Nigeria: Apocalyptic Nuclear Of Self-Deception (Hyperbole?)

By

Hakeem Babalola

mysmallvoice@yahoo.com

 

I am on my knees, and in supplication I beg every Nigerian female or male to close his or her eyes for some minutes, and meditate on Nigeria. Now open your eyes. What do you think? What do you see? Do you see one Nigeria? Do you see people united by fate or by coercion? And do you foresee us living in peace as brothers and sisters? Geographically, do you think we are one people? Religiously, do you think we are one? Culturally and socially, do you think we are one?  Do you think we can actually live together? Don’t you think the Emirs and Sultans rule the North, and religious mayhem too? The press barons rule the south, and political assassins and armed robbers too? Now from the bottom of your heart, do you really want to continue like this? It’s time for you to seriously ponder and deliberate your conviction about Nigeria. It’s high time for you to be sincere with yourself. No more sitting on the fence. What do you truly want? What is it that you truly want? What is it? What?

If you truly want to continue like this, then you belong to Obasanjo’s group (Obasanjo is a self-confessed believer in the unity of Nigeria). If you truly don’t want to continue like this, then you probably belong to the group yawning for Sovereign National Conference (In this group are eminent personalities like Chief Enahoro, Balarabe Musa, Wole Soyinka, Gani Fawehinmi, Beko Rasome-kuti, Wada Nas, Tunji Braithwaite etc). They believe we need to talk about our differences so as to lay a very firm foundation. If however you have acquired an ambivalent attitude towards Nigeria from Ojukwu, then of course you belong to his group (Young Ojukwu was the man who tried to divide Nigeria, while elder Ojukwu participated in an election to rule the same country). What a principle!

            In my view, Dimka Emeka Ojukwu could have been a hero had he stood for his conviction about Biafra. But, since he had accepted a pardon from Shagari Administration, and eventually participated in Nigerian election, then, I disagree fundamentally with the man’s ideology of secession. He betrayed his own people not only by running away but also, by accepting such political pardon. Is he still Igbo leader? You don’t wage war and later rescind your opinion. War is not what one just decides on the pause of the moment. One must have been certain it’s the right cause as well as the last resort. You don’t send millions (or less) of souls to the House of Hades, and then came back, got married to the most beautiful girl in Nigeria. Such action mocks his heroic status. Such action only portrays him as fighting for his own interest and nothing more. (In a way there’s nothing wrong in pursuing own interest, the amorality of such behaviour is when you use people to achieve it). When in fact history seems to be on this warrior’s side. Inside me there is this juxtaposition of Biafra being better off than under Nigeria of today. And that invariably shows pathetic and hopeless situation Nigerian rulers have put our nation. They should have killed him politically by making the amalgamation works. They should have disgraced him by making Nigerians proud of our country. They should have successfully enlightened the youths about the danger of secession. This, they could have done by not making Nigerians look to America or Europe or Asia for our survival. That’s enough of Bianca’s warrior husband. 

            Therefore, we are left with Obasanjo and his group on one side and the progressives on the other side. To arrive somewhere, we need to look at the credibility of both sides. We need to examine why Obasanjo and his cronies do not want Sovereign National Conference (or whatever anyone wants to call it), which I believe is the forum to highlight our differences. There is no doubt the fact that Obasanjo is afraid of this process, which I believe is the only foundation for our existence. He has said many times that he can die for the unity of Nigeria. But we don’t want him to die for Nigeria. We just need him to execute meaningful policies that would not necessitate him dying for Nigeria plus the one that would stop ordinary Nigerians from dying everyday due to inadequacy of government benefits. So, the war to be won is the provision of citizens’ welfare. Even in interpersonal relationship, communication is highly important. You need to speak about what you want, about your differences and expectations, without which the relationship will hit the rock. Our House of Assembly, Senate and governors have failed to achieve this. And the Emirs or Kings cannot achieve this alone. Obasanjo has clearly demonstrated this by removing Dariye as governor of Plateau State.

            I can’t think of any other reason why Obasanjo is shying away from much needed Sovereign National Conference other than fear of leading to the disintegration of the country (Nigeria is a potential great nation in extravagant hands). I arrive at this conclusion for the simple reason that Obasanjo is a self-confessed lover of one Nigeria, and he might have suspected such forum could only give room for people who don’t believe in one Nigeria. Otherwise why would any right thinking president go against what could have boosted his own popularity, and what could have been our path to honest beginning? (As a nation, we have not even started laying the foundation). This is the more reason why SNC is inevitable to our path to progress. Nigerians definitely want a forum whereby we voice out our agitations. Nigerians want to talk about injustice in the land. Nigerians want to talk about unnecessary sufferings in the land. Nigerians want to talk about inequality of wealth distribution. Nigerians want to talk about the inordinate cruelty of our rulers. Nigerians want to talk about the brain drain. Nigerians want to talk about the monster called corruption. Nigerians want to talk about election rigging. Nigerians want to talk about unsolved political assassinations. Nigerians want to talk about political thugs. Nigerians want to talk about how the life of those who belong to the bottom of totem pole could be improved. Nigerians are simply tired of the misrule by the present and past administrations. In fact it seems to me that, those who are denying us SNC do not have a good grasp of the laws of logic. I ask: What is so intimidating in sitting down to highlight our genuine grievances?

            In a nation where many feel genuinely marginalized; in a nation where a Southerner cannot live safely in the north and vice-versa; in a secular nation that lacks religious tolerance, I say the first sensible thing is to converge for deliberation. As a matter of fact, our differences as a nation are too obvious to be swept under the carpet. The truth remains we have never truly been one nation. Right from the word go, we were contrived to live together. I still couldn’t fathom the reason behind the amalgamation other than the pernicious self-interest of the colonial master. Is this what young Ojukwu suspected, and eventually led him to launch attack on Nigeria? (See I just can’t get rid of this man). And why was he prevented if the amalgamation story was evident then? Now, could those who crushed secession honestly in fascinating reminiscences, beat their chest and say what they did was right? And they have to put the current situations in the country into perspective. I suggest this because there are some things that you only become totally conscious of in retrospect. During his first term as elected president, Obasanjo himself said on CNN that he did not know the situations were that worse. Late Obafemi Awolowo and his cohorts who prevented the break up of Nigeria must have had genuine intentions and high hopes; but unfortunately all sorts of diabolical events since independence have proved them wrong.

Ironically, the main reason for the National Conference, according to Nigerians United for Democracy (NUD), the coalition of pro-democracy, opposition parties and Human Rights Activists, is to save the country from “an imminent drift to chaos and instability”. (Daily Independent Online May 24,2004). I am now at a point of confusion because it seems to me that both Obasanjo and the opposition do not want Nigeria to disintegrate. Perhaps the difference lies in the reasons or motives. In deed, this is where the credibility comes into focus. As I have said, Obasanjo does not want disintegration of Nigeria, which of course is not a bad idea in itself. But I doubt if he could achieve this by the superior coercive power of the State. He must let us choose whichever way we want to go. Obasanjo got it right when he told Jeff Kroinange of CNN that “you don’t deal with the symptoms and leave the disease”. I say he is exactly dealing with the symptoms and ignoring the disease by preventing SNC, which is what everybody across the geo-political zone wants. Obasanjo wants to build a house without laying a solid foundation.  My own interpretation of the so-called Sovereign National Conference: Laying a solid foundation. Our danger lies in the fact that Mr. President passionately believes he alone is in the right path. I feel that Obasanjo has lost credibility by his partial way of dealing with events in the country. Any president who treats one as a sacred cow and another as a pauper will not achieve much. You may say God Himself is partial, but Nigerian president is not God. For God is omnipresent. God is “I am who I am,” He told Moses.

Instead of dealing with the truth, Obasanjo has resulted in disastrous political manoeuvring. His utterances when speaking on CNN that “Kano as you said…as you know is a flow out of Plateau. If the governor in Plateau had taken the right step there would not have been Kano...” – is a testimony. Of course, we all know Kano is politically more powerful than Plateau. What his misguided utterances implied is that if you retaliate you won’t be punished. I think the same punishment should have been melted to both States. By the way, does he have the constitutional right to remove or suspend a “democratic elected governor?” Nigeria’s constitutional lawyer, Chief Frederick Rotimi Alade (SAN) and Human Right’s Advocate, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) said Obasanjo acted illegally. The president countered indignantly while speaking on CNN. “Now if we have a democratic…a constitution that establishes our democracy and I have taken action within that constitution, those who are saying the wheel are coming off this democratic experience, are talking through their nose”. Is our constitution so ambiguous? And what can we do to make it more understandable? If our constitution is so full of intricacies as to warrant different sharp interpretations, I say we need to sit down together for deliberation. Anyhow I feel constrained to believe these legal luminaries because of their credibility. By the way, who instigated the governor’s removal? The Emirs? The Sultans? Equally puzzling is Dariye’s submissive reaction. By simply leaving such controversial matter in the hand of God prompts one to question whether he was truly elected by the people of Plateau State or anointed by Obasanjo himself. He preposterously holds his Oga in high esteem while he countenanced many souls to waste away. This attitude seems to me unduly meekness on the part of ex governor Dariye. But mark my words: this religious mayhem will not dissipate because our rulers have successfully made it part of Nigerian politics.

Obasanjo’s intentions might truly be to unite Nigeria, but his attitude in dealing with us is gradually dividing the people. Sometimes I think the man has good intentions but incapacitated by those who anointed him – as a stooge. When will he realise that these president makers are killing him politically and morally in order to pave way for another godson in the offing? Moreover, I have no doubt some powerful faceless people are deliberately fueling chaos in the land to achieve their own self-interests. Who are these enemies of the nation? Who are these terrorists within the most populous nation in Africa? The barrators behind the scene should be ashamed of themselves. Those who are allowing themselves to be exploited for the atrocities should equally be ashamed.

But thank Almighty Allah we still have credible eminent personalities agitating publicly on behalf of our nation. For instance, they suddenly arranged a peaceful demonstration calling for Sovereign National Conference, which of course was crushed by the police. My advice to the opposition is to please find common ground. It was Alhaji Lateef Jakande (remember him?), former governor of Lagos State during Second Republic and a minister under the dark-goggle brutal regime, who once said Nigeria has no formidable opposition. We need such formidable opposition to tame the temper of our rulers. The opposition should not allow ideology to split them. They have to organise themselves like a bunch of broom in order to sweep clean. They must not desert one another like butterfly open place. They must wrestle with the problem of our living together in a beleaguered Nigeria.

And I won’t end this without whispering in President Obasanjo’s ears: SNC is inevitable in a country as complex as Nigeria, and especially in this period of tumultuous emotions. Let him convince us why we don’t need to lay a solid foundation for the future of our children. I belong to those who do not want to continue like the present situations. Obasanjo may be incurable believer in the unity of Nigeria, but I am incurable believer in a nation where unnecessary sufferings will cease. I am unrepentant believer in a nation where citizens have basic amenities orgasm.  So, he should stop his sympathetic rhetorical voice masking vicious exploitation. Unity alone won’t do it but the outcome of the unity will do the magic. We either build a nation to be proud of, or part amicably and go our separate ways. It’s hurts but not any more than the present Nigeria situation. There is no in between. There is just no in between.

Upon all, I am aware of the aphorism that says uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, which makes it possible – for me – to feel for Mr. President