Between American And Nigerians Legislators

Both are mechanical engineers, politicians and charismatic leaders in their own right. While Otunba Gbenga Daniel calls the shots in Ogun State that is vastly becoming the cynosure, in terms of positive developments in Nigeria, Mr. Raila Odinga other partners with his political rival in the steering the ship of his country, Kenya, as prime minister.

ON Sunday, September 28, Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State, with his wife, Olufunke, flew down to Enugu to honour the invitation of his brothers and sisters across the Niger, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, as a guest lecturer at this years Igbo Day annual symposium.

The assemblage was that of the political elite, journalists, activists and the core of the intelligentsia in the eastern part of the country, with invited guests from all the states of the federation.

Daniel, a great debater during his secondary school days at Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta, a shining University of Lagos undergraduate star at the Master Mind NTA Quiz competition adored by his late teacher, Prof Ayodele Awojobi, chose the topic, Equity, Justice and Fairness as tool for Political Equilibrium.

At a different forum, The Guardian newspapers Silver Jubilee Anniversary lecture, held on Thursday October 9 at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos, Odinga, who flew in form Paris with his wife, Ida, delivered a lecture on, Democracy and the challenge of Good Governance in Africa.

Daniel hails from the Yoruba race in the southern part of Nigeria, while Odinga hails from Luo ethnic group in Kenya.

Until May 29, 1999 when a Yoruba man clinched the Presidency in the civilian dispensation, there has been a great imbalance in the political equation between Northern and Southern Nigeria.

In the same vein, the Luo ethnic group in Kenya had to fight tooth and nail before they could be recognised for power at the centre. The alibi that always throw spanner into their works then was the fact that men from this ethnic group were not circumcised and therefore regarded as boys who cannot lord it over men.

It was therefore a pleasant coincidence that these two illustrious sons of Africa have to champion the cause of Igbo Presidency at their recent lectures.

Daniel, who has been an advocate of equity, justice and fairness in Ogun State, nationalised this view at the Ohanaeze Ndigbo House on Park Avenue, GRA, Enugu, where he gave kudos to the Igbo people for their remarkable contributions as one of our nations largest ethnic groups and central player in the project called Nigeria.

In the presence of Igbo elites and great politicians, such as former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim, former governors, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo and Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. Dozie Ikedife and a host of others, Daniel charged the Igbo to be united, noting that once they achieved that, other nationalities would support them in their aspirations in the Nigerian state.

He recalled with nostalgia, the legendary and valiant efforts of the likes of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr. Nwafor Orizu, Dr. Michael Okpara, Dr. Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe, Chief Arthur Mbanefo, Dr. Pius Okigbo, Dr. Christopher Okigbo, Chief Odimegwu Ojukwu and his renowned son, Chief Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, among with others, whose exertions in the cause of a better Nigeria continue to fire our zeal for service today and signpost worthy pointers to the better Nigeria, which we all strive.

In its ordinary meaning, he defined equity as a situation which no one has an unfair advantage; justice as fairness in the way people are treated; fairness as the quality of being fair, that is, treating everyone equally in a society run on the principles of equity and justice; and political equilibrium, which is a more technical and contentious phrase as a situation of stability in the government or public affairs of a country.

To buttress his assertion, he went the memory lane. Going back to the history of the political ferment in Europe in the 19th century, Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876) had proclaimed in a declaration signed by 47 revolutionaries on trial after the failure of their uprising at Lyon, France in 1870 that, we wish in a word, equality, equality in fact as a corollary or rather as a primordial condition of liberty.

The writers of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, he said, had declared in Article I that, All human being are born and equal in dignity and lights.

He also recalled that the English writer, George Orwell demonstrated in his famous work, Animal Farm, that when some animals decided to be more equal than the others, the consequence was chaos, instability and eventual systemic breakdown.

Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, he said poignantly put it that, justice is the first condition of humanity, while German Philosopher, Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) said: Mans capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but mans inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.

According to Daniel, events and developments all over the world have shown clearly that in any society where equity, justice and fairness are absent, the people lose hope and eventually resort to anarchy.

In situations where equity, justice and fairness are not well managed, it gives birth to blood letting, unnecessary loss of lives and property, economic backwardness and separatist movements, leading to disintegration of the society.

He cited the examples of the defunct Yugoslavia, former Czechoslovakia, Sudan, India and Pakistan to illustrate his submission.

The governor dealt extensively into Igbo sociology, stressing that the minimal lineage in Igbo society was the smallest unit of political authority and that the major lineages consist of several minimal lineage, with the head of the senior minimal lineage as the most senior authority.

The lesson to be learnt from this, he said, was that this system of government allowed for equity, fairness and justice and facilitated political equilibrium.

He warned that the present woes bedeviling Nigerias democracy would linger on unless the political players work hard to enthrone equilibrium in the polity.

Daniel, who recently bagged the Enyi Di Ora Nma I Ndigbo (a friend liked by all) title, said unequivocally that no part of this country should be denied the opportunity to rule the country and that the Igbo were eminently qualified and should be supported by all in this aspiration.

The attainment of political equilibrium, he recommended, is the eradication of all forms of bigotry predominant in our polity.

Values of the people are promoted and our national policies are based on peaceful co-existence, national integrity and unity. This will afford us a rightful place in the comity of nations.

All the arms of government must be re-dedicated to their roles and autonomous for them to perform at their best defined, he stressed.

Odinga in his lecture, dealt extensively on democracy and the challenge of good governance in the African continent, but spared a lengthy thought on the marginalisation of the Igbo at the centre of political authority in Nigeria.

This pragmatic, who has visited Nigeria severally, especially during presidential elections and has at the back of his palms, most of the major cities in Nigeria, took a swipe at the practice of democracy in Africa, from Nigeria to Zimbabwe, through Congo, Uganda, Kenya, etc, condemned the style of practice by national leaders.

Focusing specifically on Nigeria, he condemned the practice where certain ethnic groups arrogate to themselves the right to rule, while denying others access to power.

Democracy, he thundered, must be devoid of ethnicism and sectionalism, as this can only drag a nation down the path of disintegration. He faulted the idea of rotational presidency in Nigeria, stressing that it was capable of disintegrating the country.

The dogged fighter pointed out that those who have the right to vote must also have the right to be voted for in a democracy.

Odinga recalled: I was here (in Nigeria) during 1999 and 2003 elections. I was also here in 2006. I have visited Lagos, Ibadan, Kano, Kaduna, Enugu and some other places.

During the elections, somebody told me that the Presidency is rotated between the North and the South and that since former President Olusegun Obasanjo is from the Southwest, the next President should be from the North.

I asked what happens to the Southeast and I was told that the situation is like that because Northerners do not trust the Easterners. If you say that some people can vote and cannot be voted for, then why are we here?

Odinga, who said he has some personal friends in Nigeria, including Obasanjo, Professor Femi Badejo (who authored the book, the Enigma called Odinga) and Dr. Onukaba Adinoiyi Ojo, who was also Odingas Media Strategist during his presidential campaign in Kenya, recalled: Something similar to that happened in Kenya too in the past, when they said that the uncircumcised could not lead the country. This situation causes disintegration. The right to vote also confers on one the right to be voted for.

The problem of Africa, Odinga noted, is the derailment of its leaders from the laudable and visionary dream of its founding fathers, coupled with the lifestyle of mediocrity that Africans had been living since independence.

We should stop blaming our colonial past for our woes. We should put that experience behind us and move forward, just like Korea did, he counseled.

He, however, exuded confidence in the ability of Africans to developing the continent themselves, saying: Tomorrow belongs to the people if they prepare today. We will not take our rightful place in the world if we fail to prepare. Our enormous resources should be made to work for us. Africa must rise. If Africa unites, nobody can stop us.

From Nigerias Daniel to Kenyas Odinga, like minds flows together, especially in the area of unity, fairness, justice and equity to achieve political equilibrium.

-Ogunbambo, a journalist, attended both lectures and wrote from Okun-Owa in Ogun State