LAST-MINUTE SHOPPING…
“…to benefit maximally from the resources of a state, the people of a particular section or area of the state would not mind rigging an election to have their ‘son’ in office. For Rivers State, the upland and lowland (riverine) dichotomy is too obvious, and it has contributed in creating tension and violence during elections...” he wrote without elaboration.
Enlisted into the police in 1960, Atta was an Assistant Superintendent in charge of ‘training of recruits’ at the Police College in Kaduna on 15th January 1966 when the first coup occurred. “At about midnight on the day of the coup, we heard gunshots incessantly and many prominent persons started driving into the Police College, Kaduna to take refuge. Alhaji M.D. Yusuf who was the Commissioner of Police in the Northern Region drove in, so did Ali Akilu, the Secretary to the Northern Regional Government, as well as Permanent Secretaries”, Atta wrote as he recounted how the coup leaders avoided a confrontation with the Squadron of the Mobile Police Force that was “fully trained and armed”, even though he ended the story with an anti-climax: “Subsequently, other things followed which for reasons of esprit de corps, I would not want to recount here.”
Six months after that coup, Atta was posted to the Administration Department of the Police College, Ikeja in Lagos where he also witnessed the counter coup by young northern military officers. “One early morning we heard gunshots from the Battalion next to us and soldiers were seen running helter skelter… The British Commandant of the Police College, Ikeja, Mr. R.V. Jones was able to send message to Ikeja Cantonment, and to the coup leaders who replied and agreed that they would not attack the Police College, Ikeja...At about 9.00 a.m., two high-grade cars drove into the Police College, Ikeja. One of them, flying the American flag, conveyed the American Ambassador and the other car which flew the British flag, conveyed the British High Commissioner…”
By virtue of holding strategic positions during all the military coups, Atta had first-hand accounts he would not share except for hints here and there. He was a bit more explicit on the abortive Gideon Orkar coup of April 1990. “Just as I was settling down as Inspector General of Police, I got an intelligence report on the planned coup mainly by officers from South-South. I established all the facts and alerted the Military President (General Ibrahim Babangida) of my findings, but the State Security Service (SSS) discountenanced the information, and two months later, Major Gideon Orkar struck in April 1990. By the time we got the briefings of the coup, a lot of facts presented by my intelligence report proved to be correct,” Atta wrote.
Given his illustrious public service career, I am disappointed with Atta’s book because he hesitated at every point, giving one excuse after another as to why he would not dwell on what happened.
But Mrs Scott does not appear like someone who would be afraid to tell her stories. If she agrees to the idea, I am quite sure it would be a most revealing book. But I will also not be surprised if she chooses not to. Nigerians of a certain generation are adept at ‘letting the sleeping dog lie’, to our collective detriment.
As I parted with Mrs Scott three weeks ago, I told both Duke and Enin about the dearth of authentic Nigerian stories. To corroborate my point, Duke shared with me his March 2017 experience with HRH Prince Michael of Kent, (first cousin to Queen Elizabeth II) who was then in Nigeria for the opening of the Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta. “After the event, Prince Michael came to Calabar for three days as my guest. At a welcome dinner with guests at my residence, I shared the historical folklore about the relationship between the English Crown and the Obong of Calabar, which he initially did not believe until he went to the museum the next day. Now, he is fascinated by the story.”
Sometime in the 1880’s, according to Duke, Queen Victoria, (great, great grandmother to Prince Michael) sent a Royal Mail to the Obong of Calabar, whose territory’s natural habour was responsible for the transportation of more than a quarter of all slaves that departed from Africa. In the message, she requested an end to the slave trade for which hefty duties were paid to the coffers of the Obong. She pledged in return to promote the trade in palm oil, spirits, ivory, firearms, timber and fabrics between their territories. She appropriately signed off as Victoria, Queen of England and Associated Territories. But the interpreter conveying her wishes to the Obong read that last line as ‘Victoria, queen of all white people.’
After listening to the message, the then reigning Obong Eyo VII who styled himself as King Eyo Honesty VII promptly bought the idea, but with one demand: he and the Queen had to seal the deal via marriage. He then signed off as ‘Eyo Honesty VII, King of All Black Men’. In response, an apparently amused Queen Victoria sent a Cape, a Crown, a Scepter and a Bible. The Obong interpreted these gifts as her acceptance of his offer and the Bible a request that he embrace Christianity which he did. That explains why, at the installation of a new Obong of Calabar, immediately following the traditional rites of initiation, he proceeds to the Duke Town Presbyterian Church, where two bedecked chairs are placed before the steps leading to the altar: One for the Obong and an empty one, representing the seat of the Queen of England. The Obong’s legal wife sits behind in deference. I understand Prince Michael is including the story of his great, great grandmother’s ‘Calabar husband’ in his coming book!
Despite the fact that I stay away from Lagos these days because of the horrible traffic, I enjoyed my last visit of 6th March. In the evening, it was another session to relive memories with the Olowo Eko, Oba Rilwan Babatunde Osuolale Aremu Akiolu, at his Iduganran Palace. Given Oba Akiolu’s experience in the police where he retired as an Assistant Inspector General (AIG), I hope he will also document his story. Meanwhile, Mrs Onari Duke—who in April 2017 presented my book, ‘Against the Run of Play’—insisted I had to spend the night in their house rather than the hotel I had earlier booked. I cannot thank her enough for the kind hospitality. While I hope Mrs Scott will agree to share with me the fascinating account of her life and career which somehow connects with that of Nigeria, let me conclude with a story which would make a memoir by Duke himself extraordinarily compelling.
In December 2003, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was holding in Abuja at a period when there was a serious rift between the then Obong Nta Elijah Henshaw VI, the first Professor of Dentistry in West Africa, and other traditional title holders. The Obong was said to be fond of speaking English to intimidate some of them. “A new Ndidem of the Quas, Thomas Ika Ika Oqua III, was due installation at about the time CHOGM was being held at Abuja. I implored the Obong to attend to show fraternal goodwill between the two thrones and help bridge the widening divide. He was silent and I assumed that was consent. But at the installation ceremony, I noticed that the Obong was absent and unrepresented. I was furious. When I finally reached him on phone several hours after the ceremony, he calmly reminded me that I should know that with his ancestral Queen in Abuja, there was no way he would stay in Calabar just because of the installation of some village head. Certainly, Elijah Henshaw was in a class of his own!”, Duke said to roaring laughter.
At the end, what cuts through the foregoing disparate accounts is that the authentic history of our country lies hidden in the memory of individuals by dint of their experiences or proximity to major actors of the past. Even in times like this, such individuals should be encouraged, for the benefit of posterity and future generations, to step forward and tell their stories. Sadly, one of the challenges of Nigeria is that we discount the past. Never allowing the scars to heal means they will continue to haunt us. Who decided that History is not important a subject to be taught in school? History, as Etieene Gilson surmised “is the only laboratory we have in which to test the consequences of thought.”
Six years ago, we had a serious challenge with Ebola which we collectively fought as a people and overcame. If we learnt any lessons from that experience, it has not reflected in the way we are dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic and that says something about us. Tiffany Isselhardt argues that there is history everywhere “alive, breathing, and waiting to be heard”. She also says that “history is the story of us and can teach us who we are, where we come from, and perhaps reveal where we want to go.”