Kogi State & Coro: The politics of acrimony & incivility… Between Rwandan Genocide & Nigerian Pogrom - Ik Muo, PhD.

We continue with our foray into the political dynamics of the war against Coro, our unseen  unknown  and vicious enemy and today, we berth at Kogi State, ruled by Yahaya Bello, one of the ‘small-boy’ governors of this dispensation. In the political dynamics of Nigeria Coro management Kogi and Rivers states appear to have the same agenda: to ‘countermote’ the Federal Government but their strategies and tactics differ. While Wike is physically involved and fires on all cylinders against the FG, mostly by action, Bello  stays a little bit off the war front  and  urges his boys on as they pour  unprintable, uncouth venom, devoid of any officialese  at the NCDC.  Kogi’s political armament revolves around demarketing and impugning the individual and corporate integrity of NCDC, and in effect distracting the Federal Agency and its agents at the forefront of this war against coro.

I was shocked to the marrow when I read a statement credited to Governor Bello that Coro in Nigeria is ‘ political, full of lies and an avenue for political office holders and corrupt officials to embezzle and steal the nation’s resources’. That was on 25/3/20, at the very beginning of the war, when Nigeria had just 44 confirmed cases. However, while I was trying to tidy up this piece, I went on a QC (Quality Control) exercise and found a belated rebuttal, which was issued on 16/4/20, about 3 whole weeks later, through his Chief Press Secretary Onogwu Mohammed. The Governor  also denied  ever ‘asking people to take hot water with garlic, ginger, lemon, lime as well as steaming themselves as a cure for coro’. Two weeks later, (29/4/20), Kogi State  told the NCDC that it could not ‘declare COVID-19 where none exists’ and that was response to Dr Ihekweazu’s statement ‘that  states which are yet to record cases of COVID-19 are either negligent in testing and tracing or actively hiding the disease within their territories’. The state wondered why the NCDC did not commend the states Olympian efforts in coro-containment. The following week (5/5/20) the state raised an alarm that there were unholy efforts to declare ghost coro cases for the state. Kingsley Fanwo, (State Information Commissioner) complained about the recent pressures and unholy conspiracy  from some interested quarters for Kogi State to find and declare cases of the disease. Few days later, when NCDC sent its Rapid Response Squad to collaborate with and assist the state, the governor ordered that they be quarantined for 14 days in line with NCDC protocols and that was the end of their Kogi programme

On 27/5, NCDC declared that Kogi, which had frustrated all efforts of NCD to operate in the state, had 2 coronised patients and all hell was literarily let lose. The Government, through its State Commissioner for Health rejected the figures, insisting that we will not be a party to any fictitious COVID-19 claims  and that any attempt to force us to announce a case of COVID-19 will be vehemently rejected. His further declared that  “One needs not to dig deeper to see the handwriting clearly written on the wall at how desperate NCDC is to nail Kogi State with a Covid-19 case and there is no telling how low they are willing to stoop to do so!

Commissioner for health 

Chai! Government official, a medic talking to another government official, a medic, in the market square!. Ihe emebiwo! (Things don spoil!; things are no longer what they used to be). Kingsley Fanwo,  tried to outdo his health colleague, in foul language saying that "It's a backdoor declaration laden with a lot of fraud and falsehood";…a very bad script acted by bad actors," . He also accused NCDC of trying to democtratise coro across Nigeria because of its agenda.  Agenda? Which agenda apart from coro containment and management? He had explained that the patients were smuggled from Kogi to Abuja and that Kogi operatives were denied access to the patients. Of course, as par their earlier stand, officials from Kogi should be quarantined for 2 weeks before coming anywhere close to the hospital! The family of the  patient confirmed that he died of coronavirus, holding that there is no need for Kogi State government to deny the obvious.

Dino Melaye,  the governors ‘friend’ added that  Covid-19 case in Kogi was real and authentic, that “one of the cases is from Kabba and the victim is personally known to me. I cannot be part of those who will play politics with the lives of my people’. When NCDC announced the 3^rd case, Kogi again denied ownership, saying "We are not aware of who the patient is, where and when the test was conducted. No sample sent from Kogi.   Luckily, NCDC has not responded or at least, not in kind to this verbal pugilism! It would have been an awful two-fighting!! 

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) joined the fray, appealing to the FG to call the State Governor and his officials to order immediately and also issue an order granting unfettered access and protection to NCDC officials into Kogi State. It also stated that it was ‘incredibly disturbed by the response of the Kogi State government through the State Commissioner of Information, who not only described the process of arriving at the diagnosis as fraudulent, but also went on to smear the frontline Health workers and the NCDC on live national television.  Eventually and while insisting that Kogi was coro-free, the governors declared a total lockdown on Kabba and environ. To further  throw in more confusion into the complex equation he went on to reverse the same lock down two days later!

 Whats gwan? What are they fighting for?  Is there a gold medal for non-coro states? Is there any personal war  agains Ihekweazu or corporate war against NCDC? Is this how to conduct official communication? I would have said that foul and area-boy language is in their character but Kogi state was civil and official when it was groveling and begging for N10bn  from the FG in November 2019, a few days to the governorship elections.  Why has the FG not intervened, if for nothing else, because the integrity of NCDC and its processes are being thrown to the dogs? Why have the professional associations, NMA and NIMR, kept mute rather than calling the verbal pugilists to other? By the way, what EXACTLY is the WAR about? Anyway, ‘na them sabi wetin dem de fight for’!  But as the fly is utterly confused when a fart comes from above, so  am I in this Kogi matter!

Other Matters: Between Rwandan Genocide and Igbos pogrom!

In 1994, 100-day genocidal bloodletting led to the death of 800000 Rwandans, mostly Tutsis. It started ‘like joke, like joke’ on 16/4/94 when presidents Habyarimana and Ntaryamira of Rwanda and Brundi, both Hutus perished after their  plane was gunned down. The majority Hutus then turned on Tutsi minority tribe eliminating about 70% of them plus some modest Hutus   Since then, the world, and particularly Rwanda remember this sad historical reality. The UN established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1995 and Rwanda continues to celebrate the memories of its compatriots, declaring always: Never Again. It has a memorial arcade holding their names; 

established the National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide, and holds an annual  weekly celebration from 7-13 April, involving Walk to Remember, a night vigil and remembrance ceremony  the. The  26^th edition was celebrated under this coro environment  in April 2020  during which  Mr & Mrs Kegame laid wreaths on graves at the Kigali Genocide Memorial. where the remains of more than 250,000 genocide victims were buried.

The UN Gen-Sec remarked that "Since the genocide, Rwanda has demonstrated that it is possible to rise from the ashes, to heal and to rebuild a stronger and more sustainable society." So, it is celebrated by Rwanda, Africa and the whole world. And just the other day,

Mr Kabuda, one of the masterminds of the genocide was arrested; 26 years after the event.

 In 1966 almost 30 years before the Rwandan genocidal ‘madness’, the Nigerian northern establishment  organised, sponsored and coordinated the gruesome  butchery of Ndi-Igbo( including some  Easterners and a few Southerners initially because everybody beyond Benue was an Igbo Man) in the most cruel and macabre manner ever seen. Undertaken by known soldiers and the usual highly inflammable Hausa mobs, the most conservative estimate of the dead was about 60,000. The Igbos left for home but were not allowed to be  because a week-long police action was initiated to force them back, which  dovetailed into a 3 yearlong Biafran war of Independence.

This ended in January 1970, with about 3m Biafrans slaughtered, more by Kwashiorkor than my arms and ammunition. I don’t want to go into the his-story of these issues since history is written by the victors, narratives are rarely objective and since we don’t value history as we don’t even teach it in our schools. That is why somebody said that Biafrans fired the first shot in 1967. Gen Gowon who distorted and reneged on the Aburi accord, which was destroyed by a series of acts of bad faith and distortions and finally by a refusal on the part of the "Lagos Government" to implement these and other agreements notwithstanding the fact that they were freely and voluntarily entered into( Ojukwu, Declaration of  Republic of Biafra, 30/5/67), went on to declare ‘no victor, no vanquished’ and launched the3Rs( Reconstruction, Reconciliation and Rehabilitation). But action spoke and still speaks louder than words because this was followed by the 20 pounds-only policy, the abandoned property and indigenisation  programme

 How does Nigeria remember these epochal events in its checkered history?  Well, as Nigerians would say, No nothing!.  No government has EVER said anything about the 1966 massacres and the killings of 1967-1970. We kept on acting as if nothing had happened while some people are sharing and enjoying the spoils of war. The Bnight of Biafra was decreed out of existence in 1975 and the FG refused to remember the victims of original sin (northern massacres) and victims of the war( and there were also some from the other side, especially from middle belt). Some Biafran officers were  reabsorbed  here and there into the Nigerian army and police as the spirit directed. Even when Igbos decided to stay at home and mourn, they were threatened with fire and brimstone and in 2017, we were served a quit-notice from the north for daring to stay at home!  At other times, we received the egwu-eke treatment. It was only in 2017 that the FG, for the first time participated in a program on Biafra (Memory and Nation Building: Biafra, 50 years after) organized by the Shehu Musa Yaradua Center. Well,  Osinbajo was on the one on throne then( as Ag President)and he delivered the keynote address.  And as Nigeria does not remember, how can the world remember? But the Igbos still remember.

The issue is that while Rwanda goes out of its way to remember the past and use that remembrance to rebuild the present and plan for the future, we live in denial, as if the truth ceases to exist because it is ignored.  Meanwhile ‘…memory is a critical aspect of post-war peace building. From Cambodia and Kosovo to Rwanda and South Africa, attempts at reconstruction and reconciliation that ignore the role of memory have led to COLD peace in real and metaphorical terms… The Biafran episode demonstrates vividly the enduring impact of ignoring or denying individual  or collective memories and how it affects( adversely) the prospects for reconciliation and peace building (Social Science Research Council: Working Papers: Memory, Peacebuilding and Reconciliation in Post Civil War  South East Nigeria: African Peace Building Working papers: June, 2018). No be me talk am!

Meanwhile, Ndigbo marked the 53^rd  Biafran anniversary this year, including the activities by Center for Memories, Enugu. In Igbo-Ukwu, my home town  I am collaborating with Fr Emeka Nwosu on the ‘Igbo-Ukwu War Memorial Project’,  with the initial objective of identifying all those who were murdered during the war and  ultimately building a  cenotaph for them. WE shall NOT forget! 

Surprisingly this year, the  Nigerian Government also remembered… in a queer way.  The National Assembly approved  $22.7bn  foreign loans but the entire South East is  excluded from the projects funded with the loans which all of us MUST repay. The earlier loan for railways also excluded the South East.  I hope you remember the configuration of the Nigerian security architecture, where the meetings have a 98% probability of being conducted in Hausa!  The Biafran War is still being fought by other means! Ouch; Indeed, I can’t breath!

- Ik Muo, PhD. Department of Business Administration, OOU, Ago-Iwoye. 08033026625