Dapchi Girls: Nothing Ever Changes in Nigeria

(By Simon Kolawale) - The More Things Change… 

Confirmed: nothing ever changes in Nigeria. The more things change, the more they stay the same. This immortal epigram of Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, the 19th century French critic, journalist and novelist, captures the fortune of the Federal Republic of Drama aka Nigeria. That is why when anything happens these days, I’m like: haven’t I seen this before? I’m seeing repetition all over again. As we say in Nigerian Latin, “Soja go, soja come, barracks remain the same.” I’m no longer as excited or as agitated as I used to be. An Igbo proverb says what a dog saw and is barking ferociously is the same thing a goat saw and barely bleated. It’s a depressing feeling of “I’ve seen it all”.

The kidnap of 105 female students of Government Girls Science Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe state, was Chibok all over again. As it was in April 2014 so it is in February 2018. The president has changed, the service chiefs have changed and the crime scene has changed — but the details are so alike. We were told they were kidnapped, they were not kidnapped; they were rescued by soldiers, they were not rescued by soldiers. Presidential fact-finding team finally confirms abductions. Déjà vu. The missing link is that President Buhari and his inner circle have not blamed political opponents for the kidnapping yet. And, yes, the first lady is yet to cry “Diariz God o”.

A Shocking Death and the Will of God

Oluchi Anekwe; source: jide-salu.com

(Simon Kolawale)--How do you respond to the electrocution of a promising university undergraduate, a first-class material at that? You can say "it is God's will" — as it is our custom in Nigeria — or you can say that once again, another light has been dimmed in clearly avoidable circumstances.

Oluchi Anekwe, a 300-level accounting student of the University of Lagos, was killed on Tuesday when a naked wire fell on her from an electric pole. Since there was no natural disaster such as a storm, you get the sense that the deadly cable had been hanging dangerously for a while. It was somebody's responsibility, I guess, to maintain those cables. The "somebody" failed in his duty and there are no consequences. Life goes on. We await the next electrocution, the next "God's will".

200 Million Naira Prayers

Source: senatepresident.gov.ng

"Adamawa State is about to purchase prayers worth N200 million to ward off Boko Haram and other security challenges, according to the chief of staff, Abdulrahman Jimeta. I would suggest they go for a competitive bidding process so as to attract the best prayer warriors money can buy. If the state settles for only Muslim and Christian prayers, the contracts should be shared 50:50 for the sake of fairness. Prayers used to be free, but things have changed with the deregulation of spirituality and devaluation of the naira. Of course, the government has unconvincingly tried to clarify Jimeta's statement. Jokers."

Simon Kolawale

Corruption Wars: Pro & Anti Camps One & the Same

"Permit me the excesses of generalisation to say that while Nigerians like to mouth anti-corruption rhetoric, we are actually pro-corruption. We claim to hate corruption, but when people we sympathise with are called to account, we begin to stammer and resort to sentiments to justify corruption, while saying: “I’m not trying to justify corruption but...” But what? We whip up ethnic, religious, regional, legalistic or political sentiments and ignore the substance. Indeed, we have devised many pro-corruption responses which we try to intellectualise....

I can identify at least six pro-corruption devices which we regularly deploy to frustrate the anti-graft war. The first is what I call “Our Son Syndrome”. Put a Nigerian on trial for corruption and people suddenly start grumbling about the plight of “our son”. This message, often orchestrated, comes in form of visits by traditional rulers to key government officials as well as stage-managed public protests and a media campaign to defend “our son”.
If someone is arrested for corruption today, rather than allow him to defend himself in court, it is the emirs and obas that will be making phone calls to the powers-that-be to get him released. And we say we hate corruption."

Simon Kolawale

Religion & Politics in Nigeria by Simon Kolawale

If you want to scare me about Nigeria, throw religion into politics. Nothing frightens me more than that. I find it hard to live with ethnically coloured politics, but I am even more frightened when religion is added to the equation. I shiver. Religion, in my experience, whips up the highest emotion in most Nigerians. There are people whose perspectives are based entirely on religion. They either accept or reject you because of your religion. This wouldn’t matter too much, however, if not that politicians are exploiting this fault line for political gains. They do not worry that once the fire starts, it is very difficult to quench. They do not worry that innocent people end up losing their lives because of religion. Nigeria can burn to ashes, for all they care. I cannot but shiver.

In recent times, religion has been a topic of discussion on the lips of politicians. As the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continue their desperate media war ahead of 2015 elections, religion has taken the driver’s seat. The APC has consistently been accused of having a Muslim bias.

It has been “positioned” by the PDP as the Nigerian equivalent of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Meanwhile, APC chieftains have also described the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) as a wing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, has been openly supportive of President Goodluck Jonathan. Also, the fact that Jonathan openly knelt down before Pastor Enoch Adeboye some years ago has also been highlighted as a promotion of the Christian agenda.