Monolithic unity by Dr. Odujirin

From: KemiOdujirin@aol.com

To: bjadamu@ibabsnet.com

Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2002 12:41 PM

Subject: All Cultural Intellectuals are Herders

Dear Dr.Baba J Adamu
Your piece (Grand Conspiracy) on the monolithic unity, cultural difference, and distinctness of northern Nigeria is yet one more contribution to the grand conspiracy theory that permeates the political pamphleteering which appear regularly on the gamji site. Initially, I thought it was a pathological property of contemporary divisive Nigerian politics. But as I read the pieces by Wadas and Aliyu Tilde and others, and now yours - I take particular interest in your piece because, unlike the other grand conspiracy theorists, you are obviously ordinarily resident in Canada - I was convinced that although the Germans lost the great war of the twentieth century, they conquered the world nonetheless. Or perhaps, more accurately, the intellectual unity of the west and the east is now not difficult to discern. The virus of historicism occupies all the nooks and crannies of the intellect, and the allegedly incommensurable and/or primordial differences among peoples are pillars of thought. Witness Fukuyama, Huntington, et all. Can any third-world country emerge great amidst culturalism?  The Germans who popularized the concept of culture themselves got it from their subtle understanding of the Greeks and the literature of the East, but they used it to foster and preserve independence of thought. Its subsequent political and ethnic/racial  uses culminated in the horrendous sin called the holocaust. The holocaust led to the repudiation or at least erosion of racism, and the institutionalization of the concept of human rights. However much written theological myths might ascribe it to the Creator, that we happen to belong to different ethnic or tribal groups, speak different languages, worship different 'gods' or God, fashioned different laws, are accidents of history, not nature or necessity or reason or what not. To see it otherwise is to be nothing but historicists - which, of course, is always the refuge of theologians, statesmen, and ethnocentric scholars. All ethnocentric intellectuals are herders, and as history amply shows, their herd ultimately ends up either in the slaughterhouse or the marketplace. What we need in and for contemporary African polities, especially Nigeria, are robust, independent minds whose compass does not invariably point to their own ethnic groups, however historical important. Cultural differences is not invariably the opposition or contest between day and night.

Have a nice day.

Dr. Odujirin

Rejoinder by dr Baba J Adamu

My dear Dr. Odujirin

Whenever new thoughts are invoked to reflect the state of the people of northern Nigeria sceptics immediately condemn such thoughts. The thoughts are intended to go a long way in creating awareness and raise some fundamental questions about patriotism within northern Nigerians and most especially in the minds of our northern leaders. We cannot have a united Nigeria without first learning to unite in our various regions. The ultimate intention is to set forth the quest for a lasting unity amongst Nigerians, and democratic structure with sustained economic growths. But I understand such views will not be easily comprehended by so many, especially if they are blind to the reality of the situation. No doubt the Germans lost the great war of the twentieth century, but they did not conquer the world – the victorious one is still ruling the world. I have to agree with you that the intellectual unity of the west and the east is now not difficult to discern which way is going. Can any third-world country emerge great amidst culturalism?  Well, I support your view when you said that what we need in and for contemporary African politics, especially Nigeria, are robust, independent minds whose compass DO not invariably point to their own ethnic groups, however historical important. Where I strongly disagree with you is where you missed the point between holocaust, racism, and the concept of human rights. What about tribalism? I am sure you have forgotten the historic Israelites in the land of Egypt, at a time when all their problems seemed to defy all solutions, even in those simple days; there was the obvious need for a ‘Moses’ to come to their rescue. The worst had to be experienced before God would send a messiah to take them to freedom as ethnocentric intellectuals with a powerful monolithic unity. Today, despite the holocaust, the Israelites have not ended in a slaughterhouse or the marketplace; on the contrary, they have attained potent economic greatness for themselves, and by extension, their strengthened their monolithic unity.

So you see Dr. Odujirin, I have chosen this day to let the whole world know that Nigerians, whether home or abroad, are no longer going to remain as silent observers about events in our dear country as has been in the past. We acknowledge that our lives and those of our children depend on what happens in the one and only country we have. We equally appreciate that the future of our country lies in good leadership. More than any other reason, that is why I have written the “Grand Conspiracy” article, and by God “The Reality of a New Dawn” will soon be published.

Ohh by the way… I am most definitely not obviously ordinarily resident in Canada.

Dr. BJ Adamu