereafter paid to keep
quiet or turn blind eyes to the excesses
of the operatives. This went on until
recently when Boko Haram activities
became impossible to ignore.
Fortunately, events in the country
today show the fundamental difference
between the two religions: one loves
death by way of “martyrdom” that
takes along with the suicide bomber
countless lives of innocent victims, the
other preaches love of neighbor on
earth, as our Father in heaven loves us.
The problem is not in the grassroots,
but with those in charge of affairs .The
Catholic Church and Christians must
therefore be the grassroots not on the
side of those at the helms of affairs.

Soldiers and the Country’s Wealth
It is most unfortunate that soldiers
became rulers of Nigeria, and we all
know that what soldiers do best is to
conquer and loot. They had conquered
Nigeria and they are now looting. A
classic example is the Benin Expedition
of 1897. Notwithstanding the fact that
the British soldiers came from an
advanced Western country, when they
conquered Benin, they went into the
Palace of the
Benin Monarch and looted ivory,
artifacts and other precious objects
and took them to their country.
Officers of the Nigerian Army during
the Civil War, broke into the Central
Bank in Benin and stole money. The
Police Commissioner who reported the
looting was among the first victims of
the purge of 1975. The first Petroleum
Minister did not ignore those from his
state in the Petroleum industry, he was
succeeded by another from Kano and
he did the same. When a South/South
person became Minister, he gave
himself (not to a third party) an oil
block. The Nigerian loots and sends
his booty outside thus making all
Nigerians poorer. Those who are
looting our oil or involved in bunkering
are like the father who is stealing his
assets and selling them in the hope of
living a better life than his wife and
children. The real problem with
Nigeria is the ideological war going on
and in war corruption is an accepted
instrument which explains why Nigeria
is very corrupt. The invisible
government operating side by side
with the democratically elected
government is another problem.
Members are mostly unelected,
traditional and religious leaders all
sworn enemies of democracy all in the
promotion and protection of the
system of rule and society of which an
important ingredient is the operation of
Islamic law.
Women and Education
In Nigeria and elsewhere, the
emancipation of women is the best
gauge of the political and social
progress of a society. Even now, the
Nigerian man will be unable to stand
on his own without the woman who is
the backbone of our society. Women
farm most of our crops and therefore
must have access to agricultural
training, credit, technical assistance
and protection from abuse, assault and
degradation. To achieve this, there is
the need for the education of boys and
girls in qualities that engender
progress, imagination, decency,
creativity, professionalism and
competence, a sense of responsibility,
duty and the love for a job well done.

A Catholic Response
• First, all Catholics must understand
the problem of the country and not
accept the fables and fantasies
peddled by non Christians and non
democratic institutions. This explains
why this presentation is long and
detailed.
• Second, the Church hierarchy must
ensure that this ideological war does
not degenerate to a situation where the
church has to apologize later as was
done with respect to Nazi Germany,
Argentina’s dirty war and South
African Apartheid. The church must
come out squarely in favour of
democracy and rule of law and not
prevaricate to blur the issues.
• Third, the Christian policy of no
retaliation must continue and the
security and intelligence community
must be purged of anti democratic
elements and the Church must also
promote section 10 of the constitution
that prohibits the adoption of any
religion as State religion.
• Finally for the individual catholic, I
have gone the full mile in the political
history of Nigeria to show how and
why things got out of hand. It is very
difficult for individuals to overcome
ideological issues. Therefore
Catholics, Christians and men and
women of good will must come
together to fight the twin evil of
insecurity and corruption, products of
the ideological war. We Catholics must
not promote the cliché “if you can not
beat them join them’. We cannot be
part of evil. If however we are in a
position of authority we must do our
best in accordance with the teaching
of the church as salt of the earth.We
must not use our position to enrich
ourselves at the expense of others.
Truth and Reconciliation
The Oputa Panel was set up by the
Executive to identify victims of gross
human rights violation. Unfortunately it
was sabotaged through its denial of
needed funds as well as the Supreme
Court decision that the Federal
Government had no right to set up
Commissions of Enquiry. This fact
notwithstanding, the Commission went
ahead to provide an inconclusive
report because the principal actors –
the military Heads of State refused to
appear before the Panel.
The fact that the Military was
responsible for Nigeria’s transition to
democracy is, in my view responsible
for the difficulties the Country is now
experiencing in its application of
Democracy. Had the Oputa Panel
completed its work, a lot of those now
in the Executive and Legislature would
have left the scene, and a new set of
Nigerians would have emerged to
guide the nation to

true democracy and rule of law. It is
very clear from the above presentation
that the talk of unity among our
founding fathers Zik, Awolowo and
Ahmadu Bello were mere fables. They
were only united when they agreed to
work together for self government and
the exit of the British Administration.
The Sardauna wrote in his book thus:
“The Parties had, in truth, little
divergence in policy: they were all
working for self government and the
exit of the British Administration. There
were no clefts based on matters of
principles, as there are between the
British Conservatives and Labour
Parties”.
This was all on the surface because
deep down below, there was hatred
and bitterness. They plotted against
each other from the Enahoro’s motion
for independence, the harassment of
NPC delegates by Action Group thugs,
the orchestrated riot in Kano, the
Detention Act immediately after
independence, the promoted Regional
Assembly crisis in Western Nigeria
which led to the State of Emergency,
the Western regional election of 1964
and ‘operation wetie’. The pogrom in
the North and the civil war were all
plots by political parties in the struggle
for supremacy which, today, have
translated to ethnic and religious wars
and in addition to ideological war
which helped in the strengthening of
the establishment of an Invisible
Government.
A Truth and Reconciliation
Commission apart from identifying
Human Rights Violation has to include
Reparation, Rehabilitation and Amnesty
for individuals who apply for pardon.
To this end, we can conveniently close
one Chapter and open a new one with
untainted players rather than
continuing with business as usual.
Strong Institution
On a visit to Accra in 2009, US
President Barack Obama insisted that
what Africa needs are strong
institutions and not strong men.
“Obama said no country is going to
create wealth if the leaders exploit the
economy to enrich themselves, or if
police can be bought off by drug
traffickers. No person wants to leave
in a society where the rule of law gives
way to the rule of brutality and bribery.
That is not democracy, that is tyranny,
now is the time for it to end, Africa
does not need strong men it needs
strong institutions.”
In the past, Nigeria has had strong
men, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi
Awolowo and Sardauna of Sokoto.
Unfortunately, they could not
withstand military takeover. Hear what
the Sardauna said in his book:
“The political parties in the South were
more highly developed than were ours;
further, they were more ‘party minded’.
The advantage to the party was their
first consideration, and the advantage
to the country a second, and quite a
long way back too: we were still
working as a whole and looking at
problems as a whole. The Southern
parties were, in

fact, though they would not admit it,
the followers of prominent individuals.
Their business was to ‘boost’ that
individual and do all they could to put
him into national leadership and
power.” [Emphasis supplied]
This policy breeds godfathers and
frustrates the promotion of strong
political parties.
Four years after writing this book,
Sardauna became for the NPC what Zik
and Awolowo were to their parties.
Our diversity should be seen as a
blessing from God. We must all,
without exception, work to build a
Nation where no man is oppressed.
Above all, we must love our neighbors
as ourselves because the benefits that
accrue to us as a united people far
outweigh our gains as a divided
people.
One can say with a measure of
certainty that all Nigerian democratic
institutions require strengthening the
Legislative, Executive and the Judiciary
the three arms of government. In the
case of the Legislature, the
Commission require men and women
knowledgeable enough and willing to
promote rule of law. Nigeria needs
men and women of impeccable
integrity not ex-bandits or ex-
militants. The same applies to the
Executive where massive corruption
must be reduced if not eliminated.
Corruption and inefficiency has, so far
weakened our security apparatus and
institutions such that the country is
being gradually brought to its knees.
The Judiciary must be strengthened to
withstand the pressure of the
Legislature and Executive and must not
become part of the impunity of the
post military era.
On reconciliation, we need to learn
from Nelson Mandela. He was jailed for
27 years and once released he told his
jailers ‘let bygone be bygone’ and
together they worked for the common
good of South Africa and the world.
Forward Thinking
One may wonder why this exhortation
to young Nigerians who are yet to be
involved in the governance of Nigeria.
My answer is that for more than 20
years, some Nigerians (including my
friends and I have been clamouring for
change. We have been labeled
activists and we are beginning to
sound like worn out gramophone
records. But we must continue
because you, as leaders of tomorrow,
need to be armed with the required
knowledge to combat the situation as
knowledge which is power has evolved
Democracy as the best form of
Government.

I want to take this opportunity to
inform lawyers or would be lawyers
that well trained lawyers in common
law jurisdiction embrace by training
the spirit of human right and rule of
law. This explains why lawyers in the
main are champions of this principle. It
also explains why we have Mahatma
Ghandi, Abraham Lincoln, John
Kennedy, Nelson Mandela and of
course Peter Benenson the founder of
Amnesty International and many
others. Unfortunately for us in Nigeria
with dual ideologies lawyers seem to
have lost the spirit of protecting
human right and rule of law as
exemplified by Prof Wole Soyinka, Ken
Saro-Wiwa, Gani Fawehinmi SAN, Dr
Beko Ransome-Kuti and to a lesser
extent Olisa Agbakoba SAN and Femi
Falana SAN. Lawyers in Nigeria need to
appreciate that the responsibility for
the promotion and protection of human
right and rule of law fall squarely on
their shoulders especially Attorneys
General of all the state of the
federation and the Attorney General of
the Federation. All Nigerians must be
prepared to sacrifice their lives for the
protection of human right and rule of
law because Nigeria is worth dying for
voluntarily. We need to come together
as a people to promote the unity of our
nation.
Conclusion
I am constrained to use the
unfortunate confrontation of two
eminent Nigerians Comrade Adams
Oshiomhole, one of the most respected
State Governors and Bello Adoki SAN
my brother in the profession to
illustrate the invisible ideological war
in one country. As the saying goes ‘all
is fair in war’ and in the ideological
war repression, bribery, corruption,
insecurity, tribalism, religion, are all
instruments in the Nigerian ideological
war.
There is the urgent need for Africa’s
cultural adjustment, whereby we live to
work, where magic and witchcraft no
longer flourish, where witch doctor,
occultist and preachers do not
surround our president. In addition we
need to return to confraternities from
cultism especially as thousands of
cultists still occupy positions in the
legislature, executive and the judiciary.
In Government institutions, in Non-
governmental Organization (NGO)
including religions and various
denominations and in the private
sector.
Lord Harcourt’s metaphor on
amalgamation as ‘the marriage
between a well conducted youth of the
north and a southern lady of means
‘reflects the social and constitutional
rights of the north and south in the
ninety nine years of amalgamation.
The north became polygamous in 1939
when the south was broken up into
East and West. The north has
introduced ‘harem’ politics in the

equation, and the husband and his two
wives have made it impossible for a
limited family. There
is a need for the well conducted youth
to be humbled and more flexible in his
dealings in which he regards himself
boss even though he contributes far
less in the upkeep of the family which
includes minorities of the north, east
and west . The overbearing conduct of
the northern youth is making the
marriage difficult. Nigeria has 36
states and one Capital territory, not a
tripod or Wazobia.
We can reduce corruption, by
increasing productivity and becoming
more “modern”. Open society that
limits state power. The gains in such
action include more democracy, rule of
law and individual freedom.
Democracy which entails political
opposition, freedom of the press, and
an independent judiciary fosters
potentially powerful corruption-
reducing, mechanisms. Opposition
parties have an interest in exposing
corruption in government in order to
win elections. In a democracy, a ruling
party or government that fails to
initiate reform may lose elections.
One-party states, on the other hand,
lack such incentives.
All Nigerians must therefore join hands
to promote democracy and rule of law
for the future of Nigeria as a nation
and, at the same time, frown at those
who promote any other form of
government whether visible or
invisible.

Thank you for your attention.
God bless