Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko
Many Nigerians do not fully appreciate the damage, ethnic and religious divisions did to our national political health and our psyche as a people. Nepotism, impunity and mediocrity destroy nations. Egalitarianism, level playing field and equality of opportunities, encourages nationalism and patriotism, thereby strengthening the bond of unity, growing the nation. Considerations on qualifications, abilities and capacity to deliver, influences appointments in developed countries, not here. And that is sad. Because the reverse created discontent and frustration that inspired divisions.
A lot of people do not know that the early political activists of the 1920s who formed the Nigerian Youth Movement, NYM were genuine and patriotic nationalists, who never bothered about tribe and ethnicity. But everything changed, soon after the death of Herbert Macaulay.
Had a Yoruba man succeeded Herbert Macaulay, as the leader of the NCNC, at his demise in 1946, there probably wouldn’t have been the Action Group political party. Had the NCNC elected a Northerner to succeed Herbert Macaulay, the Northern People’s Congress, probably wouldn’t have been born. The emergence of Nnamdi Azikiwe, an Igbo as the successor to the venerable Herbert Macaulay, altered the ethnic colouration of the budding Nigerian political scene.
Some people could not accept the Igbo leadership of the biggest, stronger, and foremost political party in Nigeria. Everybody went home to form their own ethnic/tribal party. Divisions, based on tribalism and ethnicity was born. The struggle for regional and ethnic domination of others was born.
The Ibadan parliament’s cross carpeting six years later, DESTROYED Nigerian nationalistic fervor and sowed the seeds of ethnic politics that defined emerging Nigeria. Our ethnic group, our tribe, our religion, our region created the “them and us” spirit that shaped the new Nigeria. The craving to hide the truth and live in pretense, the desire to dominate others and the plot to hang on to power at all costs, crashed the first Republic and brought upon us the crises that led to the civil war.
Was Samuel Akintola’s obstinacy in handing power to Alhaji Adegbenro, the people’s choice, connected to assurances from his friends, whose domineering region stood behind him politically? Did Ahmadu Bello’s anger towards Majors Donatus Okafor and Chris Anuforo, for displaying moderation in handling the Tiv rioters, instead of brutality suppressing the Tiv, inspire the January 1966 putsch?
Answers to these questions may lead us to why nepotism and mediocrity poisoned the sweet waters of the emerging nation.
The ethnic and tribal struggle for power and dominance that led to the war, shaped post-civil war Nigeria. The victors designed Nigeria, created the states, the local government councils and influenced the format of the contentious constitution. They ran Nigeria according to their whims, mostly because the whole country was busy celebrating the defeat of Biafra and enjoying the sudden spectacular wealth the oil boom ushered in. The good life would last for ever, everyone thought. Our leader announced to the world that our problem was chopping the money only. We have more than enough, we don’t know what to do with too much cash, he screamed. The nation began to live a lie. A false lifestyle built on ignorance. Justice and equity flew out of the window.
As the cash flow waned, poverty and frustrations set in and Nigerians started noticing the grave injustices and inequalities. But the military dispensation and the intimidating culture of the military suppressed the frustrations and anger raging in the land. This explains the emergence of pressure groups of all sorts, the minute the military returned to the barracks in 1999. OPC, MEND, MASSOB etc. sprang up to express themselves and make public their feelings. Niger Delta militancy, Middle belt identity quest and even secessionist agitation from the East and the West, all point to, an unsatisfactory structure and template.
As the population grew, the feeding bottle format of the unitary structure, became inadequate and unviable. It could no longer sustain the edifice. Agitations became inevitable. Things have just got to change. The paranoia exhibited by a section that believes a restructuring of the current system may not favour them created divisions in the land. Those for and those against restructuring.
Even school children, know that Nigeria needs a new constitution. A new structure agreeable to all. A reconstruction of the current format and enthronement of a fair and equitable template that accommodates all. A new people’s constitution anchored on true federalism, regional autonomy, resource control and devolution of power, will give every section a sense of belonging. Those who pretend they don’t know what’s fueling the agitations are actually the ones encouraging the crisis.
Everyone knows that some people claim Nigeria is their property and others should remain spectators. The struggle for dominance that led to the first coup d’état and civil war, resulted in the military conquest of the East in January 1970. The assumption that the Igbo have been pacified and the Igbo problem solved, was an erroneous conclusion. The war wasn’t about solving the Igbo problem. The excitement even amongst the minorities that the eboes have been put in their proper place and would never raise their heads and their voices again, was a classic fallacy.
The country erroneously began to build a future on a faulty and badly laid foundation. The oil boom blinded us to the truth. While South Korea, India, Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries were building their future and busy laying strong constitutional foundations, we were frolicking in petrol cash, junketing all over the world, blocking Lagos streets partying every day of the week.
The windfall that was the oil boom era and the emergence of a new leadership cabal, as a result of the displacement of the eboes, only led to the enthronement of profligacy, impunity, misgovernance and mediocrity as national character.
The military era suppressed and superficially managed the unwieldy internal discontent. We wasted valuable years, managing a faulty foundation, and hoping it would stand forever. When the fallouts of the unworkable unitary structure, propped up agitations, instead of identifying and treating the root causes, we choose to believe that Tucano jets will heal the land. The agitation is inspired by the inequalities, fed by Structural deficiencies and injustices, enabled by nepotism and impunity. Tucano jets cannot inspire nationalism and patriotism. Justice and equity does.
The artificial peace of 1970, attained through, total blockade, aerial bombardment and strafing of even refugee camps by Russian jets powered by Egyptian pilots, could not guarantee permanent peace, because the necessary ingredients of peace, were missing. Ingredients such as justice, equity, equality, level playing field, a fair constitution, true federalism and devolution of power. Pretending that the agitation could be divorced from the aforementioned facts, is self-deception of a delusory kind.
Continuing to pretend that acquisition of military hardware, military operations and piecemeal adjustments and amendments of the discredited unitary 1999 constitution, will bring lasting peace to the land, without addressing the problems fueling the agitations, is completely unhelpful, sad and unfortunate.
The chemistry and mix of suspicions and fears of ethnic jingoism, very weak and uninspiring electoral process, unfriendly unitary structure that retards economic growth, huge loss of faith in the system and humongous uncontrollable insecurity, is dangerous. The refusal to look into the root causes and address them, is clearly a bad decision and a wrong choice. The agitation is a threatening development. Those dismissing it with a wave of the hand, are making a big mistake. The government’s refusal to engage the agitators only feeds the agitation. Nothing else.
To be CONTINUED.
