TIME TO TEAR DOWN THESE WALLS
Pendulum By Dele Momodu
dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com
“And now I say to you, keep away from these men
and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is
of men it will come to nothing. But if it is of God,
you cannot overthrow it, lest you even be found to
fight against God.” – Acts of The Apostles 5:
38-39
Fellow Nigerians, let me make a quick
confession. Our dear country has been very sick.
As a matter of fact, we’ve been lying critically
prostrate without any concrete attempt to find a
cure for our maladies. The reason for the lack of
interest is simple and straight-forward.
Many of our political leaders are those the
Yoruba often refer to as arijenidimodaru (those
who thrive in chaos). They must continue to
scatter everywhere and scare everyone with their
chicanery. That is the only business they know
that can yield bountiful harvest. They do not care
how many of our citizens would suffer untold
hardship in the process.
I’m an unrepentant disciple of the founder father
and first President of the Republic of Ghana,
Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah. As a young student
at the then University of Ife, I bought, devoured
and savoured practically all his seminal works on
political science and ideology. My favourite of his
books was Africa Must Unite. It opened my eyes
to the limitless opportunities that await Africa if
our different countries can stand as one as
opposed to the artificial barriers or divisions
deliberately erected by the colonialists. The
colonial masters are gone but they have been
speedily replaced by neo-colonialists who seek
act worse by enslaving their own people.
It would amount to a grand illusion to think
Africa can unite when the individual countries
that make up our continent are virtually in
tatters. Brothers are up in arms against their
brethren. And the falcon can no longer hear the
falconer. As a small boy in Ile-Ife we lived in
peace with our neighbours no matter where they
had migrated from. Even the Igbos who travelled
home during the Biafra internecine war came
back to meet most of their properties and
personal effects intack. The politicians competed
amongst themselves and each of our six regions
enjoyed some measure of autonomy and
progressed at its own pace.
I don’t know what went wrong. All that I know is
that something terrible happened to our country
and we all started misbehaving by mistrusting
ourselves. What made matters worse was the
fact that the solutions we thought could help
actually worsened the situation and our condition
became even more critical. Today, we have all
returned to our ethnic cocoons and the so-called
Federal Character has failed to characterise us
as a people with serious vision and mission.
Federal Character has become nothing but a
nomenclature for a grand scam to distribute the
national cake amongst the few members of the
privileged class while the ordinary man on the
streets continues to wallow perpetually in abject
poverty.
I wish to sound a note of warning and caution
please. Nigeria cannot continue to live in fools’
paradise. I will endeavour to explain what I mean
by that statement. We all know what made some
countries develop while others remain backward.
It is not too difficult to study the history of
nations to examine, discover and emulate what
they did right and eschew what they did wrong.
One of the things I discovered about great
nations is the ability to be as tolerant of
different races, or ethnicities as much as
possible, even if they have to pretend about the
existence of prejudices. For Nigeria to join the
comity of great nations our people must learn to
embrace meritocracy above ethnic jingoism.
It is easy to validate my thesis. I don’t know if
you already suspect where I’m coming from and
going. But I will explain it as best as I can. Once
again, our President is under attack from those
who believe he is on a mission to Northernise
the whole of Nigeria by offering the juiciest
appointments to people from his own parts of
our great country. An old schoolmate called me
frantically yesterday to complain bitterly about
the recent appointments of people of Northern
origin into key positions of the Buhari
administration. “Dele, I’m calling you so that you
can explain what your government is doing
because you were one of those who forced
Buhari on us…” he thundered. I was as cool as
cucumber and replied him calmly…
“I’m not in government and so cannot hold brief
for President Muhammadu Buhari but I’m willing
to put a bet on him that he will deliver as
promised. His style and methodology may be
strange and quaint to our clime but I think he is
serious about changing Nigeria for good. Let us
watch for a little while and see what happens.”
I was able to calm my friend down but he
promised to come back to me as soon as he
feels the president is fumbling too much. I said, I
will welcome him again. What I noticed about all
those criticising the President is that they are
unhappy because their kinsmen have not been
chosen and not because most of the appointees
are not competent or qualified, The trouble is
we’ve come on this long journey leading to
perdition that we no longer know how to turn
back to our path of salvation.
Many of the young ones have been cruelly
infected with the same disease, unfortunately. I
read many of them beating the drums of war,
annihilation and complete disintegration. It is
such a shame. Even if I admit and agree that we
have some serious ethnic issues to sort out, I
don’t believe it warrants an invitation to anarchy.
War has never been a tea party anywhere. It has
never given birth to something good and we
must be careful not to make our matters worse
than they are right now.
I have never receive answers to some cogent
questions I raise about what we stand to gain if
we break up into tiny pieces. No amount of
frustration should drive us to the precipice again.
A little tolerance and self-discipline can cure our
migraine, trust me. Nigeria is a beautiful country
as well. The more I travel round our nation the
more I discover our inherent beauty. Two things
should be invested in urgently. The first is
education. And when I talk about education, we
must improve on our school curriculum to include
our ancient and contemporary history. An
average Nigerian youth today is less informed
than in our own time about Nigerian history.
Education and exposure to other cultures would
break down some of the artificial barriers that
have separated us for far too long. Our schools
must encourage our kids to learn about Nigeria
while teaching them about other places.
I have had the privilege of visiting several cities
in recent time. There was nowhere I went in
Nigeria that we were not well received. I came
to the conclusion that education and social
media have opened up our country in a way that
was difficult or impossible in the past. At
airports, banks, palaces, people walked up to me
joyfully asking for photo-opportunities and where
I came from was never an issue.
The second solution is to engage our traditional
institutions more. Attempts to whittle down the
power and relevance of our traditional rulers
have been counter-productive. It is obvious that
customs don’t die. Culture is very obstinate and
there is not much we can do to modify or
obliterate it. People respect their kings more
than political leaders. Once upon a time, kings
were very powerful and influential. Just imagine
that the first African Governor in Nigeria was The
Ooni of Ife, Oba Adesoji Tadeniawo Aderemi. He
was still able to combine that with his traditional
duties. He was able to do that because he was
educated.
I was very impressed when I visited his
Eminence The Sultan of Sokoto Sa’ad Abubakar
III last weekend. That visit opened my eyes to so
many things the chief of which is that our
country is changing. We were warmly received in
the palace by Sarkin Kudu Sokoto, PrinceMuazzu
Abubakar III, who led us into a waiting room.
Apparently THE Sultan had just returned from an
environmental sanitation exercise with the
Sokoto State Governor, Waziri Aminu Tambuwal.
Before long, we (The Ife Princes Adedamola and
Adedayo Aderemi and I) were ushered in to the
spacious office of His Eminence. I really didn’t
know what to expect as my palpitating heart did
some frog jumps. But behing that desk sat one
of the most important spiritual leaders in Nigeria.
We exchanged pleasantries and it wasn’t very
long before we started discussing like old
buddies. We met a man completely at ease with
everyone around him. We chatted endlessly and
eventually went to our hotel to refresh. The big
deal was when The Sultan told us to return for
dinner at about 830pm. We were indeed
flabbergasted by this gesture. We arranged
promptly as arranged and we entered the special
hut only to meet The Sultan alone. We seized
that rare opportunity to ask almost everything
under the sun. We were stunned to discover how
articulate. The Sultan is so informed and we
were wowed by his elevated level of discourse.
The palace is run like a communist enclave with
so many dependants living in the over hundred
houses attached to the palace. All of them are
connected to electricity and generators.
He told us he was expecting his guests. About
12 of them joined us inside while many others
are outside the hut. The dishes were elaborately
laid out on the floor. Everyone was served and
after dinner, guests left one after the other after
paying homage to The Sultan. We spent another
hour chatting and by the time we left, were more
informed about Sokoto and Nigeria in general.
Our next port of call was Kano. We spent more
time in Kano and gained so much knowledge. If
you’ve never visited Kano, then you’ve missed a
lot. The Kano palace is in a class of its own. Its
splendour is a sight to behold. We were
welcomed to the palace by The Emir’s special
aide Babaisa Ado-Bayero who later took us to a
Moroccan-styled garden to meet His Highness.
His Highness The Emir of Kano Muhammadu
Sanusi combines Western education with a solid
grounding in Islamic studies. He’s never hidden
the fact that his greatest ambition on earth is to
be The Emir of Kano and God answered his
prayers. His trajectory is a fairy-tale of sorts. He
was able to face and conquer adversities.
Having audience with The Emir is a great delight.
He speaks the best of Queen’s English just as he
knows his Holy Koran by rote. We were greatly
inspired by him. We saw a man who matched his
words with action. He demonstrated how a true
believer should forgive the past by not dwelling
on the issues he had with my past articles. The
Emir is very methodical and it was to my
greatest delight watching him at such close
proximity. Our first meeting was in the night of
last Monday while the second was the following
morning. We had private audience on both
occasions and left totally humbled by such
efficiency. We left absolutely satisfied that a
Nigeria without borders is very possible in the
foreseeable future. We must tear down these
walls and build new bridges of love.
AN EVENING WITH WOLE SOYINKA
I was privileged to attend what was tagged An
Evening with Wole Soyinka which was hosted by
telecom giant GLOBACOM last night in Lagos. It
was an event organised to celebrate the life of
the Nobel Laureate, a literary giant who has
successfully combined all the genres of writing
almost effortlessly.
It was such a great fun for many of us as we
watched and listened to the question and answer
session. The ceremony ran smoothly and we
enjoyed good plays, readings, music, food and
wines as usual with events hosted by the one
and only Dr Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Isola
Adenuga. At 81, Professor Soyinka looked very
strong and spritely. What more can one ask for in
life? Let’s toast to this awesome writer and one
of the world’s greatest icons, Professor Wole
Soyinka.
Group Head, Graphics & Design
(Computer Department)
Source : http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/time-to-tear-down-these-walls/218788/
Cc:Lalasticlala, ishilove

River Niger..

Building the second Niger bridge

I trust my people.

odinese:
River Niger..

Building the second Niger bridge

It's a must read, skim it if you can't read all

These are some types of 'Big Girls' we have in town:
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Kemi says, "Waiter, please I like my SALAD very
hot. Also, can I've 2 bottles of SHAWARMA?''

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Sharon says, "Hey friend, give me your PIN let me
call you.''

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Isabella says, "I'm so tired, I just made my hair in
KFC."
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Abenaa replies, "Really?! I want to spend my
summer in London dis Christmas period."

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Siphiwe explains, ''I Just bought my BB but I
haven't collected the PIN.''

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Bititi brags, ''When I'm flying, I always like the
window seat cause I open it to allow fresh air.''

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Valentina says, ''I prefer London to UK during
winter!''

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Faith says, ''Hmmm, you can't even imagine. I
just bought a G-string, and the thing I like most
about it is the back pocket!''


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Nkechi orders, ''Please, if you don't have meat
pie, doughnuts or scotch egg, just give me
snacks.''

OneNigeria44:
It's a must read, skim it if you can't read all

Wetin be skim

I'm surely gonna read afta I don charge my fone
[size=19pt]Mrnas say so [/size]

odinese:
Wetin be skim

Just read the visit to the sultan and Emir of Kano

walls don become paper wey dem they tear

I prefer to break the wall

Dele Momodu is a FOOL according to TANoids after reading this piece...

This doesn't interest me at all.
Tell us why baba is mishaving, that's all
i wanna hear.

So this is the change.
Sorry for APC.

aloziedaya:
This doesn't interest me at all.
Tell us why baba is mishaving, that's all
i wanna hear.

So this is the change.
Sorry for APC.

Can you please remove the ethnicity lens and use your conscience to read the article again?

All these people complaining about PMB's appointments, what development has their state governors brought to them that they feel an appointee at the federal level would bring to them?

If we want a government that will work to our satisfaction the we must allow merit above all to reign.

Do you expect a man who had tried 4 times to be president before hitting to just walk through the park without leaving an indelible mark?

Let him chose his own team which gives him comfort. Winning an election is not like being successful at a job interview or an avenue to settle people with jobs.

It's all about service to our father land and not everyone can serve at the same time.

bigtt76:
All these people complaining about PMB's appointments, what development has their state governors brought to them that they feel an appointee at the federal level would bring to them?

If we want a government that will work to our satisfaction the we must allow merit above all to reign.

Do you expect a man who had tried 4 times to be president before hitting to just walk through the park without leaving an indelible mark?

Let him chose his own team which gives him comfort. Winning an election is not like being successful at a job interview or an avenue to settle people with jobs.

It's all about service to our father land and not everyone can serve at the same time.

I didn't expect less. I knew you were a realist. Thumbs up. My pain is most Nigerians are still wearing the ethnic lens. We are progressing sha and we will definitely overcome someday

...

bigtt76:
All these people complaining about PMB's appointments, what development has their state governors brought to them that they feel an appointee at the federal level would bring to them?

If we want a government that will work to our satisfaction the we must allow merit above all to reign.

Do you expect a man who had tried 4 times to be president before hitting to just walk through the park without leaving an indelible mark?

Let him chose his own team which gives him comfort. Winning an election is not like being successful at a job interview or an avenue to settle people with jobs.

It's all about service to our father land and not everyone can serve at the same time.

U and mumudu will not tell baba buhari the truth,iraq, yemen and syria are suffering today because of the actions of their leaders, who discriminated against some ethnic and religious groups in their countries.

Am sure dele momodu will not sing the same script if this lopsided appointments are against his cherished tribes.

jomonic:
Am sure dele momodu will not sing the same script if this lopsided appointments are against his cherished tribes.

Still through the ethnicity lens

OneNigeria44:
Still through the ethnicity lens

Ethnic lens ke. Nothing like that. Truth is Nigeria is a plural society and appointments must reflect that. All men of goodwill should denounce Buhari's lopsided appointments because it is wrong. The excuse of placing merit above ethnic considerations is very mischievous. The Nigerian constitution does not place any burden on Buhari on how or where he spends 55% of Nigeria's resources. That is the loophole this bigoted president is exploiting. Appointments is just stage one. As time goes on it will be clear to everybody that this president cares less about development in those parts of Nigeria that he detests.