Its said in Africa that “a chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches,” meaning you can easily foresee the future of something through the character and tell-tale signs shown today. The overwhelming drums of discord emanating from various ethnic juggernauts calls for holistic analysis of the federation by Statesmen Response Team (SRT) with the sole aim of tackling the severe hate parasite infesting deep into our national horizon by dousing tension and calming frayed nerves in the interest of peace, development and national cohesion.
Breaking the shackles of conflicts needs he committed efforts of unbiased or sincere moderator (s) early enough in a fight or preferably before a fight begins. The dearth of moderators early in conflicts results into hullabaloo, leaving a trail tears and blood. The consequences of wars whether commissioned or un-commissioned are far reaching and breed sores of vengeance in the aftermath. Its despicable to have such clamours during this globally revered and spiritually rewarding month of Ramadan – a symbol of love, empathy and compassion for one another.
The three groups to be calmed are: Frayed Nerves (people who feel really cheated whether ethnic or personal grounds.), Vulnerable Frayed Nerves (the jobless tools waiting for the ticking time bomb to explode to cause mayhem), and the most dangerous of them all – the green snakes under the many green political grasses (people ready to stoke crisis for political calculations.)
Statesmen with bedrock of consistent principles, moral compass, vision and that possess the abilities to build consensus across divides are needed at this crucial time to change the policies, laws and the nation’s course of history which has made various ethnic groups revolve around the long years’ tradition of suspicion and fragile peace through defining what made us and emptying what might have marred us.
According to Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe “violence has never been an instrument used by us, as founding fathers of the Nigerian Republic, to solve political problems. In the British tradition, we talked the colonial office into accepting our challenges for the demerits and merits of our case for self-government. After six constitutional conferences in 1953,1954,1957,1958,1959 and 1960, Great Britain conceded to us the right”.
Azikiwe stressed that no single drop of either British or Nigerian blood was shed for it. Without unity of purpose, according to Julius Nyerere, there is no future for Africa. And Nigeria being a major brand in the African continent must make peace within to muster the moral courage to sell African ideals. Unfortunately, the nation seems cursed with unrepentant politicians who have over the years, funded and encouraged arms proliferation and consequently helped to create and idle army of armed youths.
The members of the proposed Statesmen Response Team must not employ threats, propaganda, slick advertisements, and PR campaigns because all these tools are for despots or the defeatist points of a threatened set. Rather they should employ the historical and biological perspectives in the sweet memories of our productive ethnic partnerships from the successes of our enduring food supply-chains which have helped increase nutrition, the gains inherent in our diversity as evident in the event of FESTAC 77, our inter-tribal marriages, our combined population. Analyzing what is right or wrong or who is waxing or waning is needless and obstructive to achieving peace.
Because “a roaring lion kills no game” (meaning you can’t achieve or gain anything by merely sitting around and just talking about it), this scientific method I have proposed will collect national unity signatures from royal fathers, Leaders of Thought, ethnic juggernauts, agitators, youth leaders, religious bodies, former leaders, sports icons, screen divers and music icons all in the attempted effort at calming the psyche of the volatile three groups, who will certainly have role models that can influence their actions. I can serve diligently with interested leaders to achieve this.
Statesmanship is not an exclusive preserve or title of former political office holders but for persons possessing skills in managing public affairs for the common good as there is no sitting on the fence in nation building. If you can talk, speak up; if you can write, control those letters to initiate peace; if you can’t walk, then crawl; if you can’t talk, make sounds of attention, because we must never again allow our limitations as fallible mortals, to defeat our sole aim of peace and life more abundant.
Nigeria is still beset by underdevelopment and moral collapse yet some people want to light the strained tunnel accommodating the inflammable. Historically, such threats materialize but with our inextinguishable lifeline of trust in God and the patriotism in our sovereignty, we can quickly stop asking the questions ‘Is it politics?” and begin to give answers to the question of “Is it right?”
If we don’t stand for something, we may fall for something involuntarily. When Rome boils, everybody loses because as hunger is felt by a slave so is hunger felt by the king.
► By Akinola Iwilade, a tourism researcher and poet wrote via [email protected]
