Elliott Ugochukwu-Uko
Since the beginning of time, man had always preferred the convenient art of choosing what to accept, what to work with, what to agree with and what to denounce, based on how convenient he finds accepting, working with, agreeing to or denouncing whatever. The timing is also important for him to either pretend or turn a blind eye.
It has never been seen that any individual or principality, always owned up to their faults and weaknesses. Man will always look for ways to cover his errors or bad judgement and it’s attendant consequences, especially, if his mistakes leads to calamities.
In that connection, political leaders of sub-Sahara Africa do not have a reputation for accepting or acknowledging their errors of judgment.
They always cleverly shift the blame to some other people, insisting they are as clean as a whistle. The quite avoidable crises in the land, occasioned by the agitation, grew into a monster, simply because those who ought to have contained it early in the day, refused to accept the truth. They misdiagnosed and miscalculated the originating power, the tempo, the velocity, the driving force and the actual direction of the breeze.
Most importantly, not only were they too afraid to rise up to the challenge in a timely manner, they also, mistakenly believed that military action will crush the agitation.
Now that it has become abundantly clear to all that the erroneous strategy of applying lethal force only worsened the situation, the time for cherry picking the facts of the matter, has probably come and masters of the game of deception, are at their very best, choosing what to highlight, what to bury, what to present and what to hide.
Cherry picking the facts, covering the unpleasant and unedifying facts, and amplifying only the facts that sounds good to their ears, will only complicate the road to peaceful resolution and pervert closure, throwing up new challenges.
Closure is desirable. Altruistically addressing the causes of the anger that gave birth to the agitation will resolve the problem better than any short cut or convenient narrative.
These facts may be of some use now that the people who preferred operation Python dance, as the solution to the problem four years ago, may have finally woken up to the folly of their earlier belief to forcefully crush the agitation. These facts may guide us all to better appreciate the stark realities of the issues.
1 The unjust traditional believe that Nigeria belongs to a particular section to lord it over others. And that this master race will always do as they please and no one can challenge them.
This false and unkind state of mind by some people, drives the arrogance that informs nepotism, impunity, dichotomy and oppression. The very evil fruits that produced anger, bitterness, discontent and frustration that effectively divided the land.
2 The condoning over a long period of time, of these evils, simply because the despised ethnic group at the bottom of the rung of the ladder, and at the receiving end of the humiliating marginalisation, lost a war decades ago, and therefore must be permanently degraded and mistreated because every one else seem jealous of their intimidating enterprising spirit that helps them survive and thrive where everyone else fails.
3 The intimidation of several ethnic minorities, through bullying and crafty exploition of centuries-old empire building efforts that produced religious conquest of a large swathe of land up North, tilts balance of power, in favour of some and to the disadvantage of some, creating sharp divisions. Insistently using same feudal strategy to play the East against the West and vice versa, when convenient, whist subduing minorities, in the hope of remaining eternal overlords of the land, only generates suspicions and distrust.
4 The attempt to forcefully establish a master race, owners of power and permanently born to rule others, their insistence on holding unto power at all costs, enthroning mediocrity in the process, and forcing everyone else to accept such unholy arrangements, facilitates loss of faith in the system and lack of interest in the affairs of the land, thereby dividing the land between them and us.
5 Love and preference for the unjust 1999 unitary constitution, created by the military, even in the face of its glaring defects and inadequacies, heightens the fears and bad blood, eating up the foundation of the country, like termites. Refusal to restructure the polity, only increases the fears that those who think the 1999 constitution favours them, are preparing to enslave others forever.
6 Millions of skilled, educated and informed population of a particular region of the country, stuck overseas, because they are not recognised or treated right at home. They contribute immensely to the greatness of their host countries.
They remain abroad, almost in permanent exile, whilst poorly skilled fellows, hijacked the country, only to run it aground and almost bring it to the point of implosion. These angry segment in forced exile, designed and fund the agitation, in search of a home land they can have honour and dignity denied them here.
7 For 22 years, that the ongoing agitation raged, both the central government and the regional authorities, refused to invite and engage the aggrieved agitators, to hear them out, or least collate their grievances. Every effort some people made towards dialogue, were deliberately destroyed through military invasion, the preferred strategy of responding to the agitation.
8 The same people who introduced and studiously implement the oppressive and humiliating dichotomy that destroyed the country, still mockingly starve the oppressed region of deserved attention, refer to them as five percenters and dot in a circle, tactically suggesting through their behaviour, “You can go to hell, do your worst, we will never give you justice”, deliberately rubbing in the pain.
9 Every thing was done to sustain the dichotomy. Appointments and government projects were predominantly lopsided and designed to enthrone ethnic supremacy. Plea for equity and fair play, were dutifully ignored, while a certain notorious tribe, were invited from all over West Africa, to come in and demand for land down South. The sickening impunity and brigandage of these renegade invading nomads, as they rape, destroy, kill, decapitate and burn down homesteads were tolerated and accepted as the new normal, even as their victims remain in IDP camps, after losing their ancestral lands to the ruthless invaders.
9 The preference for Tucano super jets and military operations, instead of sincerely addressing the structural problems, that threw up the challenges ravaging the land, false narratives deployed to deceive the international community and hunting down activists, crying for justice and equity, only deepened the agitation. Because, these wrong moves, only suggests a hidden agenda of internal colonisation.
10 Blackmailing activists who saw the agitation from a better informed position and tried fruitlessly to save the country by presenting the facts, only confirms the unwillingness of the authorities to genuinely resolve the issue from the root, only complicated and muddled up a rather straightforward and uncomplicated challenge.
11 Only a sincere, altruistic and determined process of identifying, collating and addressing the grievances that inspired the agitation, will bring peace to the land. Hurriedly papering over it and covering the surface with white wash, will only protract and drag on the unpleasant divisions in the land. Mistakes that deepened the agitation, should not be repeated.
12 There’s great need, to understand that the suffocating structure bequeathed us by the military must be discarded for a brand new people’s constitution. Ignoring this grave fact, will certainly hinder the process of rebuilding, so badly needed to heal the land. Cherry picking the facts we like and those we don’t, will only deepen the mess we’re already in.
The injustices that created the agitation, should be addressed. Those who have ears, let them hear.
