Read Part (I) – http://newnigerianpolitics.com/2012/09/03/the-nigerian-challenge-the-future-of-minorities-i-by-dr-leonard-k-shilgba/

A Basil Chianson Annual Lecture at Benue States University, August 25, 2012

By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba | Yola, Nigeria | Sept. 3, 2012 - Nigeria was not designed to become a nation; she was designed for mundane materialism. Although some efforts were made in 1963 by Nigerian nationalists to build a nation, this attempt was frustrated just three years after. Since then, Nigeria has only known persistent invasion by greedy people and corporate bodies that only exploit Nigeria for their gain. How many of the people that hold political power in Nigeria truly care about good governance? The sustained policy to corruptly appropriate and sabotage what is for public benefit is a deliberate one that cannot be overcome except through a sovereign national conference whose outcome shall be owned by all Nigerians, whose benefit shall be shared by all Nigerians, and whose liabilities shall be offset by public will.

The British defined the Northern Protectorate as consisting of the “pagans and Mohamedan states”. The Mohamedan states in reference were the Sokoto and Borno Empires. The British referred to non-Muslims in the Northern Protectorate as “Pagans”, whom they subjugated to the Mohamedans (Muslims). According to Omo Omoniyi, the British never conceived of a situation whereby the “beautiful dancers of the pagans” (mainly, the Middle Belt people) would aspire to equal social status with the Mohamedan states. The amalgamation of 1914 was a forced marriage between the “well behaved youth of the North and the Southern lady of means.” The marriage was for the economic benefit and survival of the North (Original Nigerians)

Those facts of history reveal that the unilateral amalgamation of Northern Protectorate (Nigeria) and the Southern Protectorate, which Northern emirs had foreknowledge of, was subjugation of the people of the south to Nigeria. The southerners are adopted Nigerians whose livelihood should be at the mercy and generosity of the true Nigerians. Since the amalgamation was for economic reasons, in favour of the Northern Protectorate, any economic arrangement that seeks to place the resources of the southern Nigerians under their control is and shall be vehemently resisted by the Northerners. To them, whether openly confessed or not, the basis of oneness of Nigeria is vitiated by such arrangements. Accordingly, the unity of Nigeria to a northerner means continued injustice through control of other people’s resources. This attitude frustrates Nigeria’s evolvement into a nation.

The Middle Belt people were supposed to be the slaves of the Mohamedan states (the British-created custodians of political power; and when you have political power, you also wrest economic power). So, although Middle Belters are original Nigerians, in the view of the British, we are nonetheless second-class Nigerians. And the Southern lady of means must service the greed and pleasure of the Master of Nigeria (The princes and princesses of Sokoto and Borno empires). The princes and princesses of the North can settle and claim any place they choose in the presently recognized Nigeria (their gift from the British), and can even create their emirates in those places; neither the Middle Belters nor the Southerners can afford to do same.

The matter becomes a bit confusing to those who do not understand the four major divisions in the North—The Royal North (princes and princesses of the Sokoto Caliphate and Bornu empire, their adopted in-laws, and some who have migrated widely. My father, a historian, wrote his college thesis on Katsina-Ala in Benue state, which was founded by a prince who left Katsina in the North to settle on the banks of River Katsina-Ala); the Talakawas (commoners), who were direct subjects of the princes of the North in their Mohamedan states before the British came (and the British did not tamper with this arrangement); the “beautiful dancers of the pagans” (The Middle Belt people who had successfully resisted the Islamic jihadists); and the present Muslim-Christian divide.

Those opposed to convocation of a sovereign national conference to resolve issues about Nigeria shall avoidably bring doom on the country. Probably, this will be a blessing for the Southern lady of means, who shall then take back control of her resources.  But the Royal North shall come out in a terribly bad shape. We must talk; we must discuss Nigeria at a sovereign national conference. Those who claim that the national assembly can resolve contradictions about Nigeria, some of which have been revealed so far, are either unaware of the dangerous situation about Nigeria or are simply disingenuous. The national assembly has not been able to resolve the injustice in local government creation with its attendant fiscal implication for states in Nigeria, talk less of more fundamental issues such as fiscal federalism and elimination of wastes in our finances. Can the national assembly scrap the senate, for instance? Can the national assembly reduce the number of states and make legislation that shall remove all the clogs imposed by the exclusive legislative list in the constitution in order to encourage financial autonomy for the states?  Sovereign national conference in a democracy is not a strange phenomenon as some have alleged. Those who are making strange noises against it and calling advocates of the conference mischief makers are only jittery, knowing that the unjust oppression of the majority shall come to an end thereby.

By population, there are two main minority groups in Nigeria—the South-south people and the Middle belt people. The Middle Belt is a thick band between the South and North of Nigeria. By population, the Middle Belt is the largest single group in the North. It is the most educated group in the north.  But the Middle belt, unlike the South-south, remains politically attached to the Royal North, with no tangible economic or political benefits accruing from this alliance. The South-south is attached neither to the Igbo nation nor the Yoruba nation—the two majority groups in the south. The South-south Governors forum charts economic agendas for their peoples together. They have carved an identity for themselves. There is massive infrastructural development going on in the south-south. Why are governors of the Middle belt so afraid of leading their peoples out of the subjugating shackles of the past? The south-south have strong mouthpieces in the news media—the AIT, Guardian and This day newspapers, to name a few. The Middle belt cannot boast of something similar. The south-south has industries that can be identified with that region; they have captains of industry that are influential in Nigeria and beyond; the Middle belt has nothing. What then is the gain to the Middle belt people of this obsequious relationship to the North that has lasted for more than a century? It is time for a new kind of leadership in the Middle belt. I challenge Governor Suswam and Governor Jang to initiate a Middle Belt Governors forum; we the technocrats shall support them. It seems to me that Nassarawa state is being primed as a launch base for the Royal north in the event of the unimagined. Abuja is worth more than 400 billion dollars, and it falls within the Middle belt territory. The cordoning off of Abuja from Kaduna to Madalla; Suleija to Lokoja, and Okene to Nassarawa state by unofficial agents of the North appears to go unnoticed by not a few.

 There are certain interests that are surreptitiously being guarded by different nation groups in Nigeria. Of all those groups, the Middle belt is the only one that appears to be sleeping. The North would like to see the dredging of the River Niger completed. But it seems there is a deliberate policy by the present Nigerian leadership to delay this or it is just not its priority yet. The River Niger, and by extension, the River Benue are very important in defining ethno-Nigerian relations. The politics of the Niger-Benue divide appears to go unnoticed by many Nigerian scholars. It is in the economic interest of the Middle belt to have the River Benue equally dredged up to Lagdo dam in Cameroon. The national assembly lacks the determination and requisite selflessness required to build a new nation through a just constitution-making process (not amendment of a “constitution”).  The on-going constitution-amendment exercise of the national assembly is one in futility. A sovereign national conference is an inevitable national assignment if Nigeria must survive many of you here today.

While the nationalists in Southern Nigeria were eager to see off the colonial leadership, their counterparts in the North were not that eager, fearing what would happen to them with the exit of their protectors and benefactors. Any talk of resource control or convocation of a sovereign national conference in Nigeria sends fear down the spine of nationalists in Northern Nigeria, who sense a position of disadvantage. The fear becomes highly exaggerated when they feel or assume the loss of political power. I believe that failure to hold a sovereign national conference to frankly talk among ourselves and undo the fears induced by Frederick Lugard and his successors and the injustices imposed by post-1966 socio-political arrangements of military decrees, falsely called Constitutions, shall inflict further debilitating blights on our social estate.

I have no doubt that the “Southern lady of means” favours convocation of a sovereign national conference. But I am also aware that some of her children, because of their unfair benefit from the status quo, are against such contemplation. But what I know is that continued denial of the Nigerian presidency shall compel the North to give in to convocation of a sovereign national conference. I think the North shall have a hard time taking the presidency of Nigeria by 2015. This shall willy-nilly force a meeting of nationalities in Nigeria. Some mockers say that if such a conference should hold, it should be on the basis of States. This is baloney! You cannot recognize what you seek to vitiate as a basis of dialogue. We shall meet on the basis of nationalities. For instance, I may attend the conference as a Tiv citizen and not as a delegate from Benue state. The Tiv people have their age-long processes of selecting their representatives. No one should worry about how delegates for a sovereign national conference shall emerge. Each nation in Nigeria should attend to that.

 We the Tivs would not accept the continued raid on our lands by Fulani herdsmen. We shall no longer permit the extraction of our huge limestone deposits, with consequential pollution of our environment without derivation benefits accruing to our relevant communities; we would like to have control of our natural resources and lands. Only a man who cannot see the future will proudly call advocates of a sovereign national conference, mischief makers. I think if asking for justice makes me a mischief maker in Nigeria, I boldly accept that title. But I say unreservedly, that Nigerian rulers today are troublers of Nigeria. 

I heard about a proposed bill that would create grazing areas for the Fulani cattle all over Nigeria, under a Grazing Commission. This bill was sponsored by Hon. Albert Tsokwa from Taraba (a Middle belt state). The bill has passed second reading in both chambers of the national assembly. This bill, if passed, would lead to the take-over of lands in the Middle belt (through the Land use decree) for grazing of cattle, with no economic benefit to the land owners, but only losses. What is the response of our senators and representatives in Abuja? I must say to my senator, Gemade, that my people would not accept this. The Middle belt leaders have gone to sleep; wake up! In this modern era, the Fulani cattle owners should be able to set up cattle ranches in their lands and adopt modern ways of raising cattle. I warn that the proposed bill shall stoke more violence in Nigeria.

The relevance of population in defining majority or minority status is only traditional, but it is definitely not absolute. The quality of a population such as the level of its empowerment through strategic education, and thereby the weight of its influence in the various productive sectors of the economy, is more important than the bare numbers of people in that population. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Jewish population in 2012 stood at 5,931,000. In world and American politics, the Jews cannot be regarded as a minority. Jewish influence is felt both in the Arab world in particular, and the world in general. According to Wikipedia, the population of the Tiv nation is more than 6 million; and that the Tiv nation is the fourth largest in Nigeria, making up 3.5 percent of Nigeria’s population of 170 million by July this year. Comparing the Tiv influence on world’s politics with the influence of the Jews, where does the Tiv nation stand? Coming closer home, what is the influence of the Tiv nation within Nigeria? The Tiv nation is fast becoming a minority even within Benue state. The presence of natural resources can make a nation to gain a majority status provided it controls the productive and marketing processes. Strategic education is the key for such control; and this kind of education is urgently needed today by minorities in Nigeria. The Rivers state government is aggressively educating her people in top-quality universities both in Nigeria and abroad. About 10 years after, that state shall produce highly skilled manpower needed in high-tech industries in Nigeria, with consequential improvement in its influence level in Nigeria’s productive sectors.

Any nation group in Nigeria can change its status. The Yorubas had a visionary leader in Obafemi Awolowo, who gave them quality education by which the Yorubas dominate the productive sectors today. It is not the mere numbers of Yorubas that confer it with such aura of dignity; rather it is the education they have attained. The South-south states are working to improve the quality of education of their people; they organize economic summits and invite their exposed sons and daughters to contribute. Moreover, they have oil money coming in to fund their ambitious economic and educational projects. The Middle belt states remain either trapped in primitive politics of violence and death or in subservient disposition to the Royal north, which has yielded for them nothing better than pogrom in their homelands. The potential of the Middle belt states in agriculture and agriculture-based industrialization is obvious but obviously ignored by her leaders.

The Tiv nation is in a unique position to lead the Middle belt peoples out of their state of subjugation. But this nation has no leader, and therefore, the Middle belt has no leader. We have allowed petty political differences to divide us. I call on Governor Suswam, senators Akume and Gemade to come together. I call on Tor Tiv to become a father of all again. We cannot pretend, and frankly, I don’t know how to pretend. There is division in the land because of politics. Neither the PDP nor ACN shall develop our land and raise the standard of living of our people. But our brothers and sisters with political power can, irrespective of political affiliation. I request for a summit of the Middle belt peoples, which must be preceded by similar summits of individual nations or groups of nations within the region. These summits must examine what our genuine interests are, what our disadvantages are, what are our strengths, and the alliances we must build to achieve our potential. Governors of the Middle belt should sponsor those summits; two or three of governors of the Middle belt can lead the way. We cannot continue to be slaves on our lands. We refuse to die of fear.  Let justice rain down, and let the people bath in it. Let internal strength overcome hate. For the sake of our future, predicted by our collective repentance, let us tear down all barriers that have for too long been raised against the hopeful reality that we know is possible. Thank you!

By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba | Yola, Nigeria | Nov. 10, 2012 | I am thinking about a situation when crude oil prices do not exceed 40 US dollars a barrel and the demand for Nigeria’s oil drops, partly because the US (a country that imports about 40 percent of Nigeria’s crude oil) cuts down significantly on imports of the product from Nigeria as from other exporters of crude oil to that country. I am thinking about the time when the game that our rulers engage in so blatantly with impunity, which is called Oil Bunkering, turns out to become more deadly than we are made to believe. I look forward to that situation when the revenue of Nigeria cannot support the constitutional allowances and remunerations that
Nigeria’s rulers award themselves. Would it not be interesting to see
scavengers of Abuja scamper away because the honey pot is wiped clean? Board members of many redundant and unprofitable government corporations shall find nothing to satisfy their lusts with. State governors shall be hard pressed for their lack of ingenuity and creativity as they cannot cope with riots in their states caused by a genuine inability to pay the salaries of generally unproductive government workers. Abuja cannot help then. The center will not hold, and the attraction of this union shall rapidly wither away.

Since I was a young boy I have heard the idle affirmation of Nigerian rulers about “the need to diversify the economy.” But where is the will or the motivation? The will is not there in our rulers because there is no necessity; and there is no necessity while the black gold flows continually and customers are not lacking, who are willing to provide the soliloquizing pill to deaden any sensitivity towards the danger the country faces should it continue to rely heavily on one product as a major revenue source. I should think that Nigerians who know about the real and potent trials of the present lack of patriotic governance ought to ponder ways to bring about the right deeds of governance or force them.
The 2013 federal budget proposal that has already been presented to the national legislature by President Jonathan reveals three present problems with Nigeria: First, the amount of revenue Nigeria should legitimately expect next year is not fully covered in the proposal. Two, the federal government is still acting as though there is no urgency for increased capital votes for expenditure on infrastructural development, education for the future challenges of new technology, welfare programs such as
public housing in partnership with local governments (See the fourth schedule of the 1999 constitution which makes building and maintenance of houses for the poor and infirm mandatory for local councils), and on strategic partnership with state governments on projects and programs that will reduce unemployment.
Three, there is no evidence that the federal government is eager to cut down on big government by implementing the recommendations of the Orosanya’s committee it had set up, which include either complete scrapping of redundant departments and agencies or merging some of them that perform duplicate functions. The budget proposal is silent on shrinking of the size of government in any form or shape.

Let us take the average price for crude oil for 2012, which is about 100 US dollars per barrel. If we assume this average for 2013 also and the proposed crude oil production of about 2.5 million barrels a day in 2013, an income of 250 million US dollars a day for Nigeria and oil companies is expected. According to Dr. Ngozi Iweala, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, 57 percent of crude oil money goes to Nigeria while the oil companies take 43 percent. This translates to about 52 billion US dollars for Nigeria or 8.1 trillion naira. If the revenue collected by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) so far in 2012 is considered as a benchmark (FIRS announced tax revenues of 3.81 trillion naira by October 2012, with one more quarter to go) for 2013, we can safely conclude that the total estimated revenue available to Nigeria from crude oil sales and taxes collected by FIRS in 2013 is more than 12 trillion naira. But President Jonathan laid before Nigerians a budget proposal for 2013 with a declaration that estimated revenue
accruable to Nigeria in 2013 was only 10 trillion naira, out of which the
federal government’s share was about 3.9 trillion naira. I am concerned about the math here; it just does not add up! Secondly, the president was silent about revenue from Nigeria’s investment in gas (the NLNG project). Nigeria controls 49 percent of the NLNG project and produces about 10 percent of world’s gas production. Why has the Jonathan government kept the revenue from gas sales from its employers, the Nigerian people? This lack of transparency is not acceptable, and our legislators must ask those relevant questions. They must unearth revenues that the federal government keeps away from both the state and local governments. An insidious conspiracy of fudging figures is going on while Nigerians who know don’t talk and those who don’t know don’t ask.
Nigeria does not need and cannot afford a deficit of about 1 trillion naira
while insufficient information is given about the true size of Nigeria’s
expected revenue. Does Nigeria need a revenue crisis to reveal information about our genuine revenues that is kept from our prying eyes? We are told how 400,000 barrels of crude oil are stolen daily! Don’t we have government anymore, or are those figures spouted out just to hide
what is stolen by the kleptomaniacs in public office under some innocuous
headings? Most probably, it would not move relevant government officials to resign, and neither would they lose their jobs should that figure rise to even 1 million barrels a day in the near future. The secrecy about our nation’s revenues, which is continually being spun by the PDP government, has come to be accepted as a difficult mathematical open problem that no polymath is presently inclined to consider. We must consider this problem. We need to resolve this seeming puzzle.

Do you know that the federal government proposes only 1.5 trillion for capital expenditure in the 2013 budget? And do you know that 1.03 trillion naira is the deficit? What that means is that only about 500 billion naira out of the revenues of Nigeria will be spent on things that Nigeria needs to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). If you don’t cringe then I wonder if you understand what I am talking about. Our legislators need to get experts to educate them about the futility of Mr. Jonathan’s budget proposal; how it lacks truthfulness, vision, rationality, and transparency. A revenue crisis may hit Nigeria very soon, and necessity shall be placed on Nigerians to choose leaders who have a heart for the people. We can’t afford anymore leaders who are never alarmed by their incompetence and lack of empathy for the people.

Leonard Shilgba is an Associate Professor of Mathematics with the
American University of Nigeria (www.aun.edu.ng ) and Chair of the Middle Belt Alliance (www.middlebeltalliance.org )

TEL: 08055024356; Email: shilgba@middlebeltalliance.org

By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba | Yola, Nigeria | Nov. 18, 2012 – NOPS is an acronym for Non-Oil Producing States. The Nigerian state is so presently organized in such a way that encourages dependence of the federating states on disbursements from the federation account. But what is the primary economic activity of the Nigerian state that fetches the needed revenues for the necessary developmental expenditures of states? The answer is very obvious. Oil revenues (including oil-related taxes) account for more than 90 percent of the total revenues accruing to Nigeria. Here is a conundrum. Nigerian states, by reason of the 68 items on the exclusive legislative list in the second schedule of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria, have been handicapped and severely restricted in their vision and efforts at developing their natural resources, agricultural resources, public infrastructure, and even human resources. They are equally unable to design and enforce physical security that should attract private
investments that encourage employment, with the ineluctable reduction of
poverty and the enhancement of public revenues through improved public tax revenues.

Section 162 of the Nigerian constitution requires a minimum of 13 per cent derivation for mineral resource producing states. Item 39 of the exclusive legislative list includes “Mines and minerals, including oil fields, oil mining, geological surveys and natural gas” in the list of engagements that Nigerian states cannot even contemplate. And because the Nigerian government focuses primarily on oil exploration and mining, and consequently the majority of foreign direct investments is in this area, the NOP states are being incrementally starved of necessary revenues while at the same time being abused, derided, and despised. If the Nigerian federal government had given the same attention it has done to the oil industry in the development of other mineral resources that are available in all states
of the federation, then there should have been a significant improvement in
developmental revenues for all states including the NOPS.

We then have a situation where the hands of states are tied and yet they are required to bathe themselves. Oil producing states in Nigeria receive hundreds of billions of naira from the federation account every quarter. Whereas one oil producing state receives more than 10 times what a NOP state receives, the NOP state is expected to provide for its citizens the infrastructure for development and growth that the oil states should be able to provide because of the revenues available to them. And I agree and have written copiously that Nigerian oil producing states deserve even more than they are receiving now. My problem is that the federal government, while retaining the exclusive powers on matters of harnessing our natural resources, has failed beyond oil, and even in the oil sector, it has
under-performed in the refining of crude oil, enforcing of environmental
standards (as required in sections 16 (1)(a) and 17 (2)(d)), and the development of our gas resources. I am more disturbed that even the little that the NOP states receive from the federation account is generally not prudently invested on behalf of their people. But my emphasis in this essay is not on the devastation of misappropriation of public funds by the Nigerian state governors and public officials. I seek to draw attention to the self-contrived restrictions that have been constitutionally placed before Nigeria’s federating states.

Free up the states

It is my firm belief that if items on the exclusive legislative list are not significantly pruned down, and the concurrent and residual lists are not so clearly defined in phrases that completely remove ambiguities and conflicts between state and federal legislatures we will not have economically viable states.

Lagos state once was the seat of the federal government, which now is the economic center of Nigeria. Historically, Lagos colony was a separate country from the nineteenth century until 1906 when it was merged with the Southern Protectorate, and then later became part of the 1914 unilateral amalgamation. The advantage of semi-autonomy makes Lagos to be the only NOP state with a large economy, having access to huge tax revenues, without any fallback on oil or oil-related revenues. The socio-economic arrangement of Nigeria does not help the federating states to express themselves, not least the NOPS. Even Lagos has had its share of
frustrations from the meddlesomeness or outright sabotage of the Nigerian
state.

The on-going constitution review efforts will remain just a mollifying elixir on our national conscience if the outcome is not the whittling down of the colossal powers of an incrementally incompetent federal government. Economically viable local and state governments must be the clear objective of the exercise. There are clearly different opinions on pathways to this objective. But I think there should be preponderance of support coalescing about the focal point of state economic independence. The most indicative of such independence is the freedom to legislate on many of those items on the exclusive legislative list. And what should be the test on determination of what those should be? A simple test should be any issue that does not jeopardize Nigeria’s social existence, or which does not affect egregiously the governance of another state, or which should not require more than one state legislating upon for ease of implementation of such resulting piece of legislation.

In a diverse society like Nigeria, diverse in ethnicity, religion, intellectual and social views and beliefs, it is impossible to frame a constitution that is perfectly acceptable to all. But if we work toward one objective—the freedom, economic freedom of the federating units, we shall be able to achieve other equally important objectives, including political equality. Strong state economies with abundant opportunities for all, encouraged by more leverage and latitude allowed states to explore, experiment, and implement ideas, visions, and dreams which are presently being stifled by constitutional impediments, not least being the exclusive legislative list, will ultimately reduce the perception of political offices as trophies won by individuals on behalf of the ethnic groups and religions to which they are affiliated. The shifting politics of zoning is unutterably predicated on this political philosophy of power conquest.

In conclusion, let me remind that the federal government cannot concurrently and sufficiently harness all the resources in this country without the constitution allowing state governments to get involved in exploiting and processing of those resources in their states. If the objective of any constitutional review efforts is not to empower states economically, then let it be known that weak states equal a weak nation.

Leonard Shilgba is an Associate Professor of Mathematics with the American University of Nigeria (www.aun.edu.ng ) and Chair of the Middle Belt Alliance (www.middlebeltalliance.org )

TEL: 08055024356;

Email: shilgba@middlebeltalliance.org

By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba / Yola, Nigeria / Nov. 23, 2012 – One of the responsibilities of a president is to inspire their citizens, to give them a reason to look forward to a better life. I watched the presidential media chat on Sunday, November 18, 2012, expecting to get answers from my president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan on certain national problems. I came away without answers. I was saddened the more that my president provided nothing refreshing on the menu. It was a disappointing episode of self-confession of incompetence and helplessness. In fact, it would be true to characterize Jonathan’s answers to pointed questions, particularly from the Editors of the Guardian and Sunday Mirror newspapers, as evasive and rambling, a presidential lamentation. The president’s answers are a good example of what a president should not say. A president must at least give the citizens a reason to have confidence in his abilities through presentation of clear bullet point solutions that he has for specific problems. He is not only to acknowledge that there are problems, but he should provide his solutions to those problems. He should have confidence in those solutions, and be courageous to make them open to public scrutiny. He is NEVER (I emphasize this word) expected to tell his people why it is difficult to implement a law or an act of the national assembly; rather he should tell steps he has taken or is taking to implement those. If a president laments and stops at that, what should the people do?

EDUCATION:

The Editor of the Guardian newspapers, Mr Martins Oloja, asked what the president was doing to correct the disappointing rating of Nigerian universities. President Jonathan responded by painting a more disappointing scenario, and concluded that state governors should also be shown the report of a committee he had set up to compile a report on the state of both federal and state universities. That’s it! Did the president offer any solutions? He offered none! Any defence for Nigeria’s rating? President Jonathan said that he noticed that there were quite a number of countries in the world whose universities were not well ranked either!

Nigeria deserves better. In 2010, in my article titled, Goodluck Jonathan: Luck is not Enough, I wrote: “If I stood before the unapproachable throne of the Almighty and He asked me to choose one item from the list—Luck, Strength, Courage, Understanding, and Grace, I would definitely not choose Luck. Let me tell you why. There is an illusion that comes with luck right unto the doorsteps of a man’s soul. Luck creates an illusion of achievement where there is no labour. Luck disarms a man of the necessary barometer of self-assessment; it darkens the thin veil that shields human faults. You have not arrived on the wings of luck; rather the journey has just started when luck pushes you unto the dais which is only fit for those who have tasted both the bitter pill of defeat and the sweet wine of success. Luck carries with it the burden of responsibility, to prove yourself to those who hold the consensus that you are undeserving.

Luck does not qualify a man for leadership; it questions his ability to lead. Luck does not necessarily come with excellence; it makes you the cynosure of prying eyes, coloured with the question, ‘Can you excel; can you distinguish yourself now?’ The burden of leadership cannot be borne by those who never prepared for the opportunity. Truly, if you did not prepare for an opportunity before it came, you might waste it. Luck could be a wonderful thing, but that is if you prepared for it. The winds must have blown in your direction the suspicion that the opportunity was coming. That nudge that whispers the question: ‘What if…?’ must be unmistaken.” I am more convinced of the rectitude of those words now!

On Monetization Law:

The president was asked by the Guardian editor why his government was not implementing the monetization policy without formally taking steps to put it aside. Mr Oloja cited two examples how the official houses of the senate president and speaker of the house of representatives were bought by those public officers and yet Jonathan’s government permitted new budget votes to build new official quarters for the current holders of these offices, which votes the current officers claim are not sufficient. Jonathan replied by saying that the policy “is good in theory” but difficult to implement. He gives an example of a government project supervisor who needs an official vehicle to supervise public projects. To him, that justifies the abuse of public office that the monetization policy sought to correct, which resulted in improvement in capital expenditures above recurrent expenditures. This beats me! Do you remember when during the Yar’Adua-Jonathan government, they started chipping away at the cornerstone of the monetization policy, first with buying a “pool of vehicles”, which was contrary to the Certain Political, Public And Judicial Office Holders (Salaries And Allowances, etc.), Act 2002? Because Nigerians kept quiet President Jonathan has come out boldly to declare that an act of the national assembly cannot be implemented. The growing cost of running government, with expanded number of ministries post 2007, increased number of cabinet-level ministers, surging numbers of assistants, special assistants, advisers, senior advisors, etc., and the concomitant over-bloated overhead costs all combine to shoot up recurrent expenditures of the Nigerian government under President Jonathan. And he spoke in a cavalier manner about this.

When you heard of N 480 billion statutory transfers in the 2013 budget proposal of the Jonathan government, know that this is because of the negligence of the act I have referred to above and the breach of the monetization policy, which makes beneficiaries of such transfers (the national assembly, judiciary, and commissions recognized by the constitution) to take scandalous sums of money, yet producing nothing or little in return. Who can check this abuse when the legislature and judiciary in Nigeria collaborate with the executive to waste our commonwealth? If Nigerians will not collaborate, in spite of their mutual suspicions, and work together to enlighten the uninformed about the extravagance and lack of good conscience of the ruling party, and stir them against supporting the party, only a violent overthrow shall redeem this nation if it will not violently come crashing down.

When reminded by the editor of the Sunday Mirror, Gbemi Olujobi how Nigerians were fascinated by the personal story of his humble background, and voted for him, only to be disappointed by the extravagant lifestyle of his government, epitomized by lavish expenditures on feeding by the presidency, Mr Jonathan responded by naively saying that, “I eat only twice a day.” How did Nigerians get for themselves such a president who fails to understand simple question? He surprised probably not a few when he claimed ignorance of how much the presidency spends on food and drinks! That nails it. Our president is not leading; he has surrendered governance to those Nigerians did not vote to be their president. President Jonathan, shamelessly went on to say that, “Nigeria is an important country,” implying the expenditures on food and drinks that some folks are complaining about are none issues.

Halliburton scam:

When asked why his government was prevaricating about trying culprits entangled in the Halliburton bribery scandal, Jonathan used an old and stale line, “It is better to let criminals go free than to punish one innocent fellow.” This is an incongruous dictum adoption. The fact is that Nigeria does not have a government that is ready to punish rogues; and when punishment against evil is delayed, men do not learn to do right. President Jonathan would need decades to sort out the “innocent” from criminals before taking the Halliburton scandal criminals to court. In my article, “A Lessons on power for Dr Goodluck Jonathan” (2010), I wrote about the president: “One obvious mistake Dr Jonathan has consistently made since the resolution by the National Assembly on February 9th, 2010, making him the Acting President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation is to still think like a Vice-President. Until a man changes both the content and construction of his mind upon the thrust into the limelight of power his efficacy in the new role will be mediocre. Until Dr Jonathan re-creates himself, he shall remain insipid, boring, and of no positive effect whatsoever to the exigencies of the time. My reading is that Dr Jonathan is scared of many Ministers of the Federation and certain individuals whom he considers ‘very powerful.’ You cannot be an effective leader when you are afraid of the people over whom you should preside.”

Security:

President Jonathan was asked why he did not care to visit the troubled region of Nigeria (North Eastern states such as Borno and Yobe, which have been hard hit by Boko Haram). He rather spent time talking about some incidental reference to the Odi raid of 2000. He provided no answer for his failure to visit Nigerians in Borno and Yobe states who don’t feel they have a president who cares; neither did he provide hope about resolving the security challenges of Nigeria.

On electricity power supply in Nigeria, I guess you have read how the Jonathan government has promised to grant tax holiday to manufacturers that can generate their electricity! Do you know the implication? The leadership failure of Jonathan’s government will lead to loss of tax revenue because of this holiday. You may have noticed that in some parts of Nigeria (I say this advisedly because I don’t know where you are reading this article from) electricity supply has deteriorated in the past few weeks since the exit of Professor Barth Nnaji. The president promised during the media chat that he would fix the electricity problem and the Benin-Ore road (on which one of his ministers shed tears about two years ago).

This statement was made in response to a comment by a Nigerian viewer who had tweeted that if President Jonathan could fix the road and electricity problem of Nigeria, he would become a great Nigerian president. I would wish for Jonathan to become a great Nigerian president. But he cannot become one without showing a good knowledge and understanding of what our problems are, without having the will to tackle them without fear, and without a sense of urgency that Nigerians expect of him. His answers were uninspiring. He did not speak to the fears and discouragement of Nigerians. He failed to show he was on the side of the people. Jonathan has lost (if at all he had it in the first place) any moral authority to engage the national assembly on their excesses, for they bear the same kind of spots. The Nigerian judiciary is openly corrupt (Jonathan was reminded during the chat about the latest rating of Nigeria as the second most corrupt country); anarchy has set in the land.

The presidential media chat was a reminder to Nigerians that they should be ready to suffer all kinds of indignities and torments for the next two and half years. The three arms of government have collaborated to oppress Nigerians. Now they govern by “committees”. The president spoke quite a bit about committees he has set up, and how ignorant Nigerians are for not noticing when he is implementing the recommendations of those committees. Well, I know that committees have never been helpful, at least in my adult days in Nigeria. When a matter has been handed over to a “committee”, it is only a euphemistic expression of taking it off the public menu of engagement.

Every nation that practices governance through elected representatives must define so clearly what democracy should mean to its people. Such definition comes in form of rituals that distinguish it from other nations. The ability to invent forms of governance that are specific, meaningful, acceptable to the majority of the people, realistic, and time-bound sets a nation apart as intelligent in its conduct. A nation consists of people who have agreed to live and interact together on the basis of laws, not necessarily given by a divine being, but given by the people to themselves in the form of a constitution. And if the people have given to themselves a constitution, it is then a given that such a constitution should not be injurious to their interest, not be restrictive on their aspiration, and not vitiate provisions that are generous to them through some other clauses in the same constitution. Is this the best we can afford for ourselves? Is this the best president we can have for ourselves? Is this the best legislature or judiciary Nigerians are deserving of? The president said that, “PDP is the party to beat.” If this is true then I don’t know Nigerians; they must be truly a queer group.

-– ————————-
Leonard Karshima Shilgba is an Associate Professor of Mathematics with the American University of Nigeria (www.aun.edu.ng ) and chairman of the Middle Belt Alliance (www.middlebeltalliance.org )
TEL: +234 (0) 8055024356 EMAIL: shilgba@middlebeltalliance.org.

By Leonard Karshima Shilgba | Yola, Nigeria | Dec. 4, 2012 –
I am not going to bore you with statistics about how the Nigerian public officers and civil servants take more than 70 per cent of Nigeria’s revenues every year; probably, you know about that already. My intention is not to make you the Nigerian more discouraged about your country, for that would defeat the purpose of the passion I feel for this country. My desire or great expectation is to paint a scenario that is true of our situation, and which puts in clear relief the ineluctable judgment that our wrong actions and cowardly inactions would inevitably foist on Nigeria; then, I would make a call to action.
When a government consistently spends more than three quarters of its country’s revenues on recurrent expenditures, here is the real but hidden information:
1. All citizens who are not part of the civil service or of the governing political class are not the focus of governance.
2. If the national wages are not living wages, the civil servants are not able to support the mass of citizens who are related to them, but who have no source of livelihood of their own.
3. The general mass of the people have no use for “government”.
If five civil servants are employed by government to do the work of one civil servant for the only reason of “creating jobs”, the excess four are a burden on society and not a solution. In Nigeria, the burden is growing for the simple reason that government is afraid of facing the consequences of poor governance. If we must have a smart and effective government (both at the national and local levels), we could do with just 20 per cent of the entire civil servants of the nation. But the result is that a massive social unrest will be created by the 80 per cent that will join the colony of the unemployed and unemployable Nigerians.
The tax revenues on workers (both in the private and public sectors) are so small, which is testimony to the fact that the political class, the judiciary, business leaders, religious leaders, and traditional leaders have appropriated the lion share of our commonwealth. The story is this, the collective wages of civil servants in Nigeria constitute a huge hole in public revenues, but the average remuneration is so small that the taxable income is a pittance. Accordingly, government revenues from workers’ income are so insignificant. Therefore, taxes on workers’ earnings in Nigeria are a very small fraction of the total tax revenues collected by either the Federal Inland Revenue Service or its state counterparts. I include taxes on private sector workers in Nigeria, who slave for the private business owners in this country that has recently been rated the worst country to live in, where prospects for healthy, safe, and prosperous living are discouraging.
In addition, we have a generally unproductive political class, whose professed service to the country does not translate to better roads (as they and their religious collaborators testify in their frenzied acquisition of private jets), world-class public schools and universities (as they would bear witness by the fact that they send their children and relatives to better equipped and funded private schools and universities in Nigeria and abroad), and safe, efficient, and well-equipped public hospitals and clinics (as they would agree by how they and the super-rich in society spend billions of naira annually seeking medical help in India, the UK, and other countries that have public officials who offer real service to their people). Nigeria’s public officials (both elected and appointed) have failed to provide the needed public infrastructure on which the private sector should rely to create jobs and consequently, wealth. In a capitalist or quasi-capitalist economy such as Nigeria’s, it is not the primary duty of government to create jobs, but it is the role of government to provide the enabling environment for the private sector to create high income jobs. Such environment should include elements such as a tax code that is neither harsh on low-income earners (which income range should be defined based on median and average family incomes) nor discouraging to private sector job growth, basic physical and social infrastructure that would contribute to reduction of cost of doing business (by social infrastructure, I am particular about reducing the drains and frustrations of bureaucratic corruption), problem-solving oriented education that is attractive to private sector employers, and fiscal and monetary policies that encourage both repatriation of profit by foreign investors and exports by local producers.
There is presently an oppressive League of Four in Nigeria. The political, religious, business and traditional rulers in Nigeria have all come together in the general oppression of the Nigerian people. I have used the word “rulers” advisedly because these are no leaders in Nigeria. They protect each other, encourage each other, and defend each other. What about us? It is impossible to rely on the same oppressors to deliver Nigeria from the sludge. Where then does relief come from? For those of us who believe in the teachings of the Bible or the Koran, we think God should intervene. For others who believe in “pragmatic” solutions, the people must rise up against the current system of poaching and corruption. What do I mean by poaching? In order to protect their positions of privilege and influence, the political class in Nigeria has learned and perfected the skills to scan through the land to pick and corrupt former “activists”, “social critics”, and “progressives” whom they believe are becoming increasingly a threat to their interest. Once they get into government, only few of them can resist the cultic broth. And once they taste it, they undergo a transformation both of the mind and spirit. And so, the Nigerian people have gradually lost warriors. Protest resignation is an alien phrase should there be a conflict of principles in the conduct of official duty. Thus have those “wretched of the earth” (courtesy of Frantz Fanon) always been betrayed. The people then find difficult to trust any of us “social critics” or “progressives” anymore. Recently, they suffered a serious let down in the January uprising. They shed blood in Ilorin for nothing. From Lagos to Kano, they protested for nothing. The Abuja and Kaduna displays brought them no profit as eventually their trusted “progressives” betrayed them at the night meetings in Abuja.
For any positive change to come out of governance in Nigeria, something new must happen to make the political class (being urged on by their religious, business, and traditional cheer leaders) undergo a complete make-over of the mind and spirit. The inquiry now should be about what can bring about this change. Some believe that our collective repentance and prayers can bring this about, and so the people must do nothing but “pray”. But there are some that believe that faith without action is vanity. The solution to almost every social malady in Nigeria is publicly affirmed, both by those responsible for the social decadence and by those who are ignorant about the facts, to be “prayer”. But I ask, “What should be the content of those prayers?” Should it be that God should kill the incompetent and corrupt president, thieving and incompetent governors, all corrupt politicians, compromised judges, unscrupulous businessmen and -women, immoral religious rulers, and unprincipled traditional rulers who are responsible for impoverishing Nigeria? Should we pray that unconscionable contractors and their accomplices in the civil service should perish in road accidents and plane crashes? Or should we ask God to “forgive them for they know not what they do”? Should we ask that all election cheats in Nigeria should go blind? Yearly, we budget tens of millions of naira for each kilometre length of roads to be constructed, which sum though outrageous, the roads are not even built, yet no one is punished; but we must “pray”. Petty thieves, in collaboration with serving public officials, steal hundreds of billions of naira meant for fuel subsidy, which is intended to shelter the poor from the harsh economic weather; no culprit is sent to jail and made to refund with interest, and no public official is punished, but we must “pray”. Hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil are “stolen” daily in Nigeria, with the reported connivance of government officials, and no remedy is given by government, but we must “pray”. In Nigeria, provision of basic public amenities for healthy and safe living has become a spiritual issue about which the people must “pray and bind the devil.” Enough of this mockery of God and of prayer! Are we not tired of this entertainment of comedy?
Have Nigerians become prayer machines, or are they simply taken for fools and people with slow memories and low intelligence quotient? If government is incompetent and corrupt, blame it on the people; they are not prayerful enough. So, not only are the people at the receiving end of corrupt public governance, they also bear the huge chunk of the blame for not praying well and praying in faith. If only Nigerians prayed without ceasing, Nigeria should suddenly become a great and efficient nation. But are the political rulers not Nigerians; couldn’t they pray for the efficient governance for which they are in public office? The religious leaders then make matters worse. They promise the people “Break-through” for the “new year” in exchange for “seed sowing” and “faithful tithing”; and by the end of the year the people are poorer than they were a year ago, and the moral life of the nation is more wretched. But the people love the lies and false hopes.
The civil, ceremonial, and moral laws that God gave the Jewish nation did not make provision for public prayers for corrupt and stubborn public office holders. God met corrupt public officials with judgement whether or not the people prayed. God stated clearly that because punishment against iniquity is delayed, men have not learned to do well. The people had the opportunity to collectively stone the corrupt in society and those that had broken their laws. Lack of punishment against abusers of public privilege is a great betrayal of public trust by a national or local leader. Then, in the New Testament, I read how Jesus Christ did not just “pray” about the corruption of the civil and religious leadership of his day, nor did he just lament the corruption of the temple. He publicly denounced and ridiculed the corruption and hypocrisy of the religious and civil leadership of his day, and enlightened the people about such corruption and hypocrisy. He also made a whip because the “zeal for his father’s house had consumed him.” Away with corruption of prayer in Nigeria! Every tree which our heavenly Father has not planted must be uprooted.
UPROOTING THE CORRUPT TREES
Our rulers at all four levels have broken the Sabbath of the Nigerian people, their Sabbath of rest from their afflictions. The people must take up stones.
First, those who read must instruct the people they have influence over to uproot from their mind any respect for the Ill-gotten wealth of those polluted trees. The wealth they have acquired without production or job-creating activities is cursed. Nigerians must hate such wealth. It is time to carefully cultivate hatred for corrupt wealth if Nigerians want deliverance.

Second, Nigerians must boldly start causing embarrassment for those corrupt trees at public functions, in the mass media, and at every opportunity they have got. They love honour, but we must give them dishonour. They love high places, but we must offer them low seats. Intellectuals who are so afraid of the hard life, that they must be obsequious to those corrupt trees have put their education in dispute. Shame on all of you who have delayed our redemption by your sell-out! Woe to your betrayals! If our redeeming grace as a nation has been delayed, it is because of quasi intellectuals such as journalists, lawyers, and other professionals who have cheaply sold themselves to visionless rulers in the corridors of power in exchange for wealth and positions that they will never enjoy in peace.
Third, print out and distribute fliers that question the roles of your pastors, bishops, overseers, general superintendent, imams, and papas in pricking the conscience of public leaders. Those must not be allowed to continue straining at gnats while swallowing camels. Let them recover their lost moral voice and point the accusing finger at failed political leadership. Let them wag the finger at President Jonathan and your state governors and say, “You are the troublers of Nigeria!” With immense political powers, Mr Jonathan and many of the governors have simply washed their hands and looked away like Pontius Pilate. With awesome executive powers to punish and bring down the gavel on corrupt public officials and contractors of failed public projects and their collaborators, Jonathan has instead chosen to hide under useless and preposterous committees which he has regularly used as either lullabies or red herrings.
What about us? Who in the political leadership of Nigeria will seek to please us? Nigeria needs just one man with the powers of President Jonathan, who will effectively use such powers to rescue us and not to harass us. But alas, Jonathan cannot because he has already corrupted himself. He has compromised his office by running greedily after gain. A thief cannot punish other thieves. Tens of billions of dollars of public wealth have been stolen and wasted under Jonathan’s watch and he looks away; why? It is because he is part of the thieves. He is guilty! He defends evil; he takes not seriously the misuse of public office by his appointed public officials. Nigeria deserves better.
Prayers cannot save us, but prayers with steady actions will. Prayers cannot make a better nation for us, but prayers with bold actions shall hasten the day of reckoning when the shepherd shall beg the sheep for mercy, and when the sheep shall come under a new shepherd. Any opportunity of provocation that Nigerians shall get in the days to come must be used as the last stroke.
Nobody on earth shall redeem Nigerians but themselves. The leopards in political power will never change their spots. They are too greedy to think about us. The country is wasted and is yet wasting away. For the sake of your children, throw off fear. For them and your loved ones alone, hold not your peace. Let no one deceive you; help cannot come from outside of you. Help is within you. The leader is within. What about us?
……..
Leonard Karshima Shilgba is an Associate Professor of Mathematics with the American University of Nigeria (www.aun.edu.ng) and chairman of the Middle Belt Alliance (www.middlebeltalliance.org}
TEL: +234 (0) 8055024356 EMAIL: shilgba@middlebeltalliance.org.

By Dr. Leoanrd K. Shilgba | Yola, Nigeria | Dec. 14, 2012 - The Nigerian constitution makes provision for national and state “independent” electoral commissions to organize, undertake, and supervise all elections under their
specified jurisdictions, and to compile and maintain a register of voters. The
Nigerian situation is so peculiar. The electoral commissions are the main
culprits in the crime of election irregularities and fraud. For too long the
Nigerian electorate has either overlooked their grotesque culpability or
lightly regarded it.

In my state, Benue, a shameless display of impunity was staged by a professor of
criminology, Professor Phillip Ahire, who had served as secretary of the Uwais
electoral reform committee that was set up by President Yar’Adua to address the
fraudulent electoral exercises in Nigeria. On November 24, 2012, Professor
Ahire presided over the conduct of elections to local councils in the state in
which the ruling party, the PDP, scored a perfect hundred per cent result,
winning council chairman seats in all the twenty-three local councils of the
state. The opposition party, with not less than 10 members in the
twenty-nine-member state house of assembly, simply gave up in the face of this
day light coup against the people’s will. The professor thereafter went to his
church in Makurdi to “give thanks” for the “successful” conduct of elections. He
thanked the people for their “prayers” that made the elections “successful.”
The people could not hold their peace in church any longer. They shouted back,
“Liar!” It took a while to calm down the people. What audacity! What
provocation!

If the Nigerian people have had their electoral choices ignored repeatedly with impunity, it is
because the electoral commissions and their staffers have always supplied the
weapons for this coup. For a professor of criminology to be so brazenly
involved in such a crime as robbing the people of their supposed right to
choose the people they would like to lead them, it makes me wonder what sort of
things he researched on about criminology. I have learned that Professor Ahire
is a church elder. Shame on religion in Nigeria! I would not blame the
politicians; rather, I blame the referees of elections in Nigeria. The Benue
example I have given is typical of conduct of elections in Nigeria, with only a
few exceptions.

Do we need electoral commissions in the form that they exist today? Is it wrong to stage a
counter coup when you have been overthrown by a group of mutineers? If the
Nigerian people should decide to go wild one day against perceived electoral
fraud against their choices, would that be wrong? Oh, they say two wrongs don’t
make a right. I understand that dictum. But I ask, is it wrong to take steps to
defend yourself when there is no other way? Electoral commissions in Nigeria
declare whom they will as the “winner” in an election contest. The ruling
party, through its dominance in the legislature, fixes a 180 day- limitation on
electoral dispute litigations; the judiciary, as a complicit player, encourages
and permits delays until that time lapses, and justice is denied. The people
are left seething in anger. What other options do the people have other than a
violent reaction? When people have come to lose confidence in a constitutional
process, this should be seen as a harbinger of violence. When justice is
perceived to have been denied repeatedly, and the people, because they have no
hope in the courts, decide not to go to court anymore, one of two must happen.
Violence shall soon erupt or open rebellion against “authority” will happen.
Withdrawal of support from an illegal authority is certain. And there are ways
of doing this.

1. The people may constitute
   “Enforcing Defenders” (EDs) and refuse to pay taxes.
2. The people may refuse call to
   “cooperation”.
3. The people may withhold any
   information, ideas, vision, and help that those forcefully and illegally
   occupying positions of authority may need.
4. Gang groups may emerge
   comprising those who feel cheated, to terrorise.

Is Nigeria genuinely ready for any of the above? Do the TIPs (Thieves In Power) truly
underestimate the possibilities in the Nigerian?

It is my strong view that Nigeria can do without her “independent” electoral commissions. Each
town, precinct, and village should have its election committees during any
election. Members of such committees shall be representatives of candidates or
political parties involved in such elections, local youth group
representatives, local women group representatives, local labour
representatives, student representatives, the disabled representatives, civil
groups and intellectual representatives, all resident in such town, precinct,
or village. The committee shall be formalized and put on oath in the respective
local government areas by the local government chief judge or magistrate. Funding
of elections shall be done through budgetary processes of the respective
legislatures.

At the local council level, the local councils shall approve funds directly to the election committees in the towns and
villages in the local government area. For state elections, the state houses of
assembly shall approve state funds for the elections, which shall be sent to
the local councils for distribution. For national elections, the national
assembly shall approve federal funds for the elections, which shall be sent to
the local election committees through the state houses of assembly. In
addition, political parties, through their local chapters, shall be free to
make donations for logistics and allowances for the committee members. Election
results shall be announced by those committees on the same day of elections without
necessity for transmission to any collation centres, and that would be final. Disputes
of election results should be made with respect to specified towns, precincts,

or villages, and the respective election committees should have the
responsibility of defending the results in a formal court of law. Where fraud
is proved, members of the committee should each get custodian sentencing of
between 10 and 15 years with no option of fine or parole or state pardon; in
addition, a bye election shall be conducted in such precinct, town, or village
by another election committee. Where an election committee is denied of funds
from sources I have specified, all legislators (from local to national levels)
within such precincts, towns, or villages shall lose their seats in the
respective legislative houses.

Election materials:

1. It shall be the responsibility
   of each election committee to design an election process that best suits its
   precinct, town, or village.
2. It shall be the sole
   responsibility of an election committee to decide on which form of
   identification to use to determine residents.
3. Lower age limit for voting
   shall remain 18 years for the whole country.
4. There shall be a maximum of
   three electoral materials—Electoral result sheet, which must be signed by at
   least two-thirds of all members of the respective election committee to make
   the result valid; electronic register of all voters who have registered to vote
   at the precinct, town, or village; and ballot papers (where applicable).
5. The printing of ballot papers
   (if such would be used rather than some electronic device) must be done locally
   by the respective election committee, if feasible, or within the respective
   state.
6. The voter register shall be
   compiled by each election committee during each election, and must be completed
   at most one month before election. The voter register must include exactly  one of the following for each voter—Driver’s
   license number, international passport number, national identification number, and
   state identification number. If a voter has none of these, he or she is not
   qualified to vote in Nigeria. There shall be no voter’s card. On Election Day,
   the voter must present the identification card they used to register before
   casting a vote.

At the end of each election process, the election committee shall render account to the
Finance committee of the respective house of assembly. If cleared, it shall
then stand dissolved after conclusion of all related litigations on electoral
disputes. A formal ceremony of dissolution and absolution shall be conducted by
the respective chief judge of the state. All unspent funds shall be paid into
the account of the state for public use.

If we don’t get to the point where the choices of voters are not excluded from governance, a
forceful overthrow of the Tips must take place in order to rescue Nigeria. This
is a grave possibility we must not ignore.

Leonard Karshima Shilgba is an Associate Professor of
Mathematics with the American University of Nigeria (www.aun.edu.ng) and chairman of the Middle Belt Alliance (www.middlebeltalliance.org}

TEL: +234 (0) 8055024356    EMAIL: shilgba@middlebeltalliance.org.

By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba | Yola, Nigeria | Dec. 21, 2012 - In the first inaugural speech of President Dwight Eisenhower of the USA on January 20, 1953, as he came to the conclusion of that speech, he said those memorable and insightful words:

“We must be ready to dare all for our country. For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must acquire proficiency in defense and display stamina in purpose. We must be willing, individually and as a Nation, to accept whatever sacrifices may be required of us. A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

These basic precepts are not lofty abstractions, far removed from matters of daily living. They are laws of spiritual strength that generate and define our material strength. Patriotism means equipped forces and a prepared citizenry.” The underline is done by me for emphasis.

Few days ago now that I write this essay that you are reading, I received in my university office a son of a past senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He told me that based on what he knew of Nigerian politicians from his privileged position, Nigerian public officials would only buy into my ideas of development if I could make them see the personal benefit they would derive from such lofty ideas. On my hope that the Nigerian youth with whom I am resolved to engage for the future that I envisage would get the intended epiphany, he attempted, probably without intent, to pour cold water, with those words which I paraphrase: “Sir, even if what you seek to accomplish would be to the ultimate benefit of the Nigerians, they must expect material benefits from you in order to sustain their interest.” This young man had very low opinion of politicians from my part of the country, about whom he revealed very discouraging facts.

It has become apparent that President Jonathan, many of our governors and other public officials (elected or selected) in Nigeria do not lack knowledge of the good things they must do in order to equip the Nigerian citizens with both the knowledge and external resources required for adequate productivity on which societies thrive and survive. The exhibits are the numerous “vision” statements and “transformation agendas” that litter the shelves of government department offices across Nigeria. What they lack is the will or boldness required. Most importantly, they are afraid for embarrassing exposures because most of them are morally bankrupt, and without good conscience.

Let us seek to understand our common leadership tragedy through the common utterances and expectations of the Nigerian on your street, in your towns, at your place of work, and at your school.

“We must celebrate your political appointment. God has provided food for us,” (or its variants) is a common statement by Nigerians.  They view appointment to a public office as an opportunity to make a living rather than to serve the people. The senator’s son told me about “compensation appointments”, and invited me to Abuja during the Christmas break because, as he informed me, President Jonathan would reshuffle his cabinet and bring in new faces, obviously, to take their compensating positions at the feast table. You had better believe that millions of naira would be spent by those “lucky” fellows on festive parties to celebrate their “achievement”.

The Nigerian who complains against the “corruption” of public officials would eagerly accept similar opportunities to engage in the same graft they complain about. When a friend of mine took leave of absence from his professorial position this year to become an “Adviser on strategy” to the governor of his state, a non-Nigerian professor colleague of mine asked me, “Is it better for him to leave his professorial position to take such position in his state?” I must confess that I did not know how to answer the question. It is dignifying to serve as an advisor to the governor of your state or president of your country, if your advice would be useful and accepted most of the time, and if you have access to those who have appointed you, rather than being invited into the club simply to feast at the table when the employer does not truly have need of your “advice”.

We have hundreds of advisors in some states, and only 365 days in a year or only 260 work days in a year (assuming there are no holidays). How many minutes would a governor have to spend quality time with those advisors in a year? I saw on news hours before I sat down to write that President Jonathan had asked for “prayers and advice” from Nigerians. The president does not need more advice; he must have the courage to work with the many pieces of advice many of us have freely provided on education, revenue generation, accountability, smart governance, job creation, provision and maintenance of infrastructure, fiscal responsibility, etc. In fact, a patriot, Dele Momodu has lately volunteered a sequence of free open letters to Jonathan to help him improve on the quality of leadership he is not providing. On prayers, I request Nigerians to ask God to bring strategic discomfort to Jonathan, to ruin the cordial relationship he has maintained with his evil godfathers and fellow thieves, and to bring him public humiliation. And if these would not force him to action, then, that God would send him on exile far away from Aso Rock. Jonathan deserves neither pity nor advice. He deserves hard times that force a timid president to throw off fear, and a corrupt president to repent, make restitution, and resign.

Are Nigerians ready for a new nation? When, out of curiosity, I read through some of the comments by some Nigerians on my essays about Nigeria, I am sad at how some of them think that the solution to our social decadence is the splitting up of Nigeria into smaller units. Even if that is the ultimate destiny, unless and until we have mutually enlightened ourselves and prepared our people on the two principles that President Eisenhower spoke about, we may only thereby succeed in spreading the concentration points of social conflagration and unease, and not cure the ailment.

“History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid,” said President Eisenhower. This is the first principle Nigerians must learn about. Freedom cannot be sustained by the weak and timid. Our resolve is very weak. I have received numerous text messages and mails from readers assuring me of “support.” I am not sure I need “support.” Rather, Nigerians need the social orientation that will strengthen them, for a man of knowledge increases in strength. One reason why the political opposition in Nigeria has remained weak is because of its impatience and lack of investment in social education.  While the opposition is distracted by the simple pastime of excoriating attacks on the government, it lacks coordination in social education of the people—What resources are available to the governments in Nigeria; what percentage of public resources is spent on a few public officials; how much inflation of public project costs there is; what powers under the constitution do the people have, etc. These are some of the questions that the opposition needs to assist the people answer. I also know that millions of Nigerians do not have access to the internet. But the opposition has an opportunity here.

The vacuum of neglect created by ruling parties across Nigeria must be quickly filled up by the opposition. Irregular conferences in Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, or Kaduna by some opposition parties and “civil rights” activists will not be enough. Along with rallies and town meetings in towns and villages across all local government areas in Nigeria, the opposition must put together professionals such as medical doctors, environmentalists, civil rights lawyers, and social workers to provide services and assistance to the people free of charge well before elections and in spite of electoral fortunes. In these revolutionary efforts, informed and principled scholars and columnists can be invited to educate the people and address questions that the people may have. There are no short-cuts in social transformation of a people. The various social groups on social media circles provide veritable recruiting grounds for volunteers. The opposition, putting together germane resources will do better than individuals like us planning and holding rallies. An individual is an easier picking than an organized group. I speak from experience. Gani Fawehinmi was a one-man soldier. Such tactic cannot succeed in Nigeria. Numbers! Organized numbers! That is the game.

The Hamas in Palestine won the heart of the Palestinian people by saving lives where Yasser Arafat failed. Eventually, the Hamas won the confidence and votes of the people in 2006 and formed government.

The second principle I would like to discuss is what President Eisenhower said: “A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”

The frequent criss-crossing of politicians from one political party to another and the usual betrayals of “social critics”, “principled columnists”, and “progressives” have given away the Nigerian elite as unstable people that treasure privileges above principles. This is a national tragedy. We are engaged with a deadly squad that has got executive powers, legislative powers, judicial powers, military powers, and business monopoly, all with the blessings of the compromised traditional and religious leadership.

We are in a long marathon to equip our people with both the knowledge and strength that they need to resist injustice and corruption intelligently, with stamina and staying power. If the presently disorganized opposition wishes to wrest power from the corrupt and inefficient national ruling party, it must look beyond a mere merger of political parties for the puerile purpose of winning elections.  The opposition must give the people a reason to trust it. For now, nothing else will work, and the people hardly can find a substitute for the ruling national party. But the people are being confused by the unstable behavior of the opposition that dines with the ruling party at their nocturnal feasts only to scream invectives against it at noon.

If the Nigerian people want a better country, we must invest in ourselves. For only when the people and their politics is purged shall there be a better future.

Leonard Karshima Shilgba is an Associate Professor of Mathematics with the American University of Nigeria (www.aun.edu.ng) and chairman of the Middle Belt Alliance (www.middlebeltalliance.org}

TEL: +234 (0) 8055024356    EMAIL: shilgba@middlebeltalliance.org

By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba / Yola, Nigeria / Jan. 5, 2013 – In 2013, the sum of N 4.987 trillion shall be spent by the federal government of Nigeria. The capital expenditure is a paltry N 1.6 trillion, which is 32 per cent of the entire budget. But more worrisome is the established tradition of woeful implementation of budgets by the PDP governments since 2007. If the capital component of budgets in Nigeria was prudently implemented the country would have efficient public development infrastructure such as roads, railways, electricity, water supply networks, refineries, etc., which could drive down the cost of production, expand capacity utilization of manufacturing industries, preserve life, and reduce unemployment rate. The Nigerian on the street finds nothing or little to cheer in the yearly rituals.

There is a trend that must be pointed out. The Nigerian legislature has joined the choir of national lamentation rather than check the excesses, impunity, and negligence of the executive. The lawmakers do not presently retain the respect of President Jonathan and his government. The resolutions or motions of either the senate or House of Representatives are treated with disdain. They have been referred to as “mere opinions” by the presidency without any sanctions. The threats by the national assembly have turned out to be just pitiable bluffs. They had demanded 100 per cent implementation of the 2012 budget by September, 2012 or some sanctions would be delivered by it on the executive. Besides being unreasonable to demand 100 per cent implementation of a budget only in the third quarter of a year and when the commencement of implementation was supposedly in the second quarter of the same year, the national assembly ridiculed itself again as that deadline came and passed without as much as a whimper from that supposedly august body of serious lawmakers. The Nigerian people have spent so much of their resources and expectations on the national assembly with nothing to show for it. They have become an assembly of weaklings whose words mean nothing.

There is no democracy without an effective and productive legislature. What victories has the current national assembly won for the Nigerian people since May, 2011? Trillions of naira have been spent on “fuel subsidy” by the executive without appropriation, yet the national assembly has failed to react strongly. The Nigerian people were forced, in spite of the lame protestation of the legislature, to pay 50 percent more for petrol in 2012, yet, the senate, toward the end of 2012, approved additional N 161.6 billion for Jonathan to spend on fuel subsidy payments, bringing the total expenditure on fuel subsidy in 2012 to N 1.06 trillion! The national assembly only whines about amounts that the executive requests it to approve for funding; but in the end, they are approved however indefensible! They have failed to punish; they have failed to bite.

They are simply the rubber stamp of the executive. When the national assembly grandstands publicly, it is only a matter of time before the legislators defer to the lusts and greed of the executive. The 2013 budget has passed without any significant mopping up of the fatty inclusions by the executive that added no real value. I agree that the recurrent expenditure has been pruned down by N 100 billion, and the savings have been assigned to capital expenditure. I agree that the crude oil benchmark has been raised from $ 75 to $ 79, which has reduced deficit spending from N 1.03 trillion to N 887 billion.

But what is strange is that nothing in either the budget proposal by the executive or the budget appropriation by the legislature has addressed a huge source of bleeding on the commonwealth. There is no provision in the budget for building of refineries. If in spite of the reduction of fuel subsidy spending in 2012, Nigeria spent more than one trillion naira on the subsidy, it should be a matter of concern to the national assembly that Nigeria does not own refineries that can refine both for domestic and foreign markets. It is not a secret that some legislators and the executive would like the scrapping of fuel subsidy because of “corruption in its implementation.”

This is an open confession of the incompetence of the Jonathan government. If a government cannot defend the people against economic predators then it has outlived its usefulness. Should the 2004 pension act be abrogated and pension payment outlawed in Nigeria only because of the corruption that has been perpetrated in the management of the pension fund? Should government departments where corrupt practices have been established be scrapped then?
What is the philosophy that guided the formulation of the 2013 budget? I heard that President Jonathan was hopeful that 2013 would be “better than 2012”, with the assurance that jobs would be created. If jobs are going to be created we should find evidence in the 2013 budget:

Public works

All federal roads in Nigeria are in a terrifying state of disrepair. Road contracts in Nigeria are inflated beyond shame or restraint of natural conscience. A road that is less than 100 kilometers long could be awarded for N 100 billion! Well, going by this obscene tradition of contract costing, the N 1.6 trillion voted for capital expenditure in the 2013 budget cannot complete even 2000 kilometer-length of roads (Do pardon the many kilometers I have stated). This should be considered against the background that there are about 30,000 kilometers of federal roads in Nigeria, almost all of which are dotted by yawning craters, broken bridges, and sharp-edged polygonical ditches. The state of the most important road in Nigeria (The Lagos-Ibadan expressway) should tell us about the comedy of governance in this “Giant of Africa”. Maiduguri-Yola-Jalingo-Gboko-Otukpo-Enugu federal road is a disaster to drive on. Enugu-Port Harcourt federal road is legendary in the tale of failed governance. Ayangba-Ajaokuta-Okene road is a national disgrace. Ibadan-Ilorin-Abuja-Kaduna road is not better. Ore-Benin road has become a singsong without a beautiful end. I can go on. What economy can a government hope to build where road transportation has been so neglected in spite of yearly budget rituals?

I have read about the chest-beating by the federal government that it has revived rail commute between Lagos and Kano on the colonial era single tracks that we used during our student days in the 1980s. The cars used on those tracks are so outdated and uncomfortable in the tropical heat. This is not how to build a nation. In an age of fast-moving air-conditioned cabin cars on rail, the Jonathan government is hypocritically siphoning public funds in the name of “rehabilitation of colonial-day railways”, being part of a government that had cancelled a contract for the construction of a dual track railway, which project would have been completed in 2010, and on which trains should have travelled at 160 kilometers per hour, and at a time when Nigeria had more than 20 billion US dollars in the Excess Crude account.

The aviation industry is in a trauma of its own. Many lives have been claimed through plane and helicopter crashes in 2012 alone. The summary is that transportation in Nigeria is a frightening experience. Now, where will job-creating investments come from when transportation has become a trap in Nigeria? The 2013 budget may likely go the way of previous budgets with no significant accomplishments.

Legislative oversight functions:

Available evidence has shown that we do not yet have a legislature that is principled and dogged enough to make the executive succumb to good sense in managing of public resources. How can a group of contract-chasing legislators ensure effective implementation of budgets? Failure of both implementation of yearly budgets and sanctioning of corrupt and incompetent public officials offer little hope that the 2013 budget will be any different. What kind of transformation have Nigeria’s legislators and the executive undergone to assure Nigerians of “better things in 2013”? The greed, lack of empathy, and the cavalier attitude towards legacy building by Nigeria’s public officials tell us the story of the 2013 budget. It sounded awful but familiar, and it changed nothing except worsen things.
It is my strong conviction that nothing changes that is left the same. What is so different about the 2013 budget that should excite? Well, some would respond that the “early passage of the budget would allow the executive enough time to implement.” I have a question, then.

Has late appropriation of previous budgets been the true cause of poor implementation of past budgets, averaging only 40 per cent? Deliberate delay in allocation of funds to ministries, departments, and agencies has stifled execution of capital projects in the past. Poor and duplicitous supervision by relevant legislative committees is another reason for poor implementation of past budgets. Lack of punishment of contractors of failed or failing and abandoned projects and their collaborating civil servants has only emboldened impunity. What assurances do we have that things would change? Better still, what evidence do we have that the government of President Jonathan is ready to protect the commonwealth? Let me say why I believe Jonathan’s government will only get worse.

A government that pays little attention to matters of principle, integrity, reputation and perception cannot succeed. Mr. Tony Anenih who has been accused, from the time when Mr. Orji Kalu was a governor, of embezzling billions of naira budgeted for construction of federal roads when he was Minister of works, has just been appointed by Mr. Jonathan as chairman of the Nigeria Ports Authority. Mr. Doyin Okupe, whom the Benue state government has accused of collecting money to build roads in the state, which he failed to do, is presently serving in the government of the president. The current Minister of Petroleum supervises the NNPC and DPR, both of whom have been fingered in the mismanagement of the fuel subsidy funds. Yet, she sits pretty well in her job without compunction. The report of an investigative panel pretentiously set up by her with regard to oil revenues has been consigned to the bin. These are no cheering signs.

The Nigerian people can only rely on people power to pressure the government towards the desired course. It takes being purposeful and consistent. It requires Nigerian elite who have refused to be soiled to lead the struggle. Nigerians don’t need elite who were on the other side of the oppressors, who now being shut out have suddenly become civil rights activists. But the people can only get what they deserve. Their courage tells when they are deserving of the desired.

Leonard Karshima Shilgba is an Associate Professor of mathematics with the American University of Nigeria and Chair of the Middle Belt Alliance (www.middlebeltalliance.org )
Email: Shilgba@middlebeltalliance.org
Tel: 08055024356\

By Leonard Karshima Shilgba / Yola, Nigeria / Feb. 1, 2013 - I have seen very busy activities by Nigerian professional politicians lately; they work towards achieving their political desires in 2015. I have seen the prince on foot. President Goodluck Jonathan is on foot. I see him walking on foot, without any human security, towards the palace. The gate of the palace is shut against him. Yes, there are guards standing at the gate but no one opens for him. He turns around looking displeased and hopeless at this unexpected treatment.
Now, small aircrafts, in quick spinning succession, taxi on the runway and take off. They are certainly running away from danger. A man is forced on his knees and his head is being chopped off with an axe of judgment. Why are these fellows laboring and planning for what they cannot achieve?

The man in the North-East shall die in seven months, I am told. July, 2013 shall be it? But why is this so? I am told, “It shall be to your benefit.” My benefit, our benefit? They plan like they are divine beings who have control of the future. Terrible things shall happen. It shall not be the usual way. The princes shall cry; terror shall strike through them. I warned in 2010; I alerted in 2009. I speak again what I have seen. Can the wise understand? Will they ignore? Well, it is time to rescue the nation. This year is a year of judgment. But there are some who can’t discern. But we warn all the same.

The coalition of political parties whose only objective is to displace the ruling party shall fail. Their driving passion is too simplistic. Their objective should have been to win over the people. The people do not see an alternative to the ruling party. By the way, the men and women in those opposition parties, where have they come from? What is their pedigree? What have they said in the past? Which political parties have they migrated from? The PDP is a failure. The opposition parties, have they fared better?

I wrote thus shortly after the mass protest in 2012 against the removal of fuel subsidy by President Jonathan:

“Western education or the lack thereof cannot explain the contradictions I see. A man should know their basic interest at least. Probably, the more sophisticated or, let me say, the latent, may escape public consciousness, and this can be excused. But how am I supposed to excuse betrayal? I should expect Nigerians to realize that we have made the society we live in. Does poverty make men foolish; or does it impart madness? I know that poverty can inject the virus of anger, and we are today witnesses to this. But a mixture of anger and foolishness hardly yields dividend. I believe that the story of Nigeria cannot be true without a chapter on the betrayal of courage.

We have lost (and still do) heroes to the opposing camp. Every hero lost does damage to the confidence the people have in the army of patriots that remain in the trenches. The opposing camp is the camp with supposedly delegated power to wrest for the people the right and means to live the dream of humanity on the planet of divinity. I know that desperation can be very deceptive not only for the individual but also for the people that place their hopes in the individual. When the opposing camp has won more converts than it has lost the future of that nation becomes much bleaker.

Desperation for change and national redemption must diminish neither our perception of the price for our labor nor the danger of unequal yoking. When sincere zeal teams up with cunning pretentious resolve a nation loses her heroes; and no nation makes progress that kills off her heroes this way. It always remains true that evil communication corrupts good morals.

I am not against offering public service for public good. But when personal service to a sinking monarch or head of state is disguised in the garb of public service an insidious poison has been concocted. The hero must value his service and dispense it when certain minimal conditions are met, otherwise his service shall be trampled upon and he suffers loss. The next few years under the same leadership in Nigeria shall confer only damage. I see no sincerity in the present Nigerian government; for this the future is not bright. I see only darkness for the next few years unless the Nigerians pick up courage and pile pressure on Jonathan’s government to do what is right; and what is right is quite obvious.”

A new crop of leadership shall emerge out of the darkness of judgment. I should proclaim to Nigerians who are watching, watchmen at the gate of righteousness, lift up your heads for your redemption draws near. Tame your lusts; watch out for traps. It shall turn into bitterness in their mouths. They shall pour out in the streets. And we all shall see it. It shall not be the usual way. You will all see it; then understanding shall replace the present puerile ignorance. Welcome to the morning!

Leonard Shilgba is an Associate Professor of Mathematics with the American University of Nigeria and Founder/Overseer of the Bible Clinic Ministries. He also serves as the chairman of the Middle Belt Alliance (www.middlebeltalliance.org).
Tel: 08055024356
Email: shilgba@middlebeltalliance.org; bibleclinicministries@gmail.com

By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba / Yola, Nigeria / April 1, 2003 –

By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba / Yola, Nigeria / April 15, 2013 – A Forgiving Nation, a Deceived Nation
By
Leonard Karshima Shilgba
I am a citizen of my nation, a nation always eager to forgive. This is a nation that offers forgiveness even when it is not asked. Mine is a deceived nation, sold the counterfeit religion in which it gloats. The messages coming from the pulpits of many religious congregations are adulterated. Nigeria is made drunk from spiked religious wine. Wrong theology has made us inured to evil and hateful of reason. Many of my people believe that reason is antithetical to true religion. But reasoning is the path to true knowledge of true religion. “Come and let us reason together” is a phrase common in true religion. I call on Nigerians and friends of Nigeria to come along with me on this journey of reason.
If right living follows right knowledge, why is it that in spite of so many churches on our streets and many Islamic sects in Nigeria this nation has known neither peace nor purity in either private or public conduct? The reason is that what is taught in churches and mosques is not right knowledge. If traditional religion was the repository of pure knowledge, why is it that the custodians of culture, Nigeria’s traditional rulers, have not shown a better example than politicians do?
Religious, traditional, and political leaders in Nigeria always call for forgiveness, unity, and peace. The louder those calls are becoming, much worse have killings, kidnappings, public corruption, and private corruptions become. Religious leaders live like kings and queens while the majority of their congregation lives in abject poverty. They promise prosperity and “breakthroughs” to their congregations, but extreme poverty is the sad result. They make merchandize of the people, but the people worship and revere them. When you attempt to point out the wrong of either religious or political leaders, you are warned of the destructive fate that awaits those that dare—“Touch not the Lord’s anointed!” There is hypnotism of religion, complemented by quasi-democratic fraud.
If the primary purpose of government is security and welfare of the people, then we should not “just forgive” offenders of the state whose actions have impoverished the people, reduced the life expectancy, brought people to untimely deaths, and worsened all human development indices. Religious people parrot that we should “forgive”, that “to err is human, but to forgive is divine.” So we have cheapened forgiveness, and engaged in public distribution of “forgiveness” even to those who neither appreciate nor deserve it. But there is a fact about forgiveness that Nigerians often overlook. Political leaders are “Avengers” for God, “sword-bearers” for God, and “ministers” of God, who must reward those that do good, and punish those that do evil. They cannot forgive on behalf of the people except this serves public interest. Furthermore, restitution must follow. For instance, if a road project was paid for, and yet the road was not built, it would be a public offence for the leader, the avenger, the sword-bearer, and minister, to “forgive” without first recovering all embezzled public funds and resulting fines from the contractors and conniving thieving public officials. Even at that, as a deterrent, those criminals must be punished.
Many religious Nigerians would call for accountability from public officials, but when you ask their religious leaders to give annual account of the offerings and “tithes” that they collect, you would be branded badly by the same religious folks. They hold their pastors, overseers, and bishops like some demigods who are beyond reproach and questioning. Why do we hold different standards for different people? A Nigerian pastor would warn his congregation against “politics” and claim that “politics is a dirty game.” The next moment, you see him hobnobbing with those “dirty politicians” and collecting gifts from them. They also “bless” the same “dirty politicians” who visit them to “collect blessing”. What a contradiction! Furthermore, when you get close to their churches, you would witness first-hand the deadly politics for power among pastors and church leaders.
Politics is not a dirty game anymore than church governance is. Some players may be corrupt, but that does not make the game so. Can you imagine a world without political leaders to whom God refers as his “ministers”? Every man and woman has their calling from God, and this is a private matter. Our religious leaders have done a poor job on Nigerians, many of whom are members of their congregation. Those are left uneducated about holding their leaders accountable. Rather, they are told blandly to “pray” for their leaders. “The Pharisees sit in the seat of Moses. Don’t do what they do, for they say and do not.” These are the words of Jesus Christ who took time to teach his disciples about the position and responsibilities of leaders. A religious leader must be well-informed about the constitutional provisions (the responsibilities, rights, and privileges of citizens and leaders) of his country in addition to his professed knowledge of the scriptures. The same goes to Islamic leaders, and leaders of other religions.
Many Nigeria scholars and professors have equally failed the young that sit under their tutoring. A professor of Chemistry, for instance, can hardly comment intelligently about public issues such as budgeting, democratic governance, constitutional rights, privileges, and responsibilities of citizens and leaders, etc. They only write “research papers” for either promotion or to keep down their jobs. They are not ashamed to say, “I am not interested in politics.” Is it any wonder that Nigerian students pass through their academic care and cannot discuss intelligently their nation, but react only by spewing out vulgarities when they lack the intellectual dexterity to engage in discourses? I believe, and I have written that Nigerians must give themselves to reading for national renewal. Nigerians, thieves won’t steal your books; so why don’t you invest your money in buying books that will expand the quality of your thought? We seem not to have faith in the power of knowledge. We believe rather that with plenty of money we can buy just anything in Nigeria, including votes and public offices. This is also a deception. When the light of proper knowledge lights up Nigerians, this cannot happen anymore. The probability of lies winning in an oasis of knowledge approaches zero!
We don’t need mega parties to win elections. Every election is won locally. Have you heard of Operation 774? A Nigerian patriot told me about this idea, and I would like to share with you. Concentrate your political capital on your local government. If that is too much to start with, I suggest you start with your clan. Call for a meeting of the youths in your clan. Teach them what you know about Nigeria (Please, take time to acquaint yourself with the Nigerian constitution). Let them see the difference between reality and the ideal, and then ask how committed they are to bringing about the ideal. Take a look at the second chapter of the constitution, Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy. Explain to them those wonderful privileges of citizenship. As they begin to enjoy the possibilities, open to section six and show them how their hopes cannot be guaranteed by the current arrangement except they get into the national assembly and state houses of assembly the people that would fight for them. Show them in the Fourth schedule of the constitution how it is the responsibility of local governments to build and maintain homes for the homeless and infirm. Then let them know how their governor is an enemy to this objective. Let them know that the allocations for their local government are being kept by the governor for himself and maybe for his village and family members. Paint a graphic picture of how they are being robbed by their governor while they watch like cowards. Make it clear to them that local government chairmen cannot fight the governor because they are appointees of the governor who has forced them on the people; that they (the youths) must embark on public pressure and awareness to halt the continual impoverishment of their local government and villages. More importantly, tell them that it is their responsibility to spread the information you give them.
If you need help with implementing this in your village or local government, we can help you. I am willing to travelling across this nation to help. Don’t be in a hurry; but be hopeful as you start meeting with your people, your children’s people. They may be 50 here, 100 tomorrow. But know this; one convert makes two of you. Remember, elections are a local affair.
Because there is no independent candidacy in Nigeria, you would need a political party. Don’t choose any of the parties that have destroyed your village and local government for the past decade. This is because all the neglect of the people that you will show in plain narratives before the people happened under the ruling party. Find a virgin party. People make parties; parties don’t make people. Build integrity for at least two years, and then run or sponsor people to run. Make the people understand that it is their duty to contribute to any campaign fund they believe in, and that it is the responsibility of candidates to give monthly account of how much money they have raised and how the money has been spent.
We must not forgive the misrule of the ruling parties in our various states and local governments. We shall punish it. All contractors (Enemies-In-Chief of Nigerians) who have assisted to deceive and rob us for years shall give account. All the trillions of naira that they and politicians have collected since 1999 for public projects, which have not been completed, must be recovered and not forgiven. Let us get to work. Let us reject deception. Let us arise without any more distractions.

Leonard Karshima Shilgba is an Associate Professor of Mathematics with the American University of Nigeria, Chair of the Middle Belt Alliance and founder and overseer of the Bible Clinic Ministries.
TEL: +234 (0) 8055024356 EMAIL: shilgba@yahoo.com; Web: www.middlebeltalliance.org

By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba | Yola, Nigeria | June 19, 2013 – Politics is defined as activities associated with governance of a country or area. From etymological enquiry, the word politics derives from the Greek word “politikos”, which means “of, for, or relating to citizens.” Thus, Wikipedia defines politics as “an art or science of influencing other people on a civic or individual level. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance.” Politics, therefore, is about the people—exercising power or influence in such a way that there is equitable allocation and management of limited resources, opportunities, and privileges for the happiness, peace, security, good health, and general prosperity of the people.

In Nigeria, the word “politics” has been misused and abused in a manner that this noble art and science now connotes everything that is evil with human relationships in the country. Accordingly, puritans are hateful of being referred to as “politicians”. They would say, “I am not a politician.” Therefore, a “politician”, in Nigerian lexicon, is perceived as someone who is dishonest, corrupt, and of very low moral rating. A study of the holy bible informs any keen student that God takes leadership or governance of nations very seriously. And if politics is about governance of a country or area, then the quality of people involved in it should be highly essential. God calls leaders his avengers, sword-bearers, and ministers. It is only reasonable that leaders must be on the side of nobility, ethics, empathy, and sympathy. Politics is a noble and high calling. God needs noble and highly disciplined people to get involved with politics for survival of society—its morals, values, and endowments.

Nigerians of very high moral discipline have been deceived and scared away from the art and science of politics by those who have come to give it a false meaning. As they watch with horror from a distance, society is being destroyed with insidious consequences that shall eventually consume even those puritans and their offspring. Some pastors and preachers even preach that politics is evil. Those need to study their holy books more closely and repent of this falsehood. Some of us scholars are either cowardly or selfish in our display of pathological hatred of and disgust for politics. We are either afraid for our lives at the hands of hijackers and abusers of the art, who falsely call themselves “Politicians”, or we are too selfish, thinking only of “building our careers” and “securing the future of our children” to be “distracted” by “politics”. So, some of us remain in our universities until we grey away. And when we are old and very senile, we find “politics” a convenient pastime and a waiting venture until our passing. This then is our national tragedy.

Those of us who write about our common national tragedy, who dream of providing good leadership, should search our motives, heart, values, abilities and calling, and come out of hiding and cowardice. I am also speaking to myself. We have yielded the ground for too long to pretenders and thugs. Yes, a few true politicians have slipped through the narrow cracks into public governance; yet, they are too few to make the kind of difference our people need. Nigerian scholars should be touched by gruesome available data on Nigeria. In less than 5 years Nigeria’s population shall exceed 200 million, at the growth rate of 3 per cent. And if this growth is sustained or exceeded, the population shall exceed 300 million in less than 30 years and exceed 500 million before 2050, when many of you readers shall be alive and active. Where is the requisite carrying capacity in our public schools, recruiting industries and companies, health institutions, public transport infrastructure and the supporting energy sector, public housing, and the food industry? Don’t we need true politicians in the state and national assemblies, who are moved by statistics? This is not the time for fruitless prayers without plans and relevant actions. God has given Nigerians a country to manage; some even doubt if we must remain together as one country. But this is beside the point. I am talking of active involvement in managing our societies no matter how small. We must be involved in the governance of our wards, local governments, states, and the nation.
Now is the time to start. Determine in advance which public offices possess the kind of influence you may require to provide good governance for your people, and research the requirements and responsibilities of such offices. Choose a political party, not because it is populated by angels, but because you need one, and, in your genuine estimation, it is the best vehicle within your area to accomplish your goal. Do not allow the thought, “Let other people get involved and improve the welfare of my people.” Think as if there is no one else. If you are a man or woman of valour, why should your people suffer? Always link your present prosperity to the prospective prosperity of your people. Then, find a model politician (in Nigeria or abroad; living or dead) whom you admire, and begin to study their forays into the noble art of politics—the challenges they faced, the errors they made, how they were helped and why, the methods they applied to win over enemies and retain friends, how they communicated vision, and most importantly, how they used power.

In conclusion, permit me to say this. We have fake pastors and prophets, but this does not make Christianity a “dirty game.” We have fake Muslims who perpetrate crimes in the name of Islam, but this does not in itself make Islam a “Dirty game.” Some teachers have raped their students and done so many immoral things at their schools; but this does not make teaching a “Dirty game.” Why should we, with our intellectual power of reason, buy into this false propaganda against politics to such an extent that we have allowed the science and art to be corruptly misrepresented by those who don’t know its meaning, who have turned it into lasciviousness to satisfy their lusts? It is like a man who stumbles on a foreign currency note on the road. His co-wayfarer tells him that there is no use for the currency in their country. Seeing the fruitlessness of taking home the money, he leaves it on the road side only for his co-wayfarer to return after and take the note home. By the time this man discovers he has been deceived, the note has been changed and spent. It is time to re-educate ourselves about politics and to re-introduce it to the electorate the way it really is.

Leonard Shilgba is the founder and Overseer of the Bible Clinic Ministry and Associate Professor of Mathematics with the American University of Nigeria.
shilgba@yahoo.com

By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba | Yola, Nigeria | July 7, 2013 – In 2010 when the drumbeats for the 2011 general elections in Nigeria grew louder, a group of elders in Northern Nigeria, called the Northern Elders Forum, made very threatening noises and insisted on having a Nigerian from the North emerge as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I remember that I did an article in which I unreservedly deplored such divisive inclination by elders such as Adamu Ciroma. I was not and am still not interested in which part of Nigeria a president should come from. I did not rebuke my elders from the North because I wanted President Jonathan to become Nigeria’s president. In fact, I warned in an article published in May 2010, Nigeria: Interpreting Times and Events, that President Jonathan would disappoint many who had hopes in him. And I must confess that he has.

During the fuel subsidy protests in January 2012, Jonathan’s kinswoman, Ankio Briggs made a very condemnable statement. She said, “If Nigerians don’t want President Jonathan, then they don’t need our oil.” People like her saw the protests against the removal of the subsidy as rejection of Jonathan. People like Ms Briggs considered it wrong for Nigerians to complain even though they were fed such unpalatable menu of ill-conceived and wrongly-delivered policies, which have rather exacerbated the already hard living conditions of Nigerians without any prior preparations at ameliorating them. I may be corrected; but were Nigerians from the Niger Delta region immune to the removal of the subsidy? Did Jonathan make a secret deal to alleviate the sufferings of Niger Delta people?

Now that the year 2015 approaches when general elections shall hold again in Nigeria, almost every statement, action, and maybe thought, for those with clairvoyant powers, is being interpreted to mean support or the lack thereof for President Jonathan. What is so special about President Jonathan that people such as Asari Dokubo and his collaborators think that Nigeria would cease to exist should President Jonathan not “win” the 2015 presidential elections? Even performing presidents are voted against by the people during elections in various democracies in the world; how much more an under-achieving president? So, if I and Nigerians who think like me vote against President Jonathan in 2015, then Mr. Dokubo could mobilize against us. Do we elect to have democracy or its aberration? Must people be frightened to vote for a candidate or persuaded with reason and pleasing evidence?

I have read and listened to arguments concerning the election of the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), which produced a winner who got 19 votes against his contender that scored 16. As a mathematician, I can prove that the number 19 is greater than 16. I am sorry, even non-mathematicians should know that 19 is a greater number than 16. But, for the sake of reasoning, let us assume that number 16 is greater than 19. Well, if you rotate the digit 6 in number 16 clockwise through angle 180 degrees, you would get number 19. But it is trite that 180-degree rotation always yields the opposite. Therefore, 16 can never be 19, or even greater than 19. Thus, we have proved by contradiction the fooleries of Nigerians who claim that the candidate who scored 16 votes in the NGF election is the winner of that election.

I have seen a strange thing. Even ordinarily reasonable people, in the efforts at foisting falsehood upon our national consciousness, have been found to support or defend the indefensible. And I am concerned. How can the president of Nigeria support an illegality? How can the president of the Nigerian Bar Association disrobe himself of judicial perception? How can Nigerians that have loudly called for “credible elections” in the past accept that number 16 is greater than number 19? And why would some Nigerians call for the “proscription” of the NGF only because a pretender, with the backing of President Jonathan and a host of enemies of democracy, has proclaimed himself the chairman of the NGF, even though he participated in the election—contested and voted—and lost? Should states in Nigeria be “proscribed” in the future when pretenders claim to win gubernatorial election? Should Nigeria be “proscribed” in 2015 when the loser proclaims himself the winner? Why have we suddenly lost the voice to speak up? Why has decency taken flight out of the room? President Jonathan is showing his hand; he is doing a dress rehearsal of what to do in 2015. I must announce loudly, as I wrote in my article in January this year, The Prince On Foot, the gate of the palace has been shut against Jonathan.

Few days ago, the Egyptian army sacked a democratically-elected president presumably to bring about peace and stability in that country. The head of the judiciary, Adly Mansour was sworn in as caretaker president until new elections should be held to elect a new president. Nations have reacted differently in measured degrees. Very indicative of a strange trend is the response from the US government, which is not to insist on the restoration of President Morsy to his elected position. The US government calls on the Egyptian army to “quickly and responsibly return full authority to an elected civilian government.” It should be noted that the US government is not insisting on restoration of full authority to President Morsy, but rather to “an elected civilian government.” The military general who announced the removal of President Morsy had been appointed by President Morsy. The Brazilian government calls for dialogue in Egypt in order to fulfill the people’s demands for democracy, freedom and prosperity. This is what I would refer to as a call for a sovereign national conference. The Syrian president commented, “Whoever uses religion for political gains or in favor of one party without the other will fall in every place of the world.” The Muslim Brotherhood, the party that had produced former President Morsy, has got its headquarters destroyed and its leaders are being arrested. The people simply got fed-up with the party and president they had elected (yes, elected!), and the military had to step in at the expiration of a deadline issued to Mr. Morsy to implement a set roadmap for rescue.

Democracy without freedom and prosperity is like a car without an engine or an empty plate served to a hungry person; he would break the plate in exasperation and frustration! The emerging trend in Egypt is a lesson to countries such as Nigeria. The infamous section 134 of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, which places time limitations on electoral litigation, which limitations were exploited to deny fair hearing to petitioners and to preserve rigged elections in 2011, has not been attended to yet by the national assembly in order to cure the abuses of the past. It seems to me that the nation has gone asleep without a care that it may be used again in 2015. But I warn that then, it would spell doom to our democratic experiment.

Section 102 of the Electoral Act (2010) states as follows: “Any candidate, person or association who engages in campaigning or broadcasting based on religious, tribal or sectional reason for the purpose of promoting or opposing a particular political party or the election of a particular candidate, is guilty of an offence under this Act and on conviction is liable to a maximum fine of N 1,000,000 or imprisonment for twelve months or to both.” Need I say that the politics of zoning, to the exclusion of certain candidates, is against the Electoral Act? Have we not repeatedly shown ourselves to be outlaws in this country?

I have written copiously about re-engineering Nigeria. I have proposed a suspension of the quasi-democratic rehearsals we have engaged in since 1999. The Nigerian military can take a critical look at the happenings in Egypt, the reactions by nations of the world to those, and consider how to instigate a rescue of the nation if the present politicians fail to reverse the human deprivations and insecurity in our nation. Brazen impunity by those who should protect and preserve the law is our great undoing in Nigeria while poverty and worsening unemployment are time bombs ticking away. Should a military intervention in Nigeria become necessary, it should be to install a caretaker civilian government to begin the serious work of nation-building, to wit, the convening of a sovereign national conference, which shall lead to the framing of a people’s constitution (Read the following essays of mine online, “Re-engineering Nigeria, Part 1”; “A Manual for a Sovereign National Conference”; and “Dialogue On a Sovereign National Conference”).

I cannot conclude without calling on Nigerian scholars and technocrats like me to seriously consider becoming involved in the noble art and science of politics for nation-building, at least for the sake of our children whom we must not allow to grow up to old age in such a crisis-laden country. There is a limit to what our writings and academic advocacy can accomplish in an environment that is anti-intellectual. We must consider becoming activists in government. We must not consciously seek government appointment; rather, we must seek out our people, patiently enlighten them, and ask for their mandate to serve in public positions of influence that shall enable us implement those ideas we have written or spoken about repeatedly. If you have got a burden, the burden to build this country, then you must find a political vehicle and work through it courageously, diligently, and with faith to achieve the goal. It is usually said that Nigerians are docile. I think we the supposedly enlightened ones are both docile and cowardly, and also selfish. I hope your lamentations shall not continue beyond 2015. Now is the time to work. It is time to be selfless and bold. These traits are infectious. The masses are like their scholars and philosophers. If we have betrayed the cause, they will. If, in spite of our relative comfort, we can still compromise for a pot of broth, why can’t the masses sell their votes for a kobo? Arise, ye cowardly and selfish Nigerian elite!

Leonard Shilgba is an itinerant scholar and Associate Professor of Mathematics with the American University of Nigeria (about to leave).
shilgba@yaho.com

By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba | Yola, Nigeria | October 12, 2013 –  

Below is the speech delivered by Leonard Shilgba at the Tiv Day Adamawa State event held at the Ribadu Square, Yola on October 5, 2013.

This day, to me, marks the beginning of a pursuit of a new agenda for my Tiv nation and the Nigerian federation. It is now 53 years since Nigeria got political independence from Britain, the founder of Nigeria. And in those 53 years, we Nigerians have generally found it difficult to say openly, responsibly, and in faith those truths that we must speak up for national healing, national re-birth, and national integration. Considering the topic I have been sentenced to address this day—on the first Tiv Day in Adamawa State, there are 10 questions I consider necessary for common consideration:

Who is a Nigerian? How do we easily identify ourselves in Nigeria? Are our religious affiliations more consequential to us than our ethnic identification? Can we ever achieve religious integration? What is ethnic integration, and what benefits does this confer on Nigeria? What are the obstacles of ethnic integration in Nigeria? How are Tiv people viewed by other ethnic groups in Nigeria? How do Tiv people view themselves? What is the position of the Tiv people in the social evolution of Nigeria? What is the strategic interest of the Tiv nation within the larger Nigerian federation?

Who is a Nigerian?

The extant Nigerian Constitution, Decree 24 of 1998, provides a faulty foundation of the Nigerian citizenship by birth. Section 25 (1) states as follows:

The following persons are citizens of Nigeria by birth, namely—

(a)    Every person born in Nigeria before the date of independence, either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents belongs or belonged to a community indigenous to Nigeria:

    Provided that a person shall not become a citizen of Nigeria by virtue of this section if neither of his parents nor any of his grandparents was born in Nigeria;

(b)   Every person born in Nigeria after the date of independence either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents is a citizen of Nigeria; and

(c)    Every person born outside Nigeria either of whose parents is a citizen of Nigeria.

Subsection (2) states that: In this section, “the date of independence” means the 1^st day of October, 1960.

This section has made the matter of Nigerian citizenship by birth nebulous, and what date does the constitution consider to be the birth day of Nigeria; 1900, 1914, or 1960? Certainly, from the tenor of this section, 1960 date is not the contemplated date:

1. What qualifies a people as a community indigenous to Nigeria?
2. Provided the question of indigenous communities is answered, then how does one belong to an indigenous community—by ability to speak their common language or by living in the community for a specified minimum number of years (the constitution does not provide answers)?
3.  Suppose neither my parents’ grandparents nor parents were born in Nigeria, but by some definition of inclusivity within some community indigenous to Nigeria, they belong (or belonged) to such community, then my parents by virtue of section 25 (1) (a) are NOT citizens of Nigeria. And I, according to section 25 (1) (b), am NOT a citizen of Nigeria.

The current constitution of Nigeria has shut the door of citizenship by birth firmly against many people who assume they are Nigeria’s citizens by birth. And the question of citizenship is the beginning of the journey toward national patriotism.

I make a firm conclusion therefore that persons who are not citizens of Nigeria by either registration or naturalisation, but who may assume citizenship by birth, may be making a costly assumption. By a chain of inquiry, they may not be Nigerians after all. Accordingly, the definition of citizenship by birth is tendentious. There is an urgent need to define:

1. Communities indigenous to Nigeria;
2. Processes of gaining inclusivity in those communities; and
3. Citizenship by birth in a manner that is more inclusive.

How do we easily identify ourselves in Nigeria?

In the wild assumption of citizenship by birth, it is very common in Nigeria for people to identify themselves by their ethnic tribes, groups, or religions. Phrases such as “I am Hausa, Fulani, Igbo, Yoruba, Tiv, Ijaw,…” or “I am a Niger Deltan, South-southerner, Northerner, Middle Beltan, South Westerner, etc.,” or “I am a Muslim, Christian” are most common with us than those like “ I am from Benue State or I am from Adamawa State.” While those identifications are in themselves not wrong,   it is disturbing how we rely so strongly on them to “fight” for political power, economic advantage or social justice at either national or local levels.  And when we are constrained to choose between ethnic identity or religious affiliation, we most often choose the latter. This, in most cases is the cause of many a crises we have had in our country. Most disgusting is when we view any criticisms against our men and women in public offices through the dual lenses of ethnicity and religion.  

We tend to assume that if someone who professes the same religion or ethnic identification with us occupies some political or public position, then our interest is protected or we at least can gain some vanity of pride, just mere sense of pride even if there is no tangible gain that comes to us thereby. In the midst of fuel subsidy protests last year, a lady from the president’s ethnic group said, “If Nigerians don’t want President Jonathan, then they don’t need our oil.” This vanity is behind the principle of zoning in the so-called “biggest party in Africa”, and it is gradually being destroyed by the same vanity.

Can we ever achieve religious integration?

Can we ever achieve religious integration? We don’t need religious integration in Nigeria, and it is never ever possible anywhere on earth to achieve harmonization of religions; rather we can achieve and must attain religious tolerance in Nigeria. While we can never choose our ethnic groups, being a natural gift, we can and in fact do choose our religions. Religion is a personal adventure.  It is a vain effort to attempt to either “Islamize” or “Christianize” someone. We humans can neither change nor monitor the motions of the heart of another. Many who claim to be “Christians” or “Muslims” live in complete opposite to the tenets of those faiths. Did not Mahatma Ghandi say in response to a question by a Christian missionary on why he had rejected Christ and yet quoted Christ’s words often, “Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It is just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ”?

And has not the courageous Sheik Ahmad Abubakar Gumi made it plain even as he said, “If you attack Church, where people are worshipping, what is the profit and for what purpose? Is it Allah or Prophet that sent you? Is there any Muslim that said you should attack a church? Talk of mosque, they are being used in destroying Islam and may Allah help them to know. Our strength is our unity and the practice of real Islam. And anybody who thinks he will be using force like this, Islam and Ummah have no greater enemy than him.”

Religion is a heart issue and should be left to individuals. If I truly loved someone, I should respect them enough to allow them to make their choices. I may advise and inform; but never must I compel them or threaten them.

Inter-religious dialogue is a phrase that doesn’t make any sense to me. Rather, we should have meaningful inter-personal dialogue. But Nigerian politicians make this most difficult to achieve for their lack of vision and power of communication of same. In this their poverty, they assault our ears with either religious appeals or ethnic campaigns.

What is ethnic integration, and what benefits does this confer on Nigeria?

Ethnic integration is not the absence of recognition that ethnic groups exist. It is not a denial that a people have come from different ethnic groups with distinctive cultures. Rather, it is a conscious effort to not exploit those differences. It is a refusal by national opinion leaders and the political class to keep projecting ethnic differences on the screen of national consciousness.  It is this diagnosis that has revealed to the pondering mind the existence of a severe social gangrene in Nigeria called zoning. The zoning principle that has been accepted by the Nigerian political class is a major cause of tension and violence in the land. It is more exclusive than it is inclusive; it tears apart more than it brings together.  All ethnic discriminatory considerations that relate to employment, admission to national or state institutions of learning, and political contests must be not only discouraged but criminalized if we will achieve ethnic integration.

The benefits of ethnic integration are legion, but the most recognized is that it reduces national tension. And that is what Nigeria needs at this time. It is the best service our politicians can provide us at this defining moment of our national history. Furthermore, ethnic integration enhances mutual economic benefits and a sharing of economic prosperity among the various ethnic groups in Nigeria. We cannot achieve common prosperity so long as we place economic barriers before our brethren from other parts of Nigeria. We need to preach boldly against the evils of economic exclusion as well even as we have not been oblivious of political exclusion for the most part. There are certain businesses in Nigeria that are difficult to engage in if one belongs to certain ethnic groups. The Nollywood industry, for instance, is dominated by a certain ethnic group in Nigeria.

I understand that this situation is not for want of effort or interest by our brothers and sisters from other ethnic groups in Nigeria, especially given the wild unemployment scourge in the land. Such perceptions do not encourage ethnic integration. The Tiv people are the dominant producers of oranges in Nigeria. But while they allow Nigerians from other ethnic groups to gain access to their orange orchards even in the countryside, they are not allowed to derive the optimal benefits because they don’t control prices. They have therefore become slaves for the rest of Nigeria in this regard. The Tiv people are known for the production of yams and other crops such as soya beans, melon, tomatoes, etc.,  from which they derive only marginal benefits because they do not control the prices. I think the time has come for us the Tiv people to ponder this and demand of our brothers and sisters in Nigeria a just bargain.

On Tiv People

The Tiv people, by population, are the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria, with a population of about 7 million. We are most known for our music and dancing, bravery, courage, and farming ingenuity. Some Nigerians “fear” us. But we view ourselves beyond those considerations. We believe in our intricate abilities to create wealth, our strong independence of mind. The “ka hen awe m ye m tse ga” (You are not the one that feeds me) common expression of a Tiv man was to express this independence disposition.

 We were the last ethnic group to migrate to the area now called Nigeria, but  our forefathers were able to obtain for us a foothold in Nigeria. That was an agenda that they accomplished successfully. By the time we first came into contact with the British colonial lords in about 1907, we were firmly planted.  But what should be our strategic interest today? Our unapologetic opposition to oppression pitched us against the Sir Ahmadu Bello-led government of Northern Nigeria. Our decision to form an alliance with the Awolowo Obafemi-led political group eventually led to the Tiv riots of the early 60s. Our involvement in the civil war understandably to save Nigeria earned the Tiv people the hatred of the Igbos. At this time, we the Tiv people of our generation refuse to play the second fiddle to any ethnic group. We shall join no ethnic group in Nigeria to pursue a narrow interest that is not even ours. However, we accept any economic  or political partnership on the basis of equality and mutual interest. We cannot love others more than we love ourselves.

The Fulani herdsman that used to be a friend of the Tiv has lately turned the dagger on his friend. So, like the Jews, we appear to stand alone in our island within the ocean of Nigeria. Don’t Tiv people deserve the right to farm and not have their crops destroyed by the cattle of their erstwhile Fulani friends? And must nomadic cattle-rearing still be allowed in this age of cattle ranching? The Tiv blood has been shed enough on our land, and we cannot afford it any longer.  The bill on forced acquisition of grazing land across Nigeria for the Fulani cattle men, which was proposed by Hon. Tsokwa does not meet the interest of the Tiv people, and we reject it.

The Tiv of our generation have taken sad notice of developments around our people—their growing artificial impoverishment, lack of appropriate voice on their behalf, and the quiet acceptance by the majority of the Tivs that their ancestors brought them into Nigeria, and now they have become slaves on their land, gradually being turned into beggars.

Leonard Shilgba is a Mathematics professor and social commentator.

Email: shilgba@yahoo.com; TEL: 08055024356.

By Leonard Karshima Shilgba | Yola, Nigeria | Nov. 7, 2013 – President Jonathan announced on October 1, 2013 his intention to convoke a national conference at which there would be no issues excluded from discussion. He then inaugurated on October 7, 2013 a committee he charged to come up with a framework for the conference. To those that assumed they understood the president, this committee should determine among other things the composition of delegates to the conference, the timeline for the conference, whether the outcome of the conference should be submitted to a national referendum (and how such referendum should be conducted, and how long the referendum should last) or referred to the National Assembly and state houses of assembly. In approaching its assignment, the committee is expected by Nigerians to collate views or submissions from Nigerians and attempt to meld them into a certain firm position that should be submitted to the National Assembly for passage into an act that should give some legal backing to the national conference.  

On Tuesday, October 15, 2013, only 8 days after the inauguration of the conference committee, and less than 5 weeks to the conclusion of the assignment of that committee, President Jonathan was reported to have said that he “would forward the outcome of the national conference to the National Assembly so that it would form an integral part of the on-going Constitution amendment.” It is amazing! Has the president not pre-empted the committee already by his reported comments? Does he truly understand what he has undertaken to do? A national conference of the magnitude and importance the president should be contemplating at this point in the history of Nigeria should not be one whose outcome is to “form an integral part of the on-going Constitution amendment.”

President Jonathan’s National Conference committee’s main task is to provide the president with a conference bill to be passed into law by the National Assembly in order to give legal strength to the outcome of the conference. And in working out such a bill, the committee should do a careful reading of sections 8 and 9 of the 1999 constitution in order to frame a bill that gives some order for the expected national referendum.

1. The first consideration is to alter section 8 in order to create a pathway for the outcome of a National Conference toward a brand new people’s constitution via a national referendum. Section 9 (3) states that:

An Act of the National Assembly for the purpose of altering the provisions of this section, section 8 or Chapter IV of this Constitution shall not be passed by either House of the National Assembly unless the proposal is approved by the votes of not less than four-fifths majority of all the members of each House, and also approved by resolution of the Houses of Assembly of not less than two-thirds of all the States.

1. Section 8 (1) (b), (c) (3) (b), (c) makes references to approvals by at least two-thirds majority of the people in reference in a referendum with respect to creation of new states and creation of new local government areas. Relevant amendments should be proposed by the National Conference committee in order to accommodate the outcome of a national conference.
2. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO SECTION 8:

An insertion of subsection 7 should read as follows:

(a)    In the event of a National Conference to determine any national questions called by either the President of the Federation via a published gazette or the National Assembly by a resolution passed by a simple majority of members of each House, the conference shall last for not more than twelve months. A national referendum shall hold not later than one year after completion of conference proceedings, and the referendum shall be conducted by the National Electoral body over a period of not more than one week, during which the result shall be declared.

(b)   The proposal of the conference shall not become law except approved in a national referendum by at least two-thirds majority of all Nigerians of voting age that shall participate in the referendum, which shall be observed by the United Nations.

(c)     The approved conference proposal shall become law and supersede all sections of the existing constitution that stand in conflict with any of its provisions.

President Jonathan should not presume to hold a national conference unless he has first taken both legislative and legal steps to ensure that the conference pregnancy is not aborted or the foetus is not inchoate. With regard to the proposed amendments above only 85 senators and 288 members of the House of Representatives are required to start-off the process.  We must not wait for the outcome of the conference before providing the legal scaffold to attain a more perfect union.  And considering that there are less than 18 months to the end of the present federal administration and much less that time to the conduct of the next general elections, the time remaining should be used to effect the relevant amendments I have proposed above while the national conference should commence after May, 2015. If this is done, candidates for the next general legislative and executive elections should be made to make their positions on the contemplated conference well known to their electorate. Meanwhile, ethnic nationalities and civil society groups should begin holding pre-conference discourses across the country in order to filter through their positions and expectations in a new Nigerian federation. In the end, a national conference should achieve seven things. Its outcome should:

1. Remove wastes from governance;
2. Remove weakness from the constituent parts of the country and return economic competition;
3. Recover wealth for the host communities that host productive industries with only environmental devastation as the reward;
4. Restore fiscal federalism and devolution of relevant powers to the regions;
5. Re-define Nigerian citizenship by birth in a way that is more inclusive;
6. Register a bill of rights for citizens; and
7. Restore national and local security through local or regional policing and justice.

I would not want a national conference that resembles the Amnesty that was granted the militants of the Niger Delta by President Yar’Adua and facilitated by President Jonathan, which has not improved on the quality of life of the people of the region. Rather, a few rogues have been made super rich enough to afford private jets while their environment remains devastated and polluted. The amnesty was simply a bribe to the “militants” to stop fighting for their people; and they fell for it for their nauseating greed for pecuniary benefits. These were not real freedom fighters, for their people are not yet free even though they have got free money to buy private jets in the midst of their people’s pitiable living conditions and squalor. What a corrupt generation! I am not expecting a national conference that shall fail at the start. If President Jonathan and the national assembly have not been able to complete work on the Petroleum Industry Bill for passage into an Act of the National Assembly, how can they pass the necessary National Conference Act? Maybe President Jonathan will surprise us all and do the right thing this time.

Email: Shilgba@yahoo.com

TEL: 08055024356

By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba | Yola, Nigeria | Dec. 15, 2013 - Obasanjo’s December 2, 2013 excoriating letter to President Jonathan has elicited diverse reactions from Nigerians. While some see the letter as appropriate, others have asked what “moral right” President Obasanjo has to write such a letter to President Jonathan.

First of all, I should provide what to me were highlights of the letter, and my personal observations:

1. President Jonathan has deliberately yielded to the temptation of sectionalizing his presidency as an Ijaw or South-South presidency and gloated in the highly provocative utterances of his kinsmen such as Asari Dokubo, Edwin Clarke, and Ankio Briggs. I have written against such unguarded show of sectionalism and clannishness. In January, 2012, in the heat of massive fuel subsidy protests, Ms Briggs said on national television, “If Nigerians don’t want Jonathan then they don’t need our oil.” Following that, there have been threats by some strategically placed members of Jonathan’s ethnic group that if Mr. Jonathan would not be president after the 2015 general elections there would be no Nigeria. What nonsense! Some of Jonathan’s tribal folks have even threatened to “disown” him should he refuse to contest. And has President Jonathan publicly distanced himself from such ethnic patronizing? No! Accordingly, President Obasanjo has warned that with such “possessive” tendencies of an Ijaw presidency under Jonathan, it would be difficult for another Ijaw man to be trusted by Nigerians to become their president in the near future. The chronicles of the sad ethnicization of the Nigerian presidency by Jonathan and his tribalists will not be expunged from our history even by an expensive wish.  Only few days ago, a fellow Nigerian from the North was arrested for saying some “inciting things” against the Jonathan government; but the bellicose Asari Dokubo rather gets presidential encouragement in spite of his often more acerbic verbiage.
2. President Jonathan’s actions and inactions have encouraged unprecedented levels of corruption in our national life. Exponential increase in spending on “fuel subsidy” under Jonathan to trillions of naira annually from a few hundred billions under Obasanjo’s regime and Yar’Adua’s government (although I had written to express my concerns during the Yar’Adua government, that expenditure on the same item had suddenly increased by about 100 per cent over the Obasanjo era’s). Moreover, no government official who appeared before the House committee on fuel subsidy last year was willing to answer the question, “Who authorized the extra-budgetary expenditure on fuel subsidy in 2011?” We can conclude that the big elephant in government did, and none of the officials was willing to attract his wrath. A letter of complaint by the nation’s central bank governor to President Jonathan about non-remittance of about 8 trillion naira has not got his official response about three months after. Jonathan has “not given a damn” about how Nigerians feel about his management of our commonwealth. Consistently this year, the prices of crude oil have hovered above 100 dollars, yet we have heard every so often that there is not enough money to share among the three tiers of government. Public revenues have been under-announced, accruals to the Excess Crude account have been diminished without transparency, and public opinion is treated with disdain.
3. President Jonathan’s government has had poor handlers, encouraging division and national tension rather than diminish it. He has been a source of much suspicion even within his party, resulting in anti-party activities against his party candidates, most recently in Anambra state. He is the first ruling party president under whom sitting governors have decamped to another political party. Jonathan has a great taste for criminals whom he loves to shield from justice and reward with party leadership. His government has no respect for the judiciary or rule of law. Abuses of power in Rivers state, Abuja, Lagos state, against the national secretary of his party, etc., testify to his undemocratic credentials.
4. There is growing economic tribulation under Mr. Jonathan’s watch. Investors in the oil industry are withdrawing from the scene. During his government African countries like Angola are overtaking Nigeria as the largest producers of crude oil on the continent. The Petroleum Industry Bill, initiated by President Obasanjo’s government has not been passed more than three years into Jonathan’s presidency, which is an evidence of his lack of leadership. While some Niger Delta ex-militants have been made multi millionaires and private jet owners by President Jonathan, the Niger Delta people’s fortunes have not improved even under the presidency of their son. President Jonathan’s lack of vision and understanding of his multi roles as president, commander-in-chief, party leader, national political leader, and chief security officer has turned himself into a rainfall that leaves nothing behind even as he antagonizes public goods projects in his vicious political tackles against just an individual.
5. President Obasanjo mentioned specifically his discussion in 2011 with Governor Suswam on President Jonathan’s promise to run for only one term in office. This was a deliberate move to expose the hypocrisy and insincerity of some Nigerian politicians who have refused to serve the interest of truth for selfish reasons. If Suswam had said what Obasanjo reported then how can you place this beside what he said in September this year on the subject? Governor Suswam said, “Those who are calling President Jonathan not to contest again are ignorant of Jonathan’s massive achievements. The president has done very well and by the way, he never signed any agreement limiting him to one term in office; nor did he ever tell anyone at any time that he won’t run for a second term.” A true leader should at least be truthful even if the truth hurts or inspires anger rather than lie. I suppose many are so “ignorant” of those “massive achievements” and the presidency is doing rather a poor job at enlightening them.

    I make it a habit to read views of Nigerian readers on every news item or article that I read. What I have observed are as follows:

1. The Nigerian reader is generally vulgar in their comments to other people’s position on a matter. If they don’t agree with your view they would abuse you, question your education, soundness of mind, credibility, motive, and may even abuse your parents.
2. The Nigerian reader may be too hasty to comment on your views before they understand them.
3. Our poor formal education, which does not encourage debates at school, polite classroom discussion, language use and culture, and polite disagreement with another’s ideas and views, has produced many poorly educated citizens who, when they cannot stand intellectual dexterity, only reply with vulgarities.
4. The Nigerian reader leaves the issues in discourse and goes on a voyage of motive enquiry.
5. The Nigerian reader can be easily distracted. Just follow a trail of comments on an issue. After a few comments you may discover that the initial issue gets drowned up by petty hostile disagreements and quarrels by readers who have never met each other.
6. The Nigerian reader is often protective of their ethnic turf at the expense of truth.

Those six issues in observation represent what is wrong with Nigeria—the people. I have read how some Nigerians have asked what moral right President Obasanjo has to write the kind of letter he wrote to President Jonathan. My question is who gives that moral right? Moreover, who has that moral right and is not using it? Is it the General Overseers of big “Christian Ministries” who are too concerned with their “prosperity” messages and would receive any amount of money from just anyone in whose heart “God has laid” something to bring to the “man of God”? Is it the turn-coat public writer and critic who jumps at any available opportunity to serve (their lust)? The person who has the moral right to criticize an incompetent leader is the one that is courageous enough to use it. And if the informed Nigerian elite who have the moral right have rather elected to hoard that right until their graves feast on it, then the one who uses his courage to lay it all out gets my respect.

At this time of growing and worsening impunity in Nigeria, anyone courageous enough to confront the monster government of Jonathan should be encouraged by Nigerians that seek a country that works for all and not just for a few. Have I heard some say it is not appropriate for a former president to publicly criticize a sitting president? When the only thing that can move a president who “does not give a damn” to public opinion and private letters from even elders such as Chief Bisi Akande and President Obasanjo is an excoriating public letter from a former president, then the question is unnecessary. See how the presidency did not respond until the content of the letter became public knowledge more than one week after it was written?

I can only say, Good morning, Nigerians. It is at the door— a new dawn. Rejoice and lift up your eyes. Those who have plundered and robbed us, we shall bury. Within seven months from now it shall be done:

For seven months the house of [Nigeria] will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. Indeed all the people of the land will be burying, and they will gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified, says the Lord God [Ezekiel 39: 12, 13].

Then behold, at eventide, trouble!
And before the morning, he is no more.
This is the portion of those who plunder us,
And the lot of those who rob us [Isaiah 17: 14].

Leonard Karshima Shilgba.

Email: shilgba@yahoo.com

A speech for the all progressives congress mobilization convocation

Topic: Ideological Fundamentals of the APC

Speaker: Prof. Leonard Karshima Shilgba

Date: January 3, 2013.

Venue: gboko, Benue state. Nigeria.

We must carry this message around our state and nation that now is the time for us, the people, to arise and build this broken wall of our society. In the past, we have each walked in our small world, minding and massaging our small interests. But what gain have we found? I am certain that the harvest of our collective actions and inactions is the gradual but sure transformation of our young and old into beggars on our streets, which is to our shame.  No society survives when the majority live in absolute squalor and poverty while a finger count few simply don’t know how to spend their wild and mad wealth. This ocean of material poverty with loose interruptions of islands of stupendous wealth threatens to drown us all.

The recent emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) party is a love story worthy to be told. It is a story of how self interests were sacrificed to pave way for common interests of the Nigerian masses. This is a story that must be the story of each of us that seeks for a Nigeria that works for us all and not only for a few. This story is an experiment that we must all participate in to bring about a satisfactory cure of a terrible malady that has for too long plagued the Nigerian kind of democracy where the votes and choices of the people simply do not matter and would not count.  But then, what is the convincing difference between a forceful take-over of political power through the gun and the lynching of the people’s will through rigging of the ballot? The only difference I can find is in the weapons on use.

Ideology is a system of ideas and ideals that forms the basis for economic and political theory or policy. What is the ideology of the All Progressives Congress?  The All Progressives Congress believes in public participation in, and where necessary, control of the major means of production, distribution and exchange. We believe the country should not exist for only the rich; but the poor must have a fair shake. For instance, in public electricity supply, the APC would not do what the PDP-led national government has done, which is to sell off public electricity assets at a pittance to a few beneficiaries of the government of the rich, and then turn into apologists for the buyers who obviously were not prepared enough. The APC government would not contemplate selling of public-owned refineries to cronies of the government who are already pre-determined while making outrageous claims in the name of fuel subsidy.

The APC believes in the African principle of public ownership without discouraging private enterprise. We believe that the private sector is not the engine of economic growth as some claim, but an efficient public sector is the guarantee for the thriving of the private sector. Let the economic crisis of the USA in 2008 and the role the Main Street (public sector) played to rescue and bail out the Wall Street (private sector) teach us a vital economic lesson. Is public entrepreneurship antithetical to private enterprise? The APC believes not.

The APC must live true to the story they want to tell Nigerians. The party must put day light between it and the status quo that has been quite unfair to the Nigerian these past 14 years. We in the APC, irrespective of our positions within the party, cannot afford to take upon us the body of Esau and yet sound the same way that has provoked this new story in the first place. We must not be false converts; we must not be professed disciples of the new way and yet refuse to leave our pharisaic ways; it just can’t work! Specifically, all APC family members in Benue State must refuse to take sides with lawlessness and impunity that we profess to be running away from. The damage that any of you here or not here today can inflict on this new party is to say, “Let the old music play on even though we are in a new age and time.” You can say this by your silence. You can say this by perching so comfortably on the fence. I must warn you; that fence may just be an electric one.

A chieftain of the PDP and 2015 gubernatorial aspirant in Benue State said this against any contemplated opposition to the status quo in Nigerian politics: “And who are the owners of these political parties? The peasant farmers or traders or truck pushers on the streets? No! The owners are the capitalists who have excess of money gotten from whatever source to arrange the logistics of the party. They have the INEC registration certificate in custody and can call anybody’s bluff.”  This cannot be what APC believes in. Certainly, APC has regard for the peasant farmers, traders, truck pushers and the common man on the street. APC cannot afford to be another PDP, with only a new moniker otherwise what “Change” can we claim to bring to our politics and people?  We reject the status quo; we affirm a new kind of politics where every member counts and is important even as each vote does.

Accordingly, the APC promotes and upholds the practice of internal democracy at all levels of the party’s organization where there is no imposition of candidates or overwhelming influence of the godfathers (Article 7 (vii) & (ix)). This is intended to eliminate the triangle of separation where a thick band of godfathers is situated between elected public officials, who are at the very top end and the masses at the wide base. 

APC is resolute in its conviction that worker’s productivity only reflects how they are treated by the society that measures their labor. But the kind of society we produce, like the vessel out of clay, depends on the skill and disposition of the potter.  The APC therefore stands for a better deal for the Nigerian worker and their participation in the Nigerian enterprise. The APC stands for activation of the second chapter of the Nigerian constitution, entitled Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy. The weak must be cared for by a strong society; but a weak and failed society is weak in affection towards her disabled, women and children (Article 7 (vii)).

APC believes that freedom of speech makes better citizens and that affordable and quality education produces in the citizens intelligent and informed discussions on common causes for better promotion of society.

APC approves of friendly and reciprocal relations with other countries and that external or international strength and respect spring from the well maintained oasis of internal respect for citizens.

APC affirms devolution of power to the federating units without necessarily weakening the center.

We refuse to accept that we are not capable of forging a much better society. We can do that; but first, we must create a political arrangement that is fairly predictable—an arrangement that agrees with our party laws:

1. We all affirm that no party member shall impose any leader or group of leaders on us the people. The process of emergence of party leadership at all levels must be through the secret ballot as our party laws stipulate. Your duty is to mark those that cause divisions and offences contrary to our laws and avoid them.
2. The party candidate for any election must emerge through a primary process devoid of anger and sense of injustice. This is one change that shall strengthen the party and give it credence before Nigerians and non-Nigerians.
3. The party must create and enforce strong party codes of conduct without respect of persons. Accordingly, the national leadership must take urgent steps to convince all family members of APC that it is a just judge and not one that desecrates the temple of justice for lustful convenience. With this, we shall all be assured that change has come into our politics.
4. If we are not careful we shall be found to encourage the dividing of the baby between two disagreeable ladies. The half body of the baby in your hand is not living but dead. I should think the live whole baby is what we want and deserve in Benue state. Those whose unlawful walk threatens this new baby must be cautioned by the king. We the people are the king!

As you go back to your local government areas, wards, and cities, go forth with a strong hope that you are part of a worthy undertaking. Go with warmth in your heart that it is all in your hands to build a party that works for the people; a party where social status does not count but your choice does. Tell it to the people that they are only a thump print away from the center of power. You matter; the people matter. We are determined to attract the best into our politics. For years we have been told a lie. They told us that politics was for the wicked and mean. They said politics was a dirty game where the liar wins over the truth teller. They informed us that good people must stay away from politics. We cannot fall for those lies any more. Football is not a dirty game simply because a few players have landed hard tackles and ended the playing career of a player. Teaching is not a dirty game only because of the teacher that raped his student, nor is medicine a dirty game only because a doctor administered wrong therapy.

 It is time that good men and women took active part in the politics of their society; after all politics is about gaining influence to allocate resources fairly for the welfare and security of society.  For too long they put a police uniform on a mad man and made us believe that was how a real police man should behave. The disguise is now revealed. It is more difficult to become a true politician than to become a pastor. God may forgive the past criminal life of the pastor but society may not trust him to manage their common welfare and security. Politics is certainly not for the immoral man and woman who yet glory in their shame. A political leader must be sober and thoughtful. The APC must carefully screen her members before trusting them with leadership. This is one change that is necessary if the party will not fall into too many scandals. The private and public life of politicians is fast coming under more public scrutiny these days. Careful leadership recruitment must be made a mission.

Any people that refuse to invest in good governance should not expect a harvest thereof. We are fellow laborers. While some plant, others should water. The task of building the APC in Benue state is for you the party volunteer, who works not as a hireling but as one that shall reap after harvest. As you prepare for registration with the party, know that you have also started the task of renewing our state and nation. I don’t need to tell you how the past 14 years have been a long season of loss of our commonwealth through dubious privatization of our national assets and investments. Our children’s education is scaled down from the list of priorities of our state and country; what better testimony of this than the maltreatment of teachers in Benue state. To Benue teachers, we can only advise you to punish the party that has dehumanized you and your family. You workers of Benue state, are you better off today than you were 14 years ago? Fellow citizens who are under the siege of attacks on your land by cattle herders, make a choice against the party that has shown complete incompetence to protect you, your children, and wives. A party that has no clue.

If there is any warning we must make at this time it is that no trick must be used to compromise the choices of the electorate in any future elections in our state and nation. The 180-day trap will not be allowed to be used this time against the people.

Let us arise and build the broken walls of our destiny. We are not Tiv, Idoma, Igede or Etulo; we are the united people of Benue state. No sentiments must be used to divide us. We are all victims of bad governance. That is why we are here to re-affirm our commitment to the change we have adopted. Get out the people to register for the APC party; get out the people to register with INEC to vote. Get out to the field. Work and fight for your children, your wives, and your future. Let us arise. Thank you!    

By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba | Yola, Nigeria | March 2, 2014 - President Jonathan has called a national conference to discuss important issues that are connected to the interests of all ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria. Those interests are many and variegated. I am a Tiv man with a Nigerian nationality. In this essay, I shall attempt to articulate an issue of utmost importance to my people with respect to the national conference. I also seek to shed some little light on the issues of Resource Control, Derivation and Land Ownership.

The Tiv people are said to be ranked 4^th, 5^th, or 6^th among ethnic groups in Nigeria in terms of population; there is no incontrovertible census data though. During the civil war, many Tiv soldiers fought to “keep Nigeria one”. We also are a major source of food supply in Nigeria. Furthermore, with our level of education, our voice in Nigeria deserves some attention and respect. Within the Middle Belt region of Nigeria, we are the most populous and have provided leadership in the days of resistance to the dominance of the Fulanis in the first republic.

In the presentation of the “Tiv people” to the Okurounmu Conference Committee in Jos in October last year, the “Tiv people” stated this with respect to Resource Control: “States should be allowed to mobilize and exploit the natural resources within their territories, outside oil, and pay taxes to the federal government. This will allow states a robust budget to implement projects for the development of their areas. The revenue allocation formula should be removed and the onshore-offshore dichotomy should be abolished.”

There are many other Tiv people that do not support this position. It is also strange to support resource control on the one hand and then exclude oil among such resources that should be controlled by the states on the other hand. This essay seeks to resolve certain ambiguities and shine the light on what is in the interest of the Tiv with regard to fiscal federalism and management of the economy.

Our forefathers got us the land on which we live today when there was no “Nigeria”. We were neither conquered by either the Fulani jihadists or British colonial overlords. We have not been slaves to any group of people, and have always resisted oppression. The most important resource of the Tiv person outside of their people is the land. It is a general principle in law that he that has absolute ownership of land has absolute ownership of the resources both on the surface of the land and within it. Accordingly, the issue of land ownership is a sensitive one to the Tiv people. By implication, if the Tiv people are against resource control, then they have officially surrendered their land to outsiders to take it from them and use it as they want. But is this what the Tiv people want; is this in the present or long term interest of the Tiv people and their offspring? With regard to the recent intractable clashes between cattle herdsmen and the Tiv farmers and people, culminating in the attack on the country home of the Tortiv few days ago, would the Tiv people oppose resource control?

When we talk of resources, we do not restrict that to oil resources. Item 39 on the Exclusive legislative list includes, “Mines and minerals, including oil fields, oil mining, geological surveys and natural gas.” In other words, no state government has control over mines and minerals or oil fields, oil mining, geological surveys and natural gas within its territory; only the federal government has the control.

The Gboko-Makurdi federal road is under threat because of the mindless excavation for limestone by Dangote Cement factory. The Dangote group has taken over both federal and state shares of the company, leaving the Benue people empty-handed! The people of Benue state did not through their representatives in the state House of Assembly sell the company to Dangote. The take-over of the company has thrown many Tiv sons and daughters out of job and crippled the economy of the Tiv capital, Gboko. I should think that the Tiv people should thereby appreciate what the oil-producing communities in Nigeria are suffering. But unlike them, we do not enjoy even the 13 per cent derivation as required in section 162 (2).

The 1910 Perry Girourd committee on land ownership in the Northern Protectorate recommended as follows: “A declaratory Proclamation should be passed to the effect that the land of the Protectorate should be under the control and dominion of the Government, and that no title to the occupation, use, or enjoyment of any land is valid without the assent of the Government… The control and dominion of Government should be exercised in any particular case with due regard to lawful customs proved to exist at present in the province or district where the land is situated…”

The Tiv people, by this time, were part of the Northern Protectorate by coercion. Fifty-two years later, the Land Tenure Law of 1962 was based in part on the Perry Girourd Committee report. The subsisting Land Use Act of 1978 derives from the 1962 Land Tenure Law. The question that must be answered at the national conference in Abuja is: Who owns the land and all resources therein? In USA, the federal government owns only about 30 per cent of the land and controls, for instance, exploration for oil on the land it has control over. This question should be of tremendous interest to the Tiv people. The national conference should resolve which land falls to the federal government and which land falls to the states or regions. Once this is resolved, the question of who owns the resources will become a no brainer.

By virtue of section 315 of the 1999 constitution, which provides recognition for such decrees as the Land Use Decree of 1978, the Tiv people must promote the concept of resource control otherwise it is a matter of time before we lose our land completely through devious contraptions such as the Grazing Reserves Bill being contemplated in the National Assembly. As I have publicly affirmed in some previous essay and public speech, I am first a Tiv man before I am a Nigerian, and I will not accept any public policy or law that is injurious to the interest of my Tiv nation.

The concept of Derivation should be understood only as a compromise on the principle of Resource Control. It is not for any outsider to determine what percentage of my resources should come to me. Rather, in recognition of a common nationhood, federal taxes on exploitation of such resources could be required in order to provide national services for the security and welfare of the commonwealth. Accordingly, having resolved the issue of land ownership, the matter of either Derivation or Resource Control could take natural course as a function of the determination of land ownership.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) provides, among other things, that:

“Recognizing the urgent need to respect and promote the inherent rights of indigenous peoples which derive from their political, economic and social structures and from their cultures, spiritual traditions, histories and philosophies, especially their rights to their lands, territories and resources,…solemnly proclaims the following United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a standard of achievement to be pursued in a spirit of partnership and mutual respect:

Article 3

Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

Article 4

Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions.

Article 5

Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.

Article 6

Every indigenous individual has the right to a nationality.”

This declaration was approved by an overwhelming vote of 144 countries with a few abstentions (including Nigeria), while a few countries such as USA, Canada and Australia voted against. The import is that all countries of the world are now bound by it.

The Tiv people will not attend the national conference to promote the interests of any other ethnic groups. Rather, if the interests of any ethnic groups concur with ours we shall collaborate with such groups. We are mindful that we can stand alone as a nation, build our own economy as the hub or bridge for the peoples of West and Central Africa. The processing, packaging, branding and marketing of our farm produce will be so promoted as to make us earn the maximum gain possible. We will not be tools in the hands of the Hausa/Fulanis or blind collaborators of peoples of the Lower Niger or South West.

We recognize that we own our land and shall not release one inch to anyone, either by force or willingly. We have suffered massacre in the hands of the Obasanjo government, and our wounds are yet to be healed. Our investment in the Benue Cement Company (BCC) has been ruined (We demand redress). We fought to keep Nigeria one, but we have got only insults and no gain thereby. The North blames us for stopping the jihadists. Our Igbo colleagues blame us for killing them during the civil war. But we blame ourselves for projecting a weak mien in most recent times. We have arisen and must get what is just and right for us and children. We want a nation that recognizes the rights of the federating units and promotes and respects their regional constitutions. Where our fathers made mistakes, we shall make corrections. Whatever gains they made, we shall sustain; and what they did not see, we must identify for our common safety and development.

Leonard Karshima Shilgba is a Visiting Professor of Mathematics in a private University in Nigeria.

Email: shilgba@yahoo.com ; TEL: 08055024356.

By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba | Yola, Nigeria | March 09, 2014 - Our Nigerian way of life is the way of plenty of rituals of religion and very little of deeds to match our religious professions. It is public conduct and confessions that are divorced from personal responsibility and rather attached to “faith”. It does not matter what the outcome of our “faith” may be. Our most convenient escape route is to “pray” or to urge people to “pray harder”. As a pastor myself, I am concerned and have made efforts to put in clear relief before my congregation and others who care to listen to me what their personal responsibility as citizens should be.

A Nigerian gets into a conversation with you about their country:

Nigeriana One: The level of corruption in this country is really alarming. What can we do about it?

Nigeriana Two: I think we need to pray more for our country rather than complain. Complaining will solve no problem. The problem we have is that we are not praying enough.

Nigeriana One: We are not praying enough? How much of praying is enough?

Nigeriana Two: Our pastor told us that prayer changes things, and that if Nigeria has remained in this sad state for this long, it is because the church is not praying but playing.

Nigeriana One: Indeed, I love the catch phrase your pastor used; but, can you tell me how the church in Japan, China, Malaysia, UAE and in those countries that have registered great levels of development has been praying so that the Nigerian church can learn? 

Nigeriana Two: I can sense mockery in your voice. I did not know you are an unbeliever. How can you underrate prayer?

Nigeriana One: I am sorry if you perceive it like that. I only asked to learn how I should pray because, to me, Nigerians seem to be praying a lot. We even have “Christian ministries” that are wholly devoted to praying; you can even see this in their names. And at every occasion Nigerian government officials call for prayer and some of them cannot make a speech before praying. And they call God or Allah or Jesus Christ many times in a single sentence.

Nigeriana Two: Let me educate you. Jesus Christ says that “Men ought always to pray and not to faint.” Are you fainting already?

Nigeriana One: If you talk of fainting, I must insist on getting the answer I asked for. How much praying without fainting have the Japanese, Chinese, Malaysians and the others been doing that they are much better off than Nigerians in all indices of human development?

Nigeriana Two: I cannot tell. But we must continue praying. Maybe the words we use in praying are not enough or appropriate.

Nigeriana One: My good friend, if you cannot tell me what I must do, how do you expect me to know when I have attained accomplishment? By the way, Jesus Christ says, “But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not you therefore like them; for your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask him.”Do you still think the problems of Nigeria have refused to go away because Nigerians are not “praying enough”?

Nigeriana Two: Please, I need to leave now; I have a Church meeting in few minutes. But God will help us. God is in control.

I find it annoying when Nigerians expect God to do even laundry for them. I think the country has been sedated under the influence of unproductive religion and if Nigeria has under-performed, we must blame God! God has not yet responded appropriately, and so Nigerians must pray more, and maybe louder. My experience as a writer, public speaker, organizer, activist, pastor/preacher and teacher informs me that Nigerians are not yet prepared for the kind of change that some of us have written about. Recently, I wrote somewhere about the kind of expectations we the people should have of our elected leaders. Someone responded by asking me to be “morally flexible.” On many occasions the people you think you are talking for, writing for, and fighting for, would tell you that you should be “patient”. They see no reason why you are boiling over for them. They expect you to give them money. That is the language Nigerians understand; they don’t care from where you have got the money. They only want their share. This attitude threatens to weaken our hands. Other Nigerians would respond to us with a question such as, “Are you perfect yourself?”

I was invited to give a keynote speech at the coronation of our town chief last year. During my speech delivery I lectured them on the responsibility of our elected legislators, local government chairman, state governor, traditional rulers and the citizens. I did not spare religious leaders too. I guess the people were uneasy as the speech went on. Only few minutes into the speech I heard the compere shout, “Time!” I ignored him. Later, I heard a chorus from one section of the audience, “Time factor!” Well, I concluded my speech, gave the new king a copy of the Holy Bible, announced a scholarship offer for school children in my hometown and sat down. After the applause died down two gentlemen walked up to my seat and asked, “Do you have anything you want to offer?” Clearly, they did not think I had “offered” anything important yet! I told them as calmly as possible, “I have nothing more to offer.” Actually, I had some good sum of money with me that I had intended to give; but I decided to withhold. In fact, this is well known in my community. People that are averse to education and learning are without any hope of development. What our people worship is money. Our politicians know this so well; and that is why they have political longevity in spite of lack of character and what saner people would call “bad reputation”. The Nigerian people are not ready for a better life.

Few days ago, I stopped at a service station to buy petrol. There was a man on a motorbike who was lamenting the hardship that was being worsened by the sharp increase in petrol price. I responded in the Nigerian manner, “God will help us.” He brightened up and confessed that he was initially afraid of speaking his mind because he thought I was “one of them” (politicians) since I had emerged from a big jeep. He said he was afraid of being killed. So Nigerians who would do anything to get the politicians’ money have a petrifying fear of the same politicians? We have conveniently found a way of avoiding the wrath of our political leaders who do not brook criticisms or dissent—we blame God indirectly. We say that, “God dey.” We urge ourselves to “pray more”. Maybe our God is deaf or has taken a very long vacation from Nigeria to countries that hardly “pray” to him. One big overseer of one of the largest churches in Nigeria and Africa said in an interview last year that he refrained from publicly criticizing government policies because he did not “want to be misunderstood.” Jesus Christ did not care about being misunderstood. But I have a question for this overseer: When he preaches to little sinners in his church does he worry about being “misunderstood” by them? The same overseer jars our ears year-after-year that “it is well” with Nigeria.

Surely, it is not well with Nigeria. When blood-thirsty Boko Haram militants conduct hours of operation and slaughter our children in their sleep without the intervention of the Nigerian security personnel, how could it be well with Nigeria? When billions of dollars of public money get missing and government officials only meet to “reconcile accounts” and nothing more is done in the public interest, how can it be well with Nigeria? When services like telecommunications and electricity supply remain deplorable and yet citizens are being ripped off without stern reaction by the government on behalf of citizens, how can it be well with Nigeria? When since 1999, the “largest party in Africa” has formed central government in Nigeria and yet not a single kilometer of modern railway has been built, and rather all we hear is the boast about “refurbishing” colonial-era coaches in spite of the hundreds of billions of dollars Nigeria has earned in revenue during the period, how can it be well with Nigeria? When the same old gang that has presided over Nigeria’s decay since independence is charged with organizing a national conference to heal Nigeria, how can it be well with Nigeria?   On December 31, 2011, a famous prophet in Nigeria announced to the world that the problem of Boko Haram would be “a thing of the past” from 2012! Alas, Boko Haram is waxing stronger. But Nigerians love to be deceived by their prophets and overseers. We are made to hide under “prayers”, “faith”, and would not accept our individual responsibility.

 It beats my imagination that these militants come in a convoy of expensive vehicles, conduct their operations at will and then disappear like ghosts into thin air while our soldiers rely on the prayers of Nigerians to keep safe. And when you announce that on the basis of empirical evidence, Boko Haram operatives are more motivated and better equipped than the Nigerian military, you are criticized by Nigerians and their government officials and apologists that you are weakening the Nigerian army. Alright, let me encourage them—“The Nigerian army is highly motivated and better equipped than Boko Haram. In fact, I decree that they will stop Boko Haram in one day! They are only being careful so as not to kill innocent Nigerians. Don’t ask me if the number of Nigerians being killed by Boko Haram is not too high already. The Nigerian army is very professional, and when we back them up with serious prayers, Boko Haram will become history.”

Seriously, is the problem of Nigeria lack of “serious prayers”? When the nation of Israel arrived in the Promised Land they set out conquering greater and bigger nations than them. Suddenly, they suffered a setback and were defeated by a much smaller group of people. Their leader, Joshua turned to the weapon of prayer. This is the account:

Joshua ripped his clothes and fell on his face to the ground before the Chest of God, he and the leaders throwing dirt on their heads, prostrate until evening.

 Joshua said, “Oh, oh, oh . . . Master, God. Why did you insist on bringing this people across the Jordan? To make us victims of the Amorites? To wipe us out? Why didn’t we just settle down on the east side of the Jordan? Oh, Master, what can I say after this, after Israel has been run off by its enemies? When the Canaanites and all the others living here get wind of this, they’ll gang up on us and make short work of us—and then how will you keep up your reputation?”

Can you see how Joshua blamed God for the plight and reproach of his nation? He even tied God’s reputation to the well-being of his nation. I know some Nigerians say that God is a Nigerian. Some say that this is God’s country. We have got so used to being pulled off the edge of the cliff that we take our recurring deliverance for granted. But how did God respond to the leader of Israel? This is the account:

God said to Joshua, “Get up. Why are you groveling? Israel has sinned: They’ve broken the covenant I commanded them; they’ve taken forbidden plunder—stolen and then covered up the theft, squirreling it away with their own stuff. The People of Israel can no longer look their enemies in the eye—they themselves are plunder. I can’t continue with you if you don’t rid yourselves of the cursed things.

 “So get started. Purify the people. Tell them: Get ready for tomorrow by purifying yourselves. For this is what God, the God of Israel, says: There are cursed things in the camp. You won’t be able to face your enemies until you have gotten rid of these cursed things.”

Nigerians, we have groveled to “God” enough. We must change our ways. The president cannot defend corruption, excuse corruption and encourage impunity and then think that visitations to churches can shield him from the consequences. I want to warn that a deadly consequence awaits mockers of God. But we cannot continue this way and pretend continually. The conspiracy of Nigerian religious leaders, business leaders, traditional leaders and political leaders to hold Nigerians down will not survive scrutiny forever. The Nigerian people can decide when they want the charade in government, religious circles, business sector and traditional institutions to end. We must not be cheerleaders of what is injurious to our commonwealth. We must get rid of the cursed things in the camp. This requires action and not prayer. God will not get rid of these things for us; we must. It is our responsibility. The problem of Nigeria is Nigerians. Our moral temperature is very low—we call wrong right and right wrong. Stop “praying” and start purifying yourselves, for that is the greatest PRAYER. For “if you do my (God’s) will, then you are my friends indeed, and whatever you ask it shall be done for you.” The great prayer warrior is the obedient person. In our obedience we have the power to punish all disobedience.

But what is God? God is truth, and so there is no God where there are falsehood and betrayals. God is life, and so there is no God where there is killing, including the killing of a nation by our collaboration and active engagement. God is not present where leaders and the people do not value human life, where our killers are hardly found and punished. God is not where the environment is not being protected, and environment-related diseases take away human life every so often and yet those charged with environmental issues of flood control, waste evacuation and management, tree planting and urban renewal, erosion control and water supply are never held to account. God is love, and so there is no God where we disregard the welfare of the people we are strategically placed and equipped to help. So, is there God in Nigeria? Is there God in your state? Is there God in your local government and county? Is there God in your local religious assembly? Is there God in your family? Is there God in your life? Let us know that we can never see God; rather he is noticed in truth, life, and love. These bring light within our society.

Let me conclude with this Gullah proverb:

If you want to solve a problem permanently, then you must deal with the cause for “You need to take care of the root in order to heal the tree.”

Leonard Karshima Shilgba is  a Sad Nationalist (SaN).

TEL: +234-8055024356; Email: shilgba@yahoo.com

By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba | Yola, Nigeria |March 22, 2014 - My attention has been drawn to a letter sent to President Jonathan by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) on 24 February, 2014, titled, “MR. PRESIDENT, CALL GOVERNOR SUSWAM TO ORDER NOW BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” As much as the title of the letter is threatening enough, the content is much more threatening. The MACBAN made certain constitutional claims as follows:

“The Constitution is very clear under Chapter IV of Fundamental rights, Section 41, sub-section (1), which says, ‘every citizen is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused  entry thereof or exit therefrom .’ The Constitution also expressly under Section 42, sub-section (1) (a) forbids the imposition of any disabilities or restrictions on any citizens by any executive or administrative action against any citizen of any ‘community, ethnic groups, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion…’ “

1. The MACBAN seems to seek to amend the Nigerian Constitution. The rights granted by Section 41(1) are to “every citizen of NIGERIA” (emphasis mine). The MACBAN conveniently excludes NIGERIA. The rights are not granted to citizens of foreign countries such as Chad, Niger, Cameroon, Mali, etc. Accordingly, I call on the government of Benue state to verify the citizenship of all nomadic herdsmen, who have unleashed mayhem on their hosts, and to expel those who cannot prove with documentary evidence that they are citizens of Nigeria by birth, registration or naturalization.
2. The rights granted in section 41 (1) are not ABSOLUTE. Section 45 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution states as follows:Nothing in sections 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41 of this Constitution shall invalidate any law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society—

1. In the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or public health; or
2. For the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons.

The rights and freedom of nomadic cattlemen cannot invalidate the rights and freedom of other persons in Nigeria who have suffered death, brutality and economic deprivation (loss of crop farms, for example). Accordingly, I urge the Benue state government to enforce available relevant laws and make new germane laws that would take cattle away from our streets and farms that compromise public safety, public order and public health. There should be no discrimination whether the cattle belong to nomadic Fulanis or other groups.

1. Section 42 (1) states that: “A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, by reason only that he is such a person—

1. Be accorded either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any such executive or administrative action, any privilege or advantage that is not accorded to citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions or political opinions.”

It is very clear that laws such as the proposed bill for establishment of grazing reserves for cattle in all states of Nigeria and FCT, which seek to expropriate lands for the use of an exclusive group of Nigerians, are unconstitutional.  The citizens of Nigeria cannot be driven away from their lands by local chiefs, state governments or the federal government only to give out their lands to the nomadic cattle breeders, even if those citizens would be “compensated”. It does not matter how much a local chief or state government or the federal government would collect from nomadic cattle breeders to give them access to grazing lands. By the way, in Tiv land, no chief owns ancestral lands. Lands are owned by families and individuals. Furthermore, we the Tiv people do not practice kingship by dynasty.

By threatening that they have the right to defend themselves, and even putting the president on notice, the MACBAN has demonstrated an offensive disposition that is highly provocative. And should the president not take steps to rein them in, the Tiv people would also demonstrate that they equally have the right and also the capacity to raise a standing army of thousands of armies from each ward and kindred. But is that the kind of country we want for ourselves, where everyone does what is right in his own eyes? But that will be the necessary consequence if the Nigerian army does not cease to aid attacks on the Tiv nation and the federal government that controls them looks away. Some soldiers from the 93 Division in Takum, Taraba were captured while on an attack mission alongside raiders on Tiv land at Kwande Local Government area. They were handed over to the Benue police command. We wait to find out what soldiers in Taraba came to our state to do. Few days ago, Nigerians soldiers who were on the entourage of Governor Gabriel Suswam as he went for on-site inspection tour of some areas of Tiv land that have come under Fulani attacks, suddenly withdrew and refused to go with him. Soon after, our governor came under attack. We are concerned. We also must advise the governor of Nasarawa state to re-examine his actions if they are not facilitating incessant attacks on Tiv land. But we warn that impunity, unchecked will surely bring Nigeria down as ethnic militia groups shall be raised to defend the turf across Nigeria. A people defended will surely seek self-help.

Recently, the Sultan of Sokoto made a highly inflammatory comment that the Fulanis have been “grazing on their traditional grazing land” in Tiv land. The Tiv people have never ever been conquered by any ethnic group in Africa. Even in the days of the Sardauna Ahmadu Bello, the Tiv people led a revolt against oppression of minorities in the then Northern Region.  We have championed the cause of minorities in the Middle Belt. The Tiv people do not share any contiguous borders with the Fulanis. When and how did the Tiv land become a “traditional grazing land” for the Fulani nomadic cattle breeders? The Sultan, who is the grand patron of the MACBAN made this highly provocative comment before the outrageous letter the group wrote to President Jonathan. We must inform that the Tiv nation is not under the dominion of His Royal Majesty, the Sultan of Sokoto, and we demand an open and unreserved apology from him. Furthermore, since the MACBAN motto is “Read, Rear & Farm”, he should be reminded that taking cows across Nigeria in these modern days of ranching is against their motto if they understand what it means. They must buy land and REAR their cattle on ranch FARMS. This, they can accomplish through sound READING and research. This would provide to Nigerians clean and healthy by-products such as milk, butter and edged packaged meat from their cattle farms. But they would never do this if they have other agendas such as expansionism. But the Tiv people would never permit this.

I conclude with a comment on the recent Northern Leaders meeting in Kano and the resultant Northern Declaration that was read by Wantaregh Paul Unongo. At that meeting, no condemnation was made of the attacks by Fulani nomads on their hosts, the Tiv people. But Hon. Usman Bugaje, with whom we have exchanged mails in the past about building a more perfect union, and whom I had thought was beyond the kind of statements he made at the meeting, said, among other things that, “wherever the Fulani man is seen with a few cows, people rise against them.” He then gave an example of such places as Kaduna. I was scandalized! How dare him! You bring your cows to someone’s ancestral land and destroy his crops and kill him; then you protest innocence and claim the victim? He then said to the applause of the audience, “No state in Nigeria is an oil-producing state.” That is not how to build a nation—living in denial of reality. I want to declare that we the Tiv people are not part of the Kano Declaration even though it was read by a Tiv elder, Paul Unongo, who was there in his personal capacity and did not represent Tiv interest. This is very clear because, for instance, he did not protest the killing of Tiv people by Northerners, represented by the Fulanis, and he did not protest the comments by Hon. Bugaje. The Tiv people are geographically and culturally not Northerners any more than the Hausa man is a South-Easter or Middle Belter. And the Tivs are not tools in the hands of any ethnic group in Nigeria. If they were so in the days of our fathers, they are certainly not in our days. And should unrestrained provocation trigger another civil war, the Tiv people will definitely not be on the side they were on then.

The Tiv forbears did not cede their land to “Nigeria” any more than forebears of other nationalities did. We shall defend our land with all we have got.

Leonard Karshima Shilgba is a SaN (Sad Nationalist)

TEL: 08055024356

Email: shilgba@yahoo.com