Nigeria’s twin tales of pillage and perseverance

Intelligent, humorous and patriotic — these are the key words that best describe Edo Ukpong and his brilliant book, Swimming Against the Tide, published this year by Prestige. Written in lucid and compelling prose, the book is a critical commentary on the current Nigeria’s political scene spiced with personal anecdotes and tributes to a couple […]

Intelligent, humorous and patriotic — these are the key words that best describe Edo Ukpong and his brilliant book, Swimming Against the Tide, published this year by Prestige. Written in lucid and compelling prose, the book is a critical commentary on the current Nigeria’s political scene spiced with personal anecdotes and tributes to a couple of people. Divided into six parts and 31 chapters, it is a collection of published newspaper articles and previously unpublished essays. The first part, “The Root of the Rot”, examines the malaise of Nigeria’s fraudulent elections and offers possible remedies. It also touches on ex-President Obasanjo’s tenure elongation plot; how some of its key actors commercialised their conscience; how it was viciously pursued; and how, despite its defeat, it still exacerbated the socio-economic and political havocs that still bedevil the country.

The next four parts of the book — To Whom It May Concern, A Few Bitter Pills, Visions/Red Wine on a Mischievous Mind and This Mundane Country — elaborate on those havocs focusing on issues of corruption, poor governance, political opportunism, insecurity and so on. The division is merely in form, not in content, as issues like Obasanjo’s Third Term, corruption and good governance — and the personalities associated with them — are repeatedly discussed across the parts. The only exception is perhaps the last part — Of Fathers, Sons and Godfathers — which the author devotes to praising his father whom he calls “The Great One” and lawyer Chris Okeke, the “Ultimate Godfather”.

 

But Ukpong, a legal practitioner and social activist from Akwa Ibom State, does not reserve his praises for those close to him alone; he extends them to some personalities too, most of whom are not even from his region, setting him apart from ethnic jingoists who see nothing good in anyone other than their ethnic champions. Former Kaduna State governor Col Dangiwa Umar (Rtd) emerges as his political hero; Central Bank Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi a shining star. Retired Inspector General of Police M D Yusuf, who stood up against General Sani Abacha’s self-succession bid, fascinates him.

“Nigerians owe a debt of gratitude to M.D. Yusufu for meeting Abacha head-on,” he writes. He also showers praises on the ex-chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Nuhu Ribadu, though with some reservations — understandably so, given Nuhu’s liaison with Obasanjo, a dent no sane commentator will whitewash. Elder statesman Adamu Ciroma gets a special space for his “principled stance” on zoning and dogged opposition against both Abacha’s and Obasanjo’s self-succession bids.

The fact that majority of these figures have no known record of buying favours from others and they all happen to be Northerners and Ukpong backs them at the time when Northern-bashing is a ‘national’ pastime confirm both the candidness of his comments and the depth of his patriotic zeal. It is even more remarkable that it is a man from the South-South region taking this position at the time when fifth columnists are instigating his kinsmen to rise up against the North. But then, right from the onset he made clear what his priority is. “Yes I am a southerner,” he says, “but I am more comfortable with being a Nigerian first”.

And if you think his fight against Third Term and support for zoning would endear people like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and ex-President Ibrahim Babangida — both of whom champion both causes — to him, you would be wrong. He is no fan of either. In fact, he is openly critical of Babangida. When the former General attempted to run for the 2011 presidential election, Ukpong wrote him an open letter. “Here is my advice: you will not be president again!” he declares. “So forget the option of redemption through an improved second coming”. Although he is not as harsh on Atiku, he said that if the former vice president had not fallen out with his boss, Obasanjo would have imposed him on Nigerians.

But the people Ukpong didn’t really spare are those he accused of political opportunism. “Lest I forget,” he writes, “what do the following have in common: Chief Tony Anenih, Ibrahim Mantu, Daniel Kanu, Arthur Nzeribe, Chief Iwuanyanwu, Ojo Maduekwe? They were there for Abacha, there for Babangida, there for OBJ’s third term and are there for Goodluck 2011”. He had earlier cautioned President Jonathan to be wary of them. “Don’t make the mistake of equating friends of the presidency with friends of Goodluck — totally different,” he warns. The president ignored him and jettisoned the zoning arrangement for his 2011 presidential ambition — a decision Ukpong regards as harmful to the long-term interest of the minorities.

He also derides the extremists of the two sides of resource control debate. “We will be deceiving ourselves if we believe that the so-called champions of resource control or blind commonwealth are fighting for their people. It is a mere struggle between the greedy evil elite,” he writes. He blames the greedy elite for virtually all the woes of the country. “Our problem in Nigeria is that those who manage our affairs are not accountable to us because we do not have the power to hire and fire,” he argues. “This power has been hijacked and is being fiercely guarded by a loose band of ruthless political jobbers and fixers”.

However, despite his damning dismissal of the state of affairs in the country, Ukpong is no revolutionary. He is at best a reformist. “As nauseating as it is,” he muses, “the reality is that we have to work within the existing structures, as otherwise, we invite anarchy”. Similarly, his positions on certain personalities or policies are sometimes contradictory. For instance, when journalists criticised the then Kwara State governor Bukola Saraki for transferring one of the state government’s accounts from Trade Bank to Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria Limited (SGBN) — a bank controlled by the Saraki family — Ukpong openly denounced them for “chasing shadows”.

He saw nothing wrong with the obvious conflict of interest; and even tried to justify it by arguing, among others, that Saraki’s inside knowledge of the bank would give “personal guarantee” for Kwara’s funds and that the journalists were unfairly attacking him while ignoring other governors who were busy “placing their states’ monies in unhealthy banks”. For someone who prides himself in being a good governance activist taking such a position appears absurd. And when the bank collapsed (even the restoration of its licence by a court hasn’t fully revived it), Ukpong forgets to put a corrigendum in the book.

These oversights, though, do not undermine the overall veracity of his excellent work; nor do they erode his strong nationalistic outlook, his commitment to Nigeria’s progress and his deep sense of fairness. Each position he takes, being a lawyer, he tries to give a fair hearing to the other side (or sides) as well, before using his persuasive power to justify his stand. His mastery of language and the flow of his prose help consolidate that. A good editing and proof-reading of the text too provide an added edge. In these days when books — even of famous authors published by big publishers — are replete with errors, it is refreshing to find that Swimming Against the Tide is virtually free of them. The few typographical errors such as Ibraham instead of Ibrahim in “President Ibraham Babangida” (p.49); though instead of thought in “I have never though…” (p.22); pply instead of apply (p.123); and ensuring instead of ensuing in “The ensuring competition…” (p.126) are negligible.

One other thing Ukpong has in abundance too, which also makes reading his book pleasurable, is acute sense of humour. Even when he wants to denounce an individual, he tends to do so with humour. When he wanted to accuse Obasanjo of corruption, and the same time urge him to govern well, he writes: “We know you are not a saint, Mr. President, but I assure you this country will gladly close its eyes to all allegations against you if we get a better society in return. Dr. Onaolapo Soleye can own Bells University, no problem. Mrs. Ojomo allocated Ikoyi houses on her own, no problem. Government agencies are donating to ‘presidential library’, no problem”. And when he wanted to subtly criticise the then President Yar’adua, he created a hypothetical encounter between the president and the ghost of late Fela Anikulapo Kuti — which he claimed to have witnessed. In the encounter, he reported how Yar’adua tried to tease Fela over his ignorance of technological changes by saying, “you don’t even know how to use a mobile phone not to talk of email”. But Fela retorted: “Na mobile police I know”. This and many more humorous encounters dot Swimming Against the Tide. It isn’t a book you’ll want to miss.