19082019 - Nigeria to spend N2.53bn on 43 ministers

FG, El-Zakzaky premier in Bollywood
INDIAN films from
Bollywood were the
mainstay of the movie industry in
<strong>Nigeria</strong> far outstripping the
American Hollywood. That was
long before the <strong>Nigeria</strong>
Nollywood made its entrance.
Those were the days of famous
Indian ac<strong>to</strong>rs like Dharmendra,
Prem Chopra, Feroz Khan, Hema
Malini, Helen, Shashi Kapoor
and Rajesh Khanna who produced
mega hits like Sholay, Love in
Tokyo and Jugnu.
<strong>Nigeria</strong> was perhaps
Bollywood’s largest international
market, but I do not recall
<strong>Nigeria</strong>ns playing roles in Indian
films until last week when the
<strong>Nigeria</strong>n government and its
most famous detainee, Sheikh
Ibraheem EL-Zakzaky, decided <strong>to</strong>
enact a real life drama in India.
The Buhari administration and
El-Zakzaky have, for four years
now, staged tragic live
performances in various cities,
including Zaria, Kaduna and
Abuja in which about 400
<strong>Nigeria</strong>ns have been killed.
The drama in India would have
been avoided if the government
had obeyed at least three court
orders, excluding that of the
ECOWAS Court which had ruled
over the past three years that El-
Zakzaky be freed. Far back 2016,
90
Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the
Federal High Court had ordered
the Federal Government <strong>to</strong> free
the cleric and his wife, Zeenat, and
pay them N50 million. Rather
than obey the courts, government
decided <strong>to</strong> play politics leading
<strong>to</strong> endless drama productions,
including the latest play on the
international stage with India as
location.
The prism from which I view the
various films is that government
is a judgement-deb<strong>to</strong>r who is
writing scripts and acting in them
<strong>to</strong> present El-Zakzaky and his
Shiite followers as stubborn
terrorists who need <strong>to</strong> be
perpetually locked up or
proscribed. On the other hand, El-
Zakzaky is a judgement-credi<strong>to</strong>r
who should have been set free
years ago rather than the comedy
of taking him through courts of
same jurisdiction as if they are
appellate courts.
India was chosen as the setting
of new movie for medical
purposes. The cleric explains:
“There is a bullet in Zeenat’s body
and there is also the need for her
<strong>to</strong> get her two knee caps replaced
amongst other ailments. On my
own part, there are also particles
of bullets that were broken in<strong>to</strong>
pieces in my eyes, hands and
thighs which have been poisonous
More of the centrifugal than the centripetal
By Banji Ojewale
THE theories of the physicists and
mathematicians of the 17th century
concerning the dynamics of the motion of
objects best illustrate the condition of the
<strong>Nigeria</strong>n state of the 21st century. The two
striking figures of the age - the English
scientist, Isaac New<strong>to</strong>n and the Dutch
mathematician, Christian Huygens - led
man in<strong>to</strong> their complex findings in their
study of the force that drives the movement
of inanimate bodies, terrestrial,
stra<strong>to</strong>spheric or ionospheric.
New<strong>to</strong>n said the centripetal engine was
responsible for the push of an object <strong>to</strong>wards
its centre or source or origin. All its energies
willy-nilly would be concentrated on
"seeking the centre," hence the term,
centripetal, from two Latin words, centrum
for centre, and petere, <strong>to</strong> seek. Centripetal
potency is the centre-searching capacity.
There is yet another law that worked in a
distinctly opposite fashion, according <strong>to</strong>
New<strong>to</strong>n. He called it the centrifugal force,
again from its Latin home, centrum (centre)
and fugere (<strong>to</strong> flee). It simply means ‘centrefleeing.’
The physicists who studied the
principle said it entailed the ‘spinning or
travelling’ at great speed of an object from
its centre, the ‘tending away from
centralisation, as of authority.’
Scientists who came after these pioneers
have arrived with the discovery that as
powerful as the centrifugal force is, it "has
no independent existence. It comes <strong>to</strong> play
with the action of the centripetal force."
Today, social scientists borrow these
principles from physics <strong>to</strong> gauge the mood
of organised society. Man and his
institutions are at the mercy of centrifugal
and centripetal dynamics.
It has been revealed, for instance, that "the
division of Europe in<strong>to</strong> warring blocs
<strong>to</strong> my body.” The government
agreed both need specialised
medical treatment which India
offered.
On a personal level, I feel pained
that <strong>Nigeria</strong>ns would need <strong>to</strong> go
<strong>to</strong> India for medical treatment
when in the 1960s and 1970s, our
medical system was far ahead. In
fact, the <strong>Nigeria</strong>n education
system was regarded as being so
superior that degrees from India
were officially classified as
equivalent <strong>to</strong> our Advanced Level
(A-Level) certificates. Well, that is
the level of our degeneracy. Back
<strong>to</strong> the disgraceful drama in India.
First, let us examine El-
Zakzaky’s claims. He said he and
his wife refused treatment
because the Indian doc<strong>to</strong>rs that
examined them in <strong>Nigeria</strong> were
A man with
medical conditions
who has been
incarcerated for
four years against
court orders, can
naturally seek some
comfort
produces ever-increasing centrifugal stress".
Hong Kong at the moment is at its own
phase of the centrifugal fever. Hundreds of
thousands of its citizens no longer want
anything with the ‘centre’ in China, as
represented by their government in Hong
Kong. Every insurrection, revolt or attempt
at them or challenge <strong>to</strong> the authority of the
state is an expression of, or obedience <strong>to</strong>,
the centrifugal call.
In <strong>Nigeria</strong>, we seem <strong>to</strong> be under the
unyielding spell of the centrifugal curse. Our
young men and women are fleeing the land
for the proverbial greener pastures. The jobs
and opportunities we promised them aren’t
forthcoming. They believe they would be
wasting their prime if they continue <strong>to</strong> build
their hopes on those they consider selfish
and avaricious leaders, who are
accumulating the resources of the society
for their families alone.
According <strong>to</strong> some analysts, those
succumbing <strong>to</strong> the music of the modern Pied
Piper and have found home away from home
boast of statistics threatening <strong>to</strong> outnumber
their hosts.
Other cynics say our people out there are
capable of forming more states outside
<strong>Nigeria</strong> <strong>to</strong> bring the number close <strong>to</strong> 50
states. A significant number of the
centrifugal exiles, however, insist they’ve cut
all links with their motherland, given what
they call the cruelty meted out <strong>to</strong> them by
their leaders that moved these compatriots
<strong>to</strong> bow <strong>to</strong> the irresistible pressure <strong>to</strong> flee.
How about those refusing <strong>to</strong> be lured <strong>to</strong>
go abroad? There is a reason, according <strong>to</strong>
those who claim they are faithful watchers
of the <strong>Nigeria</strong>n scene. They say those staying
behind are only waiting <strong>to</strong> understudy those
in power as they ‘chop’ the national cake, so
they can outdo them later when they get the
ba<strong>to</strong>n. So, their decline of the overtures of
the powerful wanderlust isn’t nationalistic
all excluded: “We then <strong>to</strong>ld them
we won’t allow any other doc<strong>to</strong>r
aside our trusted doc<strong>to</strong>rs <strong>to</strong> attend
<strong>to</strong> us so that they don’t do <strong>to</strong> us
what they couldn’t do with their
bullets in <strong>Nigeria</strong>.”
I think a patient having
confidence in his doc<strong>to</strong>rs is
fundamental, especially when he
fears that what was done <strong>to</strong> retired
General Musa Yar’Adua in
<strong>Nigeria</strong>, could also be done <strong>to</strong>
him.
Secondly, he complained: “All
what we have seen here have
shown us that there is no trust;
they just brought us here for
Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 2019 — 31
another detention …They didn’t
even allow me <strong>to</strong> go <strong>to</strong> the next
room. I started asking myself, all
these while I’ve been in detention,
I’ve never seen this type. Even if
I’m in the cell, they usually lock
us up around 9 p.m. and open the
cell around 7 a.m. and they allow
us <strong>to</strong> go anywhere we want in the
area we are.” If these claims were
true, then he had every right <strong>to</strong>
protest, more so when previous
courts in <strong>Nigeria</strong> had freed him.
The psychological state of a 66-
year-old man with pellets lodged
in him for years, who has now lost
an eye in detention, lost six sons
<strong>to</strong> the bullets of the <strong>Nigeria</strong>n state,
whose home and centre of worship
have been destroyed, and the
organisation he spent his youth
building has been proscribed,
needs <strong>to</strong> be properly managed.
The Federal Government’s
statement issued by the
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of
Information and Culture,
Deaconess Grace Isu Gekpe, did
not do much justice <strong>to</strong> us as a
country. The language needed <strong>to</strong>
be civil; it was uncalled for
describing the Sheikh as
exhibiting “unruly behaviour”. It
was also a shame that the Indian
government refuted our
government’s claim that:
“Frustrated by his antics, the
Indian authorities have expressed
willingness <strong>to</strong> return him <strong>to</strong>
<strong>Nigeria</strong> with immediate effect.”
The Indian High Commission
in reaction <strong>to</strong> this claim, simply
tweeted: “There is no condition
or ultimatum by India.”
Government’s substantive claims
against El-Zakzaky in the India
drama was that first: “He
requested that his passport be
handed over <strong>to</strong> him…”. What is
the issue here? If the cleric wants
<strong>to</strong> escape or seek political asylum,
he does not need a passport.
Why would <strong>Nigeria</strong>ns
not want a return <strong>to</strong> the
past which powered
phenomenal prosperity
for the people?
as they tend <strong>to</strong> suggest. They are biding their
time <strong>to</strong> shine in the culture of corruption
and treasury pillage in place. They
understand the philosophy of the patient
dog; it is waiting <strong>to</strong> devour the fattest bone.
Read: <strong>to</strong> bilk the society out of its seemingly
bot<strong>to</strong>mless petrodollars.
But the most incommoding or troubling
aspect of the national discourse at the
moment is the takeover of the conversation
by centrifugal forces and the near
disappearance of their centripetal
counterparts. Most are calling for an
outright abrogation of the ties of our unity.
This is frightening as it amounts <strong>to</strong> going
our separate ways, the way it was with the
Soviet Union in the 1990s. Another centreshy
demand is the request for restructuring,
<strong>to</strong> reduce the powers of the centre.
Some of our fellow countrymen and
women want us <strong>to</strong> go back <strong>to</strong> the pre and
post-independence arrangement of
regionalism. They have romanticised that
era. They refer <strong>to</strong> the great strides the vast
Western <strong>Nigeria</strong> <strong>to</strong>ok under a cohabitation
with less federal watch and control.
Some European nations and Asian Tigers
which are numbered among the 20 leading
countries of the world <strong>to</strong>day didn’t have
some of the smart indices of development
which the Western Region had. We’ve never
had peace and real progress after the
military abolished the system and turned a
federation in<strong>to</strong> a unitary set-up.
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Secondly, that: “In addition, he
demanded free movement and
access <strong>to</strong> visi<strong>to</strong>rs of all kinds as
well as requested <strong>to</strong> be allowed <strong>to</strong>
check in<strong>to</strong> a five-star hotel instead
of being admitted in the hospital.”
How can a man be confined <strong>to</strong> a
room or ward? Even a caged dog
is allowed <strong>to</strong> stretch its legs or
taken for walks.
He should have been entitled <strong>to</strong>
visi<strong>to</strong>rs provided they are
screened. That he wanted <strong>to</strong> stay
in a five-star hotel is his business
so long as he did not ask the
government <strong>to</strong> pay. All that is
necessary is arrangement with the
hospital, and if the latter can
cope. A man with medical
conditions who has been
incarcerated for four years
against court orders, can
naturally seek some comfort.
Government said this was
denied because the “visa was
issued on medical grounds and
not for <strong>to</strong>urism”. What logic! So
if a <strong>to</strong>urist wants medical care,
he would be denied? Conversely,
why can’t a person seeking
medical care also enjoy some
<strong>to</strong>urism? That may actually aid
his recovery which should be the
ultimate goal. Besides, what the
cleric and other <strong>Nigeria</strong>ns who go
abroad for better medical
treatment are engaged in is
medical <strong>to</strong>urism. El-Zakzaky and
his wife in India were <strong>to</strong>urists!
Well, the Bollywood film has
ended. We are back <strong>to</strong> Nollywood.
New films are likely unless the
government wants <strong>to</strong> end these
unnecessary distractions by
engaging in dialogue. If
government can engage in
negotiations with the terrorist
Boko Haram, then it also can with
El-Zakzaky and his Islamic
Movement of <strong>Nigeria</strong> who unlike
the former, do not carry arms.
I don’t think the problem is that we are
inundated with more of a centrifugal
cacophony than a centripetal noise. Where
is the joy of having sepulchral peace in a
stagnant ‘united’ nation? Why would
<strong>Nigeria</strong>ns not want a return <strong>to</strong> the past which
powered phenomenal prosperity for the
people?
Why would we not demand a system that
would guarantee justice, peace, socioeconomic
progress and prosperity for our
people <strong>to</strong> enable us fulfil our destiny as the
hub of the planet’s Black peoples.
We need <strong>to</strong> accommodate these centredespising
forces that would free us from the
funereal vice of a system preventing
unhindered socio-economic march. That is
the constructive nature of the centrifugal
forces. They enable a cathartic process that
reduces the unwieldy weight of the centre. A
balanced structure emerges where the states
or regions with their independent police
formations along with their MDAs and
constitutions are at liberty <strong>to</strong> dig deep in<strong>to</strong>
their natural and human resources for allround
development.
No limitations dictated by the centre. Nor
is there any artificial requirement <strong>to</strong> slow
down the speed of your race because other
states are laggards.
What obtains now is a killer atmosphere.
A<strong>to</strong>p it is an indolent centre breeding equally
indolent outposts in its own image across
the land. This machinery has turned us all
in<strong>to</strong> beggars in a land literally flowing with
‘milk and honey’. It is a monster of
government bureaucracy now challenged
by the strong currents of centre-defying
outcry.
Therefore, what we are witnessing, the
uproarious call all over the land <strong>to</strong> unbundle
the centre, is, according <strong>to</strong> the scientists of
the 17th century, a reaction <strong>to</strong> the inertia of
the forces at the centre.
•Ojewale, a public affairs analyst, wrote
from Lagos
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