ne ordinarily wants to ignore the words of a man who once claimed that crude oil found in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria flowed there through the northern part of the country. But when that person also happens to be the brother-in-law of a Strongman who once ruled Nigeria for eight years---and awarded himself the honorific "Evil Genius"---then it's probably a mistake not to pay closer attention.
Chief Sunny Okogwu got exactly that attention last week from many Nigerians of sound minds, when he crawled out from one of the luxurious holes in his Kaduna "ShipHouse Mansion" and poured invectives on the persons of certain eminent persons, most notably Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka. Okogwu's bile had been raised by statements credited to Soyinka at the recent maiden edition of the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation Centenary Lecture.
The Nobel Laureate had, at that event, criticized Okogwu's in-law and erstwhile military president of Nigeria, retired General Ibrahim Babangida, for ruining one of Nigeria's golden chances at attaining a more perfect union, with the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
Okogwu naturally took umbrage at this well-deserved criticism. Afterall Babangida has been his bread and butter since at least 1985, when the general seized total control of Nigeria and gave his in-law unfettered access to all the good things of life therein. Ever since Okogwu has run his mouth non-stop in undying gratitude, often in embarrassing defense of his in-law who can do no wrong. Sometimes Okogwu is believed to fly political kites for Babangida, even though the former's statements during those tasks usually tend towards the bizarre and the incongruous.
In 2001, well before his "oil-flows-through-the-North" monstrosity, Okogwu came out to allege the existence of a "power pact" between some unknown politicians and elements in the Nigerian military; according to Okogwu the essence of the pact was for power to rotate for 12 years between the three political parties in existence at that time and the three geo-political zones in the Southern part of the country. If any of the unstated parties to the agreement breached it in any way, said Okogwu, then the military would stage a comeback to power.
Many considered the statement as a veiled threat to then-President Olusegun Obasanjo not to seek a second term in office. No matter whom the voice was behind that Okogwu masquerade, Obasanjo took the threat serious enough not only to bulldoze his way into a second term but also ensure that Babangida beat a retreat from his plans to contest the Presidency in 2007.
This time, in response to Soyinka's comments at the Awolowo Foundation Centenary Lecture, Okogwu did not even bother to address the merits of the Nobel laureate's assertions regarding an unfortunate decision his golden in-law took while in office. Instead, the Black Gold president started us again down a risky road that some have taken before in the Nigerian and African political space, with despicable results.
According to Okogwu, Soyinka has no right to criticize Babangida, not because Soyinka neither has the intellect to marshall a good argument nor the words to articulate such but, because, well, he is not a Nigerian. Yes, even though we have all read "Ake: The Years of Childhood" or at least heard about it, the Nobel laureate's gripping account of his coming of age and ancestry in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, is a fraud. It did not happen; at least not "here". How could it have, when Kongi's white beard and equally-flowing white mane bespeaks of an ancestry and roots that can only be found further west of Nigeria's borders, specifically in the Republic of Benin? All those fascinating stories about "Essay", "Wild Christian" and others? Nope. Never happened in Abeokuta, Nigeria, but in some faraway town in then-Dahomey.
Surely the Wole Soyinkas of this world can effectively defend themselves against verbal assaults on their nationality from the likes of Sunny Okogwu; ditto for the Nuhu Ribadus, Mohammadu Buharis, Olusegun Obasanjos and Mohammadu Marwas, whom the Black Gold president also cheekily cast doubts on their "Nigerianness".
Nevertheless, even though Okogwu might seem to operate on the lunatic fringe and provide those of sounder mind with periodic bouts of entertainment, what is clearly not funny is the devastation the "politics of foreignness" and subsequent deportation of political figures and perceived political enemies has wrought on the African continent.
Let's start from---Nigeria. In the early hours of January 24, 1980, during the civilian government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, the-then majority leader of the now-defunct Borno State House of Assembly, Alhaji Abdulrahman Darman Shugaba was seized from his house by security agents, stripped of his Nigerian citizenship and deported to the neighbouring Chad Republic on the charge that he was not a Nigerian citizen because his father was born in Chad Republic. What the Shagari government and the ruling party did not say was that Shugaba had been a political thorn in their flesh in one of the few states in the North where the-then ruling National Party of Nigeria was a minority party. Shugaba's Nigerian citizenship was later restored after a lengthy court battle, with 350,000 naira in costs and damages awarded to him in 1982.
The "politics of foreignness" and deportation has proved to be deadlier in other African countries. In 2000, the political situation in an otherwise-sedate Cote D'Iviore exploded into bloodshed and civil war when then-president, the late Robert Guei, declared that a presidential candidate in planned elections in that country, Alassane Quattara, was actually a foreigner and could not stand as a contestant. This declaration later fuelled a mutiny by soldiers in the Cote'D'Ivoire armed forces who hailed from Quattara's part of the country, sparking a crisis from which the country has still not recovered.
It is the southern African country of Zambia, however, that has elevated into a fine art the practice of branding political opponents as "foreigners" in order to checkmate such. On his assumption of power in that country in 1991, former president Frederick Chiluba and his ruling Movement for Mulitparty Democracy (MMD) made it a priority to investigate the nationalities of prominent people in the country opposed to his policies and government. Those investigations soon led to the illegal deportations of two senior officials of the opposition United National Independence Party (UNIP).
Even former president Kenneth Kaunda, who had ruled Zambia from its independence in 1964 to 1991 was later dubbed an "illegal alien" by Chiluba, who then announced plans to deport Kaunda to neighbouring Malawi because his parents were born there when that territory and Zambia belonged to the same political entity under British colonial rule. Chiluba suddenly became aware of Kaunda's "foreignness" when the latter started planning a political comeback. Chiluba did not restrict his convenient xenophobia to political opponents: in 2000, he ordered deported a prominent Asian businessman and naturalized Zambian, Majid Ticklay, after the latter had ticked him off by criticizing the government.
Could the fact that Soyinka's Ogun State shares a common border with a neighboring country have fired Okogwu's infantile imagination regarding what he now perceives to be Kongi's roots in the Republic of Benin and his not being a "true Nigerian"? Let's take Okogwu's absurd logic a little bit further: so, because of the accidents of colonial borders, we should now regard almost everyone who lives in Calabar or Ikang as potentially from Boaa, Kumba, Bafoussam or Bamenda in the Republic of Cameroon; if you hail from Mubi or Yola in Adamawa State, watch out: you might actually be from Bibemi or Garoua in northern Cameroon. As for those of you who hail from Katsina metropolis, how do you prove to the likes of Okogwu that you're not really from Maradi or Zinder in neighbouring Niger Republic?
In retrospect, maybe Soyinka should not have taken that motorcycle ride into exile through the Seme border to escape from Abacha's security forces! He could then have avoided the blackmailing machinations of the likes of Okogwu, who have not only proved they are unaware of elementary principles of geology, but also those of geography and history as well. But doesn't Niger State share a border with the Republic of Benin, too?
Okogwu also seems particularly irked with Soyinka because he believes the latter's words carry a lot of weight in circles that appear irrevocably committed to bashing the Babangida brand. Hear him: "You can see how he (Soyinka) changes Nigerians' mind and take his view and put into their mind�" Perhaps it is this Soyinka gift to sway minds with the power of his words and the force of his logic that rankles Okogwu more than the Nobel laureate's supposed lack of "Nigerianness".
One particularly galling assertion was the one Okogwu made regarding the "pressures" he and other members of the "IBB Family" had to contend with when their benefactor was in power. In fact, according to Okogwu, "I am the one who suffered during President Babangida's rule. My family and Babangida family gained nothing during his regime other than insult, threat, loss of our property".
Really? Just where and when did Okogwu get the money to buy that private jet he gave then-President Babangida as a gift on the occasion of the latter's 50th birthday anniversary in 1991? Or the money that ensures he and other members of his "IBB Family" and their descendants will live in the laps of filthy luxury for their entire lives? If Babangida himself gained "nothing" during his years as martial president, where did the funds to build the palatial 50-room mansion in Minna come from? If that is suffering, one wonders what makes these folks sport wide smiles on their faces anytime they see the bank statements prepared by the well-paid private bankers who administer their vast funds stashed away in secret Swiss bank accounts.
It should be obvious to many now that Sunny Okogwu probably has a screw or two loose where proper tightness matters the most. Anyway, that should not be a problem; he needs not cross any borders to get that malfunction fixed. He can just book an appointment and drive down to that world-renowned mental health facility, located at Aro, Abeokuta. In Ogun State.
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