Editorial: Federalism is the answer, after all ( 16)
ONCE again, the skewed nature of the Nigerian Federation came to the front burner of public discourse recently through three distinct sources. One channel emerged following the reluctant removal of the service chiefs, and their EDITORIAL replacement PAGE 18 by a new set of military officers. The other source was a recent federal law on protocols for management of COVID- 19 pandemic, which is made applicable to all the 36 states, FCT and 774 local government councils in the country. The last one has been a direct piece of advice on federalism to the presi
dent by a former President of Nigerian Bar Association, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba. The three issues have reinforced our weekly sermon here on the expediency and urgency of federalism as the only answer to the country’s numerous challenges, after all.
Hitherto, the service chiefs were Gen Abayomi Olonisakin, Chief of Defence Staff, General Tukur Buratai, Chief of Army Staff, Air Marshal Siddique Abubakar, Chief of Air Staff and Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas. They have now been replaced by Major- General Leo Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Major- General I Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral AZ Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff; and Air- Vice Marshal IO Amao, Chief of Air Staff. The President’s action led to heaving a sigh of relief. Replacement of the service chiefs sparked off a litany of clarion calls on the president for a long time by well meaning Nigerians. The agitation was that the president should change them due to growing insecurity in the land and the absence of a corresponding performance in terms of securing the country by the erstwhile service chiefs. Public sensibility was even offended when for example the army chief said that it would take more than two decades to tackle the security challenges in the land.
However, the replacement provided auspicious opportunity to instrumentalise governability by mainstreaming elements of federalism in the affairs of the country, in other words, manifesting representative bureaucracy in the composition of the armed forces of Nigeria. But the President, who has always evinced his predilection to clannishness by ignoring the country’s diversity, did the predictable: He shunned federal character, which nurtures the quintessence of federalism. This time, the Igbo ethnic nationality was not favoured in any of those prime positions – and his media managers said reflecting federal character was not necessary, in the circumstances. This lacuna elicited the reaction of the former leader of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, who bemoaned the omission. He alleged that the non- inclusion of an Igbo among the service chiefs as disdainful, and implicates the thinking in government circle that the Igbos are not considered fit enough for such service positions.
Federalism has proven to be a veritable tool for managing diversity, and the writers of our constitution are aware of this reality of our country. They engrossed the federal character principle in the constitution to assure every nationality about justice and equity in the running of the country.
This principle states in section 217( 3) that, “The composition of the officer corps and other ranks of the armed forces of the federation shall reflect the federal character of Nigeria.” This must be brought into consideration by the president in the appointment of service chiefs as spelt out in section 218( 1)( 2) of the 1999 constitution as amended. Section 1 states: “The powers of the President as the Commander- inChief of the Armed Forces of the Federation shall include power to determine the… use of the armed forces of the federation. Section ( 2) states, “The powers conferred on the President by subsection ( 1) of this section shall include power to appoint the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Naval Staff and heads of any other branches of the armed forces of the federation as may be established by an Act of the National Assembly.” Constitutionally, it can be argued that the president erred by the non- abidance to clearly set out provisions of the constitution. Even if the constitution does not have express provisions, the craft of governance would dictate otherwise: in a plural society, inclusivity is to be cherished to clientelism and outright isolation. They are the ingredients for the unmaking of many a country. Beyond catering for inclusivity, equitable representation in the armed forces will also ensure responsiveness and accountability.
Security is a sensitive national issue. Countries with diversities, especially ethnic ones, have regional commands to guarantee the mutual security of all. Given the growing mistrust of the military and allegation of a partisan organisation lending support to herdsmen in their brutal killings across the country, it is high time the leadership of the country began to ensure what Chief Anthony Enahoro called “equitocracy” in the armed formation of the country. In a proper federation, this type of practice is an abnormality, and does not strengthen national integration. If the country must endure as single entity, a functional representative bureaucracy is the key to nurture national cohesion, which is being undermined by the current state of affairs.
In the same vein, the recent signing of COVID- 19 Health Protection Regulations 2021 as part of efforts to boost the COVID- 19 response in the country looked good but the application isn’t good for a vast country with the complex diversity we have been contextualising. It is the same way we have been mismanaging the omnibus anti- graft federal laws through three agencies that are based in the nation’s capital. Specifically, the EFCC and ICPC laws are applicable in all the states of the federation. Law officers attached to the three agencies including the Code of Conduct Tribunal have been picking up suspects from any of the 774 local councils in the country. This partly explains why anti- corruption prosecution has been largely unsuccessful. What should be ideal is encouraging each of the 36 states to enact their laws, which will be easier to manage in this complex federation of more than 200 million people.
In the same vein, the application of the COVID- 19 Health Protection and Regulation 2021 should have taken a similar path: Governors should have been directed to sign their own regulations governing their states. In the main, governors should begin to exploit challenges of the moment as veritable opportunities to restructure the country the way Dr. Agbakoba too just prescribed – that there should be intentional and legal devolution of powers to overcome crisis hampering the development of this country. According to the former NBA President in a recent publication, regional autonomy, a critical element in federalism, would resolve the country’s diversity challenges. He said devolution of powers would allow subsidiarity to deliver public service at the base of the nation as it did in the Western Region under self- rule in 1951. Agbakoba’s is one more voice of reason and courage in support of what this newspaper has been harping on for the past 16 weeks. It is our hope and prayer that authorities in Abuja and the governing party would not continue to remain recalcitrant and even deaf to the voices of reason on federalism as the only way forward for the world’s most populous black nation.
NIGERIA may not be a failed state, but the symptoms of failure stare everyone in the face. Lawlessness and criminality, not helped by mass poverty and unemployment, seem to have become the order of the day in all regions of the federation. While it will be opportunistic and dishonest to single out a particular group or ideology for our unpalatable situation, there is hardly anything that threatens the unity and peace of Nigeria than the lawlessness and criminality easily attributed to so- called Fulani herdsmen and their affiliates operating in the southern regions of the federation. Not just a few believe they are responsible for a series of killings, kidnapping, and raping of women in those regions. The belief, insinuation or assumption, widely held, that they are emboldened by the nepotistic support of leadership should be worrying.
Those who have warned of the possible collapse of the Nigerian state know of the existence of disintegrating factors in our polity. They know that the minutest of disagreements have ominous implications for peace and order in our society. Reproduced below is an article I wrote many years ago on the troubling nature of relations in our federation. The article, I believe, is more relevant today than it was when I first wrote it.
“The participants may have cultivated the habit of interrupting one another rather crudely, but this has not in any way diminished the usefulness of the discussion panel hosted by Gbenga Aruleba on the African International Television channel. A recent discussion of great interest was on whether or not the geo- political zones created by the government of the late General Sani Abacha in 1995 should be accorded a constitutional recognition. An exciting contribution came from a lady who said she could not stand people wanting to know where she came from, although she introduced herself as a Nigerian from Ile- Oluji in Ondo State.
Wanting to know where one comes from should be one standard question taken for granted on meeting another person for the first time. It is not uncommon in the Western world to hear people say, “my parents were from Pakistan, but I was born in London”, or “I was originally from New York but now I am a Washingtonian”. In fact, people proudly wear T- shirts with the names of their cities or towns inscribed on them. There would have been no reason for the lady from Ile- Oluji not to enthusiastically flaunt her place of birth if ours were not a society where danger and disadvantages await “unwelcome sojourners”. That cartoon, published in some distant European country, depicting the Holy Prophet Mohammed rather derogatorily was unnecessary. The author and the newspaper that published the cartoon had intended to insult Islam, but what they never intended were the consequences of their stupid action. There were understandable reactions and protests in most cities of the world, such protests directed at the embassies of countries where the cartoon had been published. What one cannot appreciate is why, in Nigeria, we went the extra mile of taking revenge on our own people. Nigeria’s protesters did not converge on Abuja and Lagos and make their anger known to the officials of the foreign countries where the cartoon had been published; instead, what was reported on radio and in the newspapers was that 51 Nigerians were killed and churches burnt down in Maiduguri by religious protesters. Would the lady from Ile- Oluji who is so passionate about her being Nigerian have been spared if she was in Maiduguri and the protesters had identified her as a Christian?
Ours is one nation where the action of a stupid, drunken man or woman defecating near a church or a mosque in some remote part of the country could mean that death sentences had been passed on ethnic or religious affiliates residing somewhere else. Since the return of democracy in 1999 thousands of Nigerians have been killed through the premeditated actions of others. Had President Olusegun Obasanjo not acted with utmost restraint in the early days of his presidency, the storm of Sharia which spread through the states of the North could also have blown the regions of the South out of the Nigerian federation. The timing of Sharia, many in the South rightly or wrongly believed, was intended to undermine his leadership. Ours is one delicate and fragile nation where a lot of homework needs to be done in order to ensure that our people can take harmonious coexistence of differences for granted. Of course, there may be whispers in some quarters that the Yoruba have demonstrated consistently over the years that members of different religions, be it Christianity or Islam, can co- exist peacefully and even celebrate religious occasions together. This “Yoruba model” may not be quite feasible in some parts of the Nigerian federation but, at least, it is important for religious practitioners to know that a merciful God or Allah has not mandated anyone to commit murder on his behalf. While parents, religious leaders and educationalists must continue to impart the ethics of tolerance and good neighbourliness on those under their influences, it is the responsibility of the law of the land to bring its full weight to bear on anyone, no matter how highly placed, who deliberately sets out to destroy life or property belonging to others. The bitter truth is that there are Nigerians today who hate Nigeria so passionately, simply because they have had experiences which most of us have been lucky not to have had. They once loved Nigeria and would not have wanted to be identified as belonging to any section or group.
Nigeria will never achieve full integration. In fact, many nations of the world never will. Furthermore, the Nigerian situation is compounded by the facts of different languages, different cultures, contrasting and competing religions, super- imposed on regions demarcated by ethnic boundaries. However, the Nigerian nation can still be held together as a federal nation where differences co- exist peacefully. Acknowledging the realities of ethnic and religious divisions, rather than indulge in shouting slogans like those leaders of the former Soviet Union, is itself the beginning of wisdom in constitution making and political engineering. “Dictatorship of the proletariat” was one historical fallacy that crumbled under the full weight of ethnicity!”
THE remains of Prince Tony Momoh will be interned this afternoon on Grailland, Iju Hills, Iju, Lagos. When urgent calls came in torrents into my phone to announce his departure from earthly life, I was jolted and I quickly wired a Whatsapp message to Chief Segun Osoba: “Have you heard? The Editor- in- Chief of The Guardian has just informed me Tony has passed away.” An alert reporter that he ever is, he replied immediately, “Unfortunately true!” Then I called the wife, Princess Jane and the confirmation came without equivocation. I was jolted not so much when it is a dignified passing that his was but because any definitive parting comes with certain indefinable pains. This is because memories of shared moments of certain recognitions, of shared values and views of life flow in. These together with even argumentation are forfeited for either party. I was jolted also because we spoke three days before he exited. I did not pick any hint from his voice during our telephone conversation that his time was up. I was later to gather he had a premonition that his sojourn on the planet earth was coming to a close.
Tony Momoh would have been 82 in April if he had tarried a little more. In 2019 when he was 80, his children wanted to mark it. But he had said to himself that the 70th birthday would be the last he would celebrate elaborately on earth. And Sad Sam put a stamp of approval on his resolve; or do I say, in his inimitable way, decreed it! So, when he was 80 and the children informed him of their plan, he turned it down. He preferred a ticket for himself and his wife instead to travel out. Here is the story in his own words. Captioned “HURRAH I AM ON RUNG 81, he wrote: “In less than a minute ago, I stepped on to the 81st Rung of the Ladder of Life. The journey to now started on April 27, 1939 when I dropped from my mother’s womb. You will get the full story from my Biographer, Andrew Okwilagwe, Professor of Library, IT and Archival Studies of the University of Ibadan.
“After about seven years of research he published a 590- page book he titled “Prince Tony Momoh A National Bibliotherapist & Cultural Engineer.” I didn’t know what Bibliotherapist meant but they said I was Africa’s foremost Bibliotherapist. What I recall in proof of the claim is that in my whole career as a journalist between 1962 and 1990, I did not use a curse word and was never invited by the police! Why? Because I learned early enough in my life that here and hereafter, you will account for everything you did during your sojourn on earth. The doing is with your hands through activity, your mouth through spoken word, and your brain through thinking! The Book under reference was presented at the biggest ceremony organized to celebrate my birthday. I was 70!
“My Friend Sam Amuka Pemu, publisher of the
Vanguard titles, came to my Bush Street Okupe Estate Residence and invited my wife Jane to be witness to the message he brought.
“’ Tony’, Sam said. ‘ Die’. ‘ Jane, tell your Husband to die!’ Sam said the event of the previous day at the National Theatre Iganmu, Lagos, could never be equaled or beaten. It was chaired by Gen. Yakubu Gowon. Two other former Heads of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Chief Earnest Sonekan were also there. Many of my former colleagues in IBB’S government were there. So also were the media leadership in Print, Electronic, Advertising and Public Relations.
“The National Troupe performed and some of Nigeria’s foremost events hosts— Bisi Olatilo, Ali Baba, Soni Irabor and Patrick Doyle compeered. AIT covered the event live! To crown it all, four books were presented, three by me, and one on me. They were reviewed by the Chairman of the Editorial Board of The Guardian, Dr. Reuben
Abati, and Festus Unuigbe. The one on me is the one anchored by Prof. Okwilagwe while the three by me were the first two volumes of
Democracy Watch, A Monitor’s Diary, 1999 to 2008, and Tony Momoh’s Spiritual Essays. The third volume of Democracy Watch completed my monitoring of governance in pursuance of the media’s role to hold government accountable to the people, a chore I performed through weekly publications in Sunday Vanguard for 12 years under the title Point of Order.
“You see how big the outing was when I was 70 and why Sam asked me to die when the ovation was loudest! I decided the last Birthday I would celebrate before my departure to where I came from on April 27, 1939 would be my 70th which was 11 years ago. Many activities have taken place since that outing at 70! I remain eternally grateful to Prof. Okwilagwe for promoting a name he says anchors many things to go for! For instance, when I was 78 he gave out 1,000 copies of his four volume Nigeriana Stirling- Horden Encyclopaedia of Mass Media & Communication to all university libraries in Nigeria, all editors in Nigeria and media houses in Nigeria plus a copy of my biography he wrote, all in the name of Tony Momoh Foundation!
“And last year when I clocked 80, my children wanted to mark it and I told them, ‘ Give my wife and me business class tickets to Dubai for a week. I will do a comprehensive medical checkup …’ My wife and I were at Radiscon Blue where the hotel brought flowers and cakes to mark our 50 years of marriage and my 80th birthday on April 27. I did the medicals at the American Hospital in Dubai.
“Yes, at the appropriate time, I will and you will, whether you like it or not, return to where we came from. We are told that we are in this world but not of this world. The Holy Quoran tells us you shall return. Unfortunately, between the time we come and the time we leave, we imbibe teachings that lead upwards to where we come from or downwards to the depths. The choice is ours, to choose life or death. Fellow travelers on the Path, I choose life and that is that I know my home is not this earth, it is up there in Paradise, not down there in hell!!
“Knowing that Paradise and Hell are places outside this earth, it is obvious that it is what I do, that is, my actions, my speech and my thoughts that will determine where I go. The call to board comes, wish me Happy Birthday. Thank you.”
The birthday he had in mind would appear to be an event already fulfilled in the future which was only separated by time and space, but the fulfillment, however, he was already sensing deep within him. Since then month after month, week after week and day after day, it would appear he found himself yielding irresistibly to influences he did not quite grasp. He only found himself tidying things up. This became clearer and more poignant in the last fortnight to his departure when he started to drop hints to his wife; they sent for the children and they took family photographs. What I am getting at is that the invitation for friends and associates to wish him Happy Birthday may not have been meant for yet another birthday on earth. It could be interpreted that he was seeing himself departing the earthly plane and being born in the Beyond. Departure from earthly life is birth in the beyond. And like every child on earth does, the departed learns to use etheric organs of sight and hearing, although the mastering is faster in the Beyond than it is on earth as the self- enforcing Law of Motion drives activities faster than they are on earth. Separation is automatic as well with the Law of Attraction of Homogenous Species in activity aided by compulsion of the Law of Motion. All souls with similar tendencies are consequently grouped together, headed for the same direction. Those with similar traits of guilt sink, finding their levels and bearing love and goodness rise as harvest to live in their own environment— each according to the level of his weight which depends on how heavy from dross or how light from goodness each soul is.
Everything about Tony Momoh can be said to be extra- ordinary. He made friends effortlessly, he could mix freely and would flow with everyone without surrendering the solidity of his inner being, his character. Our disagreement was on his foray into politics. I once asked him: Prince, what are you looking for in that wilderness, arguing that true leaders are not electable. You can trust him, never non- plussed, he responded: “If there is anyone in the wilderness then he is in need of rescue and help.” I stood my ground and he stood his. The secret to his being able to mix freely, work with anybody, accommodate and relate with all manner of people was not far to seek.
Tony was born into a large family of the Otaru of Auchi, Momoh 1, in 1939. As he was to reveal in his book, News of the Forgotten Army, his father had more than 40 wives and the children were more than 200. He says in the book: “… the 1963 census showed more than 900 of us in our beautiful, hilly little town of Auchi in the Mid- Western State of Nigeria. In Lagos, capital of Nigeria, we number some four dozens, and in the USSR, the UK, the U. S. and Australia, more than a dozen are currently acquiring different skills, from engineering and medicine to accountancy and advertising. So you see, Norma, I am in a position to like and understand people because I was brought up to live with all types under all signs of zodiac. Little wonder then I have never met anybody whose character defied analysis after I have listened to them for five minutes.”
Tony was christened Sulaiman Momoh. Following the introduction of Free Primary Education by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the Western Region which necessitated massive recruitment of teachers, he went to train as a teacher obtaining Grade 3 and later Grade 2. He became a headmaster. In the course of teaching at an Anglican School, he became a Christian as he read the Bible from cover to cover to be able to impart Bible knowledge to his pupils. He studied to pass ‘ O’ Level and later ‘ A’ Level examinations through private studies as young men of that generation were wont to do. With his wider knowledge, he took active interest in public affairs. Chief Anthony Enahoro soon became his hero as a politician and as a journalist. Without any further ado, he changed his name to Anthony Momoh. He came to Lagos in 1962 to seek out Alhaji Babatunde Jose who was editor of the Daily Times. He told Alhaji Jose that he wanted to be a journalist like Anthony Enahoro. Incidentally, it was Enahoro who was editor that employed Jose himself at West African Pilot. Editor Babatunde Jose employed Momoh as Trainee Sub- Editor. He took him to the Newsroom and handed him over to Mr. Mac Alabi, the Chief Sub- Editor, to train him. With Jose’s liberal disposition to higher education and commitment to Manpower Development programme he established, he released Tony Momoh to go to University of Nigeria, Nsukka to study Mass Communications. Following the outbreak of hostilities in the Eastern Region, he along with several others trapped in the East were brought to the University of Lagos where finished.
Upon his graduation, he returned to the Daily Times where he became editor of Spear Magazine ( 1967 to 1971) in succession to Sam Amuka who was appointed editor of Sunday Times. By that time, Alhaji Jose had concretized the idea of setting up a formal training school to train journalists from within and from without. Tony Momoh was chosen to become the
Training Manager. He was sent to Plymouth in Britain to train and hone his skills in every aspect of journalism. The training took him also to Thomson Editorial Study Institute in Cardiff. Before long he could parade a long list of, indeed, several accomplished journalists who predictably passed through his hands.
In his book, he says: “Only a few things impress me, and the most important is what you are worth upstairs. I don’t envy the rich because, honestly, I believe even a dunce can be rich overnight. There is inheritance. There are windfalls and sweepstakes. And Norma, there is armed robbery. And most penetratingly painful of them all because it is institutionalized there is fraud. But when it comes to acquiring knowledge, and wisdom, there is nowhere to grab it overnight. You must go get it from the department Conscientious Hard Work. On yourself.” He had hardly settled in his new assignment as Training Manager of Times School when he decided to read law. He was to say that it is only in journalism that you offer free consultancy services, solicited or unsolicited, to the lowly and the high, to the powerful, to the government that may even lock you up. But for such in law called briefs you present your bills, most times heavy, his decision to read law.
When he finished at the law school, he returned to his desk at the training school. He taught what was novel in journalism at the time: Teeline which replaced shorthand to enable reporters and correspondents report more accurately. It was from the training school that he was appointed editor of the Daily Times in 1976. He was in the saddle until 1980. At Editorial Board meetings, you had Tony Momoh to contend with for depth, scholarship and disarming logic. As editor he sued the Senate to stop from forcing him to divulge the source of his information in a publication that rattled the Upper Chamber. He won in the court. When the NPN government of Shehu Shagari settled down and disbanded Dr. Patrick Dele Cole’s team in 1980 for the newspaper’s fierce independence despite government’s interest in it, Tony Momoh was moved to Deputy General Manager, Planning and Development, Daily Times, ( 1980- 1982). He could also brandish his credential to include General Manager, Planning and Development and general Manager Publications Division, Daily Times of Nigeria Limited.
Momoh was active in several media organisations where he was afforded leadership positions. He was chairman of the accreditation of the Nigerian Union of Journalists. He was member Board of Governors of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism. He was secretary Guild of Editors at a point, and later its President.
Although he read law nothing gave him fulfillment as journalism. Journalism itself he saw as a vehicle for fulfillment of higher tasks. In 1972, he came across the Work, In the Light of Truth— The Grail Message. It was the Book that transformed his outlook to life and his life in its entirety. By the time he came to a full appreciation of the significance of the Book for all mankind in 1974, he became an adherent and was able to discover by himself why he had to be born in a large family. It was to teach him to understand people of all shades and live in harmony with them. His doors were to be opened to all human beings who might wish to benefit from what The Grail Message inexhaustibly offers to those who are serious about their lives, the purpose of life on earth and their salvation and where their paths lead them after earthly life. Everywhere he became an advocate of the Work; he wanted it to be reflected in all his exertions what transformation it has made to his life, and drawing knowledge and wisdom from therein. In government, his colleagues regarded him as a philosopher and General Babangida was wont to call him the teacher. He brought the unique knowledge to bear on his attitude to work and in his books—“The News Of the Forgotten Army” and “Simple Strokes” as well as the booklet, “In Search of Viable Nigeria.” In “Simple Strokes” he says of Balance: “Balance, my friend. Between work and play, waking and sleeping; thinking and doing. Even in nature, rain and shine; planting and reaping; birth and death. Balance, my friend. You may not be so fortunate next time, especially if you make it a habit. When it starts telling on you, do not say you were not warned.” In his writings, he also became careful not to cause harm or bring anyone’s name to disrepute. Allah- De was his oft example in this. He would say Allah- De was never invited by the police. He also restored his name to Suleiman after gaining knowledge of the importance of names, that each person is the name he bears. Suleiman thus became his middle name.
I have no doubt that multitude will throng the Holy Land of God, Grailland to wish Anthony Suleiman Momoh well as he turns his gaze away from the materiality of this world to focus on the lofty Heights that is Paradise. He knows it is a long way up in the Spiritual Realm. Given his accustomed firm volition to drive whatever he believes in, he is confident that coupled with the knowledge of the Path thereto he is mercifully permitted, he will be borne aloft. That is also my prayerful wish for a bosom friend and a colleague spanning some five decades.