My Thoughts: When South Africa stooped to conquer

My Thoughts: When South Africa stooped to conquer: By Abdulazeez Abdullahi The diplomatic raw between Nigeria and South Africa came to an end last week with the visit of a delegation of t...

When South Africa stooped to conquer

By Abdulazeez Abdullahi

The diplomatic raw between Nigeria and South Africa came to an end last week with the visit of a delegation of the South African government to President Goodluck Jonathan. Beaming with smiles, President Jonathan received a lowly Minister of Correctional Services, Ms. Nosiviwe Ngalula, who led the delegation to Aso Rock Villa. Before the visit, the South African government had apologised for the ill advised action of its officials at the Oliver Thambo International Airport who evidently had a rush of blood to the head and sent some 125 Nigerians back home for being in possession of Yellow Fever cards that were considered fake.

In a swift reaction to mainly flaunt its credential as the giant of Africa instead of actual concern for its citizens, the Nigerian government was quick to also deport some South Africans it alleged were in possession of invalid travel documents. Many Nigerians who commended the government for its surprisingly quick response however wished that the government would extend such speed in responding to the myriad problems facing them here at home. But because there are no brownie points on offer for such swift action on issues of life and death facing its citizens, Nigerians would have to continue to endure the snail speed at which the transformation train is currently running.    

Sensing the far reaching consequence of its actions, the South African Deputy Foreign Minister, Eshmail Ibrahim, first apologized to Nigeria for what he described as an incident that should not have happened. Before the apology, the federal government and indeed many Nigerians, went into a nationalist over- drive mode with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Olugbenga Ashiru telling lawmakers that Nigeria would henceforth adopt a tit for tat policy against any nation that maltreats its citizens. That assertion, apparently also made after a rush of blood to the head, was soon to be tested when last week the United Kingdom deported 150 Nigerians who it said had invalid travel papers. Alarmingly, the federal government has still not clarified to Nigerians the circumstances that led to the deportation of the Nigerians from the UK and what it intends to do about it.

At his session with the lawmakers, Ashiru also declared that the Nigerian government was set to begin a review of activities of some South African companies operating in the country for allegedly violating regulations on quota system. More than anything else perhaps, this was the bit that forced the South Africans back into their senses with the rash of apologies culminating in the visit of Jacob Zuma’s special envoy.

Since the end of the apartheid era and the commencement of full economic and political relations between the two countries, South Africa, it seems, has had the upper hand in reaping the benefits of the ties between the two with many of its firms operating successfully here. Notably, the telecommunications company, MTN, has found home here where its operations, according to available records, rake in more money than anywhere else in the world.  The MTN Group’s 2010 year end results released last year showed that its total revenue for the year was N2.57 trillion out of which MTN Nigeria made N749 billion. As at last year, the telecoms giant had a subscriber base of about 38.7 million which gave it a 52 per cent market share.

Protea Hotels, another South African hospitality company has also found Nigeria to be a business haven. Starting with just one hotel back in 2001, the company now has over 15 spread across the country. With the banking sector reforms which paved way for foreign ownership of Nigerian banks, the foray of one of South Africa’s biggest banks, Stanbic bank, into Nigeria has also proved to be profitable. The bank bought controlling shares in IBTC and last year declared a profit of N13.5 billion in its financial results for the year ended December 2010 against N10.3 billion in 2009.

In the same vein, the satellite television company, Multichoice, with its Digital Satellite Television {DStv} arm has continued to be successful here with its unshaken monopoly of the satellite television industry. An attempt to break that firm grip failed last year when the English Premier League, the company that owns the rights to Premiership matches, rewarded the rights to Multichoice’s subsidiary, SuperSport, after the apparent failure of HiTV to renew its payment for the rights. The super store chain, Shoprite, which began business in Nigeria back in 2005, has been expanding its presence in the country with the opening of more stores across the country.

In addition to these major firms, there are many other profitable South African businesses in the country. In contrast however, Nigeria has little to boast of in terms of its foray into the South African market.  Though we export goods to that country but no Nigerian company has made the sort of impact that their South African counterparts have had here. Our banks such as UBA, Union Bank and First Bank that got licenses to operate in South Africa have still not made the desired impact. Not even our flagship Dangote Group has penetrated the South African market despite its dominance here. To drive home the near total dominance of the South African economy in the continent, 16 of its companies made the list of Top 30 African companies last year without a single one from Nigeria making the list.

So, if South Africa offers an apology to Nigeria over the deportation raw, it was not necessarily because it was afraid of a so called big brother whose wrath it fears but because it has an economic interest to protect. We can go on basking in the euphoria of having forced an apology out of South Africa but at the end of it all, it continues to rake billions of Nigeria out of here and leaves us with our “giant of Africa” toga whose worth is only on paper. The bottomline is: South Africa has more to gain from the apology than Nigeria does. To buttress the fact that the apology was only a worthless symbolic gesture that was why the South African government sent a Correctional Services minister – not a vice president or even a foreign affairs minister – to deliver the letter to our own president and instead of delegating the foreign affairs minister or his minister of state to receive the delegation, President Jonathan again allowed them to score one over us. 

The Other Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo celebrated his 75^th birthday last week and as has become customary in this country, the occasion was marked very well in the media with numerous congratulatory advertisements and press statements from the movers and shakers across business and political spectrum extolling his “virtues” and underlining his credentials as a true elder statesman.

The Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] under which the man ruled for eight years, said in a statement that: “For a man whom destiny has twice enthroned to lead the nation at challenging times and twice, left no guesses as to his commitment and competence, leaving legacies that will outlive him’.  It went on to state further that: “The nation owes a lot to his conscience, foresight and undiluted belief in the unity and oneness of our dear nation. From every stretch of the imagination, Chief Obasanjo is a great Nigerian, African statesman and a world citizen whose immense global contributions will be indelibly etched in history”.

The Northern Governors Forum on its part said Obasanjo’s imprint in the areas of nation building, reconciliation, national security and his contributions to deepening our fledgling democracy were legacies that are sure to outlive him. The celebrant himself, in his characteristic jocular manner declared that he had his adversaries to thank for his successes. At a party to mark the occasion at the Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, he said:”I want to thank my adversaries for contributing to my growth and I want to tell you that if one doesn’t have adversaries, one cannot succeed”.

It is not in doubt that Obasanjo’s shadow will for a long time be cast over Nigeria for the roles he has played in its evolution. But hearing all the apotheosis of the two-time leaders last week, anyone just landing in Nigeria from outer space would be excused if he thinks the man is the best thing that has happened to this country. Personally, I was left wondering if all these friends and well wishers were talking about the same man that other Nigerians know. I kept asking myself if it was possible they were referring to a different Olusegun Obasanjo.

I could not help but wonder how someone can look Nigerians with a straight face and say Obasanjo contributed to deepening our fledgling democracy. Such statement sure cannot be referring to a man under whose eight- year rule the principle of rule of law was only observed in the breach. Nigerians cannot forget in a hurry that government agencies especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission willfully chose which court ruling to obey – that which suited its agenda – and ignored those it felt were not in its favour. The nation has not also forgotten that in his determination to stop his then vice president from contesting the presidential election in 2007, he did all in his power including violating the constitution to stop Atiku Abubakar. Neither would we forget also how this same man tried to subvert the constitution including allegedly offering bribes to lawmakers to pave way for his attempt at a third term in office. It beats the imagination how this same individual suddenly qualifies as the savior of our democracy.

Not long ago, Nigerians were treated to a horrific drama of how the privatization exercise that Obasanjo introduced turned out to be a complete fiasco thus becoming a drain pipe for the nation’s resources. At the Senate public hearing on the privaatisation exercise, Nigerians were told of how the Bureau of Public Enterprises messed up the exercise by selling off the nation’s assets at give away prices and often times without proper adherence to due process. All the past Directors General of the bureau including its poster boy, Nasir el Rufai, were indicted of wrong doings particularly in the sale of NITEL. At the hearings, Obasanjo was indicted for bending the rules to favour his cronies in spite of his double faced fight against corruption. For reasons that are not hard to fathom, the senate, to the disgust of Nigerians, refused to invite him to explain sham that was the privatization exercise. In case his friends have forgotten, perhaps they need to be told that the monumental waste of billions of dollars that were sunk in the power project is still fresh in the memories of Nigerians. Despite these wasted funds the Obasanjo administration was unable to generate the promised 4,000 megawatts of electricity. The huge sums also guzzled by Tony Anenih while he was Works minister under Obasanjo have still not be accounted for .How then can this same man be credited for contributions to national economy?

How can Obasanjo be described as a nation builder when his abiding governance tactic was divide and rule? Nigerians cannot forget how he personally hounded the leadership of the PDP to the extent that non of its chairmen under Obasanjo’s regime was able to complete his term in office. It is an open secret also that he was the architect of the fall of former senate presidents who were not ready to do his bidding.

I could not help but chuckle when I read Obasanjo saying he owes his success to his adversaries. If indeed he has adversaries, perhaps he need to be reminded that he created them himself with his vengeful, know-it-all kind of politics. He single handedly hounded many founding members of the PDP out of their party. The late Sunday Awoniyi, Chief Audu Ogbe, late Abubakar Rimi and others who formed the party and handed the presidency to Obasanjo on a platter became victims of his machinations which led them to exit the party. Surely this does not cast Obasanjo in the mould of elder statesmen as his admirers want us to believe. As has come to light, his so called anti corruption crusade was nothing but an act of vendetta against perceived enemies. Senior members including ministers of his cabinet and personal aides were indicted in the Siemens and Haliburton corruption cases.

If Nigeria is serious about fighting corruption, then Obasanjo owes it a duty to Nigerians to explain what he knows about these cases and especially what transpired with the privatisation exercise. Ours must be such that presidents can be called to account for their stewardship even after leaving office. Numerous precedents have been set elsewhere and it will do us good to ape. The former president of Iceland has just been docked for his role in the economic crisis that rocked not only his nation but the globe, just as Hosni Mubarak and Ben Ali of Egypt and Tunisia respectively are struggling to clear their names of wrong doings in court. I hope Obasanjo’s day will come to do the same     

The police and media cover up

The Bauchi Police Command, on Sunday, February 26, 2012, paraded seven Christian men it alleged were in possession of explosive devices with which they intended to use to destructive effect at the Church of Christ in Nigeria {COCIN}. The Police Commissioner, Ikechukwu Ayo Aduba, said the suspects were picked up in Miya Barakatai in Toro Local Government adding: “They are rival groups within the church, they have their internal problems and the other rival group decided to attack them…When we got the report, we sent our men, they have arrested about seven of them. They have something on them that was certified as locally made explosives that are manually ignited”.

While the Bauchi Command and indeed all Nigerians were celebrating the success of their men in foiling what could have ended in another tragic bombing incident, men of the Plateau Police Command and the Joint Task Force deployed to the state top help with security enforcement had nothing to celebrate as a bomb went off at a COCIN branch where the state Governor, David Jang, worships.  About six persons were reported to have lost their lives in that sad incident.

Perhaps as a result of the deaths and the fact that in a different circumstance, the governor himself might have been a target of the attack, many newspapers in the country led with that story the following day {Monday, February 27, 2012} and buried the Bauchi near mishap in the inside pages. In fact some newspapers effectively ignored it completely – either because they did not have it or they did so for other reasons best known to them. One can adduce however that those newspapers that chose to tuck the Bauchi story inside may have done so because the Christian would be bombers did not resonate with the predominant Christian press in the South. One can also say without fear of equivocation that had the suspects been Muslims, all the newspapers would have been awash with the story thus adding to the deepening chasm between Muslims and Christians in the country.

Daily Sun, for example, did not even deem the Bauchi story worthy of a mention on its front page even though it led with the Jos incident. It tucked the story on page 12 of the paper without highlighting what in fact makes the story significant: the suspects being Christians. The Punch also led with the same Jos story but unlike Daily Sun, it merged the Bauchi story with the lead but one has to be patient to read up to the 27^th paragraph on page 14 to get details of the Bauchi story.

The Nation also led with the Jos story but buried the Bauchi story way down in the 35^th paragraph of the lead. Only Daily Trust gave the Bauchi story some prominence by choosing it as its lead story while making the Jos story its second lead also on the Front page. Peoples Daily however promoted the Bauchi story on its front page and had the Jos incident in the inside page. Surprisingly, Leadership, a newspaper based here in the North with presumably a northern target audience, did not publish the Bauchi story even as it led with the Jos story.

The point of this little content analysis is essentially to highlight the role of the media in agenda setting. By this singular function, the media sometimes arrogates to itself the power of determining the tone of national discourse and by so doing gives the latitude for government and its agencies to determine the pace at which certain issues affecting society are handled. It has been well over a week since the Bauchi suspects were arrested for attempting to bomb the COCIN, but no follow up stories have been done especially by the southern press. As a result, the police themselves have not been forthcoming with developments in their investigations of the matter.  If history is anything to go by, one can safely bet that that is the end of the matter. A Christian was also arrested last year in Edo state dressed in a turban while planning to detonate an explosive at a place of worship. Up until now, we still have not heard what has happened to that suspect.

If this turns out to be the case, it will have some implications for our security situation in the country. As things are now, the Police and other security forces have become utterly helpless in curtailing the deadly activities of the Boko Haram sect in many parts of the Northern states in spite of the supposed state of emergency put in place by the federal government. Almost on a daily basis we are regaled with reports of bomb blasts or gun shots in the major northern cities of Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri, Jos, Bauchi or Gombe with Boko Haram soon afterwards claiming responsibility for the attacks. What  this suggests is that perhaps some of these attacks may not have been carried out by the dreaded sect but by other mischief makers who have been cashing in on the notoriety of the sect for their own ends. Because the sect has come to realize the importance of what media visibility can do for its misguided cause, it is often quick to take credit for what it might not have done.

This much was evident after the attack on the Koton Karfe prison in Kogi state where some inmates allegedly members of the sect were freed. Although the sect claimed responsibility, the Comptroller of Prisons and the minister of Interior have said that there is no proof yet that Boko Haram did carry out the attack. Earlier in the year also, an attack in Mubi, Adamawa state where an Igbo businessman was killed was later discovered to be as a result of a deal gone sour. This was after everyone believed it was carried out by Boko Haram and lavishly covered on the front pages of many Nigerian newspapers.

The arrest of the Christian suspects in Bauchi should provide an insight into the many dimensions of the security challenges facing the nation. If they had succeeded in their dastardly mission, chances are that Boko Haram would have been blamed for it – and they gladly would have taken responsibility, after all, it adds to their profile as a notorious gang that is winning its war against the Nigerian state.

No one in his right mind will attempt a defence of the atrocities of the sect and this is in no way an effort at that. Rather, a reminder for our security agencies to step up their efforts before they are overwhelmed by forces, not only Boko Haram, determined to cause chaos in the country.