Opinion

By Abdulrazak Iliyasu Sansani

It is harvest time, where farmers all over the country harvest their crops. Some have already harvested the early maturing varieties of crops, while others are counting days to commence harvesting, or at least have started preparations for the harvesting of Agricultural produce after toiling, expending funds, and hoping of getting bumper harvest as a reward for everything.

By Musa Sa’adu

Political parties remain the only vehicle or platforms for candidates/politicians to aspire for political offices. This, however, leads to the emergence of various interest groups within a party. The groups work harmoniously together to pursue their common goals. However, the success or otherwise of a political party depends mainly on how the stakeholders manage these interest groups in the distribution of party positions, party tickets, appointments and the traditional largesse as the case may be. Failure to do these for any reason has, on so many instances, led to the internal party crises.

The 1983 election that produced Senator Sabo Bakinzuwo against a well-performing Governor Abubakar Rimi, seeking reelection resulted fromf party crises. The PRP crises that metamoposed into ‘Tabo‘ and ‘Santsi‘ factions, led by Malam Aminu Kano and Rimi respectively, forced Rimi as a sitting Governor to dump PRP for NPP to seek reelection. However, this was one of the cardinal reasons behind his Waterloo despite his performance in office throughout Kano and Jigawa.

Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau and, of course, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje are no doubt the principal actors of the Fourth Republic Kano politics. The three have benefited and suffered the consequences of internal party crises.

Our memories are still intact on how the political hullabaloo, shenaniganism and internal party wranglings ruined the reelection bid of Governor Kwankwaso during the 2003 Governorship election. The defection of Danhassan, crises between Kwankwaso and some members of the National Assembly, notably the then speaker of the House Of Representatives, Hon. Ghali Na-Abba and perhaps General Buhari factor were among the contributing factors that led to the Kwankwaso/Ganduje downfall and the emergence of Malam Shekarau.

Likewise, Shekarau suffered the repercussions of internal party crises; his anointed candidate Salisu Sagir Takai was defeated by Kwankwaso/Ganduje. The crises between Shekarau and his deputy, Abdullahi Gwarzo, popularly known as Ruwa Baba, the over fifty thousand votes garnered by him during the Governorship election, has smoothly leveraged the second coming of Kwankwaso and Ganduje in the 2011 election.

The current turmoil rocking the Kano APC is a cause of concern to any committed party member. The internal crises that paved the way for two parallel conventions that produced Abdullahi Abbas and Haruna Zago representing Ganduje and Shekarau led factions respectively will create a hole that will gradually sink the Kano APC ship, and neither the Ganduje nor Shekarau will survive the mishaps including their supporters.

In politics, number matters; everyone is important! Don’t tell me someone who’s Governor for eight years and a serving senator doesn’t have political influence, and these G-7 members, as they fondly called themselves, are blessed with sturdy supporters and resources to bankroll political movements that can make or mar an election.

With the Tuesday court verdict favouring the Shekarau-led faction and considering the nature of Nigerian litigation processes, I’m afraid that whichever faction the pendulum swings and even if they won the general polls, the replica of Zamfara 2019 is imminent.

Both Ganduje and Shekarau should tread with caution; there is still time. They shouldn’t listen to the sycophants instigating the crises. Let them sit, discuss and iron out the grey and problematic areas and find out political solutions; otherwise, Kwankwaso will send them to political oblivion.

By Amara Sesay

Humans are either inherently competitive or inherently collaborative. However, in Politics and Psychology, the dominant instinct seems to be that of competition. And here are some of its popular and not-so-popular by-products in interpersonal relationships and politics: envy, jealousy, excellence, mastery, victory, number-one statushood, presidency, globalisation, colonialism, populism and racism. For some of these, the nexus with competition is clear, for some, you have to move closer and look deeply.

What is however noteworthy is that even in the absence of apparent competition, it makes both economic and emotional sense to train your children to be competitive.

For a start, nobody goes about in search of the number two man. And in most sports and endeavours of life,  that’s the best place for losers. It’s the top one per cent that eats the biggest part of the pie, makes the most critical decisions and controls the tools and infrastructure to engender the most harm or the most goodness as the case may be. You don’t want your son or daughter to miss that spot!

Being competition-conscious does not mean taking your children to schools where they are taught in American and British Curriculum, whatever that means. In fact, such neo-colonialist, low self-esteem attempts at putting your children ahead of the competition may be counterproductive in the long run. That is not to say there are no benefits attached to it.

Being competitive means being grounded in knowledge and the context of local factors of production. In our times, these go above and beyond the physical, to the digital and even the post-digital, if there is ever going to be something like that. In other words, let them compete both in the universe and the metaverse.

Note that competition, like charity, begins at home. Teach them to maintain a grasp of their native or first language as they may need that constituency later in life. Teach them the nuances of upholding and breaking the law for “good” causes. Teach them to eat last. And teach them to complete whatever they start, except they are sure that the preferred task is more beneficial than the abandoned ones. You should teach them to embrace feedback. With these traits and a deep mastery of one service or product that is of value to people, they can go places and perform wonders.

What is international competitiveness? Its local mastery is refined to suit many cultures and geographical territories. In the gig economy, this has become even more important. With 5G,  it will be even more critically important.

So, whilst this generation may benefit from local content policies and other forms of structural violence that are meant to keep immigrants at bay. Populism, affirmative actions/federal character and language barriers may not prove beneficial in the future, as they are now for the less competitive citizens. Now is the time to build that sense of competition in your children. Now is now! Let the journey begin.

Amara Sesay wrote from Lagos.

By Lawi Auwal Yusuf

Several innovatory constitutional devices, administrative and technical solutions were tried to resolve the sectional tensions that, minimally in writing, attempted to enhance tolerance and political affinity between the heterogeneous regions of our dear country, Nigeria. These supposed solutions failed because they were unfounded paperwork, if not lip service.

The dispositions of politicians denote that they have no true intentions of dissipating all forms of religious and tribal harassment that undermine Nigeria’s progress as a diverse but cohesive society. They exploit the divisions for political deceit and their malicious divide and rule tactics. Politicians misuse the distinctions to garner more support, increase popularity and gain votes. But the effect is that it augments people’s consciousness of the differences and raise the importance they affix to them.

Hence, there exist mutual antipathy among the ethnicities. They strongly hold ethnic prejudices and stereotypical views against each other and counter-blaming themselves for the country’s woes. Frequent destructive fracases, secessionism and bloodshed depict Nigeria.

We need a poly-ethnic policy that will help us forge a pluralist democracy that fully respects tribal and religious dissimilarities. A country that truly recognizes and values such pluralism in society. This worthwhile project must establish mutual veneration among Nigerians which is essential for a peaceful future of multiethnic Nigeria. It should socialize Nigerians to enfold cultural diversity, support multiculturalism and believe that the tribes can harmoniously cohabitate through respecting each other’s cultures.

For this dream to become reality, the policy must be accompanied by genuine efforts to eradicate poverty and inequality. Research confirmed that lack of cohesion results mainly from inequality.

This policy must emphasize universalistic moralities like supremacy and rule of law, transparency in governance, economic development and nationalist sentiments to combat the particularistic moralities of the individual tribes. This will make Nigerians united by a common purpose rather than individualistic purposes.

Also, there is an immense need of maintaining a distinct Nigerian identity to replace particularistic cultural identities. People will develop a sense of common identity. Nationalism is a powerful ideology that unites perversely fractious and ethnocentric cultures effectively. It leads to a sense of sameness, uniformity and also bring people into closer fraternities. This will help them understand their differences and how to live with them. Therefore, tolerance will manifest and subsequently love will flourish among them. Diversity will be a source of strength, unity and progress.

Good leadership must be the leading force in this trip. Ethnic favouritism and turning public office an instrument of creating wealth for acquaintances and tribal brethren must utterly vanish. Justice, transparency and equal treatment of all irrespective of closeness or ethnic background must prevail.

Furthermore, Nigeria should adopt the integration approach to ethnic relations. Ethnic relations exist where individuals show allegiance to different groups that conflict exists among them. When disputes and competition divide tribes, then integration brings them together. Conflict wither away and there will be no ethnic consciousness and therefore less potential for dispute. Integration is a permanent cure for the ailments generated by ethnic relations. This model involves a continuous process by which individuals learn one another’s language, acquire modes of behaviour, characteristic attitudes and habits. At the macro level, the process also involves the gradual incorporation of smaller groups into the mainstream culture.

Increased contact and intermingling ought to be facilitated through ensuring inter-regional trading, sports competitions and encouraging people to travel widely because contact between members of divergent tribes reduces tensions, suspicion and dispute. This will turn Nigerians into cosmopolites. Those are individuals who travelled extensively and lived in different communities. Thus, they tend to be familiar with different cultures, communities and languages. Instead of exhibiting an overwhelming loyalty to their tribes, they have intricate repertoires of loyalty and identity. Therefore, they hardly become bigots.

Institutional ethnic stratification has to be dispelled from society. Political, social and economic institutions must be crafted to help manage the differences and all indigenous people need to have equal rights whatever their social background. Policies should be devised to deal with such diversity and prevent forms of social exclusion both at the national and community levels. Equal opportunities must be given to all and these institutions must be reformed so that they no more exclude and discriminate against minorities or disadvantaged groups.

Minority cultures must be protected because resistance intensifies where the dominant groups arbitrarily oppress the interests and aspirations of the feeble minorities. The conflict may manifest either violently or through political processes. Moreover, fundamentalist convictions emerge among minorities as they become apprehensive that their cultural distinctiveness will perish as the elements of dominant cultures become integrated into their own. They retaliate to defend their cultures in malevolent ways to people from the major cultures.

Finally, it is of paramount importance to establish an agency with broader powers and scope to enhance tribal equality in Nigeria. It should have the responsibility of implementation of the new policy. Yet, it can be assigned with the tasks of promoting peaceful co-existence and provision of legal aid to victims of harassment. In the same vein, statutes should be enacted making it obligatory for government agencies and private enterprises to vigorously exterminate all forms of discrimination and ensure equal opportunities for all.

Lawi Auwal Yusuf wrote from Kano, Nigeria.

Director: Sufyan Lawal Kabo

Language: Hausa

Release date: 26-11-2021

Company: Islamic Film Empire

Cast: Musa Lawal, Ibrahim Hassan, Mahmoud Mukhtar, Fatima Lawal, Binta Miko, etc.

Most of the criticisms around Kannywood are rooted in its personnels’ attitude towards filmmaking. They seem to focus on irrelevant, modern love stories, neglecting serious topics. Their films are therefore accused of cultural aberration and promoting moral decadence. However, as the criticisms became louder, a production company, Islamic Film Empire, came to change the narrative with its movie titled Gari Guda.

Set in Northwestern Nigeria, Gari Guda explores social vices like banditry and kidnappings that bedevil the region. It commences with a scene of a bandit attack on a village, where they kidnap many people, including its Chief Imam, and take them to their hideout in Dunguru Forest.

There is Abdul (played by Musa Lawal) on another side. He is a family man who, after losing his job, becomes bankrupt and cannot cater for them. His fruitless search for another job gets him increasingly frustrated with life, and he decides to end it all. He goes far away to Dunguru for the execution but eventually finds himself in the bandits’ camp. However, after hearing his story, their kingpin, Jalo (played by Ibrahim Hassan), asks him to work as their cyber-man.

Would Abdul accept the offer or turn it down? Find out in the cinemas!

Gari Guda is, indeed, a powerful film, not only for dealing with a pressing issue but for doing that effectively. It is shot in suitable locations that perfectly capture Northern Nigeria’s ecology. This makes it a realistic portrayal of the region and its current condition.

The film is a socio-political critique of the Northern political elites. It depicts their abuse of power as the posits that as the primary cause of the terrible mess the region faces. This is suggested when Jalo tells Abdul that he holds an LL.B degree, and his inability to afford “Law School” makes him resort to kidnapping. The intention of Abdul to commit suicide also reiterates the misconducts unemployed citizens could engage in.

The film is, in addition, overtly didactic. Its portrayal of Abdul, who encounters troubles for throwing his parents away, clearly symbolizes the consequence of parental disobedience. There are also many instances where the director incorporates moral teaching into the dialogue. I salute him for the job well done, together with all the cast and crew members.

Nonetheless, the film’s plot progresses too slowly. And while some scenes are lengthy with unnecessary details, some important points are missed. For example, what transpired with the people kidnapped at the beginning remains unknown. The director also fails to strike a balance between education and entertainment. Except for Abdul’s comical father character, there is no comic relief – something to allow the audience to recover from the tensions and excessive gunshots – in the film.

In conclusion, Gari Guda enlightens and educates. It is typical of what you would expect from the “Islamic Film Empire”. Therefore, I recommend it for the serious-minded—rating 3/5.

Reviewer:

Habib Ma’aruf

habibumaaruf11@gmail.com

By Isah Nasidi

A report has it that about three hundred and sixty-one million (361,000,000) videos were uploaded on YouTube in just 30 days, and about 19,200 articles have been published on Google Scholar in the year 2020. Similarly, around 550 million tweets, including terms like “coronavirus,” “COVID-19, or “pandemic”, were recorded in March 2020. These are just a few platforms where information is produced, distributed, and consumed. Imagine the gross total of all the information shared on the entire world of conventional media, new media, and media.

New information technologies fueled the overabundance of information known as the “infodemic,” which is now the new feature of the information flow. Due to technological affordances, a fair percentage of people have the technical know-how to produce authentic and unauthentic information and circulate it without any professional gatekeepers. This makes it difficult for people to differentiate between accurate and inaccurate information, which in the end may cause disinformophobia. However, it is not only about the accuracy but also the safety or health of the information.

For journalists, social media influencers, and the entire audience or users to produce, circulate and consume safe information and avoid information disorder syndrome, media literacy on the ecosystem of information disorder is a must.

Basically, fact-checking organisations use truth metres or scales to categorise information. Depending on the in-house style, information can be divided into four categories based on the dimension of true or false: purely true, largely/partly true, false, largely/partly false, unconfirmed.

True information is not always good. Information can be true yet harmful to society. Information that is true and harmful is labelled as “malinformation”. Such information can be hate-speech, leaks about personal privacy without any justification of public interest, stereotypes, prejudice, and embarrassment. For instance, it is a true representation of identity when you call a Hausa man Aboki or Malam, but the intent and the approach may be harmful.

The largely/partly true information is the most common strategy for information contamination and is very dangerous and challenging to deal with. Here, the root of the information is genuine but diluted with false information, misinterpreted or misrepresented. This is what I call diluted information (dil-information). The intent may be good or bad. For instance, the military has been accused of reducing the number of casualties from their side while increasing the number of casualties from the enemy side. Yes, the Nigerian Army indeed killed some scores of bandits, but the number is not correct.

The false information can be classified as “false,” “transformed false,” or “unknown false. False information happens when both the producer and the consumer know the false status of the information. The majority of the content shared for entertainment purposes is false, and it is treated as such. However, known false content may be shared with another community of consumers that do not know the origin of the information, thus considering it true, which is transformed into true. This is very common in this era of globalisation, where content can be shared easily across the globe.

The unknown false information can be from either the source or the consumer. For instance, a journalist may unknowingly receive false information and share it as true, or he may deliberately fabricate information and share it as true. The former is classified as misinformation while the latter is called disinformation. In both cases, the consumers of the information do not know the false status of the information.

We will continue.

Isah Nasidi is a media consultant and research fellow at PTCIJ.

By Aliyu Ammani Junior

Leadership has been one of the common unbalanced difficulties in Nigeria’s political space since independence: 1964 Federal Election Crisis, January 1966 coup, 1966 counter-coup, Nigeria/Biafra civil war, Gideon Orkar’s failed coup, post-June 12 political crisis, and more. All in one way or another—linkable to one part’s sentiment of being marginalized, omitted, or denied the sense of representation.

Ideally, merit, competency, integrity, and capacity are the benchmarks in selecting a leader, not a power rotation or sharing formula. Nevertheless, the situation in Nigeria, a complex country of multiethnic and multi-religious organizations with uneven federalism that is almost consolidated, is not about competency, merit, integrity, and capacity.

A centralized structure ravaged by agitation, deep suspicion of fear of ethnic and religious hegemony demands a rotating power between north and south to accommodate the emotions and sentiments of these regions and their people. Providing a rotation formula would go a long way in sustaining a united Nigeria considering the existing deep divisions among Nigerians. It will produce fairness, equality, equity, justice, a sense of possession, and identification.

Unless a requisite equate is attained, where every part and tribe has developed a sense of possession, identification, and the federalism is no longer leaning; Nigeria will always require a practical formula for unifying the diverging segments that formed ‘The Federal Republic Of Nigeria.’

The fault of power rotation is theoretical and unrealistic; some argue that it is ‘undemocratic’ because it deprives certain people with competence, capacity, and experience the right to be voted—for when zoning does not favour their locus. There is no universal structure of democracy; what is universal about democracy is the basic principles that guide it. The focus of democratic practical demands remains locally confined. As a substantial social value, democracy has complex and diverse considerations and needs. Therefore, it should be hacked to suit local conditions and circumstances.

It is deceiving and tricky to limit the democratic system to mechanical conditions (popular will) without referring to instrumental conditions like the blanket sense of identity—inclusiveness—possession from every component.

Another narrowed argument against the rotating formula is that it is ineffectual and of no help – since a typical citizen from the leader’s zone is not better comforted ‘materialistically’ than other citizens from distant zones. Realistically, it is restricting, reducing, and neo-Marxist to limit the decisive quest of political aspirations and struggles to ‘distribution of resources’ without appreciating other factors; recognition, possession, and sense of identification. In a heterogeneous populace, it is significant to feel represented and connected by having someone from your spot and its experience, occupying a high post (including the office of the President) at least—in a while.

As earlier acknowledged, in usual events—merit, competency, integrity, and capacity should be ‘benchmarks’ in deciding a leader, not a formula. Undeniably, the merit, competency, integrity, and capacity test is a dubious and probable trial.  With a power rotating procedure, the questionable and possible trial remains untouched. Except that something is going to be fixed, every portion will develop a sense of possession, identification, and responsibility “I played: it’s time for someone.”

Aliyu Ammani Junior

Kaduna, Nigeria.

By Amara Sesay

We have heard the stories of hate. And they all come in different textures and tenors. There is the hate for a tribe, the hate for a race and then the hate for a country. But anytime we want to sit down and talk about hate, people get really emotional. As if it doesn’t exist!

I think the problem arises from our native perspective on hate. This makes it effortless to hate but embarrassing to admit it. So people get emotional when others develop the courage to analyse their hatred politely. It makes them feel sad. And the person who did the exposè sometimes ends up feeling guilty.

But what if every child had the basics of hatred right from primary school?  Such tough preparation for the future makes it easy to confront and respond to hate in a more calculated and strategic way.

Children deserve to know their historic enemies. And how new enemies are formed both online and offline. And how sometimes they themselves unwittingly recruit their own enemies by the things they say or show (read: show off)

Already, we teach them in nuanced and more pernicious ways. But schools can do the job better, I believe. Because with schools, there is respect for taxonomies, hierarchies and references or evidence. The affective domain should not be entirely left to homes, especially where bitter and frustrated bigots or extremists parade as parents.

Children deserve to know that their competitive nature will attract hatred and enmity; that their relentless strides towards excellence will attract a few more enemies. Every milestone they hit attracts more assassins with buckets of stones waiting for the perfect time and angle to pelt them. They should learn that for every change or significant reform they spearhead, friends will become enemies, and enemies will become arch-enemies. This might not always be the case, but they should learn and prepare for such eventualities.

When we leave hate studies to parlour talk and swathes of private histories taught at night, the wounds of centuries continue to rot unhindered. And nations stagnate while others are progressing.

Let’s be more intentional about teaching hate. And let our children learn this early. Late awareness of such an important issue is always costly, if not fatal.

Amara Sesay wrote from Lagos. He can be reached via amarasesay.amir@gmail.com.