Why leaders must reinvent nationalists spirit, by Musa, others

THE first memorial lecture of late nationalist and academic, Mr. Mokwugo Okoye yesterday in Abuja was like an excursion into Nigerias political past. Participants at the lecture such as Chairman, Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) Balarabe Musa, Prof. Eskor Toyo, Prof. Siyan Oyeweso, Chief Bob Ogbuagu and Dr. Dayo Olagunju of the Peace Foundation lamented that the spirit, ideas and political philosophies of the Nigerian nationalists had been eroded.

Placing side-by-side, the political ideologies that guided the nationalists and the driving force of the present crop of politicians in Nigeria, the guest lecturer, Oyeweso of the Osun State University in the lecture titled: Mokwugo Okoye and the Nigerian Dream, said the nationalists drive for welfarism, patriotism and national integration had been replaced with politics of selfishness and the attendant underdevelopment.

He said Nigerias Independence in 1960 was as a result of the relentless pressures mounted on the colonial masters by the nationalists who were fervent in their demand for liberation.

By 1950, Zikist revolutionary reactions against colonial rule had sufficiently infuriated the British who thought the time had come to finally subjugate the Zikist, as a result, the leaders of the Zikist movement, both local and international were arrested and tried in February 1950. Mokwugo Okoye was arrested on February 8, 1950 and arraigned for sedition... that is how the pressure continued. Anthony Enahoro was the one who in 1953 opted that Nigeria was due to have its independence in 1956, he said.

Okoye, an Enugu State-born politician, died in 1998.

Toyo, a retired Professor of Economics in the University of Calabar said Nigerian leaders of today lacked revolutionary spirit. It is very easy to talk about revolution in Nigeria but the question is, who is ready to make the sacrifice? This is because only a revolution can cause a change in Nigeria.

Toyo said Nigeria was like a child to him that needed to be nurtured unto maturity. He regretted that 48 years after independence, slaves with slave ideas were still ruling the country

Musa, who was represented by the CNPP Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu urged Nigerian leaders to recall the initiatives of past leaders like late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Alhaji Alhmadu Bello and Chief Obafemi Awolowo whom he said played politics of liberation and development.

Describing Okoye as a dogged, fearless, outspoken and truthful leader, the former governor of old Kaduna State, said Nigeria needed leaders who will place the country first before self.

Let me ask you, is Nigeria better today than it was at the independence? Certainly no. How can Nigeria be better today when no ward in the country can boast of voting its councilor into power? How can Nigeria be better today when the leaders are interested in themselves and not in the people? 48 years after independence, instead of Nigeria developing politically, the country is stepping backwards, Musa said.

Asked why the Peace Foundation honoured Okoye, Olagunju said the group had observed that there was need to educate young Nigerians on the imperatives of patriotism, adding that politics in the country today contrasted from those of the nationalist.

His words: The need to educate young Nigerians for patriotism is more imperative today than ever before, after all, the Nigeria of 2008 is certainly different from the one imagined 48 years ago by those who committed their whole lifetime to fighting for its independence.

In Nigeria today where politics has been commercialized and tribalism, corruption, arrogance of power and debilitating lust seem to be the main inspiration of men and women in the public office, we cannot but in faint memory remember the heroic actions of the revolutionary youth of the pre-independent Nigeria.

The present day Nigerian elite, unlike their predecessors of pre-independence years, are not only corrupted by the hopes of building financial empire but also by apathy, arrogance, intolerance, anti-intellectualism, authoritarianism and parochialism, pursuance of sectional rather than national interests, acceptance of things as they are and lack of willingness to transform them into what they should be, and above all, the lack of respect for the truth and justice and the rights of citizens, Olagunju said.

Doing this for Mok (Mokwugo) and even his other compatriots like Raji Abdallah, Zaad Zungur, Abubakar Zukogi, Osita Egbuna, Nduka Eze Michael Imoudu etc would not only inspire others to serve the peoples cause as Mok had done with courage and devotion but also help destroy the fatal theory that we as a people are ungrateful to hose who have served us without asking for anything in return, he added.