Zulu Haram and other matters

Since the shameful black-on-black violence triggered by the hate speech of the King of the Zulus, no African leader has been as justifiably vitriolic as President Robert Mugabe. A freedom fighter in his own right, Mugabe is as shocked as the rest of us that the children of our collective revolution have turned back to […]

Since the shameful black-on-black violence triggered by the hate speech of the King of the Zulus, no African leader has been as justifiably vitriolic as President Robert Mugabe. A freedom fighter in his own right, Mugabe is as shocked as the rest of us that the children of our collective revolution have turned back to eat us raw.
“It is only in South Africa that an illiterate villager thinks a qualified medical doctor from another African country is the reason for his unemployment”, says Mugabe. And in that single sentence he exposes the idiocy of the Zulu King and the fact that ignorance is the most deadly weapon in the arsenal of hate peddlers. Could the Zulu king have roused a more educated populace with his tribal effusions and caused so much misery all over the continent?
One of the greatest tragedies of Africa is that parasitic traditional institutions are still allowed to interfere in the lives of the people. A so-called king who ought to have been a relic of the past, like a well-stocked museum, is allowed to instigate such bestial savagery as we witnessed in the last couple of weeks.
I am convinced that evil triumphs when good people refuse to act. We know that, as obtains with all peoples and ethnicities all over the earth, there are good Zulus just as there are bad Zulus. Goodwill Zwelithini, though he prides himself as king, is a bad Zulu. I hope the International Criminal Court, ICC, will eventually act on my petition asking that organisation to investigate Zwelithini’s role and prosecute him if found culpable. That is the least ICC can do for humanity in the present circumstances.
As it is abroad, so it is at home. We are living in dangerous, if interesting, times. In some cases, evil seems to triumph. As we have established on these pages over the years, violence is not the answer to violence, just as the deployment of raw cash is not the solution to problems requiring intellectual muscle. That is why we always counsel, “Don’t get mad, get even”. In that context, my friend and trench-mate Dele Babatunde’s thoughtful reaction to the ‘democratic terror’ being unleashed on his state, Ekiti, recommends itself to all us all. Titled “Ekiti literati: Humiliated, we must retreat”, it is one good piece of strategic thinking – the type that tyrants and carpetbaggers dread. And don’t think it doesn’t concern you. As I said during the early days of Boko Haram when prominent people in government stood akimbo, if you ignore terror in far places, one day it will knock on your door:
“To withdraw isn’t a sign of weakness… It is a sign that a man knows the limits of his capabilities and the most probable outcome of the future. One who retreats to fight another day isn’t running away, but looking for another road towards the same destination.” – Lionel Suggs
“Events in our recent history and our words in current times place a basic fact on our laps. We, the literati are losing battles and perhaps the war to become the elite class in Ekiti. We need to correctly situate what and where we are now. Totally disconnected with our people we want to change, we will if we continue this way become like them , as we can see a few are already like them.
“We must acknowledge we have been thoroughly humiliated by the other classes. There is a total disconnecting with the masses and the mischievous will continue to exploit that disconnect. These falcons just do not hear the falconers. They will continue to pile on pyrrhic victories. It is time to beat a retreat. Re-arm intellectually, rework our strategies, and retool our resources. We are fighting a battle or the minds, the souls of our people. A mind war. Our efforts now must be to engage the mind sets of our people. Not ourselves…
“Nothing best symbolises the trouncing of the literati as the murk of rag tag we are sending into our local and national assemblies. In 2015 we hear echoes of similar refrain and taunts of the 60s. Recall the many birds of Ekiti (the eiye keiye – the professors of Ekiti). Then it was SLA, today it is by our sons and daughters. In deriding us they turn their delights into a master demagogue as a messiah. Stuck for now with what we have till perhaps 2018 we must retreat to contain. We must let the emperor be. Who was it who said the weak revenge, the strong forgive and the intelligent ignore? We must oscillate between strong and intelligent.
“Demagogues in reality have expiry date and typically self-destruct. They destroy self best when ignored as the ranks of followership wear thin. Attack the themes the demagogue exploits and he burns out. Their end, a bitter tragedy… There will be havoc wreaked, but that is what we must limit by retreat. Bruised, weary and humiliated, the literati must stop attacking the demagogue but the themes the demagogue exploits. It is time to beat a retreat. Rearm intellectually, rework our strategies, and retool our resources”.
Buhari: What needs to be done
President-elect Buh-ari’s anti-corruption stance is resonating well with Nigerians. Even the younger generation, who were not born or too young during his first coming, hope that he will restore a sense of order in the nation. What Buhari has to do is no less than infusing that sense of discipline for which he is much admired into the fabric of governance. In this task, the National Orientation Agency ought to be one of the tools of translating this dream into reality in a democratic setting. That organisation ought to be made to live up to its name because the re-orientation of Nigerians is one of the most urgent tasks confronting the in-coming administration.
Congrats, Rochas
“My people, my people!”
“My Governor, my governor!!”
“My President, my president!”
“Buhari, Buhari!!”
So, Rochas Okorocha’s love affair with his people has translated into votes at the keenly contested governorship elections? In my estimation, Rochas is a strategic thinker and the smartest South-easterner in Nigerian politics today. Ndi-Imo also deserve our commendation. As they say across the Niger, “Tulu ugo”!