Kolawole Anthony: Religious Malpractices And Implication For National Security

I always struggle to keep a smirk off my face each time I ruminate over how we often as a people focus on basic things while glossing over the crucial ones. Security, climate change, economy and a host of other hot issues are important but they become basic when viewed from the perspective of crucial issues like religion and healthcare.

Possibly owing to our sensitivities, we tend to take religion for granted. In a world where we now go out of our ways not to cause offence, religion and those that take it to fanatical levels become the biggest beneficiaries. For instance, I had waited several times to see public outrage against religion driven violence, even when life is lost but we all tend to simply heave our shoulders in a gesture that says ‘it is about religion, I don’t want to blaspheme’ as we move on to discuss the next political scandal.

Take the anticorruption crusade for example, it has indicted ex and serving public office holders, politicians, soldiers, media owners and bankers. Nothing has been said of the clergy to whom the treasury thieves made monetary donations or even built places of worship. It is another way of saying you are above the law once you come by way of religion. I see this license extends even to the freedom to preach hatred, promote extremism and radicalize youths.

In one part of the country I have seen clerics keep youths busy studying scriptures, that means they will never get a western education; in another part of the country, youths that did get the western education are encouraged to wait for the divine such that they never get to contribute to the economy because they will enter retirement without once picking up paid employment and will remain dependent on society.

This is why I wonder why we must continue to prevaricate in tackling head on a disaster that has already befallen us. This unscriptural reverence for the clergy and the tainted preaching they give to the public gave us Boko Haram that bastardized the Sunni Wahabbi brand of Islam to kill even Muslim; it gave us the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) that convoluted the ideologies of the Shiite sect to send youths on suicide missions; it gave us the child killing outrage of exorcists somewhere in the south; and it is to it we must give credit for the kidnappers and robbers that usually claim they acted on the prompting from their prosperity believing pastors.

The state has taken on Boko Haram once it became clear that religion was just a cover under which some psychos were operating to satisfy their perversion. Society, including the police, is speaking and against those that brand children witches. Kidnappers and robbers meet their waterloo daily whether from security agencies on enraged mobs that is ever willing to dispense jungle justice with petrol soaked tyres for garlands. But we seem to be making excuses for entities like the IMN and other groups that are presently at the stage of indoctrinating and brainwashing followers.

This indoctrination with the attendant militarisation got to a head when members of this sect made an attempt on the life of a serving military chief. It was the climax of a reign of terror that did not get widespread media coverage for some reason or the other. Had the military not subsequently conducted that operation IMN would have by now surpassed Boko Haram in undermining the existence of the Nigerian state. This is because the doctrine its leadership preaches to followers is that of fanatical extremism with hardcore militarisation thrown in to make suicidal fanatics out of youths.

The sect’s reaction in the aftermath of the military operation remains a warning on the threat they pose to Nigeria’s security as a nation and as a secular state. In addition to the treasonable acts they had committed they also reduced Nigeria to a proxy state with the then Iranian Ambassador, Saheed Kozechi threatening destruction for the country. But for the intervention of nationalistic Nigerians that called the criminal alliance between the Ambassador and IMN to order they would have achieved the agenda of destabilising the country especially given the way they misled sections of the population into thinking that government’s efforts at preventing extremism was rights abuse.

Just months after the December IMN/military clash, as would be expected of hard-line fundamentalists, the sect’s members are at it again by threatening a breach of the peace with a trek that would be classified as criminal in most countries of the world. They are trekking from their heartland in Zaria to Abuja in a development that would potentially pitch them against security operatives. They know this and they have prepared the ground to again play the victim by claiming security agencies plan to attack them.

There is therefore need to deal with this dubious doctrine that IMN is propagating. We can find the answer on how to proceed outside our shores. Europe offers possible answers. On that continent I see countries that think tolerating extremism could make it less virulent. Petting a viper does not make its venom less potent same as being tolerant of extreme religious views would not make those radicalized by it less violent. France, Belgium, Germany and Britain can testify to this. Under the guise of freedom – of expression, movement, association and religion, they allowed youths in their country to be radicalized and today they are dealing with the consequences of that choice. France in particular will for a long time pay a huge price for its libertarian stance.

I fear this is where we are headed if we continue to give room for more extremism after Boko Haram by providing cover for IMN using human rights. We might as well say it is okay for people to accept burning children as witches as a right steeped in beliefs or for people to rob and kidnap others at will because their cleric promised them breakthrough.

As we have experienced with Boko Haram and as some countries in the Middle East and Europe have now learnt, inflammatory preaching and radicalization is a threat to any country’s security. Unlike countries that allowed the cancer of extremism to spread before waking up Nigeria, especially the 19 northern states, must act to clamp down on hate preaching, growth and spread of the Islamic State agenda through fake preaching and the attendant detrimental consequences on national security.

I think we must look to countries where extremism has not flourished to find the answers. Such countries tend to immediately curtail any tendency towards the propagation of extreme doctrines. Usually, there would be those that will protest about how rights are being trampled but then there is national security to consider. It is this implication for national security that should drive us as a people and not a poorly thought out reflex to keep religious malpractices in place at our own peril.

Kolawole PhD is a University lecturer and contributed this piece from Keffi, Nasarawa State.

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DAILY SPRINGS: Best Ways To Reject A Relationship Proposal Without Controversy

By Emmy Chi Bandoh

Some days ago beside a filling station were i came to get fuel, i saw a young lady, she was tall and beautiful, she walked stylishly, while holding her Bible in her hand. With all good intentions i ran towards her shouting "Hello! Hello!!" But she ignored me, determined to get to her I walked faster and finally tapped her on the shoulder mildly, to my greatest surprise, she went ballistic on me screaming, " leave me alone, i don't need you, i don't need a boyfriend, Jesus is my boyfriend," she said at the top of her voice. Almost everyone at the filling station starred at me and it was like the ground should open so I can just bury myself inside. It was so embarrassing because i had no intention of asking her out, especially since i came to get the fuel with my girlfriend who was waiting for me.

Anyways, I summoned the courage to tell her what made me come running after her, "I am not here to ask you to be my girlfriend, I only came to tell you about the cobweb attached to your hair," I said sharply and turned to leave. She checked it with her hands, feeling embarrassed about what she had done, she apologised to me, telling me about how two guys had already made advances at her that evening and how fed up she was with trying to get rid of them. I walked away thinking she could have treated me better.

Some days later I saw her again, she recognized me and apologized again, told me her name was Loveth and she asked for my hands of friendship but I generously turned it down because I still could not shake off the previous embarrassment.

Personally i feel there are better ways to turn down relationship proposals without hurting the feeling of the person be it a lady or a guy. I have heard of some scenarios where the situations escalate because of a lack of proper management of the situation. I remember telling a friend of mine who is more of a rascal about my experience and he asked me why i did not slap the girl. Imagine in a situation where it was him and not me, we would probably still be trying to separate the fight.

So here are a few tips on how best to reject a proposal without creating much of a distaste. Note that you cannot totally avoid hurting people by turning them down, but you can avoid creating a scene if you do it right.

Step 1: Honesty remains the best route to follow. Letting an admirer live in some fantasy that there may be a happy ending with you (when they clearly do not have a chance) will hurt tremendously. Be plain and simple, and avoid ambiguity. If you are sure it is what you want say it and be firm.

Being honest doesn't necessarily mean that you should say, "I don't like you," or, "I can't imagine being with you," sort of thing. Simply state that you value his or her friendship and acknowledge their feelings for you, but you want to keep the things between you neutral. Be direct and honest without being cruel.

Step 2: Avoid excuses that might lead them on. Often times you hear people saying “Now is not a good time for me,” and “I’m interested in someone else”, why these might seem like a great way to let someone down gently, but in reality these excuses can just lead your pursuer to believe that when circumstances change he may still have a chance.

Make it clear that you are not interested in the same way that they are interested in you without any equivocation. Some would say, “I’m just not looking to date right now,” “Maybe it could happen in the future,” but in truth, you just aren’t into the person. What happens when that guy or girl sees you with a new man or lady, walking around on campus or on the street? Your pursuer may feel lied to.

This does not mean you have to say something as harsh as, “I will never, ever, ever like you.” Simply use your head.

Step 3: Do not gossip about your pursuer to your friends. It is bad enough already that you rejected the person, things would become really awkward when they discover that your friends also know that you did. A player (or Flirt) naturally may not mind but someone who has true feelings will be very hurt. Avoid anything that will make things more awkward than it already is.

Step 4: Be in a relationship. This is one of the simplest ways to gain freedom from your pursuer, tell them you are in a relationship. Most people would free you, although not all. Make it clear that you will never cheat on your partner. Ask the person how he or she will feel if you were with him or her and dating another person, you would know if they are sincere with their answers. Nobody likes a serious relationship with a cheat, except it's just a fling or you are not sure of your relationship.

Step 5: Put them in sibling-zone (friendzone). This step is most used when you are friends with the person already for long or someone you are close to. This step is almost the same as friend-zone, but it can be effective in pulling them back to your life, or bring much more pain. You have to play your cards right on this one. Explain that you love them, although not as a lover might, but as kin (Sibling). Now if they value your friendship, they will be very happy to know this. Otherwise, if the person never wants to be only a regular friend or acquaintance, you better follow the first step as well. Give him the time and space he needs to think. Being friend-zoned is hard, mind you.

Finally, You have the permission to say no. Just be smart about it. Be compassionate yet clear. Leave no room for ambiguity. It’s the most caring way you can reject someone. When everything is said and done, there is almost no way for you not to damage your friendship right after you rejected him or her; there are only less hurting methods, like what is stated above. If you already have a boyfriend/girlfriend, tell them that. If the person doesn't concede, then he/she is not that good a friend in the first place. Truly, putting someone in the friend-zone in the hopes of not hurting that person is nearly impossible, unless you are dealing with an incredibly emotionless, robot-like, or at least extremely resilient person. I hope this helps.

Nigeria: The Shattering Of The Buhari Mythology

By Moses E. Ochonu

The reality of leadership has exploded the illusion of Buhari’s messianic abilities and exposed him as a prisoner of power – in other words, as just another politician.

Having been carried to the presidency on a wave of optimism last year, President Muhammadu Buhari’s time in office has been characterised by a trio of crises: an economy on the brink of recession; escalating militancy in the Niger Delta; and worsening power supply.

As the economy has imploded, the only bright spots in Buhari’s first 15 months have been modest gains in the struggle against corruption and the fight against Boko Haram.

The president took amidst a flurry of flamboyant promises, some of them so fantastical and unnecessary that many wondered why Buhari would wrap – and trap – himself in such unsustainable obligations. Elections are about promises, but the now ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) got caught up in its own rhetoric and refused, against all economic indicators, to alter its pledges. As a result the party came to power preoccupied with managing expectations instead of the country.

The unpreparedness that plagued the early months of the Buhari administration – exemplified by the fact it took seven months to name a cabinet – reflected its inability to bear the weight of promises made. And the sense of disillusionment that has now enveloped swathes of Nigeria stems from this unnecessary self-burdening as well as the government’s failure to articulate a compelling vision.

In the course of his short time in office, Buhari’s image as an ascetic and empathetic figure has disappeared, and he has shown a disturbing lack of initiative, creativity and new thinking in government, belying his inspiring pre-election rhetoric.

In momentous elections last year, Nigerians voted the incumbent out of power for the first time ever as millions enthusiastically put their faith in Buhari to transform the country. But sadly, it seems that the optimistic narrative about the former military leader and his first stint of power in 1983-5 these voters were buying into was little more than a myth.

BROKEN PROMISES

Buhari campaigned on a platform of ending waste and restoring probity, efficiency, and transparency. But when opportunities have presented themselves for him to underscore his professed opposition to the profligacy of the 16-year rule of the now-opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Buhari has failed to seize them.

To begin with, Buhari went back on his pledge to sell off some of the ten aircraft that make up the presidential fleet. That reversal may seem trivial, but it proved to be the start of a more brazen disregard for promises made.

For a president whose calling card was transparency and personal integrity, Buhari’s attempt to abandon his promise to publicly declare his assets within his first hundred days in office was perplexing. The president’s media team tried to disavow, dilute, and postpone the promise before sustained public pressure forced him to fulfill it. Yet the released document was a mere summary of his assets, not the declaration form he had submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau. His reluctance and continued failure to make the full form public feeds a perception that the president is insincere.

Earlier this year, this feeling deepened as bureaucrats and the president’s own kitchen cabinet crafted a budget choked full of scandalous allocations to the presidency, ministries and government agencies, including hundreds of millions of Naira for a zoo in the presidential palace and a vice-presidential library budget larger than the library budgets of all but two federally funded higher institutions. When the news broke, Buhari fumed and threatened to punish those he claimed had “padded” the budget with extraneous and unjustified items.

But curiously, the presidency’s spokespeople defended the budget and the punitive action never materialised. A few senior civil servants were redeployed and the final budget still contained many questionable allocations.

Recently, perceptions of the president’s commitment to the ideals on which he ran for the presidency have been further undermined as two illegal recruitment scandals have unfolded in quick succession: one at the Central Bank, the other at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

In both, prominent APC figures and government officials were accused of using their influence to award positions to supporters without due process. In the Central Bank scheme, the president’s own nephew was among the beneficiaries. And in the FIRS scandal, a leaked list contained several individuals linked to “Baba” and “Mama”, codenames that the muckraking news website, Sahara Reporters, speculates refer to the president and his wife.

Buhari has yet to refute this allegation, nor has he commented on the allegations around fraudulent recruitment.

Meanwhile, the president’s chief-of-staff, Abba Kyari, has been accused, along with other prominent officials, of blocking investigations into the fraudulent affairs of Sahara Energy, a local oil company reported to have skimmed billions of dollars off Nigeria’s oil revenues. And the Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai, and Minister of Internal Affairs, General Abdulrahman Danbazzau, have also been implicated in scandals, with documentary evidence emerging of them acquiring multi-million-dollar real estate well beyond their legitimate incomes. The presidency continues to back them and has not ordered an investigation.

LOST LUSTRE

Along with this drip-drip of scandal and inexplicable inaction, Buhari has added numerous broken promises in other areas.

During the campaign, the president vowed never to raise the price of petrol, to revamp domestic oil refining capacity, and reduce the price of fuel at the pump, an item upon which the price of everything else hinges in Nigeria’s petrol-driven economy. Buhari also promised never to devalue the naira, thumping his nose at pragmatic counsel that argued the currency should not be artificially propped up at a time when Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings had dwindled.

But the president has since broken both promises, raising the price of petrol from N85 to N145 a litre, and allowing the Nigerian Central Bank to float the Naira against major currencies. Inflation, which had already eclipsed all projected baselines due to the government’s restrictions on foreign exchange and arbitrary import restrictions, has soared.

This eventuality was perhaps inevitable, but the question many are asking is: why did Nigerians have to go through a year of painful economic restrictions, stagnation and inflation only for the government to embrace the pragmatic path of currency devaluation it earlier rejected?

This unexplained U-turn reeks of confusion, indecision, and experimentation on the part of the government. Nigeria seems to have become one giant economic laboratory where Buhari and his economic managers are lurching awkwardly from one idea to another in the hope that one of them works – all at the expense of a Nigerian people increasingly impoverished in an environment of policy uncertainty and outmoded economic measures.

As a candidate for the presidency, Buhari was renowned for his ascetic lifestyle and austere simplicity. But as president, this image is in peril too. Despite his pledge to put an end to health tourism, he recently spent (as the presidency confirmed) £6 million ($8 million) of Nigeria’s money at a time of revenue squeeze to treat an ear infection in London.

From the heights of modesty, Buhari has descended into self-indulgence and now resembles an ostentatious stereotype of the self-absorbed African autocrat. When he returns from his overseas trips, he is welcomed back to the country with elaborate and expensive airport ceremonies complete with military parades, Scottish kilts, and bagpipes that remind one of Idi Amin’s outlandish neo-imperial buffoonery. No one thought that we would be seeing this re-enactment in 2016, let alone by a president with a reputation for being a simple man of the masses.

In his election campaign, Buhari also presented a conciliatory, even self-deprecatory, demeanour. Yet this image as an avuncular and wise statesman has been undone by his blustery, self-righteous anger in office, as he has taken a law-and-order, take-no-prisoners approach to all problems – even those requiring tact and negotiating acumen.

When the Nigerian army massacred hundreds of Shiites in Zaria, the president waxed belligerent and blamed the victims for creating “a state within a state”, provoking the army, and bringing calamity upon themselves. It took Buhari several weeks after the Agatu massacre in March to issue, through his media team, a tepid statement devoid of compassion. And his only response to date to the killing of unarmed Biafra agitators by the armed forces was to dismiss their agitation without even a word about the impropriety of confronting unarmed demonstrators with maximum military force.

Furthermore, before Niger Delta militants demonstrated their sophisticated ability to destroy surface, subterranean, and underwater oil pipelines, the president was threatening a scorched earth response to their renewed insurgency and ordering a military invasion of communities suspected to be harbouring the militants.

BUHARI AND THE MURTALA MYTHOLOGY

In The Trouble with Nigeria , Chinua Achebe’s little analytical book on Nigeria’s socioeconomic and political dysfunction, the great author writes about Murtala Mohammed, Nigeria’s military ruler in the mid-1970s who was assassinated only six months into his regime. By time of his demise, Achebe contends, the messianic aura that once surrounded Murtala had already begun to wane, but the late leader was, to quote commentator Chris Ngwodo, “immortalized by an early death or saved by martyrdom from eventual odium.”

Murtala, according to Achebe, did not live long enough to commit the inevitable errors of military men who try to manage a complex society with a regimented military philosophy. Instead, he suggests that Murtala’s premature death elevated him to a mythical status, generating a rarely-challenged or scrutinised nostalgia that fetishised his tough, anti-corruption stance.

Like Murtala, Buhari ruled only for a short time in his first stint in power from 1983-5, during which he made some errors common to military leaders. But he did not rule long enough to fully prove himself either competent or incompetent and for the full effect of his draconian policies to manifest. As a result, even though some celebrated his ouster, many others were ambivalent and yearned for the order and discipline – real and imagined – that Buhari’s military regime brought after years of chaotic civilian rule.

This feeling intensified during the corrupt regime of Ibrahim Babangida, Buhari’s successor, as some Nigerians who had hated being corralled and infantalised by Buhari’s soldiers and policies came to believe that a strong man might be what Nigeria needed after all.

Buhari was reimagined in the public consciousness, his regime mythologised as a rare period of competent governance, and as time passed, many began to wonder aloud what Nigeria would be like if Buhari’s military regime had not been overthrown. Perhaps, some suggested, Nigeria would be another South Korea and corruption would be a thing of the past.

An elastic myth of counterfactual assumptions was born around the military man. And this myth, which papered over his misdeeds and deficiencies, grew further as Nigeria continued to struggle, including from 1999 to 2015 as the PDP frittered away the country’s resources. Goodluck Jonathan’s misrule magnified Buhari’s mythical competence, whitewashed his inadequacies, and finally enabled his victory in last year’s elections.

With Buhari improvising aimlessly and looking confused and ill-prepared in office, some supporters are now saying that it would have perhaps been better if he had never won. That, they argue, would have preserved the myth of his competence, which is now unravelling. It would have enabled him to remain the philosopher and custodian of political morality they imagined him to be, a transcendental figure unmoored to and above the messy contestations of politics and the complicated art of governance that he has failed to master.

These disheartened individuals lament the fact that political exigencies, the intricacies of power, and elite manipulations have soiled Buhari’s reputation, exploded the illusion of his messianic abilities, and exposed him as a prisoner of power – in other words, as just another politician.

For if his second stint in power has proven anything so far, it is that. If Buhari has done well in combating Boko Haram and corruption, however incomplete and imperfect these efforts are, his record on the economy overshadows all else.

After little more than a year, the wondrous myths around Buhari and his first spell in office have been shattered. In their place, realisations about his economic rigidity and lack of thoughtful policymaking – then as now – are re-emerging.

Moses E. Ochonu is Professor of African History at Vanderbilt University, US.

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DAILY SPRINGS: Thankfulness; Through Humanity

By Emmanuel Chiedu SB | 

When I was a little boy, I learnt that every food and offering brought to the alter during thanksgiving belonged to God, and these includes bags of rice, bunches of plantain, and money, of which part of was coins which was popular back then as offerings.

Eventually I began to wonder how God will eat all of the food and money, so I did something stupid. I took a ladder and climbed the fence of the preacher's house where the food was always being taken to, I could hardly see God, but I saw a glimpse of a store where the food was being taken into. As I struggled to see further, I fell from the ladder.

Months later, after long observation, I discovered that the foods and beverages where eaten by the preacher. Majority of us as adults know our thanksgivings to God go directly to the preachers, but that does not in anyway diminish the fact that they are to God.

How often do we give to God? Is it only on Sundays, or monthly during tithes? How often do you give to the needy? Do you know that to give God is to give man?

I can quote tons of Bible verses I am sure you must have heard previously, but choose not to. All you need to know is that by giving we receive. When we give, we move one step forward, God in return gives us 99 more steps through Grace to continue marching on.

Thankfulness is a mental and verbal expression of one's acknowledgement and appreciation of God's person, his Grace, Blessings and sovereign work in one's life and the world.

God's greatest commandments were to love God and love your neighbour as yourself. Some people feel that only those who are rich should give. But in truth, no one is excluded. Don't wait till Sunday to give, don't wait till you are in church, don't wait till month end. When you give something and it doesn't feel like something parted from you then that's not giving.

Giving can be in church, your neighbours, your co-workers, persons you don't know and even to give something to your boss. The word humanity is from the Latin humanitas for "human nature, kindness.”

Pope John Paul II said, "Nobody is so poor he has nothing to give, and nobody is so rich he has nothing to receive," for giving makes us human. 

Leadership Lessons From Keshi

By Olaboludele Simoyan |

“People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society” – Vince Lombardi

Great Nigerian football icon Stephen Keshi began his journey to eternity two days ago. Over the last 35 years he had tremendous influence on the game of football in Nigeria and Africa. A leadership guru, John Maxwell once said that “Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less. The true measure of leadership is influence.”Therefore it is safe to say that Keshi had remarkable leadership skills that influenced generations of football players in Nigeria and Africa over a thirty five- year period. He was undoubtedly one of the most influential persons in the history of the game of football in Nigeria and Africa.

One thing we need to learn as a people and a nation is that we must continuously and consistently be on the quest for leadership lessons from fellow Nigerians (Africans) who have distinguished themselves in their various areas of influence and expertise. Stephen Keshi is a Nigerian and African football legend. He had great leadership skills that was so apparent to his fellow Super Eagles team mates who nick named him the “BIG BOSS”.

I will be sharing with you some of the leadership lessons I have learnt from Keshi’s life. And as Nigerians, we all can learn one or two leadership lessons from the leader in Keshi. The leader in Keshi had a NEVER-SAY-DIE ATTITUDE. He was persistent and he persevered through so many challenges. One was in 1985 when he was banned from the Nigerian national team. That didn’t stop him from playing professional football. He just looked for another country that would accept him to play football as a professional and that country was Cote d’Ivoire.True leaders never ever give up. They have a NEVER-SAY-DIE ATTITUDE.

The leader in Keshi had BIG DREAMS and was AMBITIOUS. He had a VISION and many GOALS for himself, his team and the players he coached. He had a dream to play football internationally. That was why he went to several countries pursuing his dreams. He took his football career first to Cote d’Ivoire and then to Belgium and France. He also had a dream to be an international coach.

He saw himself as one. He moved to the United States of America and there he worked hard and studied hard to become a coach. He coached three different African national teams in his lifetime – Togo, Mali and Nigeria. The leader in Keshi believed in TEAMWORK. He was a TEAM PLAYER and a TEAM LEADER. His Super Eagles teammates called him “BIG BOSS” because of the exceptionalleadership skills he exhibitedas a player and also for his ability to get the work done through his team. He inspired, motivated and mobilized the Super Eagles team to victory both as a captain and a coach. He was also a team builder.

The leader in Keshi was FOCUSED and RESULT ORIENTED. He was in the team that won the 1994 AFCON Cup. He was the game changer who helped the Super Eagles to qualify for their first ever appearance in the FIFA World Cup in 1994 that took place in the USA.He did that in spite of the fact that he was the oldest player in the team at that time. The leader in Keshi did what Nigerians and other people thought was IMPOSSIBLE.

When the Super Eagles were going to South Africa to play in the 2013 AFCON tournament, many Nigerian football fans did not give Keshi or the team a chance. Nonetheless, Keshi did the impossible and inspired the super Eagles to victory. He set the example by always giving over and above 100% and he carried the team in that light. He was selfless in his pursuit to bring out the best in the SUPER EAGLES.

The leader in Keshi was a PATHFINDER and DOOR OPENER. He was also a DREAM MAKER. He was a helper of destiny for numerous others. He opened the flood gate of opportunities for fellow players. He was a pathfinder for Nigerian football migrants. He opened the door to Europe and international professional football for Nigerian players such as Samson Siasia, Daniel Amokachi, and so many others such as Ghanaian player Nii Lamptey. And as a result of that many of them were extremely successful in their football careers.

Keshi was hard working, big-hearted, committed, frank and resolute in getting the job done. He was a mobilizer which helped him to get the job done in spite of the outrageous obstacles and challenges he faced. The leader in Keshi had a LARGE-HEART. He loved his wife dearly. And he loved his children dearly. He loved the game of football. And He loved playing football.

He loved his teammates. And he loved his players. He loved the Super Eagles. And he loved playing as a member of the Super Eagles team. He loved wearing the green and white Nigerian jersey. And he loved playing for his country. He loved Nigerians. And he loved his nation Nigeria. Everything he did he tried his best to do out of a heart of love

The leader Keshi BELIEVED in his players and brought out the BEST in them especially the home-based players. He had a special place in his heart for home based players. He was the second coach to consistently use home based players in the Super Eagles, international tournaments. Clement Westerhof was the first national coach to the Super Eagles to do that.Leadership expert John Maxwell also said “Leaders are meant to help others become the people God created them to be.”True leaders BELIEVE in their people and they bring out the BEST in them.

The leader in Keshi was a GROUND BREAKER, PACESETTER and a TRAIL BLAZER. He was the first Nigerian and the second African to win the African Cup of Nations tournament both as a player and as a coach. On his watch in 2013, Nigeria won the African Cup of Nation trophy and qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals that same year. Keshi was the first African coach to qualify two African country’s national football teams for the FIFA World Cup finals (i.e. Togo and Nigeria). He was the first Nigerian and second coach to take the Super Eagles to the second round of the FIFA World Cup. He was the first and only black African coach to coach a national team in the knockout stage of the World Cup.True leaders are GROUND BREAKERS, PACESETTERS and TRAIL BLAZERS.These are leadership lessons from Stephen Keshi. He indeed was a true leader.

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Are Africans The Violent Race?

By Charles Anyomi

Several years ago as a young student, I watched on TV news about conflicts and violence in Africa, and while today, I have become an adult, the news about Africa has not changed much.

In June 2016, UK-based newspaper, The Guardian, published a story claiming violence has erupted again in South Sudan with dozens killed and more than 70,000 displaced in horrific attacks in an ethnic conflict over land and power between the Dinka who are South Sudan’s largest ethnic group and the Fartit who form the majority of the local population around Wau.

Indeed, there are similar stories of violence across the continent of Africa chronicled in our newspapers and published online. The international development organisation, ID21, pointed out that no less than 28 sub-Saharan African states have been at civil war since 1980. There have been over 9 million refugees and internally displaced people from conflicts in Africa. Hundreds and thousands of people have been slaughtered from a number of conflicts and civil wars.

Too often, when one wakes up in the morning to hear or watch news of violence about Africa, one begins to wonder if the black man is created the violent race.

The world has not forgotten about the Rwandan genocide; the mass slaughter of Tutsi by members of the Hutu in which an estimated 500,000- 1,000,000 Rwandans were killed, and an estimated two million were displaced and became refugees. The Darfur conflict in which about 200,000 people have been killed and as many as 2.5 million people displaced because of the conflict between the Janjaweed and a number of rebel armies. The Liberian conflict which had more than 250,000 people killed and nearly one million displaced, and the Sierra Leone civil war which left between 50,000- 300,000 killed and 2.5 million displaced internally and externally.

Right here in Ghana, we have seen conflicts over ethnicity and land ownership as well as over who has rights to assume certain chieftaincies.

Nanumba-Kokomba, Nkonya -Alavanyo, Kokomba versus Gonja, Damgomba, Nanumba, Gonja versus Vagla as well as the fighting between the Andani and Abudu clans in the Dangbon traditional area and the unrest in Bawku which has seen longstanding tensions between Mamprusis and Kusasis, are examples.
There have recently been numerous political violence and conflicts going on in Africa including Zimbabwe, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Kenya.

The pervading incidence of rising tensions when African countries are about to go to the polls to elect a president are always there. Elections in Africa are usually characterised by violence where peace and security are threatened. The fear of chaos, anarchy and bloodshed remain because the outcome of the elections could result in violence and conflict.

Sadly, the culture of violence in Africa where the youth of the continent are carelessly armed with machetes, sticks, stones, AK 47 assault rifles, automatic pump action guns and sub-machine guns and cause destruction to lives and property becomes an unending business. We are daily awakening to realities of ethno-political tensions, insecurities, barbaric killings and horror signs of anarchy on the continent.

Now, while young people elsewhere on the globe are finding paths, discovering new frontiers, making waves and blazing trails in technological advancement and building better future for themselves and their communities; disappointingly, the energy and time of the young people in Africa are channelled into fighting and shedding innocent blood. African youths are busily destroying schools which were built to educate them as well as hospitals meant to save lives.

Perhaps, the real truth may be that Africans are not created violent, but we have become violent because of poverty. Poverty is the primary cause of violence on the continent generating instability and underdevelopment.

African youths join gangs and rebel groups because of unemployment. Therefore, African governments must do more in solving the rising rate of unemployment situation on the continent by creating the enabling environment for industrialisation. Power or electricity which industries thrive upon must be made available and cheap for businesses to expand and create more jobs and employments for the teeming youths across the continent. Governments across the continent must also formulate right policies in the interest of the private sector to grow the African economies to generate jobs and employment.
African governments must be more transparent and accountable to the people.

Those serving in public offices must be accountable on how they run their yearly expenses and spend public funds. Governments must also fight and reduce corruption. We must build strong institutions and set up monitoring teams to scrutinise private and public establishments. Greedy attitudes and tendencies among our politicians and public officials must be tackled.

Education tends to reduce violence as the more time people spend in school, the less violent they are likely to become. Schools don’t just teach history and mathematics; they teach people how to live in society. In view of this truth, African governments must invest more into education and build more vocational and technical schools that will train and equip young people with skills to be self-employed after school. School enrolment right from the primary to the university must be made accessible and affordable to all. Teaching and learning materials must be made available to provide quality education.