BNW Magazine: Biafra Nigeria World :: Honour to whom Honour is Due:: Uzochukwu J. Njoku : Njoku's Review @ BiafraNigeriaWorld.

In 1979 Samuel Mbakwe (of blessed memory) contested the governorship election in (the then) Imo state and won under the platform of the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP). His candidate for deputy governor was Mr Amalaha. The election tribunal later disqualified Amalaha because he did not resign from his public service job within the specified period under the law. Amalaha hailed from Ngwaland in the Aba zone of the state. This development led the NPP to replace him with another Ngwa person. His replacement was Isaac Uzoigwe (of blessed memory) who had already won election to represent one of the Aba state constituencies in the then Imo state house of assembly. On 1^st October 1979 both Mbakwe and Uzoigwe were sworn in as governor and deputy governor respectively. Uzoigwe was a member of the Catholic Church. In 1981 the Catholic Church authorities of (what was then) Umuahia diocese invited all and sundry to the Christ the King Church (which is now Christ the King Cathedral) Aba. The cause of this invitation was the conferment of a papal knighthood on Isaac Uzoigwe (and other ‘eminent persons’). Conferring papal knighthood on Isaac Uzoigwe (within two years of his becoming a deputy governor) is an example of how securing a high political office often translates itself into being qualified to receive honours either from the Churches or from communities and groups.

Tom Ikimi is a Catholic and was a minister of external affairs during the Abacha military administration.

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He was honoured with a papal knighthood by the archbishop of Benin shortly after his appointment as minister in the Abacha government. Ikimi’s reception of a papal knighthood side-by-side with his contributions to the Abacha administration or his legacies as national chairman of the defunct National Republican Congress (NRC) and his role in scuttling the presidential election of 12^th June 1993 would be interesting topics for discussion. A Nigerian Newspaper in the last few months carried the story of the conferment of a Church honour (Church Patron) on Chris Ngige (governor of Anambra state) by retired Catholic archbishop of Onitsha (Archbishop Obiefuna) in Ihiala. Granted that not all Catholic governors or public officers have received the awards of papal knighthoods or patrons, the above examples demonstrate a more general tendency in the different Churches where attaining high political office almost translates itself automatically to being worthy of receiving a special honour. The Anglican Church and other Christian groups have their own patterns as well. I have used the Catholic Church only as an example of a general tendency in our public life, which spreads to various dimensions. The choice of the Catholic Church in illustrating this feature also springs from the fact that I belong to this faith group (confirming the saying: “charity begins at home”).

The conferment of different types of honours are not only restricted to Christian Churches. Communities, Organisations, Unions and Institutions have their own peculiar ways of honouring their members who attain high status. Samuel Mbakwe contested election in 1979 as Mr. Samuel Mbakwe. Before the end of his first six months in office as governor his title changed to Chief Samuel Mbakwe. Before the end of his tenure as governor and before his death, Mbakwe’s shelves may have been overflowing with certificates of Chieftaincy titles received from different communities. We hear news or read news reports of governors, public officers and politicians being conferred with one chieftaincy title or the other in almost infinite successions. In a jet-like speed they are made patrons in groups where they were ordinary or passive members (or even where they were no members before). Societies and organisations tumble on one another in attempt to confer one title or another on a politician, governor or one perceived to be in the corridors of power.

In one sense, the conferment of honours signifies an attempt of a group to recognise the high stride, which one of its members has attained. From this perspective, it could be understood as a form of congratulation. It could also demonstrate a gesture of support from a group. Hence reassuring the public officer or politician that his or her group will always stand with him or her through the rigours of public office. This direction may also be meant to intimidate a rival group. It may further signify an attempt to court the favour of the public officer. This is reflected in the 1991 conferment of the title of Ọgụgụọ Ndi Igbo on General Babangida (in Enugu) and the endless conferment of honorary doctorate degrees on highly placed politicians. This pattern of conferring honours may also be an attempt to draw the attention of the recipient to some problems confronting the conferring group. Conferment of honours could further signify respect for the office of the recipient. It could signify gratitude for what one has done. It could also be a reward for one’s achievements in public office. There are in fact many ways of analysing the conferment of titles or honours.

The frequency and infinite procession of these conferments of titles and honours on politicians and government functionaries cannot be ignored in our present society. I am often thrown out of balance when

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I think about the ceaseless rain of titles on politicians within the present Nigerian context against the background of an almost ruptured society. We live in a country where the lives of ordinary citizens are condemned to an endless dark tunnel, where we have bade farewell to hope and plunged into the deepest depths of despair. In our country social amenities decay with each passing day. While our politicians call on the youths to embrace education, they sit by and watch the consistent transformations of our educational institutions into caricatures. Education has been turned into a commodity for the rich (who could pay the exorbitant fees charged in private or special schools at home or abroad). The poor and average citizens are left in the rain and are meant to be contented with the public schools where teachers are not paid well and where relevant study materials are scarce. As far back as 1978 teachers started bearing the brunt of a bad economy – being owed salary arrears for months while the governors and politicians who talk of bad economy siphon huge sums of money abroad. Hospitals and other branches of government health services are not sparred from this dismemberment. Fear and insecurity have become part of our daily life partly due to the activities of armed robbers (some of whom being victims of bad government). Fela Anikulapo Kuti summarised the whole situation thus: “as time de go, things just de bad, de bad more and more.”

I have no problem in the conferment of titles on our governors and politicians; after all an English adage says “honour to whom honour is due.” The question is in what does honour consist? Is it in occupying an office or how the exercise of this office transforms the lives of people for good? Does honour simply consist in the ability to win (or rig) elections, be appointed to a high political office and being perceived as being in the corridors of power? Can we define honour without reference to how the expression of the said office affects the lives of people, addresses questions of social justice and gives meaning to the lives of people? I have no illusion that there are people for whom honour simply consists in occupying an exalted public office. I would rather opt for a vision of honour, which springs from a popular saying: “agbachaa ọsọ agụọ mile.” I think that real honour ought to come at the end of one’s tenure of governance – when people could access a report card of the administration. This vision of honour is fortified when one notes that citations are usually read before the conferment of many titles. These citations imply that the recipient has really achieved something positive. It would be interesting to glance through these citations to know the achievements being credited to these politicians. No one wins a race before running. Titles and honours on politicians would have more meaning when they flow from the positive effects of their activities on the common good, the well being of people and structures of social justice rather than the amount of money they donate to individual religious leaders or traditional rulers.

The conferring of knighthoods, patrons and other forms of honours on our politicians by various religious and socio-cultural groups simply means that these groups extol and support the activities of these politicians. Then my question is, who is responsible for the non- repair of our roads? Who is responsible for the decays of our hospitals and health centres? Who is responsible for the poverty and misery that have invaded our country? Who is responsible for starching billions of Naira, Dollars, Euros and Pounds into foreign banks? Who is responsible for the dysfunctionality of our educational systems? Who is responsible for the persistence of gangs of cultists in our universities? Who is responsible that water does not flow through the taps in our houses? Who is responsible for the deaths of numerous children who have been knocked down by automobiles in the cities while in search of water? Who is responsible for the ceaseless police harassments, brutality and deaths by ‘stray bullets’? Who is responsible for the insecurity in the land? Who is responsible for introducing the culture of gangsterism into our electioneering process? If these governors and politicians are doing well as the series of Church and social titles they receive indicate, then why are our youths loosing hope in the country, leading to the attempt of many people to leave the country by all means (even if it means going anywhere)?

I do not envy these politicians with their litanies of religious and social honours. My problem is that if all the organisations, which should raise their voices critically, realistically and profoundly to confront the structures of social oppression have since resorted to giving endless honours to politicians and romancing with them both privately and officially, it then appears to me that we are gradually on the road of loosing the last hope for a better Nigerian society. My problem is that these series of honours would mean that the organisations, which should stand with the general citizenry have compromised their positions and may have eventually lost the face or moral courage to confront these politicians or to call them to account for their activities while in office.

Religious and social groups do not just belong to the rich or the leaders of these groups. Granted

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that their wealth or position gives them some advantages over those on the lower levels of the ladder, it still remains a fact that these groups do not just belong to them alone. If Church communities honour corrupt politicians whose activities are destroying the lives of many people (some of whom may also be members of these Churches), can these victims of reckless government (who are also members of the Churches) deny supporting those who destroy their lives? If really they support this conferment of honours, would they have the moral courage (at any later time) to criticise these corrupt politicians? If they do not, how can they make their voices heard or show their dissent?

The saying: “honour to whom honour is due” is valid. My question is what qualifies one to be honoured? In what does honour consist in the context of present day Nigeria? Does it consist in joining the gang of reckless politicians, who are intellectually barren and whose appetite for stealing public money seems to know no bounds? Does honour consist in wealth, even if this wealth is at the cost of millions of human lives? Does honour consist in being in control of the police and state security outfits? Does honour consist in controlling and intimidating people? Does honour consist in playing games with the problems of our people? Would the concept of honour in our present circumstance rather not consist in realistically confronting the architects of our people’s misery? Would honour not consist in being committed to the struggle for creating a culture of life rather than a culture of death and despondency, which has enveloped our people?

I accept that honour should be given to whom it is due. My problem is whether the living conditions of ordinary people in Nigeria require that any body be honoured. Do the living conditions of most of our people correspond to the volume and frequency of honours given to politicians and public office holders? Against the backdrop of many lost opportunities to greatness, uncertain future, directionlessness and unending pains which have become unmistakable marks of our socio-political history, how many of our politicians and public officers have so far really merited to be honoured?