THE OONI'S JOURNALISTIC LEGACY By Emmanuel Onwubiko

In school at the Jos Plateau State-based then campus of the prestigious Nigerian Institute of Journalism  (NIJ) where I took an intensive professional course many years back we were told that journalists are historians but of a different dimension in that they write bits and pieces of history in a hurry. I had my very strong doubts then because I queried the logic behind writing history in a hurry but was later convinced that indeed those aspects of history written in a hurry but accurately captured make more sense than the version that would undergo series of editorial scrutiny and embellishments and sometimes insertions of variegated tissues of lies and make-beliefs like the versions of African history written by the so- called historians from the Western World who followed their contemporaries that militarily subjugated and colonised much of  Africa for many years and engaged in series of looting of our natural, agroa-allied and human resources. 

Mr. Hegel a philosopher who provided intellectual support for the subjugation of the black race even insinuated that blacks were inferior to whites. 

Anyway that's not the focus of this piece which in some ways is a tribute to the memories of one of Nigeria's most colourful, glamorous but politically savvy trado-cultural rulers of the YORUBA speaking nationality of South Western Nigeria-the late Ooni of Ife Oba Okunade Sijuwade. 

My brief tribute or intervention was borne out of the fact that this man who left a great amount of impressions either/or in the minds and hearts of many Nigerians was once a journalist who practiced for a brief period before proceeding to study business management.  His involvement and foray into the field of journalism has once more reinvigorated my strong conviction that the media profession must and should remain a noble profession and not just a trade as most of us the contemporary journalists and media owners have assumed it to be. 

Going through the official biography of this great man although he may have his faultlines in that he associated too closely with politicians and therefore can be accused of displaying some partisanship but by and large that aspect of the  official records that showed him to have practiced journalism has added to a rich collection of Nobel minds that once in their life times practiced Journalism therefore serving as constant reminders for the contemporary media workers to strive to respect their ethics and professional codes of conduct so as to defend the Nobel integrity and historicity behind the practice of journalism in Nigeria. Chinua Achebe of the Things fall apart fame whose works in the field of scholarship currently enjoys global acclaims and this professor of literally scholarship was once a broadcast journalist in Nigeria. So in both nobility and academic prowess /excellence the Nigerian media isn't found wanting. 

Most especially the owners of the media industry in Nigeria who would now join the bandwagon of those who would start paying tributes to the late Ooni of Ife must be made to abide strictly to contractual terms that wouldn't subjugate their workers and treat them like slaves. 

Looking at how earlier media owners set up their businesses we can see that they didn't treat their staff like slaves. NNAMDI Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo were some of these well known media owners who never maltreated their workers in the way and manner that some media owners do to their workers and there are no regulatory framework effective enough to deter these range of punitive practices against ordinary media workers who toil day and night to keep their media houses relevant and viable. Dr NNAMDI Azikiwe specifically published several titles that spanned up to Sierra Leone and West Coast or Ghana. Incidentally the late Ooni of Ife reportedly worked in the newspaper chain set up by the late Western Nigerian leader Chief Obafemi Awolowo. As prominent Nigerians would have started pouring encomiums on the memories of the departed traditional ruler of Ife it is imperative that his record of having worked as a journalist mustn't be just a mere mention but must be used as a point of contact to highlight the various operational challenges that modern media industry face and to proffer concrete panacea to the situation of poor salary structure for media workers by the owners. 

 It's an irony of unfathomable reach that the media practitioners who are the only professional groups recognised by the constitution by way of a detailed mention in section 22 of the Nigerian Constitution as vanguard and Consciences of Nigeria are at the same time treated shabbily by the media owners. This is pathetic and sad and smacks of hypocrisy that we who preach freedom are at the same time treated as economic slaves and we lack institutional redress mechanisms and everyone seems not to give a hoot or a damn (apologies to Good luck Jonathan).       

Nigeria Government needs to look at the issue of newsprint whose importation is not only cumbersome but heavily taxed and the ugly fact that the local newsprints' manufacturing industry seems to have gone comatose. 

Government has to bail out the suffering media industry more particularly with the resuscitation of the newsprint manufacturing sector. Now to the main tributes to the memories of this colourful ruler I learnt that his pursuit for academic and professional trainings took him to virtually all the leading manufacturing and business firms in many European countries. 

As stated officially, Oba Okunade Sijuwade was born on the 1st of January, 1930 to a great royal family in the Ogboru house, Ilare, Ile-Ife. 

Prince Okunade Sijuwade as he was then called, reportedly started his elementary education at Igbein school, Abeokuta, an institution owned by the CMS mission. He lived with his other brother under the care of their father’s good friend Chief G. A. Adedayo and his family. Chief Adebayo was the secretary to the Egba council, under the Asoju Oba. After his elementary school education he proceeded to Abeokuta Grammar school, under the well-known educationist, The Rev. I. O. Ransome Kuti who was the principal.

Herein is my interest. In the precise words of his official biographer as seen on the Internet by this writer, the late Ooni of Ife before he left to Europe for extensive studies  the young man on his own volition decided he needed to have journalistic training.

He joined The Nigerian Tribune where he spent two years, first as a reporter and later as a sales executive. Thereafter, he proceeded to the United Kingdom in the early fifties to undertake a course of training inBusiness Management.

His training was essentially in Northampton and with the Leventis Group in Manchester in 1957. He also participated in advanced business management training programmes with companies in Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Scotland, West Germany and Israel. 

Coming again to the challenging times faced by the media industry my take is that the current administration should find the political will to revive the moribund newsprint manufacturing industry and also provide the enabling environment for foreign direct investors in the fields of newsprint and books to set up their production lines in Nigeria for the very good reasons of providing job opportunities and the revival of economic productivity of Nigerians.  Besides that would encourage reading culture amongst the youth because a reading youth is a prepared leadership especially in our clime whereby we are experiencing speedily the decline of leadership qualities amongst contemporary politicians.  Let the memories and journalistic legacies of this all rounded and educated traditional ruler be respected by doing the aforementioned and many other measures to promote intellectualism and reading culture even as the Nigerian media industry needs to be administered in accordance with best global practices. 

*Emmanuel Onwubiko is Head of Human rights Writers association of Nigeria and blogs @www.huriwa.blogspot.com,www.rightsassociationngr.com, www.huriwa.org. 

29/7/2015

CAN BUHARI END THE KADUNA GENOCIDE? By Emmanuel Onwubiko

The Kaduna State governor Mr. Nassir ElRuffai is a maverick, no doubt, but he has one of the closest friendship of recent with the man on the top now in the seat of power in the Federal Capital of Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari.

In some political circles the name of the dimunitive politician has severally been mentioned as one of the possible successors to the current President in 2019 should he be allowed by the centripetal and centrifugal forces pulling apart his political platform  (APC) to anoint his successor going by emerging evidence that age is no longer on the side of the serving President who himself recently made an open confession that old age wouldn't let him achieve many revolutionary changes in the body polity.

Well, analysis of who is suitably qualified to succeed the current President in 2019 may be too early in the day but if this peculiarly eccentric politician who presides over as governor of Kaduna State wants to stand any fighting chance of winning the hearts and minds of well meaning Nigerians for higher political calling in the foreseeable future then he has to buckle up his sleeves and truly hit the ground running by pragmatically finding a solution to the spate of genocidal killings going on in his backyard in Southern Kaduna. Let this media savvy politician stop his dramatic early or late hour visits to General hospitals in Kaduna seeking to catch unawares the many lazy government employed medical workers but he has to do first thing first.

The first thing is not this media generated populist agenda of stopping the payment to a segment of the populace for the Islamic fasting seasonal feedings which in itself is illegal but he has to save the lives of the ordinary villagers in the Christian dominated Southern Kaduna if he is to be free of accusations of having the knowledge of the plots by some forces both within and without Southern Kaduna to decimate the population of Southern Kaduna indigenous tribes people.  

The immediate past Governor by now should have been dragged to the International Criminal Court in The Hague Netherlands for prosecution for his persistent failure to do the needful to stop the mass killings of women, children and the aged by armed freelance fighters thought to be Fulani Herdsmen.  That the leadership and elite of Southern Kaduna including the leadership of their organised civil society are yet to take concrete and verifiable action to institute a charge of crime against humanity against the last governor Mr. Yero is a shock to every right thinking observer that have followed the ugly development that evolved in the entire four year tenure of that Zaria born Accountant thought to have been imposed on Kaduna people by his boss and erstwhile Vice President Mr. Namadi Sambo.  So the current governor must learn from the mistakes of the last occupant of that seat and take every citizen of Kaduna irrespective of tribes or creed as his primary constituents.  That he has set up a probe to be led by a former Military General Mr. Agwai is cosmetic. Let him go further than that and round up the sponsors of these spate of killings who may have been identified by previous probe panels since that state is always known for fratricidal warfare between the diverse ethnic and religious components either over lands rights or just mere mischief over their cosmetic religious and ethno -cultural differences. 

Impunity is one factor that motivates these current killers who have for long stockpiled weapons to carry out the so called revenge over perceived opponents who they have nursed longstanding grievances for fundamentally working strenuously to gain their unique traditional rulership far away from the overbearing dominance of other customary and traditional stools that have no identical cultural and religious affiliations.

Few years back it was thought then that the decision of then governor Ahmed Maikarfi to create autonomous Chieftdoms for Southern Kaduna indigenous people to  somehow symbolically free them from consistently viewed as persons under the Zaria powerful oligarchs. But years down the line the indigenous tribal people and the so called settlers especially those of the Hausa/Fulani affiliations have continued intermittently to an extent that at a time when the crazy leader of Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau had the global press at his beck and call he even threatened to unleash his killers on Southern Kaduna indigenous Christian communities to pay back for what he perceived as previous genocides against the Hausa/Fulani. 

So the  killings going on in Southern Kaduna is skin deep and one way of stopping it is to fundamentally round up the known sponsors who as I have stated earlier  may have actually been pointed out by previous investigations whose findings were never implemented. A stroll around the streets of Kafanchan and another around Zaria and Kaduna and with thoroughbred investigative skills it won't be difficult to fish out the real masterminds of these genocidal killings of all colouration. What us lacking even now in the seats of power at the state and Federal levels is the desired political will and will power to do the needful rather than embark on shadow chasing and cosmetic committee set ups that would end up not really doing much. Genuine reconciliation is needed but justice for victims and judicial sanctions for the suspected killers must be present evidently before any contemplation of a permanent panacea to this annoying mass killings.

 All the mass murderers from which ever affiliations must be arrested and prosecuted and if the state government continues to dance around setting up committees after committees then these brutes from both sides will up their game and we will remain in one particular bloody spot and continue to grieve whenever the gangsters unleashes their blood cuddling violence. Let Nassir ElRuffai meet President Buhari (his new political soul mate) so a permanent solution is found or he be prepared to also be dragged to the international Criminal Court for crimes against humanity because as the Chief Security officer of Kaduna State you are constitutionally obliged to protect the lives and property of the citizenry within your area of political jurisdiction. The immediate past Governor Ramalan Yero would be sleeping only in a precarious corner of his bed with one of his eyes wide open because if my sixth sense isn't deceiving me then he may sooner rather than later be required to surrender to international prosecutors in the ICC to say what he knows about the spate of genocides that happened under his political watch from 2011 to 2015. The apparent nonchalant attitudes of both the Federal and Kaduna State POLITICAL administrations to tackle the Southern Kaduna genocide squarely is disturbing to a lot of people not less the Senator representing that embattled constituency. 

Senator Danjuma La’ah, representing Southern Kaduna Senatorial Zone, said it all when he recently decried what he described as lack of action by the federal and Kaduna State governments over the murder of 13 natives of the area by gunmen in three villages earlier this month.

Addressing newsmen in Kafanchan, Senator La’ah said he wanted the security challenges facing the people of Southern Kaduna to be given equal attention as that of North East region of the country.

Hear him: “The manner in which our people are being killed with impunity still resembles the same fashion of mindless murder of our people under the former government. This is giving me much concern and I want to call the attention of the world to this wickedness that has always been going on without any seeming solution".

The parliamentarian continued further: “Last Tuesday, June 16, 2015, around 8pm, the peaceful and law-abiding village of Kastak, in Takad Chiefdom, Jema’a Local Government Area, LGA of Kaduna was invaded by well armed men. According to distress calls I received and the reports of my aides shortly after the invasion, nine people were killed, and 13 others critically injured".

“On June 5, 2015, Ayagan village in Bajju Chiefdom in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State, was invaded by armed men. Four people were killed and several others injured when the invaders fired into a crowd of mourners, unprovoked. I have gone there and personally verified this killings".

“On June 11, 2015, one Tanko Nyam,45, from Kyari Daddu village in Jaba, LGA was ambushed by yet another set of gunmen and killed, leaving behind his wife and five kids".

“As a responsible Senator, I cannot sit and claim that it will soon be well when no authority has shown any interest in the insecurity that has bedevilled our people since 2011.

“In the light of the above, I am asking for the following: That the Federal Government should make Southern Kaduna one of the areas needing urgent and immediate security response just like it is doing in parts of North East zone,” the senator said.

I sincerely think the President must make it a priority to stop these genocidal killings now. As government at the center settles down there is the need for concerted effort to be made to check the proliferation of illicit weapons by securing our international borders especially those porous areas bordering Nigeria with Chad, Niger and Cameroon.  In the interim let the Nigerian State give licences for mentally sound and law respecting adults facing attacks all over to carry arms to defend themselves since the right to life is sacred and the moment someone dies then any remedial process may no longer involve him directly. As the American rap singers would say and I dare state that I agree that "it is more honouring to die fighting than wait and be slaughtered like Christmas goats". A stitch in time saves nine. Buhari can indeed end the vicious circles of genocides going on multiple fronts in different parts of Nigeria.  He is after all a tested and trusted General.

*Emmanuel Onwubiko is Head of Human rights Writers association of Nigeria and blogs @www.huriwa.blogspot.com, www.rightsassociationngr.com, www.huriwa.org

23/6/2015

AS OBAMA'S JOB BECOMES ATTRACTIVE By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Mrs. Hilary Clinton is particularly not an adorable and personable individual in a lot of people's perception in the Southern segment of Nigeria because of the role she failed to play as Secretary of State then under the first tenure of President Barack Obama's administration in the United States of America. 

She it was who got the US president convinced that Boko Haram shouldn't be declared a terrorists group and classified as such by Executive exercise of Presidential might. If Boko Haram was viewed much earlier as a terrorists organization and confronted with the American might may be by now their capacity for waging a spate of campaign of mass killings and genocide would have abated. Mrs.  Clinton did badly too as far as Libya was concerned because it was when she held office as Secretary of state that Libya was distabilised  and the Libyan revolutionary leader Colonel Muamar Ghadaffi was gruesomely killed by local rebels armed by the West including USA and UK. 

Ever since Ghadaffi was murdered and Libya captured by a range of freelance armed Islamists that nation that was like the Japan of Africa under Colonel Ghadaffi's benevolent dictatorship,  has collapsed and indeed has turned into a failed state to such an extent that remnants of the Islamic State murderous terrorists have seized swathes of territories. ISIS has also captured a major part of Libya and are currently engaged in armed kidnappings and wanton killings. 

Hillary Clinton has nevertheless continued to dream very big for herself in terms of her unrelenting quest to run for the highest office in the United States of America as if to say that she is united in mind with her husband who ironically was America ''s  two -terms President,  to set up a political dynasty. 

Mrs. Clinton has started her campaign to run for the office of US president under the  banner of Democratic Party even as her husband the erstwhile US President Mr. Bill Clinton has offered her an unqualified support and consistent loyalty. Will Mrs. Hillary Clinton achieve her American dream and become the first ever female President of the World's strongest democracy? 

Another famous political family known as the George Bush family also has an aspirant for the highest political office in USA and indeed the former governor of Florid (1999-2007). Mr Jeb Bush who is running for the primary election of the Republican party to contest to replace President Obama who would roundup his two terms of office next year will make history should he win because he would become the third person from the famous Bush political dynasty to become President. This feat if achieved would become unprecedented.

In all over three dozen Americans are warming up to run for the office of US President to succeed Obama in what is seen as the most competitive contest in many years. Indeed the job of the US President has suddenly become attractive even when it is the most burdensome political task of all times. It is a notorious fact that no one has ever served as President of the United States of America without becoming unusually stressed up emotionally and experienced tumultuous change of physical outlooks.

To comprehend how interesting the race to succeed President Obama has assumed one only needs to note that even the most powerful religious icons of our time and the Holy Father Pope Francis has become a factor in determining who wins the ticket of each of those two major or mainstream political platforms in the United State of America -Republican and Democrats.  

The Pope will visit USA in September but already all the leading contestants for the Presidential tickets in America are already lining up behind President Obama to be accommodated in the itinerary of the Holy Father's Papal visit to the World's most powerful nation in September 2015.  

But how does selecting an American President happen? This and many other issues were what I have set out to analyse in this piece by consulting extensively with political authorities who are in the know about the MAKING OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT. 

 From diverse knowledge sources, we learnt that the decentralized nature of American party systems readily becomes apparent and significant regarding the issue of   how Presidential hopeful must campaign for their’s party’s nomination for president. 

In a presidential election, says experts, the candidates for presidency are listed at top of the ballot, followed by the candidates for other national offices and those for state and local offices.

Our findings show that Presidential elections are held every 4 years on Tuesday after the 1^st Monday of November. 

Who can vote? American citizens ages 18 and older can register to vote.  

Voters must meet the residency requirements of their states, which vary and comply with voter registration deadlines.

Many Americans think that when they cast their ballot they are voting for their chosen candidate. In actuality they are selecting groups of electors in the Electoral College who are the king makers if we choose to call them by those pejorative terms. Many of us in Nigeria do also think that American individual voters are the very people actually voting for the emergence of an American President. 

 In actual fact, the US President is made by the College of Electors. Every state has a number of electors equal to it’s number of congresspersons. In addition, there are 3 electors for the District of Columbia.

 A candidate can therefore win millions of votes but no electoral votes. The “winner takes all” system can produce seemingly uneven results, in the elections of John Quincy Adams (1824) and George Bush (2000), for instance ,the candidates who had the greatest popular vote did not win the greatest electoral college votes, and so lost the presidency.

Atleast 270 electoral votes are required to elect a president. If the majority is not reached, the House of Representatives will elect the president.

The question now is, how do the Americans choose their President from party primaries to real election?

Our research revealed that Caucuses and primaries are ways for general public to take part in nominating presidential elections. This process was never included in the United States Constitution and because the constitution gives no guidance for nominating presidential candidates, Americans continue to tinker with primary processes all the time in compliance with global best practices.

Reforms led to party rules, for choosing candidates and delegates, the Democratic party has established national rules for how candidates are selected. The Republican party allows each state to set it’s own guidelines for candidate selection, other parties, such as the Reform Party, have a less structured candidate selection process, and thus was created over time by the political parties. Some states only hold primary elections, some only caucuses and others use a combination of both. 

Our investigations show that the primary elections are run by state and local governments, while caucuses are private events that are directly run by the political parties themselves. 

Interestingly, a state ‘s primary election or caucus usually is an indirect election: instead of voters directly selecting a particular person running for president, it determines how many delegates each party’s natural convention will receive from their respective state. These delegates then in turn select their party’s presidential nominee.

Each party determines how many delegates are allowed for each state. Along with those delegates chosen during primaries and caucuses, state delegations to both the Democratic and Republican are constituted.

 Conventions also include ‘’unpledged delegates’’ usually current and former elected office holders and party leaders, who can vote for whomever they want.

This system of presidential primary and caucuses is somewhat controversial because of it’s staggered nature. The major advantage according to political scholars is that candidates can concentrate their resources in each area of the country one at a time instead of campaigning in every state simultaneously.

 As a result more states have earlier primaries to claim a greater influence in the process, also setting precedence and influencing the election that follow in other states.

Today, state legislators are reportedly said to capitalize on the importance of primaries and jockey for influence by scheduling their state primaries and caucuses as early as possible, forcing presidential candidates to jostle for their support.

Knowledgeable experts affirmed that the perceived need for the reform of the primary process continues today. Many feel that the influence of early primaries disturbs the balance of power exerted by the states upon the nomination of candidates, and thus selection of the president.

 That deceptively simple process is followed by onerous job of amassing a war-chest of campaign funds, then winning the hearts of voters in grueling and costly state races and general election. 

Thus the process of becoming a candidate for Presidential election under the two mainstream parties of Republican and Democrat has become not only physically torturing but has become a big money spending game. A winner of the Presidency of the USA is sworn in on January 20^th, the president enters office in formal ceremony known as the Inauguration usually attended by thousands of citizens and other citizens of the World.

Symbolically,  the President-elect  takes the presidential oath thus: ’’I do solemnly swear(or affirm) that I will faithfully, execute the Office of the President of the United States and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States of America."

Some of the notable names of aspirants for office of US president are; Michael Bennet- Senator for colorado; Mr   Joe Biden the current Vice President of the U. S;   Andrew Cuoma-Gov of New York; Rahm Emmanuel -Mayor of Chicago n fmr white house chief of staff;   AL Franken- US senator from minnesseto; Jack Markell- Gov of Delaware; Claire Mccaskill -Us senator; Janet Napolitano-former United states secretary of homeland; Mark Warner- US senator. 

Other known Presidential hopefuls are;  Elizabeth Warren-US senator;Howard Dean- fmr Gov of Vermont;  Dan Malloy- Gov of connecticut; Brad Winslow-Information manager; Bernie Sander-Juniir Us Senator; Doug Shreffler- CIA & US envoy; Lloyd Kelso - Attorney; Martin O'Malloy-Fmr Gov of Mary land; Robby Wells-fmr football coach; Willie Wilson-Chicago businessman; Micheal Steinberg-Attorney; Lincoln Chaffee- US Senator; Hillary Clinton-fmr US secretary of state and US senator n first lady and Mr.   Jim Webb -Veteran.

*      Emmanuel Onwubiko is Head of Human rights Writers association of Nigeria and blogs @www.huriwa.blogspot.com,www.rightsassociationngr.com, www.huriwa.org.

20/6/2015