Reading the day’s paper

Out of habit I usually prefer to read the hard copy of any newspaper. Picking up the day’s Daily Trust and a couple of other tabloids, I was not bothered with what the Trust Editor wanted me to read first: how can anybody believe that the Presidency would not have an Agenda after rushing through […]

Out of habit I usually prefer to read the hard copy of any newspaper. Picking up the day’s Daily Trust and a couple of other tabloids, I was not bothered with what the Trust Editor wanted me to read first: how can anybody believe that the Presidency would not have an Agenda after rushing through a “National Conference” almost at the tail-end of its’ first-term? That some people want to force a “new” Constitution down our throat (or else) is no longer news. What is news are the characters acting out the script.
So I flipped the paper and read Mahmud Jega (who I don’t miss) and then decided to quickly glance through the rest. Going backwards I skipped our usual exaggerated optimism over our chances in the days’ tie with France in the on-going Brazil 2014 World Cup (I hope the Super Eagles prove me wrong). Jibrin Ibrahim’s PS 101 was my next stop. Yes Jibo, we have lived through fifty years of a failed state yet ‘some form of governance continue’ around the ‘great leaders’ we create for some of the reasons you mention but I am not sure ‘state reconstruction’ is on the agenda for these self-serving elites bent on dying as billionaires at whatever costs.
The Editorial was very direct, and I like the bit calling on the Imams to play their role which is worth repeating here; “Those engaged as preachers should be true to their callings as leaders in society and moulders of opinion, and be sensitive to the peculiar circumstances the country is in. Inflammatory and inciting words or expressions should be avoided in their commentary on the Qur’an or tafsir sessions.”
Wole Olaoye’s My Ramadan Expectations was ‘caustic’, to use the favourite expression of our mutual friend, the late Cyprian Ekwensi. Had Wole finished his Seminary he would have been my favourite Catholic Priest. Listen to him:
“Believed to be the month in the Qur’an was gifted to humanity through Prophet Mohammed, Ramadan is … considered to be a period when the gates of heaven are opened and the gates of hell are closed and devils are tied up. In the spirit of the season therefore, there is no better time than now to tie up the various devils holding us down, chief of which is the Boko Haram scourge which has sent thousands to their untimely graves.” I also share his call for vigilance and an end to recriminations. There is no other way if we are going to succeed in fighting this terrible evil.
Other stories grabbed my attention but none more than the one on the ordeal of these poor chaps.
It is no longer news. Actually, it is part of a very disturbing trend which we ignore only at our peril. I am referring to the arrest of 486 itinerant traders and sundry travellers from the north (mostly from Bauchi, Jigawa, and Kano), who were detained by the military in Abia State recently. Their experiences, which they are now sharing with all of us, should alarm us. The lessons should also not be lost despite their release after about two weeks in illegal detention.
As a result of stereotyping, these unfortunate Nigerians whose look and attire give them out as coming from areas infested by Boko Haram insurgents were stopped at different times during the night. By 6.00am, by which time the detained vehicles had numbered 33, they were surrounded by more soldiers and were led to an Army barrack and subjected to all manner of harassment, questionings and even torture, according to some of them. They have since been release (escorted back to their states under armed guards) after the interventions of their unions, state governments and civil society organisations. It is heartening that the Jigawa Forum has petitioned the National Human Rights Commission over this unacceptable conduct by the security agencies and we look forward to its findings. Insurgency or whatever people are presumed innocent until proven guilty and their rights are guaranteed under our Constitution.
However, some of the experiences they narrate are frightening. Collecting cell phones, searching their belongings and getting experts to examine their hands and nails for gun-powder residue are all in order. The same cannot be said of putting 478 men in one room (they had separated the 8 females). More disturbing is the attempt to starve them. Yes, starve them. How else can one explain giving a person one moi-moi and a cup of water as his meal for the whole day? For the non-Nigerian, moi-moi is pudding made from beans, and then steamed. Not only is the usual portion inadequate for the average six year old, it purges the stomach and leaves one hungry in another hour or two. It is also never taken as the sole meal, especially not by any northerner, but simply as a side-plate, or at best a snack.
Prisoners have an amount budgeted for their daily feeding. So do detainees in police cells, never mind the fact that most of it is diverted by the wardens and the DPOs. Even those on death row are fed adequately, while some countries feted them on their best meal on the day they are to be executed (and don’t anybody ask me why?). Lucky for us, but especially the authorities, there were no children, or those seriously sick, among the detainees; because if some of them had died in custody the story would have been different. Despite what some mischief makers would prefer to believe over 99 percent of northerners are not Boko Haram members, nor do they share their political ideology or crazy interpretations of Islam.
And by the way, the story on page 43 was really the most stupid theft incidence I came across for some time. Imagine snatching a car at gun-point in Abuja only to go to the University of Abuja and sell it to a fellow student. Of course it was quickly seen, reported and recovered. And yes, it was a Honda Pilot. I noticed the story because I have a battered one like it which I thought no one would steal. You bet I think differently now. Ah yes, least I forget, the paper also reported that Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited is to resume production today, starting with its’ 301 series. Which is about time; we should get our industries back to work, and employ more young people.
Oh, on the cover story? Yes, I did get back to it after reading a couple of other items of interest. It is clear that the elites are chasing shadows and have no idea about the real predicament we are in. Still, let us wait for the talk shop to wind up and submit its report.
Radio, TV and Internet are all indispensable but frankly I don’t know how one can get through the day without reading at least one newspaper. Problem arises only when you buy too many of them and fail to notice that you haven’t written the column you intended to write.