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Achebe: Umar angry, Utomi, others sad
Stanley Yakubu, Kaduna, Olayinka Oyebode, Dada Aladelokun, and Olumide Oduntan
Former Military Governor of old Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, has expressed disgust with the federal government�s attack on writer, Professor Chinua Achebe, for rejecting the national award given him.
Achebe had alongside 190 other Nigerians been granted national awards for 2004. He was to be awarded the Commander of the Federal Republic, the third highest national award after GCFR and GCON.
But the writer of the famous novel, Things fall apart, turned it down because of the worsening socio-political situation in the country, and the federal government�s anti-people position on the political crisis in his home state, Anambra.
Giving his full backing to the author, an angry Umar, chided the government for its failure to analyse the content of Achebe�s letter of rejection with a view to making amends rather than attacking him.
Presidential Special Assistant, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, who once attacked Umar for criticizing Obasanjo government had stated that If Achebe would reject an award from his country it meant that he did not deserve Nigeria. He described Achebe�s action as a slap on Nigerians
But Umar in an interview with our correspondent on Thursday, declared, �Why should a respected and patriotic man like Achebe accept a honour from this government at a time his country is awarded a medal for the third time running for corruption.
�Why should a personality like Achebe accept a honour given to him by a government, whose policies have impoverished his country men and made them today slaves and starved.
�It is most disappointing that, in spite of the noise about the war against corruption, the country is still being rated as the third most corrupt nation in the world.
�Nigeria, contrary to the government�s position indeed does not deserve people like Achebe, I must say that the Nigeria of today, the third most corrupt nation in the world does not deserve good materials like Achebe.
�I expect that the government should have examined the import of Achebe�s letter and to reflect on it and make amends, rather than allowing one of its spokesmen, Femi Fani-Kayode to cast aspersions on such an internationally respected Nigerian.
�Why should Achebe accept an award from a government which has made life very difficult for its citizens,� stating that �the award is not from the Nigerian people, it is from the presidency.
�So, Achebe�s rejection is a testimony to and manifestation of the feelings of Nigerians about this government.
�In fact, anyone who receives an award from this government at this time that the country is rated third in the world in corruption is not patriotic�, Umar stated.
He advised the government to call Fani-Kayode to order and make him understand that in a democracy, �people are free to hold contrary views to those of the government of the day.�
Also lending support to the decision of the acclaimed literary icon are eminent Nigerians: economist, Professor Patrick Utomi, second republic Lagos state governor, Alhaji Lateef Jakande and erstwhile presidential candidate, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite.
Speaking in separate interviews with our correspondents during the week, Braithwaite, Utomi and Jakande were of the opinion that the national award had lost its value, following its conferment on some undeserving citizens.
Braithwaite, who claimed that he was contemptuous of the national award in view of its bastardisation, said Achebe had chosen a very appropriate time to register his displeasure with the state of the Nigerian nation.
Braithwaite who was the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Advance Party said that it was necessary to look at the antecedents of those conferring the awards as well as some of the awardees. Hailing Achebe�s rejection of the award based on principle, Braithwaite said it had proved to government that there were still some men of honour who could not be detracted from the pursuit of social justice.
Achebe, he said � has been able to draw attention to the failings of this government by that singular action, it does not really matter what defence or excuses the government was raising.�
Also hailing Achebe�s action, Jakande who was Lagos governor between 1979 and 1983 said what the renowned writer did �was to register his protest against what is happening in his own state. I think any man of honour should be able to do that and I hope the government should take note of that, consider what he has said and immediately look into the Anambra State matter and bring the crisis there to an end�.
Speaking in a similar vein, Utomi told our correspondent in Lagos that the way the national award had been managed in recent years had reduced its value and made it quite undesirable�
Like Braithwaite, the director of the famous Lagos Business School, said he would not touch the awards with a nine-metre long pole, in view of the way they are conferred on all manners of people.
Saying that Achebe eminently qualified for the honour, Utomi said that his decision to reject it would reinforce the fact that the honour had lost its value.
Faulting government�s reaction to Achebe�s rejection of the award, Utomi said it was wrong for government to say that Nigerians abroad did not know what obtained in the country.
�I think some people are definitely unhappy and they have the right to express it,� Utomi stated, adding that government ought to consider the issues raised by the renowned literary giant.
In his own comment, the Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, University of Lagos chapter, Prince Joseph Adefolalu, described Achebe�s action as a bad omen for the country. �It aptly captures the frustrations and disappointment of citizens. And the frustration is now across social strata and this is dangerous. The country certainly needs prayers,� he said.
Saturday PUNCH, October 23, 2004.
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