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30 — Niger Delta Voice, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, , 2020 Delta community agog as centenarian emerges king DELTA... THE BIG HEART OF THE NATION By Ochuko Akuopha EMEVOR – THE se rene agrarian settlement of Emevor in Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State came alive recently with canon boom, cultural display, dances and wild jubilation over the emergence of Chief Johnson Ologho, as the new Odion (traditional ruler) of Emevor Kingdom. The selection and presentation of the 102-year-old ruler, with the Ophor (authority of power) was performed by the Adjerhe (Chief priest) amidst pomp and pageantry. The last Odion, HRM Francis Onovughakpo Ekama, joined his ancestors three years ago. After a period of interregnum, the centenarian, who had served as a member of the Odion-in-council, emerged as his successor, having been adjudged as the oldest among other contestants for the exalted stool. NDV reports that the se- THE TEAM Emma Amaize - Editor Samuel Oyadongha - Yenagoa Jimitota Onoyume- Warri Gabriel Enogholase- Benin City Festus Ahon- Asaba Egufe Yafugborhi- Port Harcourt Emmanuel Una- Calabar Akpokona Omafuaire- Warri Paul Olayemi- Sapele Harri-Okon Emmanuel- Uyo Chioma Onuegbu-Uyo Ike Uchechukwu- Calabar Davies Iheamnachor- P/Harcourt Emem Idio- Yenagoa Brisibe Perez- Ughelli Theresa Ugbobu- Agbor Ochuko Akuopha- Oleh Chancel Bomadi Sunday - Bomadi Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu- Benin City Nath Onajoke, Asaba Chijioke Nwankpa, Port Harcourt Barnabas Uzosike, Benin City •The new Odion flanked by his jubilant subjects lection process which was held in three stages on three successive market days reached a climax following the final burial rites of the late Francis Onovughakpo Ekama. The royal father called for the support and cooperation of the people of the kingdom. HOW HE EMERGED Speaking with NDV on the emergence of the Odion, President-General of Emevor Kingdom, Chief Moses Agboro said: “For one to qualify to become an Odion, he must enter the age grade and when it is time for the age grade to produce the Odion, members of the group contest for who is the most senior among them. “With today’s event, many people are witnessing a part of our tradition because they have seen the procedure right from the selection process. This is the climax of the traditional aspect of crowning the Odion of Emevor. The next stage we are going to move to is government’s recognition. “The tradition has been established and we will ensure that we honour our traditional institution. Every Emevor indigene must hold the Odion in high esteem. No traditional ruler is higher than the other, so we must value our Odion and have respect for him.” The commissioner representing the Isoko ethnic nationality on the board of the Delta State Oil-Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPA- DEC, Dr. Paul Oweh said: “The entire community is happy that this has come to pass peacefully and we are grateful to God for giving us our king.” Delta school where students learn on bare floor ernment to transform the physical infrastructure in the school. Student’s travails Though the principal of the school declined comment on the level of infrastructural decay in the school, the students who seemed thrilled by NDV's visit decried the alleged insensitivity of the state government to their plight. By Perez Brisibe E RUEMUKOHWAR IEN – DESPITE being host to the Transcorp Power Station, Beta Glass Company, the OML30 and 34 and a Tank Farm known as the Ughelli Pumping Station, UPS owned by ND- Western/Shoreline/NPDC joint ventures, Adagwe Grammar School in Eruemukohwarien community is in a sorry state of neglect. The school, founded in 1980, which also plays host to hundreds of potential students from neighbouring Ekrokpe and Ekakpamre communities in Ughelli North Local Government Area, lacks furniture for students who literally take lessons sitting on the bare floor. NDV’s discovery However, a visit to the school last Friday by Niger Delta Voice reveals that things are going from bad to worse despite previous assurances of the state gov- According to Am- rore Faith, a 12-year-old JSS 1 student: “We need chairs in our school, and we don’t have blackboards in our classes. Our ceilings are leaking and we get soaked during the rainy season. We are pleading with the government to help and bring desks and chairs.” On his part, Senior Prefect of the school, Atumrigho Matthew, said: “Since we have no chairs in our classes, we have to move to the empty laboratory and call in teachers to teach. Students find it difficult to cope with their studies because right from SS 1 till now, we have not been taught practicals in the laboratory. I am appealing to the state government and the Commissioner for Education to please come and assist our school by providing us chairs and improving our learning environment.” Efforts to draw government attention •Students sitting on bare floor On efforts taken to draw government attention to the plight of students, the Parent Teachers Association, PTA chairman of the school, Prince Felix Ogbobore, said: “We have written several times to the local and state governments, all to no avail and even resolved that parents pay N2,500 in order to construct desks but the principal refused claiming that the government said it’s illegal to levy parents.” Govt accuses communities of destroying furniture Contacted, the state Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Patrick Ukah while accusing the host communities of failing to maintain and manage furniture provided for learning in schools in the state, urged them to ensure they use government property properly. He said: “Go to the schools and see how many chairs are being destroyed and ask what is destroying these chairs? However, we have just given four contract awards for the supply of chairs again and we have done the needs assessment and already know how many schools do not have the needed furniture.”
Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2020 — 31 Send Opinions & Letters to: opinions1234@yahoo.com A conversation with Chief Obafemi Awolowo CHIEF, you are looking resplendent in your heavenly regalia. The aura around you is radiant and glorious. I am overwhelmed Sir! Smiling triumphantly, the avatar replies: “Well, thank you much for your kind compliments. But my appearance should not surprise you. Jesus told the Apostles that in His Father’s house there are many mansions; were it not so He would have told them. I am here with Hannah Idowu Dideolu, my priceless jewel of inestimable value. It is joy inexpressible to be reunited with her and with Segun, Wole, and Ayo.” Chief, why did you appear to me in a vision on the eve of your departure from this earthly plane on May 9 1987? I was just a young lad in my twenties, newly married and recently appointed a Fellow of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru. I never was part of the Awo cult. But you have always been my model of what a leader and statesman should be. “Obadiah, my son, you still have a long way to go to understand some of these mysteries. Only deep calls on to deep. In the spiritual realm we are all electrical transmission stations. Those who radiate similar vibrations will find each other. Distance has no meaning in our intergalactic universe. When the prophet Elijah was caught up by the chariots of fire, he had to let go his mantle. The Creator sent me to Nigeria on a mission to help the country fulfil her destiny as one of the greatest nations on the earth. Unfortunately, my enemies thwarted me at every turn. That mission has been passed to people like you. I can only wish you well.” But I feel unworthy Sir. “God is no respecter of persons. He can raise even donkeys to do his work if the workmen are unwilling. I see that you are making progress. But there is room for improvement. Always remember that only the pure in heart shall see God. And only those who conquer the fear of death can begin truly to live. The only thing to fear is fear itself. Without moral courage you cannot achieve greatness. I recommend to you my philosophy of mental magnitude. You must learn to be master of your brief”. Sir, Nigeria is dying. The drums of war have filled the air while vultures circle over an overcast sky. Is there any hope? Looking visibly troubled, the Orisa sighed: “Yes, some people seem hellbent on plunging the country into another civil war. No country can survive two civil wars. Biafra was a tragedy that consumed two million souls. I was General Yakubu Gowon’s deputy and finance minister. We had to keep this country together because of our innate conviction about its high and noble destiny. What is happening today, however, is unprecedented in the annals of our republic. The state has become a Leviathan that sucks the blood of its citizens. And they are using the murderous herdsmen to provoke a religious war. No country could endure that kind of trauma for long without something giving in.” But, Sir, how did we get to this sorry state of affairs? “The roots of the current crisis go back a long way - as far back as 1960. The perfidious British bequeathed us a monstrous behemoth that was programmed to fail. And they handed over power to people that patently never believed in the very concept of Nigerian nationhood. We need no more than five regions: North, Middle Belt, West, East and South-South They were planted there as agents of informal empire. Many of our socalled leaders have actually been agents of foreign powers. It may surprise you to know that the real masterminds of the assassination of Murtala Muhammed were neither Dimka nor Bisalla. Murtala was killed by his inner circles on the orders of foreign powers. They came to power as renegades and they continue to this day as Fifth Columnists, lording it over our benighted peoples. The Jihadist tendencies of these brigands have gained the upper hand and it is these people that want to drive our country into the abyss.” Sir, who are the enemies of our people today? “The enemies of Nigeria are both internal and external. The internal are the financiers and backers of Boko Haram and the herdsmen militia bandits. They are to be found in government, the armed forces, security services and the private sector. Their aim is to reinvent our country in the image of the Caliphate and to destroy the secular ethos that defines our constitutional federalism. The 1999 Constitution that they forged through the backdoor is an illegitimate contraption. It has neither moral nor political legitimacy because it never emanated from the collective will of “We, the people”. Let me make it abundantly clear: Muslims are not our enemies. They are our brothers and sisters. They too have been victims of the genocidal violence visited on an unarmed and defenceless people. You must reach out to them and, together, build a new coalition against the evil that struts the land like the old whore of Babylon. Nigeria’s foreign enemies include international terrorist organisations such as the Islamic Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Al-Qaida and ISWA. They also include foreign powers such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey. France is one of our deadliest foes. The country thrives in being a parasite and scavenger on our continent. They see Nigeria as the big elephant standing on their path to conquest and hegemony. And they are using our neighbours as staging posts for armed bandits that are seeking to destroy our country. The USA is also not a friend. Their game plan under the New American Century is to dismember large countries such as Russia, Iraq, Iran, DRC and Nigeria; countries with vast natural resources which they covet. This military doctrine largely informs current NATO thinking and strategic action. They will stop at nothing, including deployment of bacteriological warfare. I prophesy that the century we are in will prove to be a Century of anti-Humanism and anti-Enlightenment. To be forewarned is to be fore-armed!” So, what can we do? “You see, what you call your leader today is a holographic counterfeit that is a hostage to fortune. He is no longer in-charge. Our best hope is for a new constitutional settlement where power is devolved to the regions. We need no more than five regions: North, Middle Belt, West, East and South-South. We need a decentralised federation in which the regions have relative autonomy to develop according to their pace and temperament and on the basis of ethno-religious self-determination. Meanwhile, communities that face an existential threat must be allowed to put in place security arrangements to protect themselves. This is why we the ancient Orishas, from Obatala and Yemowo to Erinle, Olokun and Yemoja, fully endorse Amotekun. The shedding of innocent blood is an abomination for our ancestors and the immortal deities. Both municipal and international law give people who face a threat to their very survival the right - and duty - to defend themselves. It is also a sacrosanct principle of natural justice and universal ethics. You know that I am a patriot and a nationalist at heart. But if the forces of reaction totally resist political reforms to redress our egregious inequities, then we have no choice but to end the fraud entirely. If all else fails, we would insist on an independent Oduduwa Republic for the Yoruba. All who desire to leave the contraption must be allowed to go. A forced marriage has never worked in real life. It will not work in the 21st century. Forcing couples to remain together is the surest path to tragedy. On your frail shoulders lies the life-chances of 200 million people. Get to work at once, before darkness eclipses the land!” Revisiting the corruption theory of a departed journalist By BANJI OJEWALE The decibel of an average Nigerian’s public outcry (against government incompetence and corruption) is directly proportional to his distance from the opportunity to do exactly what he condemns — Pini Jason Onyegbaduo (1948-2013) Nigerian columnist WHEN one of Nigeria’s most celebrated columnists, Pini Jason, died on Saturday, May 4, 2013 at 65, he was mourned as a writer who emblazoned our journalism with a rarity of language that surprised the reader with a simplicity of presentation. Pini Jason would pick a hot button issue. Turning it inside out, he would lay its entrails bare to reveal a promising feast. Then as you wondered where all this seemingly complex exposition of innards would take you, Pini Jason would build back the dismembered components into a new frame. He would have succeeded in giving you a delicacy, a diet of words, in just a couple of minutes. This astonishing language command wasn’t only the strength of our illustrious columnist. He also possessed the ability to refrain from interpreting events of the day merely from his point of view. That’s to say he wasn’t afflicted with the plague that is the bane of most of us. We would attempt to force, by subtle means, our stand on others. Pini Jason wouldn’t. He might guide you to arrive at your own independent position on any given matter, even if it flew off at a tangent. It was a strange form of reticence that enabled Pini Jason to undertake a shrewd lifelong study of his country’s problems. He wasn’t afraid to declare his findings and convictions, most of which were considered unpopular by those in power. So if we hail the departed columnist for his pen power and intrepidity, we must salute him more for bequeathing to us a badly needed Law of Corruption to help us exorcise the imp threatening to destroy us if we don’t kill it. He propounded it in 1988 in his column in a now rested weekly magazine. Jason wrote: "The decibel of an average Nigerian’s public outcry is directly proportional to his distance from the opportunity to do exactly what he condemns…The difference between many a vociferous, sanctimonious and pontificating Nigerian and the villainous, itchy-fingered kleptomaniac is probably the absence of the opportunity to steal…In all probability, should the opportunity occur, yesterday’s moral crusader is likely to crumble and disappear under the weight of corruption.” Twenty four years after the columnist gave his country the theory, he discovered nothing had changed under a civilian government. Therefore, he came again in his Vanguard newspaper column on July 7, 2012. Under the title, "Corruption and Nigerian hypocrisy", Pini Jason wrote: "… I have hinted at what I call the ambivalence of Nigerians about corruption. Indeed, what I mean is that we are all hypocrites about our concern over corruption. Otherwise how is it that very often those who are ostensibly in pursuit of transparency or those fighting corruption are invariably caught in the very act of corruption? What I see most times are people who are incensed that someone else is doing the stealing, and not them. Given half a chance, they out-steal the people they were criticizing yesterday.” It was a disliked proposition. It remains so. However, with graft, nepotism, cronyism and other variants of corruption on the rise to warrant a dismal outing for Nigeria in the just published Corruption Perception Index, CPI, issued by Transparency International, TI, there is exigent need to draw on all fronts, popular or unorthodox, to rescue the country from its perennial nether ranking in the global log of probity. For their part, some concerned Nigerian journalists: Bisi Abidoye, Olugbenga Odulaja and a third compatriot, have in the past few days been drawing our attention to Pini Jason’s Law on Corruption. They have retrieved the columnist and his theory from his grave to be part of the conversation on how to outlaw corruption. The Social Media is brimming with their message. We all must be interested in this conjecture from a man who held his own as an unflagging journalist and an uncompromising patriot till he breathed his last. His hypothesis addresses the sociology of corruption, albeit at its empirically verifiable plane. The main point of the Law is that all Nigerians in government are thieves; that those not in government are not better either; that they are only biding their We must salute Pini Jason more for bequeathing to us a badly needed Law of Corruption to help us exorcise the imp threatening to destroy us if we don’t kill it time, waiting to displace those in power, so they can ‘out-steal’ them. It appears to be the sorry story of a sadist, a pessimist who sees nothing good about Nigeria and its government. The Theory seems certain that the country’s doomed destiny is in the hands of looters who have struck a pact with another incoming government of co-looters. The question is not if they would succeed those in power for the stealing spree to continue; it is when. Is that all we can see in Pini Jason’s Law of Corruption? We must look beyond the declared gloom, beyond the dark clouds, beyond the dense mass, and step into the obliging goal of the Law. Its objective is to warn against the evil effect of our winner-takes-it-all politics. That’s what leads to the embezzling craze. When the defeated are battered on Election Day they don’t pine away for long. The next ballot will turn the tables for more fleecing of the nation by their camp, pushing us deeper into an endless binge by the political class and those associated with them. By a simple extrapolation from Pini Jason’s assumption, you get the pith: as long as a sitting government lives only for its members and their families and hangers-on, all of whom are perceived to have exclusive and unrestricted access to the public treasury, there won’t be a death blow to corruption. Still more: The politicians and those in government stamp their image on the larger society, turning us into unpatriotic reprobates interested only in acquiring political power solely to loot and re-loot public funds. In the process the state is unable to meet its statutory responsibilities to the people. Recent reports of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Corruption and the National Bureau of Statistics have identified lawmakers and the executives of the centre and the states as "conduits for embezzling funds”. This is money, running into tens of billions of naira, meant for education, health, potable water, agriculture, roads, railway, scientific research, etc. Corruption, poverty and insecurity follow when we don’t adequately meet these simple needs of our people. An understanding of Jason’s Law of Corruption, therefore, teaches that to tackle official and unofficial corruption and earn us an honourable place in the league of nations, we must halt the graft competition sparked by a government that runs an insular philosophy. We must have policies that accommodate every citizen in the spread of society’s boon. When we are all close to the wealth of the nation and generously exposed to what will keep body and soul together, no one will complain or resort to corruption to make ends meet. Conversely, when we are placed far away from the scene of prosperity, "the decibel of our outcry” outmatches that of the loudest disco music. •Ojewale, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Lagos C M Y K
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