Today a great protest is taking place in the
Catallan region of Spain. According to the
polls, 52 per cent of the people from that
region wish to break off from Spain and to
establish a new European sovereign state.
Later this year, the people of Scotland are
having their own referendum to determine
whether or not they will stay in the United
Kingdom and, again, from the polls, it is very
clear that the majority of Scots wish to have
their own new sovereign state and that the
Scottish Nationalist Party enjoys massive
support. Nobody in either Spain or the United
Kingdom has insulted those people or labelled
them as ‘’ethnic jingoists’’ or ‘’primitive
tribalists’’ for wanting to break off from the
greater whole and establish their own country.
This is because everyone respects the right of
the various ethnic groups and nationalities
within their wider nation to exercise their
right of self-determination which is an
integral and fundamental aspect of
international law. Exercising that right does
not turn them into villains and does not make
them any less patriotic than their compatriots
who do not share their views. It just means
that they have a different perspective and that
they believe, as many believed before
Malaysia and Singapore broke up, that the
interests of their various peoples are better
served when and if they go their separate
ways.
They opted to be friendly neighbours rather
than to be compelled to remain within the
same territory against their collective will. As
we in Nigeria approach the 100-year
anniversary of our 1914 Lugardian
amalglamation and, as the 2015 elections are
fast approaching with both the northern
region and the south-south zone desperate to
take or to hold on to power at any cost
respectively, we need to begin to ask
ourselves some basic and fundamental
questions about our future. For example, is
our interest better served by remaining as one
nation or is it time for those nationalities that
wish to leave the federation in a peaceful and
orderly way, as a result of a legitimate and
honest referendum , be alllowed to go?
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
If the breaking up of larger countries into
smaller and more viable ones is good enough
for India (which broke into three),
the Sudan (which broke into two),
Czekhoslovakia (which broke into
two), Yugoslavia (which broke into 5), the
Soviet Union (which broke into 15) and
numerous other countries over the years, why
is it not good enough for us? Again, why
should those that believe that Nigeria ought to
break up be subjected to so much suspicion,
ridicule, contempt and insults from those that
do not share their views?
Some of the questions that need to be
answered are as follows- firstly, is our union
working? Secondly, is our marriage a good
one and is it a happy one as well? Are we
satisfied with what has essentially become a
country that has been turned into nothing
more than (with apologies to Chief Bode
George) ‘’Turn by Turn Nigeria?’’ where
each ethnic group simply looks forward to
enjoying its time to control the federation and
all the nation’s resources from an all powerful
centre? Are we not meant to be far more than
this? Is this what the founding fathers of our
nation envisaged?
More than anything else the recent igbo/
yoruba debate over the issue of the status of
Lagos state and the deportation of a handful
of igbo destitute back to the east has proved
to me that we as a people are very different
from one another and that our interests may
be better served if we are no longer bound
together as one. I dare to voice this opinion
even though many Yoruba share it but will not
say so publiclly.
Is it not time for us to begin to accept the
bitter truth that our marriage is
uncomfortable and unhappy and that it may
not have been made in heaven or ordained by
God? Is it not clear that each region or each
nationality ought to be able to develop at its
own pace? Is it not time for us to have a
confederation of nationalities in Nigeria and to
restructure the country drastically to give
maximum autonomy to the various regions
and nationalities or indeed is it not time to
just break up and go our separate ways?
DIFFERENCES Many may disagree but one
thing that I believe that we can at least agree
on is that perhaps it is time for us to be
courageous enough to begin to talk about
these issues openly and debate them. We
must not sweep our differences under the
carpet and ignore them as if they do not exist
but instead we must find the courage and
muster the resolve to acknowledge them and
understand them. As far as I am concerned,
this is the challenge of our time and these are
the questions that need to be answered.
Whatever happens in 2015 and whoever wins,
whether it be a northerner or Goodluck
Jonathan of the south-south, I see blood on
the horizon and I see disaster approaching.
Stark promises from notable players such as
‘’there will be bloodshed if Goodluck is not
re-elected’’ do not help and are not
encouraging. There are equally strident and
bellicose murmurings from the other side as
well and some have threatened that if there is
a repeat performance of the massive rigging
that the North witnessed in the presidential
election of 2011 anywhere in the country in
2015, ’’Nigeria will burn’’ whilst another key
player said that ‘’both the dog and the baboon
shall be soaked in blood’’.
2015 AS KEG OF GUN POWDER
These words must be taken very seriously
indeed and they reflect the thinking and
mindset of millions of people from both sides
of the political and regional divide. Worste
still, whether we like to admit it or not,
religion has now become a major factor in
our politics with Christians being told in their
churches that it is their solemn duty to
support a Christian presidential candidate and
Muslims being told in their mosques that it is
theirs to support a Muslim. We are sitting on
a keg of gunpowder and, in my view, 2015
really will be the year of make or break for
Nigeria. Sadly, in my humble opinion, it is far
closer to ‘’break’’ than it is to ’’make’’.
If we wish to avoid the road to Kigali, we
must change our mindset and make the
necessary concessions that we need to make.
We must begin to think outside of the box and
be far more innovative and adventurous. For
example, why is it a must in the minds of
some that the PDP must field a Christian as
it’s presidential candidate and why are some
in the APC of the view that the party must
field a northern Muslim as its own?
These hard and fast fixed positions are most
unhelpful and the right thing and proper
thing to do is to completely discard them and
attempt to find a presidential candidate that
is a Nigerian before being a northerner, a
southerner, a Christian or a Muslim. And
thankfully there are quite a few of such
people around in the new generation if only
the system will be far-sighted and enlightened
enough to allow them to emerge and run.
Failing that we must open up the space now
and consider the unpleasant assertion that the
premium that a united Nigeria attracts may
not be worth paying simply because we are
getting nothing but failure after failure and
sorrow after sorrow as our consistent return.
I do not have all the answers and neither do I
claim that I do. Indeed I may well be wrong
which is why I would be interested in hearing
the views of others and particularly those
from the younger generation who may see
things very differently. Whichever way it goes
and regardless of what we all think, let us not
allow this debate to be driven by the
uninformed or ignorance, pettiness, hate and
acrimony. Let us not insult one another or act
as if any tribe or nationality are a collection
of angels whilst others are nothing but
demons. Let us join issues and exchange ideas
in a civil, restrained and decent manner
without hurling insults at one another or
allowing our emotions to becloud our
thinking.
At the end of the day, we all want the same
thing- namely, to put in place a system that is
in the best interest of the Nigerian people and
to empower a new leadership that will allow
them to achieve their full potentials? That is
the objective and that alone. Over to you.
Culled from NigerianEye
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