By Chiedu Uche Okoye
Nigeria, a conglomeration of disparate ethnic nations, could be likened to a cat with nine lives. Whenever our dear country reached the precipice, and people expected that it would bowl over, it would be pulled back, miraculously. So, it seems to me that Nigeria is fated to remain as one indivisible and united country, eternally.
To drive home my point, it is imperative for us to go down the memory lane. In the 1950s, the northern people tried to secede from Nigeria in their nine point programmes; however, it didn’t succeed. Isaac Adaka Boro, an Ijaw nationalist, declared the Niger-delta republic, which was short-lived. The Nigeria-Biafra Civil War, which raged for thirty months and claimed millions of lives, failed to cause the dismemberment of our country. And Nigeria survived the aftermath of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which was adjudged the freest and fairest presidential election in our political annals. More so, the Maitatsine religious conflict and other ethno-religious troubles in our polity could not cause the dismemberment of Nigeria.
Some other Federal states like Nigeria had split up, however. The defunct USSR split up into many countries following the collapse of the Glasnost and Perestroika policy. Pakistan pulled out of India; Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia disintegrated. Back in Africa, Sudan, which shared certain political and historical characteristics with Nigeria, was bifurcated into two countries. And Somaliland used to be a part of Somali. The list of countries that has imploded and disintegrated will keep on lengthening as the wave of the agitation for statehoods ignited by ethnic nationalists and irredentists is blowing and sweeping across the globe, fiercely and relentlessly. Can Nigeria remain as one country to times indefinite?
The answer to the question blows in the air. But the seemingly intractable political and religious troubles, which are features of our country, are the reasons why some western scholars and political analysts predicted the break-up of Nigeria before 2015, some years ago. Thankfully, that prediction did not materialize. Today, however, many centrifugal forces are pulling Nigeria apart. Can we survive those threats to the indivisibility of Nigeria, and continue to march on as one country?
In the North, especially the North-east, the Boko Haram insurgents, who carry out suicide bombings want to institute Islamic theocracy in Nigeria. The group has been waging relentless war against the Nigerian Army for a long while. The victims of the Boko Haram insurgency number in the millions. And the group wants to take Nigeria back to the stone-age and medieval periods since it kicks against the acquisition of western education by northern youths. That insurgent group’s position on the issue of education might have informed its decision to abduct the Chibok school girls some years ago. Some of the abducted school girls have not returned to their respective homes from captivity. In fact, the murderous and condemnable deeds of the group pose a great and grave danger and threat to our continued existence as one country.
And, now the South-east of Nigeria is convulsing with the clamour for the creation of the state of Biafra. Going back memory lane, we should remember that Lt-Col Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu declared the state of Biafra in 1967, which sparked off the civil war, then. The political troubles of that period, which snowballed into the breakout of a civil war, are still fresh and evergreen in our memories as they are captured in books and novels, especially in the award-winning novel titled Half of A Yellow Sun, which was written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Today, there is a nostalgic romanticizing with the idea of the creation of the state of Biafra by young people of Igbo stock. Following the seeming waning popularity of Chief Ralph Uwazurike, the MASSOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who used to be an ally of Uwazuruike, has won the hearts of millions of Igbo youths with his divisive and inciting speeches on radio Biafra and other secessionist activities. A dual citizen of Britain and Nigeria, he was clamped into detention upon his visit to Nigeria for alleged treasonable offences. Now, he is standing trial for alleged treasonous deeds.
His followers rank him next to Jesus Christ, and believe him to be the revolutionary and political messiah that will liberate the Igbo from perceived internal bondage and colonialism. Daily, he mouths platitudes about the marginalization of the Igbo people in our country, which resonate with his followers, who are mainly unlettered artisans and motorcycle riders. No followers of political events and happenings in Nigeria are unaware that the people of the South-east have been suffering marginalization in Nigeria since the end of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war in 1970.
Excluding mouthing platitudinous rhetoric, demonizing our political leaders on radio Biafra, and issuing sit- at- home order to people, what other effective deeds has he executed to hasten the actualization of the state of Biafra? His sit-at-home order, which was complied with by the Igbo populace in the South-east, caused our people to lose billions of naira. But can that one-off act bring about the realization of the dream of the agitators, expeditiously? Again, Kanu has not charted the Biafran territory. And his belief that our “cousins” in the surrounding Niger-delta areas will support his cause is simplistic, naïve, and erroneous. History should be his guide regarding to which place they would pledge their allegiance and loyalty in the event of an outbreak of hostilities in our country. But has he enlisted their support in his crusade to achieve statehood for the South-East area? More so, Kanu has not enunciated the economic cum political models that will be operative in the proposed state of Biafra, which will make it an oasis of peace, political stability, good governance, and an economic Eldorado.
I expect that he will churn out tomes that will outline how he would transform the proposed state of Biafra to a developed nation-state in the event that the area attained statehood and political sovereignty.
Instead of doing the needful that is expected of seasoned revolutionaries, Kanu has been engaging in petty deeds, muck racking, and unprogressive and retrogressive deeds. For example, he called for the boycott of the forthcoming Anambra governorship election. Isn’t it a retrogressive, misconceived, and misplaced move that will have far-reaching disastrous consequences for Anambra people if his call for the boycott of the election is heeded? It will lead Anambra state to a political cul-de-sac and imbroglio.
However, the Kanu-led IPOB group’s doings do not necessitate the violence and clampdown visited on it by the Nigerian government. The soldiers raided his home and killed some people, there. That action of theirs is inhuman, barbaric, unjustifiable, and condemnable as the IPOB group does not engage in violent agitation for statehood. The raiding of his residence as well as the killing of some of his followers is perceived as the continuation of the ill-treatment or maltreatment of the people of Igbo descent.
Nigeria belongs to us all; and it is believed that the continued existence of the country as one indivisible political entity will benefit us all given the diversities and potentialities of the country. The Nigerian authorities should convoke peace parleys of ethnic nationalities in the country in order to resolve our differences, and restore peace, tranquility, and normalcy in our country. The rising political tension in our country is a portent of doom for us. A stitch in time saves nine.
Okoye writes from Awaka, Anambra State