Coming to the American context, the Church in the United States is trying to live up to expectation by addressing the global issue of immigration. The U.S. Bishops see Christ in strangers. It is inspiring that attention has been drawn to the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt. At least, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops used an icon that shows the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt as part of their logo in a January 2007 poster during the National Migration Week.

Back home to our Diocese in Brooklyn, our Bishop, Most Rev. Nicholas DiMarzio has a special agenda for ministering to immigrants. We understand that he has promising proposals for all immigrants, but with special reference to those from the bartered continent of Afrịka. To this effect, he has appointed one of us in the person of Most Reverend Guy Sansaricq, to take care of this all-important assignment. Father Caleb Buchanan will assist Bishop Sansaricq working in collaboration with the Catholic Migration Office in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

The history of Salvation will never be complete without reference to the Afrịkan roles. On this note, I will appeal to all to get a copy of “Africa in Salvific History” by Deacon Okafor Uzoigwe, Ed.D. Starting with the Patriarchs Abraham, Joseph, Aaron and Moses, Judaism has Afrịkan roots and antecedence. Moses, who is the Father of Judaism, was born, raised and educated in Afrịka and he never reached the Promised Land. The climatic point was the refugee status the child Jesus had in Afrịka. Afrịka granted asylum to Jesus and his parents in Egypt when Herod wanted to lynch him. There is no written account of the childhood of Jesus in Afrịka, but tradition has it that the Holy Family spent some reasonable time in Egypt until Herod was dead and it would be safe for Jesus to return to Israel.

Our concern here is what happened to the child Jesus while he took refuge in Afrịka. Most of the early childhood of Jesus was spent in Egypt. There is no doubt that Jesus benefited much from his early childhood stay in Afrịka; and we know that what is learnt young, is learnt forever. The flight of the Holy Family into Afrịka was providential and not accidental. It was and is part of the divine plan in the history of salvation. The influence of Afrịka on the life of the child Jesus is deeper than we may imagine. This influence extended to his Church and has continued toll today.

As we consider the areas of Interest in the Afrịkan influence on the child Jesus and his Church, it may not be possible to give a detailed presentation here; but a brief outline will suffice. While it is not easy to reach out to all of Afrịka in this treatment, we shall focus on the Igbo world in terms of culture. Moreover, we have much in common between Igboism and Hebrewism. We are convinced that whatever that is Igbotic is truly Afrịkan. Using the Igbo cultural paradigm as a base, may we look at some areas that reflect the Afrịkan influence on the child Jesus and his Church.

1. Monotheism: As it is phenomenology of Religion, the Supreme Being is clearly identifiable in Afrịkan Traditional Religion. Judaism is an offshoot from the Afrịkan Traditional Religion. The gods and deities are mere intermediaries between the Supreme Being and the people as we have angels in Judaism and Christianity. In Igbo Traditional Religion, Chi or Chi Ukwu or Chukwu is the Supreme Being and he is known by many other names as we have it in Judaism. Early European missionaries who came to Igboland, could not understand the Igbo religion due to language barrier. Monotheism was ubiquitous in Igbo Traditional Religion before the coming of the Europeans around 1885. Igbo Traditional Religion was not essentially polytheistic; rather it was monotheistic.

2. Biblical Mentality: Dogmatic language wherein there is strong interaction between the spiritual world and humans. The arguments that follow will convince any inquiring mind that the Bible is natural to the Igbo world, especially in the Old Testament.

3. Biblical Names: Some prominent biblical names have Igbo equivalents that are absolutely the same as they are in the Bible. Some of these names include Michael, which means –Who is like God? In Igbo we have the name Onyedịka (Chi) which means –Who is like God? Gabriel means –The power of God. In Igbo, we have Ikechukwu, –The power of God. John means –Gift of God. But in Igbo, we have Onyinye (Chukwu), –Gift of God. Ana means –Favored one. Also we have Chiọma which means –Favored one.

4. Understanding of the Incarnation: It is very simple for Afrịkans to believe in the incarnation because of their Biblical mentality. Mythical mentality was one of the most primitive or primordial features of humanity. There abound tales of divine intervention in human life, especially the idea of gods begetting children with humans. In Igbo, we have names like Nwagbara which literally means –Child of a god or deity. This phenomenon predisposes the Afrịkan mind to understand the Christian teaching on the incarnation and related dogmas.

5. Linguistic argument:- The brothers and sisters of Christ. Many English –speaking peoples and other peoples of the earth think and claim that the Virgin Mary had other children. They base their argument on the reference to the brothers and sisters of Jesus. Till today, Igbo language retains the primordial format of family understanding wherein the uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, cousins are referred to as “brothers” and “sisters”. Ancient Hebrew and Aramaic were of the same nature as present day Igbo where these kinship terminologies were absent. In this sense, the Bible appears to be natural to the Igbo-speaking peoples while they seem foreign to some others like the English-speaking peoples. Igbos have no problem with the teaching that Mary had no other children who were the biblical brothers and sisters of Jesus.

6. Vocations: This has much to do with cultural than biological factors. Vocations are nurtured in the family and communities. Igboland has the greatest population index on the planet because of the spiritual saturation of the culture. Seminaries in Igboland are flooded with priestly vocations and there are many vocations to the religious life. Igbo families in the U.S. lack vocations because of cultural differences. Some detractors have some cheap arguments to explain the vocation explosion in Igboland. If Igbo Catholics in the U.S. have the freedom to worship in their cultural manners, they will get vocations as those at home have. If their liturgy and spiritual lives don’t reflect their cultural life style, their children will become the same as other American children. The suffocation of Igbo culture in the Diaspora is analogous to the killing of the hen that lays the golden egg.

7. Family as Domestic Church: In the Afrịkan Traditional Religion, there are no Churches. The Father is the priest of the family celebrations. Everyone is part of the religion. Charity begins at home. It may not be surprising that a lot of men and some children are missing during the celebration of Mass in parts of the U.S. The Church’s teaching of the Family as a Domestic Church helps bring the faith to the family as its base. Where the men are not actively in the Church, they seem not to have any incentives to come to Church.

8. Cult of Ancestors and Communion of Saints: Afrịkans venerate and honor their ancestors as Christians do for the Saints. We don’t worship our Ancestors. Some Christian sects confuse the devotion in honor of the saints and the veneration accorded to them in the Catholic teaching with the worship of God. In a similar manner, some people confuse the Afrịkan cult of the ancestors as Ancestor worship, which it is not.

9. The place of Mary in the Church: Every village in Igboland has “Ala” or “Earth goddess”. There may be other deities, but the Ala is peculiar. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is very strong in Igboland. In fact, the mothers are mostly responsible for the nurturing of vocations in the Church. Igbo Christian mothers may not be ordained ministers in the Church; but they form the bedrock of the progress of the Church in Igboland.

10. Names of Jesus: Jesus called himself the Son of man in order to avoid being accused of claiming to be the son of God. One of the charges against him was that he claimed to be God. Providentially we have in Igbo –Nwachukwu, which means -Son of God. Other appropriate names for Jesus in Igbo may include:- Ọpara or Ọkpara which means first son. Uchenna or Obinna mean the Father’s will or wish. It is amazing how the idea of Son of God is offensive to the Hebrew but is delightful and acceptable to the Igbo. It is thus logical that the Igbo did not receive the concept of Son of God from the Hebrew who dissent the idea. The European missionaries to Igboland did not bring the idea of Son of God to the Igbo. Rather they brought Christianity to a spiritually saturated culture area.

11. Circumcision after 8 days of birth in Igbo and Hebrew cultures: Circumcision is practiced among many Afrịkan communities and it is not always done at infancy. Some gentile adults in the early Church were circumcised in order to become Christians. What is peculiar in the Igbo pattern of circumcision is that it is done on the 8th day of the birth of a child; and Jesus was circumcised on the 8th day of his birth. This writer was circumcised on the 8th day of his birth and this circumcision culture is kept strictly in Igboland. As children, we used to refer to some of our uncircumcised neighbors as gentiles. One dramatic and historic event was how the uncircumcised Nigerian soldiers raped Igbo women at the end of the Nigeria-Biafra war in January of 1970. It was a great humiliation for the Igbo to have their daughters raped by the uncircumcised Nigerians. Majority of the Igbo believe that they are the original people of God.

There abound cultural facts to prove the cultural affinity between the Igbos and the Hebrews; but that’s not our mission in this discourse. Suffice it to say that Christianity is the child of Judaism as Judaism is the child of Afrịkan Traditional Religion. A closer look at Igboism and Hebrewism reveals the strong link between Afrịkan Traditional Religion, Judaism and Christianity. In conclusion, Christianity owes much of its legacy to the influence from the Afrịkan Traditional Religion.

Yet, history has taught us that the type of fool’s paradise being sought after by Obasanjo and his allies is the ultimate challenge or danger that a community can be confronted with. And how well members of that community respond to such a threat to their collective patrimony is bound to determine the course of future development in the society. That is why the next time Ribadu descends on any community with his fellow thugs in the furtherance of the script laid down by his political master, all men and women of goodwill should rise and chase the rascals out of town for the likes of Ribadu and Obasanjo cowardly hide behind the tapestry of pseudo-constitutionalism in order to prosecute their petty agenda of corrupt self-preservation and political partisanship.

There is no gainsaying that Nigerians who have been bruised by decades of corrupt practices on the part of their so-called leaders are yearning for good and morally-conscious representatives. Those who tell them they will fight the plague of 419 and do actually commit themselves to the pledge should become instant heroes. But the moment the initial mission is hijacked and its agents conscripted for unwholesome purposes as is the case in the current witch-hunting and grandstanding the EFCC’s Ribadu has graduated into, Nigerians should not hesitate to call the apostates and their supporters to order. Beyond the obviously selective posture of his relentless, if reckless hounding of figures who in the main are considered as political enemies or associates of enemies of Obasanjo, there is the worrisome question of process, namely, the evidently illegal manner Ribadu, an agent of the Aso Rock tyrant, is going about his supposed business of fighting corruption. The lack of due process that keeps manifesting itself in the EFCC’s actions is troubling and raises more questions as to the commitment of Obasanjo and his henchmen to the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria. As I did stress elsewhere, the corrupt and illegal use of state structures in the so-called anti-corruption campaign is doing more harm than good. The lack of trust in government processes should be a constant source of worry for all. Already, the corrupt use of Ribadu, his EFCC and other fixtures, has ensured that governance at the federal level has been paralyzed for some time now. This is taking its toll on the Nigerian psyche. The Nigerian nation is being held hostage by loathsome types with a disdain for democratic governance. These unpatriotic characters cannot be allowed to have their way. The stakes are just too great for the country.

While Nuhu Ribadu pontificates and noisily denounces politicians and other individuals not considered as politically willing to play ball with Obasanjo, he studiously keeps mute or, worse, obfuscates by wallowing in meanders of inconsistency and duplicity when confronted with the sleazy and thieving conduct of his master and the cabal he belongs to. For those genuinely seeking after the truth, it must be mentioned that a recent document written by retired Col. Abubakar Umar on the dishonest and hypocritical way the anti-corruption war is being pursued by Ribadu and his gang should be considered as a critical part of any intelligence on the state of the nation under the regime of Baba Aremu. In his sweeping and disparaging remarks against state governors at the National Assembly recently, Ribadu was careful to leave out mentioning where much of the corruption in government offices takes place, namely, the presidency of Matthew Okikiolakan Obasanjo. And one should not ignore the fact that Obasanjo’s family members and henchmen like Bode George, Tony Anenih, and Ahmadu Ali have cases to answer regarding their respective roles in the handling of public money. Surely, Ribadu cannot be taken seriously. He has developed into a quantity of tragic proportions. And the tragic posture of which Ribadu and the EFCC are now an embodiment has once more been on display, this time, in places like Ekiti and Plateau.

In a show of shame reminiscent of the ‘coups d’état’ in Bayelsa and Oyo, Nuhu Ribadu has arrested sitting legislators of Ekiti and Plateau states, supposedly on charges of corruption. These legislators have virtually been held incommunicado. They have been intimidated and forced to start impeachment proceedings against their respective state governors whom Ribadu and his boss consider as embezzlers. It is said that sometimes tragedy presents itself as farce. This was the case a few days ago when, discarding any pretense of legality and the rule of law, Ribadu’s EFCC dragged eight members of the Plateau state legislature whom they had been holding to Jos, under heavy police escort,. Six of the legislators, out of a 24-member House, were forced to start impeachment proceedings against the state governor, Joshua Dariye! This smacks of utmost disdain for constitutionality and the Nigerian people. This is how The Guardian reported the tragedy in Jos: “EIGHT of the 24-member Plateau State House of Assembly yesterday breezed into the Assembly Chambers and declared that they were holding a valid legislative meeting.
Heavily guarded by over 400 policemen and officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the eight legislators proceeded to pass resolutions.

First, they declared the Assembly Speaker, Mr. Simon Lalong, impeached and appointed a replacement, Mr. Michael Dapialong, who represents the Quaan Pan South Constituency of the state.
They thereafter passed a resolution serving an impeachment notice on the state Governor, Chief Joshua Chibi Dariye.

The eight legislators came from the custody of the EFCC where they were being detained. Immediately after the resolutions, the eight legislators went back to Abuja with the Assembly mace.
As the eight legislators were meeting, there were sporadic gunshots in the premises by the police to scare away some supporters of the governor who wanted to force themselves into the Assembly chambers. The policemen overpowered the demonstrators who were mainly women…” A Nigerian newspaper caption has aptly described the violent attempt by the EFCC and the police, acting on orders from Obasanjo, to remove Governor Dariye, as “gun-point democracy”.

Irrespective of what the state executives in both Ekiti and Plateau are alleged to have done, due process should be meticulously applied in their cases. To do otherwise would mean the courting of disaster. It is dictatorship of the Nazi kind. The illegal abduction and detention of state legislators only to force them to remove governors should be condemned in the strongest of terms. The hand of the Imperial Ruler from Otta in all this is quite palpable. Ribadu is a mere agent, a subaltern taking his orders from none other than his political master. The scenario is a familiar one. It is the tale of Aremu as puppet master and Ribadu as a spineless puppet at his beck and call, an acolyte programmed to do the bidding of his ‘big oga’. It is a potent statement that we have in Nigeria today an individual laying claim to the Nigerian presidency who is a figure of scatology par excellence. His obsession with perfidy is at once numbing and unprecedented in the history of our nation.

Nigeria has never had it so bad in a supposed democracy. Those who rightly condemn the recent coup in Thailand should also reject what Obasanjo and his agents in the police, the SSS and the EFCC are doing in the name of a supposed anti-corruption campaign. In either case, allegations of corruption against public officials are used as a pretext for a military-style destitution of constituted authority.

It is apparent to discerning minds that the main objective of Ribadu’s gangster politics is to as much as possible seek to discredit Obasanjo’s perceived enemies ahead of the crucial primaries of the various political parties. The escalation of what is tantamount to political thuggery on the part of Ribadu and his fellow foot-soldiers is no doubt Baba’s revenge on opponents of his failed ‘term elongation’ gambit. But the appropriate answer to the type of reckless impunity symbolized by Ribadu and his mentor, the tyrant at Aso Rock, should be an uncompromising repudiation of what these cavemen stand for in the present scheme of things. Obasanjo and his éminence grise are not interested in nurturing democracy in Nigeria. Their actions speak volumes. Ribadu should be reminded that he is a nonentity, a moral nuisance willingly embracing the vile and criminal tactics of a discredited ruler. That there are consequences. Ribadu and his partners in crime must be resisted. Citizens should rise and fight them with every means at their disposal.

To retreat in the face of Obasanjo’s ignoble assault on the nation’s democratic mores and decency is to invite lawlessness and the enthronement of mediocrity and rascality as tools for societal relevance. Ribadu must resign. That is if he has integrity. You cannot fight corruption in an atmosphere vitiated by the selfish agenda of those charged with prosecuting the campaign. A government that has proved through its sordid track record that it shuns due process and the rule of law is not in a position to fight corruption. The proof of this is the current regime’s numerous contradictions like the thick cloud of sleaze at the presidency. What this means is that neither Obasanjo nor his agent, Ribadu, can transparently and effectively lead the campaign against corruption. Only a democracy-conscious – as in the respect of human rights – government can be expected to show leadership in that regard. Today, Nuhu Ribadu and his EFCC have become part and parcel of the corruption problem in Nigeria. In order to restore a semblance of sanity and credibility to the anti-corruption fight, Ribadu must go. Ribadu lacks the sober mien expected of a government official in his position. In a legerdemain, he dismisses legitimate criticism even as he indulges in intemperate, partisan pronouncements on critical national issues whereby the unmistakable message is the unwarranted denunciation of Obasanjo’s political foes. The next democratically elected government should seek to prosecute the likes of Ribadu and their crimes against Nigerians. In a new and determined anti-corruption drive to be undertaken after May 29, 2007, the support of the people will be crucial. That support will be predicated on transparency, due process, trust and goodwill on the part of all concerned, ingredients which are sadly lost in a maze of Ribadu’s rabble-rousing and gangsterism.

Aonduna Tondu.

New York
E-mail : tondua@yahoo.com

It’s one of those Anglo-Saxon traits we have inherited; one that we honor with probably more fervor than our cousins across the pond. Apparently three centuries ago those Brits took biblical passages that dealt with death [“the way of the earth”] and quickly reinterpreted them as “the way of the flesh.” Our obsession of enmeshing morality with sex has made American society gyrate to sexual impulses in a mentally unhealthy, prudish way. And that’s what many of us are, puritanical quacks… sporting moral values that condone breaking “mortally” some commandments, such as “You Shall Not Murder”; while being totally intransigent to the “veniality” in some side issues, such as the implication of lust in “You Shall Not Commit Adultery.”

Not that ex-congressman Mark Foley deserves support or pity for the persecution that has befallen him. He should have known better, and not allowed his sexual impulses walk hand-in-hand with risk; for that’s the price you pay in this prudish society. So he is now being verbally stoned and, ignorantly, called a pedophile. No, you are not going to find many people going to his corner, even in the veniality of any crime that might yet be uncovered. In America you are free to do most anything you desire, but promiscuous behavior, or any sexual desires, must always be kept in check. It’s the way American politicians are expected to behave… sexually-restrained, even if criminally-loose.

So now we have congressmen and senators, of both parties, wearing their inquisitorial duds in defense of the great chaste virtue exhibited by our over-16 youth. Wow! These are the same people – most of them, regardless of party – who for years have been giving Bush the go-ahead to go and kill; or who continuously promote socio-economic inequality to benefit the powerfully rich; or who have sold out the entire middle class of this nation to a program of globalization without first finding a prescription to alleviate the enormous transitional pain. These are the same puritanical folks that will not allow the “love thy neighbor” theme to take hold… for it may have some sexual connotation. Who knows, the neighbor may be under age or, suspiciously, of the same gender.

Americans want the world to know that they honor virtue and virginity, and that even the mere idea of possible sexual transgression, whether or not it breaks the law, is strictly frown upon. In our model society, innocence [real or imaginary] of the young, or the not-so-young, must be defended at all costs. That’s why our prisons have two to three times the recluses of prisons around the world; or why the capital crime rate is also three to four times that in the world; or why we are so constitutionally eager to arm our people with guns. Chastity, not unlike property, must be defended at the point of a gun.

Democrats are salivating over this play at the Capitol Cabaret. Not just as a form of payback for what the Republicans did to their poor Clinton, and his adventures with the well-traveled 23-year-old intern, but with the prospect that this salacious move by an indiscreet gay congressman may have provided the Democratic Party a checkmate in the midterm election, allowing the retaking of the House, and maybe even the Senate. This powerful potion of sex-acidity may even melt down both the extensive Republican gerrymandering and any possible Diebold-ical vote count.

Amazing! All those “Iraq Fiasco” books couldn’t drown that constant pounding by the Energizer-in-Chief on the issue of phony security… but this morality play, now on its second week, may do the entire Grand Old Party in. Of course, there are still four weeks to go; so, much can still happen to Tweedledee, which will allow Tweedledum to remain in charge of the legislative branch.

© 2006 Ben Tanosborn
www.tanosborn.com

The total lack of respect for the sanctity of live bothers every human being, even those who perpetrated these massacres of their fellow citizens. But a few rationalize it as pay back, or the problem of the other guys. Well, police are now killing one another, soldiers are killing police and we are now renting ammunition from them to kill one another. It is fair to ask about the type of Country we live in. Has killing become so habitual on our roads that it is no more a big deal in our Country?

Roads were not that great in those days either, but with fewer vehicles we can safely travel from Lagos to Kano or Onitsha without the fear we express these days. Not only the fear of accidents or robbers but also at the hands of those who are supposed to keep us safe. When I read about the eye witness death of Mr. Victor Okonkwo, the Atiku security aide, all my fears came back again. As if we do not have enough problems, jealousy amongst police can be easily manipulated into political killing between Ali Baba and the forty thieves, ethnic killing or turf fight. It is a good example that if we wait until air crashes to cry out in the form of National disaster, Nigerians will never appreciate peaceful driving. We take lives of others too casual because it is not ours but then, ours are next. We maneuver to avoid pot holes, accidents, armed robbers, police and soldier.

Road contracts are the easiest and one of the most common forms of corruption in our Country. It goes to friends, relatives and dear selves. Newly constructed roads are not passable and maintenance is almost non-existence. Though we have discovered solar street lights in a few model villages, one would think that it would be nationally applied to our roads for safety and security. But when friends, relatives and dear selves refuse to deliver quality roads, are we surprised that it is those friends, relatives and selves that die on our roads? Yoruba say “ipa npa arare, oloun npa aja.” Indirect self-annihilation.

People ask all the time why black people are so wicked to one another. If we can not love, give and take, and respect our precious lives, how can anyone that we claim we are related to outside our continent respect us? I have for many years struggled with the same question and it boils down to comparative poverty. Not only will I never be poor again, my children and grandchildren and their greats will never be poor again. See how we selfishly fool ourselves? Some of us live in these fabulous houses but once we step out onto the street, it is right into the rubbish filled gutters and death-trapped roads again.

Comparative poverty can create different meaning for different people. I have seen cash driven poverty in the southern part of USA that I have never seen in Africa. Yet, they do not realize how poor they were until they come up north. Life can be rich, peaceful and loving with family and friends around us. A simple life does not mean a poor life. Until we compare our lives with others, we do not realize how poor or rich we are.

Growing up in Nigeria in those days, I thought we were very rich. Rich? We had to share a room with relatives’ and friends’ kids. Children of our parent’s friends who went to schools near our house live with us in the same room for boys or for girls–(No way Jose!) Sometimes, we switched houses, especially during holidays. I still remember that I stopped eating in the same plate with my cousin because he used to “short my ration”. All we eat is rice, rice and gari, in combination with beans and stews. Meat and fish, oh yes, but I preferred isan (ligament) or ora (fat). We disliked amola and iyan that has become my favorite food now. We loved sausages, bacon, butter and ora that I now consider poisons. We loved sara – “eyin omo kekeke ewa je sara!” Children, children, it is time for food party. Nobody at home knew I ate sara. Omo okele. So what made me think we were rich?

We were comparing ourselves to other children, what they wore and what they brought or did not bring to school. Some of these children turned out far better than us, while some of us fell by the way side depending on rents if the inherited houses have not been sold. Generally, Africans pray that the next generation do better. The parents or children of depression teach the next generation how to manage the little they have. The vulture class is different; they want to make sure nobody but them do better. Unfortunately, the poorly trained, unlettered and uninformed ones are some of the ones swearing that their children and greats will never be poor again.

Our fore-bearers were very concerned about animals and their environment. They have certain ceremonies they perform when our animals and environment are desecrated. This is what we see in the western countries these days. The rational behind it is not necessarily out of sympathy for the animals or our environment but for us. If our surrounding is threatened and marked for extinction, we are next. Do unto others as you want others to do unto us have both religious and historical meaning.

So when I see soldiers ruling the Country and policemen killing and assaulting us on the street, I wonder if they are paying us back from the years of neglect and humiliations we used to subject them to. Our vulture class relishes the position they find themselves today and are willing to do anything to retain it. We may be going through some sort of silent revolution without realizing it. Hooligans control our transport, our roads. However, if they did not like what we did to them or how we used to look down on them, what makes them think we like what they are doing to us now? It is a vicious circle that has to stop.

When was the last time the vulture class respect Sultan, Oba or Obi? If they become too independent, they are dethroned. Rankadede has no permanent loyalty. Abinibi is different from ability. That is, those who were born with silver spoon in their mouth are different from those who pull themselves up through the barrel of the gun and those are different from those who pull themselves up by their boot straps. Our roads can be dangerous to your seemingly exalted position. It is not the place for settling of old scores.

Farouk Martins, Omo Aresa
faroukomartins@netscape.com

Obviously Arabs in Lebanon / Palestine, and cartoons in obscure foreign newspapers are more important to Nigerian Muslims than the horrendous suffering inflicted on our African brothers and sisters by the genocidal racist Arabs in Sudan.

Interestingly most of the black African victims of the racist Arab onslaught are also Muslims. This isn't the first time the Sudanese Arab occupation has targeted black African Muslims. During the decades long, unsuccessful Jihadist war to forcibly Islamize Southern Sudan, the genocidal Islamo-Nazis in Khartoum also targeted Nuba Muslims.

Evidently Arab Muslims are superior to non-Arab ones...particularly black ones. Hence the reluctance of black Muslims to criticise or condemn Allah's chosen race - Arabs.

Since black Muslims have constituted themselves into a fifth column for their Arab masters, we Africans lack the unity of purpose and resolve to decisively address the Darfur genocide as we did against apartheid South Africa...which neither enslaved nor perpetrated genocide against us. As we do not wish to be seen to be divided along religious lines on the Darfur crisis, due to the same misconstrued concept of "African unity" that condoned the enslavement of black Africans by racist Arab occupations in Sudan and Mauritania.

It was even the persistent spotlight and criticism on the Darfur atrocities by Western media and leaders, that prompted the belated, halfhearted AU response in the form of a meagre, ineffectual "observer" force that has so far failed to stop the progrom.

Even South Africa, a major African power and beneficiary of a united African support during her successful struggle against apartheid racism; has failed miserably to rise to the occassion. Madiba has not lived up to his reputation on Darfur.

The effectiveness of the AU in the Darfur crisis is further undermined by the presence of the North African Arab-Berber occupation within the AU.These Arab-occupation countries in North Africa are unlikely to endorse any drastic action against their Arab cousins in Darfur.

Hence AU is hobbled and threads carefully in Darfur. Consequently, African governments which unequivocally rejected negotiations with apartheid South Africa - a la Reagan-Thatcher "constructive engagement" - are reduced to begging the Islamo-Nazis in Khartoum for deployment of the ineffectual AU intervention force, which is hamstrung by poor logistics and crippling rules of engagement. Little wonder the Arab league backs the racist Sudanese Arab occupation as it reluctantly concedes to the inept AU "observer" force rather than an effective UN intervention force.

We black Africans must therefore insist on the immediate deployment of a robust, proactive (not "observer") UN intervention force, which should be composed of black Africans, with or without the consent of the Arab Nazis in Khartoum. Like the ethnic cleansers in Bosnia 11 years ago, the ethnic cleansers in Khartoum should be bombed and strafed into submission if they continue to resist the deployment of UN troops.

We Africans must also solidly unite to mobilize the sympathetic international community - as we did against apartheid - to diplomatically and economically strangulate the ethnic cleansers in Khartoum. Only a united black Africa, can intimidate the supporters of the genocidal Sudanese Arabs in the Arab world, and compel obstructionist powers like China - who are only interested in Sudanese oil - to fall in line and ostracize the racist Arab occupation in Sudan.

We cannot afford to fail our Darfurese brothers & sisters as we did in Rwanda 12 years ago.

Furthermore we will no longer be bamboozled by so-called "Afro-Arab solidarity", which is just a ruse to garner African support for the futile Jihad to destroy the only non-Muslim nation in the Middle east, which Muslims consider Dar-ul Islam - Land of Islam. Hence Muslims all over the world get so worked up about Israel, but don't give a damn about the monstrous atrocities perpetrated by Muslim Arabs on our suffering brothers & sisters in Darfur.

Actually, the monstrous atrocities inflicted by Arabs on we black Africans started well over 1400 years ago when Arabs raided for and trafficked in African slaves, more than a millenium before the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Islamic historical tradition even documents that their "prophet" Mohammed had black slaves (Sahih Bukhari 8:73:182, 3:43:648, 6:60:435, Malik Muwatta 21.13.25, Sahih Muslim 10:3901). The racist "prophet" valued his black slaves less, as the Hadith reports he sold by barter two of his black slaves for a white one - Sahih Muslim 10:3901.

Arabs trafficking in Africans operated the world's largest slave market in Zanzibar until the British shut down that inhuman bazaar in the late 19th century.

In accordance with the dictates of their Quran (Q 23:1-6, 70:29-30, 4:24), Arab slavemasters raped our women giving rise to some of the so-called "black Arabs", many of whom are complicit in the Darfur atrocities.

Male black slaves were castrated so that we could not reproduce. This cruel racist prohibition of Negroid procreation is the major reason for the absence of a sizeable indigenous black population in the Arab world as in the Americas...even though Arab enslavement of Africans lasted much longer (over 1400 years) than the trans-Atlantic trade (just 200 years). In fact Arab enslavement of Africans continued up to the last decade in Sudan and Mauritania.

The Arab castration of male black slaves / captives often involved amputation of the penis. Many of our brothers died of complications of this primitive surgery. Others had to live with agonizing complications... repeated infections, dribbling of urine etc.

The unquestioning, mental servitude and subservience of black Muslims to their Arab masters, and their conspiratorial silence - no doubt a consequence of Islamic indoctrination - prevents we Africans from from addressing these issues and demanding reparations from Arabs for their historic atrocities and illegal occupation of lands in North Africa.

Perhaps because the chief protagonist of the slave reparation movement was a Muslim - the late MKO Abiola - we only focus on slave reparations from the West, even though Europeans never raided for slaves in Africa; in contradistinction to Arabs who were involved in slave raids (although they also bought some from treacherous African collaborators).

We stupidly raided each other for slaves to sell to European slave dealers who paid us with guns (to raid for more slaves), trinkets, mirrors, liquor and other trivial commodities we valued more than our siblings in the American Diaspora. We have European powers to thank for helping put an end to Arab enslavement of Africans, albeit not necessarily for altruism

We Africans should be wary of the bogus, alien, unAfrican dogmas (Christianity & Islam) of our erstwhile colonial and slave masters (Europeans & Arabs), that glorify alien races (Jews & Arabs), while demonizing our rich ancestral heritage as "heathen" and "evil". The resulting inferiority conplex is the major reason why Black Muslims haven't got the guts to stand up to Allah's chosen race, even as the racist Arab occupation massacres millions of other black Muslims in Darfur.

Our identity as AFRICANS that we are born with, supercedes any alien identity (Muslim, Christian) with which we've been brainwashed.

If our recent history here in Northern Nigeria is anything to go by, rather than confront their Arab masters on the Darfur genocide or other historic atrocities, the mindless Arab minions that are the lot of Muslims here in Nigeria's Islamic north will react to this "slanderous, insulting provocation" with their characteristic religious violence, orchestrating another bloodbath of Aarne (non-Muslims). I hope to be proved wrong, but I seriously doubt it. Therefore kudos to any media that has the courage to publish this write-up. If we black Africans must progress, we can't all be intimidated by retrogressive religious extremism.

Nafata Bamaguje
Daura, Katsina state

Wherever the Igbo community is in Nigeria, the
treatment is always fierce. For instance, anytime
there is a clash, riot it is usually an avenue to
distort, steal, kill and destroy the properties of the
Igbo nation living within the other ethnic group
society, especially the north. Or should i talk about
the marginalization going on, which is raising serious
political debates and also had led to kidnappings of
oil workers in the delta region.

However, I would want the world to come in to our aid.
I was not happy with the way my mother Mrs. Ijomanta
favour victor was treated. It was improper and denial
of right of her human right, by detaining and
torturing her in police cell the without trial. This
is not proper and it is against a person’s fundamental
human right.

Thanks

Chijioke Ijomanta.

In this paper, we shall seek to examine the resurgence in the belief on Ayelala, a traditional deity, and the ever increasing erosion of confidence in the criminal justice system which comprises the police and the judiciary in Nigeria. We will also attempt to proffer far-reaching recommendations that will help to properly accommodate and regulate the practices connected with Ayelala belief; a belief now becoming widespread among the Bini speaking people of Edo State in Nigeria.

Position and Size of the Binis in Edo State

One unique feature of Edo State is the seeming homogeneity of the people with similarities in culture and language of the various constituent groups. Presently, there are eighteen (18) local government areas in Edo State with the state capital located in Benin City1.

Edo State has an area of 19.794 square kilometers and a provisional population of 2,159,848. It lies roughly between longitude 05o.04o and 06o43oE and latitudes 50o44oN and 07o34N. It has boundaries with Kogi State to the north, Delta State to the south and Anambra State to the east2.

The Bini speaking group appears to be the single largest group in Edo State as they can be found in the areas making up the Edo South Senatorial District made up of Egor, Ikpoba-Okha, Oredo, Orhionwon, Ovia North-East, Ovia South-West and Uhumwode Local Government Areas. The Oba of Benin, the paramount traditional ruler in the State, is the revered custodian of the custom and tradition of the poeple3.

The reality on ground in Benin city, as it is in most communities in Africa, is that in spite of the vast changes occasioned by Christianity, Islam and modernity, there seems to have been a persistence of traditional religious beliefs and practices. Ezeanya S.N. aptly refers to this attitude as “the endurance of conviction.4 A walk through the Streets of Benin City today, will clearly reveal a return to traditional religious practices as calabashes of traditional religious sacrifices litter every nooks and crannies of the city.

Ayelala: Origin and Functions

Ayelala is a deified goddess whose place of origin can be traced to the area of Ilaje in Ondo state, Nigeria. According to J.O. Awolalu, the cult of Ayelala arose out of the vicarious sacrificial compensation of the life of an Ijaw slave woman, killed in substitution for the atonement of the sin of a run away Ilaje adulterous man.5 As a scapegoat, the slave woman was made to bear the consequences of the sin of another who had run to take asylum among the Ijaws; an act which caused serious disaffection between the Ijaws and the Ilajes.

While being sacrificed, the slave woman, in great pain and anguish, could only mutter the words “Ayelala”, meaning “the world is incomprehensible” or “the world is a mystery”.6 From then on, Ayelala became the name by which she was known and called.
It is vital to add that before sacrificing her, a covenant of reconciliation and ritual kinship was made between the Ilajes and Ijaws on the following terms, amongst others7:
-Ayelala was to kill any member of the parties to the covenant who plans evil against one another;
-Ayelala was to punish with death any member of the two groups who practices stealing, sorcery and witchcraft against each other;
-All contractual relationship between the two covenanting communities was to be faithfully and honestly executed under the watchful guidance of Ayelala who was invoked to kill all covenant breakers.

Before she was finally sacrificed, Ayelala the slave woman made a solemn vow to witness to and punish non-compliance to the terms of the covenant and all future covenants to be reached in her name. Ayelala eventually became deified after her death when it was observed that several deaths occurred in default of the covenant sealed on Ayelala’s blood.8 In consequence of this, Ayelala became popular as a deity who dispenses justice and protects morality. Her cult started spreading far and wide, even to the Benin Kingdom.

The Nigerian Police and Ayelala Challenge

In traditional societies where written laws do not exist, informal sanctions deter deviations from the social norm. However in modern and more socially complex societies, the police have emerged as the primary means for promoting and maintaining social order.

In this modern era, the police have developed into a body of individuals who are organized to investigate breaches of the law and preserve the peace. In most industrialized societies, police functions include traffic control, crime prevention and investigation. Different security apparatuses generally exist for gathering political information, counter espionage and the protection of top state officials.9

Even before the advent of the modern day police, our traditional societies had in place, adequate machinery for the preservation of peace and harmony. According to A. Emiola10, in such a society where the king is the paramount ruler, he and his chiefs in council ensure obedience within that community. Age grades and their allies were also used in maintaining law and other. In spite of their rudimentary nature, there was orderliness and peace.

In most traditional communities, “nature” restrained circumscribed anti-social behaviors. These restraints includes the fear of retaliation by offended or injured persons, social sanctions imposed by gossip and public opinion, customary beliefs and law which include the invocation of ancestors and spirits and other institutional, economic and moral pressures exerted by the communities.11

Similarly, in many communities, religion played a very important role in the maintenance of law and order. Religious offences attracted public attention and amounted to social abominations. The significance of religion in the maintenance of law and order was clearly evident even in the Muslim parts of Northern and Western Nigeria12. Among the Gwari and Soli people of Verre in what was then the Yola province, religion was the very basis for law. 13

The modern Nigerian Police Force is largely a product of colonial intrusion into the soil of Africa. According to Tamuno, “An examination of the origins, development and role of the British inspired police forces in Nigeria reveals that they were shaped by the nature of European in the country and the reactions of indigenous people to their activities”. 14 One long standing European interest in West Africa has been commerce. The European colonialists sought to encourage “legitimate” commerce in palm produce and other raw materials for European factories as well as create markets for their finished products15.

In 1917, the government enacted a Police Ordinance which provided uniform rules and regulations for the combined police forces. Perhaps, the most significant event in the life of the police occurred on April 1st, 1930 when it became known as the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) with the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorate Forces. A combination of the 1947 and 1951 Constitution gave birth to the regionalization of the Nigerian Police under the command of the Inspector General. Later in 1954, it became known as “Federal Force” when the Lyttleton Constitution came into effect.

However, a military coup in January, 1966 brought about significant changes. A decree issued by the Military Government stated that “All Local Government Police Forces and Native Authorities Police shall be placed under the overall command of the Inspector General”16. The Military government embarked on further reforms which saw to the conversions of the other police forces into a single Nigerian Police Force by the end of 1969.

The current legislation governing the Nigeria Police is the Police Act CAP 359, laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990 as well as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. It would be recalled that the Police Act was recently (in 2005) amended under the present democratic dispensation and the name “Nigerian Police” replaced the “Nigerian Police Force.”

The Nigeria Police has always been in the news. Of a truth, the citizens of Nigeria seem to have lost confidence in the ability of the police to prevent and detect crime. For example the spate of high profile crimes and robberies still remain unabated. The question: who killed Chief Bola Ige, the then Justice Minister and A.K. Dikibo and a host of other prominent politicians who died by assassins bullets, still remain unanswered.

Apart from the fact that the modes of recruitment and training are poor, the police lack the sophisticated equipment required to perform investigation. Corruption, it is generally acknowledged, has eaten deep into the fabrics of the police. Kayode Afolabi noted that “there is hardly any need to make any suggestion to a police force that has become so unconscionable, deeply steamed in corruption and ossified in methods”17. He concluded in a heart rendering note that “We certainly do not yet have the policing that this country and its people deserve”.18

The manners in which our police handle matters have created room for suspicion and consequently the loss of confidence in their ability. Efficiency on the part of the police in Nigeria today, is nothing to write home about. It takes years unending before a simple investigation can be completed.

However, unlike the police, the use of Ayelala has proven to be very efficient. A case in point is: sometime in 2005, the Oba Market in Benin City went up on flames. As the fire raged, hoodlums in the area had a filled day looting goods belonging to traders in the market. More disturbing was the fact that many shops not affected by the inferno were found broken into and emptied by looters. The next day, Chief John Osamede Adun, a.k.a. “Born-boy”, a prominent citizen in the area, invited the priest of Ayelala, a goddess widely revered and feared in Benin Kingdom. The Chief Priest of Ayelala consequently issued a public warning that as many as have taken away goods which do not belong to them should return same immediately or face the wrath of Ayelala. The following morning, goods earlier carted away resurfaced in the market19. The same feat was re-enacted when the popular Uselu Market was gutted by fire a few months after.

Also, it appears that unlike the conventional police, Ayelala cannot be bribed. Despite the monstrous stature which corruption has assumed in Nigeria, there has not been any allegation of corruption against Ayelala. More worrying is the incessant case of police brutality, extra-judicial killings and a host of other atrocities committed by the police.20These are unknown when Ayelala is consulted. At least the case of “Apo six” which involved the death of six traders, in the mechanic village in Abuja in May 2005, in the hands of policemen, is still fresh in our memory. This situation was clearly depicted by Tamuno when he noted that:

the traditional peacemakers (mostly priests, as in the case of Ayelala) did not employ violence and carried out their purpose – the ending of hostilities - without breaking limbs. By contrast, the modern police riot squads appeared harsh and bereft of the religious sanctions which had reinforced the traditional apparatus for controlling public disturbances.21

the Police have a discretion whether or not to conduct investigation into any allegation of crime made to them. And the court will not interfere if, on the facts of a particular case, the discretion is properly exercised. There is therefore nothing in section 4 of the Police Act which denies the Police of any discretion whether or not to investigate any particular allegation, or when they decide to investigate to do so to its logical conclusion. Thus the Police have discretion in appropriate circumstances in the way they carry out their duty. The need to exercise discretion in such a matter may arise from a variety of reasons or circumstances, particularly having regard to the nature of the offence, the resources available, the time and trouble involved and the ultimate end result. It may well be balancing options as well as weighing what is really in the public interest. The discretion is not limited to the method of enforcement of police powers. Thus, it is inconceivable that such wide powers and duties of the Police must be exercised and performed without any discretion left to responsible Police operatives. 22

The effect of this pronouncement is that the court has thrown open the floodgate of inefficiency and a litany of excuses for the police in Nigeria at the expense of the citizens.

The Judiciary and Ayelala’s Challenge

The judiciary is usually regarded as the third arm of government. Under the constitution, the judiciary is created by virtue of Section 6 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. The hierarchy of courts proceeds from the Supreme Court to the High Courts of the various States usually known as “superior court of records”. While Magistrate, Area and Districts courts are usually regarded as “inferior courts of records”. The courts are vested with jurisdiction to determine justifiable controversies between citizens and between citizens and the state23 etc.
It is ideally assumed that the judiciary being the final arbiter and an unbiased umpire is the last of hope of the common man or woman as the case may be. His or her access to court when his rights were threatened or infringed upon was expected to be unfettered.

As a result of the classic attributes of the courts, Sagay I.E. (SAN), a professor of law and a reputable legal practitioner, gave thumbs up to the judiciary24.

Also, a commentator was quoted by Igbinovia, a professor of Criminology, as making commendations of the courts in the following words:

Once it was the envy of the continent. Cloaked in an aura of reverence and manned by lofty judges, the Nigeria Judiciary passed judgment in predictable fairness. The judges dispensed Justice like gods – relief to the aggrieved and reprieve to the guilty, each according to his deeds. There was no higher state to which anyone could aspire.25

This fact “lends credence to the most cynical appraisal of the work of judges throughout the land. It is confidence in the men and women who administer the judicial system that is the true backbone of the rule of law… It is the nation’s confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law”.26

However, in spite of all these praises, their have been a decline in the confidence reposed in the judiciary that has stepped gingerly into a seeming wilderness27. The pitiable condition in the judiciary is clearly chronicled in the book entitled The Nigerian Judiciary: The Departing Glory, by Justice P. Odo Effiong Bassey (2001). As a result of this departing glory in the nation’s judiciary, the federal government decided to set up the Justice Kayode Eso led panel to examine and proffer solutions to the ebbing institution. Some of the ills found in the judiciary as outlined by the panel include28: corruption of judicial officers, long and tortuous litigation processes, expensive legal procedures, myriad and diverse court rules, poor infrastructures, inadequately motivated judicial personnel, etc.

Particularly, the menace of corruption was clearly highlighted by the Supreme Court in A.G. Ondo State v A.G. Federation29. In that case, Uwais, CJN, said that “corruption is not a disease which afflicts public officers alone but society as a whole”. In connection with corruption in the judiciary, Sydney Smith noted that “Nations fall when judges are unjust, because there is nothing which the multitude is worth defending”. 30

Beside the above mentioned malaise, the undue technicalities and delay in the administration of justice has made the citizens resort to the consultation of Ayelala deity. Ayelala’s dispensation of justice is “instant”. At most, within one week of effective consultation, results of who the culprit is must have emerged. There are no technicalities involved.

Moreover, the ideal concept of fair hearing which is expected to be very fundamental and sacred in the administration of justice is observed when Ayelala is consulted. Both parties are allowed to state their case to the hearing of the priest who in turn calls on the deity to dispense justice accordingly. In a situation where one of the party, is not available, emissaries are sent to educate him on why he must be present. Even though he does not show up (although most of them normally show up for fear of the wrath of the goddess), the party present is allowed to plead his cause to the satisfaction of the goddess.

Unlike the courts which sometimes claim that they lack jurisdiction to entertain certain matters before them; and that if they do, it will amount to a nullity31, the reverse is the case with Ayelala. The scope and category of matters entertained by Ayelala is never closed. Thus, citizens find it convenient to settle whatever dispute they may have by consulting Ayelala.

However, the efficacy and operations of Ayelala remains mysterious and enigmatic yet appreciated and patronized by the people when a resort to the conventional justice system appears frustrating.

Is Invocation of Ayelala a Trial by Ordeal?

A logical aftermath of a long and consolidated occupation, control and subjection of any country by an alien people and government, however benevolent, is the inevitable imposition of its culture on such country32. The resulting effect is the supplanting and obliteration of the indigenous laws and custom which are usually regarded as primitive, barbarous and unworthy of preservation in the light of the civilization and technological achievement of the colonizing power. The culture of a people is dictated by many factors, predominant among which are their religion, marriage forms, political and social organization, economic consideration etc33.

Oracle and supernatural forces were basic features of the pre-colonial system in Nigeria. In many traditional societies, custom required one who committed a murder or some other heinous offences to flee his community, obviating the need for criminal investigation. However, when investigation did become necessary, the intimacy of the smaller communities often made them fairly easy. Through a combination of sleight, hypnosis and psychology, diviners and medicine men often succeeded in fishing out the offending parties.
In addition to diviners, people also employed oracles and trial by ordeal in the investigation of crime. The Aro long Juju (Chukwu Ibinokpai), Igwe-Ila-ala of Umunoha and Agbala of Akwa were some of such popular oracles existing in Igbo land. In Benin, Awosunoba was one of such oracles. Among the Isokos to the west of the Niger, their Uzere Juju was found very useful in the detection of crimes.34
A trial by ordeal according to Egharevba:

is a recognized method in primitive African societies, of detecting a criminal. It has its place in the Bini law and many Binis firmly believe today that when the court has entirely failed to clear up a matter, trial by ordeal is an unfailing method of finding the criminal.35

However, with the coming into effect of the Criminal code and Penal code which governs acts or omission proscribed by the state as offences in the Southern and Northern Nigeria respectively, it is now an offence to engage in a trial by ordeal. Particularly Section 207-213 of the Criminal code36 makes it an offence. The effect of the above sections is that mere presence at the scene or agreement to partake in a trial by ordeal is an offence with punishment ranging from one year imprisonment to death sentence. Note that the Act is silent as to the meaning of a trial by ordeal; rather it explains act or omission that may constitute it.

A careful examination of the above statutory provisions clearly reveals that the use of Ayelala is not a trial by ordeal. Firstly, under the Schedule to the Criminal code, Ayelala is not part of the unlawful societies prohibited under Section 62 (2) (ii) of the code. Similarly, Ayelala is not a secret cult within the contemplation of Section 315 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.

Can it be correct to say the invocation of Ayelala is contemplated by the criminal code to be an offence? Of course, no! The reason for this, being that the invocation of “Juju” is not an offence. Thus, in Udokwu v Onugha37 it was held that the accused was not guilty for invoking a Juju which resulted in the death of the deceased. The decision of the court was premised on the provisions of Section 36 (10) of the 1999 Constitution which prohibits punishing a citizen for an act or omission which is not an offence and for which no punishment is prescribed in the statutes.

The belief in the efficacy of a deity, divinity or “juju” and in like manner Ayelala has never been in doubt even by the courts. In Ekwo v Enechukwu, Sutton P., acknowledging this fact held that:

I think it is important to remember that the accident occurred in Nigeria where it is common knowledge that a considerable proportion of the population still holds a strong belief in their native doctors. In my view … it is the wide spread existence of it which is relevant…38

It has been said that the reasons why the courts are unwilling to acknowledge belief in traditional deities is to avoid setting a dangerous precedent to recognize superstitions. Thus in R V Ebong it was held that “… to find otherwise would be getting perilously near to the fallacious theory that a genuine belief in witchcraft might be a possible defense to a charge of murder…”42 It does not appear that the courts have really evolved a deliberate policy to break away from this rather painful colonial past, so as to give the rightful place to the progressive development of customary law in a country replete with customary traditional practices in its entire polity43.

Summary and Recommendation

It is obvious from the trend of things that the invocation of Ayelala to settle all forms of dispute has come to finally stay in Edo State, Nigeria. However, what is more important is the need for our conventional legal system to recognize and moderate its practices. It is on this premise that we would re-instate here the admonition of the court in Osula v Osula44 to the effect that the Bini, like some other tribes in Nigeria have some notorious traditions and norms: some peculiar to them, others in common with other races in some part of the world, which cannot be easily written off by mere legislation. Thus, to legislate against and prohibit the consultation of deities like Ayelala, would lead to serious disorder that would make governance and obedience difficult. It is in this light that legislations should be carefully drafted to accommodate and regulate its practices.

Consequently, the provision in the Criminal and Penal code which seeks to impliedly prohibit these practices should be repealed. Customary practices should be given its pride of place in the scheme of things. It is high time we broke away from the painful colonial past and tailor our laws to meet with our beliefs and peculiar circumstances.

Also in matters of superstition, which come before our courts, the court should deem it fit to consult mediums like Ayelala for clarification rather than jettisoning such matters. After all, under the Evidence Act, Cap 112, Laws of the Federation, 1990, opinion of assessors on customary matters are admissible45.

The police and the judiciary should be reformed again so as to bring back those glorious day when citizens had confidence in them. Delays in trial should be tackled headlong. Corruption and bribery should be checkmated and such other factors responsible for the decline in the patronization of the police and judiciary, be phased out.
To also stem the menace of bribery and corruption, it is suggested that members of the law enforcement agents and the judiciary should swear on oath administered by the priest of Ayelala. The implication is that the fear of the wrath of the goddess would deter them from such ignoble acts.

Finally, in the words of Usi Osemwowa, we wish to “call on the Federal Government to make traditional institutions a fourth tier of legislative and administrative authority over matters beyond the capabilities of the police and judiciary in each state”.46 By this the weaknesses of the conventional justice system in Nigeria would have been effectively remedied.


End Notes

1. O.M. Jamgbadi, “Customary Law of inheritance in Edo State”, in Landmarks In Legal Development (Essays in Honour of Hon. Justice C.M.R. Momoh Chief Judge of Edo State, Nigeria) Nobility Press, 2003.
2. Ibid.
3. Reuben Abati; “Benin Palace and the House of Igbinedion”, The Guardian Newspaper, Sunday, December, 9, 2001.
4. S.N. Ezeanya Cited in O.U. Kalu, “Gods in Retreat: Model of Religions Change in Africa” Nigerian Journal of Humanities vol. 1No. P .48
5. J.O. Awolalu, “Ayelala: A Guardian of Social Morality” in Orita, Ibadan Journal of Religious Studies, vol 11/2, Dec., 1968, 80
6. Awolalu, 79.
7. Awolalu, 81.
8. Awolalu, 81
9 Human Rights Practices in the Nigerian Police, Published by Constitutional Rights Project, 1993.I.
10 A. Emiola, Principles of African Customary Law (Emiola Publishers, 1997) P-5
11 Tamuno Tekena, The Police in Modern Nigeria, University Press, Ibadan, 1971, P. 71.

12 Islam makes no distinction between secular and religious offences and regards Allah as the supreme law-maker. Thus, Judges, the Mazalim (wrongs) court, the Shurta (police) and others are only mechanisms for enforcement.
13 Human Rights Practice in The Nigerian Police op.cit P.9
14 Tamuno, Tekena, The police in Modern Nigeria, op.cit
15 Human Rights Practices in the Nigerian Police op.cit. p. 11

16 Official statement by the Military Government of Nigeria in connection with recent developments in Nigeria, Lagos 23 January, 1966.
17 Koyade Afolabi; “The Jurisdiction of Robbers”, The Guardian, Wednesday September, 28, 2005. P. 65
18 Ibid.
19 E. Imariagbe, Personal Interview, Civil Servant, Benin City, 8/4/05, C. 50 yrs
20 CLO report on: Human Rights in Nigeria, 1990. P.7
21 Tamuno, Tekena, The Police in Modern Nigeria op.cit.
22 (2002) 7 NWLR (pt 767) p. 467
23 See Lakanni V Attoroney General, Western Region of Nigeria (1971) 1 UILR p. 201
24 I.E. Sagay, Legacy for Posterity; Works of the Supreme Court (Spectrum publishers) 1986
25 P.E. Igbinovia, “The Criminal in all us; whose ox have we not taken?” University of Benin Inaugural Lectures series p. 94
26 Bush V Gore 531 US p. 9 (12 December 2001) per Justice Sterens.
27 P.E. Igbinovia op. Cit p.93
28 Ibid p. 95
29 (2002) 1NWLR (pt 772) p. 245
30 Sydney Smith quoted in “The Judiciary in the Third Republic” being a lecture delivered by Justice R.A.I Ogbobire (Retired) December 11, 1992.
31 See; Bronik Motors & Wema Bank (1981) Sc P. 1
32 Temple C.L. Native Races and their Rulers (1918) P. 48
33 A.G Karibi–White, History and Sources of Nigerian Criminal Law (Spectrum law series, 1993) p. 262-263.
34 Human Rights Practices in the Nigerian Police op.cit p. 10
35. J.U. Egharevba, Benin Law and Custom (CMS, 1949) p.53.
36 Criminal Code Act Cap 77, Laws of the Federation, 1990 and sections 214-219 of the Penal Code Act cap 89, Laws of the Federation, 1990.
1963) 7 ENLR p. 1
37 (1954) 14 WACA p. 512 at 514
38 (1938) 4 WACA p.71 at 73
39 Awa Kalu SAN, “Attorney – General’s Summation: More doors to open for administration of justice”. Vanguard, Friday March 26, 2004 p. 25
40 Dennis Szabo cited in Awa Kalu, SAN Ibid.
41 (1947) 12 WACA p. 139
42 (1942)12 WACA p.139
43 Niki Tobi, Sources of Nigerian Legal System P. 120
44 (1995) 9 NWLR (pt 419) p. 529
45 S.57 (1) of the Evidence Act
46 U. Osemwowa, “The Customary Law of Inheritance in the 21st Century,” being a paper delivered at the seminar on “Law Review in the 21st Century in Edo State,” organized by Edo State Law Review Commission, 13th-14th May, 2004, Benin

Don Akhilomen, Ph.D., LLB.
Dept. of Religious Management & Cultural Studies,
Ambrose Alli University,
Ekpoma-Nigeria
&
Christian Oronsaye
Nigerian Law School,
Abuja-Nigeria

If the president really wants the world to take him serious with regard to the so called crusade against Corruption, he should start from himself. The president's adminstration has consistently refused to prosecute Christ Uda who admittedly kidnapted the Governor of Anambra State. Mr Christ Uda vow to make Anambra State ungovernable unless the governor hands him Billions of Naira from the State treasury. The president refused to prosecute this criminal because Chris Uda is rich and is his in-law. Lately, the president has being associating with Babangida, one of the world most corrupt dictator and plans to help him win the presidency in 2007.

Most of Nigerian senators and members of house of representatives have personnaly admitted taking bride, like one senator put it, "it normal to receive money from ministers". Recently, Nigerian Apex Bank, the central Bank has admitted paying members of National Assembly to enable them to pass favourable legislations, fellow Nigerian this is corruption at its worst and the president is very much aware of these behavours. In Nigeria we essentilly have criminals as politicians.

For example, currently the leader of the Republican party here in the United States will now be prosecuted money laundry and two of the President George Bush and Vice president closest friends are now under investigation. In the United States no one is protected investigation be you reverene, a Bishop or Sultan if you are suspected of a crime you will investigated and evidence is found you will be prosecuted according to the law, that is democracy.

Transparency International, a Swedish based international Organization specializing in monitoring governments performance around the world rated Nigeria the world most corrupt country and advice businesses around the world not to do business with Nigerians. If the president can collect all the money stolen by these so called politicians in the last six years we will have more than enough money to pay the $40 Billions debt.

I live in a country where the law enforcement officers are independent and no one is above the law. To Americans law enforcement meant, the police, State and Federal Attorney Generals and the judges. When any politician or any person for that matter is suspected of a crime, it is the responsibility of the law enforcement to investigate and arrest the suspect. Any politician or any individual that comments or get involve with criminal investigation will be arrested for obtruction of justice.

Emeka Collins Eke
Los Angeles, California U.S.A
E-Mail: cceke@yahoo.com

Why I understand the reasoning behind the flourishing private universities which our beloved president Olusegun Obasanjo is a "share-holder" but I assume that Nigerian Ministry of Education should be wise enough to know that 90% of its youth in the range of university education cannot afford the N350, 000 (Naira) fees that most of these private universities charge per session. This then beg the question, what is the strategy thinking of Nigerian government on getting the next generation ready for the task ahead?

As we approach 2007, parents and students of high institution need to start asking 'want-to-be presidents' their plans for the future leaders of this great country. This is not the time for parents to receive few Naira and sell their children's future to the highest bidder with no strategic approach to one of the greatest potential challenge confronting our nation to date. Students need to stop acting like spoilt brat and becoming more responsible to attract the attention of political parties in the country interested in 'valuable or potential voters' especially knowing that they fall within the voting age.

Why should our daughters on campuses becoming professional prostitutes in order to survive the campus hardship? and why should our future men need to rob innocent Nigerian citizens for their daily bread?.......It is definitely unnecessary and it is time to stop these nonsense. However, the task ahead is the responsibility of all, from parents to students and even the student unions on campuses across the nation. They need to organise themselves and start asking questions about their future plans of leaders.

One thing is certain, a benchmark of Nigerian universities with others in Europe makes one wonder when in the future things will never get better but students in Nigerian high institutions now hold the key in the forthcoming election to make demands from the government on better life. I think it is time to demand the execution of the TEN COMMANDMENT for students in Nigerian universities:
What will be the ten most important demands; I can only guess but a better condition in universities will be one on the list and there is no point asking for things without looking inward to stop some childishness that is common practice on campuses like rioting, cultism etc.

A word is enough for the wise.......

Oyeyemi Olodo, Esq.
Director/Publisher
The Integrity Magazine
www.theintegritymagazine.org.uk
http://www.theintegritymagazine.org.uk/aboutthepublisher.htm

A leader that has nothing new to offer at the same time his stubborness does not allow him to accept new ideas from others. The president has no constitutional right to tell Nigerian people whether they should have Sovereign National conference, therefore we do not need his approval or his permission to hold such a conference. Nigerian intellectuals and like minded people should come togather across the country to determine the future of Nigeria at this critical time. Those who are inspired to organize and carry out violence acts against other religion seek to bring about a disintegration of the country. When 12 Northern Muslim States insist on having a different judicial system (Sharia Law), this represent a threat to the unity of Nigerian. I strongly believe that those 12 muslim States in Northern Nigeria want a Muslim state (country) were Koran is the constitution just like Saudi Arabia and Iran.

I therefore suggest that they should be given the opportunity to establish a muslim state, but as a different country, this can be done peacefully and has been done in different parts of the world peacefully. These 12 states cannot hold the rest of the country hostage simply because we do not want to lose a part of the country that contribute less than 1% of Nigerian revenue. It was the late Ayatullah Khomeini of Iran who declared that Islam and politics are inseparable he was right. It is high time President Obasanjo and other nonbelievers understand that throughout Muslim world politics and Religion go hand in Hand. There is no Muslim country that practices democracy because democracy does not function when mixed with religion. A muslim country is a country where at least 80% of the people are muslims and Nigeria is not one of them.

I challenge any one out there to name any Muslim country that practices democracy from Noth Africa to Middle East to Asian countries. We just cannot let Northern Muslims to continue to dictate the direction the country should take and continue to object policies most people believe are right for the country. They are oppose to Polio Vaccination, Identification cards, Presidential Zoning laws and many others. Their opposion in these issues are mostly religious based, not on any scientific research or intelletual thoughts.

These things are a major embarrassment for the country as a whole.The former Czechoslovakia is now Czech Republic and Slovakia peacefully, it can be done in Nigeria. What we need is a state by state referendum to determine which state want religious bbaesd government such as Sharia law. At the end all the state that want Sharia law will form an independent country and those that want secular country will form their independent country all these can be done peacefully.

Emeka Collins Eke
Los Angeles, California U.S.A
E-Mail: cceke@yahoo.com

Carlisle U. O. Umunnah
Is New York Based Freelance writer
Contact: cuu1_liberties@yahoo.com

All Copyrights Reserved………….

Dear Friend,

I generally agree with you on your critique of President Obasanjo's Adminstration except on the first two paragraphs where you appeared to give him some credits. Well, I for one can not possibly think of any where I credit him for work well done.

The president has failed to offer any reform in all the areas of government such as Law enforcement reform where Nigeria still have the old system of national police. On the judicial system where cases can be in the court for 10 years without being addressed and majority of the judges are corrupt. Where the Muslim North essentially have their own judicial system regardless of what the constitution states.

Six years of Obasanjo has been one of the worst Seven years of Nigerian history. Nigerian currency has become so devalued that they are worthless in the world market. The word Crime has become synonym to the word Nigeria both at home and abroad. It is now unusual for a Nigerian any where in the world to be honest about anything in life from the so called politians to ordinary Nigerian at home in Nigeria or abroad. Since the so called democracy came back to Nigerian four senators have being accused of corruption and none faced charges, yet we have police and attorny general, what kind of a country is this were people accused or suspected of wrong doing will be allow to go free.

The president's best friends are now some of the worst Nigerians you can think of today. A man by name Chris Uba from Anambra State who vowed to make that State ungovernable unless the state governor hands him Billions of Naira from State treasury. Now, with the support of Obasanjo who by the way is his in-law, formed his own militia army and order them to destroy the entire state properties and businesses.

Another good friend of the president is former dictator Babanjida. Who according to rumor plans to run for president and wants the president's blessing. Babanjida is a billionair who made his Billions not from his great business ventures rather from Nigerian treasury. The president, Chris Uda and Babanjida none of these people ever attended University yet they dominate one of the third world best educated countries, what a shame. Nigeria has now become a country where we have to listen to likes of Buhari, Babanjida, Abubbakka, Abacha, Chris Uda who by the way is a high school dropout, and off course Obasanjo intelligent ideas on how to govern Nigeria. Babanjida wants to be the next Nigerian president.

A president suppose to promise to obey, protect and defend the laws and constitution of his country, Babanjida makes a mockery of Nigerian laws and constitution. He overthrew an elected government Shehu Shargari, he refused to obey the wishes of the people of Nigerian people when he cancelled the election of Abiola, he refused to appear before in Oputa commission yet he wants to be elected president?. I ask you are these the image of a good leader?. People asked why are Nigerians who live abroad refuse to come home (Nigeria) and fix the problems in the country, well is because of the frustration of having to face people like Obasanjo and Babanjida.

I must tell you who I am. My name is Emeka Collins Eke. I am a political scientist and I have being living in the United States for 25 years. I have also written numerous articles in
"Africa Today" the magazine I saw your opinion page. My articles have also appeared in many African oriented magazines and in several newspapers around Nigeria and across this country the United States.
Thank you

Emeka Collins Eke
Los Angeles, California U.S.A
E-Mail: cceke@yahoo.com

Madness and a resort to puerile, if violent tactics would seem to be informing the conduct of the Abuja ogre in his unedifying spectacle of revanchist persecution against the person of the vice-president, Atiku Abubakar. The abduction by the Gestapo-like SSS of Atiku’s media consultant, Garba Shehu, though hardly surprising, has underlined once more the pedestrian recklessness of the Aso Rock tin god. It has also served to reiterate the deeply troubling notion that the Nigerian presidency is peopled by unimaginative and grotesque types who are increasingly relying on brute force and coercion as a weapon for political ascendancy and relevance. The desperation of these Cro-Magnon men is frightening, to say the least, and Nigerians must rise and confront these beasts in order to help restore sanity to the polity. The unconscionable use and abuse of state resources by Obasanjo and his thugs in the likes of Nuhu Ribadu cannot be allowed to continue without a riposte. Col. (Rtd.) Dangiwa Umar has rightly indicted the witch-hunting of the dictator’s perceived enemies by Ribadu’s EFCC. Says he, inter alia: “As we move closer to the 2007 polls date, the EFCC seemed to have mobilized all its resources for just one objective: arresting, investigating, indicting and prosecuting Chief Obasanjo’s political opponents…

The assault being inflicted on the President’s opponents by the EFCC seems directly proportional to their capacity to win the seat if a free and fair election is allowed. The way the Commission has scampered into the wholesale arrest, investigation and indictment of opposition politicians, gives an impression that no crimes are being or have been committed by the president or his cronies and appointees. Yet, even the blind could see or at least smell the stench of billions of naira that are disappearing without trace through the president.”

Importantly also, those who seem to have only tardily woken up to the violent and unconstitutional ways of the dictator from Otta should be reminded that the sustained debasement of the Nigerian presidency by Obasanjo has been taking place since 1999, except that those who should have known better and fought against the lunacy preferred to seek refuge in the intoxicating regimentation of born-again apostasy and sectarian schisms actively canvassed by the profligate potentate and his henchmen. I will say it again.

Obasanjo’s atrocities are many and varied: The massacres of innocent civilians in Odi, Zaki-Biam, etc, the ‘419’ elections of 2003, the attempted coup in Anambra, the coup in Oyo, the destitution, at gunpoint of Chairman Audu Ogbeh, the erstwhile PDP chief, the rampant corruption at the presidency as revealed by the former Acting Auditor-General, Azie, the illegal transfer of state-owned assets into private hands through shady or questionable means like in the case of the outfit called Transcorp, unauthorized expenditures by the government, inflated contracts, dubious withdrawals from the sale of oil under the watchful eyes of the de facto oil minister, the born-again Messiah, etc.

It is one of those ironies that this usurper and wrecker of the Nigerian constitution (as well as its commonweal) should be trying to use national institutional structures in his sleaze-exposing duel with Atiku. As I have said elsewhere, Obasanjo’s actions are rarely imbued with a sense of rationality and the common good. In his single-minded obsession to avoid the day of reckoning which is fast approaching for him, the sadistic dictator is apparently hoping to use both his praetorian guard - the police, the SSS, the EFCC and perhaps the army – and the National Assembly to cage those he perceives as formidable foes in his ambition to either stay in power beyond May 29 2007 or at the very least impose a surrogate who will be willing to shield him from richly deserved retribution which should come sooner than later. What this means is that Obasanjo and his fellow bandits cannot be trusted with the organization of the forthcoming elections.

The National Assembly should immediately enact a law to insulate INEC from the temptation of executive tyranny and suggestion. Whether or not this happens prior to the elections, Nigerians must be vigilant this time around and refuse to succumb to the kind of unabashed rigging perpetrated by the likes of Obasanjo and his PDP in 2003. In the meantime, as has been suggested in other quarters, citizens should insist that Corruption Inc., that is to say the Obasanjo presidency, be thoroughly probed. The regime’s skeletons must be exposed. There will be a re-visiting , for instance, of the Pentascope scandal and the questionable sale of NITEL and other national assets. Also, Bode George’s tenure as chairman of the corruption-plagued Ports Authority as well as that of Anenih as Works minister must be thoroughly investigated. Above all, the books on the sale of Nigerian oil and gas must be opened in a transparent way.

A few months ago, Vice-President Atiku took a courageous stand against a deeply troubled despot who seems willing to further endanger the welfare of Nigerians in his immoral bid to hang on to power by hook or by crook. The National Assembly (and eventually the courts) should initiate a dispassionate probe of the presidency, more on account of the latter’s track record as an abode of sleaze than on the basis of the dubious report submitted to it by the Obasanjo side-kick called Ribadu. Should the findings of the National Assembly irreparably impugn Atiku, he will consider that as a sacrifice worth making for Nigerian democracy. That said, the pointless call by some individuals that Atiku resign even before any thorough and impartial investigation by the National Assembly is concluded should be seen for what it is, namely, an eccentric attempt at mischief. If anyone should resign, it is the dictator whose catalogue of crimes has been in the public domain for some time now. Obasanjo and his acolytes cannot be allowed to once again truncate the sovereign will of the people to choose their leaders.

In the same vein, it is absurd to claim that the vice-president is showing disrespect for the presidency in his response to the unwarranted humiliations Obasanjo has been inflicting on him in the last few years. Obasanjo further debases the Nigerian presidency with his crude hounding of the vice-president. Atiku’s belated counter-offensive against the coarse skulduggery of an unpatriotic and vindictive tyrant should be hailed as a necessary rampart against evil. Obasanjo has continued to desecrate the Nigerian presidency and he deserves a robust response from citizens. That the vice-president is at last standing up to Kabiyesi’s cowardly antics should be seen as a welcome development. Poltroons in the mould of the Aso Rock monster cannot be allowed to impose a reign of terror on the nation unchallenged. A word of caution: It is misguided for rival contenders to the presidency to want to capitalize on the dictator’s illegal tactics against the vice-president. The critical objective at this point should be to get rid of corrupt garrison-style politics as symbolized by the leviathan and his followers or allies in the likes of Adedibu, Chris Uba, Bode George and Ribadu. And as I did mention in my commentary entitled “Chief Ogbeh: Exit at Gunpoint”, there should be consequences, not just for Obasanjo , but also for his subalterns actively participating in the tyrant’s atrocities against the people. The dictator has committed treasonable offences and deserves to be impeached.

Aonduna Tondu.

New York
E-mail : tondua@yahoo.com

The very idea that someone in the government elected or unelected could suggest such a thing proves once again that we have leaders that are intellectually bankrupt and more importantly that we Nigerian either do not understand what democracy is or that we are not ready for a democratic government. Some of the best Democracies in the world are those that emphasize separation of Religion and Politics. President Obasanjo argued that Sharia Law is unconstitutional because the court involves in making decisions that are clearly should be made by the government and I and all democracy loving people around the world agreed, now he is involved in a policy that clearly run in opposite direction. Nigeria is currently faced with embarrasment of Sharia Laws which insist on sentencing women to be stoned to dead which to the rest of the world is barbaric. Instead of the President advocating policies that emphasis separation of politics and Religion he involves with sponsoring religious pilgrimage.

The question is can Nigerian people afford to sponsor yearly Religious pilgrmage for both Muslims and Christians throughout Nigeria?. We are talking about a policy that will cost Millions perhaps Billions in years to come, this is a very wrong policy. Democracy emphases a small government, that means not getting involve with private programmes such as Religion and business. Any individual or organization who chooses to go to religious pilgrimage should do so on his own time and money that is how it is here in America and in all Democracies around the world. Nigeria have so many problems that we could use public money to solve, such as reliable electricity, water and telephone these could create millions of jobs throughout Nigeria.

Emeka Collins Eke
Los Angeles, California U.S.A
E-Mail: cceke@yahoo.com