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No number of photo opportunities
between President Goodluck Jonathan and militant leaders from the Niger
Delta can persuade Nigerians that the Movement for the Emancipation of
the Niger Delta (MEND) had no hand in the killings that occurred in
Abuja on Independence Day. It does not really matter if Dokubo Asari
and his fellow militants shake the president’s hand thousands of times
for the cameras. The limited information available to Nigerians,
including the claim of responsibility for the bombings, points to MEND
as the perpetrators.

Prior to the tragic events in Abuja,
MEND was the only organisation in the country that had resorted to
bombings in this way, including in Warri a few months ago at an amnesty
conference organized by Vanguard newspaper. A few hours before
explosions rocked the venue, they issued an advance warning to the
public and accepted responsibility once the bombs had gone off. This
was the same scenario that played itself out in Abuja Oct. 1, with one
important difference – our security services bungled badly, and 16
people paid with their lives for that negligence.

Mr. Jonathan only made things worse
with his hasty and ill-advised decision to exonerate MEND for the crime
committed in Abuja. The perception of the president was too quick on
the draw has not been helped by the accusation made by Henry Okah, a
reputed arms dealer and prominent MEND leader, who claims an aide of
the president wanted him to blame northern politicians for the carnage.
The deep distrust that already exists between the different regions in
this country was further fuelled by Okah’s claims.

Taken together, the statements by both
Mr. Jonathan and Mr. Okah have provoked northern political leaders into
trenchant, at times unrestrained, lambasting of the president. Some
have called for his resignation. Others have gone so far as to threaten
him with impeachment.

The president’s defenders have argued,
weakly, that he didn’t do anything wrong. His aides and political
associates have made vague claims that, by virtue of his position, the
president surely was privy to information that led him to preemptively
proclaim MEND not guilty of the cold-blooded murder of innocents.

And this is the crux of the matter. If
the president does indeed have this sort of information, he has a
responsibility to share it with the rest of us.

We are disappointed, to say the least,
that the president inserted himself so publicly into a criminal
incident before law enforcement authorities even had a chance to
conduct investigations. It is not the president’s place to pronounce on
the guilt or innocence of anyone. That is why we have police, the State
Security Service, and a plethora of other agencies charged with
preventing crime and enforcing the law. All that we require of our
president, in the immediate aftermath of such traumatic events as the
bloody bombings in Abuja on Oct. 1, are words of comfort to the
survivors and their families, reassurance for an anxious public, and a
promise to ensure that law enforcement agencies brought perpetrators to
book.

While the president needlessly opened
himself to the increasingly shrill accusations from his political
opponents, among others, we are dismayed that his most severe critics
also are sounding more like opportunists who have given little thought
to the dangers inherent in the heating up of the political environment.
Our fragile country can ill afford the tensions that have risen so
dramatically in recent days.

The president must act quickly to lower
the temperature. If he has any information that would support his
initial assertion, then he has an obligation to share it with us. But
if, as we suspect, his initial reaction arose more out of panic than
any desire to mislead, then he should address Nigerians forthrightly
about the general insecurity in the land, from sectarian convulsions in
Jos to widespread kidnappings in eastern Nigeria to Boko Haram killings
in the northeast to the violent upheaval in the Niger Delta. He must
put the recent bombings in context for us all and outline the urgent
steps he plans on taking right away to protect life and limb.

Only this kind of honesty will begin to restore some of the confidence that has been lost.

I recently called
an older friend who lives in America and he confided in me that he was
having a serious bout of midlife crisis. I was alarmed and caught off
guard. I did not know how to respond to him really, apart from an
“eiya” and, “it is well, my brother, God is in control and all will be
alright.” I almost launched into a serious ministration of, “that is
not your portion in…” before my credit ran out.

I did not feel bad
until later because I was used to the way we Nigerians respond to
crises. Instead of taking a problem very seriously and finding a
lasting practical solution to it, we go: “It is well, God is in
control,” while we completely forget the aspect of the Bible that says
God helps those that help themselves or faith without work is like
policy writing without implementation.

Anyway, I am sure
my friend was as pissed as hell on the other side of the world, because
in America those are not the kind of words you expect to hear when in a
serious crisis. Moreover I had also blown my chances of understanding
the phenomenon known as midlife crisis and how it affects the Nigerian
man. I will tell you why.

Two years ago, I
walked up to a very senior editor in my office who was my senior
special adviser in matters of adulthood and I asked her, “what exactly
is midlife crisis?” I was just curious then, not that I had attained
the midlife age or started losing my hair and having to budget for
Rogaine.

I was just groping
for a topic to write about in my column that day; a topic that would be
useful to my older readers, something like a corporate social
responsibility or community service to the elderly.

Now, you may be
wondering why I picked on this particular senior editor for such a
sensitive topic, when I knew full well that she was not a
psychotherapist or a shrink of any type? Well, I already told you she
was my senior special adviser, which means if I decided to log on to a
MEND email account and check to see if I have an email from Abuja or to
send out a few emails to editors in media houses just to say hello to,
she would be the one to advise me.

And I did not want
to ask a fellow man who would explain it away flippantly by telling me
that midlife crisis is like the phantom Gbomo Jomo, it does not exist.
So that is why I chose the regally beautiful editor who then looked at
me through her rimmed glasses and gave a hoot of excitable laughter. I
waited for her to recover from her laughter, though I did not see what
was funny about my question. When she eventually recovered, all red
faced, she said calmly, which is how she talks, “Victor when you get
there you will know it. Don’t worry.”

Now why I am
regretting not taking my friend seriously enough to ask a few questions
and see if he would explain it better than my editor who wants me to
find out by myself? I have always had the notion that midlife crisis is
a Western disease, that Nigerians do not suffer this crisis but I guess
I was wrong. The symptoms manifest in different ways.

But I should have
taken the time to ask my older friend if he felt like buying a red
convertible Corvette or a shining Harley Davidson motorbike that barks
like a police dog? Or does he feel like just spending his family
savings on a large cake that is bigger than a farm hut in my village on
his 50th birthday, or does he want to change his plastic dustbins to
gold plated buckets? Does he feel like blowing his children’s college
savings or his retirement funds on a hot yellow Mazarati? Does he feel
people around him are lying to him and misdirecting him to make
decisions he would under no circumstances have made? Does he feel
depressed and underachieving? Or does he feel like blowing up things
just to attract attention to himself? I lost that chance of asking him
any of these questions.

So out of curiosity again, I did what I should have done two years
ago, I went online to research midlife crisis. Some of the findings
almost blew me out of my seat. Believe me or not, Nigeria as a nation
is going through a bad case of midlife crisis right now, the symptoms
are just too obvious. A large number of our current leaders are also of
the age bracket that suffers midlife crises. So since there is nothing
I can do about it, I will go the usual route – it is well and God is in
control. Or should I pick up the phone and alert the presidency?

Several months ago,
as a direct result of the seeming futility of constantly complaining
about the state of affairs in my dear nation, I swore off commenting on
Nigerian political affairs. I also decided that the celebration of
independence was not for me.

I made these
decisions based on my assessment of the Nigerian nation. Having looked
back at my own life and the achievements therein and discovered that
those failures that stared me in the face were not necessarily personal
failures, but the effects of the continuous propagation of governments
that place little faith in the accomplishments of its future leaders.

It would not do to
start recalling the myriad of ways that the leadership of the Nigerian
state has got it wrong over the years, as those instances have already
been documented and commented upon by better-informed people. However,
I think it would serve this commentary some measure of service if I
talk about why I decided to break my silence and again comment on the
Nigerian question.

I broke my silence
because of the audacity for violence, which seems to be the new mantra
of an organisation for which I used to harbour some form of sympathy.

As I write this,
the apology tendered by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger
Delta (MEND) is circulating in the media. I do not much care for the
fact that MEND’S belated apology casts doubt on the efficiency of our
security forces as presently constituted, especially as the
announcement by MEND effectively counters President Goodluck Jonathan’s
assertion that the bomb blast that caused the death of several
Nigerians and cast a dark pall over the independence day celebrations,
was not of MEND’S doing.

I agree with those
who want to give the president the benefit of doubt and read between
the lines of what many called his defence of a violent organisation
that claims to represent his home region.

I base my argument
on common sense, especially since the deaths of fellow Nigerians would
serve the organisation little. A bomb exploding away from their home
region, at a time when they can be said to have control of the Nigerian
state through the office of the president, is nothing short of shooting
themselves in the foot.

As it stands now,
by attacking Abuja and killing innocent Nigerians who have nothing to
do with the situation that the Niger Delta found itself in, MEND has
proven beyond all reasonable doubt that it is nothing more than a
terrorist organisation and should be treated as such.

For an organisation
that effectively gifted its catchment area the much sought after
presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (some might disagree, but
it is my belief that Jonathan became the vice president as a result of
the activities of the militants and the need to calm nerves in the
Niger Delta), MEND acted very much like the clueless winner.

I know the reasons
given for the attack were viable grounds for dissent, but using bombs
to stress a point was taking it too far. MEND should have followed the
examples of those of us who chose to boycott the event or the example
of the majority of Nigerian commoners whose apathy to the whole wastage
made it seem like an elitist Halloween party.

MEND and other
militant groups have cried about neglect loudly for a long time. They
have spread the news of the degradation of the Niger Delta for years;
they have brought the pain of the citizens of the Niger Delta closer to
us, but in doing this they have also got rich and bold, too bold if one
might say so. In their quest to push their agenda, which I used to
subscribe to, MEND has emboldened itself to begin seeing us as
acceptable collateral damage. To this I am forced to say no. No, we
cannot be collateral damage for an issue that we have no hand in.

By making us
collateral damage, MEND is forcing us to take sides, forcing us to
strike out at them as we seek to defend ourselves. MEND, by killing us,
is effectively making itself the enemy of the Nigerian people, not just
the government, especially now that it has all the reasons in the world
to keep the peace.

MEND’s desire to
shift the blame of the deaths to the Nigerian security agencies, which
it claims did not respond to its calls to evacuate the areas around
Eagle Square cuts less cheese than a knife made of air. The fact is,
they set the bombs, primed them to go off at a certain time. Had they
not wanted the bombs to go off and cause casualties they would have
told the authorities the location of the bombs, and kept the goodwill
of Nigerians. MEND messed up big time and deserves little or no
sympathy from Nigerians.

As it stands, my
heart goes out to President Jonathan, for surely the question would be
asked; “how come he can’t keep his boys in check? “

Fred Nwonwu is the online Editor for Business in Africa magazine and culture and travel editor for Side View magazine

It is an
extraordinary development that today, the North, or its so-called
leaders are the ones insisting that it is the turn of the region to
produce the president. The question is, which North? North as a viable,
coherent geo-political entity, or one where a few individuals usurp
power and resources to the exclusion of the majority who wallow in
poverty and illiteracy?

In 1955, the
Western Region introduced free education. Today, the products of that
policy and their offspring dominate education, the civil service,
business, financial services, medicine, law and a host of other
professions in Nigeria and beyond. Today, which of the region’s 19
states has a free education policy?

Today, a single
state in the South has more school enrolments than an entire
geo-political zone in the North. A primary school in Kaduna State
(Rafin-Pa) has 300 pupils who share two classes. A chalk line on the
floor serves as demarcation for the different classes. It has two
teachers, including the headmaster.

There are more
private universities in a state in the South than all federal, state
and private universities in a Northern zone. There is only one state
owned university of science and technology in the entire North. A
single university in the South graduates more students than several in
the North.

These examples from the education sector are symbolic of the problems with the North.

Fifty years ago,
the region was battling to catch up with the rest of the country.
Today, the gap is wider than ever. All economic indicators point to the
North as the poorest region in Nigeria.

Healthcare is not
any better. Most states in the South have more doctors than any zone in
the North. Recently, a volunteer group organised a medical caravan to
assist a small village with basic medical services, only to be
confronted with many patients requiring surgery and other more serious
medical attention from surrounding settlements. Government healthcare
has never reached the majority of people, so they die from preventable,
treatable diseases that should have been long eradicated.

Cholera, dysentery,
meningitis, polio and other preventable diseases are prevalent in the
region, which has stalled the elimination of polio from Africa. Bill
Gates had to spend $750 million to fight diseases in our backyards. Our
zoning champions would rather keep their dollars in Switzerland, Dubai,
Hong Kong and South Africa.

Agriculture, the
region’s great area of comparative advantage and mainstay of its
economy remains subsistence and dependent on the vagaries of weather.
This is in spite of the many dams and huge tracts of fertile land the
region possesses. The Sahara desert is inching downwards every year.
Entire settlements have been engulfed. Water sources are drying up
rapidly; deforestation is exposing millions of people to the elements
and making the region vulnerable to drought, flooding and other
environmental catastrophes.

Similarly, overuse
has reduced the fertility and productivity of many farmlands. Rapid
population expansion further puts pressure on existing resources, while
our armies of unemployed youth troop to towns and cities in search of
non-existing opportunities. Our zoning crusaders would rather compete
about who lives in a more expensive part of London, the French Riviera
or Dubai.

Of course, many
Northerners have worked and succeeded in many fields, but most of those
fighting for zoning are people who have served in one public position
or another and used their positions to divert public funds for personal
use.

Corruption is
central to the region’s poverty and maladministration. The stolen funds
are used to buy homes in Europe, America and the Middle East.

This state of mind
is not a prerogative of the Hausa/ Fulani/ Muslim elite. It cuts across
all ethnic groups and religions in the North. The thought process is
same: grab as much money as possible; open foreign bank accounts; buy
estates in Europe and America, with a stopover in Dubai. And never
forget to visit Mecca or Jerusalem every year to feign religiosity.

Zoning is an issue
the elite use to preserve their interests. Regardless of who is in
power, the majority of Northerners (regardless of ethnicity or
religion) have nothing to show. Our leaders systematically narrow the
economic and political space to the exclusion of the majority, while
illiteracy, poverty, unemployment, insecurity and ethno-religious
crises continue to tear the North apart.

On one hand, I wish the South presented a more inspired choice as
candidate for president. On the other, when the likes of Babangida,
Atiku and Gusau insist that the presidency is zoned to the North, you
wonder, which North? Either way, I do not see the president Nigeria
needs from this motley group.