Bar and the Bench Discourse

 Preserve the independence of the legal profession and the judicial system 

1. Uphold the rule of law and the constitution 
2. Preserve the independence of the profession and the judiciary 
3. Upholding legal process and respect for courts
4. Promoting the public trust and confidence 
5. Ensuring access to justice for all
6. Advancing professional excellence 

Patrimonial Prebendalism and the Nigeria’s scourge of “Money Miss Road” Billionaire

 Patrimonial Prebendalism and the Nigeria’s scourge of Corrupt Billionaire 

“But please, don’t tell me that Nigeria as it stands is non-negotiable. For me, this is a fallacy. The nation has got to be negotiated. Negotiation includes ensuring that there is no marginalisation. Negotiation has to do with control of resources; it has to do with restructuring the nation in a way in which its components, its constituents are not feeding a bloated centre to the detriment of their own development.”- Wole Soyinka (2017)

The recent donation of $14 million by Nigerian billionaire, Mohammed Indimi, to a little known American University located in Florida has been a subject of intense debates among Nigerians on social media. The Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) reacted angrily to the donation and called it an irresponsible and colossal waste of Niger Delta resources. Is it? Others, have argued that this donation is precisely the reason why we need a dialogue on the viability and survivability of the Nigerian federation.

Many Nigerian hardly know Mohammed Indimi. The Borno born billionaire made his billions from a no-bid oil wells gifted to him by his friend, Gen Ibrahim Babangida. Indimi is the father-in-law of Mohammed Babangida, the former military dictator first son, who is currently the Chairman/CEO of Oriental Oil & Gas. Oriental was founded in 1990 under Babangida by Indimi. He owns the rich Ebok Field (OML 67), Okwok Field (OML 67) and OML 115, amongst others. Indimi is reportedly the 10th richest billionaire in Nigeria. He started out as a merchant trader buying and selling clothes, flour etc. But no one in his right sense would believe that he came about his current stupendous wealth through petty trading. He got his wealth from oil, albeit the crude oil that has now completely devastated the Niger Delta and riverine communities in Nigeria.

In 2002, Rotimi Suberu wrote about the three fundamental values or pillars that has kept the endangered foundations of Nigeria together as a nation state despite the apparent ethnic, regional, religious and political turbulence that has assailed the country. 

First, is the continued application and adaptation of federalism as a mechanism for securing and advancing self-rule, shared rule and limited rule in a multi-ethnic society such as ours. That pillar was called into question by June 12 annulment and it took a massive course correction by the Abdusalaam administration to get us back to sanity. It is also the reason why Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was asked to abide by its commitments to serve only one term. It is the reason why serious northern politicians are committed to transfer of power to the south after 8 years of Presidential Muhammadu Buhari. The idea of federal character in participatory representation of sub-units at the national level is crucial for the unity and cohesiveness of the nation. One can only hope that politicians of both parties keep this unwritten commitment. For those who says zoning is not in the constitution, let me echo, the wise words of Richard Simeon who argued that issues of constitutional change are typically highly symbolic, conflictual and intractable “harmony in divided federations may be better achieved through ‘constitutional silences’, leaving some matters unresolved, rather than by trying to spell out all issues of identity and power in precise constitutional language”.

The second is the representative democracy, without which federalism becomes deeply vulnerable and questionable. The brazenly sectarian behavior of the ethno-military regime that ruled the country from 1984 to 1999 headed and dominated by Muslims from the North has been variously accused of provoking ethnic insecurity, anxiety, militancy and instability that created the current polarization and instability in the Nigerian federation. Sadly, the chief orchestrator of that military putsch is the current president who again is been accused of nepotism, favoritism and lopsided appointment in favor of his kith and kin.

The third and final value involves the competent, transparent and equitable management of the economy. The labors of our heroes past in the civil service in the 1960s and 1970s is now a footnote of history. No thanks to the pervasive scourge of corruption or prebendalism in the public sector. Prebendalism refers to political systems in which elected officials and government workers feel they have a right to a share of government revenues, and they use them to benefit supporters, co-religionists and members of their ethnic group. An efficient management of the commonwealth of Nigeria would enhance the material welfare of broad sections of the Nigerian population and not just a few sycophants and leeches. As Jeffrey Herbst noted in 1996 “unless the rot of the economy is halted, there will be no prospect for democracy in [Nigeria] and the integrity of the nation-state itself will be threatened.”

On this third prong we can say that the Nigerian chicken has come home to roost. The potential economic advantages of a federated Nigerian union have been largely negated by the mismanagement of the nation’s oil wealth and the attendant immiseration of the country’s population. The wealth gained has largely been frittered away by a rapacious “militricians” –military dictators assisted by civilians. The transition to democracy in 1992 has been a mere window dressing, as retired military rulers, their wives and family members simply threw off their khaki uniform for civilian “agbada”. No wonder then that the military penchant for rent seeking simply continued unabated under civilian rule. Retired military generals have been in charge of the Nigerian central government far more than civilians.

The mismanagement and attendant evaporation of the country’s economic promise should be laid at the feet of these military generals. Their maladministration is the source of despair and disaffection in the Nigerian federal union. There is no doubt, that the hundreds of billions of dollars that Nigeria … has earned from petroleum export since the end of the Biafran war in 1970 would have made our country an economic giants but for the profligacy of our rulers. Instead, as aptly stated by Jacqueline Coolidge and Susan Rose-Ackerman, “owing to the vicissitudes of the global oil market as well as inefficient and corrupt domestic economic management, Nigeria declined from a middle-income country with an annual per capita income of about $1000 in 1980 to an impoverished nation with a per capita income of only $130 in 1999. Indeed by 1984, after ten years of the oil boom, the income of the average Nigerian was no higher than in 1974. During the 1980s the economy declined at the rate of 0.4 percent annually, and in 1990 Nigeria was the seventeenth poorest country in the world. On top of that, according to World Bank, Nigeria has the lowest life expectancy (54.5) in West Africa!

There is no better illustration of the scourge of prebendalism on the Nigerian frail state than a cursory look at Indimi’s 3 big breakthroughs in business. According to Indimi’s biography available at Infoguideafrica.com

“ In 1973, …, there was a great shortage of flour in Maiduguri and the state government were importing and selling bags of flours to the locals at reduced rates. While Maiduguri was in lack of flour, Sokoto had excess flours to sell so Indimi saw a great business opportunity ahead. He contacted the Chief Commercial Officer of the Ministry of Commerce for Sokoto State who was in charge of the sale, bargained and bought 50,000 bags of flour which he sold at Maiduguri, making huge profits from the transactions.”

Here we see Indimi’s rent seeking business writ large, he bought flour imported for Sokoto State presumably at bargain prices from his friend, the chief commercial officer of Sokoto state and then sold the flours to Borno (North-eastern state) government as a government approved importer/contractor, pocketing the profit in dollars. In the end, the people of Borno who bore the brunt of the artificial scarcity created through this government policy suffers. Needless to say, Major Generals Muhammad Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon, at various times were military administrators during this saga.

His next big breakthrough happened during General Olusegun Obasanjo military regime. That administration gave him a no bid contract to supply industrial water pumps for the South Chad Irrigation Project.

His third and final breakthrough comes through the largesse of his in-law, General Ibrahim Babangida as we stated above.

“In 1990, Indimi got an oil prospecting license granted by the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida regime. He established an oil and gas firm named Oriental Energy Resources (OER). According to the official website, the company has expanded its portfolio and currently has three assets under development in offshore Nigeria. These include the Ebok Field (OML 67), Okwok Field (OML 67) and OML 115.”

This is a no-bid oil field allocation for which nothing in Indimi’s background prepared him for it. It is a rent-seeking enterprise where all Indimi had to do is collect percentage of profit. He had no need to invest in Niger Delta where these oil field are located.

Presumably, it is from this profit that Indimi made the largest donation to Lynn University in Florida. According to USA News & World Report, Lynn University is a private institution that was founded in 1962. Its tuition and fees are $40,900 per semester. Do you know the kids who populate this school? Rich Wall Street sons and daughters. Mostly White Caucasian upper middle class New York rich kids. They don’t need tuition and never beg for one. This is why the school was surprised that a black man from Boko Haram infested country will give such an amount. Meanwhile students from Niger Delta decimated by pollution from where he made his billions can’t afford to pay their tuitions abroad nor can they attend Unimaid.

There is evidence all over the internet about Mohammed Indimi and Yakolo Indimi Foundation for the benefits of Northeastern Nigerian displaced kids and widows but I am yet to find anything pointing to an investment in Niger Delta which partly explains the anger and animosity of IYC. 

Here is another interesting tidbits from this Indimi’s story. Before his recent appointment as Chief of Staff to President Buhari, Ibrahim Agboola Gambari was a professor at Lynn. Upon completion of his appointment at Aso Rock, guess where he will retire? Yes, you guess right, LYNN! That much he admitted to in his speech at Lynn. So, if you are wondering why Gambari and Indimi are not overly concerned about bringing back Chibok girls, the answer is simple: It is not their problem. Eight of Indimi’s 20 children (some of whom are the same age as Chibok girls) never went to school in Nigeria. Even his grand kids are all studying abroad. Ameena Indimi made that much known during the dedication of the building in the name of her father:

“It is a great honor to see you invest in the future of Lynn students as well as our own children. My two precious children are coming to school here, and they will be so proud every single day as they walk to class to see your name, my name, on a building. I applaud my father for this momentous, astonishing contribution to my alma mater. We thank you, applaud you and cherish you for all time to come.”

With this donation, Indimi invested in the future of Lynn students and his own kids but not in the future of Nigerian students; be it those in his Borno state or Niger Delta where he made his wealth.

We cannot blame all of Nigeria’s failings on military rule and “militricians” alone, but they contributed a lot to the economic mismanagement of the country. Their penchant for excessive but ultimately ineffectual and counter-productive repression of ethnic conflicts or protests even whilst they engage in massive looting of the treasury is nauseating. If you want to stop Sunday Igboho, banditry, Kanu’s IPOB, Boko Haram, manage the economy for the benefits of all and not just a few close friends.

So, what can we do? We cannot but intensify the pressures for the re-negotiation and re-evaluation of the country’s federal constitutional structure, and/or for the territorial re-configuration or dissolution of the federation along ethno-regional lines. As Soyinka stated, nothing should be sacrosanct. We have sit to understand each other. After all, they say the government closest to the people govern best. The current class of corrupt ruling class cannot get us there. The devolutionist agenda of our republic should be our top priority.

Furious Frank can be reached at tioluwanimi@gmail.com. Comments here http://furiousfrank.blogspot.com/?m=1

Olisa Agbakoba as Pythia, the Oracle of Delphia

 

 

“If you are going to speak truth to power, make sure it’s the truth.”- Margaret Atwood

 

The Greek Reporter is a website I love to read when I have some downtime. In one of its entries, they wrote about the job of the priestess of Apollo at the Oracle of Delphi, Pythia. Her job stands out as it involved the gathering, re-packaging, and distribution of information, with the ultimate intent of providing sound advice on the trivial and not-so-trivial questions of life in ancient Greece. The oracle was consulted by the movers and shakers of ancient Greece on a diverse range of problems. For the priestess Pythia, this meant the opportunity to comment on a variety of issues of public and individual concern: cult matters, warfare, the relationships between existing city-states, and the foundation of new ones. The position of the Pythia seemed to have entailed the extraordinary opportunity to speak unwelcome truth to those in power. Sadly, Pythia often disappoints his listeners as more often than not, the predictions are historiographic traditions. Anyone could have possibly glean the information necessary to answer any particular enquiry from the chatter of those queuing to consult the oracle. Cue the recent speech by Olisa Agbakoba at the Senate president birthday celebration.

 

Our Senate president had the most magnificent of birthdays in recent memory. He spared no funds in ensuring that his birthday is celebrated and one of the highlights is the well-orchestrated birthday speech by gadfly, Olisa Agbakoba, former president of the Nigerian Bar Association and founder of human rights activism organization, Civil Liberty Organization (CLO). By a sad coincidence of history, the likes of Olisa Agbakoba are currently the pseudo-intellectuals the Nigerian press acclaims as government critic. Even though most of the so called critics of the Nigerian state on the pages of newspapers are critic by day and contractor by night. Perhaps, the few exceptions like Sowore still remains in the mould of Gani Fawehinmi, Claude Ake, Pa Mokwuogu Okoye and Bala Usman.

 

It was Noam Chomsky that is quoted to have debunked the myth of intellectuals speaking truth to power as “pious tag”. Chomsky states that those in power knows the truth already and they are just busy concealing it. More importantly, he said those who need the truth is not those in power but those oppressed by it. Olisa Agbakoba speech at this iconic birthday celebration should be viewed from this prism. There are parts of the speech that are laudable and others that are populist loud sounding nothing. As usual, Nigerians frequently swoons when we hear ideas that makes our collective ears tingles. The excitement increases when those ideas are said with gusto by those in authority and by people with titles, lawyers, chiefs, priest etc. For now, let’s set aside his argument on blue economy which he trots out as consultant at the beginning of every administration to project himself as maritime economy savior. I said this because those of us familiar with his shtick knows this is pablum. He wants coast guard. He wants fishing and deep sea exploration. He promised we will catch so many fishes on our oil polluted coast that we will be rich and pay off our debts to World Bank etc. There is only one catch, the new minister of Blue Economy, his friend and former governor of Osun State, Adegboyega Oyetola, needs to invite him to a meeting and signed his consultancy firm to a contract and pronto all this ideas will become reality.

 

But, the main gist of Olisa Agbakoba speech is not the pablum but another Trojan horse. The claim that he owns property in England and Nigeria and gets equity on his property in London and got zero on the one in Nigeria. He also said he could get loans easily on his property in England and Zero from the property in Nigeria. He went on to cite Hernande deSoto’s “Mystery of Capital” in support of this main plank of his argument. The book was written in year 2000. I had a signed copy by deSoto’s book as I bought a copy when he came to the campus where I currently teach as adjunct. We have had 23 years to try out de Soto ideas and the results are at best mixed.

As Chris Woodruff wrote in his article published on JSTOR and University of Oxford website here https://chriswoodruff.qeh.ox.ac.uk/wp-c ... to-JEL.pdf

“ De Soto’s own experience in Peru suggests that land titling by itself is not likely to have much effect. Titling must be followed by a series of politically challenging steps. Improving the efficiency of judicial systems, re-writing bankruptcy codes, restructuring financial market regulations and similar reforms will involve much more difficult choices for policy makers.”

 

These important truths are swept under the rug by both deSoto and Agbakoba. Olisa Agbakoba as members of the National Judicial Council knows the inherent corruption and challenges faced by the poor in accessing justice in Nigeria. As Senior Advocate of Nigeria he’s a beneficiary of that corrupt system that appoints and tepidly discipline errant judicial officers. The truth of the matter is land titling is made to sound like a free lunch. But without a broad set of complementary reforms, property titling and registration systems are likely to have a more limited effect than de Soto’s and Agbakoba (very refreshing) enthusiasm would lead one to believe.

For now, it is refreshing to see Agbakoba, command the attention of policy makers at high levels in Nigeria as De Soto once did in developing countries in the early 2000. His ideas contrast in non-trivial ways with the central focus of the development literature. Either the policy makers need to be alerted to the limitations of Agbakoba’s and de Soto’s proposals, or researchers need to give more attention to the connection between titling, credit markets, and entrepreneurship.

 

For now, I commend Nigerians who care to read to focus their attention on DeSoto first book, titled “The Other Path”, which described the labyrinth of regulations and permits required to do business or build a house in Lima, Peru. As he stated in that book, the informal is as regulated if not more regulated than the formal. If you doubt me ask road transport workers in Lagos or any motor parks in Nigeria. The informal regulations of our transport industry has made many motor parks tout millionaires and billionaires. Some of them are well connected to the seat of power in Aso rock. The likes of MC Oluomo are enforcers for those in power. As I write this piece, the government has just announced t50 per cent discount on road transport fares on 22 major routes across the country, starting from December 21, 2023. We have no recognized Highway Transport commission or any interstate transport governing agency. How did the government identified the transport companies that will benefit from this scheme? Does the government knows the average cost of travels on these routes before this announcement? One things is clear, if you are traveling from Lagos to Onitsha this year, don’t be surprised if your fare increased by the same amount the federal government promised to subsidize for transportation. You might even be paying more.

 

The reason The Other Path had a significant impact on the academic literature on the informal sector in the decade after its publication is not because of its academic rigor but because of its ideas. The idea that that informals are entrepreneurs, not marginals and banks and financial institutions should recognize it as such. The Mystery of Capital has much in common with The Other Path. It is colorfully written and entertaining. It focuses on an important issue. Its lack of empirical rigor is compensated for by a wealth of ideas. But while The Other Path focused on actions the state takes that hinder entrepreneurship and growth, The Mystery of Capital looks from the other side. Our focus should be on actions states fail to take: creating and enforcing private property rights. That is our Achilles heel’s in Nigeria. Until then, the rich and the powerful can continue to trot out stale ideas that tingle our ears.

 

 

Blogging Primo Levi Book: “Survival in Auschwitz”

 “The story of the death camps should be understood by everyone as a sinister alarm-signal”

I love judging High School debates. This Saturday morning, I found myself at my kid’s High school library (where they quartered us judges) waiting to be summon to go judge my next round, when I look up and saw this small book titled above. I picked it up and thought to myself, given what is going on in the world today, we all need the reminders this book offers.

The author’s preface went to the heart of the matter: 

As an account of atrocities, therefore, this book of mine adds nothing to what is already known…it should be able, rather, to furnish documentation for a quiet study of certain human aspects of the human mind. Many people- many nations- can find themselves holding, more or less wittingly, that ‘every stranger is an enemy.’ For the most part this conviction lies deep down like some latent infection; it betrays itself only in random, disconnected acts, and does not lie at the base of a system of reason.”

The author then dove straight into the story of his capture. He had fled into the mountains to set up Resistance movement but was caught by Fascist Militia and upon brutal interrogations that followed, he admits his status as “Italian citizen of Jewish race”. He was then sent to Fossoli, near Modena, a vast detention camp, where people not approved by the Fascist Republic are kept. 

In January 1944, the camp had 150 Italian Jews but within a week the number rose to 600. Jugoslavian military internees were also camped there but within weeks, the German SS men announced deportation of all Jews without exception to Auschwitz, including the children, the old and the sick. 

“In Hut 6A old Gattegno lived with his wife and numerous children and grandchildren and his sons-and daughters-in-law. All the men were carpenters; they had come from Tripoli after many long journeys, and had always carried with them the tools of their trade.”

I found this part of the story interesting as my great grandpa was also a carpenter. Twelve goods wagon was then used to transport 650 men for a journey towards nothingness. The train travelled slowly, with long, unnerving halts towards Auschwitz. Among the 45 people in the author’s wagon, only 4 saw their homes again “it was by far the most unfortunate wagon.”

Within two days of arrival, more than 500 were killed! It’s only those fit to work hard labor that were spared. The children, the old and the feeble sick were gassed to death at the gas chamber.  “Thus in an instant, our women, our parents, our children disappeared. We saw them for a short while as an obscure mass at the other end of the platform; then we saw nothing more.”

To be continued 

 

Why Tade Ipadeola musings gives me sleepless nights

Few friends forces me to think deeply about Nigeria as my classmate, erudite lawyer and poet, Ayantade Ipadeola. The problem with Tade as we fondly calls him is that he’s a deep thinker and a diligent observer of the Nigerian experiment. Of recent, Tade musings has become more and more alarmist. He strongly believes Nigerian leaders are driving the country into a precipice with eyes wide shut. He sees things many of us frequently choose to ignore. He’s candid that our literal manure may soon hit the fans. And yet, he believes we can right the course if we elect leaders with a certain modicum of respectability. He does not think our so called established top two political party candidates with gargantuan structures can save our land from the impending fracas. When I tried to assuage his fears, his tepid response is with that distinctively Akinmorin’s quip, “Toh”. As an incurable optimist, I tends to look at the sunny side of life but these days everywhere I turn, Tade’s dia syllabic response rings in my ears.

Of recent though, my problems seems compounded by news of the world and I see myself frequently mimicking Tade’s refrain in every conversation here in the US. Before you blame me, look anywhere in the world today, Ukraine, Brazil, Nigeria, Iran etc the masses and the poor all over the world are yearning not just for freedom but to throw off the yoke of oppression from the top richest one percent, who owns more than 50% of world’s wealth. It is hard to believe.  And yet, do we in Nigeria, really think we are that different from others in the world?  The statistics in Nigeria is even more staggering. Look at all the corruption world-wide, including many modern democracies.  The other day, I informed a friend during a WhatsApp conversation that I am not entirely sure that humans are ultimately capable of long term governing - maybe humans are born to be corrupt and immoral.

 

In her book How Civil Wars Start, Barbara F. Walter mentions that it isn't income equality or lack of healthcare that cause a democratic people to enter civil war, it's when factions such as ethnic hatred, and regular citizens perceive that the government is powerless to govern.  In fact, even rich countries that have a weak government (Weak rule of law, weak free press, no meaningful right of redress) are at significant risk of descending into civil war.  The hating factions decide to solve by violence and the non-hating populace decides that the government is powerless to protect them - so each chooses a side and civil war begins.

 

She says civil wars today aren't like the war between the states that happened in the US in 1860.  Rather, they start small, and are guerilla actions - like the Capital being stormed on January 6th. Like unknown gunmen in Southeastern Nigeria or Kaduna kidnappers, or those butchers in Zamfara who sacked whole village and took an entire village populace ransomed for money because of disagreement over gold mining.

 

So when people see government cheating and favoritism, it convinces people that they need to use violence because their own government is the problem.  It is the number one risk of a civil war starting in a democracy.  Ms. Walter uses South Africa as an example of a country that was on the brink of civil war because of apartheid, and how de Klerk's action defused things by freeing political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, and eliminating laws designed to prevent black land ownership and commercial participation prevented civil war.  Tade believes we need Peter Obi to do the same thing for Nigeria. Ethnic, racist factions have to believe there is more to lose by violence than not.  And ordinary citizens have to believe the government will prevent violence and the implementation of an ethnic faction run state.  

 

If state and local governments, regardless of which party has control, cannot decide that the  constitution and rule of law are more important than their own career, then I think that the Nigeria will experience another violent civil war in our lifetime.  We've already seen the beginning of this with unknown gun men in the East, throw in, IPOB, Yoruba nation activist and of course the relentless upsurge of violence and kidnapping in the Northcentral and northwest. Not to talk of Boko Haram complete wipe out of Northern Christian population in North east. In the US where I live, we see this in the activities of white supremacists, Oathkeepers, and antifa.  

When a government like Trump's turns the rule of law into a joke, when it turns the media into an enemy of the state, ordinary people will come to see violence as the only solution to perceived wrongs, dictatorship and autocracy.  When the Buhari administration looks the other way whilst herdsmen devastate southern Nigerian states, you will get similar results. In a lot of her examples, the violent ethnic hating factions (Syria, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Nigeria, the US southern states - and many others) began small such that regular citizens were lulled into complacency and convinced there was no other viable course of action.

 

I am heartened that the January 6 invaders in the US are being held accountable, and that Donald Trump is at least being investigated, but I think the US is, at this moment, at a crossroads where we will either continue the democratic work in progress, or we will literally become Syria.  At least, the system holds up and stems the tide, unlike Nigeria where the attorney general of the federation openly defends corrupt politicians and protect herdsmen. As in the US war between the states, enough Nigerian citizens must insist on a government of laws, such that law abiding citizens won't feel the need to join kidnappers, IPOB, Yoruba nation activist, Boko haram, iswap etc.

In the US, antifa, and the racists, misogynists and ethnic hating factions are finding it more costly to use violence than to get along, because the Biden administration dedicates resources to the prosecution of purveyors of violence.

 

I strongly encourage reading the book I mentioned above.  Short read - maybe 225 pages.  She provides the data and citations to support her assertions.  

 

A

 

PS. The Census predicts that the US will become a minority white nation by 2045.  As a group of Nigerian in diaspora, we need to get our government back on track to do the things we need it to do before then.  Otherwise, how do we think white supremacists are going to react?

Understanding Mob Psychology and How to Inoculate yourself against Religious Bigotry

 “There goes the mob, and I must follow, for I am their leader.”- Anon. Possibly apocryphal words of Comte de Mirabeau, the French revolutionary leader.

A very simplistic explanation for the tragedy we are witnessing in Nigeria is the one that posits that all Nigerian needs is leadership and that if we had good leadership some of the problems we faces today would not be happening. I beg to differ. Followers may lack authority, but they do not necessarily lack power. Leaders are important in every society but Nigeria is not dysfunctional because of lack of leadership alone. In some respects, all leaders are followers; to retain their influence, those in positions of authority have no choice but to “track, to follow their followers if only to be sure that they stay in line.” In sum, we are who we are because of how we follow one another. Just look at the sickening video of the lynching of Deborah Yakubu. Do you see any leaders among the mob? They each walked up to did the sordid acts. Granted they might have been misled by bad teaching but they each had to reflect before engaging in this sordid extra-judicial killing. You don’t see any Saul later to be Paul standing by, directing the persecution? Nope! They are there as followers following other followers to kill a fellow human being based on a rumor of a taunt of the Holy Prophet. Don’t get me wrong, our leaders in Nigeria, secular and sectarian are all culpable for the gory show going on in Nigeria. 

But, clearly, our needs and wants as individuals are met by playing the part of follower, at least most of the time. We go along because we consciously or unconsciously determine it is in our interest to do so. Those who judged and executed Deborah Yakubu extra-judicially, do so as followers of their faith. The three reasons why followers follow leaders are the same reasons why followers follow other followers sheepishly. 

Safety, security, community and collective work makes followers comply sometimes involuntarily or voluntarily to leadership directives. 

So too, followers follow not only because it’s in their interest to conform to their leaders, but also because it’s in their interest to conform to their fellow followers. There are many followers of the 2 big Abrahamic faith in Nigeria who have little respect for their church leaders or imams but still go along because they fear what others may say if they quit going or challenge the orthodoxy. 

Followers provide each other with crucial reference points… “Alhaji, hope nothing is going on, we didn’t see you at mosques”. “Madam, hope all is well we didn’t see you at the church night vigil”. No one cares if Alhaji or Madam is able to provide food for the family or pay school fees, we are all focused on rituals and rites de passage of our faith. Alhaji may have assaulted Alhaja all night in a domestic violence rage, no one call law enforcement or intervene. Some even justify such assaults on women. It’s only when Alhaji missed the call for prayer we get worried. Same deal with Madam whose son or daughter could not continue with higher education because she cannot afford school fees but will readily pay tithe and donate her entire salary to a church led by a jet setting pastor.

This is why I say the most fundamental crucial point in the Nigerian dynamics is how we imitate and lead each other in negativity. Followers go along with other followers because they lend stability and security, provide order and meaning, and constitute the group to which they want to belong. In short, we are responsible for where we are and as long as we keep putting our failings on leaders we will never look inwards and examine ourselves.

What’s more, as psychologist such as Sigmund Freud had long ago concluded, human beings behave differently-worse- as members of groups than we do as individuals.

In groups our “unconscious instinctual impulses” trump what turns out to be the fragile veneer of civilization. 

“By the mere fact that he forms part of an organized group,” Freud wrote, “a man descends several rungs in the ladder of civilization. Isolated, he may be a cultivated individual; in a crowd he is a barbarian- that is, a creature acting by instinct, capable of committing acts in “utter contradiction with his character and habits.”

No matter how you look at it, the tragedy in Sokoto is damning. It is as if the gruesome murder of Deborah Yakubu is not enough satiety for the fiendish blood hounds youth masquerading as religious crusaders. We learned Sokoto youths are burning Igbo owned building materials shops and Catholic Churches. What’s the connection? 

Many Muslims are quick to quote, the immortal words of Sheikh Ahmed Deedat, an Islamic scholars renowned for his quick wit and intellect.: “The biggest enemy of Islam is the ignorant muslim, whose ignorance leads him to intolerance, whose actions destroy the true image of Islam, and when the people look at him they think Islam is what he is.”

True words and we say that about followers of Christ who know little about the person of Christ. What I found missing however is that many of the youth involved in this murderous rage may never have evidence of what Deborah Yakubu actually did or did not do. 

She’s condemned because the mob they followed told them, she has committed blasphemy. 

The idea of subservience to leadership authority and mob group think is common not only to Islam but all Abrahamic faith and creed. Christians may not have participated in the killings and fiendish rage going on in Sokoto but the unknown gunman decimating lives in Southeast have many Christians among them. This week someone unearthed a message by a prominent Pentecostals pastor urging Christians to vote in the interest of the church and ethnicity. He ended by saying this country is not a Fulani nation. It is this type of Us vs Them that led to bloodshed in Rwanda and death of Deborah Yakubu. What’s the interest of the church? Peace? And why does that exclude Fulani? Does it mean Fulani Christians are not part of kingdom blessings? 

I agree we must avoid false equivalence, the fiendish murderous rage going on in Sokoto should be condemned and we must prepare our youth to avoid willful ignorant obedience to authority, particularly by clerics from any creed or faith. Below are ways suggested by psychologists Phillip Zimbardo and Michael Lieppe on how we can inoculate ourselves against automatic obedience:

1. Remain engaged with alternative systems of authority, such as those deriving from one’s religious, spiritual, political, or philosophical commitments. Jesus never ask his followers to reject teachings of Judaism, rather he said he came to fulfill the law. Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) equally admonished his followers to be tolerant of peoples of other faiths including those who taunted him at Mecca. In other words, the leaders of these 2 great faiths are examples of moderation and not fanaticism.
2. Trust your intuition when you find yourself thinking, “something is wrong here”; donating your entire salary to a mega church whose pastor rides jet will not make you a millionaire it might turn you to a kidnapper or unknown gunmen out of frustration. Ditto, those who listen to an impassioned message by a cleric on Friday jumat service who urge you to hate peoples of other faith to the point of murdering them even whilst his own kids is in London or New York eating caviar 
3. When in doubt, seek out a knowledgeable-but independent-person to give you an “obedience check”;
4. Mentally rehearse disobedience strategies and techniques for various situations;
5. Be particularly vigilant when you notice people using euphemism to describe harmful behaviors or the people they harm; Burundi and Rwanda genocide has been traced to statements comparing other ethnic groups to cockroaches that must be exterminated. Hitler compares Jews to vermin and lice and ended up exterminating 6 million fellow human beings.
6. Don’t expect not to suffer adverse consequences when refusing to obey an authority figure-rather consider the worst case scenario and act on that possibility; you may lose promotion or jobs when you stand on principle. 
7. Choose carefully the organization and situations in which you place yourself, because it’s all too easy to overestimate your powers to resist.

In conclusion, my primary point is this: we are followers. Followers are us. This does not, of course, mean we always think and acts like the mobs who killed Deborah Yakubu, but then ask any of the murderers who did this heinous acts, they might not have conceived themselves perpetrating such evil last week. Not all of us follow all of the time-sometimes we lead. But all of us follow some of the time. Know who you are following and why. 

Stay safe and be reflective folks.

The Trials of Igbohos & Kanu: Right of Self Determination and its Limitations under International Law of “uti possidetis juris”

 “One thing is certain: the present edifice called Nigeria as we know it today has come nearly to the end of its life . . . The cracks on its walls are too great for the edifice to continue to stand.”- Hon. (Dr.) Akinola Aguda (The Future of Nigeria: Cracks in the Wall. The Comet Lagos October 1, 2000).

Nigerians home and abroad are waiting for the resolution of 2 pending cases with bated breath. The case of Sunday Igboho at a Beninese court and Nnamdi Kanu at Federal High Court, Abuja. The primary case against these two ethnic agitators is their struggle for secession and freedom from oppression from Nigeria. The cases have been subjected to several adjournments primarily at the instance of the Federal Government of Nigeria whose attorney often seems lost for words, and looking askance at every hearing. This article will seek to answer an important question that will come up during these hearing: Can we say there exists in contemporary international law and practice an inalienable right of self-determination applicable to all peoples subject to oppression, exploitation and subjugation by others?

Article 1 of the International Human Rights Covenants of 1966 makes the right of self-determination available to “all peoples” without any restriction as to their status. The Covenants further places an obligation on all states “including those having responsibilities for the administration of colonial territories to promote the realization of the right to self-determination. Similarly, Article 20(2) of the African Charter refers to both “colonized and oppressed people” as having the right.

The African Commission ruling on application of the foregoing provision of the African Charter in Katangese People’s Congress v. Zaire held that while the request for self-determination lacks merits, the rights of the people of Katanga to their language and culture were inviolable.

Elsewhere in other continents outside Africa, however, the principle of self-determination by components of a nation state has been upheld. For example, the Treaty of the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, 1990 signed by four of the five Permanent members of the Security Council expressly stated that the “German people, freely exercising their right of self-determination, have expressed their will to bring about the Unity of Germany as a state.” Ditto, the Report on the secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan where the International Commission of Jurists stated that “if one of the constituent peoples of a state is denied equal rights and is discriminated against, it is submitted that their right of self-determination will revive.”

This principle is borne out of the need to eradicate oppression of peoples and to protect human rights in all circumstances. How can this principle of customary international law be applicable in Europe and Asia but not in Africa-the cradle of all human race? One can therefore conclude that there exist in contemporary international law and practice an inalienable right of self-determination applicable to all peoples subject to oppression, exploitation and subjugation by others.

The purpose of the right of self-determination is to protect communities or groups from oppression and to empower them. The exercise of this right however requires a delicate balancing of interests. Just as there can be no absolute human rights that is not subject to reasonable limitations, the rights of self-determination is subject to the needs of the state to protect the general interests of the society.

The general interests of the international society in maintaining international peace and security place a limitation on the right of self-determination. This interest finds expression in the Latin maxim, “uti possidetis juris” (UPJ-as you possess).  This principle of protection of the territorial integrity of states has its roots in colonialism and the colonial desire to maintain peace necessary for trade and exploitation. The principle subsist in contemporary times as it serves to preserve the boundaries of colonies emerging as States.

The principles got enshrined in Article 6 of the General Assembly’s Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Territories and Peoples 1960 which states that “any attempt at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a county is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.” This principle forced Africa countries within the borders stipulated for it at the Berlin Conference of 1885. A conference where no single African was present. A conference called by German Chancellor Bismarck to settle how European countries would claim colonial land in Africa and  a conference called to avoid a war among European nations over African territory.

The fact that this principle continued application have been restricted to Africa is not lost on scholars of neo-colonialism. It was first applied in Congo in 1960 (UN) and then to Biafra/Nigeria in 1967 (OAU), purportedly to maintain the colonial boundaries such that when a colony became independent, it succeeded to the boundaries that had been previously established by the former colonial power. The neo-colonial hue of the principle is illustrated by the adoption of the principle by OAU hegemon in 1964.

It is instructive to note that the Chamber of the International Court of Justice in the Land, Island and Maritime Dispute case (El Salvador v. Honduras) (Merits 1992) cautioned that “uti possidetis juris”  is essentially a retrospective principle investing as international boundaries administrative units intended originally for quite other purposes.” In the Frontier Dispute Case (Burkina Faso v. Mali : 1992), the court justified the application of the principle solely to African countries thus:

“In fact, however, the maintenance of the territorial status quo in Africa is often seen as the wisest course to preserve what has been achieved by people who have struggled for their independence and to avoid a disruption which could deprive the continent of the gains achieved by much sacrifice. The essential requirement of stability in order to survive, to develop and gradually to consolidate their independence in all fields, has induced African states judiciously to consent to the respecting of colonial frontiers and to take account of it in the interpretation of the principle of self-determination of peoples.”

This argument is totally disingenuous as it seeks to use the struggle for independence by the peoples of Africa from colonial yokes to maintain a neo-colonial status quo. The question is why is self-determination good for Germans, Croats and Bangladeshi but not for Africans? To date, the only case in which the world acquiesce to self-determination on the continent is South Sudan and it took a fratricidal Africa’s longest civil war between the government in Khartoum and SPLA/M before the United Nation mandated referendum took place in 2011. The agreement for referendum was signed in Naivasha in 2005 but the war continues to the chagrin of many Africans.

The Organization of African Unity myopic embrace of the idea of the sanctity of colonial territories of member states was used against Biafra in Africa, even though Biafra had satisfied the essential elements of statehood in international law namely, population, government, permanence and a reasonable measure of effectiveness at least for the time it lasted. What it lacked is the recognition of such number states that would have strengthened its claim to statehood at international law. Biafra was only recognized by Tanzania, Gabon, Cote’d Ivoire, Zambia and Haiti.

Over 50 years after the Nigerian Civil War, the idea of an independent and sovereign Biafra would not go away. All through the period of military rule, the idea was swept under the carpet and jackboots of military dictatorship. The fourth republic revived it under MASSOB and now IPOB. As the saying goes, “nothing can stop and idea whose idea has come”. To which I add, it may be delayed but we need to confront it front and center. The idea by some current political fat cats in Abuja that we cannot discuss the terms of our union as a nation is ludicrous.

International law does not equate self-determination to secession. Secession is not the only, even a necessary or an appropriate means of realizing the right of self-determination in many situations and there is a strong presumption against secession in non-colonial situations. It is also true that secession is often sought by ambitious leaders who could not get their way through the will of the people exercised freely via the ballot box. The fact remains that neither Covenants nor any other provisions of international law prohibit minorities from seeking secession where the government no longer represents their interests. As Malone argued, it is only if self-determination cannot be realized within the established state, that secession may be necessary as a last resort.

The recognition by the international community of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia shows that any government which is oppressive to its constituents within its territory may no longer hide under the cloak of territorial integrity as a limitation on the right of self-determination. The recognition of Bangladesh from Pakistan, Singapore from Malaysia and Belize, despite the justifiable claim of Guatemala indicate that uti possidetis juris principle is dead in International law. It is no longer jus cogens!

In order for democracy to thrive, be consolidated and firmly entrenched anywhere, the constituent elements of any given country must evolve through dialogue equitable arrangements and rules of their association. Our current constitutions has a lacunae on the critical issues of self-determination of the peoples of Nigeria. The Federal Government of Nigeria must through meaningful dialogue with its constituent elements guarantee effective and equitable participation of all groups in the political process for it to be a responsive and functional federation of nationalities. Rights of ethnic majorities and minorities must be acknowledged and respected. An atmosphere of healthy competition and responsible sharing of resources that acknowledged derivative rights of indigenous peoples must be honored. This is the path to reducing the tendency towards extremist agitation for self-determination.