The Aluu 4: Justice Now!

Folarin Samson

In less than a fortnight, Nigerian youths were dealt the crushing blow of two gruesome murder cases that left about forty-four youths dead in controversial circumstances. In Mubi, Adamsawa, North-east Nigeria forty students were killed by a gang that combed the off-campus residence of the students with a hit list. Reports had it that the victims were either butchered to death or shot straight in the head. Some said it was the fallout of cult-activities, others thought it had to do with the students union election that had been held the previous week. While the nation was smarting from the hurt and security operatives were busy hounding suspects and following faint leads, the news filtered in through the social media that yet another four youths have been murdered. This time, the assailants carried out their bloody act in broad day light and someone in the crowd was bold enough to film the footage for the public eye. The youths were accused of stealing laptops and cell phones and the people of Omuokiri-Aluu community in Port-Harcourt having had some bitter dealings with marauders and rapists, could not think of any better way to treat the case than resort to extra-judicial execution. The gory video footage that has since gone viral on the internet reveals how the students were clubbed to death. Tires were then rolled into their body, as heavy sticks pound and fracture their skulls, spurting fresh blood and brain. And two of them were only teenagers, university undergraduates.

Ever since, the country has not stopped talking of how to ‘bring the perpetrators to book’. The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has given the government seven days ultimatum. The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Ndabawa has promised to ‘make the culprits face the full wrath of the law’ and in all fairness, 13 people or more have been arrested, including the traditional chief. Nigerian youths are threatening taking the matter to the United Nations if the Federal Government in its characteristics manner pussyfoots. Everybody is talking tough. And how I wish the momentum of public outrage would be sustained. How I wish the killers of the Mubi youths and the Aluu four indeed would be made a public example. But history has proved that our reactions as a people are triggered by flitting emotional outburst. We act on spontaneous impulse that doesn’t stand the test of time.

In 2005, 11-year old Samuel was accused of kidnapping a baby, and despite the poor-boy’s plea of innocence, he was dragged through the streets as his flesh peeled off, before he was eventually lynched. That sparked public outrage and human rights activists and other international bodies became interested in the case. The faces of the killers were extracted from the video. After some initial fervour and grandstand, the matter petered out and everybody returned to their homes.  During the fuel subsidy riot in Lagos, a youth was allegedly killed by a trigger-happy policeman. We don’t know how the matter is going. Kabiru Sokoto, alleged mastermind of the Madalla Christmas carnage probably caused more fuss than the rest. His earlier dramatic escape led to the sack of a former Inspector General of police. Today, nine months after his re-arrest, the police are yet to begin his trial because they are still searching for proofs to concretize his prosecution. It therefore amounts to cruel comedy before people who have knowledge of recent history when we shout, rave and rant over ugly incidents like this.

Probably Mr. President is one of those in this category. President Jonathan who ought to feel the pain more than anybody did not deem it fit to talk about either the Mubi murder or the Aluu four in his public broadcast. His empathy with the bereaved families could have assuaged the feelings. Many expected a reference to it either to calm frayed nerves or reassert government commitment to security and protection of human lives. But Mr. President showed he had other irons in the fire. Some critics would see this as insensitivity on the part of the chief security officer of the nation. However, it could be that Mr. President has not been duly briefed on the merit of the incidents considering the circumstances that surround them.

I don’t wish to discuss the merit of the two cases because extra-judicial killing under whatever guise is a criminal sin. My focus is on how as Nigerians we fight and run, only to fight another day. We appear not to be poised to fight our battles to logical end, thereby encouraging more impunity with the law and an ending streak of violent death and devastation. Martin Luther King once said “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”. There is the need to make an example of the executors of the Mubi 40. There’s the need to mete out unmitigated justice to the cannibals who ended the hope of the Aluu 4 in a single day. The path to that road will begin when as a people we learn to sustain the momentum of our agitation for justice.

The media owe the people the obligation of following up on stories of this nature no matter the frustration of protracted legal process. Several other incidents like this have had out-of-court settlements because there was no more critical media surveillance. The reporters and editors should not only kindle public interest but sustain it through consistent agenda setting reporting.

The government is running out of time. The patience of the people is waning thin by the day and Nigerians are losing faith in the ability of their government to protect the property and lives of its people. The government is obviously making spirited efforts at checking insecurity as evidenced in recent clampdowns on members of Boko-Haram, but it must do more. At the risk of playing the devil’s advocate, I should note that the largely illiterate people of Aluu as report indicated have experienced frustration with the security situation in their area. The government could not secure their properties, pushed to the wall, they formed an alternative form of state and the spill out is there for all to see. And as someone rightly said, nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. But this does not preclude them from the discipline of the law because no nation can afford to joke with its youth who represent the future.

Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the people of Rivers State therefore have an important task to run the criminals to earth. Those in neighboring states must also be on the alert. Anywhere the killers are sighted, they must be promptly reported and handed over to security operatives without much scene. The social media have made the job easier by sifting the faces of the killers and everyone now has a duty to justice. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Mr. President erred for not making mention of either of the killings to empathize with the parents of the deceased and indeed the whole of Nigerian youths who now face uncertainty and insecurity in the country. This does not portend well for posterity. I suggest aside providing adequate security for campus students, there is the need for improved students’ accommodation on the campuses to support concentrated security measures. Also, it is crucial to the credibility of security agencies to brief the press on the outcome of notorious cases, especially when the public have shown considerable interest. This will help to establish deterrent precedents for those nursing such wicked desires and help maintain a sane society.

Baba Alajo Shomolu: the unsung legend

By Folarin Samson

There was an old folk tale about a man popular among those living in Lagos and indeed the major part of south-west Nigeria. His name became a tool for parents to extol virtues of wisdom and intelligence and it became so polished with inventive proverbs that it glittered. Nollywood few years back produced a flick to reincarnate his legend on screen. It was the story about a wise man who lived in Somolu, one of the highly populated cities in Lagos State. In a spectacular show of wisdom, he sold the only vehicle he had and procured a bicycle for his itinerant business of thrift collection called Esusu (Esusu was the old system of banking where a man takes daily contribution from people in their homes, offices and especially market squares and at the end of the month returns their savings upon their request). He would go riding to his many customers, take their daily contribution and without any reference to his log book, recount all their savings. Those who ventured to argue with him became awestruck at his phenomenal recollection of statistical details when he opened his record. His mental acuity became a chorus everybody loved to sing in family circles and public discussions. Everyone craved his friendship. Anyone who showed a flicker of wisdom desired to be associated with his name. So, it became fashionable to laud a wise man, “Ori e pe bi Alajo Somolu to ta motor ra keke”, meaning your brain has a measure of Alajo Somolu’s intelligence who sold his bus and bought a bicycle.

Baba Alajo Somolu’s story portrays the true Nigerian spirit of industry, honesty and faithfulness. His story should also inspire courage and determination in Nigeria’s teeming young and adult population. Alphaeus Taiwo Olunaike, aka Baba Alajo Somolu, was born at a time it was an abomination for women to be delivered of more than a single baby at a time. He was born a triplet and one of his brothers had to be buried alive to avert the curse of the gods. That was in September, 1915 in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State. The second child also died. Alphaeus was lucky to be the first child, and was spared. He went through life struggling to make ends meet, especially after losing his father at a tender age. He left Isonyin, his home town for Lagos and learnt tailoring having had little formal education.

The turning point for him was when he shifted business to thrift collection. At this time, the markets were thriving and needed banking services, but could not get any help from the commercial banks. The focus of the banks was the corporate organization and upbeat individuals in the public service. Olunaike saw this as an opportunity and swiftly moved in to fill the void. He took fixed sums from market men and women every day, paid back in lump sums at the end of the month, and got less than one day’s contribution as earning for his service. He also gave loans for business development without demanding collateral. This was the origin of “People’s Banking”.

He operated in many markets, including Sangross, Baba Olosha, Ojuwoye, Awolowo, Oyingbo, Olaleye and Shomolu Market. Olunaike was trusted, loved and respected by his customers. In those days, there were no calculators or computers, yet he could tell his customers exactly what their balance was without any reference to documentation. His customers wished to be as intelligent as “Baba Alajo Shomolu’ when they boast ‘Ori mi pe bi ti Baba Alajo Somolu”, meaning I am as intelligent as the thrift collector from Somolu.

But very few know that the man whose name became a metaphor for gritting hard-work and intelligence died only a few months ago and was buried without the publicity and carnival befitting a man who modeled the elusive ideals of our world. This underscores the obvious drift and shift in our value system as a nation that now prefers decorating undeserving citizens in national colours to honouring true heroes. Mohammed Zakari illuminated this year’s national award after his name was listed for conferment with MFR for his honesty. It would not have been out of place if a man like Olunaike as popular as he was had been sought out and given national recognition for his pioneering effort and widely acclaimed industry.

I strongly recommend that to give credibility to the yearly tradition of giving national award to Nigerians who have distinguished themselves in one area or the other, the federal government may consider consulting with the grassroots and not just party chieftains. There are many more Olunaikes who deserve special recognitions. There are many more Mohammeds who may not have the benefit of media publicity. These are the people the government need to put on the centre stage as model for the new generation. A man like Olunaike in Europe or America would not only become a celebrated public figure, but a national monument students and scientists alike would be studying and researching on.

The young generation will need to learn from Baba Alajo Somolu’s industry. The late sage was able to identify a need in a despised section of society and he satisfied it. Today, many of his children who also made a living from the same trade despite their education would agree he did the right thing. Like the popular story told by Russell Conwell of Al-Hafed, a farmer who sold his field of diamond and went in search of the same pearl, but died trying, many Nigerian youths are fleeing the country in search of greener pastures when what they craved is only few metres away.  They don’t get rich, they die trying because they fail to realize the wisdom in Lee Iacocca’s words who said: ‘we are continuously faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems’. What we need is to unravel it and seek a way to provide the solution. Education may not teach that, but nature does as it did to Olunaike, the famed Baba Alajo Somolu who sold his bus to buy a bicycle not because he was interested in cycling or preparing for the Olympics, but so he could reach the distance those with cars and great education may never reach. Such a story deserves our attention as a nation. And for me, such a man deserves the place of a national hero.

PS: Pa Alphaeus Taiwo Olunaike died at 97 years of age and was buried in his home town, Isonyin Ijebu, Ogun State on Saturday, 22^nd of September, 2012.

The Press and The President

The Press and The President

Folarin Samson

The October 1^st Independence Day address of President Goodluck Jonathan, no doubt has caused a lot of embarrassment for the presidency. The fatal error has also given the opposition justifiable grounds to take on Mr. President for misinforming the Nigerian people and telling such a lie to the international community.  A cross section of Nigerians are particularly upset that despite the many cases of fraud and corruption recorded in the Jonathan’s administration, there has not been any convincing incidence of prosecution and conviction, which sufficiently evinces a lame approach to combating the corruption monster and stymies any research that portrays the country as being on the vanguard of fighting corruption. Mr. President in his Independence Day address had said:

“In its latest report, Transparency International noted that Nigeria is the second most improved country in the effort to curb corruption. We will sustain the effort in this direction with an even stronger determination to strengthen the institutions that are statutorily entrusted with the task of ending this scourge,”

After the upsurge of public criticisms occasioned by the denial of Transparency International of ever releasing such report, the Presidency was compelled to set-up an investigation committee that discovered the information was culled from a newspaper in the country. The Ministry of Information in a memo published on its website sniped critics of the address and gloated that the president’s statement was not made up but gathered from a reliable press medium. The rejoinder obviously did not have any recourse to the denial of Transparency International before hailing the statement as “notorious facts”.

At any rate, the outcome of the Ministry and its consequent resort to counter-attack, does not absolve the presidency of blame. The rule of the thumb which they failed to observe was to confirm the information from its direct source, in this case, Transparency International. Or to quote the source of the information by saying “A Nigerian newspaper recently reported ….” The speech writer in mindless uppity went directly to cite Transparency International without any verification.

A review of the supposedly cited newspaper report further confounds with gross misrepresentation and manipulation of information. The BusinessDay report of Friday, 14^th September, under the headline “FG anti-corruption initiative impacts Nigeria’s global perception” had said: “The survey on global corruption perceptions for 2011 versus 2001 showed that the third best improvement in the world was in Nigeria, with its score improving by 1.5 points. In the scoring, Nigeria follows the United States of America, which scored 2 points, while Bangladesh scored the highest by 2.3 points” Whereas the foregoing reflected third best improvement, the president’s speech indicated second. That cannot be a mistake, somebody tinkered with that report.

Again, the information was lifted from the paper without any proper investigation. The reporter had analyzed the data released by the organization and given the impression that Nigeria was doing well in its fight against corruption. It was half truth that smacked of incomplete and deceptive analysis. The writer did not report that Nigeria rated 90 out of 91 in the Corruption Perception Index of 2001 and the 1.5 point increase in ten years only put Nigeria on 143 position out of 183 countries sampled in 2011. Would Mr. President have thanked Transparency International that despite all effort to curb the corruption monster we have only been able to record 1.5 point increment in ten good years, whereas Bangladesh which rated 91 out of 91 in 2001, now rates 120 out of 183. Neighboring Rwanda is currently 49 on the same table. Could the President have been proud of this unimpressive improvement to the point of mentioning it in his national address?

In the final analysis, the reporter’s error was fixing Nigeria in the same category as the USA who primed 24^th and without presenting our degrading tabular position. The president’s error was passing off this slanted, patronizing data analysis as a direct citation of Transparency International, coupled with a slight joggle of “third best improvement” to “second most improved”, which understandably scandalized the organization into crying blue murder.

It is unfortunate that when countries like the US are celebrating the power of communication as evident in Mrs. Obama’s recent sweeping address at the US Democratic National Convention, Nigeria still has problems with simple tasks as a public address. True, President Jonathan may not be so gifted like a Winston Churchill who galvanized Britain to prosecute the Second World War even when his fellow countrymen were on the verge of surrender to Hitler. He may also not be naturally inspirational as Martin Luther King who imbued black Americans with courage to demand their right to equality. But the president’s office ought to endow him with credible professionals who could make up for such deficiency.

Remarkably, President Jonathan’s public presentations this year in two most important dates of the country have been greeted with public rage and criticisms. The Democracy day speech was described as not only too lengthy and boring, but most suffocating with its irrelevant statistical data. What shattered the speech came last and remained indelible: UNILAG ill-advised name change. Then happened the October 1^st controversial statement of “improvement” in the fight against corruption.

All these suggest there is a problem with the handlers of the President’s address. One wonders where the likes of Ruben Abati, Doyin Okupe and other media experts were when the speech was handed to the president. Those vested with the duty of crafting this important public document have shown incompetence and ideally ought to be relieved of their appointment for bringing the president into disrepute in the international community.

There is also need for Mr. President to pay more attention to his public presentations. Communication is very key in leadership because it largely affects result and as Professor of Communication at the University of Lagos, Ralph Akinfeleye said, “communication is an equivocator which can either provoke or unprovoke”. When former President Bush told Americans he would smoke out Osama Bin Laden from his hideout, Americans had heard enough and Obama who was probably in the listening audience could not but give Leon Panetta, his CIA chief urgent directive to hunt the mastermind of the 9/11 massacre. That is the power of leadership communication and with all due respect, President Jonathan rates very low in this regard.

It is equally important for speech writers, either in the public or private sectors to learn the importance of truth and accurate deployment of facts. Those scribing for public office holders especially require high level scrutiny and management of information because we live in a global village where nothing is hidden and internet search engines can easily expose any ruse created to give a false public impression.

This incident is another blow to the credibility of the Nigerian media. Writers will in the future become wary of citing Nigerian press because of misleading half truths like this. It is important editors and other gate keepers in the media increase their screen threshold to avoid a recurrence of embarrassing incidents like this. One of the basic elements of reporting taught in journalism institutions is thorough verification of information. In this age where information distortion is rampant, it is safe to check and cross check data and present figures as they are without any bias no matter how well intentioned. The strength of any media is not just in its coverage or circulation spread, but the credibility it has earned over the years through professional practice.

In the future, Mr. President may consider rehearsing his address before a simulated audience bearing in mind his multi-faceted, diverse audience of friends and foes, educated and illiterates, skeptics and optimists, indifferent and analysts, local and international. Such avenues could also help in plucking such errors as this. That is the burden he has to bear as the president of the largest black nation on earth.

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