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Obasanjo, others honour Soyinka at 70
- Kanu restates call for national confab
From Madu Onuorah (Abuja), Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt), Clifford Ndujihe, Uduma Kalu, Gbenga Olorunsiwa and Samson Adeoye (Lagos)
FOR the second time in less than two weeks, the Agip Recital Hall of the MUSON Centre, Lagos, was yesterday filled to capacity with several dignitaries standing as every available seat was taken up.
The occasion was the birthday lecture for the writer and civil rights activist, Prof. Wole Soyinka.
The lecture, entitled: "Nigeria: The Unfinished Business," had Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (rtd) as guest speaker and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Prof. Ayo Banjo, as chairman. The advertised chairman of the event, Lt.-Gen. Alani Akinrinnade (rtd), was absent and Banjo had to step in. It was organised by the National Association of Seadogs, also known as Pyrates Confraternity, which was founded in 1953 by Soyinka at the then University College, Ibadan.
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, was a special guest at the celebration of a man of many parts. In the crowd were some red cap chiefs led by the Eze Ndigbo of Lagos, Igwe Nwabueze Ohazuluike, sitting in the front row and flanked on the left by the Owelle of Onitsha, Dr. Chukwuemeka Azikiwe, son of the former president of Nigeria, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.
Near the Owelle sat Mr. Muyiwa Ige, son of the former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, the late Chief Bola Ige. Almost behind the rows of red-capped chiefs was Dr. Uma Eleazu, a political scientist and United Nation's adviser. There also were Chief Guy Ikokwu, Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Oye Ibidapo-Obe, Elias Iloka, the playwright Fred Agbeyegbe and the poet, Odia Ofeimun. The list also included Dr. Frederick Faseun of the Odua Peoples' Congress (OPC), President Olusegun Obasanjo's senior special assistant on media issues, Mrs. Remi Oyo, who represented him and Chief Hope Harriman.
There was also former president of the Campaign for Democracy (CD), Ayo Obe, students, professionals from different walks of life, as well as politicians and senators.
The lecture was intellectually enriching. But it was not without a rich dose of humour. The jokes began when Oshiomhole was responding to Kanus's lecture, and the lecturer extended a hand of friendship to the Labour leader whom he had not acknowledged before.
Kanu later said that the NLC and other professional bodies are removed from those he wanted to attend the sovereign conference of ethnic nationalities.
It was a moment of shared humanity and to look at the contributions of Soyinka to mankind.
This was captured in a letter by Obasanjo to the Nobel Laureate, which was read to the delight of the audience by one of Soyinka's sons, Ilemakin.
Obasanjo used Soyinka's birthday to describe the writer as "a worthy role model for millions of youths in Nigeria and other parts of the world."
He also said that Soyinka had done his "best with the great talent God blessed you, and which you had the ability to develop and utilise for human kind in general."
Obasanjo said in the letter: "I write on behalf of myself, the Federal Government and people of Nigeria to convey our best wishes to you on the happy occasion of your 70th birthday celebrations."
The President said that achieving the "grand age of three score years and ten which the holy book tells us is God's given time in this world...is a most remarkable milestone in your illustrious and achievement filled life."
Obasanjo added: "Having striven over many years of your life, in your own very special and unique ways to contribute to the realisation of your vision of a greater Nigeria, it is very fitting indeed that Nigerians from all walks of life and all parts of the country should celebrate with you and share the special joy of the occasion with you and your family.
"For those who are fortunate enough to attain it, the age 70 years is a very good time indeed to take stock of what one has done with the time God has granted him or her in this world of ours.
"If perhaps your mind turns to such introspection in the midst of the many events lined up to celebrate your 70th birthday, I believe that you can be reasonably satisfied that you have done your best with the great talent God blessed you, and which you had the ability to develop and utilise for human kind in general.
"Your immense achievement in the academic and literary world which was crowned with a Nobel Prize for Literature has brought great glory to you and your fatherland. They have also made you a worthy role model for millions of youths in Nigeria and other parts of the world.
"I pray that the Almighty God will in his infinite mercy grant you many more years of service to our country and humankind, as you grow old grow distinguishably and distinctively. Happy birthday. Yours congratulatingly, O.O. Obasanjo."
But it was Kanu who went into the spirit of the occasion proper when he started his paper with an Igbo proverb that among the Igbo which says: "Those who have not chewed water fail to realise that water has bones."
The thrust of his lecture was that pro-democracy groups, National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and patriotic indi`viduals in the country "have an unfinished business for a better, equitable and just Nigeria," and "must advance this national business to its finish."
On how the objectives could be achieved, he said: "We should return to federalism."
This concept, he said, should be determined through a Sovereign National Conference.
Kanu, a former military governor of Lagos State, contended that the biggest problem facing Nigeria today was not leadership but the country's defective unitary structure.
He said: "Even if you put a genius and Angel Gabriel (Jubril) to run this country the way its structure is, we shall continue to wallow in all that we detest and keep pitying ourselves. The Unitary Structure is not feasible; it is not tenable."
Calling Nigeria a country of different peoples, Kanu said that without moving the people through amity, it would continue to wallow in problems.
The NADECO and other pro-democratic groups, he noted, fought to make Nigerians have pride in the country. Some milestones, such as returning the country to civilian rule were attained while the psyche of the people on the inviolability of their sovereign wishes was restored, he said.
Kanu pointed out that Nigeria began at independence in 1960 as a federation with regional constitutions, a federal constitution, a parliamentary system, a centre that was dependent on the federating units, a distributable pool for revenue with emphasis on derivation, and civil governance.
But all these were eroded with the incursion of the military into governance in 1966, with unitarism enthroned in the system. Since then, he said, various shapes of unitary constitutions have been foisted on the country and its citizens with the centre dictating to the units or states, revenue accumulation at the centre with little or no regard to derivation.
According to him, the only difference between military rule and the current dispensation is the replacement of uniform with civilian clothes, and that even though the country is back to democracy, it is still on a wrong road.
"I hold that for Nigeria to remain sustained as a country, and for it to become prosperous it has to revert to the status of a true federation-an entity composed of federating units."
This , he said, was what NADECO and other pro-democracy groups stood for. But today, Kanu maintained, this has been so modified that instead of the federating units being composed of regions or states, they now have to be made up of the different peoples and nationalities that make up the entity called Nigeria.
Kanu said that the wellspring of corruption in Nigeria is absence of a "federal" Centre. What exists is a de facto "Unitary" Centre, he remarked.
Predicting danger if another election is held without a national conference, Kanu gave an insight into the quest for Igbo presidency, saying that although it is legitimate once the country returns to true federation it would be inconsequential where the president comes from.
He removed such professional bodies as the NLC from such a sovereign conference, saying that all the nationalities that will attend the conference would do so on the basis of equality.
He added: "We dust up the regional constitutions. These should be suitably adapted by each nationality (or group of nationalities that wish to band together). Incidentally, we are really no more than some 39 distinct nationalities."
Kanu added: "Sovereignty resides on and with each and every distinct nationality. Thus all constitutional rights reside with them. It is from this premise that they surrender or rather release what would be exclusive and concurrent rights (lists) to and with a central government (federal government). The ingredient that we should all leave for central co-ordination were (1960/63) and should be: common currency, postal union, international affairs (with definite leeway/agency for each nationality) national defence (with safeguards against misuse on any nationality) standards: health, education, quality, etc.
"A few things can be concurrent. But not vehicle licence plates, which even now are rather on the exclusive list. Ask nationals to fine-tune their constitutions. Call a conference of nationalities. Each nationality should come with their proposed constitution. Use the drafted constitutions of the nationalities and what they want the central constitution to be."
He said that the conference would "discuss, harmonise and arrive at how the peoples can live peacefully and progressively in one country, Nigeria - as a federation of nationalities/ peoples. A central/ federal constitution emanates, in reality from words: "We the peoples..."
Banjo, while congratulating the retired rear admiral, described the paper as patriotic.
He said: "The title The Unfinished Business, suggests that we have a vision of what this country should be, and it also suggests that that vision has not yet been realised. I don't think that is controversial. The controversy that I hear surrounding this matter is whether one vision is bet`ter than another vision."
Banjo added: "This country calls itself a federation. And if you then find that it is indeed not quite a federation, that it is fumbling, may be towards a federation... the kernel of what he is telling us is that this country cannot survive, unless it is run as a federation. The question is: How do you get the thing off the ground How do you translate this beautiful idea into reality Are there any vested interests that do not want this to happen And if there are, how do we get them to shift This to me is the problem"
The suspense which Kanu's lecture generated was, however, punctured by Oshiomhole's humour. The Labour leader began thus: "I feel very terrible about coming late. But as you know, everything is deregulated these days even the timing of flights. I thought the time was regulated but I got to the airport and found out that departure times have also been deregulated. So you have to blame market forces for my coming late."
He went on: "It seems to me that this issue of rotation is using the sentiment of tribe to appropriate tribal support in order to pursue selfish agenda. To me it is not whether power has shifted but whether the quality of life of the individual has changed.
"I have been to Shagari's village and I heard that the people got light several years after their son was removed from the presidency. I have been to Kano in the course of organising rallies. I saw an army of people without the benefit of primary education, and yet a son from Kano ruled the country for many years.
"I think the real rotation Nigeria needs is rotation away from this decadent class, whether soldiers or civilians. We must now shift from this traditional ruling class to the real working class."
In Oshiomhole's view, "the real working class" includes private individuals and professionals in different fields other civil servants."
He said that Soyinka's birthday deserved celebration.
His words: "We are gathered to celebrate a very special Nigerian. Somebody whose nature and ours coincide in several ways. The man we are celebrating has a very rich armoury. And for those who have entered, they found just two categories. The spoken word and the written word. And with those two, he has been able to intimidate generals, intimidate presidents even when they were classmates or schoolmates or something. He has remained one Iroko that managed to make a forest, contrary to African proverb."
"The last time I was privileged to watch him on television, he was in company with other elder statesmen under the auspices of Citizens Forum. And I said to a colleague, 'when you see a man whose hair is so white, because black people don't have blond hair (but Soyinka manages to wear one), and yet at 70 we see a man who is worried because of us... who are younger, and even yet born, he refused to retire.' And so we are talking about a real long distance runner. I said to myself, if we have men and women of that age who are prepared to devote their time, energy, even their resources to have a better country, none us has any excuse to think that we can afford the luxury of saying well, we have tried. We have organised. We have mobilised. We have struggled. Nothing seems to be changing. And therefore let it go. For me it remains an inspiration that at 70, Soyinka is still struggling, and of course in the trade union movement we also celebrate the fact that the struggle continues in spite of all difficulties."
Speaking on the impact of the lecture, former Osun State Governor Bisi Akande told reporters that it was in tandem with the view of progressives.
He agreed that the only way forward was the entrenchment of true federalism.
"You cannot rule any country of this size this way without promoting corruption. Those who say we should not have true federalism are enjoying the current corrupt system. They are stealing our money. It gives an opportunity for stealing and cover-up," he stated.
Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi said that the absence of true federalism was having a negative impact on the people.
Citing the withholding of council allocations to Lagos and four other states by the Federal Government, Afikuyomi said that the on-going case at the Supreme Court should not be to the detriment of the people.
According to him, the issue now is not who between the federal or Lagos State governments wins the case but the welfare of primary school teachers, health personnel and categories of workers in the councils that have not been paid since the dispute started.
Also yesterday, Soyinka said that the founding last year of the Citizen Forum by him and some other eminent Nigerians was to checkmate executive recklessness and the inordinate attempt by the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) to transform the nation into a one-party state.
Speaking on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Nobel laureate also pointed to what he described as an executive recklessness since the advent of democratic rule in 1999. He stressed that the existence of a formidable pro-democratic group like the Citizen Forum was imperative to ensure the consolidation of the nation's fledgling democracy.
Accusing the PDP of a sinister plan to perpetrate itself in power, Soyinka cited an instance of the last general elections, which he said was manipulated by the ruling party as a ploy to achieve its inordinate aspiration.
He accused some people within the party whom he described as ruthless, of wanting to become the only governing voice in the country.
He explained that the forum was formed to arrest this precarious trend and save the nation's new democracy from being derailed by the recklessness of some members of the political class.
Responding to a question on why the government was afraid of him, the Nobel laureate acknowledged that it was true to some extent. He stated that successive governments in the country who hated his guts had wanted him dead, particularly the late Gen. Sani Abacha whom he accused of wanting to hang him just like Ken Saro-Wiwa. He added that those who killed Chief Ige did so because they were afraid of him as well.
As he steps into the septuagenarian age category, Soyinka said he detest senile decline and wished that in the years to come, his intellectual and creative ability does not fail him.
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