War rhetoric and Osinbajo’s peace overtures

The raging war rhetoric in some parts of the country and the hate chants in the social media by some Nigerian youths, who did not witness the Nigeria-Biafra war, are ominous signals that all is not well with the country. The bile rhetoric by Nigerian youths, most of whom are unemployed, should be condemned and discouraged by all Nigerians, especially the elders.

War, especially civil war, is something Nigerians should not toy with at this period in our development. It is said that no nation survives two civil wars. Ours cannot be an exception. We have witnessed one. There is no point experimenting with another. If we do, the effects will be more disastrous. We can disagree on issues, we can dialogue on issues. We can even quarrel. We can also joke. We can do all these without resorting to diatribe, hate and gutter language in talking to one another.

War can never be used to settle any dispute. In fact, war does not settle any dispute because after a war, both sides must sit at a round table to discuss the future. After the Nigeria-Biafra war, the leaders sat at a table and discussed the way forward. But along the line, the leaders of the country forgot those things captured in Gen. Yakubu Gowon’s 3Rs—reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Instead of the ‘no victor, no vanquished’ mantra that marked the end of hostilities, there were policies officially put in place to further demonstrate to the people of the South-East, the epicentre of Biafran struggle, that they were truly defeated.  The present structure of Nigeria where the zone has the least number of states, local governments and political wards shows clearly that image of defeat.

Since all appointments into the Federal Civil Service and recruitment into the military, police, customs, immigration and prisons and others are based on states and local governments, the South-East is put at great disadvantage. That is indeed the origin of marginalization. Fifty years after Biafra, nobody from the South-East has ruled Nigeria yet we are one Nigeria. These and other state-sanctioned injustices are fueling the current agitation for Biafra.

It is like if you don’t want me, let me be on my own. And if you want me, pay attention to my agitations and attend to them. It is not a war and it cannot degenerate into war. The agitation for equity should not lead to the quit notice which Arewa Youths issued recently to the Igbo living in their region. There may be more to it than meets the eye. However, it is reassuring that in its first official response to the rising tension in the land between the Arewa Youths and their Igbo counterparts, the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, met with the leaders of the North and the South-East in a move to broker lasting peace in the country.

Good enough, Osinbajo used the occasion to warn all war mongers in the country to desist from acts capable of igniting crisis and vowed that the government would not tolerate any attempts to cause violence or disrupt the peace of the country. The Acting President also said that the government will not shirk its responsibilities to the citizenry and assured that the administration would do everything within its power to defend the Nigerian constitution.

The parley between government and leaders of the North and the South-East is to douse the rising tension in the land over continued agitation for Biafra and Arewa Youths ultimatum. No doubt, the Federal Government’s response is good and must be sustained. The government’s lesson on the likely consequences of war is well known by those who witnessed the Nigerian-Biafran war.

Unfortunately, most of those hurling hate speeches at each other in the social media did not witness the war. Their knowledge of the war is from the stories they heard or read in books or watch in films. It is sad that 50 years after Biafra, the issues that gave rise to the conflict had not been sufficiently addressed.

The succeeding federal governments’ efforts to obliterate Biafra from history did not help matters. And not teaching the history of the war is the worst injustice done to the memory of the war and those who did not witness it. The government’s removal of the Bight of Biafra and replacing it with Bight of Bonny in Nigerian map could not eclipse Biafra from people’s conscience. Every effort to remove Biafra from memory has not succeeded.

Without preempting the outcome of the consultations between the government and the various leaders of thought from the country, it is important that the government gives more attention to treating the disease instead of its symptoms as has been the case in the past. The government is aware that some sections of the country are not happy with the way the country is structured and administered at the moment.

Although such grievances predate this APC government, but its members cannot say that they are not aware of the mounting problems facing the country. It is given that many Nigerians want a restructured and working polity. They want a truly run federal government and not one that has all the attributes of a unitary government.

We have had many conferences including the last one of 2014 which exhaustively examined the national question and made far-reaching recommendations. We thought that this government that came on the change mantra would be more interested in bringing to Nigerians the needed change.

Two years down the line, the government has behaved as if there was nothing like the 2014 confab recommendations. This attitude by the government also contributes to the agitation in the land. If the government wants the agitation and the tension in the polity to stop, it must begin to drastically address the problems facing the country and not its symptoms.

It is good that the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has requested that the presidency forward the recommendations of the 2014 confab as an executive bill for its deliberation. Apart from meeting with stakeholders and leaders of thought on how to douse the tension in the land, the acting President should consider what Saraki has said and save the polity the looming danger.

All Nigerians should see the country as a work in progress and not a perfect edifice that cannot be tampered with structurally. Restructuring Nigeria does not in any way amount to its dissolution. It does not mean a break up. It means unity in diversity. Our oneness must be based on equity, justice and fairness.