By Femi Idowu
As a retired reporter, I am still somehow in the news reporting, news analysis mode anywhere I find myself. Indeed I have the nose for news- nose for news involves an understanding of news and news values and the ability to recognise a story when it comes along.
After 52 years in the profession of journalism that spans both the print and electronic media, News creation, writing,editing, reporting and presenting have become etched in my system.
I have just returned to my base in London after a six week family holiday in the United States. It was fun filled as we were with our grandchildren exploring God’s own country with them.
I also spent a weekend away in Canada with my wife along the line.
As engaged as I was with family activities, I still created quality time for political explorations. I dedicated some time to studying the unfolding developments on the American political scene.
There’s a lot going on in America that tunes my mind to Nigeria regularly.
I belong to a group of eminent Nigerians (many of them based in America) seriously interested in Nigeria’s political development, particularly with regards to good governance. I was able to meet on line with them, along with other members in other parts of the world. I was able to have more interaction with the US guys since I was in the same time zone with them while on vacation.
It is gratifying to note that even with the decadent state of the political space in Nigeria, there are Nigerians who have been genuinely blessed through the goodness bestowed on Nigeria by God via the efforts of the founding fathers of the country, and are so determined to ensure Nigeria does not get destroyed by political opportunists largely in power at almost all levels of politics in our dear country at the moment.
These are men and women of goodwill who have the genuine interest of Nigeria at heart.
They are people blessed by God and with a deep sense of gratitude and contentment. All the hard work they are engaged in, is being done free of charge.
They are Nigerians from different walks of life including Academia, Military, Media and Religion.
They are political analysts, enthusiasts with a remarkable knowledge of Nigeria. They have a clear understanding of the enormity of the task ahead to get Nigeria revamped, restructured and wrestled from the clutches of the ‘political abusers’ of the country, Political touts in government, holding the country by the jugular, ready to snuff life out of the ‘giant of Africa’. They will never succeed!
Don’t just say AMEN as I am not one of those religious rogues, religious louts, wishful thinkers parading themselves all over the country, for the sake of their belly, just for selfish reasons.
I am a Christian. I am a realist.
Somehow faith and politics have been unfortunately blended almost all over the world, including in America and Nigeria particularly.
In America, Donald Trump has gone to the ridiculous extent of bastardising the Christian Faith by ‘creating’ the God bless America bible also known as the Trump bible, a smart way of conning some so called Christians out their money. It’s simply a fund raising gimmick by Trump. Many have no doubt fallen for the bait.
I was able to more closely follow the political space in America during my holiday period and I can say it is very hot.
With the Harris/Walz emergence on the scene, the bravado of Trump has been seriously challenged. I believe God really loves America just as He loves Nigeria, that’s why the Harris/Walz ticket has come to life. A couple of months back, many people were almost concluding it would be another Trump era in America by next year.
However from what I have garnered at close quarters, things are really rapidly changing on America’s political scene but there is definitely a lot more that needs to be done to avert a Trump disaster.
Donald Trump is a very desperate rough rider. He can do anything for power. I believe also that he is broke and his desperation for the presidency has financial undertones.
Somehow as enlightened as we think the American setting is, a Trump was able to emerge and gain so much ground. Almost overturning all the democratic ideals of the country.
How did that happen. Were Americans sleeping? Were they hypnotised?
As much as I care for America for very personal reasons, in my thinking about all that is going on there, my main concern is more about Nigeria.
The two countries have a lot of similarities. They are both significantly blessed with human and natural resources. Nigeria has since copied the American presidential system and with the Nigerian factor making a significant difference in how the system is operating in Nigeria, the possibility of getting something worse than Trump at some point is apparent.
As Nigerians, should we just fold our arms and allow the country to go haywire.
In my view if many more of us can wake up to resist issues of ethnic chauvinism and all the religious nonsense that’s going on all over the place, Nigeria will be better positioned to begin to try to sort out our political issues. If we can stem the tide of polarisation along religious and ethnic lines, we would at least know that a path is being created for a better Nigeria.
When I hear some news items like the one purportedly involving the son a prominent religious leader securing a massive contract running to several billions of Naira, from a government headed by a Muslim political elite, I shudder and wonder how they blurred the religious sentiments to get that done.
What I am trying to say is that the average Nigerian needs to be sober, to be vigilant, like the Bible says, so as to avoid the possibility of being led by the nose all the time. Most of the religious and political leaders are just misleading the masses of the people.
In my career in Journalism in Nigeria, that has given me the opportunity to observe our politicians at close quarters, I have seen Muslim and Christian politicians work very closely together to support each other at critical moments. I was like a participant observer in the issues I am talking about.
As political editor for NTA Ibadan in the 70s and indeed the first political editor on Television in Nigeria I witnessed a lot. As a reporter that covered the 1978 Constituent Assembly proceedings, I saw the possibilities of people from different parts of the Country, different ethnic groups working together for the common good of Nigeria.
This is why for some of us all hope is not lost on Nigeria. We believe Nigeria can rise and shine again.
As I conclude this piece, I will share a story, real life story, that I have shared at some points before. I feel strongly to share it again as I am aware many people around now were not born then or too young to appreciate what was going on. I also believe that such stories should help in resisting politicians who want to continue to use the ethnic/religious lines to further compound the issues of Nigeria.
It all happened the year Papa Obafemi Awolowo died, 1987. I covered the funeral proceedings for NTA Ibadan..
Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a Christian was the Leader of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Alhaji Azeez Arisekola-Alao, a Muslim chieftain was a frontline leader of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). Supporters of both parties were daggers drawn , killing each other for political reasons all over the Country.
While at Ikenne, the home town of Chief Awolowo, my jaw dropped for several days at what I saw. If I was told I would have said it was a lie. That was the very very close relationship between Arisekola-Alao and the Awolowo family. There was no caucus meeting Arisekola could not attend, there was no room, from my close monitoring, that he could not access.
So in a way, I believe the misfortunes of Nigeria are not solely as a result of problems from leadership, follower-ship has a lot to work on too.
In recent times I have been so perturbed by the utterances of some individuals I had thought were reasonable, educated Nigerians, particularly on the vexed issue of ethnicity. Thoughtless statements like all Ibos should leave Lagos as they are trying to take over the city and some other unprintable stuff.
Parochial thinking never helps in any situation. Some of the obnoxious statements I am referring to, coming from the so called enlightened people of the south west of Nigeria (where I come from) beggars belief.
Nigeria needs to learn more from the deteriorating conditions of the American political arena.
We can all be more determined as individuals to face the issues now and make necessary adjustments at our different levels. We should also try to join hands with other well meaning Nigerians to significantly slow down the spate of political deterioration before bad becomes worse.
Femi Idowu, is a London based freelance journalist. He was onetime Bureau Chief, NTA Network News, Ibadan Bureau
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