Pius Adesanmi Ok, here is the deal. Since you won’t let me deal with this Lagos deportation saga my own way, since you won’t let me determine whether I’ve said my last word on it or not, can you and so many others of your persuasion stop clogging my inbox with annoying accusations of double standards? Almost twenty messages today alone asking why I was silent during previous deportation exercises! Stop asking where I was when Fashola deported Hausa-Fulani poor. Stop asking me where I was when he deported Yoruba poor. Stop asking me when I am going to write a retroactive op-ed on his deportations to the North. Stop suggesting sentences or paragraphs you would like to see in such an essay. Take time. Take time. Take your time, brothers. I don vex. If you must know, I was here in Ottawa, teaching and writing at Carleton University, or in the lecture circuit around Canada and the US when Fashola deported Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba poor in the past. Shey you don hear. Happy now? If I did not say anything at the time, it means I did not hear anything at the time. I have said this and it bears repeating: the fact that reading Nigeriana, reflecting on, and writing about Nigeria eats up almost 5 hours of my life everyday (reading most of her newspapers and magazines from the Guardian all the way to the infotainment blogs of Linda Ikeji , Stella Dimoko Korkus, Charles Alasholuyi, and Kemi Filani) does not mean that I am Asterix, able to drink a magic potion which prevents me from missing significant news items every day. Very often , your accusation of my silence about a particular issue is, in fact, the first time I am hearing about it. When you accuse me of biased silence, you are actually informing me. I have said this and, also, it bears repeating: such is the scale of irrationalities and mind- boggling injustice and unfairness emanating from Nigeria daily that even Adepele’s generous dentition of uncountable teeth in Yoruba lore is child’s play. Just as any adventurous counter of Adepele’s teeth is bound to miss some molars or incisors in that labyrinthine dentition, no watcher of Nigeria’s dysfunction and injustice (not even Transparency International) could hope to catch everything. If you have been reading me for as long as you claim in these messages and you still cannot guess what my reaction to that prior deportation of Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba indigents by Fashola would have been, that’s your wahala, not mine. Don’t tell me it was widely reported. Don’t ask me how I could possibly have missed it. What if I was preoccupied at the time with the daily body count on our roads, Boko Haram’s body count, or our regular trademark of corruption and missed that news cycle? For the umpteenth time, I am not interested in the invidious approach of tribal warlords to the Lagos deportations. I am interested in the viewpoints of those who, going forward, want to discuss the following: 1). How to hold Fashola and the Government of Lagos state accountable for egregious violations of the Constitution, past and present. 2). How to ensure that this is the last time that a so-called SAN would trample with such galling impunity on the constitutionally-guaranteed rights of the Nigerian citizen. 3). Why no lawyers, NGOs, civil society groups have stepped forward so far to take the first symbolic step of suing the government of Lagos state for gross civil rights violations. This is one governor’s mind-boggling coup d’état against the most fundamental freedoms that come with Nigerian citizenship (freedom of movement, of residence). As far as I know, only Femi Falana has warned of legal consequences if Lagos and other states continued these illegal deportations of the poor. But an example needs to be made of Lagos in my opinion. Deterrence. Deterrence. Deterrence. These are the issues for me: human rights, civil rights, constitutional rights – and their violation Lagos and a number of other state governments. Not the ethnicity of the deportee or the timeline of the deportation. Deportation was wrong yesterday, is wrong today, will be wrong tomorrow.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 06:48:20 +0000