To St. Patrick

INTRODUCTION

Kachifo Limited, publishers of Farafina Books, Farafina Educational and Farafina Magazine, is proud to announce the release of their latest fictional novel: To Saint Patrick. The novel is a gripping and courageous debut from Eghosa Imasuen, one of the next generation of great Nigerian writers.

SYNOPSIS

It's the year 2003 in an 'alternate Nigeria,' a prominent member of the NPN political party, veteran journalist Chief Johnson, has just been murdered. Two small time crooks are found with a bag full of his bloody clothes. They will take the fall to assuage the public, although some evidence suggests they may just be innocent... Is it politics as usual?

To Saint Patrick rewrites Nigerian political history, presenting the reader with a series of 'what ifs': what if Major-General Murtala Mohammed had survived the 1976 coup attempt, and had run for a 2nd term?; What if Babangida was simply on the sidelines—an honourable gentleman?; What if our democracy was healthy?

A beautifully written tale of adventure, sci-fi, intrigue, and a dash of love, To Saint Patrick is a must read.

REVIEWS

"To Saint Patrick is a novel that – on the strength of the originality of its premise alone, not to mention the beauty of the telling – has created a new class of Nigerian literature to which will belong all books bold enough to attempt to imaginatively stoke the controversial fire that is Nigerian history."

- Tolu Ogunlesi, Author, Listen to the Geckos Singing from a Balcony

To Saint Patrick is available in major bookstores, and from Farafina at 25 Boyle St, Onikan, or www.kachifo.com. Its recommended retail price is N1000

They are Amongst us

Somebody please pinch me, I decided to stay quiet hoping that when I make my next post I'd be writing "He is back or dead or we have at least confirmed he is alive" but No neither of these things have happened.

And with the certainty that aliens have suddenly given Nigerians a sort of 'blank pill', nobody is screaming blue murder or freaking out. The dailies still report President Yar'adua is still in Saudi for the lesser hajj.

How stupid do they think we really are.

I'll keep Me, Myself and I posted.

Im out

Motherhood

Sometimes I wonder, were we really, really cursed, (and the loud thundery voice goes) ye shall suffer great pain in the process of bringing forth, excruciating back tearing, men cursing, teeth shattering pain (duration not specified) and after this episode (known as childbirth) peaceful forgetfulness and the frolicking starts again yeah!

And then as if that’s not enough we have to contend with CR 101 (the basics of child rearing), CR 201 (the headaches of child rearing), CR 301 (I wanna strangle my child during the process of child rearing) and on and on it goes, these lessons we weren’t prepared for.

Well I’m at CR 301; yep I wanna strangle my child, no not in a mean way, in a loving way that will make her see reason.
I actually admit it’s my fault; I have smothered my kids in a not too African way. Kiss mummy... hug mummy, mummy loves you and all that bla... always used the word spank not beat always said please, Mickey mouse this and Donald duck that, no wholesome ijapa and yanribo tales.

Kai and now what do I have a 6 year old who wants to kiss and hug everybody who walks her way not realising it was meant for family and family only. Not her friend next door, not the washer man and the gardener and certainly not the total stranger who comes knocking onthe door.
So I think will wholesome African thrashing do...or will an episode of exorcising do the trick, or should I let her be and hope she out grows it.

Gosh I need help.

Its Day 2

Yep it's the second day of my little tale "WEY OUR PRESIDENT", the papers have been silent in fact its a waste of money buying one at the moment. I read a copy (ok ok flipped through) a copy of the Guardian this morning and in my usual non expectant way I noticed with some excitement that it was unusually BORING, DRY ah ah. You mean this Country is actually Presidentless at the moment, truly amazing.

Well its just buttressing my conspiracy theory, Something is not right, Amiss, Yeah Outright Fishy. Me thinks since he was moved to Germany genetic cloning is in the works, so if 'Yar' does turn up it will be his clone, not he THE PUPPET TRYING TO BREAK OFF FROM HIS MASTERS STRINGS.

But who would know.

President Yar' Adua: To be or not to be...

Last night no, early this morning actually somebody I know, got a call from somebody he knows, who is a Senator informing the this person I know that Yar'adua was dead. Now considering the source of this information I would have had no reason to doubt it till a This Day reporter reported he spoke to the president last night and he was alive.


Considering the fact that we have been lied to all week as to his true health status and the fact he was moved to Germany and was put on life support all I can think of is Who is Fooling who, and why.

Knowing that the truth will definitely be known really soon, I wonder why we constantly have to be woven into a web of deceit these people try to justify when its almost too late.

Ive attached 2 articles showing the fact that the president was really ill last week and has been for sometime.
And yes they both justify my theories that we virtually have a ruler who is more of a figure head than an actual ruler.


A Nation On Tenterhooks

By Sonala Olumhense

Last week, I expressed my concern about President Umaru Yar'Adua's style, and its impact on his substance. Given the passage of President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia, I felt he should be concerned about his legacy.
Were is Mr President? Nigeria a Country kept in Limbo.

At the time, my focus was the death of Mr. Mwanawasa, and its lessons for my own country. I was unaware that even as I wrote, President Yar'Adua was in poor health.

On Wednesday, 20 August, he left for Saudi Arabia to perform the umrah, the lesser hajj. He was expected back in Nigeria three days later to prepare for an official visit to Brazil which was to start on 26 August.

On that day, the President did not return.

By Tuesday, when he was supposed to have been leaving Abuja for Brazil, he was still not back in Nigeria. Neither was he flying to Brazil from wherever he was.

On Wednesday, August 27, the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting was held in Abuja under the chairmanship of the Vice-President, Goodluck Jonathan. It was a big meeting, for three reasons.

First, Mr. Jonathan, like other members of the government, did not know where his principal was, or his exact condition.

Second, Mr. Jonathan had not been sworn in as Acting President, although he could, and apparently conducted the meeting in his capacity as Vice-President.

The third reason the FEC meeting of last Wednesday was so important is that it emerged with humongous federal contracts. One of them, for the expansion of Phases I and II of the Escravos-Lagos pipeline, was for N73 billion. That is not the kind of sum a head of government opts to sign by proxy.

Still, the falcon did not know where the falconer was. Naturally, the tension that was gripping the country was waiting outside the Council chambers that day in the form of journalists.

Remember when In his conversation with Yar’Adua, Obasanjo placed the then party candidate on the speaker to the hearing of party members at the campaign ground. He had jocularly asked him: “Umoru, they said you are dead. Are you dead? Yar’Adua was said to have answered that he was alive, and he later addressed party supporters from his hospital bed.

Council members put up a brave face. Foreign Minister Madueke and his college in the Ministry of Information and Communications, Mr. John Odey, insisted that the president was undertaking the lesser hajj, and would "return anytime from now."

So, what was Madueke doing in Abuja instead of being busy in Brazil in connection with the presidential state visit? He was asked. I could imagine the man shifting from one foot to the other: "I am here now on state matters," he said, adding, "State matters mean that things are adjusted and readjusted."

Although he and his colleague insisted they had spoken with the President on the phone, it was clear they were acting, without the benefit of a Nollywood licence.

In other words, they either did not know what they were talking about, or were lying. SaharaReporters had reported that, contrary to the official reason given for the president's trip to Saudi Arabia, he had actually left for medical care.

It would later report that the president was seriously sick, and that the planned official trip to Brazil had been cancelled.

Late last week, government officials continued to deny everything. They denied the president's ill-health. They denied the visit to Saudi Arabia had anything to do with his poor health. They denied the visit to Brazil had been cancelled, allowing only that it had been postponed.

Still, nothing was being heard from the president. The louder questions were coming from the eloquent silence of the Vice-President, who had clearly delegated the waffling and lying service to lower officials. Twice, the scheduled decoration ceremonies of the new service chiefs had to be postponed.

As I was concluding this article on Saturday morning, The Punch was reporting that President Yar'Adua had had surgery in Saudi Arabia, following the failure of drugs to improve his condition. This would further confirm the original SaharaReporters story. It would also confirm that Ministers Maduekwe and Odey had lied on Wednesday when they insisted the President was performing a religious obligation and would return to Nigeria shortly.

That, however, is not even a problem. And we do have a problem: a convoluted crisis of leadership.

For over one year, under Yar'Adua, Nigeria has lacked the energy and initiative to move forward. Federal government officials have attributed this malaise to his desire to ensure that things were done properly. There have also been arguments that his rigged party nomination by his predecessor, and the rigged election that brought him to office were holding him back.

But now we find that the most formidable opponent may be the simplest one of all: the President's health. It was a problem during the electoral campaigns, and despite routine denials, has remained so in his first 15 months. The death of Zambia's Mwanawasa less than two weeks ago only reminds Nigerians about just how real losing a national leader can be, and is responsible for the current tension about Yar'Adua's situation.

As a people, Nigerians must get behind President Yar'Adua with their prayers and good wishes. I hope he recovers quickly, and returns to work.

Whenever he does, I hope he remembers that many a Nigerian leader, caught in a hail of coup d'etat bullets, never had his nine lives. Whatever they had achieved by the time the shooting started was usually the final chapter of their story.

Despite the flawed elections that propelled him to office, or perhaps because of them, Yar'Adua has been blessed to call himself leader of Nigeria. He didn't earn that title. If this spell of poor health is his final bow, he will become the laughing stock of this era. That, unfortunately, would be the legacy he has earned.

It is true he has only ruled for one year. But exactly how many days are required to drive a stake into the ground and say, "No more!"

I do not know. All I know is that no leader that wants to make a change waits until the manual is written, typed and bound. He does not wait until that manual is edited and proof-read and printed in colour. John F. Kennedy said it well: "A man does what he must, in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures, and that is the basis of all human morality."

I hope Yar'Adua lives a longer, healthier life. If it does not, it would be sadder still to reflect on the filthy men and women and institutions and graveyards and garbage heaps he could have cleaned up in one year.

It would be tragic to think about the mess he became a part of when he had the rare opportunity to rise above it and prove, in one year, that there is so much gold in our land.

It would be tragic to think about all the men and women of merit and intelligence and skill and patriotism that we never got to learn about because, during his presidency, the limelight continued to shine for the indolent and the corrupt and the ruthless.

He can start to change all that right away, beginning by being honest with his country about his health.

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Yar’Adua’s ill health: Who is fooling who?
By Jackson Udom
Sunday, August 31, 2008

Yar'Adua Nigerian Leader, Umar Yar’Adua may have had a burning desire as a child to contribute his own quota at any level to the development of the Nigerian nation. This patriotic zeal, no doubt, may have also led to his emergence as the governor of Katsina State from 1999-2003.

Throughout his tenure as the Katsina State Governor, little or nothing was heard of his deteriorating state of health, maybe because he was then overseeing affairs in just an insignificant area of what he now governs.

Going down memory lane in the build up to the 2007 presidential race, President Yar’Adua was the last aspirant to enter the presidential race because when others were already winding up their campaigns, Yar’Adua was on the standing block. Yar’Adua’s last minute entrance into the race, according to information gathered, may have been due to his poor health condition which was gradually taking its toll on him.

Unconfirmed report had it that when Chief Obasanjo intimated Yar’Adua of his desire to make him (Yar’Adua) succeed him, he was said to have vehemently objected to the offer, citing his dwindling state of health. Obasanjo was said to have told him pointedly not to be bothered about his state of health because immediately he emerged the president, the country will be ready to spend anything to keep him alive as its president.

The fragile health condition of the former Katsina State governor became a public issue when it dawned on the members of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) that former President Olusegun Obasanjo had concluded plans to impose the Katsina-born politician on the party and Nigerians.

The pages of both local and foreign newspapers later began to be awash with the news that Yar’Adua was not healthy enough to govern the country. Though the news was countered by the then government, which described it as the wishful thinking of the opposition, it however peaked when Yar’Adua, the then presidential candidate of the PDP few days before the conduct of the presidential election in 2007, was rumoured to have slumped and immediately flown abroad for medical attention. He was rumoured to have been exhausted by the rigorous campaign programmes of the party which took him to the 36 states of the federation.

In the thick of the arguments and comments which trailed the death rumour of the then presidential candidate, Chief Obasanjo had put a call through, at the campaign ground, to Yar’Adua on his sick bed in Germany. In his conversation with Yar’Adua, Obasanjo placed the then party candidate on the speaker to the hearing of party members at the campaign ground. He had jocularly asked him: “Umoru, they said you are dead. Are you dead? Yar’Adua was said to have answered that he was alive, and he later addressed party supporters from his hospital bed.

It was in that precarious state of health that Yar’Adua contested and was declared winner of the April, 21 2007 presidential polls. Since he was sworn in as the president on May, 29 2007, the Nigerian leader’s failing health condition had made news headlines for well over four times and in all these, the president’s media managers had publicly denied the media report.

In sane climes, health conditions of leaders are not shrouded in secrecy. Presidents of nations have had causes to undergo surgical operations in hospitals and they had also made it public. Then why is that of the Nigerian leader different?

Just recently, the Nigerian leader was reported sick and had to travel to Saudi Arabia for urgent treatment for a yet to be disclosed ailment. But the sensibilities of Nigerians were once again played on by the government in collaboration with the president’s media managers, when they went on air to lie to over 140 million Nigerians that their president had gone on lesser hajj and would leave there for a State Visit to Brazil. But investigations was later to reveal that even before he left the shores of the country for the purported lesser hajj, his health condition had degenerated to the extent that if he had waited a day longer, something fatal would have happened. Yet, his media adviser, Segun Adeniyi and the Information Minister, John Odeh had along been economical with the truth, declaring that the president, to their own knowledge was hail and hearty, whereas, the ailing president had just undergone renal surgery for kidney transplant in King Fahd Hospital, Saudi Arabia.

Nigerians have been speaking on the development since it became public knowledge and they also have thumbed down attempts by the president’s men to keep the true position of things as regards the president’s state of health from Nigerians.

According to the chairman of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), Dr Olapade Agoro, “we have been deceived for so long in this country over the true health situation of the president and it has to stop.” In his reaction, the National chairman of the Alliance for Democracy, Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa said, “Nigerians should be glad that the surgery was successful,” while the publicity secretary of the Fayemi Campaign Organisation, Mr Yemi Adaramodu, described it as injury to national interest if the true position of the president’s state of health cannot be ascertained by Nigerians. “Yar’Adua is no more a private person. It is quite instructive that the vehemence of government officials against the FoI Bill tends to establish the fear that every skeleton in the cupboard of public officers should be kept from the glare of the people. Yar’Adua’s health and even social conditions should be made public at all times.

They must be privy to what is happening to their leaders at all times so that they offer advice. It is, however, regrettable that government activities since the president travelled out. Nigerians cannot, at this time afford presidential lacuna which is bound to hamper development. It is therefore necessary for us Nigerians to know if there is any problem with our leaders.”

However, elderstates man, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai thinks differently on the development. He stated that, “there have been so much hype over the health of the president and he should be left alone to recover if he actually had a surgery”.

He also took to the cleaners opponents of the president who have been calling on him to handover to someone else, saying “It is for him to decide whether he can manage himself or not. If he can manage himself there will be no need for him to handover to anybody. Why can’t we leave this man to do his job and leave all these insinuations especially as there is no official announcement on this. When a man is ill and cannot carry on, there is nothing to be done. So, let us leave him to decide.”

Commenting on the development, journalist cum politician, Alhaji Kehinde Olaosebikan declared, “I want to believe there is a serious problem. Segun Adeniyi, the president’s spokesman is a fine journalist and he has been doing an effective media work for the president. But for the president to be shielding the truth about his health and activities from him and the information minister is preposterous. This act has, no doubt, put a lot of credibility question on these aides and for the country, it is very unfortunate. I hope we are not back to the primitive voodoo era, where Marabout’s and spiritualists ruled the country through our leaders. The lies about the lesser hajj is even unintelligent. What is lesser hajj and what religious importance is it to leave serious state matters that affect the lives of over 180 million people?”

In his reaction Comrade Ejike Okolie, berated the president’s media managers for lying to Nigerians, on the precarious health condition of the president. According him, it is only in Nigeria that we play politics with everything. Why Nigerians can’t be told the true health condition of Mr. President, after all he is being treated with the tax payers’ money. I was ashamed when I watched the media adviser to the president struggling to paint a picture of what is not real to Nigerians. Why can’t Nigerians know what is happening to their president? It is really uncivilised. What they thought is hidden is now before the public. It is sad and unfortunate.”