Last night, I happened on an interview on BBC NEWS Channel. The interviewee was a grizzled, scholarly-looking, middle-aged man of African extraction - I mean he was African from all appearances. He was commenting on the riot in Jos. The man’s accent was at first nondescript. If he was a Nigerian, then he must have been living outside the country for a considerable while, so long for his voice to have taken on a cosmopolitan timbre, the sort of inflection Wole Soyinka could easily assume on BBC or CNN.

 For the few moments I listened to the man before his name was flashed, his analysis of the riot in Jos, and by extension the political state of play in Nigeria, was as frank as it was unsparing. He spoke about how Nigeria was not so much a religious tinderbox as a dystopia perched on socio-political powder-keg.

 The man opined that the trouble in Jos was far more political than religious, that religion was only being used as a smokescreen for smouldering ferments in the highly-polluted political smoking rooms.

 The man said, with a certain amount of knowingness, that the rioters were mainly young undereducated thugs, hired apiece with wads of ‘Naira’ equivalent to 50p in British money, plied with spirits and soft drugs like marijuana, let loose on the streets of Jos to spread havoc.

 The spectacled man spoke about the ineptitude of the Nigerian security forces. He spoke about how life was cheap and dismal and Nigeria, how the rampaging trouble-makers would have no scruples about murdering women and children.

 The man lammed into Nigerian politicians, that they are no more than thieving timeservers who want to enrich themselves at the expense of their long-suffering people. Although all I have been writing here are my own words, the man actually used the word ‘steal’ when describing what our leaders do with our wealth.

 The man said the crisis would just peter out as most things in Nigeria - no police investigations, no commissions of enquiry, no inquests for the dead, that even half of the dead might not be identified, and that within a couple of weeks or so it would be business as usual, that Nigerian leaders have grown smug and callous with inaction and irresponsibility.

 The picture the man painted of Nigeria is that of a society in a shambles, a country laden, crippled, with dysfunction. You could see that if there was ever a time the man ever loved Nigeria, he had now fallen out of love with the place. And he spoke in a measured, urbane way, articulate and calm. I was transfixed where I stood. I didn’t know whether to nod in agreement with what he had said or be resentful, or begin to detest the man for passing such a damning judgement on the beloved country where I was born. 

 But I am not the soppy type, I am not a worshipper at the shrine of the Idols of the Tribe. Plus, what the man had just said about my country was not at all wide of the mark. Everything testifies to this view of Nigeria. My own ‘countrypeople’ have said worse things about their homeland. And by the way, I had cottoned on to the identity of the man on TV. He was Dr Patrick Wilmot.

 Now for those whom the name means nothing, Dr Patrick Wilmot was a Caribbean intellectual who lived in Nigeria for eighteen years. He was so Nigerianised that he even married to a Nigerian woman. Patrick Wilmot was one of the more ‘radical’ university teachers in the heyday of collegial excellence in Nigeria. Although Wilmot was not as vocal a ‘radical’ as Dr Bala Usman, he was an effective grey eminence behind the amorphous progressive movement in Nigeria. For most of the years he spent in the country, he taught Sociology in Ahmadu Bello University. 

 In 1988 his deportation from Nigeria by that greasy dictator, otherwise called Ibrahim Babangida, was a cause celebre. Babangida’s cheka-like secret service had come up with obscurely-explained charges against Wilmot and had railroaded him out of Nigeria. Although Wilmot has been living in London for years now, he still sees Nigeria as his de-facto country.

 Let’s face it, Wilmot has as much right to claim Nigeria as country as any of us, living at home or abroad. Besides being married to a Nigerian woman, he was one of the Garvey-answering diasporan Africans who had chosen to return to Africa in the 1960s. He was one of the handful who chose Nigeria - Ghana had more pulling power because of Nkrumah and because of the precedent of WEB Du Bois. Within a few years, most of those who came from the Caribbean and the Americas had voted with their feet. To put a fine point on it, Africa was a hard place to live in and comprehend - still is. But the final report written by some of the returnees was scathing. In spite of the odds, Wilmot was perhaps the only one who remained in Nigeria.

 In London, Wilmot’s interest in Nigeria has not waned. He has written extensively about the country and he dedicated his first novel to the memory of Ken Saro Wiwa. Now here is a simple conundrum. The novel is set in a country called ‘Niagra.’ The Life-President of the oil-rich country is one General with a bombastic, hyper-hyphenated, polysyllabic name - a ‘short man’ to boot, with delusions of grandeur. When I was reading the novel, I fined down the General to a siamating of the baddie duo of Babangida and Abacha. Although the novel is what lit-crits might call metafiction, with its grand tricksiness and all that, to me the gist of the whole story was Nigeria writ clever. 

 Although I was young and not quite in the position to ventilate any opinion when Wilmot ‘was disappeared’ from Nigeria in 1988, I knew even then that the military dictator, Babangida, had again violated the human rights of a world - if not a Nigerian - citizen. I think Wilmot was lucky not to be Nigerian-born, maybe he would have sat in his office in his office in Zaria one morning and would have been blown to bits while opening a parcel.

 After listening to Wilmot dissect the moribund Nigerian body politic on British TV, I had come over somewhat subdued. Even then, I wondered whether I would not have put it more bluntly if I was on the BBC seat last night. And for better or worse, at last I felt better for it that someone had come to the BBC studio to further undeceive the world about what is happening in Nigeria. A spokesperson from the Nigerian High Commission would have told a different story, a diplomatic, if dumbed-down, story.

Robot  Villager

# 1 Last night, I happened on an interview on BBC NEWS Channel. The interviewee was a grizzled, scholarly-looking, middle-aged man of African extraction - I mean he was African from all appearances. He was commenting on the riot in Jos. The man’s accent was at first nondescript. If he was a Nigerian, then he must have been living outside the country for a considerable while, so long for his voice to have taken on a cosmopolitan timbre, the sort of inflection Wole Soyinka could easily assume on BBC or CNN. ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 02.12.2008 11:33

isola  JJC

# 2 Thank you. I dont know whether to be angry, depressed or despair. But I KNOW that those who want to commit to the project of renewal in our country must NEVER despair or surrender. There are good in Nigeria, people with conscience, public-spirited, the future of this country is in their hands...but it is NOT going to be easy because of what and those arrayed on the other side. May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the people and her people Posted by isola| 02.12.2008 14:06

NWANZA  Villager

# 3 The picture the man painted of Nigeria is that of a society in a shambles, a country laden, crippled, with dysfunction. You could see that if there was ever a time the man ever loved Nigeria, he had now fallen out of love with the place. And he spoke in a measured, urbane way, articulate and calm. I was transfixed where I stood. I didn’t know whether to nod in agreement with what he had said or be resentful, or begin to detest the man for passing such a damning judgement on the beloved country where I was born. But I am not the soppy type, I am not a worshipper at the shrine of the Idols of the Tribe. Plus, what the man had just said about my country was not at all wide of the mark. Everything testifies to this view of Nigeria. My own ‘countrypeople’ have said worse things about their homeland. And by the way, I had cottoned on to the identity of the man on TV. He was Dr Patrick Wilmot. Now for those whom the name means nothing, Dr Patrick Wilmot was a Caribbean intellectual who lived in Nigeria for eighteen years. He was so Nigerianised that he even married to a Nigerian woman. Patrick Wilmot was one of the more ‘radical’ university teachers in the heyday of collegial excellence in Nigeria. Although Wilmot was not as vocal a ‘radical’ as Dr Bala Usman, he was an effective grey eminence behind the amorphous progressive movement in Nigeria. For most of the years he spent in the country, he taught Sociology in Ahmadu Bello University. In 1988 his deportation from Nigeria by that greasy dictator, otherwise called Ibrahim Babangida, was a cause celebre. Babangida’s cheka-like secret service had come up with obscurely-explained charges against Wilmot and had railroaded him out of Nigeria. Although Wilmot has been living in London for years now, he still sees Nigeria as his de-facto country. It is hard to swallow the truth about the retrogression going on in Nigeria, even as we hang on to our hopes and dreams of a better tomorrow. The fact is that our leaders are not willing to give up their comfort zones, and embrace the future. The leaders of the illiterate masses always gamble and pay with the blood of the innocent. It is a bloody price they always ready and willing pay to keep their booty. There are no industries and factories that make money as fast as can be made in cash-and –carry politics. Because they do not have a plan to boost the economy and create jobs, they use religion to stroke violence for political gain. The only thing Nigerians can do now is wait for passage of time, which in time removes the most powerful and most evil of them all. Posted by NWANZA| 02.12.2008 15:30

Africaman  JJC

# 4 Mr Nigeria lover thank you for prolonging the revelation of this man after taking too long to reveal it. May be you need to be educated on who Dr Wilmot really is that he is more knowledgeable about the decay called 'Nigeria' than you that claim to 'love your country'. This is a great man whom IBB could not kill with letter bomb so they had to deport him. The fairy tale called 'Nigeria' is being /will be told by those who are well versed on all the lies and deceptions taking place daily in the contraption called nigger-area. Nigeria's days are numbered though majority of its people continues to wallow in self deception hoping for miracle to happen to save the nation that once held great future. Posted by Africaman| 02.12.2008 15:37

emj  Villager

# 5 Now for those whom the name means nothing, Dr Patrick Wilmot was a Caribbean intellectual who lived in Nigeria for eighteen years. He was so Nigerianised that he even married to a Nigerian woman. Patrick Wilmot was one of the more ‘radical’ university teachers in the heyday of collegial excellence in Nigeria. Although Wilmot was not as vocal a ‘radical’ as Dr Bala Usman, he was an effective grey eminence behind the amorphous progressive movement in Nigeria. For most of the years he spent in the country, he taught Sociology in Ahmadu Bello University. In 1988 his deportation from Nigeria by that greasy dictator, otherwise called Ibrahim Babangida, was a cause celebre. Babangida’s cheka-like secret service had come up with obscurely-explained charges against Wilmot and had railroaded him out of Nigeria. Although Wilmot has been living in London for years now, he still sees Nigeria as his de-facto country. Patrick Wilmot was Jackbooted out of Nigeria just because he dared to state things as they are no bullshitzing...his Pedigree is not of this world...he was quite a threat and was sent packing because of all the security reports received in respect of his activities(by the gap-tooth one).:eek::p Eherm...a very effective agent of real change does not have to be Vocal.....what you say and do sets you apart from all the obviously radical ones.....thanks:arrow: Posted by emj| 02.12.2008 18:52

izonboy  Villager

# 6 The truth may be bitter but it is the truth. Who does not know that Nigeria is all what has been described in the article (quoting the interview)? Every one of us, in our little corners, we know the thieves in political offices. We hail them. At times we even accept 'dash' from them. We love them in different ways. We encourage them. We envy them. We strive to be like them. So why should we be surprised? Anybody who claims s/he is angry should tell the world whether the anger is borne out of grief for the country, denial of the truth or annoyance at the exposure. I wish PW was a Nigerian but at the same time I am glad he is not. He would have been just another loss. Posted by izonboy| 03.12.2008 06:33

nijalaw  Villager

# 7 The man said the crisis would just peter out as most things in Nigeria - no police investigations, no commissions of enquiry, no inquests for the dead, that even half of the dead might not be identified, and that within a couple of weeks or so it would be business as usual, that Nigerian leaders have grown smug and callous with inaction and irresponsibility. PW is quite right. The only headline today on the riot in Jos was how UMYA snubbed Jang the governor of Plateau state. I am sure by tomorrow nothing would be mentioned apart from some columnists & readers reactions. The greatest problem we have is that people just don't pay for their crimes in our society. Tens of thousands have been killed, double that injured, maimed & scarred for life, buildings & properties destroyed to the tunes of Billions. Yet no one has been sentenced. Rwanda even had it's criminal justice system apart from the World Court that has tried & sentenced the perpetrators of the genocide. These trials are still ongoing. We are just callous & insensitive. From Zaki Biam, Odi, Kano, Kaduna, Jos, Bauchi, Maiduguri etc the killers are just walking about free ready for the next crisis. Posted by nijalaw| 03.12.2008 06:58