The Brexit Nightmare by Reuben Abati

What has the United Kingdom just done to itself, its people and the future of its youth? It is difficult to fully understand why a country in taking a decision about its future will decide on a false option that seems to negate long-term interests.  And this, just because a total of 17.4 million people out of over 61 million chose to vote against the United Kingdom's continued membership of the EU. More than 50% of these pro-Brexit voters are actually between the age bracket: 50-70, thus an ageing class of voters has taken a decision to undermine the future of the younger generation. Pro-EU Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "courageous and optimistic" when in January 2014, he tried to justify the need for a referendum.

The Game has changed... by Reuben Abati

“MY brother, I think all the people saying they have not seen any change should by now be convinced that truly, truly, the game has changed.”
“Football? Euro 2016? Brexit?”

“What is wrong with you?”
“Or may be you are talking about the death of Stephen Keshi and Shuaibu Amodu and the fact that Nigeria’s House of Football needs to be re-organised.”
“I really don’t know what the matter is with you today. I always try to engage you in a conversation because I consider you smart, but your responses don’t make sense to me.”

“Game change. Well. I studied a bit of game theory in school not as a student of political science but as a generally curious student.”
“Who is talking about game theory?”
“Game theory is about political marketing, the relation between structure and agents, how power is deployed, structuration, the framework of power, the politics of structural and collective agency.”
“When you are tired of boring yourself, you will keep quiet. I am just saying the game has changed in Nigeria. I guess that is simple enough so stop quoting text books.”

“Ha, I get you now. I recall that the former Chairman of the PDP, during the election was snick-named the game-changer. Everywhere he went everyone said game-changer!”
“If you are dumb, or pretending to be dumb, good for you. I am talking about today’s Nigeria, you are talking about the past. Can’t you see, don’t you hear, don’t you feel it, that indeed, contrary to what we used to think, something indeed has changed…”
“Tell me.”
“Me? You mean I, me, myself?”
“What is that?”
“If you mean I, me, myself, I have nothing to say. And please note that because the times have changed, I have developed all kinds of problems with my senses.”
“Then you should go to London for treatment.”
“God punish you for saying that. Do you want to put my family in trouble? I forbid you to talk carelessly anywhere I am. If you are looking for trouble, go and look for it on your own. My mid-year resolution is that I will not hear any evil, speak any evil and see no evil.”
“Is that your game that has changed?”
“Na you sabi?”

America And The Man-No-Be-Wood Nigerian Lawmakers by Reuben Abati

There has been no shortage of controversy and hair-raising incidents from the 8^th National Assembly of Nigeria, but nothing breaks the heart more than the name-them-shame-them letter that has been sent to the Speaker of the House of Representatives by the US Ambassador in which he accused three Nigerian lawmakers of sexual misconduct during an April 7-13, 2016 participation in the International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP).

       The three lawmakers are Mohammed Garba Gololo (APC, Bauchi), Samuel Ikon (PDP, Akwa Ibom) and Mark Terseer Gbillah (APC, Benue).  In his letter to the Speaker, James Entwistle says Gbillah and Ikon "allegedly requested hotel parking attendants to assist them to solicit prostitutes" while Gololo "allegedly grabbed a housekeeper in his hotel room and solicited her for sex". This was reported to the hotel management. The use of the word "grabbed" sounds quite deliberate in its Nigerian-ness.

Dis Fela Sef!: He lives by Reuben Abati

Benson Idonije: Dis Fela Sef!: The Legend(s) Untold- A Memoir. Lagos; FESTAC BOOKS, 2016,  282 pp.

On the occasion of his 80^th birthday, Benson Idonije, who is arguably Nigeria's most informed analyst of jazz music and an enthusiastic promoter of popular culture and music has released for public review and consideration an absolutely well-informed biography of Fela, the Afro-beat music maestro. The book is a useful contribution in my opinion. But the first thing I noticed- signposted by the copy sent to me, is how indeed, this particular publication appears to be a victim of the emergent crises of publishing in Africa in dispossessed economies. The copy sent to me is copyrighted 2014; on the cover it is described as a preview edition, scheduled for "official release: first quarter 2015", the review copy doesn't even have an ISBN number, there is no index and the bibliography is wrongly presented. 

        After more than 29 years of assessing manuscripts and editing/reviewing books, I assume that I can conveniently imagine what the author, printers and local publishers of this book must have gone through, the same challenges other book writers publishing in sub-Saharan Africa face at the moment: looking for money, getting good editors, looking for publishers, and hoping that there will be readers. But we must be glad, and Benson Idonije deserves to be congratulated, on  his tenacity, in bringing out against all possible odds, a memoir as he correctly describes it, on Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, legend, maestro, counterculture hero, mystic, musician, philosopher, iconoclast, rebel, patriot and one of Africa's most significant contributions to the world of art and music in the 20^th century.

Remembering MKO and June 12 by Reuben Abati

This day, June 12 will always be remembered by those who have defied the culture of silence and conspiracy against a significant moment in Nigerian history, to remind us of how today, 23 years ago, the battle against the exit of the military from power was fought at the ballot by a determined Nigerian people. It is indeed sad that apart from the South West states of Oyo, Ogun, Lagos and Osun which have doggedly continued to celebrate the hero, and later martyr of that battle, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, there has been studied indifference to the June 12 phenomenon by the Federal Government and remarkably, the rest of Nigeria.

      This is sadder still because MKO Abiola was not an ethnic champion: he was a man of pan-Nigerian vision and ambition, who went into politics to give the people hope, to unite them and lead them out of poverty. His campaign manifesto was instructively titled "Hope 93- Farewell to Poverty: How to make Nigeria a better place for all."

       When Nigerians voted in the presidential election of June 12, 1993, they chose the Muslim-Muslim ticket of MKO Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe under the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). MKO Abiola not only defeated the Presidential candidate of the National Republican Convention (NRC), Bashir Tofa in his home state of Kano, he also defeated him "fairly and squarely" with "58.4% of the popular vote and a majority in 20 out of 30 states and the FCT." That election was adjudged to be free and fair, and peaceful. But the Ibrahim Babangida-led military government had been playing games with the transition-to-civilian rule, and so it chose not to announce the final results of the election, and later on June 23, 1993, the Presidential election was annulled.

The National Brain in Recession by Reuben Abati

"Have you eaten today? If not, let me show you this new restaurant. Good food, the service girls specially attractive, the Madam herself is quite friendly."

"What are you proposing: the food, the service girls or the Madam? Sorry to disappoint you, I am fasting."

"When did you become a Muslim?"

"Is it only Muslims that fast? Fasting is good for everyone's spirit and system."

"Forget about that. Come and have a good bite. I am the one paying anyway, so what's your problem?"

"This man, are you living in Mars? You mean you don't know that this is Ramadan and that some people have made it risky for non-Muslims to go and eat? I don't want to risk my life. Even when you are not fasting or you are a Christian, the best thing to say during this season is to insist that you are also fasting."

Muhammad Ali, The Greatest (1942-2016) by Reuben Abati

Muhammad Ali, who died late Friday evening aged 74, was one of the greatest icons of the 20th century, one of the world's greatest boxers of all time, and certainly in his time, and during the era that he dominated the ring, the greatest among his contemporaries, the inimitable master of his game. The polyvalent nature of his talent: athlete, poet, civil rights campaigner, radical, gadfly, celebrity, philosopher, motivator and role model has ensured that there can never be anyone else like him. Muhammad Ali was special in his art, in his grace, and in his combination of wit and uncommon talent.

     No other athlete has done as much to raise the level and quality of boxing, converting it into a mainstream spectacle that captured the imagination of the world.  He enriched boxing with his talent, but it may also be said that his personality enriched our collective humanity.  He lived between two astonishing polarities: good health and sickness, for almost the same length of time.

Restructure Nigeria, to save it by Reuben Abati

No one should be surprised by the loud and widespread support that has attended the latest call by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that Nigeria needs to be restructured. In his words, "our current structure and the practices it has encouraged have been a major impediment to the economic and political development of our country. In short, it has not served Nigeria well, and at the risk of reproach it has not served my part of the country, the North, well. The call for restructuring is even more relevant today in the light of the governance and economic challenges facing us…Nigeria must remain a united country…I also believe that a united country, which I think most Nigerians desire, should never be taken for granted or taken as evidence that Nigerians are content with the current structure of the Federation. Making that mistake might set us on the path of losing the country we love…"