Continuation of the extracts from the book the late ace columunist, Pini Jason, was writing before he died. The book will soon be out.

Politicians – for the cash only

Contrary to their protestations, most politicians first think of themselves, and themselves last! Politics, for many politicians of whatever hue, is about how much money they share at the end of the day. They hardly think that their acts lay the foundation or dig the grave for Nigeria. The attitude is that it does not matter now; get what you can, Nigeria will sort itself out.

*Pini Jason

Again it seems that the only thing that guarantees political life in Nigeria is access to government, which in itself is a guarantee to enormous wealth with which to enforce a political agenda.
In the First Republic, there were ethics and codes of conduct that bound public office holders and members of their family.

Once in office, there were things members of your family were not allowed to do or engage in. In fact, there were a few things they were simply not expected to do. That is why today, all the children of the First Republic politicians are career people, holding their own, away from the glare of vulgar publicity.

Not pro-people
The political class is at war with itself. The politicians are divided into various camps-religious, tribal, conservative, progressive, pro-government, pro-June 12 pro-North, pro-South, pro-Nothing, honest and dishonest. One thing many Nigerian politicians have not aspired to be is pro-people.

Shaping lives
As a secondary school boy in 1964, I shook Zik’s hand in the state house, Marina. That night, he was hosting the youths drawn from the registered Youths Clubs in Lagos. I have never forgotten that experience, particularly seeing Zik address people in Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, depending on which language you could speak.

I did not forget that experience and I cannot forget it. The impact of shaking the great man’s hand made me think of greatness. Even now, I have a treasured photograph framed in my house. Again, I was shaking the great man’s hand. This time, it was his 88 birthday celebration at Nsukka in November 1992.

My children look at that photograph with reverence, because they too have been told how great Zik is, and I suspect they are influenced by him too. But even more important is that my children are not likely to forget that they are the children of a man who shookhands with a great man. It could also shape their lives.

Wanted: non-hypocritical anti-corruption crusader
In Nigeria it has become futile to talk about the level of corruption, particularly when we’ve acquired such a global notoriety as to inspire an international best-seller by Jeffrey Archer, called Clean Sweep Ignatius.

But the amazing thing is that those in authority who ought to match their sermons with a determined war against corruption are simply at their hypocritical worst, as if it has been agreed that corruption should become part of our culture. The entire government system is based on patronage, lobbying, favoritism and godfatherism. And I ask myself, is there no place in history for a non-hypocritical anti-corruption crusader?

Government – for the people
The infraction of the law by the executive and its agents goes on everyday and innocent citizens without power or connection suffer every day.

Why does the government pretend to govern when it breaks all laws with impunity? The essence of government is the rule of law, to protect the weak from the powerful and to mitigate the arbitrariness of the powerful.
The purpose of government is, ought to be, and must always be, the well-being of the citizens.

Certainly, there can be a thousand and one ways of tackling the problems of our society without the government being drawn into a war of attrition with its own citizens. These solutions make themselves available once those privileged to be appointed to offices understand that the primary purpose of government is to serve the people, the “enemies” inclusive. Indeed the challenge for the Third World is to make governance less bestial and more humane.

With impunity we’ve crossed the barrier of madness and something is bound to give. No nation survives, that is governed the way Nigeria is presently governed

Siren of primitiveness
Nothing symbolises our primitiveness more than the siren. The siren has become an advertisement jingle for our backwardness.
In sane societies, a siren means the police racing after a criminal or to a place of disaster. The indiscriminate use of sirens in Nigeria might well be in order. This society is criminal. This society is a disaster.

All citizens are equal, but…
It is a little too hypocritical that a Nigerian born on board the British Airways automatically acquires British citizenship and all the rights and privileges appertaining thereto (as thelawyers would say) but a Nigerian born in Sokoto, Kaduna, Kano or Bauchi etc will pay a higher school fees in the institutions his parent’s taxes built, just because he is from the South. Even Northerners of different faith are treated as second class citizens in their own states in the North.

Our ways with laws, rules and regulations
Every player assumes that the other side is going to cheat, and therefore, schemes to out-cheat the cheat. It is assumed that figures are going to be manipulated. “How then do I make the 200 to read 2000 in my favour?” Deep down, this manner of thinking dominates our general attitude to laws, rules and regulations. This attitude seems to be at the root of the problems with our systems

So many people seem to commit infractions of the law now and seem to get away with it. And believing that our system of reward and sanction has broken down, people have, as it were, asked themselves; why should I be the one stranded here obeying the laws while others are getting away with criminality and getting ahead as well?

Mandela and the rest of us
When Mandela’s voice rang out clear, strong in timbre and resonant in cadence, unapologetic in gratitude and unrepentant in a hinted trade-off, it was more that reaffirmed that ideas which find expression in words cannot be suppressed. Ideas are boundless and unbounded. Mandela came out older but unbent, slimmer but stronger.

He was deprived of his freedom but not of his wisdom, denied the love of close ones but suffused with the love of the entire world. Never has the thraldom of one man been the agony of the entire world of both his admirers and adversaries.

Mankind. Destruction. Death
Until we invent the means of avoiding wars, we remain uncivilised, notwithstanding our technological advancement.
According to the philosophical view of James Baldwin, destruction and death are what most of mankind has been best at since we have heard of man.

Do we not give our children gifts of guns – instruments of death – on their birthdays, thus unconsciously ritualising birth with death?

No hiding place for despots
The message is loud and clear to the world’s despots, that there is no hiding place for dictators who commit pogrom on any human race for whatever reason, whether it is in Asaba, Katsina-Ala, Kosovo, Bosnia, Kigali, Mogadishu or My Lai. The human race, as God’s children, is one and must be respected.

Moved goalpost? Nah. I worry about stolen goalpost
It is this fear of being called upon to account for their “redemption” role in office that has  predicated the transition programmes contrived and manipulated by Africa’s military saviours.

It is either the transition throws up the dictator without his uniforms as in the case of late Sergeant Samuel Doe and Captain Blaise Campaore or the dictator enacts laws to forgive himself of his misdeeds while in office, or he arranges for his loyalists to take over. In such cases, Africa is denied the much vaunted grassroots popular democracy.

The controversy dogging Ghana’s so-called transition concerns the last minute smuggling into the new constitution, of indemnity clauses which protect Rawlings from prosecution for any malfeasance while playing “Junior Jesus” for Ghana. Thus like Napoleon, Rawlings believes that he who “saves” a nation violates no law!
People worry about rules being changed in the middle of the game. Me, I worry about our waking up one day to discover that someone has stolen the goal post!

To be Continued