I thank Hashem that the word is still free.
I pray to the Good Lord to please forgive me.
I pray for forgiveness, bearing in mind Obasanjo crowing
that his Merciful God would not forgive him if he ever supported Alhaji Atiku.
Eliot the Anglo-Catholic did ask the question: "After such knowledge, what forgiveness?"
I pray for forgiveness, because up till now, I haven't read most of Paul's letters, have not read the Acts of the Apostles and I still haven't found the time to read Baba Kadiri's lengthy epistle to Ogbeni Baba Obasanjo, former General in the Nigerian Army, former Military Head of State, former President of Nigeria.
When the Rev. Olusegun Obasanjo talks about forgiveness
We must not take his words lightly
He has a Ph.D. in Christian theology
I pray for forgiveness because I'm behind in my dues, - I just now got the news
from the BBC, that Bobi Wine is going to be tried for treason - for "annoying" Uganda's El Presidente Yoweri Museveni.
Mr. President's prosecution team should have no difficulty giving due flexibility and presidential latitude to the Ugandan English legal definition of "annoy" with due regard to Mr. President's sensitivity. Museveni is obviously the kind of President who is easily annoyed – and so am I, with Stella Nyanzi, but I don't think that Omoyele Sowore is being rude, although, given the current state of affairs in the Naija nation, the war against corruption, against Boko Haram and all that, I daresay Sowore was not singing the old Beatles song "Revolution" ( "But when you talk about destruction, don't you know that you can count me out ?") or indeed the Rev Bob Marley's "It takes a revolution (revolution) to make a solution" or that he should not repeat some of what Dave Dellinger said in his own defence at his trial – published as "Revolutionary nonViolence"
Even with the best of intentions, a very frustrated Sowore's thrust is surely irresponsible.
Consider Fela's Zombie
Consider Fidel (Castro) saying
"A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past."
Consider: Chidi Anthony Opara: Revolution ( Maybe, it's time to put him poetically at least on trial ?)
The Revolution will not be televised, Ojare!
Even more dangerous stuff …
In my humble opinion, or as Oxford's Chief Anthony Akinola expresses himself in this thread, "With great humility" when taking it upon himself to correct his fellow Nigerians – who after all maybe were not, are not, cannot and probably do not speak any regional dialect of West African Francophony's pidgin French – the common parlance / vernacular among our neighbours in Senegal, Cameroon, Ivory Coast etc., which could be unintelligible to Chief Akinola... No Sir, the several people who called him "severally" ( maybe of many different stripes and tribes ) were obviously speaking in the modern tongue ( speaking in tongues?), speaking an intentional/purposeful idiomatic Nigerian English, the common language of every "man of the people" - including the "posh" ones and that is a language which we are all socially equipped and sufficiently competent to fully understand/ comprehend – never mind the habitual defaults in grammar, the lipslides in pronunciation, the excruciating deviations from normal street vocabulary or the kinds of lapses that would propel or compel a Don Kperogi type to press criminal charges for violating the everyday legal fare when it comes to all that is decent about Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth's Mother tongue. As Robin Crusoe said about his Man Friday - as quoted in Coetzee's Nobel Lecture
"But to return to my new companion. I was greatly delighted with him, and made it my business to teach him everything that was proper to make him useful, handy, and helpful; but especially to make him speak, and understand me when I spoke; and he was the aptest scholar there ever was."
Just as Chief Akinola has corrected the Nigerians who what to abbreviate or replace serial by "several" so too when on the Banks of the River Niger, the Nigerian sings of Revolution, it could be that he is localizing the term. ( In the third form at our Prince of Wales School we had an English Master, a Mr. Chapman ( M.A: Cantab) - an English geezer, another one, Mr. I.E. Davies ( M.A. Cantab) a distinguished Sierra Leonean and what I remember most about that latter is that in the classroom " Indigenous Language interference " was his main claim to fame as he was very adept at identifying, recognizing and pointing out what he referred to as" localisms" and indeed, that became his nickname: "Localisms"
Offhand, we may adduce the upper-class Naija use of "severally" to this piece of indoctrination they could have received from Shakespeare's Elizabethan English, an essential part of what Derek Walcott describes as "a sound colonial education": Julius Caesar: Act 3, Scene 2
Another plebeian :
"I will hear Cassius and compare their reasons
When severally we hear them rendered."
Sorry about the winding preamble, the fact is, one cannot help but agree wholeheartedly with Chief Akinola's last four paragraphs, even if those paragraphs are slightly at variance with my own temporary conclusion which is, that Fela doesn't have to be resurrected: Fela lives, Fela can sing the blues because Fela has paid his dues. In my most humble opinion like every true artist, Fela = Revolution
------------ Forwarded message ---------
From: Anthony Akinola <anthony.a.akinola@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Aug 7, 2019 at 4:48 PM
Subject: THE INALIENABLE RIGHT TO PROTEST.
To: Anthony Akinola <anthony.a.akinola@gmail.com>
4:3THE INALIENABLE RIGHT TO PROTEST
By Anthony Akinola
I was just about writing this article when someone from Nigeria phoned to say he called me "severally" yesterday. I pretended not to understand what he meant until he said he called me five times. "Severally" has been the posh word in town, especially for those who would want to save words by not saying "several times". You could hear actors and actresses say it over and over again, even supposedly educated academics may not be an exception. With great humility, may I tell whoever cares to know that "severally" does not substitute for several times and a generation of Nigerians working on their English Language should not be confused by those who seek to rewrite the language.
Now to the very important subject of public protest I seek to write about. Except in an autocracy or dictatorship, the right of the citizen to protest against those in authority is both constitutional and democratic. It is inalienable in that the state cannot take it away from them. Protest represents a feedback to the activities or policies of those who govern. The concerns of individuals outlined during a protest should constitute a new input into the process of governance. Such a new input could generate another feedback that resolves a potential crisis situation.
However, what constitutes the inalienable right of one group could also infringe on the rights of another. Your right to free speech, free association, or free anything could encroach on the rights of another if not regulated by the state. In a civilised political environment, those with an interest in protesting whatever to them is an injustice seeks permission to stage their protest.
In Britain, for instance, those who seek to protest and would be marching through the streets apply to the police for permission. The police would demand for the names and addresses of the organisers, and could decide on the time frame and the route the protest can take. Police presence is inevitable lest what is assumed to be a peaceful protest degenerates into something else.
There is a world of difference between a protest and a revolution. The latter connotes the involvement of violence and an outcome that could possibly overturn an established order. Those who have opted for a revolution do not have to seek permission from the state, not least because what they have set out to achieve is anti-state. In this regard, it would be naive to assume that state authorities, in the name of democratic expression, would condone a revolution in whatever guise it presents itself. Of course, a protest can go out of hand and graduate into a revolution. Examples abound in history and that history of revolutions is one cause for political leaders, especially in highly volatile states, to be jittery and suspicious of the intentions of political activists.
The much-talked about recent attempt at a revolution or protest by Omoyele Sowore and others, might have worried those in authority for a couple of reasons. The scale of insecurity in Nigeria today is unprecedented. Not many would wish for a more chaotic environment than we already have. There are the Nnamdi Kanus of Nigeria praying fervently for the breakdown of law and order, not least because it is in such a situation that their dreams of a disintegrated Nigerian state can be achieved.
It can also be argued, just as many have done, that the protest by Sowore and his comrades, no matter how well-intended, was ill-timed. We are yet to settle into serious governance after a presidential election whose outcome is being contested. Mr. Sowore was a candidate in that election. There might be those who would assume that his intention of a revolution was to walk into the presidency via a chaotic route, having been rejected at the polls. Sowore has no history of experience in governance, at any level, quite enthusiastic in referring to a history of protests and placard carrying. I said this in one of my commentaries after the 2019 presidential election.
Be that as it may, the Buhari-led administration now has on its table a list of grievances that should not be swept under the political carpet. Issues of insecurity, unemployment., and general poverty, are more than serious issues the administration must be seen to be addressing with great urgency.. There would be no reason to keep Omoyele Sowore in detention lest the government is anxious to make a Mandela out of him. We must have rules that govern public protests, just as those in positions of authority must also respect and actualise the aspirations of well-meaning Nigerians. We are all governed by rules of engagement.
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Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
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