Kunle Ajibade: What A Country!
By Reuben Abati

I spent some time on Thursday, July 17 at Jazzhole on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, attending a book reading session featuring Kunle Ajibade's book, titled What A Country!. I had been invited as one of the discussants of the book. It was the second time that this book was being presented to the public. Three weeks earlier, on the occassion of Ajibade's 50th birthday, he had invited a group of friends and bibliophiles to La Scala Restaurant where What A Country! was officially presented. It is his second book. In 2003, he had published Jailed for Life: A Reporter's Prison Notes, his account of the three and two months he spent in General Sani Abacha's gulag, as a prisoner of conscience.

He had refused to disclose the source of a story published in The News, the magazine of which he is co-founder and co-director, and on the basis of this alone, the Abacha junta had labelled him a coup plotter, and without the right of fair hearing, sentenced him to jail for life. Abacha's death, and the change of government brought relief but this was after he and others: Chris Anyanwu, George Mbah, Beko Ransome-Kuti, Olusegun Obsanjo, Musa Yar'�dua (he died in prisoon) had been unjustly imprisoned.

In his well-reasoned introduction to What A Country!, Odia Ofeimun, the gifted poet and polemicist, who now nurses the ambition of becoming Nigeria's President some day in the future, and who moderated the July 17 readings, had described What A Country! as a corrective: crtics of Ajibade's Jailed for Life had noted an absence of personal ideology, the latest book has now been written to articulate that personal ideology, but what I find here in terms of ideology is the ideology of faith, faith in the limitless possibilities of the human essence, the ideology of optimism, and humanistic idealism, the ideology of nationalism circumscribed by the temper of revolt. What A Country! is Ajibade's dialogue with the land of his birth, his interrogation of the Nigerian question, and more, his reflections on universal ideals for the making of a good society.

Reading this book, I am struck by three environmental issues. The first has to do with the fact that increasingly, Nigerian journalists are raising the bar of the possible role of the journalist as a public intellectual, by moving from mere reportage of events to the writing of books through which they put a fence round their own works as journalists, or they seek to engage in debates in the public sphere at a more extensive and organised level. It used to be the fashion that Nigerian journalists admired foreign journalists who authored books, but these days, this is also becoming an industry locally, even if with varying quality of output. Ajibade has now done two books and he is presumably working on a third, we note that he is emerging as a strong, clear and assertive voice that promises to endure in this enterprise.

I also note the style that Ajibade has adopted in presenting his book to the public. Ordinarily, a book presentation, better known as book launching, is a festival of sorts in Nigeria; it is the equivalent of an owambe party in most cases, where money is sprayed and deep pockets launch the book with millions of money. The only problem with events of this nature is that if care is not taken, the book, the main subject of the occassion, is pushed to the background as the Master of Ceremony, conspiring with the Chairman, struggles to get chief launchers, guests of honour etc to part with fat cheques. I recall one particularly memorable incident where I was book reviewer, and there was a birthday event going on simultaneously, and I was told even before I started the review that I should not bore the audience with too much grammar; if I could do it in less than five minutes, the organisers would be eternally grateful because they did not want people who were going to donate money to leave the hall in the course of something called book review.

I grabbed the microphone and tried to fight back. It didn't help. In presenting his book to the public, Ajibade has chosen to place emphasis on the book itself, on the ideas contained therein. This is an important gesture, in a country where so many books still get published, but after the ceremony of launching, very few people actually read those books, and those who try to do so and discuss ideas are advised not to bore others. It is one of the paradoxes of our land, that very few Nigerians are interested in ideas. Knowledge is the fertiliser of human progress but Nigerians are voting with their hands, feet and mind for ignorance.

There isn't what can be called a reading culture; even those who pretend to be educated show greater gift for gossip, blackmail and abuse. Each time a book reading session is organised, it is therefore so refreshing. But even then few persons show up. The Ajibade event was scheduled to start at 4 pm. But two hours later, we had fewer than twenty persons in Jazzhole, Kunle Tejuoso's bookstore which also doubles as cafe and cultural rendezvous. If Ajibade had organised a big party, with the book as a footnote, there would have been a crowd.

My third point, before returning to the book proper is that this is a well-made book: the grammage of the paper, the design of the cover, the editing and proof-reading ( I spotted one spelling error and only one wrong word use). The author and the publishers present before us a book that can meet even the most exacting requirements of book publishers anywhere in the world. Many books are being published in Nigeria every year, but too many of these books are made for the local audience in terms of the technical quality of presentation. Nigerian book publishers complain about the challenges of economic depression and the explosion of artisanal publishing entreprise and the vanity press, but the point is to be made that a book is in a real sense, a commodity. It has to be well-packaged for it to attract a potential buyer/reader's attention. The economics of the effort is as important as the content. What A Country! passes this test.

The critical engagement with the text at Jazzhole on July 17, was fortuitously preceded by an ironic twist of sequence, which has now proved to be sub-textual and affirmatory. While we were still waiting for more persons to arrive, we suddenly heard a loud crash outside, on Awolowo street. The event was right at our doorstep, and the author, Kunle Ajibade was a character in the unfolding drama. A white Toyota Sienna car, coming from the Falomo end of Awolowo Road had gone off course and crashed into two cars in front of Jazzhole. One of the affected cars belonged to Kunle Ajibade, and it suffered greater damage, although the other car that was pushed onto the main road following the impact of the crash had actually been parked behind it.

The offending car went straight between the other car, a four-wheel drive belonging to an Embassy, bypassed an electric pole, and ripped off its own front end, and the rear of Ajibade's Toyota Avensis, rear lights severed and scattered on the floor, the car itself hedged precariously on the gutter. At the moment, Ajibade's two sons: Folarinwa and Mayowa who had been with their mother, inside Jazzhole had gone into their father's car to pick up something or play a game (I saw the younger one with a Playstation II). If there had been no other car to hold the impact of the assault, the Toyota Sienna would have crashed directly into Ajibade's car and the story could have been different. It was a busy hour, but the driver of the Toyota Sienna, a young man, with his trouser sitting far away from his waist (it is called sagging) had been pushing the car, which had no registartion number at high speed. He showed no contrition at all. He was so unruly Ajibade had to plead with him to calm down.

When asked: where is your driver's licence? His response was: "Can't you see that this is a new car? Am I supposed to carry a driver's licence when driving a new car? You see a new car like this, you are asking for licence? My licence is at home." Ajibade's driver tried to challenge him, but he shot back angrily: "Don't talk to me like that. Do you think I am a driver? I am not a driver for your information. Don't let me get angry with you." All through, he strutted about arrogantly, until the police arrived. It turned out that the car belonged to the young man's mother, Femi, that is his name, and he had been asked to go down the road to fill the tank with fuel. The car had only just been bought, and indeed the car dealer was inside the car with him. One could only soak in the entire incident, something familiar and typical here, and scream: What A Country!

Incidentally, it is this same lawlessness, this arrogance of the Nigerian leadership and social elite, the unruliness, the lack of civility of the followership, the uncertainty of life in Nigeria, the insecurity, the wanton disregard for law and order, the unending crises in the lives of the people, that forms the substance of Ajibade's What A Country! The focus is on a country that is a state in retreat, a nation of missed opportunities and failed potentials, a land and a people blessed with natural and material resources which they have failed to aggregate for progress and development. ` Ajibade poses the same recurrent question: why are we so blessed and yet so cursed? On page 96, he writes pointedly: "Many of us have been asking: is this what we went to jail for? What has our entire struggle come to? Is it just a mere clearing of path for another set of murderers and looters? Right now, a cloud of despair hangs over our country. There is so much insecurity everywhere. Assassinations of key political personalities are rife all over Nigeria. An army of jobless youths roam our streets. Many of the country's private businesses are crumbling. And in the Niger Delta, the fire rages on without a solution."

This theme is further fleshed out in the last chapter of the book titled What Exactly is Good Governance? in which Ajibade deals at great length with the ommissions, the crazy commissions in Nigerian history, the contradictions that have stalled progress, the problematic quotidian reality and the devaluation of human value. He is angry, insouciant and unsparing. He contrasts for example two types of leadership: Rudolph Guilliani's heroism in New York on September 11, 2001, when he led the people to deal with the agony of terrorism on American soil, and former President Obasanjo's crude arrogance in Lagos, Nigeria, on January 27, 2002, when he went to the Ikeja cantonment where exploding bombs had wreaked havoc and tragedy in the barracks and in the city of Lagos only to tell those who looked up to him for emotional support: "Look, I am not supposed to be here.?" The author not only covers the failure of leadership, he provides in a preceding chapter titled "� People in Dire Need: Visual Representations", telling photographs, to convey in colour, an imagic dimension of the Nigerian crisis: poverty, plane crashes, crisis of transportation, corruption, environmental degradation, protest and rebellion. And martyrdom.

But in spite of the problems that he identifies and the anguish that he expresses, Ajibade neither regrets his own sacrifice nor does he despair. His ideology is one of optimism, of faith that Nigeria can still become a country of the people's dreams. He blames the people for their acquiescence and challenges them to use adversity to call upon the gold within and seek to make a difference by resisting all forms of oppression and negative values. The author blames both the leadership and the people for the present sorry pass but he believes that a people-oriented, welfarist, democratic arrangement in which the values of freedom and order are preserved, jobs are cretaed for the people, the law prevails, would help to make a difference. But these are familiar recommendations. How can this be achieved? The author is not so forthcoming on such specifics. Who are the Nigerians who will create the new order? Will they come from Mars or Venus? How can we create new leaders and nurture them? What shall we do about the Nigerian people and their attitudes?

Ajibade's optimism in spite of all that he has seen and experienced may also not be shared by many Nigerians: there are too many of our compatriots who are opting out of Nigeria, and seeking a new life elsewhere, there is a critical population of Nigerians in diaspora who do not know Nigeria and many never know Nigeria at all: the children of Nigerian economic refugees in diaspora, whose roots are here, but for whom Nigeria may forever be an abstraction. They may never return.

The values that Ajibade presents as arguments in the later part of the book, are expressed through other voices in the earlier parts in tributes to Beko Ransome Kuti, and Dele Giwa, essays on Gunter Grass, and Wole Soyinka and the Nigerian media, and interviews with Salman Rushdie and John Kufuor, the Ghanaian President. There are parts of this book that are autobiographical, particularly in Beko:What A Country! and As We Gather in Barcelona but Ajibade only uses his experiences to illustrate higher values and the context of his own preferences are unmistakable: writing, literature, journalism, politics, democratic governance and protest. He identifies through the icons that he celebrates what should be the reponsibility of civil society, and of the citizen in society and of literature and journalism.

There is an iconisation process within the text: Beko Ransome-Kuti as an exemplar of the committed and self-sacrificing champion of progressive ideals, Dele Giwa and his brand of courageous journalism and advice to other journalists, his heroism as well, Wole Soyinka's progressive, radical politics and his critique of journalism and interventions in societal progress, Gunter Grass and Salman Rushdie on freedom and functionalist art, Ajibade's other icons include Bill Clinton, Jawarhalal Nehru, Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyerere, Obafemi Awolowo, Aminu Kano, Michael Okpara and Lee Kuan Yew.

The focus on professionalism and ethics in journalistic practice which recurs in this book are well-taken, but often times, the expectations in this repect seem supernatural in definition. Ghanaian President John Kufuor is overtly diplomatic in excusing the failings of Nigerian leaders in comparison to Ghanaian leaders. The observed difference is not one of population and size as he alleges, but in the content of his own depositions.

In the discussions that followed, Sam Omatseye talked about the surrealism of freedom and the growth of Nigeria into a vast, unattractive prison, Babafemi Ojudu talked about social decadence especially among the youths, and the failure of the generation next, Ayo Obe drew attention to the need for Nigerians to stay at home and build their own mousetraps like the Chinese. Kunle Ajibade's What A Country!, essentially a collection of past writings, which together, form a fine thematic and polemical whole, is a challenge, and a call to action.

Robot  Villager

# 1 Ajibade's optimism in spite of all that he has seen and experienced may also not be shared by many N...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 20.07.2008 08:24

dele26  Villager

# 2 "Can't you see that this is a new car? Am I supposed to carry a driver's licence when driving a new car? You see a new car like this, you are asking for licence? My licence is at home. He obviously does not know the difference between a driver's licence and a road tax President Obasanjo's crude arrogance in Lagos, Nigeria, on January 27, 2002, when he went to the Ikeja cantonment where exploding bombs had wreaked havoc and tragedy in the barracks and in the city of Lagos only to tell those who looked up to him for emotional support: "Look, I am not supposed to be here.?" He was supposed to be on pounded yam, egusi soup, and a bottle of Guinness while his people mourn. I grew up believing that elders have common sense and wisdom There is a critical population of Nigerians in diaspora who do not know Nigeria and many never know Nigeria at all: the children of Nigerian economic refugees in diaspora, whose roots are here, but for whom Nigeria may forever be an abstraction. They may never return. Most Nigerians in Diaspora dislike the forsaken country so much that their corpses will refuse been buried in Nigeria when they die Posted by dele26| 20.07.2008 14:39

dapxin  Villager

# 3 I thought the Guardian should have at least ended this with a bit of info on how/where to buy/get the book.... Does anyone know ? Posted by dapxin| 20.07.2008 18:33

OSIBINAEBI  Villager

# 4 =dele26;4295072697>Most Nigerians in Diaspora dislike the forsaken country so much that their corpses will refuse been buried in Nigeria when they die Speak for yourself bro, home is home to many,and will proudly go back Posted by OSIBINAEBI| 20.07.2008 20:41

i-go-better  Villager

# 5 =Robot;4295072618>Ajibade's optimism in spite of all that he has seen and experienced may also not be shared by many N...Read the full article. "He contrasts for example two types of leadership: Rudolph Guilliani's heroism in New York on September 11, 2001, when he led the people to deal with the agony of terrorism on American soil, and former President Obasanjo's crude arrogance in Lagos, Nigeria, on January 27, 2002, when he went to the Ikeja cantonment where exploding bombs had wreaked havoc and tragedy in the barracks and in the city of Lagos only to tell those who looked up to him for emotional support: "Look, I am not supposed to be here.?" Do you call that arrogance? Hmmm! what a culpable misnomer! Arrogance has more positive side to it than negative; the negative side of it is only tangential and situational. The LION is arrogant and why not; the ELEPHANT is arrogant and why not. Nobody made them what they are and nobody can change them. But an "ELECTED" leader and president of a country whose subjects (those who elected him) were dying avoidably in their hundreds who made that comment is not arrogant... there is no perfect word to discribe him. Posted by i-go-better| 21.07.2008 06:54

delemajek  Villager

# 6 R.A, how can i get a copy of Ajibade's improved work Biko? Someone has suggested though that the book should have been titled: Nigeria, Not a Country! Posted by delemajek| 21.07.2008 07:07

Badejo  JJC

# 7 Mr Abati Sorry o, dont you think that apart from a few people like the author, there is hardly any serious journalism in Nigeria. We do not see investigative journalism where the newspapers for example will consider an issue and will not relent until there is a good conclusion to it. What I have seen is most of the newspapers carrying the praise-singing adverts for 3rd rated Governors/politicians on their birthdays without shame often with serious grammatical errors. And apart from the constant Obasanjo bashing, shouldn't the newspapers present a good case, say for housing the homeless and stay with it until the government gives in on this. I admire people like Mr Ajibade and I'm thankful that his book presentation did not turn into a tragedy, I however have serious reservations about the media's interest in actively alleviating the problems of the common man through serious journalism. Posted by Badejo| 21.07.2008 18:00

dflint08  JJC

# 8 I love to be positive about Naija. I hope we will eventually wake up to the fact that if the country will ever be great we will all have to make it happen. The present crop of leaders may have failed to realise the much opportunity given to them to make a difference but for the few who are giving their best like Kunle Ajibade; we look up to you as role models. I like to let you know we are watching and hope to follow your foot steps accordingly. Posted by dflint08| 22.07.2008 05:08

Dewdrops  Villager

# 9 =Robot;4295072618>Ajibade's optimism in spite of all that he has seen and experienced may also not be shared by many N...Read the full article. In the discussions that followed, Sam Omatseye talked about the surrealism of freedom and the growth of Nigeria into a vast, unattractive prison, Babafemi Ojudu talked about social decadence especially among the youths, and the failure of the generation next, Ayo Obe drew attention to the need for Nigerians to stay at home and build their own mousetraps like the Chinese. Kunle Ajibade's What A Country!, essentially a collection of past writings, which together, form a fine thematic and polemical whole, is a challenge, and a call to action. If Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala ever goes back, then I will perhaps contemplate on "returning" at the age of 70. That will be highly negotiable.:D Till then. . . .not in life and definitely not in death!:cool: I just don't like the idea of running around Nigeria without the use of "panty shields" I have become accustomed to. Or the dreary fact of using my hands to wash my undies everyday and hanging them in the hot sun----like most ladies do in Nigeria, only for house boys to sniff at as their "fetish"! Argggggggggggggh! Very irritating I swear! Maintaining personal hygiene without constant electricity and adequate plumbing is quite a challage. I have to wait for menopause also for I cannot have a period in Nigeria for the simple fact that I cannot dispose my feminine supplies adequateley without some stray dogs or rodent dragging my "personal" business out on the street for all to see in the middle of the night. Since most of the refuse at the back of most houses usually find themselves in the front of the house by day break. That would really break my heart. Or like some do. . .start a fire and burn those things while stinking up the place with the deadly fumes! Or store the bloody things in a bag for days in your closet till you are going on a far away journey and dispose them in the faraway bushes. Sheeeeeeeeeeeesh! :lol: Moreover, I rarely go out in Nigeria because there are no public conveniences and I am damn to old to lift up my skirt and scuttle behind bushes to take a piss or a sh*t! I could go on and on but I am sure I have made my point! :cool: _________________________ _________________________ =dele26;4295072697> Most Nigerians in Diaspora dislike the forsaken country so much that their corpses will refuse been buried in Nigeria when they die Even angels from heaven will not entice my corpse to be deposited in Nigeria if I die. That is not a country if anyone has ever had the privilege of living in one and observing how human being behave. Nigeria is a "game reserve" not a country please. Only exotic animals live within its boundaries!:D Not only has God forsaken the place, the devil has also washed his hands and feet off that area after failing to help it! Posted by Dewdrops| 22.07.2008 16:55

Anambra Movement  Villager

# 10 Dewdrop, please when last did you visit nigeria? Your comment says alot about your class. You seem to have this unimaginable picture of my beloved country. For the record, I am relocating to Nigeria from London because: 1.) Nigeria is home and am proud to be a Nigerian. 2.) Nigerian economy/African economy is one the fastest growing economy despite our incompetent leaders. 3.) it takes "ONE" person like DR DORA AKUNYILI, SOLUDO to make a difference. I want to contribute my quota in developing the country. As someone with knowledge of healthcare delivery in UK, I suggest that you have your back up i.e. enough money because when you are old, your beloved system will treat you like sh*t. 90% of elderly patients in western world die in mysery, depression as their family ship them to nursing homes and move on. Posted by Anambra Movement| 22.07.2008 23:04

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