A few days ago, I indulged in what I thought was an idle prank. But I was to discover in the course of the engagement that the effort was worth the while. I had picked up from my busy shelf my copy of the “Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999”. I did not have any defined intention when I set out to do this. However, as I flipped through this document, I began to convince myself at every turn that I had never really taken time to note and understand some of the provisions of the constitution. By the time I spent some valuable time dissecting aspects of the document, I came to appreciate better why the country is at war with itself.
One of the impressions I came away with was that the framers of the constitution took liberties with the assignment. They made bogus assumptions and freely deployed words and expressions with little or no regard for their import. They said, for instance, that “We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria…firmly and solemnly resolved to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation…”
This is the take-off point of the constitution. I acquired this document in May 2000, one year after it came into effect. Since then, some of the provisions of the constitution have been tinkered with. But there has been no remarkable change in its content. In fact, the portion I quoted above has remained as it was from the beginning. It is, in a sense, regarded as the heart and soul of the constitution. Every other provision will be floating in the air, if there is no united Nigeria to give effect to the other charges. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that this tiny segment is at the root of the cataclysm that the country is facing at moment.
I also came to find out that whereas our leaders at the highest levels have almost made a fetish of the indivisibility and indissolubility provision in the constitution, the foundation upon which that provision was laid, freedom, equality and justice, has conveniently been left out. This is a fraudulent application application of the constitution. We ignore the fact that the same opening segment of the constitution says that the constitution was being made “for the purpose of promoting the good government and welfare of all persons in our country on the principles of Freedom, Equality and Justice, and for the purpose of consolidating the Unity of our people.”
This is the aspect of the constitution that nobody talks about. Yet it is the integer of the provision that the country is dying for. It is meant to complement the first part. But we chose to adopt one to the exclusion of the other. This deliberate selectiveness is haunting the country. It is the reason we do not have peace. Without it, the indivisibility provision makes no sense. Without it, we will be making an illicit jump. This deliberate oversight is the reason we are engaged in an endless search for meaning. We have ignored it at our own peril.
A cursory recourse to the political history of Nigeria will readily tell you why Nigerians, as presented by the makers of the constitution, had to admonish themselves on issues of unity. Nigeria, we must recall, fought a war of unity. This incident has remained a blight in the history of Nigeria. It is one shadow which Nigeria is constantly scared stiff of. Those who gave us the constitution knew this much. They recognized the fact that unity is the most important element in any document which Nigerians are expected to subscribe to.
Appointed and guided by the military junta, which held sway at the time, the makers of the constitution ensured that they gave the khaki boys what they wanted. The military regime of General Yakubu Gowon held Nigeria together through force of arms. Succeeding military regimes followed the unwritten code. It was, therefore, believed by the military authorities that Nigeria under civil rule should be made to imbibe and internalize the doctrine of unity. The idea of indivisibility and indissolubility, whether real or imagined, must also be sold to the succeeding generation of civilians. Their ploy worked, and a constitution came into place. But the fact of the matter was that Nigerians, an overwhelming majority of them, did not really bother about the content of the constitution. No one bothered about the coercive overreach that wears indivisibility and indissolubility like a badge. What mattered was that Nigerians knew, without being told, that they must guard the country’s unity jealously.
But time, as we can see, has worn thin that provision that was once considered sacrosanct. The provision on indivisibility and indissolubility is no longer regarded as articles of faith. It now sounds inchoate. But the waning appeal of that constitutional provision did not take place overnight. It was long in coming.
During the Olusegun Obasanjo era as President, for instance, issues bordering on dismemberment of the country could only be whispered. Not even Emeka Ojukwu, the symbol of Biafra, could speak openly about separatism. However, when separatist organisations such as Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra sprang up, Ojukwu, in an interview with a newsmagazine, declared: “I Support Biafra.” This declaration caused some stir in official circles. Consequently, the Department of State Service invited Ojukwu to come and clarify his statement. Even though Ojukwu did not honour the invitation, so much energy was dissipated over the matter. That was how sacrosanct Nigeria’s unity was then.
But all that has changed. The new generation of Nigerians, even the not so young, are rebelling against that old order. They consider it jaded, outdated and unrealistic. Rather than talk in muffled tones as their forebears did, the newbreed Nigerians are up in arms against a constitutional charge that they consider stagnating to the imagination.
Before now, Nigerian leaders managed the delicate situation most adroitly. They avoided pathways that could ignite divisive sentiments. That way, Nigerians bothered less about issues of dismemberment or disintegration.
Rather than toe the line that works, the Nigerian government of the present day has, regrettably, embarked upon measures that make any talk about unity sound cheap and stupid. Those agitating for separation are appalled that the constitutional provision, which anchored the country’s unity on the tripartite principles of freedom, equality and justice has been thrown overboard. They do not understand how unity can come about in the absence of these basic principles.