A "Different" Fathers’ Day Message – 2009

"It is easy to travel the country and lambaste lower middle class women and men about “doing the right thing”. Let’s face it; they have less access to social attention and power than a celebrity. Yet, the real problem is a lack of community everywhere in this country. Consequently, our social problems have little to do with having more active fathers."

A “Different” Fathers’ Day Message – 2009

A number of male African American celebrities have been making a lot of brouhaha about the need for Black fathers to “step up” and take “responsibility” for guiding young people, especially, our male youth. Yet, the history of humankind has always been one of single mothers of all cultural groups raising their children. The “two-parent” fantasy that was created by Hollyweird’s “Ozzie and Harriet” television program does not reflect either present reality or genuine human history.

Women have always had to carry the burden of children-rearing alone. That is, men of all cultural and social groups, from date-raping celebrity husbands who have paid child support for decades for babies that they had not even fathered, to those who have had sexual affairs right in the White House – from the 18th Century up to modern times, to big-time preachers who have fathered children apart from their original families, it has not been fathers who have done the lion’s share of work in raising the children in human societies. Besides, men have often gone off to war and died, or just died from hard work, or disease, or they have simply abandoned their families for whatever selfish reasons.

Of course, such celebrities as those mentioned above are still considered “good” fathers, because, at least, their children do not normally live in poverty. Moreover, in a possession-oriented society like ours, people look up to those who have the most trinkets and baubles. Therefore, Michael Jackson and O.J. Simpson, along with the fathers of Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie serve as great role models for all men. Right.

It is easy to travel the country and lambaste lower middle class women and men about “doing the right thing”. Let’s face it; they have less access to social attention and power than a celebrity does. Yet, the real problem is a lack of community everywhere in this country. Consequently, our social problems have little to do with having more active fathers. As the proverb goes: People who do not practice mutual respect with each other cannot last long as a community. And there must be trust as well. The confidence that is required for expressing either of those two aforementioned attributes (i.e., respect and trust) has absolutely nothing to do with what “gender” one claims to represent.

Additionally, women have carried the human species for millennia. It is just that their jobs in doing so have been made more difficult because of the natural division of labor that is brought into play by childbirth. As a result, unfortunately, in that respect, men, in our insecurities, have used women as a means to an end, just as we have done with each other.

Consequently, at least to me, we must first learn to embrace value judgments that allow us to improve who we “are”, as opposed to what we “have”. Dig? Then we will be more likely to share than hoard. After all, we have enough energy and skills for everyone to have food, clothing, shelter, and medicine.

However, the value judgments just mentioned are not only in relation to our physical prosperity. We must be willing to share in terms of our relatedness to one another. Then people will not have to worry about remaining strangers to each other, by not revealing ourselves completely to others. If that does happens, then, for example, in an erotic relationship, a man and woman will be able to get to know each other, so that they can more adequately show care and concern for - while, simultaneously, feeling responsible to - one another, so that they can, as Jeffrey Osborne sings. “concentrate on” each other.

That is not the way things are now. And with Male Supremacy being bigger than even White Supremacy, women, at the time, have every reason to be hesitant about trusting men. Look what happened to the trust that was given to the male celebrities who were mentioned earlier, by the wives.

One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus
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Has Peter Obi Let Nigerians Down?

"Many of us applauded the tenacity with which the man mounted a legal effort to retrieve the mandate the voters of Anambra gave him in 2003, but which was hijacked by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Chris Ngige, a medical doctor. As an unwavering believer in the principle of credible elections, I took pride in Obi’s decision not to abandon pursuit of an office he’d won."

Is Peter Obi a hypocrite?

by Okey Ndibe

Governor Peter Obi of Anambra is in serious danger of becoming a tragic political figure. According to widely circulated reports, police officers two weeks ago caught men close to the governor with a large cache of cash. As I write, there’s some uncertainty about the sum, but most accounts say N250 million.

Apparently, the cash couriers were stopped as they drove to Obi’s business headquarters in Apapa. Since then, Obi’s office has tried to explain away the scandal. The governor’s aides have, to put it bluntly, done a poor job of it.

They suggested that the cash belonged to a contractor who’s done business with the state government. They have also contended that the cash was far less than newspapers reported. Then, in a needless and unconvincing attempt to muster moral bravado, Obi telegraphed a public letter to the Inspector General of Police demanding a thorough investigation.

Even at the most charitable, one must state that Obi’s explanations, so far, about the source, ownership and purpose of the cash have been nothing short of inconsistent and unimpressive. If anything, the tenor of the Government House’s statements suggests the scrambling incoherence of a man caught doing something indefensible.

In the ten years since Nigeria embarked on this strange phase many pundits call “nascent democracy,” no politician has garnered as much goodwill as Mr. Obi.

Many of us applauded the tenacity with which the man mounted a legal effort to retrieve the mandate the voters of Anambra gave him in 2003, but which was hijacked by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Chris Ngige, a medical doctor. As an unwavering believer in the principle of credible elections, I took pride in Obi’s decision not to abandon pursuit of an office he’d won.

Once he claimed the office, Obi faced twin nemeses: a state legislature dominated by PDP members, and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a man whose middle name should be mischief. The former president made no secret of his desire to hand the governorship of Anambra to his ward, Emmanuel Nnamdi (Andy) Uba. Encouraged by Aso Rock, the state legislators impeached Obi in a process that was transparently fraudulent. Again, many Nigerians rooted for him and celebrated when the judiciary restored him to office.

Obi’s come-back achieved dramatic culmination when he persuaded the Supreme Court to find that he had yet to serve out his four-year term as governor, and to oust the impostor, Mr. Uba. His victory triggered a paroxysm of jubilation not only in Anambra but also throughout Nigeria and abroad.

In fact, Obi’s triumph came to symbolize a promising dawn for the judiciary as well as the potential for democratic flowering in a country that continually hovers on the edge of despair.

A man with Obi’s political biography should have governed with a sense of history. He might have surrounded himself with the best talent in every area to enable him to succeed.

Instead, Obi appeared to have misread his political fortune as evidence of his genius. By many accounts, he became impervious to advice, however sound. He began to relish the company of court jesters who fed his ego. He began to court a man with the unsavory antecedents of Chuma Nzeribe, a member of the House of Representatives who’s hardly associated with admirable causes. Instead of delegating duties, he began to function as if he and he alone enjoyed a monopoly of wisdom in the state.

Even before this cash scandal, Obi had disappointed many who expected him to help transform his political party into an institution possessed of gravitas, instead of the ragtag it’s become. Under his watch, doctors went on strike for several months because the governor waved them off instead of engaging them in respectful negotiation. His verbal run-ins with his deputy, Mrs. Virgy Etiaba, as well as Ngige left the impression of a man whose personal limitations have confounded his public office.

It’d be hard to forgive Obi if it turns out that he’s been fiddling with public funds. Anambra needs all the money it can get for the great challenge of development. Awka, the state capital, is in a shameful state, an eyesore. The state’s infrastructure is dismal and requires a lot of cash to fix.

Obi liked to say he was a man of means long before he sought the office of governor. I heard him tell a gathering that if he stole one kobo of Anambra funds, he’d invite God to unleash wrath on him as well as his children.

I hope – for the sake of the long-suffering people of Anambra – that it was not a hypocrite who uttered that sentiment.
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