PLATEAU STATE OF EMERGENCY AS METAPHOR
By
Nigerians have not disappointed me in their reactions to the declaration of the State of emergency in Plateau State. Thanks to AIT, I was able to catch the President's broadcast to the nation in London last week. Thank God, I was with some of my Nigerian colleagues, so the sense of shame was mitigated. I happen to have been in London as a guest of Lord Skidelsky who had invited me to join a cross section of distinguished scholars and respected senior members of the British establishment to brainstorm on various aspects of the war in Iraq. I had just spoken on the morality of the war the previous day. At lunch in the House of Lords that afternoon, the highly respected Lord David Owen had leaned over and asked me how his friend General Obasanjo was doing in Nigeria. I nodded and assured him all was well. How could you begin to recount the troubles of Nigeria over mouthfuls of rice when people had other things to do than worry about a country that is preoccupied with suicide.
If I spoke, I was naturally expected to show sympathy towards my Christian brethren, or failing to do that, be considered a sell out. Then there are those who would say I have refused to condemn my friend the President. But, more importantly, I was sickened by the hypocrisy of both the politicians and those who were already singing the President's praises for an act we all should be ashamed of. Alternatively, I could have to take the middle course and pretend to wear the toga of neutrality and appeal for calm from all sides. But deep down, none of these positions made sense to me. My reluctance to comment on these issues was informed by my personal agony over what I consider a very poor reading of the situation by most commentators who have kept talking of Christians and Muslims killing one another. I will contextualise the issues by providing what I see as background rather than critique the declaration of the state of emergency per se.
I was really shocked by the reactions of Nigerians after the news item. After the President's broadcast, the NTA reporters spoke to a cross section of some members of the National Assembly. They all seemed glad that the state of emergency had been declared. And, as some Senators said, they were looking forward to debating the President's Gazette or something to that effect. My goodness, I thought. If the President has spoken from his high throne, what else can the National Assembly add to a law that has already been gazetted.
Unfortunately, this is the National Assembly that the President wanted and this is the National Assembly that the President has finally assembled in the image and likeness of himself. His civilian loyalists in politics are on one hand and the rump of his military Generals on the other, and so the President now has a National Assembly that he can twist and turn as he wishes. The President himself said that he had widely consulted before taking the decision to place Plateau under a state of emergency. How strange! Whom do you consult in a democracy.
Who are these Nicodemuses that President only does business with in the middle of the night.
It is precisely this old style, cabalistic approach to power through proxies that makes our democracy a mockery. These consultations with people we did not elect were the hallmark of military dictatorship and they make a mockery of democracy and representation. As a layman, I found it a bit strange that in a democracy, the President and those he consulted did not see it fit to work within the democratic setting and maintain a semblance of democracy by using democratic means. How and why is it that the State Assembly had no hand at all in this decision
How and why would the decapitation of the entire State Executive be the best way of dealing with the problems of Plateaus under the circumstances.The President's solutions to the problems of Plateau show that the President and his advisers do not really understand what the issues on the ground are. I say this with all sense of responsibility and let the reader not get me wrong. I have no doubt that despite his constant temptation to lean on his own sword that the President means well. The problem is that the President believes that he knows what the solutions to the problems of Plateaus State really are. And, if he and his advisers have come to this sorry conclusion, then, they are providing a wrong solution to a more complex problem. In this case, the solution he has proffered is the result of a poor reading of the issues that have brought Plateau state to its knees. It will take too long to trace this long history since our memories are so short. But, to even think that Nigerians can celebrate this assault and shame, is evidence that we have learnt nothing from the tragic holocaust of military rule which seduced us with these dubious claims of acting to save us and save democracy forty years ago. In seeking a solution to his problem, the President is blaming the victim and chasing a shadow not the substance of the issues on the ground.
Let me take three examples. First of all, by excoriating the religious leaders in Plateau State, the President demonstrated a poor understanding of the role of religion and policy in any nation. First of all, he assumes wrongly that moral suasion is all that is required and that had the religious leaders preached well to their congregations, then what happened would not have happened. But this is based on the false assumption that the break down of law and order in Plateau state had anything to do with religion. It was not. So, to assume that religious leaders who have neither Courts nor a Police force are to be held responsible for the waywardness and greed of the political class that the President and the Governor represent is to misstate the issues and naturally blame the victim. This was the same thing President Obasanjo did when he visited Kaduna State in 2001 after the tragic violence there. Again, he tongue lashed religious leaders in Government House in Kaduna and then took off to greet his friend the Emir of Zaria. He did not see it fit to visit or condole with such eminent religious leaders like the Catholic Archbishop of Kaduna, Peter Jatau. Clearly, the President has still not come to terms with how best to locate the role and place of religion and religious leaders in a democracy. Indeed, it was instructive that while he was abusing the Head of the Christian Association in Plateau State, a picture of Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Tutu blazed the headlines of major newspapers as those two leaders celebrated the victory of their nation in the bid for the 2010 World Cup! The message was clear: united in clearly defined objectives and mutual respect, Church and state can accomplish much.
Secondly, the President's decision to appoint a retired General to oversee the affairs of Plateau State is a sad commentary on his sense of timing and judgement. Major General Chris Alli is a good friend of mine and I have the highest respect for him. So, I am speaking of someone I know pretty well especially given his track record. But this is not about friendship or professional excellence. It is about principles. Symbolically, the President sent out the wrong signals to all lovers of democracy in Nigeria. Indeed, Chris Alli may well succeed in Plateau State in terms of physical development, he may arrest the financial haemorrhage, but those are not the real issues. Symbolically, the freedom we won ought to have meant an end to military presence in our polity. But by this single action, the President had demonstrated his reluctance to push for the agency of civilians in the deepening of democracy in Nigeria. This is sad indeed. What the President has done is synonymous with President Thabo Mbeki sending a white Afrikaner to oversee a state of emergency in Kwazulu Natal. The beginning of democracy ought to have been marked by a gradual withdrawal of the military in our polity. Sadly, this has not happened not because this is what Nigerians want, but because of the corruption that has led to the monitisation of the process and the reluctance of the military to allow a system that might be difficult for them to control.
Thirdly and as almost a corollary, the fact that the President's immediate reaction was to believe that the Emir of Zaria was the saviour is another mark of his failure of judgement. But, again, here, the President is showing his old traits and beliefs that only retired Generals and the Traditional rulers can resolve Nigeria's problems. These two decision show that the President is merely prepared to see a democracy that conflates the dominance, alliance and control of the two institutions which have connived to truncate democracy in Nigeria. Although largely unstated, 90% of the problems of Nigeria today owe their origins to colonialism and military rule, yet between these two institutions sits the traditional institutions. Taken together, this unholy trinity has connived to reduce Nigeria to its present state of political hopelessness and social dissonance.
Let me explain what I mean. Colonial rule at least had a project in mind. Apart from governing us against our will, the colonialists openly stole our resources while claiming and pretending that they loved us and had brought civilisation to us. But in fairness to them, they put in place an institutional framework for their exploitation: railways and roads to ferry their goods, an efficient and functional bureaucracy to ensure the smooth administration of their conquered territory and a constellation of business outfits which served as Trojan horses for diverting the proceeds of our resources and raw materials to the United Kingdom. But our military colonialists
They lacked the imagination to even ensure that their stealing was methodically carried out in a manner that was structurally scientific. Thus, they destroyed the bureaucracy, destroyed the infrastructure, such as they railways and, destroyed the educational system, and, instead of ferrying their stolen loot to even to their villages, they have taken all their stolen loot to the same Europe. So, they have now left us worse off than we were even under colonialism. At every twist and turn, the Traditional institutions have served as the collaborators, feigning and serving as mediators between both oppressors and the people. Thus, from the Niger Delta to Yelwa, today's contestations in which thousands upon thousands of poor Nigerians are dying by the hundreds intermittently, originate from these unsettled questions in which the governing elites loot the state and then proceed to corrupt and compromise these same traditional institutions. This is why ordinary Nigerians may love and respect many of the traditional rulers as individuals, but they regret the destruction of those sacred institutions.
I feel saddened therefore that from the President down to the least politician and the man on the street, we are told that Christians and Muslims are at war in Nigeria. No, there is nothing of the sort. What was Christian about the Kataf people in their experience with the local Hausa speaking and Muslim population that inhabited that area when law and order broke down in 1992. Today, what is Christian about the Tarok people.
In both instances, there is no data to suggest that any of these ethnic groups are even predominantly Christian. The Tarok share affinity and contiguity with other ethnic groups in Plateau such as the Ngas, Mwaghavul, Thel, Goemai, Kwagalak, Pyem, Chip, Mernyang, and Piapung, to name but a few. Most of these names have been culturally reconfigured in the last twenty or so years as communities seek to assert and reclaim themselves culturally. The Ngas of today were Angas, the Kataf of yesterday are now Atyap, just as the Kaje are now Bajju, the Kadara are now Adara and so on. All of these communities are struggling to shirk off bastardised nomenclatures that came from the imposition and subordination of their communities by an alien authority that had colonial support. This is not strange because even the Fulani and the Hausas have responded accordingly by changing Zaria to Zazzau or Sokoto to Sakwatto. These cultural forms of expressions may seem insignificant, but they do make sense for a society whose experience of injustice is suffused with imagery and perceptions. To dismiss these subtle differences is to miss the context of crisis around the Middle Belt today. Furthermore, these communities have marked these reclaimed identities with the reconfiguration of their traditional stools and festivals. For good or for bad, these cultural self-assertions became dominant and were in part facilitated by the shooting to national prominence of the sons and daughters of these communities especially under the military era. Who will ignore the Langtang Mafia for example and their role and prominence which has straddled successive military governments from Obasanjo to Abacha. Each of these are men of stature and, under a military setting, had enormous power in their hands. Occasionally, they used this power to their own advantage in altering the boundaries of political and traditional power.
It may not be easy for outsiders to appreciate the issues on the table and one might wonder why the fuss in Plateau State.
Again I take three examples. When I interviewed Alhaji Yahaya Kwande during my research in 1988, he told me that in 1958, as a young man under the Northern Peoples' Congress, he had been thrown out of the window at that party's Congress for asking them why Wase, a small Hausa settlement around his home town had become an Emirate while the larger traditional stools of the non Muslim communities had not been recognised by the Northern colonial government
Even General Joe Garba noted that he came home and found that his father had converted to Islam to avoid neglect by the Sardauna who did not seem to have time for non Muslim traditional rulers! Secondly, when Lt General Useni became the powerful Ministers of the Federal Capital Territory, he gave himself the title of the Sardauna of Plateau. Although the title was alien to the people, but, I imagine that he was asserting his own authority and power in relation to the Sardauna of the Caliphate! When Lafia was carved out of Plateau, the General still extended his powers to become the Sardaunan Plateau, Lafia and environs! The Emir of Lafia, realising where his bread was buttered did not hesitate to give an infidel this title! Although General Useni was clearly over the top, this was a classical case of what psychologists refer to as ego compensation. But, the General was reclaiming lost glory. In the last days of military rule, retired Generals became keenly interested in traditional stools, with some of them ascending to these stools directly. This has changed the face of this institution and now leads us to a second point of contention which is important for understanding the politics of Plateau in the last few years. This is, the idea of Indigenes and Settlers as a basis for conflict among communities today.
The concept of Indigenes and Settlers has arisen as a visible expression of the contradictions I have mentioned above. When new Traditional stools are erected and new Chiefs appointed, two things are important: Land and Taxation. This is how feudalism has always operated. Every chief has to have a land over which to preside. But there is no single space of land today in Nigeria that is totally purely homogenous. Even the remotest part of Nigeria. But when you create a Chief, he now has to preside over a Subject population and a Land. This means that new boundaries have to be created and demarcated. And this is where the identity changes become the sources of conflict, violence and war. The Chief says, this land is mine and I order you to pay this, that or the other tax/levy. You are also to now acknowledge me and are now my subjects. Then the members of the various ethnic groups who do not belong to the dominant ethnic group but have lived here all their lives, rightly say, No, but we do not speak your language, or share your culture, we cannot be under you. We have obligations to our homes from where we come and that is where we pay our levies and taxes. It is at this point that the Jukun man says to the Tiv man: If you will not accept my authority, then go back where you came from and if you will not pay this levy/tax, then you do not belong and so on. The same logic is replicated elsewhere. These dynamics play out differently when it comes to others who lay claim to being Muslims.
When it is the Fulanis or the Hausas, whether settled or pastoralists, they are loosely called Muslims. This is because religion has become a more dominant identity and in many of the languages in the Middle Belt, the same Hausa and Islam are used synonymously. Thus, when the Tarok tell the Fulani pastoralists you cannot continue to do this on our land and the arguments lead to violence, no one says Tarok have problems with Fulanis, but that Tarok farmers, (now identified as Christians) have problems with Fulanis (now identified as Muslims). This conflation of identities further clouds the nature of the issues on the table, which, to my mind are whether feudalism can be compatible with democracy and whether the reproduction of feudal structures in the form of Chiefdoms and so on is a substitute for the development under a democratic environment. These are the challenges that we do not seem to understand.
So, how do these issues relate to the situation in Plateau and the state of emergency that has now been placed
I will make five points by way of conclusion. I may have
sounded academic, but it seems that unless we really
appreciate the historical nature of what is going on,
politicians will continue to look for quick fixes. And, in
this case as in many cases, we simply repeat the circles.
Then, rather than looking at the historical roots of what has
caused these problems and perceptions of injustice, President
Obasanjo like his predecessors will set up Panels, scratch the
surface and then recycle the same tired clichZ
First of all, it is clear that our so-called transition was fraught with too much of the old order. A combination of the old order has shown no willingness to let the ship of democracy sail in Nigeria by opening up the channels of power. We are confusing the shadow for the substance. Thus, the systematic destruction of Plateau State is a direct by product of the failure of politics presided over by the so called Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP. President Obasanjo himself admitted two years ago that the PDP is not a party, but a gathering of self-seeking men and women who made quick decisions to climb the gravy train of power. Plateau has become a metaphor for defining this greed and the perpetuation of injustice. Abuja has a lot to answer for in what has happened in Plateau and the President's scape goating tactics do not get at the heart of what has happened in the last few years. The manipulation of the electoral outcomes in the last two elections testifies to this. The old order is determined to entrench itself even against the people's will. There is very little to suggest that after six months of the state of emergency, the President will put this train back on course and ask the driver to move on. Therefore, I personally see the state of emergency as a devaluation of the currency of democracy. If the President can intervene in this manner, what happens when the President himself becomes a problem for Nigeria
Where shall we turn?
The military or a foreign power.And this is where I think we missed the point. The military have left Nigeria severely damaged after their 30 years of mismanagement and gross incompetence in many respects. The dubious sighs of relief that have greeted the state of emergency in Plateau are a play back of the same sighs that greeted the military on January 15th, 1966. After 40 years, we are no wiser in thinking that any military solution can resolve our problems.
Secondly, President Obasanjo's obsession with having things his way is a danger to democracy. The 1999 elections were not the most thorough and those of 2004 left even a more sour taste in many mouths. But, as it is clear, once the President decided that he had to choose his own team for the National Assembly despite the Constitutional separation of powers, that august body was endangered. Count how many Senate Presidents, Speakers and Chairmen of the Party that we have had and one can conclude that if President Obasanjo had his way, he would have changed all Governors and Local Government Chairmen and remade them in the image and likeness of himself. This is a travesty of democracy and law. It is not so much a question of what it says of the President, but what does it say of us as a people and the so-called members of these honourable institutions
Thirdly, there is the problem of religion. Had General Obasanjo declared himself a born again Christian and gone back to his farm, that would have been no problem. But to do so and then proceed to seek political power was bound to create a problem for religion and the country, especially within the Muslim population. This is the classical mixing of religion with politics and it has never, never worked anywhere. Although the Pentecostal community nationally and internationally was quick to embrace the President as a Christian President, as opposed to a Southern President, all these contributed to creating the conditions that produced the Sharia backlash that hamstrung the nation and chewed up the first three years of our return to democracy. Thus, whereas the North was credited with bringing Obasanjo to power, the Christian community claimed that they rescued him in the last elections when the Muslims were poised to throw him out. It is interesting that the same President would publicly rain abuses on a leader of that same Christian community. From Fredrick Chiluba, Jerry Falwell, Fr Aristide to our dear George Bush, it is clear that attempts to wear the religious toga into the political space is a dangerous preoccupation for any President and the nation. What we need to lead our nations are statesmen with a vision, not claims of religious superiority. Mr. Mandela made very little religious claims.
Fourthly and finally, whether the declaration of the state of emergency is Constitutional or not, is not the issue. What has happened in Plateau State is merely a metaphor for assessing the way President Obasanjo sees democracy as a means of resolving our problems. If General Obasanjo gets away with this, what state will be next and what stops him from declaring a national state of emergency next time and at the flimsiest excuse, or even in 2007 if the seers and dreamers marketing the blood of Jesus claim that the Lord has so anointed. These issues are about principles. And the question is whether we can subordinate principles to political exigencies. These are the hard questions. Our nation is still far from being under the rule of law.
Finally, at the heart of all this is the vengeance of Oputa Panel. President Obasanjo and his Attorney General then, Mr/Deacon Kanu Agabi claimed that they were hamstrung by the law and that is why they have not released the Report. When did this sanctimonious respect for the rule of law start.
So far, it is clear that the law knows those who are the sacred cows and it can be bent to suit the powerful and the mighty. The law was turned to serve the interests of Mohammed Abacha and his family after the President struck a deal that was morally untidy with that family. This same law has been turned to serve the interests of those who do not wish to give freedom and justice to Major General Ishaya Bamaiyi and Major Al Mustafa and others who are being detained more in pursuit of vendetta than any semblance of justice. The President of course knows my mind as far as this case is concerned. Both he and his former Attorney General have copies of my 8 and 3 page letters which I wrote to them in 2002 stating what I considered the injustice in the continued incarceration of Major General Bamaiyi and Al Mustafa and others. I do not believe that a trial is on, but I do not wish to run the risk of disrespecting the process. But, as the President knows, prison is no obstacle to God's plans. And, with God, the most crooked lines are the shortest straight lines.
It is doubtful that General Bamaiyi, Al Mustafa and others will stay on in prison after 2007. This law has been used to surrender the will of the people of Nigeria to the powers of General Babangida whose case became a ruse for the Government's attitude to the work of the Oputa Panel. That Report was handed out to the President amidst fan fare and in the presence of the Vice President, and the Chief Justice of Nigeria among others. Today, President Obasanjo says he wants peace and justice in Nigeria. The policies of President Obasanjo and his cronies within the military and traditional ruling classes then as now are at the heart of the persistent crises in Nigeria and they know it. They expect religious leaders to preach such dubious and superfluous concepts as Peaceful coexistence, Tolerance, Unity. What we have on the ground in Nigeria is the festering sore of Injustice that has historical origins. These empty platitudes cannot cure Injustice. I was convinced that President Obasanjo meant to face this challenge when he set up Oputa Panel. My Chairman, colleagues and I gave it more than 100%. Now, it has become a betrayal. As long that Report is not released to Nigerians on whose behalf I personally took this assignment, our country will not know peace. A million States of emergency will not change that. That effort symbolically holds the key to justice in Nigeria. As long as the Report is not released, it is President Obasanjo and his advisers that are on a moral state of emergency!
May 2004