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Jibrin Ibrahim

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Sep 24, 2021, 5:44:47 AM9/24/21
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Obadiah Mailafia: Passage of a Deeply Thoughtful Man

Jibrin Ibrahim, Deepening Democracy, Daily Trust, Friday 24th September 2021

I lost a good fried, Dr. Obadiah (Obed) Mailafia on Sunday at the young age of 64 years, apparently, from the Covid19 pandemic. Yes, another casualty in the long list of distinguished Nigerians lost to this dreaded disease. As I always say to all my friends and relations, take your vaccination, follow the prescribed protocol and pray. 

I knew Obed from our student days at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), he was just a year behind in the university and I knew him from his first year – 1975-1976. He was a very cultured human being, very well read. I was always astonished at the vast number of books he has read and continued to read from when I knew him to the end. He was a very polite, kind and gentle soul. Although we were friends for over four decades, we never really agreed on anything and our friendship was based on disputations – philosophical, ideological and historical. We always agreed to disagree.

It all started in the 1975-76 session when my Marxist-Leninist Study Group identified him as excellent material for revolutionary cadre. Dear reader, at that time, everybody in ABU, or at least in our Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was a Marxist, or at least pretended to be one. We were aware at that time that Obed was already reading Marxist literature so I engaged him with confidence to join. He rejected the idea of becoming a Marxist outright and provided his reasons. Marxists, he argued, were materialists who were cocooned in a monocausal vision of history while he was a humanist with a multi-causal vision that respected not just material conditions but also spiritual, cultural and other dimensions of existence and change. Secondly, he accused us of being intellectually one-sided in our approach because we focused too much, he thought, on Marxist texts and not the writings of dissidents who had lived in the Soviet Union and knew what really existing socialism was in practice. He had for example read the works of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn who was one of the greatest critics of Soviet Socialism and devoted his life in exile to criticizing communism. I respected his vision and although he rejected the invitation to become a Marxist, we remained friends.

On graduation, we both joined the staff of the Political Science Department as graduate assistants, did our master’s degree and both of us had our French sojourn at the International Institute of Public Administration, a fancy new name for the old “Ecole Coloniale”, established in 1900 to train colonial officers. Subsequently, it was converted to an institution to train officials from former colonies. The French Government later took the decision to take in Anglophones and gave scholarships to Ahmadu Bello University, also to the universities in Ife and Nsukka, to go there. I was in the 1084-85 set while Obed was in 1985-86 set. We learnt to speak French, appreciate cheese and red wine and read French philosophers in addition to learning international diplomacy and international relations. At that point, Obed moved from Ahmadu Bello University to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, becoming one of Nigeria’s leading experts in strategic studies while I returned to my post in Zaria. 

In mid-career, we both decided to go out again and do our doctoral studies, I returned to France while Obed went to Oxford. He decided to divert from strategic studies to business and finance, a move that surprised me. I told him he was too smart and well-read to engage in such a pedestrian path based on pushing people towards the profit motive but he defended his choice making the argument that business and finance could be as exciting as strategic studies. He felt that that those of us from the socialist tradition were to focused on poverty alleviation strategies and by so doing we box ourselves into meagre reduction of poverty for the masses who never get to move out of poverty. His own vision, he declared grandiosely, was extending the frontiers of wealth creation to the people. I asked him to look at Nigeria’s Gini coefficient which clearly shows the widening gap between the poor and the wealthy. He agreed, arguing that he left the academy and went into banking, first the African Development Bank, and later the Central Bank of Nigeria, precisely to help create the conditions to opening doors for more people to join the path to wealth creation.

He was initially reluctant to accept the offer to be Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria thinking his ambition should be more Pan African but he later took the decision that Nigeria is so important to Africa that helping push the Nigerian needle forward is in itself a fillip to African Development. In the CBN, he was deeply engaged in the dept part-repayment and part-forgiveness from the Paris Club process, arguing it would free resources that could be used to place Nigeria on the path to people-centred development. Then suddenly, in a three-hour saga, President Olusegun Obasanjo and Charles Soludo conspired to bundle him out of the CBN. It was a huge blow to him, not because he needed the job, but because he felt that the opportunity to contribute to national development was cut in an unfair way and in a context where he had done no wrong. He did try to go back to the job for some time but it did not happen. It was at that point that he began to believe in some conspiracy theories.

That brings me to the third set of disputations we had. In the last phase of his life, he became an ardent advocate of the conspiracy theory about the Fulani seeking to colonise Nigeria and engage in Jihad against the Christian community. This is a very emotive and raw issue and it is too early to go into the details. Suffice it to say that over the past decade, we had many arguments and as is usual in our relations, completely disagreed on the fundamentals. What I would say with certainty is that Obed genuinely believed in what he was saying and was not playing to the gallery or playing politics, with such serious matters. The gentleman that he is would never allow him to say what he did not believe him. I have lost a great friend and confidant. I feel the pain of his lovely wife Margaret, who hosted my family and I so many times over the years and the children. May his soul rest in perfect peace and may his life work be a blessing to all of us.

 

 

 

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim
Senior Fellow
Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja
Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

Toyin Falola

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Sep 24, 2021, 6:14:36 AM9/24/21
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Jibrin:

My favourite line in yours is:

Although we were friends for over four decades, we never really agreed on anything and our friendship was based on disputations – philosophical, ideological and historical. We always agreed to disagree.

 

Above is the key to living a good life. Any person who must always win an argument is, in the final analysis, a fool. We don’t know whether we are right or wrong on many issues until we meet Allah. I was caught unaware of the period in Nigeria when folks began to abuse one another to make their points. Could it have been the era of social media? Today, folks think that insults and abuse are part of arguments. No! And they have now added verbal and physical violence to score points. No!

As an aside, some of us were working on moving him to a University to teach, and unknown to him, we had recommended him to two universities for an appointment. One was set to be announced in October.

Who is next? I mean not for a glorious appointment, but death:

 

And the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 

TF

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Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Sep 24, 2021, 6:47:26 AM9/24/21
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A well written article.

To what degree is the idea of a growing Fulani hegemony, centred on terrorism by Fulani militia, violent Fulani herdsmen and Miyetti Allah Fulani associations , enabled by the govt of the Fulani man President Muhammadu Buhari, an illusion, a mere conspiracy theory, as suggested in this article?

Based on unfolding events since Buhari's 2015 ascension, the idea of a growing Fulani hegemony is the general consensus of thought in the South and likely the Middle Belt, expressed by the public and by prominent figures, and not Mailafia's view alone.

I'm not impressed by the article linking Mailafia's views about Fulani hegemony with the time when he could not return to his central bank job.

The terrible calamities suffered by Mailafia's Middle Belt at the hands of Fulani militia and violent Fulani herdsmen, supported by Miyetti Allah, have moved many, the most vocal in current times being Ortom, governor of Benue, to insist that the region is a victim of a colonialisatoon agenda by Fulani terrorism enabled by the Buhari govt.

Ex Minister of Defense TY Danjuma had years ago made a similar claim. Ex head of state OBJ had first expressed the term "Fulanisation" as representing the concerns of Nigerians in the ongoing national crisis.

But the writer of this article is the same person who once suggested that FUNAM, the violent Fiulani Nationalist Movement is an invention of Ortom's, so what may one expect from such a writer?

Is this essay a stab in the back of a so called old friend, suggesting his mission of emancipation of his people was a figment of imagination emerging from.a personal professional dissapointment?

Has the "friend" writing the article adequately contextualisation his "friend's" views so as to clarify why his friend held them?

I blame Mailafia.

He wanted to be radical and yet play it safe.

He claimed. to have learnt that a Northern governor is a Boko Haram commander.

The DSS invited him and predictably, he repudiated his own story, claiming he heard the information in the market

Such a highly achieved professional, bandying such volatile information from market gossip?

Incredible.

Such inconsistencies enable such descriptions of him in this essay as feeding on conspiracy theories.

If he was serious about his decoration of information, why not go into exile and declare the truth from outside, where the terrorist network can't get you?

Thanks

Toyin






Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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Sep 24, 2021, 8:12:02 AM9/24/21
to Oluwatoyin Adepoju, usaafricadialogue
 You are now blaming  the victim. Mailafia 
was right to protect his sources. This is what 
good journalists do. They don’t betray the
providers of information.



GE



Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association


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Cornelius Hamelberg

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Sep 24, 2021, 9:57:37 AM9/24/21
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Re - the Marxist / anti-Marxist waffle, that kind of profound disagreement about the way forward for Africa could go on forever, especially when Dr Mailafia is not here to explain or to defend himself. To cut matters short let me quote this short note from a friend's Facebook page : 

"  Amilcar Cabral stated that always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone's head. They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children."


Cornelius Hamelberg

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Sep 25, 2021, 5:57:48 AM9/25/21
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 That was only his opening salvo. To be fair to Cabral, he then goes on to more fully expound on the theme in his " Tell no lies, claim no easy victories" 

Salimonu Kadiri

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Sep 26, 2021, 4:15:59 PM9/26/21
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He (Obadiah Mailafia) felt that those of us from the socialist tradition were so focussed on poverty alleviation strategies and by so doing we box ourselves into meagre reduction of poverty for the masses who never get to move out of poverty. His own vision, ....., was extending the frontiers of wealth creation to the people. I asked him to look at Nigeria's Gini coefficient which clearly shows the widening gap between the poor and the wealthy. Then suddenly, in a three-hour saga, President Olusegun Obasanjo and Charles Soludo conspired to bundle him out of the CBN - Jibrin Ibrahim.

Nigeria is a country infested with socialists without socialism and capitalists without capitalism, it is reasonable for the likes of Obadiah Mailafia perhaps not to want to be associated with sloganeers (fake socialists and capitalists). If the economic and industrial development of a country were to depend on the number of invented acronyms for developmental projects, Nigeria will be the most developed country in the world. As we all know, neither Olusegun Obasanjo nor Charles Soludo is a socialist yet, there was what was called Poverty Eradication Program (PEP) during Obasanjo's first tenure as President. A year into his second term, if I remember well, PEP was renamed PAP meaning Poverty Alleviation Program, perhaps because they realized that they could not eradicate man-made poverty in the country. It is noteworthy that when Obasanjo assumed Presidential office on May 29, 1999, a US dollar exchanged at ninety-five naira and eight years later when he exited office, a dollar exchanged for one-hundred and twenty-three naira. Thus, his regime ended with another type of PEP known as Poverty Elongation Program for the masses of Nigeria. Thus, no one should be surprised that Obasanjo with the support of his masters from the Western world removed Obadiah Mailafia from the Central Bank of Nigeria when the latter wanted to open the frontiers of wealth to all Nigerians. 

I disagree with Professor Jibrin Ibrahim's notion of widening gap between the poor and wealthy in Nigeria. Before the advent of Slavery and its transformations to colonialism, neo-colonialism and globalisation, Nigerians, like partridges, were equal in size (height). Then came the English slave-masters, as Chinua Achebe put it in one of his books, to make a president and a shit carrier out of a twin brother respectively. At the end of World War II, and through Marshal Plan some Nigerians were appointed slave overseers to supervise the enslavement of Nigerians and exploitation of their natural resources on behalf of foreign powers. Nigerians erroneously believe that the appointment of indigenous slave overseers to be independent Nigeria. Since 1960, till date, the Nigerian indigenous slave overseers have been serving the interest of their foreign masters who compensate them monetarily and materially. The creation of few wealthy Nigerian slave overseers while impoverishing the masses is reminiscent of what Malcolm X said about the making of a Negro leader in the US. Malcolm X said, "The slave-master took Tom and dressed him well, fed him well and even gave him a little education - a little education; gave him a long coat and a top hat and made all the other slaves look up to him. Then he used Tom to control them. The same strategy that was used in those days is used today, by the same white man. He takes a Negro, and makes him prominent, builds him up, publicizes him, makes him a celebrity. And then he becomes a spokesman for Negroes - and a Negro leader."  We can substitute Tom with Nigerians in the MDA's today to see the similarity. Mailafia deviated from the purpose of why he was among the few selected to function as slave overseers in Nigeria. The slave masters suspected him of hiding under religion in his attempt to unloose their suffocating economic stranglehold on the neck of Nigerians. Therefore, he has to pay with his life as John the Baptist did when he was asked, "What shall we do to come to the Kingdom of Heaven?" And he answered, "He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise (Luke 3: 11). Rest in Peace, Obadiah Mailafia. They have pruned the tree in vain; as the stems will germinate new leaves.
S. Kadiri  


From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jibrin Ibrahim <jibrinib...@gmail.com>
Sent: 24 September 2021 10:05

To: 'chidi opara reports' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Mailafia
 

Obadiah Mailafia: Passage of a Deeply Thoughtful Man

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Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Sep 26, 2021, 4:31:31 PM9/26/21
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I always enjoy Kadiri's writing.

spirited, informative, lucid  and bold in logic.

thanks

toyin


OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Sep 27, 2021, 5:41:55 AM9/27/21
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I still cant get my head round this:  the same Obasanjo who connived with Soludo to bundle Mailafia out of the Central Bank was the one rooting for him to contest for the Presidency.

So what changed?

How can the Fulani colonise  Nigeria unless first of all with the consent and continued colonisation of the Hausa majority, through the Emirate system and the consent of the southern majorities?


OAA.



Minority rule by sophistry or stealth is a RAPE of the majority.  Insist on majority rule at the centre in Nigeria come 2023.






Sent from my Galaxy



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Jibrin Ibrahim

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Sep 27, 2021, 5:42:22 AM9/27/21
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"I disagree with Professor Jibrin Ibrahim's notion of widening gap between the poor and wealthy in Nigeria." Great insight Kadiri, now I know it is a matter of opinion.

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim
Senior Fellow
Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja
Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

Harrow, Kenneth

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Sep 27, 2021, 12:27:32 PM9/27/21
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thanks for your memory and memorial jibrin. it was a wonderful job of bringing back the past and the man, so open and frank
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu


Sent: Friday, September 24, 2021 4:05 AM

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Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Mailafia
 

Obadiah Mailafia: Passage of a Deeply Thoughtful Man

--

Harrow, Kenneth

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Sep 27, 2021, 12:27:41 PM9/27/21
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how would we define marxism today, since ALL of yesterday's definitions of capitalism and marxist are so obsolete they are a century out of date.
for marx, communism was a political movement of the workers party, and at its core was the belief that the only way to achieve social and economic justice was to overthrow the bourgeoisie and have a dictatorship of the proletariat.

no one uses any of those words the same way today, and ironically we have a "communist" party ruling in china, that has nothing of the proletariat ruling and a "communist" party in russia in opposition to the current dictatorship of a pseudo-democracy. we had a president of the american democracy who sought to overthrow the govt on jan 6th and establish a dictatorship. and we have social-democrats running a capitalist system in europe.

the dominant system of our day is neoliberal globalization. we do not have an adequate vocabulary to describe how it incorporates the greatest of all systems of economic disparities and injustices, and how authoritarian rule has helped it along, although the greatest powers are really democratic as well as authoritarian.

i am left with derrida's "spirit of marxism" as a standard for justice, and free market capitalism as the instrument for economic injustice.
i am skeptical of the older descriptors used so often here, including "the west" or colonialism in defining the current order.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu


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Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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Sep 27, 2021, 1:16:08 PM9/27/21
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Those first two paragraphs are memorable
and quotable.

Add  the fact that democratic regimes,
from the US to the UK and beyond, have been 
in the forefront of anti- democracy abroad, 
supporting despots such as Mobutu and Marcos,
 Suharto and Duvalier, Mubarak and el- Sisi, 
 Saudi autocrats etc. - over the years.

I don’t think that free market capitalism
can bring economic justice, though. I would have 
greater expectations for state capitalism with a
human face or humane socialism.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association


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Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Mailafia
 

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how would we define marxism today, since ALL of yesterday's definitions of capitalism and marxist are so obsolete they are a century out of date.

Harrow, Kenneth

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Sep 27, 2021, 4:53:11 PM9/27/21
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democratic regimes, in our lifetimes, and before, were also colonial. there was a facade of anti-colonial rhetoric at the time of eisenhower, but it turned out to be lies, and increasingly lies and lies.
democracy at home; colonialism abroad. the contradiction was overwhelming.

as far as socialism with a human face, or anything with a human face--we should all pray for it. again the lies and lies, stalin's "communism" was a great betrayal. the american wars in vietnam and iraq and afghanistan, all the same story of conquest disguised as this or that human endeavor, so as to sell the wars at home.
senghor wanted african socialism. the rhetoric of negritude and socialism was so hypocritical, espcially in countries like cameroon. i remember ahidjo's speeches, again lies, backed up with the machine guns in the polling booths and on top of the palace of la presidence downtown. it was so awful my colleagues wouldn't speak of the politics except in whispering in my car.
remember mobutu's africanité? or even idi amin's?
and the worst of it is that the ideals in the speeches held kernels of truth!
gloria, you tell me how we get to the real human face and i'll follow you there.
history has not proved kind to our ideals.
ken


kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu


From: Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emea...@ccsu.edu>
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 1:09 PM
To: Harrow, Kenneth <har...@msu.edu>; usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Cornelius Hamelberg

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Sep 27, 2021, 4:53:11 PM9/27/21
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I'm left wondering, speechless.

Should the difference of opinion/s signal the end of a discussion, when, no matter the various interpretations of facts, there are indisputable facts undergirding some of the opinions and some of the basics which still stare us in the face and about which we all agree, for example, that a redeemable percentage of the Nigerian population is mired in poverty, due to the pernicious corruption of the lootocrats of the lootocracy, all of whom see themselves as crooks or capitalists.

In any case, I should expect Jibrin Ibrahim an acolyte of the Björn Beckman school of the Left to be in essential agreement with, in my opinion, the equally, very progressive Baba Kadiri,a cornucopia of Swedish socialism, a treasure-house of knowledge about the history of the Left in Sweden) and about the fact that in 1981 the official ( not artificial) rate of exchange was Naira1 was = £1 Sterling – as per my home remittances to Sweden, that year. And that, sadly, it's now getting close to 550 Naira to the Mighty Dollar. In Zimbabaw it was a lot worse; In 1981 I Zimba Dollar was = Uncle Sam's $. By the time President Mugabe's war veterans were seizing white farms, it took 1 million Zimba dollars to equal the Yankee dollar.

So far, Baba Kadiri's position is reminiscent of Brazil's late Bishop Dom Helder Camara, a strong proponent of Liberation Theology ( semi-anathema to the Vatican). He said, “When I feed the poor, they call me a saint, but when I ask why the poor are hungry, they call me a communist.” It should be interesting to see how Bishop Kukah weighs in on this.

I spent a good part of this afternoon in the company of Baba Kadiri. We met at the Culture House, the epicentre of Stockholm City, and from there, at a leisurely pace, we strolled to the Academy Bookshop where the Baba purchased a few hundred dollars worth of books (talk about capital-ism!) to keep himself him updated and in good stead as he continues his journey as a veritable walking encyclopedia. On the way to the great Academy Bookshop, the Baba regaled himself and me with both iconic and ironic acronyms for Nigeria's arrested development, not much in common with this Arrested Development ...

I got the ball rolling with N.E.P.A., the now defunct “National Electric Power Authority” which in its heyday, as far as performance was concerned was a disappointment, was said to have only lived up its unintended reputation. i-.e, what should have been its real name” Never Expect Power Always”. In retrospect, it was painful entertainment, two bitter Negro Elders ( bitter old Negroes) 60 years after Nigeria's Independence/ Emancipation, ambulating in the direction of the Academy Bookshop, Baba Kadiri venturing into other acronyms such as P.U.P. (Perpetual Underdevelopment Progress)...

When we go there, ( a ten-minute walk) the Baba was greeted and saluted by some of the personal, of course, they were happy to see him ( he had his coronavirus 19 mask on ( a black mask - of course) I didn't have any mask on, don't want to give anybody the idea we are armed robbers from Buhari's Nigeria on a mission to raid the bookshop/ ransom-kidnap some of the personnel/ rob the nearest bank - the latter also a bad idea since the banks no longer stash cash). We browsed quite a bit – for me, living in Social Democratic Sweden, the taxpayers' money being put to good use means that the only books that I buy / order are those that I want to possess – that are not available at any of the libraries in the country - and we have good libraries; we can if we want, demand that they order all of Oga Falola and at the very least get in 90% of his total output). To my chagrin, I pointed out one of the items on the shelves of the Africa section - Ken Saro-Wiwa Book by Roy Doron and Toyin Falola, but Baba Kadiri visibly wrinkled his nose at the idea and in my heart, I didn't blame him, because most Nigerians of the reading generation believe that they know all about Ken Saro-Wiwa and there's not very much more that Alagba Falola or Roy Doron can tell them about him.

I'm stopping here because my yams ( imported from Nigeria) are ready, and I am hungry....

On the musical side: Who are you?

Me? I'm stuck and entranced at this station: Dream



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Toyin Falola

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Sep 27, 2021, 5:00:46 PM9/27/21
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Dear Ken:

The use of “lies” is problematic. Perhaps, “delusional”, “optimistic”. By luck, I have met many great people, including evil ones, but I don’t think they are telling “lies”.

“Lies,” as opposite of “truth”, is an epistemological catastrophe. My favorite thinker of all time, Ahmad Bamba, said that the lie that heals is better than the truth that divides.

TF

Harrow, Kenneth

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Sep 27, 2021, 5:30:07 PM9/27/21
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the reach of lies was intended for the heights of rhetoric.
you could find it, basically, in heart of darkness, with conrad's attempt to expose the false rhetoric of colonialism. but it is intended more as a cri de coeur, not a lawyer's statement. not about the legal truth or juridical truth, but the deeper truth where life and death are marked by lies and deception. you have to pick up your hands when you cry out over the lies; you have to raise your voice. your eyes widen, you say, didn't you see this! did you believe it? it was all lies, all lies, not a word of truth in it.

of course there is always another side. a wonderful french expression, tout le monde a leur raison. i don't have it quite right, but something like everyone has their own truth, their own way of seeing things. achebe's standing on the foot here, which enables you to see from here what you can't see from there,

the "here" for the colonialists was the clear light of reason, bringing civilization.
the here for damas is this poem:

i feel laughable
an accomplice among them
a pander among them
among those bloody hands red and frightening
with the blood of their ci-vi-la-za-tion

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu


From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 5:00 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>; Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emea...@ccsu.edu>

Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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Sep 27, 2021, 5:30:27 PM9/27/21
to Harrow, Kenneth, usaafric...@googlegroups.com
We know that nihilism is not
the answer. Throw away the baby and the
bath water and nothing remains.
I am more of an optimist. 

Colonialism was an evil system and we will 
eventually find our feet and find ways to
deal with autocrats, kleptocrats etc in the 
post-  colonial era. Some 
measures will fail. Others will succeed.
Organize and don’t agonize, said
 Kwame Ture.

The Malian coup leaders want to use Russia
 to get rid of the hypocritical /parasitic French -
 who have been sleeping with the terrorists 
at night, and going after them during the day.
Some good may come out of it.

Negritude, Africanity, Afrocentrism, Black Power,
Black Lives Matter and so on may be
anathema to some but important landmarks 
on the journey to self-empowerment for 
others. Let a thousand 🌸 💐 🌺 bloom.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association

From: Harrow, Kenneth <har...@msu.edu>
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 1:21 PM
To: Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emea...@ccsu.edu>; usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Cornelius Hamelberg

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Sep 27, 2021, 6:42:04 PM9/27/21
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com


Corrected.

I'm left wondering, speechless.

Should the difference of opinion/s signal the end of a discussion, when, no matter the various interpretations of facts, there are indisputable facts undergirding some of the opinions and some of the basics which still stare us in the face and about which we all agree, for example, that a redeemable percentage of the Nigerian population is mired in poverty, due to the pernicious corruption of the lootocrats of the lootocracy, all of whom see themselves as crooks or capitalists.

In any case, I should expect Jibrin Ibrahim an acolyte of the Björn Beckman school of the Left to be in essential agreement with, in my opinion, the equally, very progressive Baba Kadiri, a cornucopia of Swedish socialism, a treasure-house of knowledge about the history of the Left in Sweden) and about the fact that in 1981, the official ( not artificial) rate of exchange was  Naira1 = £1 Sterling – as per my home remittances to Sweden, that year. And that, sadly, it's now getting close to 550 Naira to the Mighty Dollar. In Zimbabwe, it was a lot worse; In 1981 I Zimba Dollar was = Uncle Sam's $. By the time President Mugabe's war veterans were busy seizing white farms, it took 1 million Zimba dollars to equal the Yankee dollar.

So far, Baba Kadiri's position is reminiscent of Brazil's late Bishop Dom Helder Camara, a strong proponent of Liberation Theology ( semi-anathema to the Vatican). He said, “When I feed the poor, they call me a saint, but when I ask why the poor are hungry, they call me a communist.” It should be interesting to see how Bishop Kukah weighs in on this.

I spent a good part of this afternoon in the company of Baba Kadiri. We met at the Culture House, the epicentre of Stockholm City, and from there , at a leisurely peace we strolled to the Academy Bookshop where the Baba purchased a few hundred dollars worth of books (talk about capital-ism!) to keep himself updated and in good stead as he continues his journey as a veritable walking encyclopedia. On the way to the great Academy Bookshop, the Baba regaled himself and me with both iconic and ironic acronyms for Nigeria's arrested development, not much in common with this Arrested Development ...

I got the ball rolling with N.E.P.A., the now-defunct “National Electric Power Authority” which in its heyday, as far as performance was concerned was a disappointment, was said to have only lived up to its unintended reputation. i-.e , what should have been its real name : ”Never Expect Power Always”. In retrospect, it was painful entertainment, two bitter Negro Elders ( bitter old Negroes) 60 years after Nigeria's Independence/ Emancipation, ambulating in the direction of the Academy Bookshop, Baba Kadiri venturing into other acronyms such as P.U.P. (Perpetual Underdevelopment Progress)...

When we got there, (a ten minute walk) the Baba was greeted and saluted by some of the personnel, of course, they were happy to see him ( he had his coronavirus 19 mask on (a black mask - of course) I didn't have any mask on, don't want to give anybody the idea we are armed robbers from Buhari's Nigeria on a mission to raid the bookshop/ ransom-kidnap some of the personnel/ rob the nearest bank - the latter also a bad idea since the banks no longer stash cash). We browsed quite a bit – for me, living in Social Democratic Sweden, the taxpayers money being put to good use means that the only books that I buy / order are those that I want to possess – that are not available at any of the libraries in the country - and we have good libraries; we can if we want, demand that they order all of Oga Falola and at the very least get in 90% of his total output). To my chagrin , I pointed out one of the items on the shelves of the Africa section - Ken Saro-Wiwa Book by Roy Doron and Toyin Falola, but Baba Rocekerfeller Kadiri visibly wrinkled his nose at the idea and in my heart, I didn't blame him, because most Nigerians of the reading generation believe that they know all about Ken Saro-Wiwa and there's not very much more that Alagba Falola or Roy Doron can tell them about him.

I've just had some yams ( imported from Nigeria) and egusi soup. I'm ready

On the musical side : Who are you?

Me? I'm stuck and entranced at this station : Dream



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Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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Sep 27, 2021, 6:42:04 PM9/27/21
to Harrow, Kenneth, usaafric...@googlegroups.com


“the "here" for the colonialists was the clear light
 of reason, bringing civilization.”


Thanks for the quote by Damas but didn’t 
the colonialists themselves not know that murder, genocide and mayhem, theft of land and 
dispossession, discrimination,  
and sexual predation, were the antithesis 
of reason and civilization and  amounted
to barbarism. It was all about greed and wealth 
accumulation, and they knew it, while using
those magic words “reason” and “civilization “
as fig leaves to cover their own shameful 
behavior.

By the way was Damas not of the negritude 
movement- the movement that sharpened his
tongue, widened his vision of his
place in the world and enabled him to
speak not lies, but truth. I am surprised 
that you are quoting him.



Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association


Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 5:25 PM

Harrow, Kenneth

unread,
Sep 27, 2021, 11:14:36 PM9/27/21
to Emeagwali, Gloria (History), usaafric...@googlegroups.com
gloria, i think i must have given you, and others?, the wrong impression. it is true i do not subscribe to asante's version, or original version of afrocentrism, or of the centrality of egypt for african civilization.
but the notion of seeing the world through an african lens, epistemological african standpoint, i very much agree with.
negritude is central to my work, as with most people i know, who have francophone competency. i taught negritude, its writers and thought, for many years. it is certainly central to my understanding of african literature. i can't understand how you might have had an impression that it is inimical to my thinking. just the contrary
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu


From: Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emea...@ccsu.edu>
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 6:03 PM

Harrow, Kenneth

unread,
Sep 28, 2021, 1:17:23 PM9/28/21
to Emeagwali, Gloria (History), usaafric...@googlegroups.com
as for your first quote, gloria, on whether the colonialists knew of the evils they did, etc., you have summed up perfectly conrad's heart of darkness.

it would be difficult to find literary expressions of colonialism that cast it in a favorable light. quite difficult. i think they knew about the negative side, but many rationalized it, or ignored the negatives because there was some profit, or ignored it by denigrating black people, or called themselves realists, or claimed if they didn't do it, the french or portuguese would and they would do it worse. i've seen all of that.
in the end, if you call people cockroaches, there is no crime in squashing them.
agamben called that the state of exception, and 800,000 rwandans died in such a state of exception.
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu


From: Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emea...@ccsu.edu>
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 6:03 PM

Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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Sep 28, 2021, 2:46:37 PM9/28/21
to Harrow, Kenneth, usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Point noted.

Of course the Rwandans
never claimed that they were the 
Purveyors of Civilization. And to crown
It all, remember that the divide and rule tax
policies of the Belgians exacerbated the
tension between Hutu and Tutsi in the first 
place. Without the legacy from their
colonizing manipulative 
policies, that crisis may not have happened.




Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association

From: Harrow, Kenneth <har...@msu.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2021 10:11 AM
To: Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emea...@ccsu.edu>; usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Salimonu Kadiri

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Sep 29, 2021, 9:57:28 AM9/29/21
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
​Nigerian intellectuals are in blissful ignorance of what the nation and the citizenry expect of them. The Nigerian academics, in and outside the presidency and the MDAs, are yet to grapple with enormous responsibilities history has bestowed upon them. In the midst of a comatose and prostrate economy, chronic mass unemployment decaying infrastructures, debilitating social indices and dehumanising living conditions and its attendant consequences, all the Nigerian intellectuals could do is to engage in ethno-religious dichotomy, instead of applying their acclaimed academic expertise on the abundant natural resources of Nigeria for the comfort of all Nigerians. To the Nigerian intellectuals, it is the tribe and the religion of a person in an office that matters and not the ability to perform according to what is required of the office. In his address at the University of Ibadan Graduation Day, 1 July 1966, the then Vice-Chancellor, Professor Kenneth Onwuka Dike, castigated Nigerian intellectuals thus, "It must be said to our shame that the Nigerian intellectual far from being an influence for national integration is the greatest exploiter of parochial and clannish sentiment. And they exploit local prejudices not for the national good but for their selfish ambitions. You will be no credit to this University if you leave us to join the band of educated advocates of tribal division and strife and worshippers of tribal gods .... THE WORST PEDLARS OF TRIBALISM IN THIS COUNTRY ARE THE EDUCATED NIGERIANS."

Nigeria's economic problem is not caused by Fulani and herdsmen. As Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo once correctly pointed out, Nigeria is a failed state that works for those who failed it. And the people that failed Nigeria can be found across every ethnic (Christian/Muslim) group in the country - and so are the (masses) casualties of this failed state. We have evidently seen that those who failed Nigeria are looters of resources and their lootings have brought the nation destitution. Of course, the destitute are now fighting back throughout the whole country as bandits, kidnappers, cattle rustlers and armed robbers. While the united looters, regardless of ethnicity and religion, continue their lootings, we are being told that the Fulani people of Nigeria are the causes of all the evils in the country. Thus, some Nigerian intellectuals are openly canvassing, as their final solution, for the expunge or extermination of the Fulani people in Nigeria. Adolf Hitler had similar solution for the Jews whom he had blamed for all German woes when he ascended power as German Chancellor in 1933. By 1937, he saw to it that the German nation contained only German blood as desired by him as the Jews who did not flee were either incarcerated or murdered. Despite that, the German Newspaper, Der Angriff (The Attacker) of 21 February 1938, were to report the speech of the German Chancellor, Adolf Hitler in the Reichstag (Parliament) on 20 February 1938 thus, "Our economic position is a difficult one, not because National-Socialism is at the helm, but because 140 people must live on a square kilometre; because we are not in possession of those great, natural resources enjoy by other people; because, above all, we have a scarcity of fertile soil. If Great Britain were to dissolve today and England become dependent solely on her own territory, then the people there would perhaps have more understanding of the seriousness of the economic tasks which confront us. .....//....... No matter what we may achieve by increasing the German production, all this cannot remove the impossible nature of the space allotted to Germany. The claim for German colonial possessions will, therefore, be voiced from year to year with increasing vigour, ...//... possessions which appear indispensable to our people." As the extermination of Jews in Germany did not result in economic development, so can extermination of Fulani in Nigeria not result in the economic security of life and property as contemplated by the anti-Fulani.

All Nigeria's socio-economic problems have been met with unimplemented solutions because funds allocated to solve socio-economic problems have from time to time been stolen by projects' executing officials. In 2018, the Federal Government and all the 36 states in Nigeria agreed to end nomadic pastoralism through what was called National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) which would lead to modern ranching. NLTP was immediately hijacked by a clique within the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development who invented an acronym known as, RUGA, meaning Rural Grazing Area. Before anyone could realise what was going on, the Permanent Secretary and a Director of Procurement had begun awarding and paying billions of naira to ghost contractors to implement fictitious RUGA contracts. However, many States protested against the sabotage of NLTP as herders continued wandering about nomadically with their cattle in Nigeria. Then all the 17 Southern States in Nigeria, regardless of political colour, enacted law banning nomadic pastoralism called open grazing in their respective state. Reacting against the ban, the Federal Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) said on Channels Television programme, Politics Today, Wednesday, 19 May 2021, "For example, it is as good as saying, perhaps, maybe, the northern governors coming together to say, they prohibit spare parts trading in the North. Does it hold water for a northern governor to state expressly that he now prohibits spare parts in the North?" He concluded from his own illogical reasoning above that the Southern governors cannot stop herders from moving their cows around in the Southern terrain. ​The truth is that spare parts traders in the North must either rent shops or obtain Certificates of Occupancy from any of the Northern Governors to build shops to sell their spare parts. No spare parts dealer will ever proclaim the constitutional freedom of movement of Nigerians to appropriate to himself the house or landed property of others for his trade. Does it constitute trading in cattle for herdsmen to drive cattle into people's farms to maraud? Through the advice of Abubakar Malami, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), President Muhammadu Buhari is now probing into colonial archives in search of *Gazetted Cattle Routes* in Nigeria so that nomadic pastoralism can continue in Nigeria, in 2021. None of the children of Malami and Buhari is a herder, not even as a hobby. The constitutional right of all Nigerian children to free and compulsory primary education is firmly entrenched in Section 18 (3) of the 1999 Constitution. In 2003, the Obasanjo's run Federal Government enacted Child Rights and Universal Basic Education Act that made it punishable under the law for parents to refuse to put their children of school age in a school. As of date, 11 states in Nigeria such as Adamawa, Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara, are yet to adopt the 2003 Child Rights and Universal Basic Education Act.  Most northern children are either Almajirai or herders that have now grown up to be bandits or kidnappers for ransom. When future historians are going to write about the failures of President Muhammadu Buhari's eight years tenure, the main cause of his failure must be attributed to the roles played by his Attorney General and federal Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami. For now, I can only console myself in the belief that the victory of brawn over brain, no matter how long, is always temporary. Check this link : https://guardian.ng/news/miyetti-allah-dumps-open-grazing-adopts-feedlot-system-in-ondo/ 
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Ondo State chapter, has embraced the feedlot operational system as alternative to open grazing, saying it will help them increase ..
guardian.ng
​S. Kadiri



From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>
Sent: 24 September 2021 12:42
To: usaafricadialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Mailafia
 

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

unread,
Sep 29, 2021, 1:55:55 PM9/29/21
to usaafricadialogue
Food for thought

''None of the children of Malami and Buhari is a herder, not even as a hobby. ''
Kadiri

We thank God that Kadiri has got here at last-

''No spare parts dealer will ever proclaim the constitutional freedom of movement of Nigerians to appropriate to himself the house or landed property of others for his trade. Does it constitute trading in cattle for herdsmen to drive cattle into people's farms to maraud?''

What voice of wisdom does he have for such Fulani  supremacists   as Professor Labdo declaring that Benue belongs to the Fulany by right of conquest and Miyetti Allah and other Fulani groups justifying massacres of Nigerians as the Fulani President Buhari does not even question them?

Is pointing out the existence of Fulani supremacists the same as branding all Fulani people and wishing them evil?

its safer for everyone if these realities are soberly adressed not avoided.

thanks

toyin

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Sep 29, 2021, 1:56:16 PM9/29/21
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com





Alagba Kadiri:

Lets put it this way:  both the Fulani and non- Fulani in Nigeria ran the country aground and those calling for the head of the Fulani are indirectly calling for acceleration of events to put their ethnicities and their hangers on at the helm so they can do their own looting before the trough runs dry( this is a typically Nigerian reaction.)  This was precisely what the coupists behind Buhari's first coming did in Dec 1983.

It is the system that needs to be re- engineered from patron- client orientation which it is now ( what one of WS characters call ' the cyst in the cistern')

A new and more effective system of accountability is what  Nigerians must never tire of demanding of any party that will rule them in 2023.
The question is how do we get to this promised land?  Your thoughts are welcome on this.  How are the excesses of the intellectuals to be reigned in?( your quote reads straight from my graduate thesis.)


OAA.


Minority rule is the tail that wags the dog. Let those who believe in majority rule clamour for its practice at the centre in Nigeria come 2023.



Sent from my Galaxy



-------- Original message --------
From: Salimonu Kadiri <ogunl...@hotmail.com>
Date: 29/09/2021 15:06 (GMT+00:00)
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Mailafia

Boxbe This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (ogunl...@hotmail.com) Add cleanup rule | More info
​Nigerian intellectuals are in blissful ignorance of what the nation and the citizenry expect of them. The Nigerian academics, in and outside the presidency and the MDAs, are yet to grapple with enormous responsibilities history has bestowed upon them. In the midst of a comatose and prostrate economy, chronic mass unemployment decaying infrastructures, debilitating social indices and dehumanising living conditions and its attendant consequences, all the Nigerian intellectuals could do is to engage in ethno-religious dichotomy, instead of applying their acclaimed academic expertise on the abundant natural resources of Nigeria for the comfort of all Nigerians. To the Nigerian intellectuals, it is the tribe and the religion of a person in an office that matters and not the ability to perform according to what is required of the office. In his address at the University of Ibadan Graduation Day, 1 July 1966, the then Vice-Chancellor, Professor Kenneth Onwuka Dike, castigated Nigerian intellectuals thus, "It must be said to our shame that the Nigerian intellectual far from being an influence for national integration is the greatest exploiter of parochial and clannish sentiment. And they exploit local prejudices not for the national good but for their selfish ambitions. You will be no credit to this University if you leave us to join the band of educated advocates of tribal division and strife and worshippers of tribal gods .... THE WORST PEDLARS OF TRIBALISM IN THIS COUNTRY ARE THE EDUCATED NIGERIANS."

Nigeria's economic problem is not caused by Fulani and herdsmen. As Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo once correctly pointed out, Nigeria is a failed state that works for those who failed it. And the people that failed Nigeria can be found across every ethnic (Christian/Muslim) group in the country - and so are the (masses) casualties of this failed state. We have evidently seen that those who failed Nigeria are looters of resources and their lootings have brought the nation destitution. Of course, the destitute are now fighting back throughout the whole country as bandits, kidnappers, cattle rustlers and armed robbers. While the united looters, regardless of ethnicity and religion, continue their lootings, we are being told that the Fulani people of Nigeria are the causes of all the evils in the country. Thus, some Nigerian intellectuals are openly canvassing, as their final solution, for the expunge or extermination of the Fulani people in Nigeria. Adolf Hitler had similar solution for the Jews whom he had blamed for all German woes when he ascended power as German Chancellor in 1933. By 1937, he saw to it that the German nation contained only German blood as desired by him as the Jews who did not flee were either incarcerated or murdered. Despite that, the German Newspaper, Der Angriff (The Attacker) of 21 February 1938, were to report the speech of the German Chancellor, Adolf Hitler in the Reichstag (Parliament) on 20 February 1938 thus, "Our economic position is a difficult one, not because National-Socialism is at the helm, but because 140 people must live on a square kilometre; because we are not in possession of those great, natural resources enjoy by other people; because, above all, we have a scarcity of fertile soil. If Great Britain were to dissolve today and England become dependent solely on her own territory, then the people there would perhaps have more understanding of the seriousness of the economic tasks which confront us. .....//....... No matter what we may achieve by increasing the German production, all this cannot remove the impossible nature of the space allotted to Germany. The claim for German colonial possessions will, therefore, be voiced from year to year with increasing vigour, ...//... possessions which appear indispensable to our people." As the extermination of Jews in Germany did not result in economic development, so can extermination of Fulani in Nigeria not result in the economic security of life and property as contemplated by the anti-Fulani.

All Nigeria's socio-economic problems have been met with unimplemented solutions because funds allocated to solve socio-economic problems have from time to time been stolen by projects' executing officials. In 2018, the Federal Government and all the 36 states in Nigeria agreed to end nomadic pastoralism through what was called National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) which would lead to modern ranching. NLTP was immediately hijacked by a clique within the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development who invented an acronym known as, RUGA, meaning Rural Grazing Area. Before anyone could realise what was going on, the Permanent Secretary and a Director of Procurement had begun awarding and paying billions of naira to ghost contractors to implement fictitious RUGA contracts. However, many States protested against the sabotage of NLTP as herders continued wandering about nomadically with their cattle in Nigeria. Then all the 17 Southern States in Nigeria, regardless of political colour, enacted law banning nomadic pastoralism called open grazing in their respective state. Reacting against the ban, the Federal Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) said on Channels Television programme, Politics Today, Wednesday, 19 May 2021, "For example, it is as good as saying, perhaps, maybe, the northern governors coming together to say, they prohibit spare parts trading in the North. Does it hold water for a northern governor to state expressly that he now prohibits spare parts in the North?" He concluded from his own illogical reasoning above that the Southern governors cannot stop herders from moving their cows around in the Southern terrain. ​The truth is that spare parts traders in the North must either rent shops or obtain Certificates of Occupancy from any of the Northern Governors to build shops to sell their spare parts. No spare parts dealer will ever proclaim the constitutional freedom of movement of Nigerians to appropriate to himself the house or landed property of others for his trade. Does it constitute trading in cattle for herdsmen to drive cattle into people's farms to maraud? Through the advice of Abubakar Malami, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), President Muhammadu Buhari is now probing into colonial archives in search of *Gazetted Cattle Routes* in Nigeria so that nomadic pastoralism can continue in Nigeria, in 2021. None of the children of Malami and Buhari is a herder, not even as a hobby. The constitutional right of all Nigerian children to free and compulsory primary education is firmly entrenched in Section 18 (3) of the 1999 Constitution. In 2003, the Obasanjo's run Federal Government enacted Child Rights and Universal Basic Education Act that made it punishable under the law for parents to refuse to put their children of school age in a school. As of date, 11 states in Nigeria such as Adamawa, Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara, are yet to adopt the 2003 Child Rights and Universal Basic Education Act.  Most northern children are either Almajirai or herders that have now grown up to be bandits or kidnappers for ransom. When future historians are going to write about the failures of President Muhammadu Buhari's eight years tenure, the main cause of his failure must be attributed to the roles played by his Attorney General and federal Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami. For now, I can only console myself in the belief that the victory of brawn over brain, no matter how long, is always temporary. Check this link : https://guardian.ng/news/miyetti-allah-dumps-open-grazing-adopts-feedlot-system-in-ondo/ 
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Ondo State chapter, has embraced the feedlot operational system as alternative to open grazing, saying it will help them increase ..
guardian.ng
​S. Kadiri

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>
Sent: 24 September 2021 12:42
To: usaafricadialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Mailafia
 

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