Na so we dey???

In character and temperament" wrote Lord Lugard, "the 
typical African of this race-type is a happy, 
thriftless, excitable person. Lacking in self control, 
discipline, and foresight. Naturally courageous, and 
naturally courteous and polite, full of personal vanity, with 
little sense of veracity, fond of music and loving 
weapons as an oriental loves jewelry. His thoughts are 
concentrated on the events and feelings of the moment, 
and he suffers little from the apprehension for the 
future, or grief for the past. His mind is far nearer to 
the animal world than the that of the European or 
Asiatic, and exhibits something of the animals placidity 
and want of desire to rise beyond the State he has 
reached. Through the ages the African appears to have 
evolved no organized religious creed, and though some 
tribes appear to believe in a deity, the religious sense 
seldom rises above pantheistic animalism and seems more 
often to take the form of a vague dread of the supernatural.

He lacks the power of organization, and is 
conspicuously deficient in the management and control alike of 
men or business. He loves the display of power, but
fails to realize its responsibility ....he will work 
hard with a less incentive than most races. He has the
courage of the fighting animal -an instinct rather than
a moral virtue......In brief, the virtues and defects
of this race-type are those of attractive children,
whose confidence when it is won is given ungrudgingly as
to an older and wiser superior and without
envy.......Perhaps the two traits which have impressed me as
those most characteristic of the African native are his
lack of apprehension and his ability to visualize the
future" 

Pg 70 of The Dual Mandate by F. D. Lugard 1926.


Sometimes I wonder, could he be right?????


Edofolks.com

The Elites and greed

I was weaned with the talk about slave trade. The whiteman, I was told came here to pick our  strongest and brightest for servitude in foreign lands. The film 'Roots' that I watched opened my eyes further to the very extreme inhumane treatment my people suffered on the way and whilst being traded like cattle.

Most of them were sold in markets and became properties of other people. The women were randomly raped and some impregnated and they had no choice. It was a vicious period in history. No words can describe what our brothers and sisters endured and it is important for us to put into context the deep hurt and anger they still feel.

Of recent however, I have come to realise that all over Nigeria, there were collaborators. Our kings, chiefs, some of the elite took part and profited from this events. I was shocked to read about the extent the British took to stop us from this evil trade. 

Our people will raid towns, villages to capture young men and women, then bring them to the white slave traders for sale.  Was I shocked?  I thought different. I was of the impression the white folks went into the land killing and maiming and capturing captives. That my own people had helped in any way was sobering. Are we cursed?

Wars were deliberately wrought in other to satisfy the lust of some of us for cheap wealth. Unfortunately, this terrible blood soaked appetite for wealth has not left us. See the corruption in our countries.

The British banned slave trade in the early 1800s. It took force for them to stop some of our kings and chiefs from continuing the trade.

They blockaded our ports but the Nigerian elite found ways to elude and continue the smuggling. 

At a point, when the ban was accepted for trade in palm products, the local lords went for more slaves to boost their business. 

Is this British revisionist history I'm reading? Are people out there trying to paint the wrong picture? Can this be true? Did some of us really collaborate or am I rushing into judgement here?

Oh please let this part of our history be lies. If its not, then it may just explain the extreme greed of our present rulers. 

Ayanate. 

Continues...

More folktales

A bush rat called Oyot was a great friend of Emiong, the bat; they always fed together, but the bat was jealous of the bush rat. When the bat cooked the food it was always very good, and the bush rat said, "How is it that when you make the soup it is so tasty?"

The bat replied, "I always boil myself in the water, and my flesh is so sweet, that the soup is good."

He then told the bush rat that he would show him how it was done; so he got a pot of warm water, which he told the bush rat was boiling water, and jumped into it, and very shortly afterwards came out again. When the soup was brought it was as strong and good as usual, as the bat had prepared it beforehand.

The bush rat then went home and told his wife that he was going to make good soup like the bat's. He therefore told her to boil some water, which she did. Then, when his wife was not looking, he jumped into the pot, and was very soon dead.

When his wife looked into the pot and saw the dead body of her husband boiling she was very angry, and reported the matter to the king, who gave orders that the bat should be made a prisoner. Every one turned out to catch the bat, but as he expected trouble he flew away into the bush and hid himself. All day long the people tried to catch him, so he had to change his habits, and only came out to feed when it was dark, and that is why you never see a bat in the daytime.






Many years ago the sun and water were great friends, and both lived on the earth together. The sun very often used to visit the water, but the water never returned his visits. At last the sun asked the water why it was that he never came to see him in his house, the water replied that the sun's house was not big enough, and that if he came with his people he would drive the sun out.
He then said, "If you wish me to visit you, you must build a very large compound; but I warn you that it will have to be a tremendous place, as my people are very numerous, and take up a lot of room."
The sun promised to build a very big compound, and soon afterwards he returned home to his wife, the moon, who greeted him with a broad smile when he opened the door. The sun told the moon what he had promised the water, and the next day commenced building a huge compound in which to entertain his friend.
When it was completed, he asked the water to come and visit him the next day.
When the water arrived, he called out to the sun, and asked him whether it would be safe for him to enter, and the sun answered, "Yes, come in, my friend."
The water then began to flow in, accompanied by the fish and all the water animals.
Very soon the water was knee-deep, so he asked the sun if it was still safe, and the sun again said, "Yes," so more water came in.
When the water was level with the top of a man's head, the water said to the sun, "Do you want more of my people to come?" and the sun and moon both answered, "Yes," not knowing any better, so the water flowed on, until the sun and moon had to perch themselves on the top of the roof.
Again the water addressed the sun, but receiving the same answer, and more of his people rushing in, the water very soon overflowed the top of the roof, and the sun and moon were forced to go up into the sky, where they have remained ever since.







Thanks to nairaland.

looking back continues

1970 - 1979

In Goal, Emmanuel Okala's towering height made him the nightmare of attackers. He was the original 'Chairman' (not Chukwu) of the Green Eagles and the first and only goalkeeper to be named African footballer of the year (by ASJU).

In the 1970s he was the most recognised and most dreaded goalkeeper in Africa.

He was so good that myths were created around him all over the continent. Best Ogedegbe may have won the Nations Cup in 1980 but it is to Okala that must go the title of the greatest goalkeeper of the 1970s There were many others like Joe Erico, Zion Ogunfeyimi, Patrick Okala, Wilfred Agbonibare, and so on, who did very well playing for club and country but none was better than in longevity, reputation and individual achievements.

In Defence Patrick Ekeji, Samuel Ojebode, Harrison Mecha, David Egborge all played very significant roles in the achievements of the Green Eagles in that decade. But in terms of outstanding performance at full back, we must settle for between Samuel Ojebode and Patrick Ekeji. Both were great overlapping full backs in the mould of Tony Igwe.



Harrison Mecha also sticks out in my mind even though his stint in the national team was so brief that not many people even remember. In central defence it is a totally different story. Godwin Achebe started the decade but Christian Chukwu and Godwin Odiye by his side took over and made it their personal property. Of course there were Victor Oduah (an immaculate player in the mould of Franz Berkenbuar), Tunde Bamidele, Idowu Otubusin, Anas Ahmed, and so on, who played in pairs to make Nigeria's defence a delight to watch. In terms of achievement though, Chukwu, with his leadership of Rangers FC and the national team, stands alone.

In Midfield. That was the first generation of exceptionally gifted midfield players. Mudashiru Lawal, Christian Madu, Sani Mohammed, Stanley Okoronkwo, Alloysius Atuegbu, Haruna Ilerika - all were football artists and magicians on the ball. But there is no disputing Haruna's exceptional dribbling skills and creativity, and Muda Lawal's immaculate ball control, tireless running, pin-point accurate passing and his goalscoring ability.

They both ruled the Nigerian creative midfield through most of the decade, with the support of Alloysius Atuegbu, Felix Agbonifo for Bendel Insurance mostly, Christian Madu and Stanley Okoronkwo for brief periods. Henry Nwosu and Sylvanus Okpala came in at the tail end of that decade. It is to the next decade however that we must credit them.

These two extremely talented, skilful and confident players played some of the best football of the lives as youngsters from 1980!


Courtesy Segun Odegbami

The Amalgamation

H. R. Palmer governed Northern Nigeria 1906-11 indirectly using the Hausa and Yoruba government and Islamic judiciary accepted by Lugard. For the Ibo, Tiv, and others who had no authorities, they created chiefs to govern. In 1908 the British Resident himself replaced the Emir’s court. However, when C. L. Temple became Resident of Kano the next year, he restored the Emir’s judicial council and appointed a free man rather than a prince. After the Lagos railway was extended to Kano in Hausaland in 1911, peanut exports went from less than 2,000 tons before 1911 to almost 20,000 tons in 1913. In the Northern Territories chiefs were given 5s for every man they sent to work in the colony’s gold mines. When this incentive failed, district commissioners used coercion.



Lugard came back to Nigeria in 1912 as Governor-General of the two protectorates and merged the Lagos and Northern railways into the Nigerian Railway. The two protectorates were amalgamated into the Colony of Nigeria in January 1914. That year the Yoruba elite formed the Christian Reformed Ogboni Society to counter the Europeans’ Masonic Lodge in Lagos. After the death of a native leader in prison in 1914 the Egba rioted, and the West African Frontier Force (WAFF) shot and killed seven leaders and 29 others. Herbert Macauley, the grandson of Bishop Crowther, led protests against the Lagos Water Rate and the alienation of land in Lagos by the Crown. Starting in 1914 Lugard began introducing into the south the native courts used in Northern Nigeria; but the Obas and Warrant chiefs had more power than was traditional and alienated their councils. Lugard imposed direct taxation on Benin in 1914.






credits: san.beck.com

Chief Anthony Enahoro


How old are you?'' he asked one of the editors. When the editor said he was in his 30s, 
Enahoro paused for some moments and said: "you are certainly not old enough to understand what I am going to say about the Lagos of the 50s, where water flowed in the taps, where the streets were clean and lit and the gutters flowed and the bus services ran as they do in London''. "I am not cursing your generation, but it is clear that you will not enjoy life the way we enjoyed it in this country. Your generation will never see the good times again,'' he added.

Interestingly, Chief Enahoro's life was devoted to ensuring that the younger generation inherited a better country. His life was devoted to one political struggle or the other and until his death, he was the leading advocate of the need for the political restructuring of Nigeria, after the meeting of all the ethnic nationalities. For his political beliefs, Chief Enahoro suffered a lot of tribulations. He was jailed by the colonialists. He became a fugitive, following allegations that he and his political associates in the Action Group, planned to commit treason and topple the civilian government of Tafawa Balewa. Under the Abacha dictatorship, Enahoro was also jailed and later left the country for exile in the United States of America. He returned to the country following the restoration of democracy in 1999.

Born 22 July, 1923, Enahoro was eminently one of Nigeria's foremost anti-colonial and pro-democracy activists. He was born the eldest of twelve children in Uromi in the present Edo State of Nigeria, to Esan parents, Anastasius Okotako Enahoro and Fidelia Inibokun n�e Okoji . Chief Enahoro had a long and distinguished career in the press, politics, the public service and the pro-democracy movement. Educated at the Government School Uromi, Government School Owo and King's College, Lagos.

Chief Enahoro became the editor of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe's newspaper, the Southern Nigerian Defender, Ibadan, in 1944 at the age of 21, thus becoming Nigeria's youngest editor ever. He later became the editor of Zik's Comet, Kano, 1945-49, also associate editor West African Pilot, Lagos, editor-in-chief Morning Star, 1950-53.

Chief Enahoro became a foundation member of Chief Awolowo's Action Group party; secretary and chairman, Ishan Division Council; member Western House of Assembly; and later member, Federal House of Representatives in 1951. He later became Minister of Home Affairs in the old western region. He was the Opposition spokesman on Foreign Policy and Legislative Affairs in the Federal House of Representatives, 1959-63; and attempted to move the motion for the independence of Nigeria. Although the motion was defeated, Chief Enahoro was unrelenting in his campaign for Nigeria's emancipation from the vice-grip of the colonial overlords. He was a a delegate to most of the constitutional conferences leading to the independence of Nigeria in 1960.



Courtesy Village square

village boy

We were young and lived in the city. Life was just what you'll call normal. It was the 70s/80s. We had school. Public pry schools had libraries, playgrounds, mid day exercises, debates, quiz sessions. 

Oh, every morning in school, we had the normal morning get together where the headmaster and teachers at the assembly will reel out goodies and punishments alike. These will come after the prayers, hymn singing and national anthem. All within 30mins. We will then match into our classrooms singing and merry. The day starts.  

It was competitive and healthy. We had to read wide. We had debates every Wednesday and Quiz sessions on Fridays. Just a local Authority pry sch. Can yu imagine? Twice a week, we had library sessions on the time table and we must pick a novel to finish and return the week after.  L.A school o.

So I got into Secondary school after 6yrs. A school run by Lagos State. We were 35 or so in the class. We paid 90 naira per session but had free midday meals. We enjoyed subsidised transport with the school buses taking students to different routes. 

We had societies where skills were further honed and again, the libraries were stocked. You must read. 

The annual Interhouse sports were so competitive, you would think we were preparing for the Olympics. Interhouse sports had all the athletics events. And the invitationals where various schools would be invited to the relay races. Then the foreign guys will serially toast and pick our fine gals. You have to be on guard if you have a babe with these relay guys.

Back to academics. It was WAEC grades 1,2,or 3. With grade 1, you are good to go but it was a matter of aggregates and so some grade 2s were cool.  Not sure why all these were cancelled. 

For fun nko at the secondary level, not sure a week went by that we had no invite for a relay race, a quiz show, a debating event, a cultural society show at the National Theatre etc. No. We were fully engaged. 

For schools that had no facilities for sports like basketball, handball, lawn tennis, badminton,  etc, we had to go to Rowe park or Stadium Hotel on Saturdays to train with coaches happy to help around.  It was a full package of academics, sports and leisure. All free. 

Continues.

Guest.

Ahmadu Bello

Alh Ahmadu Bello with Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Alh Tafawa Balewa.


Premier of the North

In 1954, Bello became the first Premier of Northern Nigeria. In the 1959 independence elections, he led the NPC to win a plurality of the parliamentary seats. Bello's NPC forged an alliance with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe's NCNC (National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons) to form Nigeria's first indigenous federal government which led to independence from Britain. In forming the 1960 independence federal government of the Nigeria, Bello as president of the NPC, chose—although arguably one of the most influential politicians in Nigeria—to remain Premier of Northern Nigeria and devolved the position of Prime Minister of the Federation to the deputy president of the NPC,Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. He apparently did not want to live in Lagos and preferred the political climate of the North from that of the South.^[3] His disinclination to head the national government also suggests that he was not interested in power for the sake of power but in serving the people whose votes had elected him to office.

Political achievements

Bello's many political accomplishments include establishing the Northern Regional Development Corporation (NRDC)(subsequently the later the Northern Nigeria Development Corporation (NNDC), the Bank of the North, the Broadcasting Company of Northern Nigeria (BCNN) and the Nigeria Citizen Newspapers. The North was less developed economically than the South, and Bello argued that it was necessary for the North to catch up with the South for the sake of national unity. He traveled constantly across the North, meeting people and listening to their concerns.

Religious practice

Ahmadu Bello was a practicing Muslim. He married five times. In 1955, he performed the Hajj, becoming Alhaji Ahmadu Bello. From then until his death, he visited Mecca annually to perform the Umrah. He walked every day to his local Mosque for prayer. He chose "work and worship" as the slogan for Northern Nigeria. Bello established a reputation for religious toleration. On Christmas Day 1959 he stated, in a broadcast:

"Here in the Northern Nigeria we have People of Many different races, tribes and religious who are knit together to common history, common interest and common ideas, the things that unite us are stronger than the things that divide us. I always remind people of our firmly rooted policy of religious tolerance. We have no intention of favoring one religion at the expense of another. Subject to the overriding need to preserve law and order, it is our determination that everyone should have absolute liberty to practice his belief according to the dictates of his conscience….^[4]

Speaking about the vision of Ahmad Bello University, he stated:

"The cardinal principle upon which our University is founded is to impart knowledge and learning to men and women of all races without any distinction on the grounds of race, religious, or political beliefs. 5]

Thks to chatafrik.com

Random thoughts

So I have been planning on going to see this movie (half of a yellow sun) since its
release in cinemas across Naija, and I finally did a few days ago with my guy.
However the movie centres on the lives of two love birds and their struggle for survival during the Nigerian civil war. I have never read about the civil war, or the personalities involved.  This movie however gave me an insight into the then Nigeria and also about the Biafra leader Odumegwu Ojukwu.
The movie potrays the then Nigeria as a very classy society with well educated leaders, who I think did whatever they did with the interest of their people at heart.

About Ojukwu, like I said I had no explicit knowledge about the war, all I knew was that there was a declaration of a Biafran republic by Ojukwu hence the war. I have always looked at him as the bad guy, you know... the guy that wanted to divide the country and caused the death of many Nigerians and Biafrans alike.
I looked at him as a not very literate person and perhaps  one  that is not in his right frame of mind. But then a scene in the movie changed the way I perceived him. In this scene a military leader was shown giving a speech.  It was Ojukwu and yes I recognized him lol. I was left in awe of the impeccable English that came out of his mouth as he gave his speech. Being used to leaders that are not so fluent in english and a country where simple english is a problem for the average man, I was in utter shock that someone as far back as the 1960s can have such cool diction.
I did a little research on him and found out that he was the first Oxford graduate in the Nigerian army.
Yes, maybe he didnt put all his decisions into perspective, but what struck me most was the total faith,  respect and trust the people had in him.
He called on his people to go to war against a "government" and they did. Fast forward to the Naija of today where there is no respect whatsoever for the rulers nor can any Nigerian leader of today call upon his people to fight for a course. The insurgency of boko haram can be sighted as an example.

If we had been a great nation before, we can still be one again. If only we can regain the spirit of nationalism we once had,  Naija would be a place we would be very proud to call home. It starts with you...

Ayanate.