Tuesday 9 October 2007

Dispatches from Swearing in of Nigerian Union Executive Members (Hungary)Part 3

Where was the National Flag on "Independence Day"?

Hakeem Babalola



Introduction

The Nigerian National Flag, which is governed by the Flag and Coat-of-Arms Ordinance of 1960, is also the symbol of authority and instrument of state power. Next to Mother earth, it is the only National symbol worth dying for. It tells the history of a people and their aspirations.

Treatment of the National Flag

The National Flag is hoisted and flown ceremoniously and briskly in the morning and at sunrise and lowered slowly in the same manner in the evening at sunset (6.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.). A flag does not sleep. The National Flag should always be hung and only on very rare occasions should it be laid out flat horizontally. The National Flag is usually flown at the peak of the hoist except on memorial days or during state funerals as a mark of respect. At such times it is flown at half-mast.

When the National Flag is in a room or hung anywhere, no other flag, emblem or insignia should be place higher than it should. Old or worn out flags must never be used or displayed. When a Flag becomes soiled, old, torn or mutilated, the cloth should be destroyed by burning or any other method with decorum and respect.

Nigerian National Flag Law

The law makes it an offence for the National Flag to be improperly used or displayed. Section 5 of the Law states; "any person who flies or exhibits the National Flag in a defaced or bad condition shall be guilty of an offence against this Ordinance."

Comment

I have taken pain to conduct some research on this topic simply to remind and, or educate the reader about the significance of Nigerian National Flag, which is divided vertically into three equal parts. The central part is white and the two other parts are green. The green of the flag represents agriculture and the white Unity and Peace. The white is immaculate white and the emerald green is popularly known as the Nigerian Green.

If the occasion in question was not dignified by the presence of Her Excellency, Ambassador Adeola Adebisi Obileye, I might not have worried myself too much. But since she said in her speech that the occasion was also to mark the 47th Independence Anniversary, I presume the day was important; even though we should make sure we celebrate Nigerian Independence Anniversary exactly on the day it falls. Methinks that is the beauty of such celebration.

I have to confess that I have a grudge to bear but against whom? I don’t know. Although I was not present at the occasion, I observed through pictures taken that the Nigerian National Flag was missing on the day it should be prominently displayed. However, if the flag was hoisted at the entrance, then it was not extensively done since, according to the displaying of the National Flag, certain rules must be followed.

For an audience in auditorium or hall, the flag should be on the right end of the first row.
For a speaker on the platform, the National Flag should be on the speaker's right hand as he or she faces the audience. Other flags can be on the left and take their position sideways both left and right. Unless the picture does tell lies, no flag was displayed on the right end of the first row or Madam Ambassador’s right hand.

Perhaps we should borrow one or two things from Nigerians in New York. During the 47th Independence Anniversary on Oct. 1st not Oct. 6th, Nigerians in New York followed the rules of displaying the National Flag by hoisting and carrying it along in a procession. What is worth doing is worth doing well.


copyright 2007 mysmallvoice@yahoo.com

Yar’Adua’s Exit in Perfect Order

Hakeem Babalola

Yar’Adua’s hold to power is a distortion. Of course we all know this fact. Each day he represents Nigeria as the president is a mistake of misrepresenting the facts. But of course Nigerians can hail him in order to prove that the end justifies the means. Is the end justifies the means or should it?

From the day he was sworn-in as the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I had also sworn not to recognise him as such. For the first time in my life I strongly believe I have had enough. Yes, enough is enough. I felt that unless people like me take such stand, certain class of people would always take us for a ride. Will you please join me in my quest not to recognise Mr Yar’adua as president!

You can now imagine my shock when Nigerians, especially those famous newspaper boys who had earlier believed that Yar’Adua was not qualified to be the President, started speaking on his behalf as spokesperson. It ruined my ego as a writer as well as a citizen to hear them calling him Mr President. Then I wonder why the sudden change from those who should know better. This is a food for thought for those calling for revolution.

Most especially when Musa Yar’adua himself has acknowledged that the 2007 elections that produced him as the president were fraught with problems (although fraught shouldn’t be the appropriate word). Surely he was not the one who conducted the election. He was not in charge of the police, the Independent National Electoral Commission or any of the security branches; the fact that he benefited from the fraud perpetrated by these organisations makes him an accomplice. Therefore I violently believe he should not have become the president. He should not.

But Musa Yar’Adua had an ambition. It seems to me that the man had wanted to taste the presidency, even if only for one day. He might have dreamt being in the book of history alongside Tafawa Balewa, Aguiyi Ironsi, Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Mohammed, Olusegun Obasanjo, Shehu Shagari, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Ernest Shonekan, Sani Abacha, Abdusalam Abubakar, and Olusegun Obasanjo. From the look of things I supposed being in the history book as one of the Nigerian presidents is enough for Yar’Adua.

Look at him very well and tell me what you have seen. Though it was pre-judgement on my own part, I had in the very beginning of his administration, compared him to Shehu Shagari, another President imposed on Nigerians by the same Obasanjo in 1979. To compare any person to Shagari means one thing: incompetence and unqualified.

However, I am more into how he got to the throne than his performance. Unless of course we want to sweep this under the carpet. Thank God Nigerians know that Yar’Adua is an imposition. This factor alone disqualifies him as the Nigerian president. Now let me hear you saying it disqualifies him…it disqualifies him…

Yar'Adua is enjoying himself as the president irrespective of how he came to power; irrespective of his charade as someone who respects the rule of law. I mean the trips to their homeland called America and Europe and the meeting with their boss called American President. I am sure such rendezvous is part of the struggle to taste power – if only for a while. They must pay homage to their masters.

I had posited somewhere that Yar’adua’s slow poison approach may be a policy of appeasement. We may see the real Yar'Adua after the court might have legitimized his presidency. No, the court won’t disrespect Nigerians by legalizing illegality that produced him. Please say No. Say No to selection or imposition.

Therefore Umar Musa Yar'Adua should stop ridiculing himself and his family by defending the rule of law. He simply lacks the moral or integrity to do so. Gone were the days when one could even fool all Nigerians all the time. Not anymore, and definitely not in this Age of Information Technology. I have since concluded that if Nigerians should allow Yar’Adua to remain as their president, then there may be no hope at all.

Every time I examine this man, I always come to the conclusion that, here is a man who feels guilty about something - something profound. His recent pronouncement that he would not appeal Election Tribunal decision is a testimony in this regard. The guy is smart though. I think the only way to become part hero is for him to respect the Tribunal unlike his godfather who was/is famous for disobeying the law of the land.

Yar'Adua may be the opposite of his predecessor, a character that has drawn public sympathy. I say the guy is smart, for the only way a successor to Obasanjo could swindle us is by being his opposite. And that is exactly what Yar'Adua is doing. But I am not impressed simply because he was imposed on us by this godfather who was trying to protect being probed.

I have changed my mind. Yar’Adua is not a bit smart. If he is smart at all, he should not have stayed longer than a day on the throne. The former chemistry teacher should have cited massive rigging as the main reason for such decisiveness. If he had done that, one thing would have worked in his favour: being the shortest and the most honest president we have ever had. History would have been very kind to him. Nigerians would have affectionately remember him as they remember Murtala Mohammed. But now he would go down in history as one of them. It serves him right.

Now that the Owu man has warned him to take tough decision, will he change? I don't know. All I know is this: I have no respect for anyone directly serving under Yar'Adua as the president. Neither do I for anyone calling him Mr President. I strongly believe that the appropriate title should be Mr Caretaker President - at least for now.

So I am waiting anxiously for his resignation or exit. But tarry a little, who becomes the president after the court might have annulled the elections that had helped him to be part of our own peculiar history? Oh, Nigeria.

copyright 2007 mysmallvoice@yahoo.com

Dispatches from Swearing in of Nigerian Union Executive Members (Hungary)Part 2

Beware of Busybodies...Ihaza told Her Excellency
By Hakeem Babalola

When God created Eve and Adam, we were told that a serpent searched for them in the garden of Eden, told them some rigmarole about God. The serpent had perfected his plan which was to set the battle line between God and those He loved dearly. The serpent deceived the first man and woman probably out of jealous and malice. Too bad that our antecedents fell for Satan.

The reason for using the above allegory is mainly to exaggerate how treacherous a busybody could be to peace and justice. I would liken a busybody to the serpent in the above horrifying allegory. He is a threat to the development of human and humanity. He goes here and there to meddle in the affairs of others.

Why does he do it? It may be because he is insecure or malicious or ignorant. What matters to the busybody is his innate ambition. He wants everything in a rapacious manner. He is incomplete unless he opens his mouth like basket to spit the venom of half truth or even outright lies. I ask, how does he do it? For even those who should know better often fall for a busybody's hanky-panky.

Dear Nigerians, how could someone even in his wrong senses proclaimed there was no Nigerian Union in Hungary? The Nigeria Union, Hungary was formed in 2001 and yours truly reported it in the defunct For African Abroad, a monthly Journal. I was appalled at the dramatic and climax of Peter Ihaza’s speech when he intoned: "Contrary to what Her Excellency might have been told that there was no Nigerian Union in Hungary..."

At first I thought he was merely joking until he added: "Half the harm that has been done to the Union has been caused by some omnipotent moral busybodies."

Who are these omnipotent moral busybodies that Ihaza was referring to in his speech? Were they present on that day? And were they called to the high table? It would be disingenuous as well as hypocritical if these people graced the occasion. Thus one can easily see through a busybody; he neither has shame nor conviction. He seems to indulge in eating with both hands and does not care a hoot.

I agree with Ihaza when he cautioned the ambassador to beware of these people. Hear him in his eloquent best: "I am sure on your arrival, you have met people like those. Whatever you hear, it is important to listen to all sides before you draw your conclusions."

Now that the ambassador knew what she witnessed on that day was not actually history but continuation of history, what would she do? Is she still going to respect the so-called busybodies who might have surreptitious misled her? Is she still going to associate or do business with them? The choice is that of Her Excellency but she should always remember that Nigerians are watching with keen interest.

Meanwhile if someone had posited that the union was having problems, I would have understood, for yours truly had criticised the Union on some occasions; but to declare there was no Nigerian Union in Hungary before now is a joke carried too far, it is a vicious attack on the history of the union. That's by the way. May God save us from the tantrum of a busybody.

Moving on to something profound. Although Ihaza told the audience that, he did not wish to dwell on "the achievements of my administration", he did just that when he looked in retrospect.

He said: "Chairing the Nigerian Union together with the members of my administration has been a great honour for me. Together with my executive members, we have always been in the forefront of the efforts to forge unity amongst the diverse groups of Nigerians and to promote dialogue, understanding, and meaningful cooperation between Nigerians and citizens of Hungary, which is a second home to most of us. It is within this overall strategic context that we have made our contributions."

He continued: "Since its inception in 2001, the financial burden of the Union has been borne by the members of the executive. This has prevented us from carrying out some of our planned activities. Despite this shortcoming, the union has been able to help Nigerians by representing them before the authorities mainly by aiding in the language translation, being present during interrogations, helping with job search, visiting detained Nigerians, successfully appealing deportation orders, advising (to the best of our knowledge) Nigerians on matters affecting their daily lives, responding to negative news articles about Nigeria in the press and communicating the needs of (that we know of) Nigerians living here to the Nigerian Embassy as well as visiting the Nigerian Embassy in Vienna in our search for a solution to the endemic passport problem . Together, we were able to launch and sustain many initiatives. Most of them succeeded. Others are work in progress."

The former Union President then eulogised the first patron of the union, Chief Abayomi Akintola, former Nigerian Ambassador to Hungary whom he described as honourable, helpful and a perfectly reasonable ambassador. He added that Akintola was never too busy to meet any Nigerian who requested his audience. Ihaza also paid tribute to the late Ambassador Greshen Guyit whom he said had a clear vision and meant well for Nigerians in Hungary but was mis-informed by his advisers.

He advised the new officers-elect to comport themselves as well as capitalise on the present momentum to rejuvenate the Union. "You should be example to all Nigerians," he said, adding that he believed the outgoing leadership had sent a spark to the new executives.