In Defence Of Ijaw Elders
By Reuben Abati

Here is a commentary in defence of a group of Ijaw elders, whose example ought to be recommended to other Nigerian stakeholders at the community level, as we prepare for the party primaries and the eventual emergence of candidates for the 2007 polls. According to recent newspaper reports, Ijaw traditional rulers, elders and political leaders met, the other week, at the Kiagbodo country home of the Ijaw National Leader, Chief Edwin Clark to examine the circumstances of Ijaws in Delta state in the past seven years, and particularly, the level of development in three council areas inhabited by the Delta Ijaw: Bomadi, Patani and Burutu. At the end of the meeting, the Ijaw leaders resolved that the current Chairmen in these three local councils should never entertain the idea of seeking re-election in 2007, because they have abused the opportunity they have been given to serve the people and make a difference.

Specifically, the three local council chairmen were accused of "usually living and working outside the council areas, in many cases in hotel suites, private residences, inviting principal council officers to their hotels and residence during allocations, thereby rendering the council headquarters irrelevant, killing in the process the economy of the council areas...despite advice by the elders and royal fathers". Naturally, the affected Council Chairmen have been threatening fire and brimstone, they have accused the elders of acting ultra vires, of sour grapes and greed, and so they and their supporters have rejected the elders' ruling. They insist that whether the elders like it or not, they will seek re-election in 2007.

The elders are equally adamant. They have declared that should any of these three Council Chairmen show up in 2007 as candidates, the Ijaw community of elders will invite the EFCC to come and look at their records. This is the first time that Ijaw elders in Delta will be taking a step such as this, and it may be instructive to reproduce the list of the people's representatives who took this decision on behalf of the Delta state Ijaw. They include the Chairman of the Ijaw Council of Traditional Rulers, HRH Gold Tiemo, the Ijaw National Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, Chairman of the Ijaw Council of Elders in Delta State, Brig-General Cletus Emein (rtd)., members of National and State Assemblies of Delta Ijaw origin, Ijaw political appointees, representatives of the Ijaw Peoples Forum, Chief S.O. Ubebe, Chief J. B. Ari, Chief Fred Enesha, Elder P. Z. Aginigha etc.

A certain Chief Etolor commenting further on the "banned" local council Chairmen says "they have done nothing in terms of development. They have just told you that they are sharing money only that some people did not benefit. Nothing, nothing has been done by them compared to what is happening in other places. If you know what they have received as allocation for the period we are talking about, you will be surprised..." Etolor could well have been describing other local councils in Nigeria. In my own local government for example, I only hear stories of thuggery; it is either the Chairman or the Councillors are engaged in a brawl over how council funds should be shared, or they are busy jostling for positions or testing local charms on one another... There are certain issues at play here: governance and accountability, leadership selection, the role of the community as a stakeholder in the democratic process, and the quality of Nigerian democracy.

Skeptics may be interested in asking whether the Ijaw council chairmen were given the opportunity to defend themselves at the forum where they were indicted or not. I believe that they are entitled to a fair hearing, and that question is addressed elsewhere by Chief Etolor who says the elders of the community have repeatedly called the absentee, money-wasting Council Chairmen to order. The point can also be made that the Ijaw elders may not have the powers to stop the three Chairmen from seeking re-election since in a democracy, a group of elders should not choose on behalf of the people. The only caveat to this is that the Ijaw elders can back up their declaration with voter education, they only need to confront the people, the Ijaw electorate, with the records of the three gentlemen's non-performance as alleged. But in principle, what the Ijaw elders have done is praiseworthy. Every other community in this country should take a similar step, by asking those in public positions to account for their tenure, and to use the facts as discovered as a measure of reward or sanction. It is only when the people begin to reward good performance, and sanction irresponsible conduct in public office that the level of Nigerian democracy can be raised and the power of the people affirmed.

There is no denying the fact that one of the major problems with Nigerian politics is the thinking that a public position is a route to instant wealth, and that public funds are to be shared, without any consideration for the common good. This culture of graft and primitive accumulation was inherited from the military era and in the last seven years, in spite of the efforts of the Obasanjo administration to curb official kleptomania, frightening amounts of public money continue to disappear into private pockets. Local Government Chairmen have been particularly notorious. The given assumption is that local council chairmen exist in office only for the purpose of sharing money. There are functions and duties attached to the local councils in the Nigerian Constitution, but these are also the areas of gross and astounding failure. We often tend to focus on the Presidency and the Governors in the states, but local council chairmen who are in charge of governance at the grassroots level are worse.

The Federal Ministry of Finance since 2003 has been publishing on a monthly basis, details of allocations to states and local councils in the federation. There is also a Fiscal Responsibility Bill before the National Assembly which seeks to address the problem of theft in official corridors, but alas, that Bill, and the need to deliberate on it and pass it into law has been upstaged, by the engagement of the lawmakers with issues of lesser importance. But what the publication of allocations to the states and local councils has done is that it has made it possible for groups and persons to assess the performance of their elected representatives, more objectively. I know many Nigerians who take a look at those figures and feel like weeping. Since 1999, the various states and local councils have collected more money than at any other time in Nigerian history from the Federation account. Whereas this has not translated into any marked difference in the people's circumstances, the elected officials and their supporters have been living it up.

Local council chairmen and councillors who got into politics and office as unemployed graduates and secondary school drop-outs end up in a matter of months becoming "stinkingly rich" to borrow a common Nigerian phrase. Corruption thrives, irresponsibility parades the corridors of power like a bejeweled virtue only because the people have not always asked questions. Indeed, the Nigerian people have been most accommodating of criminality in public office; something gave way in our sense of public morality the moment Nigerian communities stopped asking questions about instant and mysterious wealth and chose instead to worship anyone with cash. There is in our sub-conscious, a royalist perception of power; every public officer is a monarch of sorts, his title confers near-divine privileges, and so in our conscious moments, we tolerate the excesses of public office holders including the road-side con-artist of a few months ago, who is now the Supervising Councillor in charge of Education and one of the richest men in the community!

If the Ijaws in Delta state have woken up to the danger of decaying values, the bane of Nigerian life and society, they should be encouraged. For many other Nigerian communities, such a wake up call is also necessary. Consider for example this apocryphal story about the former Minister of Education who was sacked for giving bribe to National Assembly members to influence the budget allocation for his Ministry. When he returned to his village in the East, he was reportedly labelled a stupid man. Not because he did something wrong in some of the people's estimation, but because he allowed himself to get caught! And to worsen matters, he was caught giving bribe when he should have been collecting bribe himself... The campaign against corruption should not be reserved only for elders. The various churches and mosques which give titles to public officials and assist them with prayers should take a firm decision that they will no longer do business with any public official whose source of wealth gives a tinge of theft. Religion has served for too long as an umbrella for hollow piety. Civil society groups that are interested in voter education should audit the profiles of political office holders and help the people to unmask those who have skeletons, cobwebs and rodents in their cupboards.

When those who present themselves for leadership positions are screened by the community, conscientiously and without malice, fear or favour, we would have taken the first step towards addressing the challenge of leadership creation and succession in our land. The Ijaw leaders by moving against the three local Council Chairmen of Bomadi, Burutu and Patani have sent a strong and useful message to all other aspirants to the effect that only those who are willing and ready to serve the people will be considered fit for election. The same treatment should be extended to all aspirants who are seeking election into other positions: Governorship, Presidency, the legislature etc. Whoever has abused public office should be named and shamed, and the people must be mobilised to make an informed choice.

The Delta Ijaw leaders have taken the first step; they should therefore go to the next stage by educating the people accordingly. For if those three Chairmen defy the community, seek re-election and miraculously return to office (in Nigeria, anything is possible!), they will be under no obligation to do anything at all; they could decide to repeat the offence of absenteeism and incompetence; relocate from the hotels which the elders are complaining about, find a remote location in Europe or South Africa and run the councils under their control with the aid of the internet and Western Union money transfer! Other public office holders will reproduce the offence and it is democracy that will suffer.

And just before I end this commentary, I return to the charge by the "banned" Council Chairmen that the Ijaw elders are only looking for patronage, in other words, they want to be bribed. This is an allegation that should be taken seriously. It may be no more than a piece of blackmail, but we know (don't we?) that in many of our communities, the elders and the traditional rulers are oftentimes, the source of the same problems that we seek to address!

Landlords wake up in the morning only to find their buildings re-painted with the posters of an unknown face. The distribution of posters is disorderly; the threat to the environment is real. There should be a law regulating the use of campaign posters and items, in relation to the health of the environment. The politicians in seeking our attention are abusing the environment and generating a great amount of litter. This should be checked.

I have also spent some time looking at many of the posters on display. I am amused by their lack of creativity and ideas. It is as if most of the aspirants are more interested in beauty and fashion. And I often ask: is the forthcoming election about fashion and beauty or ideas? It is common to find one aspirant in five different carefully prepared posters, wearing different clothes, turning his or her head in different directions, posing for the camera in a manner that shows off the clothes and the dentition and in the case of the women, the headgear, the make-up and the jewellery.

If there is any message at all in the poster, it is usually, some meaningless slogan and appeal for votes. If this is going to be an election of coxcombs, then we are in more serious trouble than I had anticipated...

Robot  # 1 | 29.10.2006 01:23

In Defence Of Ijaw Elders By R...Read the full article.

Auspicious  # 2 | 29.10.2006 20:27

Auspicious: Hello! Echocious: (Hello!) Auspicious: Anybody home?!? Echocious: (Anybody home?!?) Auspicious {{Whispering..}} Na wa o. E be like say Abati tori nor sell for hia today. Echocious: (Na wa o. E be like say Abati tori nor sell for hia today.) Auspicious: Dang! He still heard me?!? Echocious: (Dang! He still heard me?!?) Auspicious: *Sighs* Make I go read this Abati article see wai nobody koment am Echocious: (Make I go read this Abati article see wai nobody koment am) Auspicious: Nna, na you biko. Echocious: (Nna, na you biko.) Auspicious.

emj  # 3 | 29.10.2006 21:22

Specifically, the three local council chairmen were accused of "usually living and working outside the council areas, in many cases in hotel suites, private residences, inviting principal council officers to their hotels and residence during allocations, thereby rendering the council headquarters irrelevant, killing in the process the economy of the council areas...despite advice by the elders and royal fathers". Naturally, the affected Council Chairmen have been threatening fire and brimstone, they have accused the elders of acting ultra vires, of sour grapes and greed, and so they and their supporters have rejected the elders' ruling. They insist that whether the elders like it or not, they will seek re-election in 2007. By the way a good and timely article Reuben........about time like i usually say we hold our representatives responsible for acts inimical to our growth/good health/dev. The elders are equally adamant. They have declared that should any of these three Council Chairmen show up in 2007 as candidates, the Ijaw community of elders will invite the EFCC to come and look at their records. This is the first time that Ijaw elders in Delta will be taking a step such as this, and it may be instructive to reproduce the list of the people's representatives who took this decision on behalf of the Delta state Ijaw. They include the Chairman of the Ijaw Council of Traditional Rulers, HRH Gold Tiemo, the Ijaw National Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, Chairman of the Ijaw Council of Elders in Delta State, Brig-General Cletus Emein (rtd)., members of National and State Assemblies of Delta Ijaw origin, Ijaw political appointees, representatives of the Ijaw Peoples Forum, Chief S.O. Ubebe, Chief J. B. Ari, Chief Fred Enesha, Elder P. Z. Aginigha etc. Halleluya.............Turquoise Revolution at last........with this type of stance, tell me the Monkey that will sneak in to steal what belongs to the people again........about time all other regions wake up from slumber ojare. About those posters, most of them are just attention seeking, dem no fit fly anywhere.......they are DOD...dead on arrival dem:cool:

Chekereke  # 4 | 31.10.2006 08:50

Dede Reuben, You must truly be an elder, because your words once again are words of wisdom. Until we the governed start evaluating our leaders and holding them accountable, we shall not make any progress in Nigeria. It has to go beyond beer and pepper soup (or cow-tail, nkwobi, isi-ewu, etc) talk, and become real community meetings, where concrete descisions and actions can be taken. We must jointly resolve "Never again"!

Afeni  # 5 | 31.10.2006 23:44

The Ijaw leaders have failed their people. All this one they are doing about banning candidates from re-running is all too little too late. With the extent these Ijaw leaders have gone into selling-out their people, I will hold no ill-feelings over an Ijaw youth that takes up arms to massacre these bastard fathers. At least the people can be assured that their royal fathers cannot betray them when they are laying in a pool of blood. :lol:

Abraxas  # 6 | 01.11.2006 03:32

Hi, Mr. Afeni! =Afeni;136725>The Ijaw leaders have failed their people. All this one they are doing about banning candidates from re-running is all too little too late. With the extent these Ijaw leaders have gone into selling-out their people, I will hold no ill-feelings over an Ijaw youth that takes up arms to massacre these bastard fathers. At least the people can be assured that their royal fathers cannot betray them when they are laying in a pool of blood. :lol: I believe you need to check, and get your facts right. The so-called "leaders" that have failed the Ijaws are their POLITICIANS (Governors, Ministers, Commissioners, state and federal legislators, local government chairpersons, etc), and NOT their traditional rulers (a.k.a. "royal fathers"), as you seem to be thinking! By the way, although two wrongs do not make a right, have you ever bothered to imagine the massively corrosively corrupting impact of Obas, High Chiefs, Otumbas et al from the South West geopolitical zone, on the Nigerian treasury, via their seemingly insatiable incestuous liaisons with Ogbeni atata, Balogun Aremu Okikiolakan Segun OBASANJO? My friend, look before you leap. Think before you yap! Muchas gracias. Don Juan Carlos ABRAXAS (III)