Good mudslinging
Jibrin Ibrahim
Mudslinging Intensifies as the Elections Approach
Jibrin Ibrahim, Deepening Democracy Column, Daily Trust, 20th January 2023
Finally, the campaign is getting intense and exciting. Surprisingly, the current round is taking place in faraway Chattam House in London as key candidates and the INEC Chairman conduct political pilgrimages to a British Government policy centre in London to talk to Nigerians at home. Many Nigerians have correctly asked the question whether there is no policy think tank in Nigeria to receive politicians to air their campaign issues. The National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies has been mentioned by many as being the leading public think tank to handle such a task. I absolutely agree that the National Institute could play that role creditably. Unfortunately, it would not succeed because of the character of our political class that has disdain for our institutions. In fact, for the past decade, the National Institute has established a whole department for training and engagement with political parties where I have often participated as a resource person. In most of the meetings there I have participated in; the leadership of the so-called big political parties have either sent low level officials to represent them or sent no one in many cases. They suffer from colonial mentality and believe that Nigerian institutions are of no consequence and are therefore not deserving of their time. When they seek publicity, they pay tens of millions of Naira to key television stations to carry their programmes live.
There are also private policy centres that could host such events. To be modest, the Centre for Democracy and Development where I am a senior fellow is also very capable of hosting such a platform but once again some of the so-called big politicians will not come. They will be wondering whether the people that matter, the neo-colonial authorities in London and Washington DC would be watching events organised by “local” actors. Of course, they would, but the level of sophistication of many of our politicians is not high enough for them to be conscious of this reality. When you ask them why, many will tell you that you cannot trust the neutrality of local actors. Even those who have been making public declarations that the British are not equally neutral towards all sections of the country would still prefer to attend their events than attend local ones. The British and Americans know one of the most serious threats Nigerian politicians take seriously is refusal of visa to the US and UK.
One clear issue the current campaign has brought to the fore is the unwillingness of some of the old and maybe sick and exhausted candidates to debate among themselves. The Centre for Democracy and Development partnered with ARISE-TV to get the top candidates to debate and it did not work well. Some of them have simply lost the capacity to be clear and articulate and are unable to respond when confronted with facts. For this reason, they refuse to participate. It is ironic the way in which Chatham House exposed the incapacity of one of the candidates to respond to questions asked and he had to call on members of his delegation to respond for him. This is a frightening revelation because the issue is, if he wins, who would rule as he has already lost the capacity to understand and respond to challenges posed. I have watched some of the campaign video from campaign rallies and I am myself terrified at the level of incoherence of some of the candidates. I hope Nigerians are watching and are aware of their civic responsibility not to vote in a leader whose incapacity to rule is manifest.
Some of the top candidates who are refusing to debate amongst themselves have focused their attention on insulting their rivals and accusing them of having a terrible history of corruption. I don’t like the vile language being used but the accusations are useful pointers to their histories and apparently, they know themselves better than some of us know them. I have heard detailed allegations of how the other, I would say they, looted the treasury when they were in office. There are exposes on some of the mechanisms that were used such Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV), which are used to fleece government resources in a way in which the theft cannot be easily traced to the looters. As each accuses the other, we ordinary citizens would be free to think that sophisticated cover-up looting mechanisms are skill-sets all of them have. Our hope and prayers are that they all go to court as they have threatened, to prove that the other is a criminal. The courts might reveal more information on how many of our leaders are, as they call themselves - thieves, drag barons and criminals. I am glad that they are the ones telling Nigerians that on the grounds of ethics and good governance, they should be in jail not in power.
This situation presents a great challenge to voters. Is any one of them clean and if so which one? For the 2023 elections, all of us voters need to be skilled investigators. We should listen to, watch and read all the allegations coming out carefully. We should work hard to seek verification for them and base our choices on the results of our findings. This is important for national survival as if criminals take over the governance of the country, our survival as a Nation could be in jeopardy. Part of our task is to look carefully at not only the leading candidates but all of them. Are some of those who are not in the frontline better? Let’s find out and take appropriate decisions.
Finally, the question of Nigeria’s drift into gerontocracy has to be addressed. As an old man myself, I have great respect for the capacity of elders to continue to play positive roles in society. The problem is that at some point, both mental and physical capacities begin to decline dramatically. Governing a large and complex country such as Nigeria is very hard work and clearly some of the candidates have reached the point of no return. If they have lost the wisdom and respect for citizens to decide that they have passed their prime, then citizens need to tell them as follows through the ballot box. We love you, we wish you longer life, but please devote your future to useful endeavours such as playing with your grandchildren and telling them memorable stories of the things you have done – bad ones that they should not copy and good ones that they should emulate. According to INEC, 70,473,990 voters, 75.4% are between 18 and 49 years old and should be able to tell and act against those who are too old to govern.
Toyin Falola
Jibrin:
You have become an Obedient, violating fellow citizens' constitutional rights and publicly ridiculing the sick and the elderly. You are guilty of discrimination against physically challenged people, the elderly and the sick. You lack sympathy for those suffering from mental illness. Nowhere in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution does it disqualify anyone based on age, illness, infirmity, etc. You said Buhari would die; he did not die. You said Yar'Dua would die; he has been resurrected.
!!!!
TF
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at
http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at
http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to
usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAPWX8rXgb9%3D5vQoZQ0R3ztvNfQQViZxXh%3D%3DCej8JRhHpOqxv5g%40mail.gmail.com.
Jibrin Ibrahim
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/PH0PR06MB90043A6DA342EFF5204E35D0F8C59%40PH0PR06MB9004.namprd06.prod.outlook.com.
Cornelius Hamelberg
It’s certainly one of the most carefully written and thought-provoking wake-up calls to flow out of anyone’s oil well, oceans of ink, greased elbow, in this case, Jibrin Ibrahim’s fountain pen.
I have read it carefully and I agree with him entirely with reservations about “the incapacity of one of the candidates to respond to questions asked”.
In my view the hopeful in question did the right thing, a show of humility - his would be a consultative government, not a dictatorship headed by an ignoramus who does not suffer fools gladly. If gnällgubbe Jibrin Ibrahim, who knows better is really so distraught about everything, why doesn't he pray, enter the fray and redeem the country?
To take up arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them?
The next president will inherit all the current problems facing the country. Given that the past cannot be erased, and there’s no point in crying over spilt milk, once again, the upcoming 25th of February 2023 Elections are going to be the most important elections so far, and, God willing, the next democratically elected leader and the other elected people's representatives through a free and fair election with 93.5 million people registered to vote will determine the direction the country is going to take the next four years.
“The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfils himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.” is of relevance in this context. It is not a quote from the Holy Bible or the Holy Quran and needs to be examined critically and not swallowed, hook, line and sinker.
In this case, perhaps, the “one good custom” is each of the wannabe next president of Nigeria flying over for some chat and chatter at Chatham House in Merry England, to humbly lay their bellies down in prostration and their knees in ritual genuflection, to present their credentials and to assure the good old imperialist folks over there how much they love them, they say, for the good of the Naija Nation and not just for their own good or their own selfish purposes…
Jibrin Ibrahim has hit the proverbial nail on its diabolical head this time, thereby calling into question the poetic title of his prose poem, “ Good mudslinging” since there’s the danger that with the best of good intentions, innocence or English as a foreign might well take “good” literally or mistake sarcasm for sincerity because mudslinging is never good unless it contributes to accomplishing the overall “divide and rule” on behalf of whatever impies, in which case it is good - for them. One love is a good idea, blood after all, is thicker than mud, so instead of the divide and rule made possible by fomenting unhealthy competition and fostering petty rivalries, why not get together, unite and consolidate, United in blood against Empire for the good of the nation? Or, even if unhappily disunited by blood, at least united in plundering and sharing the commonwealth. How about that? By Saint George and Prince Harry, am I kidding?
So what does Professor Jibrin Ibrahim mean by “good” here?
As the songster enquired, “ What’s good?”
When was the last time a Nigerian president addressed the US Congress? And by the way, has Alhaji Atiku overcome his visa problems? If the avenue was available, the wannabes would be trooping over to The White House, to make their pitch. To the White House, to make their pleas, like good House Negroes. Unofficial White House Policy: Cringe or starve, especially now that their battle in the US Congress is about to begin about the debt ceiling.: $31.4 trillion. What’s the debt ceiling in Nigeria? Does Peter Obi have a clue? As for me, I don’t even know how many zeroes there are in a trillion.
Once upon a time, Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress;
the new, more ultra-religious and more extreme right-wing Netanyahu still crying wolf about Iran, the 3rd Intifada that’s on the horizon, may well join the ranks of Zelensky in petitioning not the immortal, omnipotent God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but the old. cash-strapped octogenarian Joe Biden about so-called “ existential threats “
to Israel. Of course, at no time whatsoever will he breathe a word about the existential threat that Israel poses to the life and limbs of Palestinians in the West Bank , in Gaza, in the Palestinian Refugee Camps in Jordan, in # Lebanon, in # Syria, and in # East Jerusalem. Although Netantagy’s favourite word is “ reciprocity and it’s not Paradise in Gazankulu
Lest I stray into why the wannabes don’t mention the Almajiris, let me proceed to the heart of the matter: The Old Colonial Office has been replaced and successively renamed ministry of overseas development etc and lately subsumed under the Department for International Trade and, of course, there’s the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
So, what’s Chatham House and who are The Tavistock Institute?
The pilgrimage to Chatham House is a post-colonial legacy: in a sound state of mind, in sickness or in health, the wannabes’ predecessors have always made that pilgrimage. It would be seen that it’s obligatory, wajib, if they want to succeed ( like, in the old days paying your respect to Haruna Ishola Bello if you wanted to get ahead in the music business in Nigeria) We are to suppose that when a presidential hopeful like Atiku Abubakar makes the pilgrimage to Chatham House, he might even refer to the trip as a noble colonial heritage and with the kind of sense of entitlement of that the heroic Uthman Dan Fodio would most probably not have countenanced, speak less of making obeisance.
Obviously, the purpose of the trip is to try to win the approval of Massa, of post-colonial Massa, but Massa nevertheless, and to assure him/ them that if he, Tinubu, Atiku. Obi or Rabiu Kwankwaso is blessed by fate, to be the next commander-in-chief of the national treasury and the military who will wage and win the next four-year war against poverty, anarchy, injustice, and corruption, that will reverse the brain- drain, the flight of medical doctors to greener pastures, and will intensify the fight against, Boko Haram, against nepotism, tribalism, illiteracy, ransom kidnapping, inflation, epileptic electric power supplies, and fight the good fight for citizens rights and all the good things in life that make life worth living, and to assure the folks over there in the UK that their British interests will not suffer or be ruffled.
Jibrin Ibrahim
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/04eb11c5-a671-46d8-bd9a-937eb8b6ae76n%40googlegroups.com.
Emeagwali, Gloria (History)
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Good mudslinging
EXTERNAL EMAIL: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click any links or open any attachments unless you trust the sender and know the content is safe.
Cornelius Hamelberg
Even there, sometimes, the tiger pounces. The tiger sometimes pounces on the tigress. In Sierra Leone, Lola is a lioness and is known as “La Leone-Elle”. From one of the most emotionally Negritude countries, this made the headlines a few weeks ago: Senegal Parliament Fight: MP Slaps Female Colleague.
As Jesus put it, “Let he that is without blemish cast the first stone.”
Yessir! Let us pray for free and fair elections. So many of your truisms cannot be contested not even by unpatriotic Nigerians. I can’t imagine the next wannabe President of Iran flying over to Chatham House for suitability inspection, approval and verification. What would our dearly departed Pius Adesanmi, conscientiously outspoken Obadiah Mailafia, and our upright, always finely tuned and nuanced Ayo Olukotun have been saying as they observe the latest Nigerian realities unfolding?
What are Bolaji Aluko, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, and Dr. Salihu Lukman saying?
No poison pen is yours. Your opinion piece is being corroborated and ratified :
Nigeria elections 2023: The allegations against the presidential contenders
https://nigeriaworld.com/news/politics/
Major question; Are the major contenders for the Naija presidency going to fight it out at a couple of debates, where they will be given opportunities to show their mettle? The subject matter and questions on the future of the country, the sanctity of life, human rights, equal rights, education, the poverty situation, law and order, the police, the military, the judiciary, the security situation, food security, how to ensure electric power always, the best way forward towards industrialisation, the Naija economy, youth unemployment, the decent minimum wage, fuel subsidy no fuel subsidy, restructuring, decentralisation, etc etc are so predictable, the candidates must be prepared to fire from any angle. I got the chills hearing that if the US defaults on debt servicing, latest, by September this year, the world is going to nose-dive & spin into an economic meltdown…
We all agree that in rat race Nigeria, those who have, want more and to get more or to be more a politician, whether an academic, an intellectual, a poet or priest have to be thick-skinned if he is to survive the heat in the kitchen.
It’s clear from the subtitle, “Mudslinging Intensifies as the Elections Approach” that we the people, the candidates and the country are in for a rough ride. As expected and projected the mudslinging intensifies, acid recriminations as if laws were only made to be broken, the travesty of all the laws continue without letup - no regard for the laws against character assassination, libel and slander, from the devil's toolbox the viciousness visibly (according to media reports) increasing incrementally, and in the general anarchy, subsidised by more fuel, as the election fever catches fire and the backbiting, the bearing of false witness against thy neighbour, the finger-pointing and the vituperations gathering greater momentum. The Pentecostals say that we are living in the Last days. As we approach D-day and the final mayhem let us pray that as the mud-slinging escalates, the mudslingers do not degenerate into being gunslingers
“The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last”
etc etc etc
As we thank God for the world’s ethnic diversities and for the smorgåsbord of presidential hopefuls said to be eighteen altogether of which the most serious, from the North Atiku Abubakar and Rabiu Kwankwaso ( birds of unlike feathers), from the South-West Hon. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu, and from the South-East, the upstart Peter Obi, said to be the underdog by no less than the Governor of his state, Anambra State, as per these two news items: Obi didn’t allow LP to campaign freely in Anambra while as governor – Soludo and Peter Obi might win in Anambra state – Soludo. Is it another case of “ a prophet has no honour in his own country", in this instance in his own state?
In my book, the most despicable of the mudslingers is Pastor Obasanjo the sour grapes, doomsday prophet; and it’s sour grapes that animate some hearts to say the kinds of things that he has been saying lately. There is hardly any other reasonable explanation. He has clearly lost his marbles to be trumpeting such a willfully wicked and asinine definition of unpatriotic
But then again, Doomsday Pastor Olusegun Obasanjo is not familiar with Psalm 14
Jibrin Ibrahim
Gloria Emeagwali
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAPWX8rU1SanjW%2BsCD-ipsU4P5tuj-7TJ11HdCfxoYWCSvEwSyA%40mail.gmail.com.