Chinua Achebe's homecoming

The great Chinua Achebe arrived Abuja yesterday morning from the U.S. I was at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport by 5:30am with other people from the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), led by its president Dr Wale Okediran, Imo and Anambra State governments, to receive him.

The 78-year-old author came to Nigeria to deliver the annual Ahajioku Lecture on the status of Igbo culture. The lecture, financed by the Imo State government, will hold tomorrow in Owerri. His last visit to Nigeria occurred nine years ago.

I had been phoned by Dr Okediran on Sunday night and got news of the visit. I was armed with my digital camera at the airport and was lucky to have shot several (award-winning!!) photographs of Prof. Achebe. (The one posted here is one of them).

This was the first time I saw the acclaimed author of the novel "Things Fall Apart," which I began translating into Hausa a long time ago.

Later in the evening in Abuja Achebe criticised Africa's flawed electoral system with the words: "Politics is not warfare."

Talking to journalists, he said: "I must express very profound disappointment with what is happening on the African continent concerning elections, concerning succession."

"The idea of a civilised society is one where power is transferred willingly because the law is there. But somehow in Africa, we still have not learnt that simple but profoundly important fact."

I couldn't agree more.

(In the photo above, Dr Okediran is seen directly behind Achebe, holding Achebe's wheelchair. Popular TV newscaster and author Eugenia Abu is beside Okediran, while Mrs Achebe smiles brightly, with a badge on her chest).

It was a great way to start a day.

Iyan-Tama: Another Case Of Injustice

AN OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR IBRAHIM SHEKARAU

Your Excellency,
I am sending this letter to you through an open forum because I believe it will get to you faster than through the formal ones, given the urgency the matter requires. If I had to submit the letter at your office it could take days, or even months, before it could reach you, and by that time you might not have been fully briefed by an independent source on the gargantuan injustice some of your appointees are committing on your behalf.

Secondly, the matter has since been in the public domain, generating such a storm of negative publicity in the last few months. Now it appears to have been settled through a dubious process of adjudication, which some self-serving zealots have pinned on the canvass of your administration’ s well publicized mantra of humanism, non-deceit and Islamic values. Moreover, writing publically would give anyone interested in the issue an insight into what is happening in a key aspect of your government.

Sir, I am very conversant with this case, not only because I have been following it up in the magistrate’s court in Kano where it was exhausted but also because I am an insider in the Hausa filmmaking business. I do not have to stress here that Kano has been the hub of Hausa filmmaking for the over 10 years since the trade began.

I am very certain that you are not totally unaware of the court case between the Kano State Censorship Board (KSCB) and a movie producer, Alhaji Hamisu Lamido Iyan-Tama. The latter, Your Excellency, is an indigene of your state who played a key role in the development of Hausa filmmaking, doubling as an A-list actor. Indeed, he was the first elected national president of Arewa Film Producers Association. It is a well known fact that he has never produced or acted in a movie that ran counter to the cultural and religious beliefs of Kano people. His roles have consistently been mature; he insists on quality of production, sensitivity in the representation of culture in the movies, and he is always law-abiding. His movies have won top awards.

Your Excellency, if you are opportune to read this letter today, Iyan-Tama has spent two days in Kano Prison so far, having been indicted on Tuesday on two offences by a magistrate court that had played adabracadbra with his case for the past few months. By the court’s ruling, he is going to spend three months in jail without an option of fine. In addition, he is to pay a huge fine or spend an additional year in jail.

Many of us observers would not have batted an eyelid over this verdict if the offences had truly been committed. I for one believe in the rule of law, knowing that it is the cardinal principle of any workable democracy. Nobody should be above the law. Observing this rule is one of the requirements for the survival of democracy and a guarantee for the well-being of the nation. The truth, however, is that the offences for which Iyan-Tama was “found guilty” were cooked up by the Censorship Board and the guilty verdict passed by a compromised judge best known for jailing anyone dragged before him even if innocent. The not-so-funny thing is that this atrocity is perpetrated under your name and the hallowed provisions of the Islamic Shari’ah law. From my reading of your pronouncements and personal attitude, I am yet to be convinced that you would support injustice in whichever mode or allow anyone to play politics with the Islamic law in order to settle some personal score.

Let me summarise the case for you, Sir. Iyan-Tama was arrested in his office in Kano by members of a task force from the KSCB and taken to the mobile court established to adjudicate on matters of filmmaking and book writing (widened to include all forms of publications) . Curiously, the court is the only one of its kind; there are no special courts for achaba, prostitution, gambling, homosexuality, etc. Iyan-Tama was charged on two “offences”:

1. Releasing his movie, “Tsintsiya” (meaning Broom) in Kano without having it vetted by the KSCB as required by law;

2. Operating a production company, Iyan-Tama Multimedia, without government registration.

Now all these counts are false and his attorney did work hard to convince the senior magistrate, Alhaji Mukhtar Ahmed, to believe so. It took months before the verdict, which has shocked most residents of Kano State and beyond, was passed.

Let’s begin with the second charge. Iyan-Tama Multimedia was duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), which is vested with the responsibility of registering all companies in Nigeria. KSCB insists that Iyan-Tama did not renew his annual registration with the Board. Again, this was proved to be false as he had filed an application on that months before his arrest and obtained the relevant receipts. Having made that move while operating a federally approved business venture did not speak of a lawless business man eager to flout the provisions of running a filmmaking venture in Kano.

The first charge was even more absurd. Your Excellency, Iyan-Tama did not release the said movie in Kano State. He even ran advertorials and did radio and newspaper interviews prior to the movie’s premiere in Abuja, in which he stated unequivocally that “Tsintsiya” would not be distributed in Kano State.

When the KSCB decided to “deal with Iyan-Tama”, members of its task force broke a shop, HRB, in Tarauni quarters of Kano and obtained a CD of the movie, hidden inside a desk drawer by an actor who says he bought it in Kaduna and wanted to give it to a fan. The CD was not displayed for sale. Its presence in Kano was not linked to Hamisu Iyan-Tama. If you read the transcript of the cross-examination of the KSCB’s two witnesses (the task force members) in court, you will believe without any doubt that they could not link Hamisu to the presence of that CD in that shop.

Clearly, the case against Iyan-Tama was a vendetta. It was a part of the “get him at all cost” campaign which the KSCB seems to be running against some selected film industry operators. KSCB’s warped thinking is that through this campaign it could help wipe out the whole idea of movie -making in the Hausa language. It uses crude propaganda, trades in misinformation, unleashes a deliberate misinterpretation of the 2002 Censorship Law, and brandishes the name of Islam in its entirely unIslamic approach to reforming the entertainment arena in Kano. Your Excellency, all this is against your avowed commitment to social justice. And it comes with a high price, which I will, with all due respect, Sir, tell you.

Your Excellency,

The war against filmmaking in Kano is wearing the toga of Shariah, however it is anything but Islamic. Those waging it are fellow conspirators mouthing the words of the holy Qur’an and the Sunnah but acting the script of Hitler. There is nothing in their actions that proves a commitment to the hallowed blandishments of the holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW). As I said last week, the systematic, violent strangulation of the movie industry is coming at great cost, not only to the industry’s operators but also to the Kano State government. I shall enumerate some of the high prices being paid:

1. Thousands of self-employed youths have been thrown out of work, with all the attendant difficulties faced by them and their families. They have not been provided with alternative means of earning a livelihood. “To hell with them,” your warriors would say, “half of them are not Kano indigenes!” But it goes against the grain of your administration’s stated commitment to providing jobs to the multitude of Kano youths.

2. The war is a drag on Kano’s already dismal economy. With the collapse of most of the manufacturing industries in the state, the movie industry should have been harnessed towards a viable, self-sustaining enterprise within acceptable moral and legal bounds. Instead, the strangled baby is being thrown out with the bath water.
3. A dark cloud of fear and uncertainty has enveloped the youths, with stakeholders turned into virtual beggars (’yan maula).

4. A rash of anti-Shekarau sentiment has been unleashed among the youths. This is visible in folk songs being produced in movie studios in Kano, Zaria and Kaduna. Initially the songs were targeted at the Kano State Censorship Board (KSCB) but they are now including the governor in their attacks. The most popular of such songs was written, composed to music and published in a studio owned by a very close political confidante of yours, yet the KSCB did not find it necessary to act on this because the sponsor of the studio is an ‘untouchable’.

This anti-Shekarau sentiment is gaining momentum and could well translate into a liability for ANPP in the 2011 general elections in the state.

5. Questions are being asked on the purpose and direction of your Shariah campaign, which millions embraced. A leader preaching equity and moral rebirth should not deny thousands of the young ones their means of earning a meal.

Your Excellency, I am a believer in sanitisation of society and inculcation of moral values in tandem with the beliefs and customs of the people. Hence my full support of your government’s Societal Reorientation Programme (A Daidaita Sahu), which our good friend Malam Bala Muhammad has been heading most admirably and with tremendous success. But the censorship regime in Kano is undoing what A Daidaita Sahu has accomplished. Reeling precariously on a wrong track, its approach is malicious and personalised. It has derailed from any moral, practical yardstick.

Granted that the Hausa movie industry has had some disturbing excesses that needed to be checked. This was even more expedient after the Hiyana Affair. But the involvement of the genuine leaders of the industry was a necessity if any success was to be achieved. Instead, they were excommunicated by the KSCB, which went ahead to create enclaves of fake loyalists, host diversionary dinners and organise purposeless talk-shows. No wonder the divide and rule tactics, the bitter carrots and stick method and the Nazi-style propaganda executed by the board have only created cataclysms and woeful failures in the task of sanitising the industry.

Pornographic movies and posters are still on sale in Kano. Also, most of the trickle Hausa movies produced by the so-called loyalists of KSCB and approved by the board (to hide the lie that filmmaking isn’t being killed) cannot pass an independent assessment, using the board’s own yardstick. Pray, how many qualitative, morally “acceptable” movies were produced under KSCB’s watch since the Hiyana Affair?
Sir, you will agree with me that the idea of filmmaking itself is not an anathema and should, therefore, not be killed. Movies can be made on all sorts of themes in line with cultural norms. Moviemakers should be guided, not denigrated or hounded out of town.

Sir, Hamisu Iyan-Tama is a political prisoner: he opposed you in the 2007 polls by contesting your gubernatorial seat. He didn’t pose any significant threat to you. You were re-elected. Yet for his effrontery, your appointees are punishing him. They say he is a braggart, pompous, talks too much and criticizes your administration. Fine and good, are they not bigger braggarts and even more pompous, acting as if they are almighty? Don’t they consider anyone who questions their decisions as an enemy or even an unbeliever, disloyal, or a non-indigene ignorant of all the issues involved? How more supercilious could one be?

And even if Iyan-Tama was a braggart or was your political opponent, was that enough basis to punish him with a jail term when he did not break any law? Is he as damaging to you as those angry talking heads on Freedom Radio? Where is the democracy we are talking about? Would the Prophet (SAW) or any of his rightly guided caliphs or the sundry righteous men that trod on their path treat an opponent that way?

Your Excellency, you should probe the Iyan-Tama case, please, especially the role of the magistrate that handled it and other cases of injustice. Why should a court be working for a prosecuting government agency? Why should a single magistrate who has shown his bias more times than can be counted remain the only judge on each and every case the KSCB is prosecuting? Is the man a God-fearing adjudicator or a mere grumpy politician?

You should also use your good offices to free Iyan-Tama by entering a nolle prosequi in the appeal case he filed before a higher court. I know you have such a big heart because you acted that way in similar cases, including the one in which your wife was maligned. You should not allow your zesty hirelings to fight your opponents unjustly because on the Day of Reckoning they will answer their own cases separately from yours.

Sir, till we talk on this and some other cases again, I remain your most humble observer and adviser.

ABOVE IS THE TEXT OF MY WEEKLY COLUMN PUBLISHED IN LEADERSHIP NEWSPAPER, ABUJA, YESTERDAY (AND CONCLUDED THE FOLLOWING THURSDAY)

Is Watergate Possible Here?

This question was paraphrased from the piece by Leonard Downie Jr., who was executive editor of The Washington Post for 17 years, published in the same newspaper early this week. The piece, titled "Is Watergate Possible Now?", was an analysis of American journalism in the age of the Internet. It was a retrospection inspired by the death, last Thursday, of W. Mark Felt, the whistle-blower popularly known as Deep Throat in the scandal that blew President Richard Nixon out of office. Mark Felt was the anonymous source of most of the stories filed by the Post's reporter Bob Woodward after a break-in at the national headquarters of the opposition Democratic National Committee in Washington's Watergate hotel and office complex in June 1972.

Mr Felt, who was at that time the second-in-command at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, craftily led Woodward in unraveling the cover-ups that were traced back to the Nixon Administration, eventually forcing the President to resign two years later in ignominy. The newspaper faithfully hid the identity of its source, merely calling him Deep Throat -- after a porn movie. Mr Felt, who died at the age of 97, revealed himself only in May 2005. The Sunday Times of London this week aptly described him as "the most famous anonymous source in the history of journalism."

The Watergate scandal, an unforgettable milestone, did spawn a plethora of investigative journalism not only in America but also across the world. The spirit lives in many journalists today. Many a journalist now treats the powers that be with caution, dreaming of fishing things out about them, nasty, smelly things that could help bring them into disrepute or even out of power. The feeling is apparently mutual. The powers that be -- people in government, in business, in crime, in sports or even in the service of God -- find journalists barely tolerable; in most cases they find them intolerable -- and treat them so. Whenever they talk of mutual cooperation, you will out that the benefit is also mutual. Sad.

In America, the fall of Nixon created a frenzy in newsrooms as many news organs tried to equal or surpass The Washington Post's prowess. Indeed, very big exposes were made by bigger and smaller media. The spirit liveth, no doubt. However, none has equaled the impact and glory of that newspaper's epoch-making feat, not least because no President was forced out of office again but due to the watershed nature of the first case. President Bill Clinton was boxed into a very tight corner during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, but he was able to weather the storm.

The news media have become transformed worldwide since the '70s. The biggest change came with the Internet. Apart from making journalism 'more democratic' by turning anyone on a keyboard with a connectivity into a newshound and publisher, the Internet has made sources of information more readily available and also made information dissemination easier, instant and more widespread. Leonard Downie Jr's concern is with making journalism not simply a medium of holding Presidents (and other leaders) accountable to the people, which is equally important, but a way of improving the life of the people. Journalists might be called "sons of whores" by powerful figures as Nixon's character in the new movie, "Frost/Nixon," played by Frank Langella, did. But it is worthwhile to continue doing the good work because in the long run it would be in the interest of the nation.

So is a Wategate-like scenario possible here in Nigeria? First, we have to examine the motive of anyone wishing for such a scandal. W. Mark Felt was suspected of having resentments, hoping, as the Sunday Times of London editorialised this week, "to elevate himself in the bureaucracy." It noted, however, that "there was his sense that something was wrong and needed to be exposed." Any Nigerian who dreams of seeing a President, governor or Local Government chairman felled should, first, have a motive which, ideally, should be in the best interest of the community rather than self. The same goes to the potential whistle-blower.

There are too many willing whistle-blowers in this country. Unfortunately, however, many a Nigerian 'Deep Throat' would usually want to step forward when he is left out of the booty-sharing after, say, a theft from the public till. Which means that most of our people would rather keep quiet when corrupt practices are committed as long as they are involved in eating the cake.

If most Nigerians were a moral lot, there would have been more exposes about election and examination malpractices, thefts and break-ins, robberies, infidelity by spouses and sexual pervasions, murders and assassinations, pay-offs and rip-offs, counterfeiting of currency and documents, smuggling and numerous other vices. But because the moral souls in our midst are arguably smaller in number than their opposites, or are beaten into the background, such exposes are few and far between. The result is the erosion of morality in the society and the frantic pursuit of material things. Hence the retrogression in the quality of relationships, family values, service delivery, capital projects, and total lack of direction in statecraft.

To get a scandal of Watergate proportions in this kind of environment of moral aridity can be quite a pipe dream. Besides, there are other factors. Granted that since the end of the Civil War there have been a great number of exposes made by the public-spirited Nigerian media. In pursuing the cause of public interest, our journalists have shown immense courage, working mostly under conditions not known to their counterparts in America; military rule, for example. Nigerian journalists have exposed numerous cases of corruption and fought dictatorship.

Indeed, given the political climate in the last four decades, they could be regarded as a more fearless and dogged lot. Whereas the American system guarantees all sorts of liberties and protections to journalists, we in Nigeria have operated mostly under military decrees; where a sort of democracy exists, such as during the Shagari and the Obasanjo/Yar'Adua eras, journalists are hamstrung by remnants of military-era edicts and mentalities that were lobbed into the constitution and our daily life respectively. In the American democracy no television station would be shut down overnight by government agents because of a faulty story aired or a newspaper sued by the President because the paper had reported something about his ill-health.

In this kind of climate it is easy not to witness a Watergate -- a cyclone of a political embarrassment massive enough to force the Number 1 Citizen to throw in the towel. To the best of my knowledge, not even a Local Government chairman in this country has ever resigned because of a newspaper story. If anything, certain exposes have only helped steel the grip of some of our leaders, such as the state governors and the President, on power. In saner climes, Stella Obasanjo's tummy tuck scandal could force a president to quit. But it only made the President a hero to sympathise with, and the late Stella a celebrated martyr.

Clearly, we are not there yet. We don't even seem to know exactly where we are. The Washington Post and its two reporters were called all sorts of names in the early days of the Watergate scandal, but they held out till the end, refusing to be fazed by the loud grumblings of presidential aides and government contractors. That helped ease "all the president's (bad) men" out of power. It helped the cause of American democracy. And journalism the world over is the better for it. That, in fact, is the greatest lesson for Nigerian journalists from the Watergate scandal.

THIS IS THE TEXT OF MY COLUMN IN THE LEADERSHIP NEWSPAPER (www.leadershipnigeria.com) TOMORROW (THURSDAY)

Mission Impossible, Possible!

The Hajj is over. Over the past week 8,308 pilgrims have been flown back to Nigeria. But 76,692 of us are still in the holy land, waiting to be transported. (Hundreds more should have returned to Nigeria by the time you are reading this). In my case, two journeys are ahead of me: one to Medina and the other to Nigeria. I do not know when either will take place. Out of the 85,000 pilgrims that came to Saudi Arabia for Hajj through the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), only 44,600 have been to Medina to pay homage to the Prophet's mosque and other interesting religious sites, prior to the start of Hajj proper. The rest are in Mecca, waiting. In the house where I stay, and in many other houses dotted across Mecca, there is a great deal of uncertainty about just when we will be moved to Medina, after which we will wait to be taken to Jeddah and then Nigeria. Though the Medina visit is not a pillar of Hajj, it is nonetheless a significant aspect of the pilgrimage. Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him) has stressed, as reported in so many Ahadith, the importance of visiting his mosque where his grave and those of his companions are located. One Hadith of Muslim says Abu Hurairah (RA) reported the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) saying: "A prayer in my mosque is a thousand times more excellent than a prayer in any other mosque, except Masjid-al-Haram (Makkah)". So we wait.

The wait can be excruciatingly annoying, though. It tugs at one's patience. We "kill" time by going to the nearby mosque for congregational prayers or to the Haram for circumambulation of the holy Ka'aba (Tawaf), window-shopping, visiting other pilgrims' houses, or simply taking a siesta. Some even watch movies on potable DVD players. Rumours have it that our batch of pilgrims that has not been to Medina may be moved there tomorrow or the following day. Or the next day. Or, maybe, next week! Those lucky pilgrims that have been to the Prophet's city are the ones being flown back to Nigeria. The way things stand, with pilgrims being jetted to Nigeria in trickles, we fear that we are going to be marooned in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for the next three or four weeks. The stay would have otherwise been of great spiritual value because it affords one the rare opportunity to pray in Islam's holiest site. But because every pilgrim wants to return home after the satisfyingly grueling rites of Hajj, most would rather just leave.

Lack of information from officials compounds the situation. It reflects the uncertainty and disorganization that dogged the preparation for Hajj months back. In normal societies it is possible for a pilgrim to plan his trip - from the date of his embarkation to the holy land to the date of his departure there-from - but in our country it seems that keeping the pilgrim in the dark about almost everything is one of the major pastimes of the Hajj officials.

A mid-level Nigerian official was here last night. When someone complained about the painful anxiety of waiting in the dark, he explained off the situation by saying that it was caused by the airlines. If the companies given the contract of transporting the pilgrims had done their job properly - by providing enough aircraft the way, say, the Pakistanis, the Indonesians, the Malays and other "more civilized" countries have done - there wouldn't have been this problem. From his explanation, and the incriminating evidence one sees everywhere, one got the distinctive impression that Nigerian Hajj administration is the worst on Planet Earth.

Due to the straight-jacketed culture of corruption and partiality that has been entrenched in the system across the years, one of your greatest nightmares begins as soon as you've decided to perform the Hajj from Nigeria. You would soon discover that it is a mission impossible that is made possible only by Him whose exhortation you have ventured out to fulfill - the Almighty Himself. There are many stumbling blocks on your way. While some of them are natural and are, therefore, bound to happen, most are man-made. For instance, natural problems can (and do) occur from the overcrowding, which creates other cataclysms. You cannot have over three million people in a small field like Mina or Arafat or squeezed into small embankments like the Jamrah and not expect to encounter mountains of problems, more so when those millions hail from diverse cultural backgrounds.

The man-made problems are the ones that pilgrims grapple with. Nigerian governments at all levels do spend incredible sums of money every year in order to overcome or at best minimize those problems, all to no avail. Right from the registration of intending pilgrims to transporting them back at the end, the hurdles seem to defy solution. Why? Answer: no realistic solutions are applied.

The buck stops at the table of Hajj officials. From what I see here in the holy land, the whole exercise is run by semi-literate undertakers, supposedly superintended by the senior, more educated officials. Many of the so-called senior officials do not even know why they are here, or pretend not to know. Many of them appear to think that they are in KSA for their personal pursuits – some picnic away from Nigeria. Tales of their alleged unholy exploits abound. The obvious one is the cat-and-mouse game they play with confused pilgrims, disappearing just when they are most needed. Once in a while you catch sight of them cruising around town in big American cars (their favourite is GMC) with their women: their parents, wives and or sisters, I suppose, though a friend of mine derisively said "girlfriends". They wear an air of "hard at work" when they catch your eye and promptly zoom off, lest you would ask for 'lift.' An exception here are members of the medical team, who stay at their desks attending to the needs of pilgrims. I doff my hat to them.

Our Hajj officials should stop behaving like privileged brats, thinking they are doing a favour to the pilgrims. They are in this country enjoying all those unnamable perks courtesy of the poor pilgrims. They should, therefore, dedicate all their time to the service of the pilgrims even if they must miss their own Hajj. (Note that they are not here to perform Hajj themselves). They should know that if they perform creditably well, their reward isn't just in the hefty estacode they receive, the choice accommodation and transport they enjoy, etc., but it is also in heaven because they would be contributing positively to a religious duty.It is very important for them to constantly provide relevant information to the pilgrims: when Hajj airlifts will begin, where to go in the holy land, how and when to get there, what to do there, the exact date and time for returning home, etc. Some of these tasks can be accomplished in liaison with other agencies, such as the airlines and local authorities.

Can they do these? From what is presently on the ground, my verdict is a grim one: the present officials are incapable of a change because they are the beneficiaries of the corrupt, decadent system they had helped create. The huge sums of money they milk from the system, as well as the privileges they enjoy, would vanish if the system is reformed. Expectedly, they would stand in the way of any change, insisting on maintaining the status quo. To kick them out would require a visionary, fearless leader who is unattached to the system, someone who would divorce the Hajj administration from politics. I suggest that the President of Nigeria should get involved actively, possibly by assuming the title of Amirul Hajj for at least four years. This way he would see things first-hand instead of relying on the annual report of an appointed so-called Amirul Hajj, who is (as happened this year) an absentee politico in the holy land. State governors and local government chairmen in Muslim-populous states should do likewise. The time to start the new system is now, not later, when the 2008 Hajj exercise is being wrapped up amidst ceaseless uncertainty and disappointment.

On Holy Ground

I am writing this piece from a house in Shahar 16 quarters of Mecca City, a walking distance from the Harami (Kaaba), Islam's holiest site. I am one of the millions of Muslim pilgrims taking part in one of the most personal journeys of all time -- the Hajj. So permit me if I sound personal, or even cocky, in this write-up. It's my personal one-off impression of life as I see it in the holy city, which I am visiting - together with my mother and wife - for the first time. Nothing original, of course, as many of you had seen it all before, in many cases several times over, across the years. But a writer always has an eye for unique things while in a strange place. And Mecca, the cradle of Islam, is unique in many tantalising, even if provocative, ways. For the first-time vcisitor, the attractions are doubly provocative.

Because of the unique things that abound, there is, ab initio, the problem of what to describe first. Is it the quietude which ushers in the break of day, punctuated by the occasional honking of vehicles, or the moving stream of human traffic? Or is it the multiparity of languages representing diverse cultures? Or is it the beauty of Arabic being spoken by almost everyone? Chances are you would find yourself rambling on and on, oscillating between a topic and another, and back again, until you are almost lost in the beehive of your emotions. I am a victim of that dilemma as I sit, here, by the window of my sixth floor room, watching the streets below coming back to life early on Wednesday morning. People -- the first spectacle of any adventurous writer -- have begun to walk by, clad in Islamic dress, with a majesty akin to that of the rulers of the land, whom I have not yet met (and can't possibly hope to).

Mecca is a city that bubbles and rumbles with life. A lugubrious quietude belies its surging energy. At night it is a city of lights; bright neons done in wonderful calligraphy; street lights that never go off; well-lit houses with their tiny, zig-zagging streets, and bazaars decked with expensive clothes and other (expensive) ornaments. In the daytime it throbs brilliantly with people and vehicles. And you can't help but marvel at the topography, which I see as "central" Middle Eastern even if it's needless for me to say so in the spirit of "Don't tell us there is water in the Atlantic Ocean." The buildings out there are stylish. Mosques dot the atmosphere, and readings from the holy Qur'an blare out at prayer times.

And talking about cosmopolitanism, the great influx of foreigners for the Hajj has made the city a place of diversity. It has always been that way because pilgrimage here is not necessarily an annual ritual but a round-the-year exercise: apart from Hajj, there is the Umra, or lesser pilgrimage, which one can embark on at any time of the year. Apart from the pilgrims, many nationals have made Mecca their home. Especially West Africans. Now, talking about West Africans is more or less talking about Nigerians. In Mecca, any black person is regarded as a Nigerian even if he/she has never been there. It's like the Northerner in the South, whom people see as a "Hausa" Muslim person. That is because of the role of Nigerians living here play -- good or bad. I have heard incredible tales about the mostly negative exploits my compatriots are credited with doing here -- stealing, touting, prostitution, drugs and other forms of vice. I am still searching for someone to tell me the good things that they do. On my part I know two, at least. First, there are many Islamic scholars teaching in big schools and professionals such as doctors, English teachers and oil engineers contributing to the Saudi economy and society. No one talks about these, of course. Second, Diaspora Nigerians in Mecca have created a "Little Nigeria" here, or a "Little Kano." Once you are in the "Little Kano" areas of the city (and I hear that the Saudis have ensured that your level of education determines whether you live in these parts or not), you are home. Hausa is widely spoken. Even some Arabs speak it. And you can eat "Hausa" food, including very pristine ones like tuwo, danwake, kunu, the ubiquitous shinkafa da kaza, and even fura da nono. All these are sold right at the door of our house. Indeed, some of these delicacies are harder to find in parts of northern Nigerian cities than in Mecca. Home sickness? It's non-existent, sir. The "Little Kano" residents, majority of whom live in Mecca illegally, playing a Tom & Jerry game with policemen and immigration officers, have nonetheless made the Arab citizens in these parts look like illegal aliens.

Am I comfortable in Meca? This question reminds me about the Hausa truism which says that once you have left home on a journey, it is the journey that "owns" you, and not the other way round. Which means that the nature of the journey determines your comfort or otherwise. The journey for Hajj is not designed to be a cozy one. About three million people converge in Saudi Arabia during Hajj. And they come from different nations of the world, forming the biggest melting pot of cultures on earth. It is obvious that the Saudi authorities have put in place stringent measures to deal with the situation, providing comfort and security. Their efforts are complemented by those of the authorities of various nations and states. Even so, it's impossible to create an atmosphere that could give each pilgrim 100% comfort.

I did not expect to find comfort even though I have heard on the radio about the wonderful preparations made by the various pilgrim boards to make everybody happy. Personal contacts with other been-tos and the reading of Hajj literatures prior to my departure, especially the book, "Getting the Best Out of Al-Hajj" by Abu Muneer Ismail Davids, have warned me never to expect too much. So my renown optimism has been tempered by a huge dose of expectant realism. So I am happy. I am not one of those Nigerians that moan about lack of this or that. Not yet, though. Thank God.

What of worship? That is why we are here. We, the tourists of God, are here to complete one of the five pillars of Islam, the Hajj. Hajj is a journey of renewal of faith, couched in the absolute belief in the oneness of God and obeisance to Him. It is also one of the greatest opportunities of all time, the chance to visit the holy sites, perform both the compulsory and the recommended rituals therein. Ultimately, one hopes to gain Allah's forgiveness and mercies. This hope is not vain, especially when you are performing the Hajj. Those who have accomplished Hajj should be grateful for the opportunity, and those who are here are excited, while those who have never been here should pray to be here. Hence our spending time in piety, going to the Kaaba every day to perform the Tawaaf (circumambulation of the Kaaba) and the five daily prayers.

I could write about this enchanting journey endlessly. The big comfort here is that this is a great lesson in piety, in the belief in the oneness and mortality of mankind, in the hope that life will change for the better, not only for oneself but also for all men and women seeking to do good in life, with the overall prayer that salvation will come through good deeds like this journey to Islam's very origin. If you can come next year, please do so.


THIS IS MY COLUMN IN LEADERSHIP NEWSPAPER OF TOMORROW THURSDAY

Rule Of Low

Some suppress freedom in the name of law and order
- George Washington

There is something uncanny about the notion of reward for sacrifice in our political lexicon. First, the saga unravelling around Nuhu Ribadu now has shown us that you cannot win against the bad guys in this country. Instead of receiving a pat on your back for your sacrifice, be ready to reap the whirlwind. Second, the ill-treatment of the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission by the security agencies is a signal for those working to sanitise the society in various sectors that it is not worth their while after all. It is a sign that if you stick out your neck in the name of patriotism, or as Kennedy called "what you can do for your country," someone is going to chop it with a sharp blade after you might have vacated your seat. Since crime pays, fighting crime wouldn't pay. It's for the same reason that many people in service who have seen graft and other forms of atrocity have decided to keep mum. They must have seen how keeping your mouth shut had paid off handsomely for others.

A good example of a patriot who paid a high price for his audacity is Malam Nasir El-Rufai. Here was a man who, in his zesty commitment to a-righting the wrongs in the nation's proudest city stepped on many big toes. Granted that the bulldozing of homes had caused a lot of agony, but no one was interested in the fact that the abuse of the Abuja master-plan was done intentionally by the perpetrators, many of whom were among the 'untouchables' in the country. Little surprise that such people went for El-Rufai's jugular as soon as he stepped out of office, swearing revenge. The man must have regretted ever serving Nigeria the way he did, and that must have been one of the intentions of his detractors.

Nigeria will always find a whipping boy for its past pains. Ribadu is the new kid on the block. His frenzied fight against corruption had earned him powerful enemies, and that should not surprise anyone. This country is a jungle of sorts - where the big fishes swallow the small fishes, aside their swallowing of each other. It has made the top numbers in any corruption index, local or international. Fighting corruption was something of a refrain during the various regimes since independence. It was during the last Obasanjo Administration that the fight was given a true fillip, with Ribadu as commander. You could blame Obasanjo for many atrocities, but the kind of bloody nose given to corrupt leaders had never been seen in the past. The governors and their collaborators were hitherto untouchable; they were law unto themselves.

We can't forget too soon - the forgetting nation that we are, though - how excited we all were whenever Ribadu's EFCC made a big catch, announcing the recovery of gargantuan sums of money stashed abroad by some of the pen-robbers calling themselves our leaders. The nation had salivated from those huge exposes and Ribadu was hailed as a hero, a fearless cop who went after anyone suspected of a caper. Even though the EFCC was/is handicapped by the immunity clause in the constitution, which gives cover to the undeserving execs, Ribadu wasn't deterred. In recognition of his work, many nations and international organisations began to take Nigeria serious for once. EFCC won many garlands and additional donations.

But here is a disclaimer. I am not calling Malam Ribadu a taintless saint. There are many accusations against him, principal of which is that he was used by Obasanjo to fight the government's perceived enemies. You can't exonerate the chairman from those accusations because the fact of their veracity had stood out so prominently. Here are a few samplers: Atiku Abubakar and Orji Uzor Kalu were hounded by EFCC operatives even when they had obtained court injunctions. Also, many candidates for election into various political posts were unjustly disqualified by election tribunals and INEC based on perceivably cooked up reports sent in by the EFCC. Nonetheless, these charges, in spite of their weight, and if they are true, cannot reasonably compare with the main fight against corruption led by Ribadu. This is meant to say that the EFCC chairman had done more good than harm in the overall fight against graft. If that is so, why should he be crucified for the simple reason that he is not there?

The surprising thing about the whole saga is that Ribadu's victimisers are none other than government officials who should otherwise be using taxpayers' money to protect him. More surprising is that the hounding is being perpetrated by a government whose stock in trade is invoking some nebulous rule of law. Examined carefully, however, it can be surmised that the Yar'Adua Administration is appearing to be predicated on the rule without the law. In recent times it had demonstrated this penchant for lawlessness, thereby constituting a risk to the survival of democracy. Its harassment of the independent media is an example. Another is the current demonization of Ribadu. What it will do next is left to be seen, but it can almost be guaranteed that it would soon kick again.

But is it necessary? It is the idle mind that should ordinarily be the devil's workshop. Aren't there enough problems in the country to occupy the government? Electricity supply has gone from bad to worse. Clean drinking water is a luxury for most communities in the country. The roads are still death-traps. The crime rate is sky-high. Disease and squalor are on the rise, beating all imagination. And corruption, the turf where Ribadu attracted his travail, is still an ugly spectre. In fact, under the same rule of law cover the EFCC has since mellowed down, allowing public officers from local to federal levels to feel freer to steal. Many fraudsters who had fled the country during the Ribadu years are surging back. Is that not enough worry for our leaders to spend sleepless nights over? Should Ribadu be our priority in these sad times? What is Nigeria's benefit in stopping one police officer from graduating from some elite school?

Let's for a moment pause to imagine that Ribadu had purchased all those mansions and duplexes around the world, then what? In such a situation, a government which prides itself on the observance of rule of law would simply gather its facts and sue him. He is not above the law. Even so, he would not be pronounced as guilty outright until the facts have proved it. Failure to do it this way, as has happened, is an indicator of the government's determination to rule the Nigerian way - outside the law. The commando-style. Anyone in this government who believes that this is the best way to go, taking revenge against men like Ribadu, should remember the Chinese saying, "Let him who seeks revenge dig two graves." They should also advise President Yar'Adua to stop mouthing the rule of law mantra. He should stop pretending and act without shame - like his predecessor - within the “rule of (the) low.”


(Published in my column in LEADERSHIP on Thursday, November 27, 2008)

A Zamfara Stalwart’s Tale

The place of mai shayi is a newsroom of some sorts. It’s a place where you get to hear some of the most tantalizing stories in town. Mai shayi, or tea-seller, is found in almost every street corner in the north, the Hausas being arguably some of the leading drinkers of tea on Planet Earth. I have been a connoisseur of commercial tea for ages because of my love for the earth-shaking revelations that usually emanate from tea drinkers.

One thing I learnt from that, however, is never swallow hook, line and sink the news you hear there. Believe everything at your peril. As a journalist, publish it at the risk of your professional demise. Some of the most imaginative and fiction creators do sit there. They will tell you stories of events you’d never heard before. Samplers: exactly what is wrong with President Yar’Adua’s health; how Turai could transform from First Lady to First Citizen; how Aliyu Modibbo Umar was shown the door because of his misunderstanding with Governor Danjuma Goje, rooted in his alleged ambition to replace Goje in 2011, and (don’t laugh!) Barack Chukwuemeka Obama’s Igbo origins.

That notwithstanding, there is something uncanny about the stories you hear at the mai shayi’s: the depth of analysis is uncanny. The arguments are punchy. And sometimes the revelations are rewarding. I have seen that in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara State, recently. The city has countless tea-selling joints. Top on the topics usually discussed at such places is the nature of politics in the state. The city is one of the hotbeds of political activism in this country. You could feel politics pulsing in the town, coursing through the veins of the residents like an angry river, translating into energetic analyses. Like every state, the concern of the people is to have a caring government in place.

Three words stand out during debates on the political future of Zamfara State: MAS Two Times (or MAS Twice as some say). It means that the executive governor of the state, Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi (MAS), having won election and is spending his first term in office, deserves to rule two times. That is assuming that he has already ruled once.

All over the state, especially in the capital, colourful posters bearing the photographs of His Excellency MAS are pasted on walls, roundabouts, government and private offices, cars, buses, et cetera. The first impression a first-time visitor would have is that the governor is a beloved figure among his people. Indeed, one of his aides told me that the posters are a proof of MAS’s mass appeal. He assured me that nobody was forced to paste the posters on their car bonnets or house walls. It was a spontaneous appreciation for the way Shinkafi has turned around the fortunes of the state, he said.

I am an untiring searcher of beloved leaders, especially in Africa where most leaders are regarded as common thieves and gangsters. I know many states where governors can no longer drive by safely among their people without fear of being attacked, verbally or otherwise. If MAS were such a chummy leader as to have his name painted all over the town, it’s okay by me. But why all the hue and cry? To get an answer, I decided to take some tea at a hut outside Gusau Hotel one morning. As fate would have it, a hot conversation was already underway over the MAS Two Times campaign. Obviously a stranger in town had raised the matter with a political stalwart, a diehard supporter of Governor Shinkafi, arguing that it was too early to start campaigning for second term after only a year in the first term. The stalwart argued that MAS Two Times was the best thing that had happened to the Zamfarawa; in it lay the hope and aspirations of the average Zamfara citizen. The governor of the state has demonstrated his love for the people through hard work and native political calculation. According to him, Shinkafi has sworn to work for the welfare of the people in the first two years of his first term. The governor, he explained, has asked that during this period, political stalwarts who helped him acquire power should exercise patience and not expect to be paid immediately as was the practice before. They should allow him to work. That is why Gusau and the rural areas are wearing a new look as graders have been rolled onto the roads, working as if democratic rule in the state had just begun. He said the political jobbers would be paid after 2009, i.e. in the second half of the governor’s first term. Which means that between 2010 and 2011, the government of Zamfara State would be ‘dashing’ money left, right and centre to political stalwarts as compensation for their role in the 2007 election. Developmental projects nko?

Then what happens in 2011? I wondered out aloud. The stalwart, who exuded an air of confidence, looked at me pityingly, perhaps assessing my ignorance about Zamfara politics. His answer was that if MAS spends two years doling out the gravy, he would be rest assured to win the 2011 polls.

This story is couched in native wisdom, horned in the furnace of grassroots politics only a Zamfara man could explain. It could all be fake, though. But let’s assume that the tale is correct after all, then what? It would mean that the MAS Two Times campaign is an ingenious plan in the battle of Zamfara three years from now.

In seeking to know a deeper background to the tale, I discovered from chats with some other political jobbers that the MAS Two Times campaign was sponsored by Shinkafi. It originated from the disagreement between him and Alhaji (now Senator) Ahmed Sani Yerima, who ruled the state for four years from 1999. The former’s attempt to grip the camel’s reins in the state’s politics while the latter sits in the saddle created the revolt at Government House now unfolding as MAS Two Times. The campaign aims at showing Yerima that he cannot continue to rule forever. He has had his chance; therefore, he should allow his successor to enjoy his turn. Shinkafi should have his way, really, as long as that would not lead to violence. Yerima should face his job in the Senate while offering an elderly advice to his political ‘son’. Trying to rule in the Senate and in Gusau is like trying to eat his cake and have it.

This was published in my column in LEADERSHIP