By Dele Sobowale

“You don’t fight terror with appeasement…..”.
Adolf Hitler, 1889-1945

In the war between the Nigeria Police and terrorists, whether Boko Haram or others, there is only one side to take for any patriotic citizen of this country. I am siding firmly with the police because the others aim to dominate us against our will; but not the police. And, you better join too; because this is a struggle for the soul of our country.

Let me quickly admit that the police are not anybody’s favourite public organisation. Reports, surveys, etc have demonstrated that they are perceived as the most corrupt organisation in the country. Everyone is aware of the N20 syndrome; the toll gates called “Check points” nationwide; the free bail never granted until something is dropped. I need not list all the accusations ad nauseum. Like every other Nigerian, I have had my own experiences with the police.

Later, I will address the perception of the police as the “most corrupt” people by making comparative analysis. You might be surprised that, like all conventional wisdom, it is not totally true. There are at least three other groups of public servants, so corrupt as to make the police appear like saints. Yet, we respect them.

But, first let me leave the reader this Sunday with a true story about the police whom we all love to hate.

On Monday, June 13, 2011, at  1.30 pm, I was on the Ibadan-Lagos Expressway (if that death trap can be so-called; it is a death trap because other public servants, including Presidents and ministers, failed us disastrously), heading for Lagos to catch a flight to Abuja the next day.

The journey came to a sudden halt on kilometre 87 to Lagos when all the vehicles in front of mine started to reverse or make u-turns in desperate bids to escape death because armed robbers were operating on the road one kilometer away. We all retreated to a “safe” distance and waited (waited for what?) for the Highway Patrol to dislodge the hoodlums. Ten minutes after, sure enough, their vehicle raced past us towards danger, because shots were still being fired.

Then, one of us announced out loud, “Those useless police people, is this the time to come. They probably have been hiding all along”. Others joined in the condemnation. I was furious. Addressing myself to the first speaker, I asked him if he has ever had a member of his family or close friend, a policeman killed by armed robbers or terrorists and does he realise that each and everyone of those men who raced towards the danger, from which we fled, probably has several dependents including wife, children and parents? Yet, they are going forward to risk their lives so that we can carry on with our lives. There was silence. Then one old man apologised for what he had said. “I never thought of it that way before”, he said.

“Start thinking about it now”, I said, just before the police waved to us to move on…

ROPE A DOPE – ASUU— 4
“We do not know whether there is a special way of passing this Bill that had been begging for attention for years. We also doubt if the lawmakers were equally sensitive to what the non-implementation of the said agreement (emphasis mine) had caused the academic community, students and parents and what it would cause them in the future”.

Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, President ASUU, lamenting the delay in passing the Bill arising from the agreement reached with the Federal Government in 2009.

“It is unthinkable that wisdom should ever be popular”.
Goethe, 1749-1832.

Fuel queues are back; your wife is probably still searching for kerosene; power supply had reversed  to one hour a day. A guy seats in Aso Rock enjoying the “breath of fresh air” which his “rope a dope” strategy has yielded. I dey laugh O!!!

Commonsense is not common. If there is anything funnier than the “rope a dope” strategy, it’s the new twist. You would think professors and senior lecturers in our universities are intelligent; that they could not be fooled. Well, you are half right.

They are mostly intelligent; but also mostly not wise. A good lot of the world’s catastrophes had been caused by “egg-heads”. David Halberstam, in his book THE BRIGHTEST AND THE BEST, the best chronicle of the American misadventure in Vietnam, had called the policymakers and top military brass, who produced the debacle, “intelligent but not wise”. Back in 1974, when I was reading the book, it had not registered in my mind that someone can be intelligent and not wise. Now, I know. Of all the definitions of wisdom, John Milton’s, 1608-1674, is the most apt for this column.

According to him: “To know/That which before us lies in daily life/Is the prime wisdom/ What is more is fume”. (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, p 275). Wisdom, is never taught in schools; it is learnt from experience, open mindedness and providential intuition; from being truthful to oneself all the time and not compromising with the truth – however unpleasant.

When ASUU reached the 2009 “agreement” with the Yar’Adua-Jonathan-Namadi administration, the two sides compromised heavily on the truth. ASUU is now left holding the empty bag. As this piece is being written on June 3, 2011, the Sixth National Assembly had gone into history without passing the Bill. Yet, if the discussion between some of my friends in academia is a reflection of what others did on election days, they also “voted for Jonathan not PDP”. In the end, Jonathan and PDP had colluded to break the agreement entered into in 2009 to get ASUU back to the classroom. That self-deception on the part of highly-intelligent people is bad enough.

A look at the composition of the present National Assembly reveals that except for the mini-tsunami in the South-West, PDP had again been overwhelmingly re-elected nationwide by people who deceived themselves that they “voted Jonathan not PDP”. Was Jonathan running for Senate, House of Representatives and Governor everywhere? ASUU members, who might find themselves back in the trenches, can now ask themselves if they were honest with themselves and other stakeholders by keeping quiet until it is too late.

To be quite blunt, did they actually expect Jonathan and  PDP to keep their promises? If not, why the self-deceit, especially when it is now clear that the calamity Prof. Awuzie predicts would come to pass for Nigeria’s education sector? ASUU is now threatening to go on strike again. A lot of sense that makes!! That’s like bolting the gate after all the chicken have fled.

ASUU was not alone in raising the alarm after the disaster instead of warning the nation when it mattered the most – before the elections. Professor Peter Okebukola, former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, reportedly pointed out that 800,000  students seeking university admission might not be admitted. Like ASUU, he waited until after the elections to divulge this closely guarded secret to save government from embarrassment. Yet, these are issues for discussion before elections.

And, these are our own brightest and best being dribbled silly by politicians whom they regard with disdain. If Awuzie must know the truth, the first calamity is ASUU itself. All the rest will follow from it. This is no laughing matter!!