| Sentimental cliches about Nigerian unity |
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| Sunday, 20 November 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Getting started. These are the two words that should be on our lips as we begin to search for the best materials in laying a solid foundation on a land that has caused trouble more than harmony among brothers and sisters. Nigerian rulers and their so-called intellectual accomplice, or crawlers who have dried the well of our wealth would definitely disagree with the practical implementation of getting started, which they passionately believe has been settled almost a century ago. By getting started I don’t mean fighting corruption. I don’t mean prosecuting those generals and civilians who had raped Nigeria under the pretext of patriotism that lacks fervour. I don’t mean persecuting Ken Nnamani, Senate President, for buying a car valued at #39.8 million. I don’t mean revamping our health sector or education or other social issues begging for our attention. I don’t mean succession plan. I don’t mean lack of continuity in governing which disrupts our sense of direction. I don’t even mean constitutional amendment or impromptu National Conference of any sort. By getting started I mean resolving the profound issue of Lord Lugard’s wedding gift – once and for all. Anything other than this would be like toiling in vain. There are many critical issues affecting this family called Nigeria, but they are all secondary to that profound issue – of whether we want to live together or not. No matter how much we hide under patriotism, self-deceit would always draw us back. Those before us had made a vital mistake by their inability to put things in the right perspective. For example, they should have embarked on policies of fostering rather than theoretical slogan of one nation, which has never been truly accepted. They should have come up with a dose that kills ethnic jingoism or pronouncement in our thinking. We place our tribes above Nigeria and yet we wonder why we lack a sense of national purpose and social cohesion. I encounter this every time I had to introduce myself as a Nigerian. My Nigerian brother or sister would ask me, “Which part do you come from?†And I always retorted, “I am a Nigerian.†The interesting part is how quickly they understood my message, as they offered a wry smile of near guilt. There may be nothing wrong in their behaviour, but I prefer them seeing me as a Nigerian first. A Rudolf Okonkwo who dare express his displeasure over how Igbos were treated during the war and concludes it is the final battle is branded a tribal person and not a young Nigerian looking in retrospect! So is Taslim Anibaba who dare write a rejoinder informing us about his personal experience in the hands of some Igbos! It is quite unfortunate and even sad if Nigerian citizens cannot express their opinions without being accused of tribalism. Genuine unity requires us to redirect our stereotyped thinking. However, the growing scepticism among Nigerian tribes seems normal, for it is difficult to trust someone you have gone to war with. But we need to move on. How I wish those before us had foreseen today’s Nigeria. If they had, perhaps they would have abandoned personal ambitions for the emancipation of their children. They should have killed the innate tendency that instigates brothers against brothers, sisters against sisters. Getting started should have been their chewing words. Of course it is not too late. What we need is desire to go on with one Nigeria, which requires our seriousness in its absolute form. I have dealt with this issue somewhere else but it is too fundamental, and keeps coiling around our necks like pythons do to their prey. The issue of our unity cannot be gulped down like food or drink. Nowadays, disturbing events are happening at an arrow speed that tells or even compels us to get started. When we get started, even the die-hard secessionists among us may rejoice because we will have dealt with their genuine grievances. It will then soften their hearts to see the sense on how our population and well-managed resources can advance a nation like Nigeria. I am aware those who amalgamated us did it for their own interest, but we are not helping the matter by our refusal to genuinely getting started – on our own. Some Nigerians still strongly believe we are lucky because of our multinational state, although they too are getting impatient “due to dearth of creative solution,†says Mr. Adebayo Adejare. “There is nothing unique false or fraudulent about Nigeria’s multinational state. China, India, Uganda, Rwanda, S.A, Ghana etc have similar composition…†The so-called 1914 amalgamation is our history, and a people that forget their history usually get lost along the way. If we do it right, we shall prosper otherwise patriots, pseudo-patriots, and unpatriotic Nigerians may continue to indirectly shed innocent blood by playing politics with this profound issue. Perhaps the British are laughing at us. Their antecedents probably knew amalgamation is like a red sea for us to cross. And probably they knew we would lack the will, the wisdom, the knowledge, and the blood hood to truthfully be like a broom. They are probably patting one another on the back for a good job Lord Lugard did on that historic day. Or have we forgotten the recent prediction of Mr. Superpower, an ally of our colonial oppressor who said that Nigeria is going to break up in fifteen years from now! Eminent people still believe the secession was justified. “The agitation for Biafra Republic was a just demand,†says The Zion of Biafra, Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, as reported by Nigerian newspapers during a meeting of Igbo Improvement Union in Enugu. “The agitation by the ethnic nationality was genuine, legitimate and just.†When people like Ojukwu speak, it is wise for mortals like me to listen and ponder, because Ojukwu is “fear itselfâ€, and of course a force to reckon with in a very real sense. Another interesting thing about the echo of unity is the creation of more states by the same people who believe in one Nigeria. It seems to me that the idea of creating more states leans toward partition off than unifying force. But if the military Generals had failed to do it, the same “patriots†would have called for their “anointed†heads. We are difficult people in deed. This is one of the reasons I do empathize with genuine leaders, and even those who are not. You know uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. How can we truly speak about unity of purpose when different groups are seriously agitating for self-rule? Or do you think we should see them as ruffians who are using sophisticated method to ask for their own share of the oil revenue? What of Zik’s house that was deliberately burnt down? Both government agencies and the insurgents are now accusing each other over which group actually perpetrated such unnecessary and disrespectful crime - of arson. Do the perpetrators know such act is like spitting on Zik’s grave? Did they need to destroy Zik’s legacy before proving something? The issue of unity cannot be coerced or done in a dictatorial manner and hence we need to be very careful how we settle it. Surely the way out is not a sentimental believe or determination by a group of elites to have one nation. Getting started begins when it dawns on those at the helms of affairs that the power of human spirits is stronger than that of any state, which might want to dampen it. Our salvation begins when the government is bold enough by sincerely sum up our past and blends it with the present in order to arrive at our future. We would never arrive at that future by clamping down on the insurgents or charging them for treason. Oh, no, I am not calling for anarchy. We just need to tread with caution because experience has shown that charging them for treason, or any form of inhuman treatment would only inspire others instead of deterrent effect. Besides, charging well-meaning people for treason is not new. Awo was once charged so is Mandela, and so is Obasanjo himself. We need to look beyond the surface as well as our pre-determined notion – of unity – so we can see where our interest really is. My fear however, is the fact that the secessionists are as deadly determined as the government in winning the "battle". Here comes the crux of the matter. Although breaking away is more pronounced among certain tribes (Igbos and Ijaws to be specific), if you listen to a Yoruba man or Efik or Hausa woman in the street, you will most likely hear the same sentiment. In general Nigerians would most likely tell you of being better off under any republic other than Nigeria of today. This is a sign of acute frustration and we are all feeling it. You may think I am exaggerating but there are indications that most of our intellectuals as well as the masses are taking a little surreptitious pleasure in events that can lead to revolution. Many Nigerians have even talked about it publicly, a sign of hope defeated rather than unpatriotic parlance, as the ruling class would make us believe. Had Nigeria being among the great nations, I doubt if any tribe would be talking of breaking away. Perhaps the main contention of the secessionists is to have a just or partly just society. As far as I am concerned, the road to uninterrupted peace and unity starts from undivided justice. But then, is there any justice in this world? “The hatred against Ndigbo,†says Ralph Uwazuruike, leader of Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), “still forms a basis of political policy of Nigerian government. This made me mad about anything Nigeria.†Meanwhile, MASSOB women in Aba have already warned the Federal Government to release Uwazuruike who is being charged for treason, otherwise they would re-enact the 1929 Aba Women Riot. Had there no nations like America, Britain, Australia, Germany, Hungary etc, perhaps we would have found solution to our problems. I mean we would have no place to escape, and therefore compelled to embrace Nigeria instead of jumping into the arms of another mothers. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. I don’t know how we can actually achieve our quest for unity when only two ethnic groups rotate the number one position in a nation blessed with so many tribes. And God knows I am not in favour of quota or rotational system. However, I cannot actually dismiss rotational presidency under the current dispensation because of discrepancies that usually accompany elections in our land. If competence were a prerequisite for political office, then rotational system would have no meaning. We might be making a powerful statement – of unity – if the next president comes from any tribe that has never presented a president. It would be a policy of appeasement as Babangida did to the Yorubas when he installed Shonekan, and later helped Obasanjo, his comrade and senior, to rule once again. Anything other than this would only affirm what certain ethnic groups have always suspected – hatred and being marginalized. It won’t be a good omen for unity. Or are we saying no Igbo or Ijaw or Ogoni or any other tribe is as “good†as Balewa, Gowon, Muhammed/Obasanjo, Shagari, Buhari/Idiagbon, Babangida, Shonekan, Abacha, Abubakar, and again Obasanjo? God, how can we get started when WASOBIA, a language of unity, has met its untimely death! Isn't this a strong statement of not wanting to live together? If that language had lived, Nigerians who are twenty years old or thereabouts would be bathing in unity through a common language other than English today. Where then lies our seriousness?
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Posted by Robot| 20.11.2005 20:53