As the battle for supremacy plays out between President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar, we need to give a thought to the deeper issues and intrigues surrounding the present political mine-field, and the inter-ethnic power struggle that has exemplified contemporary Nigeria.   

With the end of the  Nigeria-Biafra war, prosecuted through the active collaboration of a section of the South, who rather than insist on a non-military solution to the crisis, sabotaged the groundbreaking Aburi accord, and encouraged the stalemate and hardening of positions that eventually led to the war. The North emerged the sole super power in the post-war political configuration. The lack of foresight by  some sections of the South, who were more interested in temporary gains, which in the long run turned out to be ephemeral, empowered the North, and  plunged the nation into what is now known as “internal colonialism” by the rabidly conservative caliphate North.   

It is no accident, that after the Nigeria-Biafra war, one Northerner after the other replaced themselves in power, as if other ethnic groups including their Southern civil war allies did not exist. With the exception of General Murtala Mohammed’s unexpected assassination, which saw to the emergence of General Olusegun Obasanjo, who functioned more as a  robotic  “ceremonial president” as the real power rested in the hands of General’s Yar Adua and Theophilus Danjuma, the rest were a long list of Northerners. Namely  General’s Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Muhammed, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, General’s Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Bagangida, Sanni Abacha, and Abdusalami Abubakar.  

With this formidable parade of exclusively Northern leaders, the “internal colonialism” of Nigeria was complete, and the “born to rule” mentality safely anchored in the head of every Northerner. The North abused power to the extent that Nigeria remains a rotten mess. Mediocrity became the order of the day, while divide and rule, together with police and army brutality became the norm. They used their pre-eminence to create more states and local governments in the North to consolidate their domination.

In spite of Moshood Abiola’s affiliation to the Muslim religion, and his long romance with the Northern establishment, the North who had expected Alhaji Bashir Tofa to win the election, saw Abiola’s victory as a threat to the Northern domination of power, and chose to cancel the freest and fairest elections in Nigerian history, just for the selfish sectional purpose of maintaining their stranglehold on power.

Post- June 12, the North’s original intention for imposing Obasanjo on Nigerians against other clearly more qualified presidential candidates, was in their reckoning and calculations, a fait accompli to enthrone a tested, trustworthy and controllable Obasanjo, who will not rock the boat, to pacify the West, and return power speedily to the North, in just 4  years ala “Mandela option”.  Obasanjo himself at some point admitted he suffered the humiliation of being asked to sign some agreements, to assure the caliphate of his willingness to maintain the status quo, while holding power briefly in trust for them.

However prison life seemed to have hardened Obasanjo, as he started rocking the boat almost from the onset, with his mass retirements of Northern military officers amongst others. The caliphate quickly responded by introducing “political sharia” and a string of other religious crises in their desperate bid to derail his regime.

The real genesis of  vice President Atiku’s conflict with President Olusegun Obasanjo stems from the fact, that in his bid to actualise the Northern agenda which prescribed  only a lame duck 4 year  presidency for Obasanjo, he sponsored surrogates  who mounted pressure on Obasanjo not to contest for re-election in the run-up to the 2003 elections, and at some point openly campaigned on his options for 2003, before (according to some reports) Obasanjo knelt down and begged him, with a firm 419 promise of handing over to him in 2007, the rest is now history.

The North expectedly is now full of regrets, ironically complaining of marginalization, and waging a desperate life or death battle  to recapture their coveted power.

The Lessons:  And the Need for Southern  Unity

Comments from Journalists like Reuben Abati amongst others, and the ethnic divide rearing it’s ugly head in the  South-South, indicates that to date, a great majority of Southerners still lack a basic understanding  of the deeper issues concerning Nigeria, and the undue domination the South has suffered. While the North dominated a more educated, and enlightened South, Southerners chose to find their enemies amongst themselves.   

Sometimes I don’t blame the North, for keeping their people uneducated, hence the largely more educated South, cannot get their acts together. It is a shame that in a nation in which we are supposed to be equal partners, the North has dominated, and plans to continue to dominate power. The ease with which Abiola’s June 12 victory was annulled, coupled with his subsequent cold-blooded murder, and the humiliation of handpicking and imposing a robot in the person of Olusegun Obasanjo, should be a wake up call to the South.

 This generation of Southerners must avoid making the same mistakes their ersthwhile leaders made, which has made Southerners 2^nd class citizens in their own country. The South above all else needs to unite in order to forge ahead as equal partners, and enjoy a fair share of power. If the South misses this historic opportunity, through the disunity and selfishness of myopic leaders, a vengeful, wiser, and less trusting North will bounce back with a firmer grip on power, and no Southerner will ever smell that Aso rock seat again. A word should be enough for the wise!

Comrade Lawrence Chinedu Nwobu

Email:lawrencenwobu@yahoo.com

Robot  Villager

# 1 As the battle for supremacy plays out between President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atik...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 17.09.2006 07:59

Khalil  Villager

# 2 This article is an exercise in maximum ignorance of history, philosophy and power relation. If this is how we will all continue to think we will definetely be having problems forever. You need to understand the North first first before you begin the muich touted fight against it. May God bless Nigeria! Posted by Khalil| 17.09.2006 09:27

akuluouno  Villager

# 3 In the abscence of any documented and authentic Nigerian history, interpretations like this will always be employed to justify issues. I think a strong and viable Nigeria with a purposeful leadership will do us all good rather than a sectional myopic leaderhip which, sadly we have had for a long time now. It is not north or south, it is a matter of visionary leadership tol catapult this great nation to the 21st century. Posted by akuluouno| 17.09.2006 13:30

Egbide Orbuka

# 4 Until and unless the core East, learns to respect the views of the South South, this so-called Northern domination of the nations political landscape, would continue to hunt us all for a long time to come. The cancellation of the June 12 election was one of the greatest mistakes of the Northern political class. They would have been in charge of Aso Rock by now. They were ably assited to annul the election by our Ibo brother also. That said, we now know why great leaders like AWO was never allowed to rule the country by the likes of Obj. Because of (POLITICAL LONG THROAT) with no clear vision for the country in mind. Finally, the writer should go back to history and find out why the Ijaws in Rivers State, were treated like second class citizens by their IBO brothers prior to the war. These are people who were never given the opportunity to intergrate into the Ibo dominated political and economic structure of the Eastern region. Sadly enough for the people of the South South, the very peoply that they supported and trusted for over 45 years in the North, equally treated them as lepers. Their main concern was how to control the oil industry. Today, we have the the Chris Ubas, the Ngozis, the Ojos the El Rufais and Ribadus controlling the affairs of the the nation-with the ASARIS and the Alamcos resting their ass in jail. All because one part of the Tripod, has refused to close the chapter on a war that was fought over the control of an asset that they now claim, flows from the North to the South. Posted by Egbide Orbuka| 17.09.2006 14:25