Thursday, June 30, 2016

Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Elechi Amadi Joins The Ancestors

The Numinous as a Human Embodiment in Elechi Amadi's The Concubine

 My favorite scene from the Elechi Amadi's The Concubine is one of the best pieces of writing I have encountered on the numinous  in reference to an African context. The concept of the 'numinous' was made famous by Rudolph Otto in his book Das Heilige, translated as the Idea of the Holy, in which he tried to identify the essence of religion, an essence he described as the 'numinous', supporting his arguments with rich quotes from both Christian and Asian religious texts. A quote from Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language sums up very well Otto's presentation of this concept as referring to ' an invisible but majestic presence that inspires both dread and fascination and constitutes the non-rational element of vital religion'. A fantastic ideational construction that may be better appreciated in comparison with Immanuel Kant's analysis of the Sublime in his Critique of Judgement and which has proven invaluable in helping me conceptualize my experience with the potencies of sacred trees in Benin, a centre of tree veneration, in relation to encounters with other natural and human made sacred spaces in Nigeria and England.

In my reading about African spiritualities, I dont often encounter descriptions of the manner in which the spiritual enables encounter with aspects of existence that cannot be accounted for in terms of readily accessible perception, as different from descriptions of beliefs and practices, rather than of effects, the latter being  what I am referring to. Along those lines, Amadi'as description of the central male character's encounter with a priest of Amadioha, I think, is magnificent in projecting a conception of the numinous similar to but different from that of Otto,

'Emenike noticed that the old men averted their faces when the priest appeared to glance at any one of them; so he decided to stare back whenever the priest's glance at any one of them; so he decided to stare back whenever the priest's glance fell on him. His opportunity came before the thought was through his mind. He gazed at the priest and immediately regretted that he had done so, for in the priest's face he read mild reproach, pity, awe, power, wisdom, love, life and -- yes, he was sure -- death. In a fraction of a second he relived his past life. In turns he felt deep affection for the priest and a desire to embrace him, and nauseating repulsion, which made him want to scream with disgust. He felt the cold grip of despair, and the hollow sensation which precedes a great ca- lamity; he felt a sickening nostalgia for an indistinct place he was sure he had never been t'



This recalling an experience one could have in looking at the faces of people steeped in particular spiritual disciplines, an experience that recalls for me, but still very different from,  that I had when meeting Soyinka for the first time, alone in his office at then University of Ife, a look, which according to Esiri Dafiewhare emerges when one has "immersed oneself in certain numinous streams'.

Such an account does not not imply that the person being described  is not a fallible human being like anyone else, or that the person is so admired they are beyond criticism but that they seem to have committed themselves to certain practices that enable an enhancement in particular directions, of the non-verbal impressions human beings generate.

thanks

toyin





On Fri, Jul 1, 2016 at 7:04 AM, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <oluwakaidara1@gmail.com> wrote:
May God bring the great artist to himself and take best care of those he left behind.

Great thanks for this, Ken-

'It was not grounded in responding to European misguided views; the world returned to Africa itself as the center, with its glories and its problems. That's why I resist all the time the need to continually read African thought as though it were still responding to colonialism'.

Along similar lines, I do my best not to refer to any period in African cultural production as post-colonial., even though I recognize the historical value of the term. I prefer the terms 'classical' and 'post-classical' bcs I see creators inspired by Africa adapting ideas and strategies from a particular cultural architecture to create new developments in a later stage of growth. I dont see why Africa has to be continually framed in terms of its colonial experience.

In the name of examining artistic legacies, though, I would like to look briefly at IBK's claim that 'He was a great writer in the league of Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe (his Government College Umuahia fellow alumnus) but as he did not have the huge backing of a resourced Yoruba or Igbo group behind him (and his role in the Nigerian civil war), he did not get as much acclaim as he deserved'.

 I have not looked closely at the social and economic contexts that contributed to Soyinka and Achebe's  visibility, but the invocation of ethnic identifications as being responsible for that visibility looks to me be historically inaccurate, since Soyinka's visibility began with his co- founding of Pyrates at the University of Ibadan, where Achebe also was, continued with the regard in which he was held by his teacher at Leeds, Wilson Knight, one of the more prominent Shakespearean scholars of the 20th century, who openly expressed what he had learnt from Soyinka when the latter was  his student-from what I recall,  and to whom Soyinka dedicated his iconic essay "The Fourth  Stage", continued with his time at the Royal Court Theater and his coming to Nigeria to conduct research on classical Nigerian drama through a British Council fellowship, foreshadowing the international character  of his career, from a later fellowship at Cambridge to directing the international theatre institute in Paris, to giving the BCC Reith lectures, among other developments. I have serious doubts about ethnic components as being central to Soyinka's visibility.

As for Achebe, whose career I know less about, I get the impression that the power of Things Fall Apart did not need any special group to help promote. The work will always speak for itself. Achebe, like Soyinka, was also very active outside writing, Achebe with the founding of the journal Okike and his role in the civil war and Soyinka with editing Transition and his role in Nigerian politics, from the radio station hijack episode to his civil war incarceration to so many other engagements, so people must notice him.

On the claim that Amadi is as great a writer as Soyinka and Achebe, I wonder how valid  that assertion is, though I have read only one piece of writing my Amadi, The Concubine, while I have read more from Achebe and Soyinka.

Achebe and Soyinka are simply unusually great writers. That fact cant be denied them. As for Soyinka, equaling Soyinka's achievement would be quite significant, on account of his quality of achievement across various genres.
If Okigbo had lived Soyinka would have had a ready contender. Soyinka, Achebe and Okogbo were primarily cultural visualizers and they did it particularly well, in their distinctive ways.

I'll read the rest of Amadi, particularly in relation to my favorite scene from the Concubine, one of the best pieces of writing I have encountered on the numinous  in reference to an African context.

thanks

toyin
















 





On Thu, Jun 30, 2016 at 5:52 PM, Kenneth Harrow <harrow@msu.edu> wrote:

Elechi Amadi. I would have loved to have met him. In some ways his novels were the most widely taught African novels of all. I know that is heresy with many who know little about the actual teaching of afr lit, and imagine it is all wrapt up in one novel, Things Fall Apart. But the novels that I think were steadily taught in all the African universities I've known were The Great Ponds, The Concubine, Sunset in Biafra, The Slave. His particularly readable texts were historical realism, no doubt inspired by the same impulse that guided Achebe, which was to present, and preserve, the world of an Igbo Africa prior to the coming of the Europeans, and that meant not only showing the conflict, to give interest to his accounts, but like achebe to glorify the culture and language, thought, of what he was reconstituting as "traditional Africa."  In short he, and the writers of that first generation, established a bedrock for our understanding of African literature, against which the subsequent generations could then react. My own belief is that it was that reading of his works, of his generation's work, that created what we can call the tradition of African literature. It was not grounded in responding to European misguided views; the world returned to Africa itself as the center, with its glories and its problems. That's why I resist all the time the need to continually read African thought as though it were still responding to colonialism. That was the past; we are past it ; and elechi amadi, along with achebe, Soyinka, ngugi, laye, kane—that whole generation of writers of the 50s and 60s—made it possible. The fathers, and along with aidoo, nwapa, etc—the mothers, of African literature. How appropriate that we salute his passing with the encomium coming from the 3d generation's spokesperson, osofisan.

ken

 

From: <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com>
Reply-To: <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Date: Thursday, June 30, 2016 at 11:38 AM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Elechi Amadi Joins The Ancestors

 

Dayan ha emet

 

Elechi Amadi , another illustrious and unassuming Ikwerre elder gone, but not his literary legacy.

May his soul rest in perfect peace.



On Thursday, 30 June 2016 16:14:28 UTC+2, ibk wrote:

PRESS RELEASE:

ADIEU, ELECHI.

I called him Elechi, simply and without formality, as many did, because he was that kind of man. In spite of his age and achievements, he had no airs. In his company you laughed easily; and you learned, because he was full of yarns and wisdom. Certainly I was proud to be his friend, this man whose books were among the ones that taught us how to write. His prose was crisp, his narrative style brisk, compelling; he knew the art of total seduction through the manipulation of suggestion and suspense; he was thoroughly familiar with traditional lore and the world of mystery, magic and fabulation. You enter his fiction, and you are instantly gripped!. Even as you turn the last page, you find yourself king for more... And now he too is gone. No one of course was born to live forever, and the consolation is that Elechi at least stayed long enough with us to a full and ripe age. Still, his departure is painful, for it marks another sad loss from that fine generation of pioneers whose writing established and defined our contemporary literature, and gave our culture a refining ethical direction that, for better or for worse, the younger ones have since jettisoned. Adieu then, humble hero and superb story-teller! May you have a smooth ride back home to the ancestors!

FEMI OSOFISAN.

June 30 2016.


 

 

_________________________

Ibukunolu Alao Babajide (IBK)

 

On 30 June 2016 at 11:38, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi...@gmail.com> wrote:

Ace story teller, Elechi Amadi has just joined the ancestors. He will be greatly missed.

CAO.

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Posted by at No comments:

Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Elechi Amadi Joins The Ancestors

May God bring the great artist to himself and take best care of those he left behind.

Great thanks for this, Ken-

'It was not grounded in responding to European misguided views; the world returned to Africa itself as the center, with its glories and its problems. That's why I resist all the time the need to continually read African thought as though it were still responding to colonialism'.

Along similar lines, I do my best not to refer to any period in African cultural production as post-colonial., even though I recognize the historical value of the term. I prefer the terms 'classical' and 'post-classical' bcs I see creators inspired by Africa adapting ideas and strategies from a particular cultural architecture to create new developments in a later stage of growth. I dont see why Africa has to be continually framed in terms of its colonial experience.

In the name of examining artistic legacies, though, I would like to look briefly at IBK's claim that 'He was a great writer in the league of Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe (his Government College Umuahia fellow alumnus) but as he did not have the huge backing of a resourced Yoruba or Igbo group behind him (and his role in the Nigerian civil war), he did not get as much acclaim as he deserved'.

 I have not looked closely at the social and economic contexts that contributed to Soyinka and Achebe's  visibility, but the invocation of ethnic identifications as being responsible for that visibility looks to me be historically inaccurate, since Soyinka's visibility began with his co- founding of Pyrates at the University of Ibadan, where Achebe also was, continued with the regard in which he was held by his teacher at Leeds, Wilson Knight, one of the more prominent Shakespearean scholars of the 20th century, who openly expressed what he had learnt from Soyinka when the latter was  his student-from what I recall,  and to whom Soyinka dedicated his iconic essay "The Fourth  Stage", continued with his time at the Royal Court Theater and his coming to Nigeria to conduct research on classical Nigerian drama through a British Council fellowship, foreshadowing the international character  of his career, from a later fellowship at Cambridge to directing the international theatre institute in Paris, to giving the BCC Reith lectures, among other developments. I have serious doubts about ethnic components as being central to Soyinka's visibility.

As for Achebe, whose career I know less about, I get the impression that the power of Things Fall Apart did not need any special group to help promote. The work will always speak for itself. Achebe, like Soyinka, was also very active outside writing, Achebe with the founding of the journal Okike and his role in the civil war and Soyinka with editing Transition and his role in Nigerian politics, from the radio station hijack episode to his civil war incarceration to so many other engagements, so people must notice him.

On the claim that Amadi is as great a writer as Soyinka and Achebe, I wonder how valid  that assertion is, though I have read only one piece of writing my Amadi, The Concubine, while I have read more from Achebe and Soyinka.

Achebe and Soyinka are simply unusually great writers. That fact cant be denied them. As for Soyinka, equaling Soyinka's achievement would be quite significant, on account of his quality of achievement across various genres.
If Okigbo had lived Soyinka would have had a ready contender. Soyinka, Achebe and Okogbo were primarily cultural visualizers and they did it particularly well, in their distinctive ways.

I'll read the rest of Amadi, particularly in relation to my favorite scene from the Concubine, one of the best pieces of writing I have encountered on the numinous  in reference to an African context.

thanks

toyin
















 





On Thu, Jun 30, 2016 at 5:52 PM, Kenneth Harrow <harrow@msu.edu> wrote:

Elechi Amadi. I would have loved to have met him. In some ways his novels were the most widely taught African novels of all. I know that is heresy with many who know little about the actual teaching of afr lit, and imagine it is all wrapt up in one novel, Things Fall Apart. But the novels that I think were steadily taught in all the African universities I've known were The Great Ponds, The Concubine, Sunset in Biafra, The Slave. His particularly readable texts were historical realism, no doubt inspired by the same impulse that guided Achebe, which was to present, and preserve, the world of an Igbo Africa prior to the coming of the Europeans, and that meant not only showing the conflict, to give interest to his accounts, but like achebe to glorify the culture and language, thought, of what he was reconstituting as "traditional Africa."  In short he, and the writers of that first generation, established a bedrock for our understanding of African literature, against which the subsequent generations could then react. My own belief is that it was that reading of his works, of his generation's work, that created what we can call the tradition of African literature. It was not grounded in responding to European misguided views; the world returned to Africa itself as the center, with its glories and its problems. That's why I resist all the time the need to continually read African thought as though it were still responding to colonialism. That was the past; we are past it ; and elechi amadi, along with achebe, Soyinka, ngugi, laye, kane—that whole generation of writers of the 50s and 60s—made it possible. The fathers, and along with aidoo, nwapa, etc—the mothers, of African literature. How appropriate that we salute his passing with the encomium coming from the 3d generation's spokesperson, osofisan.

ken

 

From: <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com>
Reply-To: <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Date: Thursday, June 30, 2016 at 11:38 AM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Elechi Amadi Joins The Ancestors

 

Dayan ha emet

 

Elechi Amadi , another illustrious and unassuming Ikwerre elder gone, but not his literary legacy.

May his soul rest in perfect peace.



On Thursday, 30 June 2016 16:14:28 UTC+2, ibk wrote:

PRESS RELEASE:

ADIEU, ELECHI.

I called him Elechi, simply and without formality, as many did, because he was that kind of man. In spite of his age and achievements, he had no airs. In his company you laughed easily; and you learned, because he was full of yarns and wisdom. Certainly I was proud to be his friend, this man whose books were among the ones that taught us how to write. His prose was crisp, his narrative style brisk, compelling; he knew the art of total seduction through the manipulation of suggestion and suspense; he was thoroughly familiar with traditional lore and the world of mystery, magic and fabulation. You enter his fiction, and you are instantly gripped!. Even as you turn the last page, you find yourself king for more... And now he too is gone. No one of course was born to live forever, and the consolation is that Elechi at least stayed long enough with us to a full and ripe age. Still, his departure is painful, for it marks another sad loss from that fine generation of pioneers whose writing established and defined our contemporary literature, and gave our culture a refining ethical direction that, for better or for worse, the younger ones have since jettisoned. Adieu then, humble hero and superb story-teller! May you have a smooth ride back home to the ancestors!

FEMI OSOFISAN.

June 30 2016.


 

 

_________________________

Ibukunolu Alao Babajide (IBK)

 

On 30 June 2016 at 11:38, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi...@gmail.com> wrote:

Ace story teller, Elechi Amadi has just joined the ancestors. He will be greatly missed.

CAO.

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Posted by at No comments:

Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Fw: prof olukotun's coloum

Maybe maybe. Today Britain, formerly 5th largest economy in the world, has slipped behind france. As fallen behind the frogs, thanks to their idiocy. The pound is 133, not 150. That counts a lot when you have to buy things from abroad.

Ftse isn’t everything.

But that’s not the real thing: the break-up was an attack on cosmopolitanism,  in favor of both isolationism and racism. That’s what I mourn.

ken

 

From: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com>
Reply-To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Date: Thursday, June 30, 2016 at 8:14 PM
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Fw: prof olukotun's coloum

 

After all the forecasts  of economic doom and gloom, today's good news is that FTSE 100 hits 10-month high as Mark Carney signals Bank of England will cut interest rates after Brexit

 



On Friday, 1 July 2016 01:48:21 UTC+2, ayo_ol...@yahoo.com wrote:

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

From: Ibini Olaide <ibini_...@yahoo.com>

Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2016 05:37:37 +0000 (UTC)

Subject: prof olukotun's coloum

 

 

 

                                                                                                       BREXIT TAKEAWAYS FOR NIGERIA

                                                                                                                      AYO OLUKOTUN

 

"The backtracking by Mr Johnson (former Mayor of London) and his allies has exposed the venality and cynicism of their campaign- unfortunately for Britain, far too late"

New York Times Editorial. June 28, 2016.

     

     Defying the sombre predictions of the bookmakers and the dire warnings of global financial institutions and world leaders, the United Kingdom, in a historic referendum last week voted to opt out of the European Union. As known, the political and economic fall-outs of what is still an unfolding debacle has been momentous. They include the resignation of the Prime Minister, David Cameron, who will however hang on as lameduck until October, financial tremors travelling well beyond the United Kingdom as the Pound dropped to its lowest level in 30 years, and unprecedented national soul searching in the wake of what has been termed a national nervous breakdown. Meanwhile, analysts are examining the statistics of voting capturing divisions between London which voted to stay in the EU and the rest of the country which voted to dump it, between England which overwhelmingly voted to exit and Scotland as well as Northern Ireland which opted for the EU, between the younger population which cast their lot with the Union and the older strata which voted for britain to go it alone.

       But overshadowing all these and the ominous possibilities of the break up of the UK, many are raising the troubling question of how a country reputed for its conservatism and prudence got itself into what Roger Cohen, Op-ed writer with the New York Times describes as "a collosal leap in the dark". One of the possible answers pregnant with lessons for younger democracies like Nigeria is indicated by the opening quote, sourced from the editorial opinion of wednesday in the New York Times regarding the role of politicians such as Boris Johnson, London's former mayor and Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party.    

      These politicians, one of whom may well be the next Prime Minister, riding on tabloid sensationalism fed the voting population with exaggerations and outright lies from which they are now hastily backtracking. For example, Johnson in the heat of the campaign, claimed that Brexit will save the money which he put at 350million pounds a week that Britain paid to the EU and spend it on the National Health Insurance Scheme and other social services. It turned out that the actual value of Britain's contribution is 150million pounds a week. Johnson and Farage have since denied making such claims. What is the lesson here? Electorates in Nigeria and elsewhere should be extremely wary of the inflated and exaggerated rhetoric of politicians who can easily eat their words and promises when trouble or disaster strikes. Here in Nigeria, the jury is still out concerning what and what the ruling All Progressive Congress promised to do for the Nigerian electorate. The result of this is a predictable crisis of rising expectations, which even if the economy were up and running could not be fulfilled. Hence, Brexit teaches us to scrutinize and interrogate our politicians and political parties regarding the promises they load us with when hunting for our votes.

      The other lesson our political class can draw from Brexit is the ease and civility with which Cameron bowed out of office as a matter of principle, having staked his career on a referendum which a more thoughtful politician could have avoided. Cameron could have invented a thousand and one excuses to hang on to office but as Anthony Akinola observed in The Punch (June 27, 2016), resignations on principle are very much a part of British political culture. If our struggling democracy must overcome its arrested growth, our politicians must elevate political practice to the point where they will not employ do or die battles to gain or to remain in office. Nigerian politics is today a far cry from what it was when Chief Obafemi Awolowo voluntarily resigned from the apex civilian postion of the Federal Minister of Finance and Vice Chairman of the Federal Executive Council under the Military government of General Yakubu Gowon. Nigeria is waiting for the advent of the beautiful ones who will reclaim the moral high ground for our retarded political culture.

        The British media considering their descent to degraded discourse, filled with racial slurs and hysteria concerning immigrants cannot escape blame.This is at least one ocassion when the media were absent from their assigned roles as the nation's educator and inspirational storehouse of edifying ideas.The Nigerian media, which by the way harbour an increasing share of thoughtful professionals and opinion moulders should draw a lesson from the scandalously low ebb to which the British media cascaded. They should do this with the awareness that the Nigerian media which are older than the Nigerian state have often acted as arbiters in times of national crises. Of course, they had their ignoble moments as well, such as when they became the unabashed megaphones of rival political gladiators but overall, the media, the quality media especially have often acted as agenda setters and moral compasses for a nation often adrift. That is the way to go at a time when Nigeria faces an existential battle for her very soul.

      There is importantly the issue of renegotiating Nigeria through the holding of referendums even if, as in the case of Spain and Italy, they are not legally binding. In the wake of Brexit, several commentators have raised the question whether our democracy should not include the holding of referendums on such matters as the right of our nationalities to determine their future. Such persons pointing to the example of Scotland which, although voted in 2014 to stay in the UK, is currently contemplating the holding of another referendum which will allow it to go it alone and become a part of the European Union as her citizens indicated last week. The argument here is that the consent of citizens in a multinational union cannot be taken for granted but should be constantly renewed and sought. This view is in consonance with that of Professor Wole Soyinka who argued in The Punch on wednesday that Nigeria's sovereignity is not cast in stone and iron but is eminently negotiable. Of course, there are doubts whether, given the current state of our elections we can pull off referendums without the usual hitches, violence and inconclusiveness. That however is not a good enough reason not to try. 

      As an alternative however, it is suggested that President Muhammadu Buhari listens to the increasingly vehement opinions of our elder statesmen who are suggesting the revalidation of our besieged federalism through revisiting the key recommendations of the 2014 national conference. As Soyinka put it in The Punch on wednesday " The confab report that came under jonathan is even more superior to the one I participated in as a member of PRONACO..The recommendations strike me as workable, practical and infact, as answering some of the anxieties of this nation". Without doubt therefore, one of our takeaways from Brexit is to address the resentments of the constituent parts and nationalities that make up Nigeria, using as basis the major resolutions and recommendations of the 2014 National Conference.

--
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USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Fw: prof olukotun's coloum

After all the forecasts  of economic doom and gloom, today's good news is that FTSE 100 hits 10-month high as Mark Carney signals Bank of England will cut interest rates after Brexit




On Friday, 1 July 2016 01:48:21 UTC+2, ayo_ol...@yahoo.com wrote:
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
From: Ibini Olaide <ibini_...@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2016 05:37:37 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: prof olukotun's coloum




                                                                                                       BREXIT TAKEAWAYS FOR NIGERIA
                                                                                                                      AYO OLUKOTUN

"The backtracking by Mr Johnson (former Mayor of London) and his allies has exposed the venality and cynicism of their campaign- unfortunately for Britain, far too late"
New York Times Editorial. June 28, 2016.
     
     Defying the sombre predictions of the bookmakers and the dire warnings of global financial institutions and world leaders, the United Kingdom, in a historic referendum last week voted to opt out of the European Union. As known, the political and economic fall-outs of what is still an unfolding debacle has been momentous. They include the resignation of the Prime Minister, David Cameron, who will however hang on as lameduck until October, financial tremors travelling well beyond the United Kingdom as the Pound dropped to its lowest level in 30 years, and unprecedented national soul searching in the wake of what has been termed a national nervous breakdown. Meanwhile, analysts are examining the statistics of voting capturing divisions between London which voted to stay in the EU and the rest of the country which voted to dump it, between England which overwhelmingly voted to exit and Scotland as well as Northern Ireland which opted for the EU, between the younger population which cast their lot with the Union and the older strata which voted for britain to go it alone.
       But overshadowing all these and the ominous possibilities of the break up of the UK, many are raising the troubling question of how a country reputed for its conservatism and prudence got itself into what Roger Cohen, Op-ed writer with the New York Times describes as "a collosal leap in the dark". One of the possible answers pregnant with lessons for younger democracies like Nigeria is indicated by the opening quote, sourced from the editorial opinion of wednesday in the New York Times regarding the role of politicians such as Boris Johnson, London's former mayor and Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party.    
      These politicians, one of whom may well be the next Prime Minister, riding on tabloid sensationalism fed the voting population with exaggerations and outright lies from which they are now hastily backtracking. For example, Johnson in the heat of the campaign, claimed that Brexit will save the money which he put at 350million pounds a week that Britain paid to the EU and spend it on the National Health Insurance Scheme and other social services. It turned out that the actual value of Britain's contribution is 150million pounds a week. Johnson and Farage have since denied making such claims. What is the lesson here? Electorates in Nigeria and elsewhere should be extremely wary of the inflated and exaggerated rhetoric of politicians who can easily eat their words and promises when trouble or disaster strikes. Here in Nigeria, the jury is still out concerning what and what the ruling All Progressive Congress promised to do for the Nigerian electorate. The result of this is a predictable crisis of rising expectations, which even if the economy were up and running could not be fulfilled. Hence, Brexit teaches us to scrutinize and interrogate our politicians and political parties regarding the promises they load us with when hunting for our votes.
      The other lesson our political class can draw from Brexit is the ease and civility with which Cameron bowed out of office as a matter of principle, having staked his career on a referendum which a more thoughtful politician could have avoided. Cameron could have invented a thousand and one excuses to hang on to office but as Anthony Akinola observed in The Punch (June 27, 2016), resignations on principle are very much a part of British political culture. If our struggling democracy must overcome its arrested growth, our politicians must elevate political practice to the point where they will not employ do or die battles to gain or to remain in office. Nigerian politics is today a far cry from what it was when Chief Obafemi Awolowo voluntarily resigned from the apex civilian postion of the Federal Minister of Finance and Vice Chairman of the Federal Executive Council under the Military government of General Yakubu Gowon. Nigeria is waiting for the advent of the beautiful ones who will reclaim the moral high ground for our retarded political culture.
        The British media considering their descent to degraded discourse, filled with racial slurs and hysteria concerning immigrants cannot escape blame.This is at least one ocassion when the media were absent from their assigned roles as the nation's educator and inspirational storehouse of edifying ideas.The Nigerian media, which by the way harbour an increasing share of thoughtful professionals and opinion moulders should draw a lesson from the scandalously low ebb to which the British media cascaded. They should do this with the awareness that the Nigerian media which are older than the Nigerian state have often acted as arbiters in times of national crises. Of course, they had their ignoble moments as well, such as when they became the unabashed megaphones of rival political gladiators but overall, the media, the quality media especially have often acted as agenda setters and moral compasses for a nation often adrift. That is the way to go at a time when Nigeria faces an existential battle for her very soul.
      There is importantly the issue of renegotiating Nigeria through the holding of referendums even if, as in the case of Spain and Italy, they are not legally binding. In the wake of Brexit, several commentators have raised the question whether our democracy should not include the holding of referendums on such matters as the right of our nationalities to determine their future. Such persons pointing to the example of Scotland which, although voted in 2014 to stay in the UK, is currently contemplating the holding of another referendum which will allow it to go it alone and become a part of the European Union as her citizens indicated last week. The argument here is that the consent of citizens in a multinational union cannot be taken for granted but should be constantly renewed and sought. This view is in consonance with that of Professor Wole Soyinka who argued in The Punch on wednesday that Nigeria's sovereignity is not cast in stone and iron but is eminently negotiable. Of course, there are doubts whether, given the current state of our elections we can pull off referendums without the usual hitches, violence and inconclusiveness. That however is not a good enough reason not to try. 
      As an alternative however, it is suggested that President Muhammadu Buhari listens to the increasingly vehement opinions of our elder statesmen who are suggesting the revalidation of our besieged federalism through revisiting the key recommendations of the 2014 national conference. As Soyinka put it in The Punch on wednesday " The confab report that came under jonathan is even more superior to the one I participated in as a member of PRONACO..The recommendations strike me as workable, practical and infact, as answering some of the anxieties of this nation". Without doubt therefore, one of our takeaways from Brexit is to address the resentments of the constituent parts and nationalities that make up Nigeria, using as basis the major resolutions and recommendations of the 2014 National Conference.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
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USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd : The Trump Campaign Just Became Literature

The Trump Campaign Just Became Literature :

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has a new short story: a Virginia Woolf-inflected ode to Melania Trump.


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USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Elechi Amadi Joins The Ancestors

 "-----and gave our culture a refining ethical direction that, for better or for worse, the younger ones have since jettisoned" (Femi Osofisan)

 

I totally disagree. It is either Osofisan does not read the writings of the "younger ones" or reads very little of them.  I also totally disagree with Professor Harrow's "In some ways his novels were the most widely taught African novels of all". Harrow's "in some ways" phrase is undefined.

 

CAO.



On Thursday, 30 June 2016 11:15:17 UTC+1, Chidi Anthony Opara wrote:

Ace story teller, Elechi Amadi has just joined the ancestors. He will be greatly missed.

CAO.

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USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fw: prof olukotun's coloum

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
From: Ibini Olaide <ibini_olaide@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2016 05:37:37 +0000 (UTC)
To: ayo_olukotun@yahoo.com<ayo_olukotun@yahoo.com>
ReplyTo: "ibini_olaide@yahoo.com" <ibini_olaide@yahoo.com>
Subject: prof olukotun's coloum




                                                                                                       BREXIT TAKEAWAYS FOR NIGERIA
                                                                                                                      AYO OLUKOTUN

"The backtracking by Mr Johnson (former Mayor of London) and his allies has exposed the venality and cynicism of their campaign- unfortunately for Britain, far too late"
New York Times Editorial. June 28, 2016.
     
     Defying the sombre predictions of the bookmakers and the dire warnings of global financial institutions and world leaders, the United Kingdom, in a historic referendum last week voted to opt out of the European Union. As known, the political and economic fall-outs of what is still an unfolding debacle has been momentous. They include the resignation of the Prime Minister, David Cameron, who will however hang on as lameduck until October, financial tremors travelling well beyond the United Kingdom as the Pound dropped to its lowest level in 30 years, and unprecedented national soul searching in the wake of what has been termed a national nervous breakdown. Meanwhile, analysts are examining the statistics of voting capturing divisions between London which voted to stay in the EU and the rest of the country which voted to dump it, between England which overwhelmingly voted to exit and Scotland as well as Northern Ireland which opted for the EU, between the younger population which cast their lot with the Union and the older strata which voted for britain to go it alone.
       But overshadowing all these and the ominous possibilities of the break up of the UK, many are raising the troubling question of how a country reputed for its conservatism and prudence got itself into what Roger Cohen, Op-ed writer with the New York Times describes as "a collosal leap in the dark". One of the possible answers pregnant with lessons for younger democracies like Nigeria is indicated by the opening quote, sourced from the editorial opinion of wednesday in the New York Times regarding the role of politicians such as Boris Johnson, London's former mayor and Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party.    
      These politicians, one of whom may well be the next Prime Minister, riding on tabloid sensationalism fed the voting population with exaggerations and outright lies from which they are now hastily backtracking. For example, Johnson in the heat of the campaign, claimed that Brexit will save the money which he put at 350million pounds a week that Britain paid to the EU and spend it on the National Health Insurance Scheme and other social services. It turned out that the actual value of Britain's contribution is 150million pounds a week. Johnson and Farage have since denied making such claims. What is the lesson here? Electorates in Nigeria and elsewhere should be extremely wary of the inflated and exaggerated rhetoric of politicians who can easily eat their words and promises when trouble or disaster strikes. Here in Nigeria, the jury is still out concerning what and what the ruling All Progressive Congress promised to do for the Nigerian electorate. The result of this is a predictable crisis of rising expectations, which even if the economy were up and running could not be fulfilled. Hence, Brexit teaches us to scrutinize and interrogate our politicians and political parties regarding the promises they load us with when hunting for our votes.
      The other lesson our political class can draw from Brexit is the ease and civility with which Cameron bowed out of office as a matter of principle, having staked his career on a referendum which a more thoughtful politician could have avoided. Cameron could have invented a thousand and one excuses to hang on to office but as Anthony Akinola observed in The Punch (June 27, 2016), resignations on principle are very much a part of British political culture. If our struggling democracy must overcome its arrested growth, our politicians must elevate political practice to the point where they will not employ do or die battles to gain or to remain in office. Nigerian politics is today a far cry from what it was when Chief Obafemi Awolowo voluntarily resigned from the apex civilian postion of the Federal Minister of Finance and Vice Chairman of the Federal Executive Council under the Military government of General Yakubu Gowon. Nigeria is waiting for the advent of the beautiful ones who will reclaim the moral high ground for our retarded political culture.
        The British media considering their descent to degraded discourse, filled with racial slurs and hysteria concerning immigrants cannot escape blame.This is at least one ocassion when the media were absent from their assigned roles as the nation's educator and inspirational storehouse of edifying ideas.The Nigerian media, which by the way harbour an increasing share of thoughtful professionals and opinion moulders should draw a lesson from the scandalously low ebb to which the British media cascaded. They should do this with the awareness that the Nigerian media which are older than the Nigerian state have often acted as arbiters in times of national crises. Of course, they had their ignoble moments as well, such as when they became the unabashed megaphones of rival political gladiators but overall, the media, the quality media especially have often acted as agenda setters and moral compasses for a nation often adrift. That is the way to go at a time when Nigeria faces an existential battle for her very soul.
      There is importantly the issue of renegotiating Nigeria through the holding of referendums even if, as in the case of Spain and Italy, they are not legally binding. In the wake of Brexit, several commentators have raised the question whether our democracy should not include the holding of referendums on such matters as the right of our nationalities to determine their future. Such persons pointing to the example of Scotland which, although voted in 2014 to stay in the UK, is currently contemplating the holding of another referendum which will allow it to go it alone and become a part of the European Union as her citizens indicated last week. The argument here is that the consent of citizens in a multinational union cannot be taken for granted but should be constantly renewed and sought. This view is in consonance with that of Professor Wole Soyinka who argued in The Punch on wednesday that Nigeria's sovereignity is not cast in stone and iron but is eminently negotiable. Of course, there are doubts whether, given the current state of our elections we can pull off referendums without the usual hitches, violence and inconclusiveness. That however is not a good enough reason not to try. 
      As an alternative however, it is suggested that President Muhammadu Buhari listens to the increasingly vehement opinions of our elder statesmen who are suggesting the revalidation of our besieged federalism through revisiting the key recommendations of the 2014 national conference. As Soyinka put it in The Punch on wednesday " The confab report that came under jonathan is even more superior to the one I participated in as a member of PRONACO..The recommendations strike me as workable, practical and infact, as answering some of the anxieties of this nation". Without doubt therefore, one of our takeaways from Brexit is to address the resentments of the constituent parts and nationalities that make up Nigeria, using as basis the major resolutions and recommendations of the 2014 National Conference.
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USA Africa Dialogue Series - Amadi on Achebe


Biko
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