Doctor Neutralises Africans

The mystique of Nobel accolades

Nobel Prize laureates are considered prime brain-boxes of intelligence and are in the unique situation of having brought great good to humanity. This is sometimes less expressed in the peace and literature prizes but more evident in the sciences.

At 34 in 1962, James Watson jointly shared the prize with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins who were both 12 years older and both died in 2004, quite uncanny.

Their prize, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962, was “for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material.” In common parlance, he was involved in discovering the structure of DNA a field of endeavour that has brought significant progress and understanding about the make up of living organisms and their hereditary factors.

Avoid Boring People

45 years on, Dr. Watson was out promoting his new book - Avoid Boring People: Lessons from a Life in Science and part of that promotional tour included an interview with an English newspaper which is par for the course, and as a Nobel laureate, there are many who would have flocked to hear him wherever he was speaking along with those would want to read about him.

Before I get into the substance of this matter, I remember chatting online years ago and the moment my correspondent learnt I was African I was hit with a diatribe that started with him saying he does not have time for monkeys. Much as I was quite slighted by this turn of conversation, I responded saying that either this monkey was so smart it could interact with humans or he had lost his humanity and was now cavorting with simians.

It makes you wonder where people get all these crazy ideas from, and this not helped when a respected and celebrated Nobel laureate gives oxygen to such views by implying that black people are less intelligent compared to white people.

Of evidence or generalisation

Obviously, there are some events and situations in Africa that would almost allow this esteemed scientist to draw more than inference and be able to give contrived and believable examples to support this claim, to that extent I can share the position that many are “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa”, but I cannot assimilate the extension that portends that in the West “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours, whereas all the testing says not really.”

He goes on to say that whilst he hopes everyone is equal – “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true - there are many people of colour who are very talented, but don’t promote them when they haven’t succeeded at the lower level.”

Now, I would not know what testing has taken place to arrive at these conclusions, and it is no surprise that the aversion to gene research is sometimes the fear that certain elements of the research can lead to eugenics, xenophobia, or unacceptable pronouncements, albeit from learned persons.

DNA debunking

Dr. Craig Venter, who is a contemporary authority in gene science and a man I dislike for probably the media portrayal of his seeming arrogance but respect for his grasp of his science and the relevance of his endeavour, debunks this claim with this statement – “Skin colour as a surrogate for race is a social concept not a scientific one, there is no basis in scientific fact or in the human genetic code for the notion that skin colour will be predictive of intelligence.”

Many would breath a sigh of relief to that, though an unhealthy debate has started with the accompanying backlash which the malevolent would dismiss as the onslaught of the political correct rather that the offensiveness of opinions that should never be expressed.

The greater concern here is DNA is so fundamental to understanding the physiology of the human-being, adding social dimensions to purely physiological issues complicates the matters, relating that to race allows for elements of race supremacy to develop and the vicious cycle of man’s inhumanity to man is given impetus by those who should know a lot better.

Backslash backlash

In any case, doors began to close in the face of Dr. Watson, the Science Museum cancelled a talk, the Bristol Festival of Ideas cancelled an appearance stating Dr. Watson’s opinions were unacceptably provocative and now the Board of Trustees of the New York’s Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory where Watson was chief for four decades has suspended him from his administrative responsibilities pending a review of his comments.

It would appear Dr. Watson has now gone to ground, cancelled all engagements in England and returned home, but not before he tried to extricate himself from the quagmire he sank into with all his Nobel-lauded faculties about him.

Mortified and almost remorseful, he contends that the reportage of his words do not reflect his position properly and appreciates why people would have reacted in the ways that they have about his comments.

However, a new area of study is emerging as genetic intelligence which is not in and of itself racism as Dr. Watson does agree that there is no scientific basis for considering Africans inferior and the apology reads further as thus – “To all those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologise unreservedly.”

Well Dr. Watson, before I step up to hug you, I might as well just do some research to see if this is a simple error of judgement or getting away with form has inadvertently deserted you at this hour.

Nobel Syndrome

Roger Highfield in The Telegaph comment section contends that Dr. Watson is suffering from a mental condition called Nobel Syndrome, a tendency for laureates to stray from their knitting to create controversy and worse.

There is however a great risk in suppressing scientific ideas if we attack contrary commentary, but a man of Dr. Watson's stature should understand his position of responsibility and the import of his opinions which may not be subjected to the quality of peer review as “lesser mortals” would suffer, in fact, many might read his words as incontrovertible truth.

Worse still, his actions bring into disrepute and dishonour the good name of one lady whose work was the precursor to his work on discovering DNA, as the Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously Rosalind Franklin’s good name and work depends on how the other recipients conduct themselves, she died in 1958 and these activities 49 years on are definitely not what all who were involved in the discovery of DNA would want to be associated with.

References

James Watson: To question genetic intelligence is not racism – The Independent

The elementary DNA of Dr. Watson – Times Online

Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA

At peace with the Nobel Peace Prize

Weathering the peace

The Nobel Prize week is just beyond us and there were a good few recognitions for work done though the most controversial was the Nobel Peace Prize 2007 in recognition of the science and the celebrity of the consequences global warming.

My view is that the award to Al Gore was more about making global warming an agenda issue in the highest forums of human endeavour and government rather then the nut and bolts of what is the accepted or disputed science of global weather phenomena and the consequences.

We might be in some millennial weather cycle or what we experience now might be man-made due to our consumption and disposal, it does not take away from the fact the land and water with the derivatives of food, shelter and resources are the primary causes war and dispute in many places especially Africa and the Middle-East.

Consensus for peace

The peace dividend is in finding fair and equitable means of managing these ever shrinking global resources of land and habitat being lost to development, desertification and the destruction of war all of which require a modicum of good governance and developmental economics.

Sharing the Nobel Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) where peer-reviewed science collides with compromise and political consensus indicates that the greatest advances in responding to climate change and its effects on the environment would come from UN-type organisations rather than weather propeller-heads postulating from citadels of academic overdrive.

The IPCC was formed in 1998 by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess and monitor possible climate change cause by human activity the presentation that includes Al Gore gives this citation “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.”

Another Nigerian in peace

It would be remiss to forget that the Secretary General of the WMO at that time was Professor Godwin Obasi, a Nigerian of impeccable academic credentials who held the position for 19 years from 1984 but unfortunately died in March 2007, no doubt, he would have been very pleased to see this phenomenon lauded and given this kind of profile.

In the end, I am at peace with recognition that the Nobel Peace Prize 2007 regardless of what the detractors, refuseniks and critics have to say on this matter, these recipients have done more to bring this matter into the mainstream, it would however placate the Carbon Nazis.

Local situations in global straits

Global rates

The effects of globalisation have come to my little corner of the world. 6 years ago when I bought my place, I accepted the going fixed rate of interest on my mortgage because I felt rates would go down for the foreseeable future and they did for at least 5 years.

This November is the time for a rate reset and suddenly I wish I knew back then in 2005 that there was a possibility for a rate hike that would see one shelling out a lot more than one ever has done before – that is the credit crunch and rotten sub-prime loans in America filching my disposables. Arghhh!

Local arts

At the same time, I have attended the meeting of our house-owners association which in itself is a bureaucracy that churns out rules that makes one think it is a hostel block.

Beyond that, the entrance atrium had the Y-semaphore indicating the name of our block, but some of the residents felt it did not match up to their aspirational goals of having escaped a working-class label.

So the uppity ones banded together into an arts committee to remodel the atrium which has ended up with a dark green marble wall and plants that cannot stand the atmosphere, any wonder? – it could as well be the well-appointed entrance to a funeral home – how depressing.

Global talk

In the early times, all notices were sent out in Dutch, after a few years, we had them in English too, but imagine my surprise when the notice that ended in my mailbox also had a Japanese translation.

Translation is an inappropriate word because the English version leaves out information found in the Dutch version which states that someone on the fourteenth floor had been pouring deep-frying fat down the drains which were are all clogged up again, just over a month ago. Again? Miscreants!

All versions advise us that it is forbidden to throw fat down the drain as the native version states that translations are offered in English and Japanese to which many a nationalist might remonstrate that we all have to learn Dutch if we live in the Netherlands.

Strangely, the English version goes on the offer the tip to pour warm (not hot!) fat – in their words – in a milk carton and throw that in our communal refuse bin, nothing that the Dutch or Japanese would find useful it seems.

Local meets

A Japanese colleague at work did laugh when he read out the Japanese bit, though I thought there were a good too many pictures (kanji) for little information, I must commend the writer for bringing the Far East to the West.

I do wonder if English would now be allowed at the annual general meeting because the I last attended, my Dutch comments were applauded for their comical value than the seriousness of what I had to say – I have not be that participatory in apartment block politics just for the fact that they end up like Dutch meetings – the desire to congregate and be heard but never reach workable decisions as one stands out antagonising everything regardless of substance.

The Iron Ladies of Liberia

Explaining practical democracy

This afternoon, I watch the Why Democracy? BBC Series with the title; “Iron Ladies of Liberia”. Now, one might be tempted to dismiss Liberia as a West African backwater hardly matching up to a Bantustan, but that would be to our great peril – Liberia through that one-hour showcase has a lot to show, to offer and to give in the emancipation of Africa in entirety.

14 years of civil war masterminded by the despotic tyrannical Charles Taylor who presently languishes in detention hardly 70 kilometres from my doorstep is a sign of great progress in a country that has suffered a lot and in dire need of strong progressive leadership lacking in a majority of countries of that continent.

The new revealed in Liberia

“Fellow Liberians, the days of the imperial presidency of a domineering chief executive are over, I would talk to the women …”

Women, indeed, women because on January 16, 2006, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was inaugurated as the President of Liberia signalling a change, a hope, a new vision, a new direction and those were her first words as president.

Within weeks she had appointed ladies to the most senior positions in the police, commerce, finance and justice ministries; those ladies had their work cut out most especially the finance minister who eventually obtained a complete write-off of debts owed to the United States.

She reigns with wisdom

President Johnson-Sirleaf carries the authority, the gravitas and respect of not only a political leader but at 68 exudes the wisdom of a good mother and loving grand-mother – attributes that completely lacking in the persona of the Grand-Despot Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

She has to make political compromises as she struggles with her conscience – her words – but I noticed that she has an amazing grasp of her brief, she pays good attention to the detail and then crystallises each opportunity with effective direction and decisions made in the quality of the assessments she has made.

I am not aware of when the full video of this episode would be available, but there were examples over the 52 weeks of this documentary where she was able to diffuse tense situations and arrive at useful workable and implementable solutions.

The lady of the people

Rather than seclude herself in the corridors of power, she went out to engage the people and their concerns whilst demanding excellence from her ministers and reports.

She engaged the market women in the discourse that ensured market space was properly allocated and the roads were also free for transport, when the so-called veterans of the wars constituted themselves into a mob, she listened to their concerns but also juxtaposed their demands against the crimes the same veterans had committed against the more docile populace in the villages.

She extracted an undertaking from these men that they would no more cause tension in the country, but her brief is a difficult one; many would enjoyed the spoils of Charles Taylor’s despotic rulership are still about trying to foment trouble and unrest, she has to be on guard and ready to be quite decisive.

Especially when as the host of 3 heads of state last year, part of the Executive Mansion caught fire, arson could not be ruled out and ensured that all of her intimate security detail were screened again before they returned to their posts.

However, one part which epitomises how President Sirleaf-Johnson intends to run things in Liberia was where employees of Firestone National Rubber Company of Liberia had called a strike and the unrest had lead to the death of a few.

Firestorm at Firestone

Rather than pontificate from her Presidential throne, she first went out to see the people, where they lived and asked if their children went to school – the accommodation was appalling and the children did not go to school; armed with this information, she when into a meeting with the management and told them off big-time.

Her words appear below:

Firestone has been here since 1926

There is no reason for the workers in Firestone to live under the conditions they live

We are not going to accept it

We are not going to accept the fact that people live in houses that have no windows

That people live in houses where there is no schooling for their children

Firestone has made enough money in this country

To have treated the Liberian workers in a better way

Our responsibility as the government

Is to make sure that the workers rights are protected

That their benefits are fair

That they are treated properly

And this government is committed to that

Because that is the message we are taking to the workers

She went out to the workers and addressed them that accommodation and living standards would improve but the 30-something percent rise they have demanded may not be achievable. I thought that was pragmatic because the issue was about living conditions and amenities more than just having more pay, the muscle of a conglomerate would better achieve the elevation of standards than each individual trying to create those circumstances.

The lessons to be learnt

However, there are lessons contained in this simple telling-off and these should be the mantra of any government or representative of a developing or emerging economy.

• Appreciate the facts on the ground before you enter into negotiations
• Understand your responsibility to your constituency and exercise it judiciously
• Determine clearly the terms that are non-negotiable and state them clearly, you can then negotiate on the other matters but the resolve and determination must be clear and enforced without resorting to blackmail or appropriation under duress.

These are the non-negotiable terms of governance, government, political leadership and corporate engagement.

• Employees must be paid a living wage that allows then to live in affordable and decent housing whilst being able to send their children to school.
• Workers’ rights must be clear, known and protected
• Workers’ benefits must be fair especially when they contribute to the profitiability of the company they work for
• The workers must be treated properly, as human-beings, as intelligent beings, humanely and with due consideration and respect.
• Finally, the company in a community must engage and affect the community positively in amenities, resources and opportunities.

The responsibility of the government

Above all, within the responsibility of the government is the undertaking to be principled, trustworthy, honest and truthful in all their dealings – Utopian as these might sound, a government respected rather than feared because of tyranny and menace would always thrive with the goodwill of the people.

It is also not a socialist charter but economic development with raising the people above the poverty line especially when they are in the employ of a profitable concern or international conglomerate should be a firm commitment in any business dealings.

Again, it is not about looking for solutions which can be sold with a populist intent to grab attention and pecuniary political advantage but it is about connecting to the concerns and aspirations of the people.

If the issues in the Niger Delta were addressed with this kind of smart negotiation, I am sure things would have been a lot different from the despicable security situation we have in that place now.

In Liberia, the ladies are doing one fine job and the male chauvinistic pigs that rlue everywhere else had better start learning a few new tricks and giving some kicks too – to corruption, deadwood mandarins, ineffective administrators and most of all heads of government who condemn their people to unspeakable suffering just to bolster their political ends.

Then there is a lady called Olubanke Yetunde King-Akerele who is now the Foreign Minister of Liberia having once been the Commerce and Industry Minister of Liberia methinks she has a Yoruba heritage with three of those names; Yoruba is spoken in the South-West of Nigeria. A speech she gave at the WTO Public Forum 2007 a few days ago.

Belgian racist murderer sentenced to life in prison

Murder fuelled by racism

It has come full circle and one can say justice has been done; however, the fallout from this event is generating some interesting commentary that leaves one a bit worried.

In May 2006, an 18-year old man with a privileged upbringing with a nominally extreme right heritage went on a shooting spree with the view of targeting people of a foreign background. [Are you Belgian Suspect – May 2006]

In the process, he shot and killed a Malian nanny, then killed the 2-year old ward who happened to be a white girl when the obviously distressed girl started to cry, he then when on to shoot a Turkish lady who survived the ordeal.

This madness was curtailed when the man got shot in the stomach by a police marksman but that was beginning of a soul-searching analysis of the effect of intolerant anti-immigration rhetoric and populism used to obtain political advantage in Belgium.

Father tries to fool us

The father of Mr. Hans Van Themsche technically disowned his son by saying the boy is sick in some way, but he cannot be exculpated for bringing up his boy in an atmosphere of right-wing and Flemish nationalist tendencies.

At one time he was once a member of the proscribed Vlaams Blok (Flemish Block), the influence of such a community cannot have been benign even though he did say at the trial of his son that they never tolerated racism or right-wing extremism at home nor did he espouse the ideas of the movement itself.

This is an interesting development, because in my write-up last year, the information I gathered showed that his father was a founding member of Vlaams Blok; that would have made him a mover of the ideas of that party – the party reincarnated as Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest Party) and his aunt is a representative of that party in the Flemish parliament, it would be difficult for these people to feign ignorance of their influence on the young man.

Revelations at the trial

During trial of the young man, the Belgian woman of Turkish heritage and birth – Songul Koç – wondered why she was shot and it appears she is still severely traumatised by the event, one can only wish a recovery that allows her to get on with her life.

A witness to the shooting observed and said of the murderer, “He stood there for a moment to make sure he had hit her, he smiled and was clearly pleased with what he had done. Then he calmly walked on.”

In the light of the cold-blooded evil, we hear man eventually tried to apologise in what Ms Koç believes was a mechanical act, not one done from the heart in any sincerity.

Justice for the dead

And so on Wednesday, a jury found the man guilty of all counts of two murders and one of attempted murder saying he was motivated by racism and he was sentenced to life in prison making him the first Belgian to be convicted on a charge of racially motivated murder.

This is fine, but then the Former president of the Appeal Court has waded into this case and asked that the young man be given a second chance. Edwin Van Fraechem believes in the light of a double murder and attempted murder, the opportunity to return to society should be considered saying – “And we need to take this into account. We must not forget that Van Themsche is only 19. We should at least try to re-educate him.”

At a time like this, our thoughts should be with the people who suffered loss, but such crass insensitivity can only be expected when people are trying to peddle influence to subvert the course of justice for a person of privilege.

The precedent of tolerable murder

The judge goes on to recommend a tenure is a state educational facility which he believes offers a more severe regime than a prison which should not last more than 10 years, because he believes the murders were not racially motivated.

If this is not a case of twisting the facts to achieve a dishonest end, I am not sure what is, the report notes that in the 52 cases the judge presided over, he never pronounced a verdict for internment in a state educational home.

Indeed the judge is learned and versed in precedent; this might be advocating the establishment of the institutionalisation of tolerable murder as the question of racially motivated murder can never be countenanced or be of import even if the suspect clearly confesses that his acts were racially motivated.

One should resist the urge to play the race card and turn the tables to consider what would have happened if the hues of the persons involved were switched.

But one is of the mind of trawling through all the cases of this judge to see how he has upheld Belgian law in his deliberation, though one hopes this is just an unfortunate lapse in judgement.

Meanwhile, justice seems to have been done, lock those gates, I know where to put the keys.

HRW Report - A must-read for all patriotic Nigerians

A democratic deficit

A number of mentions of the Human Rights Watch report on Nigeria 2007 have been made on television recently with the interviewing of Ojo Maduekwe the Nigerian Foreign Minister and Wole Soyinka the Nobel Laureate in the last few days.

Whilst there are many who would go on the defensive when Nigeria is criticised, it is important to review the criticism with the view to learning something useful from the perspectives of others.

A number of blogs that I frequent have already commented on aspects of the report, and from what I have read, anyone who has had the privilege to exercise a democratic right in Nigeria should and must be incandescent with righteous rage at the way some so-called godfathers have peddled influence for their own ends.

Biography of a mob

The report which reads like the biography of leaders of an irate mob is utterly disconcerting at best and extremely outrageous at worst, the summary of the report begins with “Nigeria is mired in a crisis of governance”, an understatement - the compilers have more than enough evidence to maintain that stand without prejudice.

The broad areas of analyses in this report covers political violence and quite a few aspirants were eliminated through assassinations mostly in Western Nigeria; corruption exemplified in Godfatherism (sic) where potentates of corrupt and suspect means believe they own Nigeria or parts of Nigeria with the electoral demographic at their beck and call; and entrenched impunity through the abusing of the rule of law and separation of powers along with the lawlessness of law enforcement.

All these topics receive scrutiny that cannot be discounted, as some of this information would be joined to portfolios that would help determine if Nigeria is a safe and secure place in which to establish partnerships for political, social and economic development.

Adedibu and Uba

The report then provides 4 case studies, but none makes my blood boil more than the ones about Oyo State where the political thuggery of Lamidi Adedibu looms large and Anambra State where the whole extent of corrupt aggrandisement is so contractually documented, it must be investigated and brought to a trial in a court of humanity somewhere in this world.

In both cases, self-appointed Mandarins of menace who for all sorts of reasons have clout derived from nefarious and malevolent coercion in the persons of Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu and Chief Chris Uba have believed themselves to be the patrons of state from whom all power emanates such that elections are meaningless because they have the means to produce the results they intend.

Selling your soul to devils

All that is required is some figurehead sycophant who can be a puppet executive governor to be manipulated according to the whims and caprices of these rotten thugs.

What is so disturbing is that these criminals are propped up by a coterie of stupid followers who despite their education, literacy and knowledge of the basic codes of democracy to demand rights that are essential conferred on the executive government in the mandate they receive to govern their state.

Regardless of the means by which anyone assumes office, the incumbent is sometimes beholding to interest groups and patrons to whom they must defer but to have these patrons expect to select and appoint people to government is totally out of order and an exhibition of unparalleled egregiousness.

Supporters of Alhaji Adedibu castigated the governor for not giving his patron access to 25% of the state treasury and not allowing his patron to appoint commissioners and other gravy train appointees who would do the bidding of the patron. The governor eventually got impeached.

Oyo State represents a case of some “gentleman’s agreement” where one of the partners did not follow through on what were the expected actions.

The contract

To forestall this kind of situation where a partner could renege on an agreement, the mendicants in Anambra State drew up seemingly binding contracts.

In what is typically bandits trying to be respectable doing atrocious deals, we find a copy of the agreement signed between Chris Uba (Godfather) and Chris Ngige (Governor) where he commits not to run for more than one term, not to the electorate but to this cretin in a Memorandum of Irrevocable Undertaking – it beggars belief.

Then he is supposed to have sold his soul to his mentor who bankrolled the election and called his mob into action to steal the mandate. The Governor was to exercise and manifest absolute loyalty to the person of Chief Chris Uba – one would think Chief Uba was some god, not many worshippers offer that kind of commitment to God except when they are in liaison with agents of the devil.

A governor as the patron’s servant

He was not to run the government of Anambra State as his personal business but requirements further on in the contract showed that he was to run the government as personal fiefdom of Chief Uba.

A meeting was convened where Chief Uba as the caucus leader assumed authority as the omnipotent commander of all affairs concerning the state with the governor probably not even able to appoint his own cook.

The witnesses to this agreement of the dishonourable included three doctors of whatever, a chief and a Senator Sir Ikechukwu Abana (A title almost reminiscence of a typical Nigerian busker) who seems to have his hands in every uncomely deal in that state.

When the dog of a governor refused to do his mater’s bidding, he was kidnapped and forced to submit a resignation, it had Chief Chris Uba literally waving the paper of the agreement for all to see claiming to be the wronged man.

The culture of impunity

It is impunity par excellence that anyone can be involved in such a corrupt, shady deal and still expect to maintain respectability anywhere in this world – it counts for nothing in Nigeria, they go on to do worse things because the conditions in Nigeria allow for people to get away with murder and by praised for their exploits.

These are no Godfathers, they are agents of the devil, gangsters and pirates who have no respect for anything for the good of humanity talk less of Nigerians and the people they would have us believe they lead.

People like Adedibu and Uba should be languishing in jail, stripped of any dignity and respect they may have and made to do time like common criminals in the medieval times, they are not worthy to be Nigerians and their names should be etched in the tablets of ignominy as a lesson to others who decide to follow their corrupt ways.

It is the duty of an patriotic Nigerian to objectively read and review the contents of the Human Rights Watch report and really decide if this the Nigeria worthy of our aspirations or one which is in need of a revolution of the mindset, ideas and common purposes.

The choice is sure ours to make.

References

Criminal Politics – Violence, “Godfathers” and Corruption in Nigeria – The Report (PDF)

Criminal Politics – Violence, “Godfathers” and Corruption in Nigeria – The Index (HTML)

The summary and recommendations (PDF)

The agreement between Chris Uba and Chris Ngige

Ijebuman - Criminal Politics - a report by HRW

AfricanLoft – Human Right Watch Reports on Nigeria

The lion is the jewel - Wole Soyinka

The man over the boy

The contrast cannot have been any clearer as to see the HardTalk interview of the 1986 Literature Nobel Laureate; Professor Wole Soyinka by Stephen Sackur this morning putting the ordinary and lack-lustre Chief Ojo Maduekwe - the Foreign Minister of Nigeria in the shade.

It would contemptible to offer to compare these two personalities, but I was both pleased, impressed and proud to hear Wole Soyinka address the issue of his vocation and activism in relation to the politics of Africa.

It was also interesting that Wole Soyinka was not interviewed as a playwright on the sister programme HardTalk Extra, but on the substantive HardTalk programme with a live audience in Lagos that applauded at the end of the interview.

Nigeria is not a democracy

The Professor rubbished the context of Nigerian democracy highlighting the fact that the elections were seriously flawed and democratic institutions had been undermined by the executive in the tenure of the last President.

He was disgusted by the fact that political thuggery found expression and patronage from the ruling “democrats” but lauded the fact that despite repression and dictatorial tendencies the freedom of the press has been sacrosanct; maybe in another forum he can address the issue of quality.

Many would agree that it takes a special kind of temperament to get involved in Nigerian politics, even my foray into student union politics has taught me too much already – the Professor contented that he had a bigger forum with his work, writing and expression than to be subsumed into what is essentially a quagmire.

Complacency in Nigeria

He talked of his membership of a forum that is concerned about a creeping complacency and resignation to issues that have been abused in the country, especially that of the electoral process.

The fear is that many have placed their optimism for resolution in the future without really addressing the problems now. Another point he mentioned was that Nigeria is becoming a powder-keg ready to go off as people realise how resources are plundered to the detriment of others. The example he gave of shared poverty being a shared prosperity in Tanzania was quite an insight.

We should remember that the day before, the views of Wole Soyinka about the political situation were discounted by the Nigerian Foreign Minister, but it was Wole Soyinka that was invited by the US Congress to testify on the matters of the election.

A conflagration about to consume

In the end, the Professor is not advocating violence, his struggle is to bring the complete democratic process into all facets of life; but he also sees where resentment might eventually flare up into an unmanageable situation – our leaders need to take note of the fact that the people would only allow themselves to be taken for fools for so long after which, nobody knows what might really happen.

This interview was part of the BBC “Why Democracy?” season, it is a question that needs to be answered because like the Professor said, at independence, there was an aspiration and vision to bring radical change to Africa, all of which has floundered in the depictions that emanate from Sudan and Zimbabwe as the worst cases of egregious abuse of power in Africa.

Playing by the rules

Nigeria however finds itself in a situation where the rulers abuse the rules and processes with impunity and hubris, but we who seek justice and fair-play have to use the democratic rules of due process, the respect of the rule of law and an assuredly independent judiciary – impartial in its analysis, fearless in its judgements and courageous in debunking megalomaniac potentates.

From that point, Wole Soyinka represents a beacon of hope for Nigeria, he may never vie for President but he is a worthy president and representative of the hope and aspirations for a better governed and equitable Nigeria - He is the lion and the jewel [The Lion and the Jewel (1963) is one of Professor Wole Soyinka's best known plays] stating how precious democracy is to the real development of Nigeria.

It also means that those in power today might still be deprived of the mandate to rule if the electoral tribunal elects to invalidate the flawed elections of April 2007.

The interview (Real Media file, you can obtain RealAlternative [Link to executable] to play this back in Windows Media Player).