Issues
Addressing The National Questions
The National Question, as expressed in the past and in the words of Ade Ajayi, is “the perennial debate as to how to order the relations between the different ethnic, linguistic and cultural groupings so that they have the same rights and privileges, access to power and equitable share of national resources”. In the past sixty years this central issue has given rise to several other questions, making it needful to talk about the National Questions now.
Marginalisation and fear of ethnic domination cannot be swept away as a non-existent issue in the Nigerian polity, whereby some ethnic groups can be described as vulnerable or “minority” and some others as strong or “domineering”. In a situation where rivalries and competitions for the control of a nation’s resources exist, and where the chief goal of the ruling groups is the acccumulation of wealth, surely groups that do not have strong political power would have fears of possible marginalization. Therefore, inequity in the access to resources, which political power can facilitate, is a vital issue in the national questions, especially with regards to how such inequity can be resolved.
Eteng Inya (1996) in his book titled Minority Rights Under Nigeria’s Federal Structure, stated that: “The Northern dominance is reflected in the control of strategic positions in the public service, the military, virtually every other sector of the state’s coercive institutions, supreme military council, judiciary, police, prisons, internal security, customs and immigrations, road safety corps, etc…” Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo had said long ago that “The present structure reinforces indigenous colonialism”, with a number of other writers stating that Nigeria operates a very defective system which would face serious danger of survival.
Census controversies have been with us as nation, since 1963, with hints and suggestions of glaring fraud and inflation of figures, all of which have remained unresolved as national questions. In the words of Wole Soyinka: “Regions that have been fraudulently allocated representational figures in legislative chambers on the basis of phantom population or geographical size, even where the actual size of the peopled and cultivated space is inversely proportionate to population- must be trimmed down to their truthful numbers”.
With population being a key factor in resources sharing and representation, and with the constitution of the nation being described as “ Centralism writ large”, it is obvious that there are issues that need to be resolved, rather than swept aside. One of the factors which contributed towards the first military coup in Nigeria, 1966, was the 1963 national census whose figures and controversies added fuel to growing tensions across the country. Other similar projects or exercises meant to ascertain the accurate number of people in Nigeria were also shrouded in controversies. Even the National Identity card issue is still incomplete, with many questions yet unanswered.
Revenue Sharing and Allocation and the criteria or formula for the disbursement of funds to the various tiers of government are issues which raise several questions. A political Bureau set up in 1987 to work out a political blueprint for Nigeria observed in its report that the allocation and sharing of revenue have been among the most contentious and controversial issues in the nation’s political history.
In 1980 an Okigbo Presidential Commission did recommend 53 percent for federal government, but later increased to 55 percent. State governments had 30 percent and 10 percent for local governments. Decree No 49 of 1989 established the National Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, with mandate to mobilize and review public sector revenue disbursement, etc. Fiscal federalism is still unresolved.
It is noteworthy that during the era of military intervention in Nigerian politics, there were scrambles for the creation of states, behind which was the desire to benefit from the proverbial national cake. Revenue allocation to states were based on the following criteria or principles, namely: population, national minimum standard for national integration, social development factors etc. there were emphases on equality of states, land mass and terrain and special funds.
Some state governments were notable to generate enough revenue internally and depended on allocations from the federal government. Only few states were self-supporting financially. Revenue allocation and sharing issues are contentious.
Niger Delta and Mineral Resources Issues
Late Chief Bola Ige (SAN) in a lecture organized by Ibadan Chamber of Commerce and reported in TELL Magazine of April 9, 1999 was quoted as saying: “All Nigerians are thieves, stealing the property of the Niger Delta. Nigerians have stolen the treasure of the Niger Delta people and if care is not taken, we will face the wrath of God, because, it is a sin to continue to plunder the resources of the people”.
During the era of military rule, there were clear efforts to repress agitations in the Niger Delta zone which culminated in the “incredible bestiality shown by the Nigerian state in killing Ken Saro-Wiwa”.
The Ogoni issue brought to light the National question, with specific reference to the production and distribution of wealth; distribution of liberties and powers. It was obvious that internal and external powers were at play in the efforts of the people of Ogoni to raise the issue of resource control in Nigeria.
Among powerful interest groups that saw to it that the issue of resource control was nipped in the bud were the Nigerian military and multinational oil giants operating in Nigeria. The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) expressed the view that “the rampant manipulation, intimidation and bribing of witnesses by prosecution, hostility of the tribunal to the defence counsels and their applications and the indecent and barbaric assault and brutality directed by police and other security personnel against defence attorneys and relatives of the accused, pointed to a premeditated plot to simply murder Saro-Wiwa and the other eight Ogoni leaders”.
Obviously, the Ogoni struggle, the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other efforts to raise the issue of resources control and the rights of the Niger Delta people, were deliberately suppressed, the purpose of such suppressions through various clever means, was to intimidate and put fear in the minds of any other groups that may wish to embark on agitation for resource control. The Niger Delta and mineral resources, issues remain questions which the Nigerian nation must address.
True Federalism.
The constitution which the military handed to Nigerians in 1999 is far from being described as a truly federalist one. It is noteworthy that the elections organised by the military as a part of its disengagement from politics took place without the constitution being made public. Expectedly, the military made sure that its interests would not in any way be jeopardised, and that the civilians that would take over from them would be good partners in good business.
Having tasted political power in government for a longtime, the military politicians were sensible enough to make elaborate and tactical provisions for themselves and their future. They are men of wits!
When Nigerians rejected the introduction of a diarchy whereby soldiers and civilians would participate in governance, the out-going military team handed Nigerians a constitution designed by them. Parallel or invisible government, cabal or mafia, etc, are not formed on principles or ideologies but on the basis of profitability.
Let us hear Wole soyinka’s opinion of what the military put in place for their self-preservation: “The wages, allowances, perquisites, fringe benefits, travel allowances, living allowances, illness and coffin allowances, servants’ allowances, furniture, toilet and air-freshener allowances etc, that the legislators voted for themselves in validation of their roles as torchbearers of democracy constitute, till today, the most insensate apportionment of a nation’s resources that we have encountered in this nationfor decades”.
Monetisation of politics was the outcome of military disengagement from power, with a strategy of making the National Assembly a formidable power-point to maintain the status-quo. With such obscene allowances for law makers, coupled with the composition and the manner of getting to the senate, it was obvious that politics had been monetized, as an exclusive venture for moneybags only. Thus Nigerian political economy took a new shape..
In other words, what would appear to be democracy was indeed a combination of diarchy and oligarchy, whereby only money-bags would be eligible and god-father phenomenon and patronage became the means of access into politics and resources.
Corruption and other abnormalities that go with money-politics also became part of the political culture inherited from the military. Rather than fascism and brute force which are associated with the military, patriotism became undermined and replaced by a cult-like system of governance. A late former president spelt if out: “If you cannot beat them, join them”.
Unstable economy usually results from a corrupt, monetized and cult-like political system which becomes an exclusive club of patrons, money bags and rent collectors. With the masses feeling short-changed, productivity and patriotism would diminish with the attendant result of growing division and apathy in the society. Where the masses wonder if they have a government that cares, everybody would focus on taking his destiny in his own hands. The economy would suffer, crime rate would be high and corruption the order of the day.
Exclusionary politics whereby a section of the nation feels excluded, shortchanged or sidelined in the enjoyment of the dividends of a democratic system, the result would affect morale, productivity and the economy. A government cannot fight corruption, poverty and insecurity successfully without confronting the root causes of these anormalies. In the opinion of the Niger Delta people, a government should show genuine concern for the people, rather than get fixated on oil revenue coming from oil in their land.
Fulanisation and Islamisation issues should not be regarded as trite questions that can be waved away. From time to time many Nigerians have raised the issue of an old statement credited to late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sarduana of Sokoto. It goes thus: “The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate from our great-grand father Othoman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We must use the minorities of the North as willing tools, and the South as conquered territories and never allow them to have control of their future”. What a prophetic injunction!
Is it not possible that a section of this country still holds the idea that they are mere Nigerians than other? If not by utterances, at least by actions, a number of persons had in the past shown evidence of being influenced or guided by the above quoted statement of a Northern leader. The Boko Haram issue is also shrouded in a number of speculations, whereby anyone would wonder what exactly is the ultimate motive or demand of that terrorist machine. Isreligious extremism not being coopted into politics?
If we add the issue of cattle qrazers and the Ruga project, any honest Nigerian would wonder if some authorities are not taking Nigerians for suckers. To mix governance with religion cannot be described as an attribute of a democracy. Growing culture of impunity and mendacity are not attributes of true democracy. There are questions begging for answers.
Dr. Amirize is a retired lecturer at the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.
By: Bright Amirize
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
