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NIGERIA'S UNSOLVED MYSTERIES:
THEY DEFY THE LOGIC OF PLATO AND ARISTOTLE

ne of my favorite on-line columnists is William Saletan. After reading his very recent critique of a particular news event, I came away with a homework assignment. It was an opportunity to read more, deeper perhaps about the Greek philosophers of old; those master "minds" of their times that controlled rational thinking both privately and in the public square. Among them, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and Pythagoras led with distinction and were thus considered outstanding. A few were also great public speakers, always ready to engage opponents in public albeit "political" debates, trading on ideas, invoking questions and answers that probe the mind. Others engaged in creative writing, publishing thesis that promoted radical interests, challenging the imagination of many and all. They had at least one specific goal, the attainment of knowledge. The process, the methods and means for deriving and acquiring knowledge perhaps provided the divergence in opinion and style, separating one philosopher and his work from another.

How does one acquire knowledge? Plato appeared to be a "big picture" person distinguishing clearly between Reality and Existence. To him Reality is only an idea, perhaps a thought. Whether or not that idea or thought exists does not matter, because according to him, whatever is real must also be "certain and infallible", be "fixed, permanent, and unchanging". There is therefore a universally acceptable "Form" depicted by convergence of resemblance towards physical appearance that can only be fully described through experience. Plato dismissed the empirical bordering on awareness through reason in preference for knowledge acquired via sense experience.

How does one transcribe Plato's philosophy into the realm of "Intellectualism and Rational Thinking, the Insight"? Aristotle leads the path towards empiricism, reality by measurement, precision, size and feel, ushering in the fundamentals of Natural Science. It is believed Aristotle's interest in science particularly physics and biology came from his father, a medical doctor and also from the mathematical doctrines of Pythagoras. He brought scientific application into philosophy to balance the "claims of empiricism (observation and sense experience) and formalism (rational deduction)" By this measure he used "Cause and Effect" to explain Reality and Existence. For instance he identified four parameters: Material - the substance out of which something becomes, is made; Efficiency - the origin of movement, displacement and change, Form - the entity, type or kind, category, or class, End - the outcome, final result, conclusion of an entire process, the goal. Thus, Aristotle believed in knowledge acquired through the understanding and rationalization of cause and effect, interpreting Reality and Existence with evidence and reason.

From Athens, fast forward to the present, and listen to Dr. Howard Dean, the former governor of the State of Vermont on a recent campaign trail for the Presidency of the United States of America. He described the same concept of reality, with people's tendency towards interpreting the difference between theory and fact. When it is expedient and the outcome of theory and fact do not coincide they tend to "get rid of the fact instead of the theory". Simply put in vernacular, if it has yet to happen, then it is not real. However, if it has happened and the outcome differs from the expected, then Reality becomes guesswork, "Fuzzy Math". "What you see is what you get" could define Plato's reality, and yet "Objects in your driving mirror might appear closer than they seem" could not be considered mere imagination.

What then is the essence of this Philosophy 101, this homework assignment? It is all about Nigeria, where Reality and Existence are neither Platonic nor Aristotle, but a gradation with a bizarre "metaphysical certainty". This discussion is about a country, a place where the Evidence and the Conclusion deriving there from never add up. Here is the roll call:

Since May 1999, a number of well-known Nigerians have lost their lives under very strange circumstances. On top of this list is Chief Bola Ige, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the land. Chief Ige was brutally gunned down in his own home at Ibadan. The trauma of a family under siege from unknown assailants had no chance under hell-fire to attend to a loved one drowning in his own blood, until too late. Bola Ige was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Chief Marshall Harry was looking forward to a political party rally at the Port Harcourt Stadium just before the April 2003 elections. The messengers of death came calling, this time at his house, a choice location of Abuja, the very seat of government. He took the bullets and died; only Chief Harry's obituary made it to the stadium weeks after. Chief Ogbonnaya Uche was a candidate for the Senate Seat to represent the Orlu Federal Constituency in Imo State. The killers followed him home while visiting his village.

When it was over, an aged mother was forced to mourn the untimely death of her one and only. OGB was dispatched in a brief. The tears hardly dried when the doorbell rang for Agwatu, Special Assistant to the Governor, Imo State. His 15-year old son could not stand to watch the torture. He fought back and took his own share of the bullets. Needless to say he learned the fate of his daddy weeks after in the hospital. Agwatu had lunch with his folks at Mbaise, returned to Owerri before sundown only to be killed by those who laid in wait for his arrival. Chief A. K. Dikibo, an executive of the ruling Party, in fact the National Vice Chairman, was on his way to a political engagement in Benin. It was a pre-arranged meeting and he was being expected. He kept in touch with his buddies by cellular phone, and that was the last conversation. The killers were on his trail and just before he realized why his driver stopped, the cannons started flying. Chief Dikibo had no chance to say the last goodbye.

The story is no different even in Kogi State where candidate for the Basa Local Government Chairmanship was gunned down before dawn. Luke Shigaba was killed in his own bedroom. The Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) Chief Philip Olorunnipa was besieged in his home in Kabba. The encounter did not last long. His young family was saved the terror in the dark. The man died. Uche Ogbe used to lecture at the Alvan Ikoku College of Education until last week. He was also the chairman of the Academic Staff Union. The agents of death paid him a visit in his office. This time it was not the gun. Mr. Ogbe was hacked and dismembered with machete. In Enugu, the story is the same. The Ugwu family witnessed the same violent killing at close range. The president of the Onitsha Bar Association and his wife left their village and did not make it back to their home at Onitsha. They were shot point blank; they died in their vehicle.

The cold hands of death visited Head of Department of Earth Sciences at the Enugu State University of Technology. He was killed in his office. In recent weeks, three state governors have had close shave with death. George Akume of Benue State escaped but his friend seated next to him in the official vehicle was not so lucky. Andrew Agom, another ruling party leader slumped dead. Governor Kure of Niger State, and Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos have all been shot at. A number of their respective security details have either been killed on duty or seriously wounded. These gruesome incidents and attacks are just a few of the many "Unsolved Mysteries" of Nigeria.

Here is the "Big Question": Is Nigeria under siege? The leadership calls these killers rampaging the entire nooks and corners of the country, "Armed Robbers". Who are these so-called armed robbers? The chief custodian of law and order has an opinion. According to him and based on his own "Knowledge by Experience", "Armed robbers are now being recruited legitimately into the police". There is certainly the temptation to take that leap into rational thinking, back to Philosophy 101. The conclusion then is that officers, men and women of the Nigerian police are armed robbers and there are certainly enough of them to cause the type of mayhem unleashed on Nigerians. The Inspector General of Police, Balogun is leading armed robbers and the same-armed robbers constitute the main security apparatus to protect and defend life and property; Right? As the clouds gather, Inspector General Balogun has been summoned to appear before the country's Security Council to show cause and provide explanation. While he is doing that, the Secretary to the Federal Government, Uffot Ekaette has identified another responsible group, the Trans Sahara Refugee Bandits. They come from Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic. Really?

Nigerians now know who killed the former Attorney General; they know who killed Harry, Dikibo, those lecturers, professors and others; blame the Nigerian police and the foreigners, the Trans Sahara Refugees. Governor Ngige should count himself lucky; his own security detail was withdrawn in time before the shots could come from you-know-who. Thanks to godfather Uba. Governor Orji Kalu had better look beyond the threat from and by Anenih and his comrades, those "laughing in paradise called Abuja" running what he (Kalu) has identified as the "blood-thirsty government" denying Nigerians "Bread" but intent on giving them the "Bullet".

Here is the last "Big Question": What then is the Conclusion? Solving a problem by sitting around to talk about it, talk around it, wishing it would go away for a moment, recalling previous deliberations only when a repeat performance calls for another meeting to continue the talking, is another Course in Philosophy. Sounds confusing, right? Me too! It is called KAMPEISM. You learn how and why Evidence and Conclusion never match Reality and Existence; certainly not any imagined but left out by Plato or Aristotle. The "Kampe" exponents have been invited to "come and eat". They toast from a common bowl. It is an all Nigeria-brew, the cocktail for those who live to continue this strange dialogue with the hearing-impaired.