PMB Film Village: The Pyrrhic Victory Of Ecclesiocracy over Democracy

Sheik Abdallah

The Nigerian Film Corporation recently toured the ancient city of Kano in preparation for the establishment of a film village to be named after President Muhammadu Buhari. The governor of the state and other stakeholders appeared enthusiastic about the project which presumably would open the ancient town to tourism, movie making and constructive international exposure. But based on threats from one of the ultra religious clerics from the ancient city the project has become stillborn.

A Muslim Cleric, Sheik Abdallah Usman Gadan Kanya, according to sources mobilized for support amongst like-minded Muslims in order to throttle the film village project on the wings of a strange threat of cursing its initiators through "spiritual" means. This was coming from a man who has a PhD from Bayero University in Kano. But then, we don't go to schools to get educated, but to fit into a system. Obviously, the Sheik found his fit in religious fundamentalism.

According to sources, "…Sheik Abdalla described the project as a plot to undermine Muslims and their religion in Kano State by creating a hub for immorality and un-Islamic acts. He threatened that, unless the government stopped the film village, clerics would embark on spiritual prayers that would result in blindness and deaf diseases on those behind the film village."

 

The power wielded by these clerics should not be underestimated and I don't mean so-called "spiritual" powers, but their ability to mobilize and unleash mayhem on ordinary people (usually non-indigenes) if they so wish. These clerics seat pretty and represent a subculture of socio-political control that is extremely effective, ruthless, avaricious, anachronistic and exclusive, despite our so-called democracy.  Religious clerics, traditional rulers and their antics within the nation's socio-political space represent a major factor that has prevented Nigeria from reaching true nationhood. 

It is obvious that the educated and enlightened young people of Kano were in support of the film village project since it could potentially provide avenues to exhibit creativity and provide employment. But such modernizing ventures reduce the power of the Islamic clerics to shape opinions and maintain unearned privileges. By preventing the project, in the name of Islam, the clerics have appropriated and arrogated unto themselves the rights of individuals to live as free people in a secular society. Because education tends to free the mind to some extent, northern leaders, afraid of losing their stranglehold on their people, have deliberately maintained a largely illiterate society to serve their whims. 

The Sheik was incensed by the idea that Kano would be culturally opened to other Nigerians and international visitors when he said, "…From all parts of the world, people will be coming to Kofa to do film or drama. A southerner (Nigerian) will come and do film in Kofa; a northerner will come and do film in Kofa. American will come and do film in Kofa, Indian will come and do a film in Kofa and Britons will come and do the same thing in Kofa. To come and practice immorality and destroy our values." There you have it. The Sheik seemed to think that Islamic values were superior and different from that of other human beings. This is probably the reason why in most core northern cities there is a deliberate separation of Nigerians into those living within the City (usually walled and inhabited by the indigenes) and those living in Sabon-Gari (new settlement) inhabited by settlers.   

To buttress his point, the Sheik concluded that the film village was a conspiracy by an unnamed lawmaker who insisted on bringing the project to Kano to "destroy Islam". He further revealed that some "pagan" Yorubas had wanted the project in their city but were denied in order to bring the film village to Kano to destroy Islam!  The Sheik wondered why the "first benefit" (it was included in the 2016 budget) Kano would be getting from the Federal Government was a film village that has the potential for destroying their pristine morals and values. 

PMB was obviously rattled by the self-aggrandizing posture of Sheik Abdallah and his cohorts because he was eventually prevailed upon to stop the film village project. The president's "wishes" were conveyed to the Kano State government and the theocrats enjoyed a pyrrhic victory. However, the utterances and threats of Sheik Abdallah are some of the reasons why the country needs to be restructured so that those who want to live as if it was 2000BC can do so.  

The powers of religious leaders must be subject to democratic ethos for the country to move forward. We must decide if we want democratically derived decisions or those coming from a bigoted zealot with a questionable agenda. We must also decide if this country is truly secular or it is a thinly veiled Islamic republic. The proposed film village would have improved the local economy and the lives of those connected with it - and we are talking of thousands of people (if corruption allows). But those thousands of hopes have disappeared in a puff of very hot prayers that is nothing but hot air. 

To those who feel disappointed, take heart. Religion, as we know it, is probably on its last legs and that is the reason why those benefitting from its enslaving qualities are fighting to maintain the status quo. It is good to worship, but do it with your eyes wide open. Your heaven or hell is right here. We have looked to the East and to the West and yet the redemption they promise gives no rest, after more than five hundred years. We need to change the current song to our song and one day (that is sure to come) when the film village project comes of age, nothing would stop it.

Senator Dino: The Big Stud, The Child Within, The Implications

Dino Melaye

It is probably common knowledge that a certain Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria called Dino Melaye physically threatened and verbally abused a colleague (Senator Oluremi Tinubu) within the chambers of the Senate a few days ago. Dino supposedly rained vituperations on his fellow Senator in a most condescending and sexist manner that was unbecoming of a supposedly hallowed establishment. 

Dino, according to sources, demeaned his colleague; Senator Tinubu by first threatening to beat her up and then sexually assault her.  He later changed his mind about the latter course of action by tastelessly comparing Tinubu to a dried up (dead) fish while suggesting his preference for another Senator he considers more robust for sexual conquest.  Dino was allegedly infuriated by being called a dog and a thug by Tinubu.  But with the benefit of hindsight, these descriptions of Dino are apt.

In contrast, the current Prime Minister of Canada, a couple of months ago "accidentally" brushed against a woman standing behind him while he was trying to hurry a member of House of Commons to a vote and the whole Canadian political firmament caught fire. The woman involved felt "disrespected" (oyinbo get time) and the Prime Minister had to publicly apologise both to the woman and the nation.

It is always amusing when we talk about democracy and the rule of law. Some jaded politicians compare the glorified "area boy" type of selection in Nigeria with the democratic process in saner climes. Nigeria's leadership consists of some of the most self-serving, dishonest, vile and uncommonly self-satisfied pieces of garbage ever to don the toga of democracy anywhere on the planet. Politicians tend to think they are bigger than the country, and have no compunction about leading their desperate followers into perdition. 

If Nigerians truly understand the characters of their rulers, and those they have given power to rule over their lives, most of the rulers would be lynched. But this has not been possible because Nigerians live by raw emotions instead of reason and tireless exertion of the intellect. Without political education, the average Nigerian embraces the tyranny of a pseudo-feudal imposition where economic desperation, tribe and religious affiliation trump nationalism and egalitarianism.

In a real democracy, where there is rule of law, Dino Melaye could never have gotten to where he is today: with countless "cash and carry" chieftaincy titles and an air of assumed superiority that is based unconscionably on sickening flamboyance, emotional cretinism and a screaming, petulant inner kid that has refused to grow past kindergarten.  But then, the Senate and House of Representatives are filled with this type of characters. Their thought about nation building does not go beyond their stomach or at most, their pants, despite loquacious presentations on the floor of the house.

Dino's abuse of Senator Tinubu, irrespective of her politics and manners (which some might question), also brings a sad reminder to the fact that the non-Hausa/Fulani woman is probably the most dispensable and disrespected woman in the country, irrespective of her status or accomplishment.  Dino, for all his madness would probably think twice before threatening to beat up and rape a Hijab-wearing Hausa/Fulani female senator, within the chambers of the Senate or outside of it, no matter the provocation: not to talk of going to the husband's street to strut around in "victory." 

Dino knows that the Hausa/Fulani husband would take him to task immediately and could eventually destroy him without equivocation. You will also never hear of a northern Muslim man publically attacking another Muslim's wife, in such a vile manner because it is against the unwritten code of honour. Because non-Hausa/Fulani men generally fail at standing up or esteeming their women, it is easy to see why their women folk are lynched, disrespected, or their children abducted (remember Chibok). 

Recently, the Honorable Joan Onyemaechi Mrakpor (Aniocha-Oshimili Federal Constituency) of Delta State was physically assaulted (slapped) and called a prostitute by one of the aids to the Controller General of prisons because she dared to overtake his convoy. This travesty happened within the grounds of the House of Representatives! The woman was assaulted within the grounds of where the Nigerian constitution asks her to use as office. The aid to the controller of prison knew that nothing would happen to him for disrespecting the legislator and Dino said the same thing to Remi Tinubu after his verbal assaults; "…nothing would happen."

Marie Corelli, in her book; Sorrows of Satan, said, "…Men are entirely influenced by women, though few of them would own it. Through women, they are lifted up to heaven or driven down to hell. The latter course is the favourite, and the one that is almost universally adopted." For some reason, women are for the most part able to expose a man's weaknesses and men ought to listen and learn to become stronger. 

Dino has proven in private and in public his unwillingness to learn. He appears to detest the evidence of his weaknesses when exposed by the women in his life, so he hates the women with a passion. His obvious PTSD clouds his reasoning abilities and at the slightest provocation, he becomes a pitiable man-child who fails at self-control that is concomitant with delusion of grandeur. 

A nation would probably never rise beyond the character of those that rule over it. Fellow Nigerians, I present to you Sexator Dino Melaye; one of the stars of Nigeria's political firmament, from Kogi State, who aspires to be the president of this great country one day.

"Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!" - Holy Bible

Nigerian Church is "Lending" to Other Nations?

Pastor Enoch Adeboye

 

For reasons that are only obvious to a popular church leader, Nigeria is currently awash with so much wealth (church wealth to be exact) that it is lending to other nations. At least that is what the general overseer of the RCCG (Redeemed Christian Church of God) was recently alleged to have insinuated. There was also a self-satisfied claim that the church has managed to establish itself in over 190 countries across the planet. In trying to explain what such spreading prosperity entails in concrete terms, the "man of God" said "…We are not poor because we are already in the business of lending to nations. We are buying churches and establishing institutions in all these countries.” Well, congratulations sir, this is no mean feat.

However, beyond the pall of impressive numbers and self-adulation lies the simmering, palpable poverty, and lack of national direction that has become the bane of the Nigerian state. Instead of an awakened onslaught to change things, this state of affairs has been deliberately accompanied by ecclesiastical condescension and scripture-induced somnambulism that encourages the average citizen to suffer peacefully.  

Apart from the establishment of churches, which institutions have been established in addition to the houses of worship? Have the churches established world-class hospitals, schools, research centers, agricultural communes or libraries? Of what benefit, in concrete terms, are religious organizations in the country except for the display of exclusive doctrinal mosaics and the encouragement of citizens to live vicariously within the ambience of church rather than personal wealth.

The first churches were not established to save the souls of Africans as popularly believed. Churches; usually accompanied with schools were established to plant the seeds of perpetual influence of the colonizers on the mental and spiritual psyche of the colonized. The deft imposition led to self-alienation, so that, from cradle to grave, we are all trying to please our masters or look like them.

After a couple of centuries, the mission of "saving our souls" by the colonizers is accomplished and the whole continent is awash with their clones. We have mastered the trade so completely that Nigerians and other Africans are now "planting" churches in western nations - a great achievement. But these achievements are simple pacifiers that have failed to turn our five loaves and two fish into food baskets to feed our teeming millions.

At the highest level of governance in Nigeria, Moslem, Christian clerics, and political leaders have a common goal. They try to keep the rest of us in perpetual ignorance; teaching us to be happy with our miserable states while hoping for a better hereafter. But amidst the turmoil of our lives, we can see that the hereafter of these leaders is already here by the way they live.

Until we begin to see the futility of looking towards the Middle East or the West for our salvation and realize that the solution to our problems lies with us, the masturbatory euphoria of more buildings and numbers would continue to be a pathetic imitation of the real thing.

Babachir and his Food for the Boys

A Cross-section of Participants at the Confab

 

The current secretary to the Federal Government of Nigeria recently demeaned the confab on Nigeria's political future that was organized by the Jonathan administration a couple of years ago. He derisively referred to the conference as "food for the boys." Since he did not define what "food" he was referring to, or who the "boys" were, we have to assume that he means the conference was just a junket to provide some monetary manna for those who attended and contributed their insights at the meeting. In the Secretary's statement lies the power and glory of governmental irresponsibility and perfidy in Nigeria. 

Governance in Nigeria has become a game of denigrating all preceding governmental policies; good or bad, a relegation of people-oriented schemes to carefully managed tokens while disguising every current action as progress. If the moon race between Russia and the US had happened in Nigeria, you can assume that the next president after Kennedy (US) would have scuttled space exploration, either because it is too far from Sokoto, or some holy book says it is a sin to fly so close to God.

Despite all attempts at hiding the obvious, honest Nigerians know that the country, as presently constituted is rigged in favour of certain groups and power brokers whose interests are diametrically opposed to the progress of the nation.

If according to reports, "…more than 492 delegates consisting of distinguished citizens and professionals, as well as other core stakeholders rose above any narrow interest to painstakingly discuss and proffer realistic solutions to issues constituting impediment to Nigeria’s unity and progress" then the secretary to the Federal Government should have been more charitable. But the SGF appears to be speaking the mind of his principal who obviously does not mind the confab report ending up in a refuse dump with all the billions spent.

The oligarchy in the north has never been interested in an integrative approach to nationalism in Nigeria. They brazenly advocate a self-first approach, which despite its effectiveness at weakening the rest of the country politically has not produced any meaningful national development. Most of the recommendations in the confab report could at least serve as starting points for a fully integrated nation where everyone has a sense of national belonging. 

Nations and laws should evolve according to changing times and there is nothing sacrosanct or unchangeable in the way Nigeria is currently constituted. Only those who gain from its prostration and staticity have evolved condescending terms such as "Nigeria is non-negotiable." If the country is non-negotiable, who determined that status: the military, traditional or political leaders? Well, Nigeria's "non-negotiability" imposition by those who think they own it has currently led to a nation without future. It has resulted in a nation in search of itself in wrong places, where poverty, insecurity and crass disregard for human life is the order of the day. 

The Secretary to the government seats atop a rubbish heap while deluding himself about the status of his political clout. If a man of his status can trivialize what some of the best in the land sat together for nearly half a year to put together as recommendations for moving the nation forward then Nigeria is in a worse situation than meets the eye. Telling us that the exercise that gulped millions, if not billions of Naira of taxpayer's money is nothing but a smart way to share the nation's wealth is a national insult.

The north is currently unstable, the middle belt is seething and the south is restless. Insecurity stalks every Nigerian and there are some places in our so-called modern cities that you dare not drive through at night. In parts of Kwara State, the situation has degenerated to armed, grown men, stealing pots of soup from the stove and yet our leaders are not losing sleep.

It befuddles the average Nigerian that a corrective regime appears to have worsened an already bad situation.  All we hear is that things are bound to get worse before they get better; but such impossible platitudes are increasingly looking like a galling case of cluelessness. You'd think that the current regime should at least take off from where the last one reached in failure but how do we explain a situation where we are refailing all over again? There is too much activity in the easier aspect of shining light on the cockroaches (corruption) while paying lip service to the task of nation building.

Irrespective of what PMB or his SGF feel about examining the root of Nigeria's current parody of nationhood the country would probably outlast them. But during this brief moment in time, that might not come again, they owe it to themselves and posterity to honour the yearnings of every citizen by making every one of them matter.  The task is surely not for boys but battle-tested men ready to do the right thing.