NYAKO'S IMPEACHMENT FROM THE RECORDS OF OLD NEWSPAPERS

There is no doubt that the impeachment of Governor Nyako last week by the Adamawa State Assembly will remain a great landmark in the democratic evolution of Nigeria. This is for the simple reason that it was an event like no other since the return of the country to civilian rule for a decade and half now. 

Going through the records of my old newspapers,  I discovered that the wave that wrecked NYAKO'S ship did not start a month ago nor even a year or two back. Exactly six years ago, a serious impeachment process was mounted against Nyako by the  same Assembly. It was so serious that the WEEKLY TRUST NEWSPAPER OF 28 JUNE 2008 made a COVER STORY from the event. The cover was very rich with a background to the saga, interviews, news items....In fact, if one does not look at the date of the six year old newspaper, he would miss it for an edition of June this year when the real impeachment process was at its peak.

HISTORY AND POLITICAL SAGACITY

History is indeed an indisputable political asset. Yet, Nigerian politicians rarely take that into cognisance. Nay, the entire Nigerian society seems to treat history with such undeserving disdain. This conclusion I began making when I realised in my GST class of the Faculty of Arts,  Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, that ONLY ONE STUDENT was admitted to study History through Direct Entry in the 2013/2014 session! With this trend, one wonders where the future generation of politicians would source their advisers which I believe historians make best.

In the case of Nyako, it was not so long a history like that of Mansa Kanka Mousa, Maidunama or Shaka Zulu to limit ourselves within the African continent. He and his cabinet seem to forget an event that happened six years back or failed to give it the right reaction. One expects a common place political arithmetics of CRUSHING YOUR ENEMY TOTALLY proposed by Robert Greene to be the watchword of Nyako and his cabinet after withering the first storm of impeachment attempt. Law 15 of Green's "The 48 Laws of Power" reads: 

"All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely.  (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way). If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders,  a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation: The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge. Crush him not only in body but in spirit"

DUTY OF CARE

I do not believe in many laws and explanations of Greene. Reading Greene without alternative power related philosophy and a strong comprehension ability could be a lot dangerous. The former would enable one neutralise arguments that may produce a beastly and callous leader while the latter would empower one to handle contradictions characteristic of which are in the law quoted here and Law 2 that suggests LEARNING TO USE ENEMIES. 

SHARING THE MULTIPLE BLESSINGS OF THE SEASON WITH THE DEPARTED SOULS OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS

From the last Ramadan to this, death has scaled down my list of uncles and older cousins that deserve one material gesture or the other in a season like this by SEVEN. The departure, though painful, was not strikingly shocking as all of them lived beyond 60 in a country which life expectancy is at the abysmal 48.6 years. May their soul rest in perfect peace.

SANI ALHAJI GANDI

The person in blue in the picture attached to this post is Malam Sani Alhaji Gandi. The photo was snapped exactly 10 years now in 2004 during a sent forth to Aliyu Umar and other colleagues who left the services of Attahiru Bafarawa Institute for Qur'an and General Studies,  Sokoto (Now, Sultan Muhammad Maccido Institute). Malam Sani was the Secretary to our Academic Staff Association at the Institute while Sani Suleman (in cap and kaftan) was the Chairman; Aliyu Umar (in white shirt) was the Treasurer and I (capless with kaftan) was the Vice Chairman. Mal. Sani as we generally call him was not as lucky in terms of longevity as my relations referred to above having parted in his early forties in the last week of May, 2014.

This unquestionably gentle fellow left Lagos for Sokoto to join other family members in grief for the loss of his uncle when he was shot by local armed robbers around Birnin Gwari, Kaduna State. Rushing him to hospital made little or no difference as, typical of Nigerian doctors and hospitals, he couldn't get any significant attention from the General Hospital he was first admitted. Referral to a military hospital in Kaduna given his status as an army officer was no use as he bled too much to survive.

My philosophy about longevity after observing the trend of death for not less than twenty five years now is that blameless people like Mal. Sani hardly live that long just as extraordinarily wicked people also rarely last. It is those in the middle position, a category that many of us fall, that live to the normal age of 60 and 70. Yes, the instance of people with special social mission to fulfil is sometimes exceptional. They are normally spared to deliver the promise vested in their life. An ancient Arab poetess, Khansa'u, partly shares this view in her eulogy saying "my problem with death is that it takes away the best people and live us with the ordinary". Mal. Sani was indeed beyond the ordinary. 

I remember Mal. Sani for staying with him for more than ten years without witnessing him quarrelling with anybody. Even the corrective cane that we all held as teachers to scare stubborn students Malam never held as he knew how to talk to such children as if they were adult while we watch with surprise. He would not be forgotten for the beautiful songs learnt from him while singing them with our pupils. Mal. Sani was adorable for his exceptionally balanced command of English and Arabic Languages; thanks to attending my alma matter (College of Arts and Arabic Studies now Sheikh Abubakar Gummi Memorial College) in its days of glory. I cherish him for successfully uniting the two separate mosques in our quarters to become one. These and more made Mal. Sani so dear to us that his was the 'story' death to me for the year.

One interesting thing about death is that it is a destination that others arrived early only to wait for those of us delaying. I stand on the dual blessings of Ramadan and Jumu'at to seek Allah's mercy on the soul of our parents, grand parents, great grand parents, relations, children, teachers, friends. On the same footing I pray for those of us living to have a spiritually fulfilled end. 

Peace and blessings of Allah be upon the Noble Prophet (SAW), his progeny, companions and those who follow his right teaching till the day of judgment.

NYSC PLEDGE

Youths obey the Clarion call

Let us lift our nation high

Under the sun or in the rain

With dedication and selfessness

Nigeria is ours; Nigeria we serve.

Members, take the great salute

Put the Nation first in all

With service and humility

NYSC for the noble Youths

Make Nigeria a great nation.

Far and near we come to serve

And to build our fatherland

With oneness and loyalty

NYSC for unity

Hail Nigeria our great nation.

NYAKO'S IMPEACHMENT : THE END OF BEGINNING...

The significance of what happened in Adamawa State where Gov. Murtala Nyako was impeached by the state assembly could best be seen in the context of being the first of its kind15 years after the return of democracy in Nigeria. Given the power that the almighty governors wield in their respective states, one would, prior to the event at hand, take the possibility of impeaching any governor as a mere fantasy. Whether rightly or wrongly, at least Adamawa State Assembly demonstrated that the principle of separation of power could be made to work when  the need arises. The end of the beginning of one of our democratic impossibilities has therefore arrived.

POLITICAL UNDERTONES AND UPRIGHTNESS
Many blame the Adamawa State Assembly for executing the FG's script without looking the other side and blame Nyako for his administrative loose ends. It is instructive to note that the culture of impunity has made the Nigeria's executives especially the governors to be the most lawless elements in the country. For instance, most, if not all, governors rarely have any respect for budgets. They spend public funds with beastly caprices on things that mostly yield personal benefits to them and their cronies. For this, it is very common to hear a governor say "my money" when talking about the state treasury. In fact, there hardly exist any governor in Nigeria without a glaring impeachable offence.

MY MIND

Ask about my state of mind on what happened to Nyako; I am at best INDIFFERENT based on my philosophy of not sympathising with a cat when chased by a dog for it does same to the mouse.

Ask about the implication of this event to Nigeria's democracy; I am HAPPY for it is bound to checkmate the arrogance, illegality and misgovernance of 36 BORNS OF WOMAN that turned into SUPERMEN simply because we have given them our mandate or they had it stolen.

"This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of an end, but it is the end of beginning". An Arab proverb says, " A wiseman learns from the ordeal of others".

Jirgin Captain Ahmad

Kabo Air

Sama da ikon Allah

A dawo lafiya

What if he wins?

The Primaries of his Party
Looks like a walkover.

 
The general election
Probable probability.

Election tribunal

Once beaten twice shy.

 

Violent killings
Two wrongs make not a single right.

 

’11 dominates my thought

With all its ugly scenes.

 

Niger continues to flow

Aso remains firm.

 

Newspapers publish more
Radios noise the more…

 

The dead remain mute

The brouhaha continues…

 

’15 the world will not end

Nor will Nigeria do…

 

A point for the common man
The elite know that well.


Four years more like a day
Rome was built in years.

 

STRIVE for the change we need

But violence option not.

AMAECHI AND THE BURDEN OF UDUS PLEDGE

On 1^st December, 2012, Governor (Dr.) Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, was conferred with the Honorary Doctorate Degree of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto at the University’s convocation ceremony. I was sitting few metres away from the Governor and could observe the joy with which he was listening to his citation as read by the ever vibrant Prof. Sharubutu. Another remarkable thing was that Mr Amechi spoke on behalf of the six recipients of this unique honour from a University that distinguishes itself as the most peaceful in Nigeria and whose graduates are always revered for academic excellence. I can still see the posture of Rotimi as he read the address from his ipad with the usual calm and easy mien.

A CHAIR TO ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

A portion of Dr. Amechi’s speech that called for a loud applause was the donation of a chair to the ‘Department of English’ of the University as an English graduate. Donating a chair to a Department means that reasonable amount of money would be dedicated by the donour to support and promote research in the Department. To make this clearer, a day earlier, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim who happened to be the presenter of pre-convocation lecture donated a chair to support research and community service on child nutrition. He supported the chair with an INSTANT INITIAL CASH DONATION OF N50 MILLION. Senator Anyim’s generosity was influenced by his experience in the late 80s as a corps member on NYSC in Sokoto where he observed that malnutrition was the most prevalent health/social challenge in the state.

When SGF donates this generously to support a research chair, you can imagine my expectation when a Governor from the OIL-RICH STATE of RIVERS donates a chair to my Department. With tremendous joy, I called my Head of Department and other senior members of the Department to congratulate them on this ‘good news’.

RIDICULING HAT TRICK HONOURS

With the UDUS award, Amechi carries THREE important titles that would ordinarily make one to take his word seriously. He is often called ‘Honourable’ because he was one time Speaker of the Rivers’ Assembly; he is called “Excellency” because he is the Governor of Rivers State; he is called ‘Doctor’ because he was so awarded by UDUS.  

Nigeria is a republic. It is neither a monarchy nor an empire. In a setup like ours, respect, honour, reverence and esteem are earned -they are not given. Thus, notwithstanding these titles, the behavior of Mr. Amaechi to this PUBLIC PLEDGE remain my major yardstick of majoring his veneration and reverence. This informs my liberty in calling him with any of his three names in this piece without the usual appendage of HIS EXCELLENCY!

 

Amaechi, my Department and University are still waiting! We do not have the time nor the luxury of visiting Port Harcourt to beg for what you willingly pledged.