Prof. David Jowitt is 80 years old. He is one of the newest Nigerians in town. He was born British, and exactly 60 years since he first arrived in Nigeria as a wispy, young English man, he became a Nigerian citizen officially on May 28, 2023, when he was presented with his official documents, shook the hand of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and was told congratulations.
I have known Prof. Jowitt for a few years now over emails, WhatsApp exchanges and a few phone calls. And since I knew him, bonding over our love for writing—he has authored Nigerian English, Common Errors in English and a yet-to-be-published memoir, he also taught at the University of Jos, among many other institutions across the country, there are two things he has pursued relentlessly. The first was his Nigerian citizenship, which is a very tedious process that took years, several trips from Jos to Abuja and back again and a whole lot of frustration, as is the nature of chasing anything in Nigeria.
The second is the publication of his memoir which chronicles his birth and growth in North London, his earliest memory of Hitler’s blitzkrieg over London and his arrival in Nigeria and his numerous adventures in the country that he will now call his.
There was a party in Jos on June 12 to celebrate this momentous occasion in Prof. Jowitt’s life. Friends gathered. Food was served. Drinks were had and merriment was made. I had wished to attend, to felicitate with my new compatriots but circumstances did not permit. But there was also another reason I wanted to attend—to look into Prof. Jowitt’s eyes when I ask him why?
Since I have never adopted another country as mine and have not lived in any for any considerable amount of time as he has, I am curious to know why Nigeria? But the love one has for a space, a place, or a country is something that is sometimes as deep as what one person feels for another. In the instance of Prof. Jowitt, I suspect that is the case, if one would go by the opening lines of his memoir. His description of his bond with Nigeria is not one between a man and a country but something akin to the entanglements of two souls, two bodies, two entities bound in love.
Jowitt has been in Nigeria longer than most Nigerians have been Nigerian, considering a majority of our population is under 30. He survived Hitler’s assault on his country of birth and witnessed the Nigerian civil war. His first home in Nigeria was in Ubulu-Uku, Delta State in 1963, where he taught at the Grammar School for two years. In the course of 60 years, he has travelled and lived in various parts of the country—Onitsha, Ibadan, Zaria, Kano and finally Jos, which I suspect will be his permanent home now.
But again, why Nigeria? Why now when people who have endured Nigeria for far less time than Jowitt have popularised the concept and practice of japa, fleeing the country in droves, often to the country Prof. Jowitt left for Nigeria, amongst others? This Nigeria can be at once beautiful and beautifully frustrating, whose drama is second to none and one which is famous for almost nothing working. For instance, when Jowitt first came across a generator, he had no idea what it meant or what it was supposed to be for. Nigeria would teach him, as it has taught him many things, including the three major languages and a smattering of some 25 others. At least I know he speaks some Hausa with a healthy dose of bature accent.
His story is a remarkable counternarrative to the Nigerian exodus story. When many Nigerians are giving up on the country, here is an 80-year-old man who is not, will not. One who went out of his way to say, Nigeria, take me and make me truly one of yours.
And then there was the national domestic gutter-spill
Nigeria’s drama did not pause one bit to celebrate Prof. Jowitt. The week of his celebratory party, there was drama as the 9th Senate was rounding up, Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa (APC Bauchi North) began confessing his influence over his wife. Now that would be fine that a husband would influence his wife or vice versa, except in this case, Bulkachuwa’s wife, Zainab, happened to be the president of the Appeal Court and her husband admitted, just before the Senate president Ahmed Lawan could shut him up, that he influenced her to “extend her help to [his] colleagues”. If the Senate president had not stopped him, I suspect there would have been more damning revelations about the nature of his “encroachment on her freedom and independence” and the favours he secured for his colleagues.
In any case, the damage has been done and he has now unwittingly called into question not just his wife’s integrity but that of the judiciary as well. The Judicial Service Commission must investigate these claims and the rulings of Justice Bulkachuwa and her appeal court.
The other incident is less grievous but far more comical. The newly elected Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Tajuddeen Abbas, who was an excellent candidate for the role, was subjected to some embarrassment when the domestic kerfuffle between his two wives spilt to the floor of the Green Chamber during his swearing-in. As shown on national television, his first wife stormed the stage to shoulder-charge the second wife away from their husband so she could take her place by him. She continued to quarrel with even the people who asked her to calm down. From the video, the other wife conducted herself with dignity and fortunately, did not turn their husband’s finest hour into a sordid affair.
As dramatic as that squabble is, it pales in comparison to the bad blood between the new Kano Governor, Abba Yusuf and his predecessor, Abdullahi Ganduje. Since his inauguration, Gov. Yusuf has rolled out the bulldozers to pursue a bizarre vendetta, demolishing everything he did not like the sight of or one that had Gandollar’s imprint on it.
The latest was the popular and much-loved Tumbin Giwa Roundabout, which only in 2017 cost the state N160 million to renovate. The actions are becoming indefensible even to Yusuf’s staunchest supporters. Like the beef between Hon. Abbas’s bickering wives, this one between Ganduje and Yusuf must be stopped before Kano is made to look like Mariupol after the Russian blitz.
Another consequential drama was that around the erstwhile CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele’s suspension from office and subsequent detention by the DSS. Emefiele will go down in history as probably the worst governor of the CBN with his disastrous policies that have seen the naira falling to record low prices against the dollar, not to talk of the disastrous naira redesign policy that failed to redesign the naira, failed to check the electoral irregularities it was meant to, failed to ruin the loot of public officers the government had no guts to go after and only succeeded in unleashing untold hardship on Nigerians before it finally fell flat on its face.
While there were isolated attempts to make Emefiele’s arrest a tribal issue, it is good to see that the majority of Nigerians across various ethnic groups, including his Igbo ethnicity, acknowledged that he really deserved what was coming to him. Emefiele’s complicity is not in just being a dreadful administrator of the CBN but the numerous crimes he is being investigated for—including funding terrorism, and corruption. He also tried to run for the office of president while still sitting tight on his CBN throne. One thing he is not guilty of, as bad as he is and much as any person with any kind of sense knew, was that he did not perpetuate himself in office. He only happened to coincide with the worst president in the country’s history who allowed him free rein to do as he pleased.
This is Nigeria, a country full of drama and intrigues. This is the other side of Prof. David Jowitt’s new country.
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